This AI tells you what your friends won't

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When I scraped my car in the parking garage, I was worried that it could be a long process to take care of it, like a landscaper's first day trimming a hedge maze.

[hedge trimmer] I have definitely already been here. Now, was it left, right or right, left? Well, maybe I'll cut a path out and find my way back later.

[hedge trimmer] But it wasn't like that. I filed a claim in under two minutes on the Geico app, and they handled it from there. It was taken care of almost as quickly as it happened.

It feels good to get help quick. It feels good to Geico.

[instrumental music] One thing that people will misconstrue Hivemind as is a toxic bullying, gossiping thing. The fundamental point of alignment for Hivemind is what we define our idea of a good story. It wants people to live good stories.

Is gossip good? That's the motto of Hivemind, a new AI service from visionary founder Jason Yuan. Where most AIs today search the internet for answers, Hivemind asks your friends. What do people think of your new do? Who should you date? What's the hot new spot to try? Hivemind cleverly solicits answers and weaves them all together, all through iMessage.

It went to one of my friends in New York City, and it was like, "Do you know any wine bars where non-[censored] boys go to?"

[laughs]

And she was like, "What the [censored] kind of question is this?"

[laughs]

Like, what are you trying to do?

Today we bring you an exclusive conversation with Jason covering his spicy launch video, Hivemind's origins, the ethical ramifications of AI systems like this, and much more. I'm Ellis Hamburger, founder of Meaning, a storytelling studio for tech companies. My co-host Alex is off this week on a private offsite with his AIs. Hmm. Without further ado, welcome to Access. Jason, my old friend, welcome to the show. First question, how are you doing? I know you've been through some BS over the 72 hours before launch, including-

Oh my God

... what was it? You, did you drop your MacBook on your toe-

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

... as you prepped the final video rough cut for your launch?

Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I'm very clumsy, you know. Um, so I'm like stumbling up- around in my... I mean, the, the floor is very slippery, so I just... You know, I dropped my computer and then my instinct was like, "Oh, no, the video. What, [laughs] what body part do I sacrifice to keep the video-"

[laughs]

"... you know, for the art?" Um, so I stuck my toe out literally. Is that where the-

To catch it

... saying comes from? To... I caught, I caught... Well, the, the video is, is, you can... It's, it's, it, you know, it works. Um-

Yes

... we didn't lose, we didn't lose anything. Um, but, uh, my, my toe, my, my foot is not h- happy with me