In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Anna Makanju, Vice President of Global Affairs at OpenAI, to explore how governments around the world are racing to understand AI’s implications, the geopolitical tensions shaping its regulation, and what it will take to ensure this technology benefits every nation. We discuss how AI could be immensely beneficial to humanity, but why Anna believes it won’t happen by default; the urgent challenge of unequal AI access and the risk of leaving communities and entire countries behind. 00:00 – Introduction 01:10 – Will AI Be a Benefit to Humanity? 02:00 – Can the World Cooperate on AI? 03:30 – AI as a Tool of Global Power 05:00 – When Companies Rival Nations 07:30 – How Do We Keep Half the World from Being Left Behind? 09:20 – The ChatGPT Moment That No One Expected 11:00 – Inside OpenAI’s Global Tour 13:00 – How World Leaders Reacted to AI Demos 15:00 – Why Governments Focus Only on Deepfakes 17:30 – The Private vs. Public Conversation on AGI 19:00 – “It Could Be Immensely Beneficial — But It Won’t Happen by Default” 21:00 – The Problem with Policymakers Who Don’t Use AI 23:00 – Fear, Misuse, and the Lawyer Who Used ChatGPT in Court 25:30 – When AI Actually Saves Lives 27:00 – What Happens When AI Enters Government 29:00 – Balancing Risk, Access, and Innovation 31:00 – Why Emerging Economies Are More Optimistic About AI 33:30 – The Future of Jobs and the Need for Reskilling 36:00 – How Fast Can Humanity Adapt? 38:30 – The Case for a New Social Safety Net 40:00 – Preparing for the Next Decade of Change 42:30 – Why Governments Must Act Before a Crisis 44:00 – Smarter Models, Safer Systems 45:30 – What Comes After Regulation 47:00 – Building a Future That Works for Everyone Listen to the show on other platforms: Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ive-got-questions-with-sinead-bovell/id1841491246 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/2fwK9NSJGXlFdVkYZ14a8O Follow my work here: Website: ⁠https://www.sineadbovell.com⁠ Substack: ⁠https://sineadbovell.substack.com⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell⁠ Twitter / X: ⁠https://twitter.com/SineadBovell⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with futurist, author, and strategic foresight professor Alexander Manu to explore how AI is reshaping the meaning of work, creativity, and identity. He explains how technology has always been a bridge to new forms of human expression, and how AI may usher in the most creative, personalized era of human history. Manu argues that we need to transcend the idea that our identity is tied to our jobs because AI is not just another tool that will change the workforce, but it’s also a mirror forcing us to ask, “What else can I become?” 0:00 – Introduction 1:15 – Why AI Makes You Ask, “What Else Can I Become?” 3:00 – The End of the Beginning for AI 5:30 – How AI Challenges Our Professional Identity 8:15 – Why Refusing New Tools Makes Us Less Relevant 11:00 – Will AI Invent a New Kind of Artist? 14:10 – From Creator to Narrator: The Next Creative Economy 16:00 – The Future of Shopping and Personalized Design 18:30 – Why the Influencer Era Will End 22:00 – Social Media’s Next Evolution 25:00 – The Philosophical Shift Toward “Becoming” 27:00 – The Device That Will Replace the Smartphone 30:00 – Ambient Computing and the Disappearing Interface 35:00 – The Meaning of Work in the Age of AI 39:00 – Universal Basic Income and the New Economic Model 43:00 – Why We Must Redefine Human Value Beyond Productivity 46:00 – Redesigning Society in the Age of AI 49:00 – The Real Meaning of Life in an Automated World Follow my work here: Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with leading AI scholar Kate Crawford, professor at USC, and author of award-winning Atlas of AI to examine the environmental, social, and ethical costs of artificial intelligence. We break down how AI is an extension of earth’s resources with giant data centers that use huge amounts of electricity, water, and minerals. We discuss how this is putting pressure on the planet and on communities that often go unseen. Kate breaks down how the global “AI race” between countries is creating new risks and what it will take from us to build technology that helps both people and the planet. 0:00 – Introduction 1:00 – Why Kate Crawford Says AI Isn’t “Virtual” — It’s Industrial 2:30 – The Hidden Environmental Cost of AI Models 4:05 – How AI Competes with Humans for Survival Resources 6:00 – Data Centers, Fossil Fuels, and Real-World Harm to Communities 8:00 – The Illusion of “Efficiency” and the Jevons Paradox 10:30 – How Behavioral Change Fuels the AI Explosion 12:00 – What Happens If We Don’t Change How We Build AI 14:00 – Why China’s Energy Strategy Is Beating the U.S. 16:00 – The False Choice: National Security or the Planet 18:00 – Shifting Responsibility from Individuals to Systems 20:00 – The Structural Design Failure Behind AI’s Carbon Footprint 22:00 – How Race Dynamics and Geopolitics Drive Destructive AI Growth 24:00 – Why Concentrated AI Power Threatens Democracy 26:00 – Nationalism, Cooperation, and the Future of Global AI Policy 28:00 – Why Technology Is Never Neutral 30:00 – The Myths and Realities of “AI for Climate” 32:00 – What Smaller, Efficient AI Could Look Like 33:00 – The Billionaire Empire Behind the AI Revolution 35:00 – AI as the Continuation of Historical Power Structures 38:00 – The Long Arc of Empires and Industrial Transformations 39:30 – When Private Tech Companies Rival Nation States 41:00 – The Next Three Years: The Most Consequential in AI History 43:00 – The Rising Threat of AI-Driven Misinformation 44:00 – The Dangerous Defunding of Science and Research 46:00 – Could a Brain Drain Lead to New Global Research Centers? 47:30 – What Individuals Can Do to Shape the AI Future 48:30 – Closing Reflections Follow my work here: Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Andrew Hessel, microbiologist, geneticist, author and pioneering voice in synthetic biology, a field that is redefining how we understand and engineer life itself. We explore what happens when biology becomes programmable and every cell, virus, and even our own DNA can be edited, rewritten, and redesigned. Andrew explains how breakthroughs in digital biology could make infertility a thing of the past, why diseases like cancer and diabetes could soon be treated at the cellular level, and how a new era of genetic surgery could let us reprogram our bodies before illness ever begins. We also unpack the ethical, emotional, and philosophical questions of what it means to live in a world where we can literally reprogram life. Follow my work here: Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/sineadbovell

