Pioneers of AI

Stories of people standing in line for hours to get their drivers license or being wrongfully denied government food assistance are common in America. Few people think, “I can solve this problem.” But the CEO of Promise, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, sees a solution in AI. Promise is a software company designed to help move money in and out of government benefit programs (like SNAP) to better serve the people who rely on them ...

In the first half of 2026 alone, investors poured $3 billion into the next frontier of AI: World Models. Google DeepMind, Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, Yann LeCunn’s AMI labs, and Odyssey are all building in this space. In this episode, host Rana el Kaliouby speaks with the co-founder and CEO of Odyssey Oliver Cameron. They dive into the trillion dollar opportunity behind world models, why they are the next frontier of AI, a...

Critterz was one of the first feature films built primarily with AI, but OpenAI abruptly shut down Sora, the very tool its director was relying on. Nik Kleverov, Chief Creative Officer of Native Foreign, joins Rapid Response from the Cannes Lions festival to make the case for why AI isn't killing Hollywood, it's about to reinvent it. He breaks down why 2026 is year zero for mass adoption of AI in the film industry, and why human ta...

This week we reprise our episode with robotics developer Grace Brown, co-founder and CEO of Andromeda, an Australia- and US-based company. A recently launched study, led by nurses, will analyze how Andromeda’s humanoid robot Abi fits into the everyday routine of patients in dementia care. Abi is a social robot designed for the aging population, with a goal to address the loneliness epidemic. In this interview, Rana el Kalioub...

For nearly two decades, Amy Webb's annual Tech Trends Report was required reading for anyone trying to keep up with technology. But this year, Webb killed the report and replaced it with something more applicable for leaders in an AI era.

In this episode, CEO of Future Today Strategy Group Amy Webb joins host Rana el Kaliouby to unpack her 2026 Convergence Outlook and examines how AI-driven convergences such as compute shock, livin...

Is it possible for us to ever wholeheartedly trust a machine the way we would a human? According to Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, the answer is no. And that’s what stops us from being able to emotionally connect with AI chatbots.

In this episode, host Rana el Kaliouby and Duhi...

In the last year, Canva redefined itself from the ground up. Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Cameron Adams joins Rapid Response live from the Cannes Lions festival to explain why the so-called SaaSpocalypse never kept him up at night, how Canva shifted from a design company to an AI company without losing what made it great, and why being only 1% of the way there is actually the most exciting place to be. Adams also shares the...

AI's promise is real. But the challenge to realizing its value isn't technology—it's people. Rana el Kaliouby joins WorkLab's Molly Wood to explore what can stall progress. The conversation explores how emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication are essential for hybrid human–AI teams to thrive. Rana makes the case that leaders must foster trust and readiness, rethink workflows, and keep humans at the center to ...

American universities are a critical pillar of US innovation. But what happens when Silicon Valley gets more intentional about that, treating a campus more like a talent pipeline, especially in the race to build AI? In his new New York Times bestseller “How to Rule the World,” journalist and recent Stanford graduate Theo Baker explores that and more. He describes the extreme lengths students and VCs go to in superchargi...

It often feels like the world is divided when it comes to AI — do you lean in, or opt out?.

But what if that tension exists within your own household? In this episode, Rana brings her kids onto the show for a candid conversation about AI adoption. Her son Adam is an AI enthusiast and her daughter Jana is an AI skeptic, a dynamic she wrote about in a recent essay, "I'm an AI Scientist, My Daughter Refuses to Use AI, and I'm Ok...

At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, AI has already played a role in high stakes moments – revealing “just barely” violations that have broken hearts and driven hopes for millions of fans. As the tournament’s technology partner, Lenovo has augmented the game with new tools like virtual models of each player, balls equipped with motion sensors, and thousands of cameras logging every second of play. Lenovo Chief Inform...

While many tech companies race to build ever-larger AI models, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna sees the future differently. Speaking with host Bob Safian before a live audience during New York Tech Week, Krishna explains why enterprises are overcomplicating AI adoption, what kinds of risks leaders should be taking right now, and how to weigh AI's costs against its benefits. He also shares why IBM believes quantum computing will reshape the ...

Anthropic and OpenAI’s plans to go public have set off waves of speculation about the ripple effects, and how they’ll stack up to the SpaceX IPO. What’s really driving the value of these companies? Does the timing of the IPOs matter? How might they impact the AI startup ecosystem?

To process all this, Rana phones a friend: Reid Hoffman. As co-founder of LinkedIn and Manas AI, a longtime Microsoft board member, inv...

Natalie Monbiot is the founder of Virtual Human Economy (VHE)  and  was one of the first experts to advocate that your digital twin can be one of your most valuable assets. In fact, she argues that when we use AI models like ChatGPT and Claude, we are already creating a digital twin of ourselves. We welcome Natalie back to the show, following up on some topics we touched upon in our 2025 live taping at On Air Fest, &ldquo...

Big Tech is moving fast on AI. But who's watching out for the rest of us? Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, has spent years sounding the alarm about where the race to build powerful AI is actually taking us. He joins Rapid Response to expose the incentive structures quietly pushing Silicon Valley toward dangerous territory, and to make the case that it's not too late to change course. Raskin also unpacks t...

Historically, the only way to know what was going on in your body was to make a doctor’s appointment, run tests, and wait for the results. Now, wearable tech is changing access to health data. Rana sits down with Tom Hale, CEO of Ōura, the company behind the smart ring found on the fingers of everyone from elite athletes to patients managing chronic illness. Together they discuss how wearables give your body a voice, why and ...

When MasterClass CEO David Rogier was a kid, his grandmother sat him down and told him how she'd lost everything during World War II. The lesson David took from her is that education is the one thing no one can ever take from you.

That idea became the basis of the online learning platform he co-founded, MasterClass. Now, after celebrating its 10-year milestone, AI is leading David to reimagine what learning actually looks like.

On th...

When Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn sent an internal memo about AI last year, he didn't expect it to go viral — or to ignite a firestorm about the future of work. Now he joins Rapid Response to unpack what he got right, what he got wrong, and what the backlash taught him about the real limitations of AI. Von Ahn also reveals why he's made a deliberate pivot in 2026: chasing users, not revenue — and what that bet says about h...

Many parents are wondering how their kids’ lives will be shaped by AI. Will it help them land a future job or make that job obsolete? Will it coach them toward more meaningful relationships or replace human connection altogether? As we enter a moment in history where AI may, for the first time, surpass human intelligence, one thing is clear: we need to make sure this technology is safe.

At the MIT Media Lab, for their 2026 Adv...