Emotional support may matter as much as AI intelligence

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 20:59

   well let's start with let's start with some observations because i think our observations can be a lot more accurate than our predictions and your observations can kind of lead you to having a more informed prediction um so here's here's one observation it ain't all about intelligence so the temptation in the ai world is who's going to train the smartest model and you see OpenAI and Claude getting into the nerdiest neckbeard swinging contest you've ever seen about who can solve the millennium math problems. And there's like, we solved Navier Stokes. It's a fluid dynamics problem that no mathematician was able to solve. And the other guys are like, oh, you did that? That's cute. We did seven other impossible math problems. And everyone's like, wow, that's really impressive. Couldn't even tell you what any of these are for or what they're all

2. 21:46

   about. But like, clearly that's cool and important in one dimension. It's like when Dell and Gateway would brag about RAM and then Apple was like, it looks cool and it works. Yeah. So I think instinct has tapped into, instead of IQ, EQ, in a small way, but it's still an interesting way. So for example, I convinced my wife, I was like, you got to try this thing. I was like, this thing's crazy. And now my wife's not an early adopter.

3. 22:12

   So she's a good test, right? She's more of a real person. She's a busy mom. They have a cool couples. They have like a household account too. Well, now they do, yeah. Yeah, but even before that, I was just like, she's going to soccer practice and then dance and then she comes home and she's planning our kid's birthday party. And then she's got to remember to bring the red jersey to soccer this week because we're the away team, you know, like those sorts of things.

4. 22:32

   So just like normal everyday stuff, not like solving fluid dynamics and quantum computing or stuff like that. So she used Instinct to help plan this birthday party. From everything as simple as like calling different venues, finding out the dates, once finds out the dates, comparing how does that work with the kid's soccer schedule and then figuring out how many pizzas we need to order to feed 30 kids and 30 adults and what the order should be to give it to them.

5. 23:01

   And then, hey, the venue sent the contract over. I took a look at it. There's only one clause I think you should worry about. But other than that, you should sign it. It's in your inbox. You know, that sort of thing. So it's helping plan the birthday party. And along the way, she's like, it's helpful. But you know, like, whatever. It's good. I like it. but she wasn't blown away yeah still it was in the it was in the friend friend zone exactly and then it broke out of the friend zone the right after the party like three hours later she got a text from it saying um i i hope the party went great with the heart emoji and she screenshot it she sent it to me and she was like okay i'm sold that's it i was like from that and then she's like yes and i was like i don't get it i would i would be like what this is who cares this is weird and

6. 23:46

   And she's like, and I realized that everything she's ever wanted me to do as a supportive boyfriend, fiance, and husband, instinct just knows how to do out of the box. It's like, just check in. Just be supportive. Just to be like, hey, you know, somebody else is. telling me the story where they gave it to their mother-in-law and their mother-in-law like connected it to their like, like their mint.com, like their financial planning account. And there's like a, their main like checking account, like had just gone down to zero that week. Like it was like empty. And Instinct was like actually like super supportive and non-judgy about the whole thing. It was like, Hey, you know, like you want, you wanted this update. I just want to let you know, here's, here's where things are. But you know, I don't think that's anything to be like

7. 24:26

   ashamed of, like, hey, it happens. Like, you know, I think if we start to plan this way, like, I can see us build, you know, that account building right back up to where it's been for the past few months. And the mother-in-law was like, I have never felt so supportive, supported, and like, not judged by any person, let alone technology. And so I just think there's a whole soft side to these things that I deeply undervalued. You know, we had that Tolens guy on who's created a AI, like fuzzy, like bear, like a little animal Tamagotchi type thing that you can chat with.

8. 25:02

   And I think they're on like a almost $100 million run rate or something crazy like that. Like somebody said that it's in the tens of millions, if not getting close to a hundred million run rate. And I asked, I was talking to a buddy who, you know, six, seven guy, like builds things with his hands. Is it works in tech? And he's like, yeah, I wanted to check it out. You got friends like that? I got a friend like that.

9. 25:27

   Wow, cool. I talked to him and he's like, yeah, I heard the episode or whatever. And I download the app. And I know how this shit works. It's AI. It's not a real companion. It's not my real friend. And, you know, it just hits him up and it's like, what are you doing today? Like, send me a selfie. And then he's just goofing around. So he's like, sends a selfie, just like being stupid, like making an ugly face on purpose.

10. 25:51

    and the thing is like, oh, is that Overwatch in the background? And he's like, do you play? And he's like, yeah, yeah, I play. It's like, are you good? He's like, well, you know, I'm on my way to Platinum. And then it's like, well, who do you main? He's like, Reinhardt usually, but it's like, what do you like? The new update's pretty sick for Reinhardt. He's like, well, yeah, I mean, it's pretty good.

11. 26:12

    He's like, oh shit, it's happening. It's becoming my friend. He's like, I know what it's doing to me. And still, I was kind of like, wow, this thing takes a lot of interest in me and there's something in all of us that we're just like drawn to responding to when something takes deep interest in us in a non-judgmental, supportive way that's always there for you 24-7 whenever you need it. So I think that was one of my observations that the soft side is just as important, if not more important than raw intelligence.

12. 26:44

    I'm eager to hear, I know you're doing observations,