Podcast > Unscaled > EPISODE 3
Algorithmic Canaries
How can you tell if the product that you’re creating will cause harm? What signs should Facebook have noticed long before its product wreaked havoc on democracy? There are “algorithmic canaries” to watch out for — akin to the birds used in coal mines to help detect deadly gases — now for the digital age. AI is a tool that can be harnessed to efficiently measure a product’s impact, whether good or bad.
Episode Links
1
Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts are Creating the Economy of the Future
Book by Hemant Taneja
2
General Catalyst
Venture capital firm
3
Hemant Taneja
Author of Unscaled
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Ronda Scott
Marketing Partner, General Catalyst
Show notes
Hemant Taneja’s book Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts are Creating the Economy of the Future
Venture capital firm General Catalyst
Hemant Taneja bio
Ronda Scott bio
What went wrong with the world wide web (2:01)
The problems with moving fast and breaking things (2:21)
The original goals for the Internet (3:08)
Hemant’s first internet job (4:05)
Ronda’s first internet job (4:45)
The difference between being right and being statistically right (6:30)
The biggest problems online today (7:55)
Governance doesn’t exist (8:13)
Current environment won’t support new businesses trying to do good (9:44)
Ronda’s 1972 GMC truck, “Kitten” (10:55)
Siloing has created deep divisions and polarization (11:30)
Do San Francisco’s problems reflect those of the tech industry? (12:20)
Is education better or worse today? (13:45)
Khan Academy (15:50)
Three classes of problems online (17:15)
Unintended consequences (17:25)
Intended, legal consequences (17:31)
Intended, illegal consequences (17:41)
Scale makes consequences more damaging (19:25)
Problems are the same as the 1990s, but the audience is orders of magnitude larger (20:41)
It’s time to rethink the concept of scale (22:03)
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Unscaled
Welcome to the Unscaled Series, featuring Phil Libin in conversation with General Catalyst's Ronda Scott and Hemant Taneja. Hemant's book Unscaled provides a framework for the series' discussions on what it means for a company to scale today.
Episodes (8)