Episode #1061 of Thinking With Mitch Joel is now live.

What happens when the most powerful technology humanity has ever created arrives at a moment when so many people are genuinely afraid of the future? We’re being promised extraordinary productivity, prosperity and abundance through artificial intelligence. At the same time, employees are being told their jobs may disappear, businesses are racing to automate everything, and an enormous amount of wealth and power is becoming concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of companies. How do we reconcile those two realities? That’s at the heart of my conversation with Brett Hurt, a longtime friend who has spent his career building businesses at the forefront of technological change. Brett is the serial entrepreneur behind Coremetrics, Bazaarvoice and data.world, three companies that helped transform how businesses understand customers, use data and build digital experiences. He first appeared on this podcast back in 2008 (and has been on a few times since), when we were talking about social commerce, customer reviews and the early promise of the internet. Nearly two decades later, we’re having a very different conversation.

His new book, Love Conquers Fear: Humanity, AI, And The Age Of Abundance For All, is both a manifesto and an invitation to imagine a different future.

Brett believes the convergence of AI, robotics, quantum computing and other emerging technologies could create a level of abundance humanity has never experienced. But he also believes the outcome will depend on something much less technological… the choices we make about how these tools are developed, deployed and shared. Brett brings an unusually optimistic perspective to this conversation… and I push back. We’ve heard sweeping promises about technology making the world better before. The internet was supposed to connect humanity, yet some of its most successful business models learned to monetize outrage, fear and division. If AI is going to create abundance, who actually benefits? And why should we believe the same economic incentives that shaped the previous technological era will suddenly produce different outcomes? We explore the responsibility of business leaders, the psychology of fear, the importance of personal agency, and why technological progress should never be confused with human progress. We also discuss how AI might help people discover new capabilities rather than simply become more efficient versions of themselves. Perhaps the biggest question is also the most uncomfortable. We’ve spent decades teaching human beings to behave more like machines… and now we’re investing extraordinary resources in making machines behave more like humans. If we’re serious about building an age of abundance, shouldn’t we first reconsider what it means for humanity to thrive?

Listen to my conversation with Brett Hurt here: Age Of Abundance With Brett Hurt – TWMJ #1061.

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