🌻 conversations on culture in the AI age

my Substack talk and interview with Benjamín Labatut

This post originally appeared in Jasmi.News.

“The value of polish is going to go down, and the value of personal charisma, style, and weirdness is going to go up.”

I just returned from New York, where I had the pleasure of joining a few well-curated events celebrating human culture in the age of AI. Now that two of the videos are up, I wanted to share them with you.

The first was the Sana AI Summit, where I interviewed the novelist Benjamín Labatut on the legacy of John von Neumann, his conversations with Demis Hassabis, and the humanity that gets lost in the AI age. Labatut is not only a great author, but also a poetic, provocative, hilarious speaker—and plainly unafraid to challenge the buttoned-up executives sitting in the crowd.

The second (and sunnier) talk was for the Substack Media Forum, where I shared how my views on AI shape my approach to my writing career. For all my concerns about AI-driven disruption, I think it’s an incredible time for creatives who are enterprising enough to ride the wave. I’m especially bullish on secrets, socializing, and having a quirked-up style.

New York was as fun and stimulating as always, and I’m grateful to Substack and Sana for convening such a tasteful and thought-provoking crowd. (If we all get to be event planners and party hosts in the post-knowledge-work future, maybe it won’t be so bad.) Still, I hate that I’ve been doing more talking than writing lately, and am devoting June to staying put in SF so I can start some new projects. Thanks for the patience. More to come!

—Jasmine

(The actual videos are more fun IMHO, but both transcripts are below.)