American agriculture is experiencing a technological transformation that will fundamentally change how we cultivate, monitor, and optimize our food production. In this episode of Working Intelligence: Making Americans Irreplaceable, Andrew Nelson—a software engineer and fifth-generation farmer overseeing 7,500 acres in Eastern Washington—breaks down how AI and precision technology are driving one of the most significant shifts in modern farming.
Join Sophie Singletary and Andrew Nelson as they discuss how AI is cutting costs and boosting efficiency through drone surveillance and satellite analysis, delivering targeted crop interventions customized to specific parcels, enhancing environmental stewardship, and deepening our knowledge of complex agricultural ecosystems. Nelson discusses how these technological tools are minimizing chemical inputs, bringing sophisticated farming methods within reach of diverse operations, and opening doors to possibilities that seemed impossible generations ago on his Eastern Washington family farm. This is a conversation about the remarkable potential of technology-powered agriculture, the indispensable contribution of farmers in implementing these innovations, and why this moment marks an exciting new chapter for American farms. At the intersection of two of humanity's oldest and most essential pursuits—growing food and building tools—this era for agriculture is an exciting one.
We're standing at the threshold of a medical revolution that will reshape how we diagnose, treat, and prevent disease. In this episode of Working Intelligence: Making Americans Irreplaceable, healthcare futurist and geopolitical expert Jamie Metzl explains why the Superconvergence of AI and biotechnology—the subject of his new book, out today—represents one of the most transformative breakthroughs in the history of medicine.
Join Sophie Singletary and Jamie Metzl as they explore how AI is already accelerating drug discovery, enabling personalized medicine tailored to individual genetic profiles, supercharging economies, and expanding our understanding of human biology. Metzl reveals why this convergence of technologies will extend human healthspan, make cutting-edge treatments accessible to billions, and unlock medical innovations we can hardly imagine today.
This is a conversation about the extraordinary promise of AI-driven healthcare, the critical choices we face in ensuring these breakthroughs benefit everyone, and why we're living through the most hopeful moment in the history of medicine.
On the eve of the 24th anniversary of September 11th, Jordan Hirsch sits down with Mike Gallagher—former Marine Corps intelligence officer, seven-year Congressman, and current Palantirian—for a conversation about American resilience and innovation.
From his deployments in Iraq to the halls of Congress, Mike witnessed firsthand how Americans adapt to meet existential challenges. In this episode, he draws parallels between the post-9/11 transformation of America's strategy to fight terrorism and its present-day technological competition with China, making the case for why AI must amplify—not replace—American workers.
Mike shares insights on reindustrializing America's defense base, real examples of AI empowering shipyard workers and dairy farmers, and why he's optimistic that American ingenuity, supercharged by AI that augments human judgement and creativity, will secure our future.
For the first time since the 1970s, we're witnessing a breakthrough that could reignite economic growth and human progress. In this inaugural episode of Working Intelligence: The AI Optimism Project, economist Tyler Cowen explains why AI represents what he calls a 'major civilizational advance' — one that will finally end the Great Stagnation that has constrained productivity for half a century.
Join Sophie Singletary and Tyler Cowen as they explore how AI is already democratizing access to medical and legal expertise, why America's deep capital markets and entrepreneurial culture position it to lead—and win—the AI revolution, and what the energy demands of AI mean for American independence. Cowen argues that far from destroying jobs, AI will unleash a wave of new ventures and creative work by eliminating routine tasks and making it radically easier to start a company.
This is a conversation about why the next chapter of human progress is being written right now, and why there's never been a more exciting time to be alive.
