Reid Hoffman challenges your thinking on AI, governance, and politics

The latest episode of The Eric Ries Show features my conversation with Reid Hoffman. Executive Vice President of PayPal, co-founder of LinkedIn, and legendary investor at Greylock Partners are just a few of his official roles that have changed our world. He’s also been a mentor to countless founders of iconic companies like Airbnb, Facebook, and OpenAI. He’s an author, a podcast host – both Masters of Scale and his new show, Possible, with Aria Finger – and perhaps most importantly a crucial steward of AI, including co-founding Inflection AI, a Public Benefit Corporation, in 2022. Reid has also long been a voice of moral clarity and a stabilizing influence on the tech ecosystem, supporting people who are working to make the world a better place at every level. He’s a firm believer that “the way that we express ourselves over time is by being citizens of the polis – tribal members.” That includes not just supporting the legal system and democratic process but also building organizations “from the founding and through scaling and ongoing iteration to have a functional and healthy society.” We talked about all of this, as well as AI, from multiple angles – including the story of how he came to broker the first meeting between Sam Altman and Satya Nadella that led to the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership. He also had a lot to say about how AI will work as a meta-tool for all the other tools we use. We are, as he said,” homo techne,” – meaning we evolve through the technology we make. We also broke down his famous saying that “entrepreneurship is like jumping off a cliff and assembling the plane on the way down” and: • The human tendency to form groups • The relationship between doing good for people and profits • AI as a meta-tool • What he looks for in a leader • The necessity of evolving culture • Being willing to take public positions • His thoughts on the economy and the upcoming election — Brought to you by: Mercury – The art of simplified finances. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠. DigitalOcean – The cloud loved by developers and founders alike. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up⁠⁠⁠⁠. Neo4j – The graph database and analytics leader. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠. — Where to find Reid Hoffman: • Reid’s Website: https://www.reidhoffman.org/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reidhoffman/ • X: https://x.com/reidhoffman Where to find Eric: • Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericries.carrd.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠  • Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericriesshow.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠  • X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ericries⁠⁠⁠⁠  • LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/⁠⁠⁠⁠  • YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow⁠⁠⁠⁠  — In This Episode We Cover: (01:15) Meet Reid Hoffman (06:01) The three eras of LinkedIn (08:21) The alignment of LinkedIn and Microsoft’s missions (10:39) The power of being mission-driven (18:42) Embedding culture in every function (21:08) The purpose of organizations (23:45) Organizations as tribes for human expression (29:08) Reid’s advice for navigating profit vs. purpose (38:33) The moment Reid realized the AI future is actually now (41:57) Home techne (44:52) AI as meta-tool (47:05) Why Reid co-founded Inflection AI (49:53) The early days of OpenAI (55:41) How Reid introduced Sam Altman and Satya Nadella (58:26) The unusual structure of the Microsoft-OpenAI deal (1:04:42) The importance of aligning governance structure with mission (1:09:56) Making a company trustworthy through accountability  (1:15:59) Inflection’s pivot a unique model (1:19:53) Companies that are doing lean AI right (1:22:52) Reid’s advice for deploying AI effectively  (1:26:21) Being a voice of moral clarity in complicated times  (1:31:26) The economy and what’s at stake in the 2024 election (1:37:24) The qualities Reid looks for in a leader (1:39:43) Lightning round, including board games, the PayPal mafia, regulation, and more — Production and marketing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://penname.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠. Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.