Radio Live - Podcasts - Keen On America - Gary Marcus: Why Smart Machines Will Probably Never Replicate the Human Act of Writing and How Writers Should View AI Suspiciously —"Like a Hawk"

Gary Marcus: Why Smart Machines Will Probably Never Replicate the Human Act of Writing and How Writers Should View AI Suspiciously —"Like a Hawk"

Author: Andrew Keen November 21, 2022 Duration: 37:33

Podcast episode

Keen On America

Society Commentary Culture News

Keen On America is a sharp, fast-moving podcast hosted by author and commentator Andrew Keen. Known for asking impertinent questions, Keen cross-examines some of the world’s most thoughtful voices on politics, economics, history, culture, the environment, and technology. Each episode digs beneath headlines and hype to uncover what is really shaping America today and how those forces connect to global change. Listeners can expect challenging conversations rather than easy talking points, as Keen presses guests to explain not just what is happening, but why it matters and what might come next. Whether you are trying to make sense of polarized politics, rapid technological disruption, or shifting social norms, this show offers a bracing, critical lens. Tune in and listen episodes of Keen On America to hear Andrew Keen interrogate the ideas and assumptions that define contemporary American life.

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew is joined by Gary Marcus, author of Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust.

Gary Marcus is a scientist, best-selling author, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Robust.AI and was founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, a machine-learning company acquired by Uber in 2016. He is the author of five books, including Kluge, The Birth of the Mind, and the New York Times best seller Guitar Zero.

More episodes

Episode 2478: Parag Khanna on the Countries Best Positioned to Win the 21st Century

26.03.2025 Duration: 48:30

Which countries are best positioned to thrive in the 21st century? No, it’s not Denmark. Nor China. According to Parag Khanna, the Singapore based geo-strategist, the three countries that top what he calls The Periodic T…

Episode page

Episode 2477: How Daniel Oppenheimer Learned That the Problem in his Marriage Was Himself

25.03.2025 Duration: 54:57

The writer Daniel Oppenheimer and his wife, Jessica, have been going to marriage therapy for many years. But, as he confessed in a recent New York Times magazine piece, he had to go to a superstar councillor to finally r…

Episode page

Episode 2476: William Deresiewicz on American Boys & Men

24.03.2025 Duration: 46:47

Few observers are more insightful than the critic William Deresiewicz at identifying the changing landscape of American culture. In my latest conversation with Deresiewicz, best known for his book Excellent Sheep, we exp…

Episode page

Episode 2475: Gregory Walton on how to achieve BIG change with small acts

24.03.2025 Duration: 43:06

How to achieve BIG change with small acts? According to the Stanford psychologist Gregory Walton, this requires what, in his new book, he dubs Ordinary Magic. Small psychological interventions , Walton argues, can create…

Episode page

Episode 2474: What Thomas Mann can teach America about how to save its democracy

22.03.2025 Duration: 45:12

On Thursday, we featured a conversation with Red Scare author Clay Risen about Joe McCarthy, Donald Trump and the Paranoid Style of American History. Today our subject is one of the best known victims of McCarthyism - th…

Episode page

Episode 2473: Is Europe about to become the World's 3rd Tech Superpower?

21.03.2025 Duration: 37:47

Is Europe about to become the World's Third Tech Superpower? In our regular That Was The Week round-up of tech news, Keith Teare says NO!, arguing that the EU’s increasingly aggressive regulation of Apple and Google will…

Episode page

Episode 2472: Clay Risen on Joe McCarthy, Donald Trump and the Paranoid Style of American History

20.03.2025 Duration: 48:17

American history, Clay Risen reminds us, has an uncanny knack of repeating itself. In Red Scare, his important new book about blacklists, McCarthyism and the making of modern America, Risen suggests that Trump and MAGA h…

Episode page

Episode 2471: Dan Brooks reveals the MAGA aesthetic

19.03.2025 Duration: 39:11

What is the MAGA movement’s aesthetic? According to the New York Times’ Dan Brooks, it’s an aesthetic captured by the generative AI video “Trump Gaza”. Childishly absurd, it’s an aesthetic, Brooks suggests, of “bearded b…

Episode page

Episode 2470: Andrew Keen on the current state of American journalism

18.03.2025 Duration: 56:05

Andrew Checchia, a young journalist at NewsJunkie.net, requested an interview with me about the current state of American journalism. So here are my thoughts about the Fourth Estate’s role in democracy, our supposedly dw…

Episode page

Episode 2469: Daryl Davis on His Life with the Klu Klux Klan

18.03.2025 Duration: 44:52

The musician and actor Daryl Davis probably knows more about the Klu Klux Klan than any other living African-American. As the author of Klan-Destine Relationships and his latest The Klan Whisperer, Davis has written abou…

Episode page

Episode 2468: David Masciotra on Trump's ravenous bigotry toward the trans community

16.03.2025 Duration: 50:48

Long-time views of the show know that I’ve always been skeptical of equating Trump/MAGA with European fascism. I’ve always thought it historically facile and misleading. But I’m beginning to change my mind. Take, for exa…

Episode page

Episode 2467: Will AI kill Apple?

15.03.2025 Duration: 40:58

Will AI kill Apple? That’s the (absurd) question with which Keith Teare and I begin our THAT WAS THE WEEK tech summary. We conclude that their failure to develop an in-house LLM or introduce a timely intelligence applica…

Episode page

Episode 2466: Sarah Vowell tells the Untold Story of Public Service

14.03.2025 Duration: 42:27

So who, exactly is government. It’s the question that Michael Lewis and an all-star team of writers address in a particularly timely new volume of essays. Who is Government? According to the Montana based Sarah Vowell, a…

Episode page

Episode 2464: Marc Dunkelman on Why Nothing Works

14.03.2025 Duration: 47:01

As MAGA continues to vandalize the Federal bureaucracy, some progressives are beginning to publicly acknowledge their role in the historic undermining of the US government. In his provocative new book Why Nothing Works,…

Episode page

Episode 2263: David Enrich on a secret campaign to murder the truth in America

13.03.2025 Duration: 43:04

The New York Times’ David Enrich is one of America’s most tenacious investigative journalists. So when he comes out with a book entitled Murder the Truth, we should take note. There’s a campaign, Enrich warns, sometimes…

Episode page