What's Your Problem?

Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal.
Kartik Hosanagar is a professor at the Wharton School. The problems he studies include: What will it take for people to trust AI agents to buy stuff for them? And how should businesses prepare for a world where their customers include AI agents?
In this episode, Kartik explains:
Why trust in agentic shopping will arrive category by category, not all at once
How a single old Reddit post erased a thriving brand from ChatGPT’s recommendations
Why someone needs to take on the liability risk when purchases go wrong
How treating AI as just another sales channel is the mistake the movie studios made with Netflix
How to get a language model to pay attention to your brand
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
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Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
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Jason Ballard is the co-founder and CEO of ICON. Jason's problem is this: Can you use 3-D printing to build houses that are cheaper, better and more interesting than the houses we build now?
In this episode, Jason explains:
Why construction methods are so slow to change
How 3D printing opens up new designs for houses
How building on the Moon shaped the way Icon builds on Earth
The challenge of scaling to printing thousands of houses
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Celebrated novelists, countless students and at least one billionaire have recently been accused of using AI in their writing. The most commonly cited AI detector in these cases is called Pangram.
Max Spero is the co-founder and CEO of Pangram. His problem is this: Can you build tools that reliably detect AI-generated text and images? And a few years from now, will anybody care?
In this episode, Max explains:
Why AI prose so often sounds the same
How often Pangram makes mistakes
How detectors like Pangram compete with humanizer tools
Why the big AI companies may not be interested in detection
The shifting norms around AI-generated writing
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I'm here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they were a problem. These were people who believed they had a calling—people who kept American's sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands, made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules, and figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods—and then discovered they were no longer wanted.
Here's an excerpt from the audiobook. You can buy the audiobook exclusively at blockers.fm.
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We’ve all heard that nothing ever gets deleted from the internet. Luke Arrigoni says that just isn’t true. His company deletes thousands of deepfakes every day.
Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his problem is this: How do you turn the Internet into a place where people have more control over their name, image and likeness?
Tens of thousands of famous people pay Loti to scour the internet and take down deepfakes and unapproved endorsements. But in Luke's telling, this is just the beginning. The company will soon allow celebrities to license their likeness for use in AI videos, and it also plans to start offering its services to ordinary people.
In this episode, Luke explains:
The harm that online deepfakes and impersonations can cause
How Loti automates tens of thousands of takedowns per day
Why the law may soon make it easier to fight deepfakes
Why celebrities are beginning to license their likenesses to AI platforms
AI’s role in the future of human creativity
Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.