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with leading AI economist, professor and author Ajay Agrawal to unpack whether AI is truly overhyped or if we’re fundamentally underestimating its long-term impact on the economy. We explore the historic parallels between AI and past pivotal moments in history, the risk of a bubble bursting in this economy and what it means for the future of work. We dive into how generative AI is already reshaping the labor market and how we can expect our jobs to evolve. We explore the impact of AI on new college graduates and how education institutions must adapt to prepare people for jobs that don’t look anything like the ones we know today. And Ajay shares the single most important skill to thrive in the future of work. 0:00 – Introduction 2:04 – Is AI Overhyped or Misunderstood? 3:39 – What Electricity Can Teach Us About AI’s Slow Start 6:22 – How Small Tweaks Triggered 500% Productivity Gains 10:25 – The Next “Amazons” Will Be AI-First Companies—But Who Wins? 13:24 – Are We Building a Data Center Bubble? 16:06 – What Happens If the “Magnificent Seven” Crash? 18:00 – Why Today’s AI Could Already Reshape Every Industry 20:12 – The Truth About Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) 23:00 – Why Entry-Level Jobs Are Disappearing First 27:05 – The #1 Skill Machines Can’t Replace 34:00 – Education’s Shift from Reading to Doing 39:01 – Rethinking the Knowledge Economy in the AI Age 43:00 – The Real Division of Labor Breakdown 47:05 – How AI Will Collapse Workflows and Redesign Industries 50:15 – What Happens To Professions on the Brink of Reinvention 52:30 – Will AI Create a Fairer Job Market or Widen the Gap? Follow my work here: Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/sineadbovell

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman to explore why AI consciousness will become the biggest debate of our generation the future of AI companions, the risks of AI “psychosis,” and how streaming intelligence will transform healthcare, work, and society. - Listen to the show on other platforms: Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ive-got-questions-with-sinead-bovell/id1841491246 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fwK9NSJGXlFdVkYZ14a8O?si=0a7e03444db24785 - Make sure to follow my work here as well: Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/Sineadbovell

I've Got Questions is your front-row seat to understanding how AI and emerging technologies are reshaping our world and your life. Hosted by futurist Sinead Bovell, the show cuts through the noise to explore what’s happening beneath the surface of today’s biggest tech shifts, and what they signal about tomorrow. Each week, Sinead sits down with the people building the tools, setting the policies, and shaping the ideas that will define the next chapter of human life. These are conversations designed to help you understand what’s changing, anticipate where things are heading, and steer toward the futures you want to live in.