It feels strange writing that sentence. For a long time, this existed only as an idea.

Two people. Two continents. One conversation. The future of being human.

Why? Because we have been asking each other a very simple question.

What does it mean to be human in the age of AI?

We have evolved from asking “Will AI save the world?” or “Will AI destroy humanity?” - to “How do we coexist and co-create in a world where humanity is no longer the leading actor?”.

Eventually, we realized the conversations we were already having privately, were probably the same conversations many other people were also having quietly in their own worlds. It’s the silent inquiries that remain unvoiced, perhaps because of a lingering suspicion that everyone else has already uncovered the answers, or they’re just too scared to ask.

We are louder than that, and that’s precisely why this podcast exists. We are Az Zaver and César Ramírez, two colleagues who became friends from opposite sides of the world. We both work inside a multinational organization, in one of the world’s most consequential industries, during one of the biggest technological shifts any of us are likely to ever experience.

Every day we’re working on new technologies, new ideas and new opportunities, which is an incredible privilege and something we are very proud of. But what feels like an even greater privilege is being able to stop, reflect, and share those experiences with other people.

We are not experts or influencers standing on a stage. We are two humans trying to understand what is happening while we’re living through it.

Everything we discuss comes from somewhere that we experience for real.

It might come from projects we’ve worked on, mistakes we’ve made, conversations we’ve had, fears we’ve carried, our different childhoods and cultures, and even our different job roles. But what isn’t different is that we both want to talk about it through the lens of one shared curiosity.

EPISODE 1. FEAR.

What are you afraid of?

Fear felt like the only place to begin. Every major technological revolution has started with uncertainty. But during our conversation something unexpected happened, we slowly realized that many of our fears weren’t actually about AI.

They were about ourselves.

To accompany the episode, we wanted to capture the specific moments that stayed with us long after the microphones were turned off. Here they are listed and time-coded below.

03:30 What actually is AI?

We started with the simplest question because it’s surprisingly difficult to answer. We unpacked AI as probability rather than certainty, guessing their way to an answer, and why large language models don’t “know” things in the way humans do.

🎧 Listen: 03:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=210s)

06:30 Is AI learning from humanity or inheriting our flaws?

If AI is trained on everything humanity has written, then it is also trained on everything humanity has got wrong. Bias. Hallucinations. Bad actors. History. Can we ever build objective intelligence from subjective data?

🎧 Listen: 06:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=390s)

11:20 Why does AI feel so addictive?

Instant output. Instant answers. Instant gratification. Instant confidence. We talked honestly about how quickly AI can become something we rely on, and what happens when convenience starts replacing conversation.

🎧 Listen: 11:20 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=680s)

17:30 Does your biology even know it is AI?

One of our favorite moments in the episode was exploring an idea from neuroscience. Humans have evolved nervous systems that constantly assess the people around us. Is this person a friend, a threat, or someone we can trust? What happens when the thing we’re talking to isn’t a person but makes us feel like they are? Millions of people already speak to AI as though it’s not a machine, and our own biology has already begun responding to it as if it already is.

🎧 Listen: 17:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=1050s)

20:30 Children are growing up talking to machines.

One of the most thought-provoking parts of the episode. We want to ensure technology and tools enhance the human connection rather than replacing it. But how will future generations distinguish friendship from simulation?

🎧 Listen: 20:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=1230s)

29:30 Your CFO is shi**ing bricks.

Everyone talks about AI replacing jobs but hardly anyone talks about the token bill. We discussed the industry’s shift from simple subscription pricing towards consumption-based models, and why CFOs may become some of the biggest decision-makers in AI adoption.

🎧 Listen: 29:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=1770s)

39:50 When AI actually creates too much value.

The sheer scale of what technology can achieve is genuinely incredible. But its real significance emerges when it addresses the problems that actually matter, until there are no longer any further problems to solve. We shared examples from our own work where AI helped reduce costs dramatically and accelerate work that genuinely matters.

🎧 Listen: 39:50 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=2390s)

50:15 Our favorite moment. Our biggest fears.

If you asked both of us what our favorite part of the conversation was, it was the moment we became honest about our own personal fears. Competition, and not working hard enough. We were both honest about our fears. Those weren’t rehearsed. They were genuine human moments that stayed with us long after we stopped recording.

🎧 Listen: 50:15 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=3015s)

54:00 When there is too much AI-generated value in the economy?

If every industry suddenly accelerates, flooding our global markets with a massive surge in productivity and output, does the supply of what we create simply outpace our collective need? It leaves us questioning a fundamental reality: who will still have a role to play when the machines are doing it all?

🎧 Listen: 54:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=3240s)

59:00 The fear of our own expectations.

The episode ended somewhere neither of us expected. Perhaps the greatest fear isn’t AI at all. Perhaps it’s our expectations. The pressure to become faster. More productive. Always available. Always improving. Maybe that’s the thing we should be questioning most.

🎧 Listen: 59:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hkYtAk3KI&t=3540s)

And we’d love to ask you one question as well.

What is your biggest fear about AI?

Not the headline. Not the narrative. Your fear.

Maybe it isn’t AI at all. Maybe it’s keeping up, raising children, or your career. Maybe it’s becoming disconnected from other people. Or maybe you’re excited and have no fear whatsoever. Whatever your perspective, we’d genuinely love to hear it. Whether you listen to the full conversation or jump to the sections above, we hope something resonates.

Keep the conversation human. - Az Zaver and César Ramírez.

MACHINE ACTOR. EPISODE 1. FEAR.

🎙️ Listen Now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-fear/id6790799556?i=1000776760882Amazon

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/c9eb0714-f54a-42b0-aed3-54ac0eaf7f3b/episodes/b9c46bac-ce04-472e-8f1c-36087a4ce713/machine-actor-episode-1-fear:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/c9eb0714-f54a-42b0-aed3-54ac0eaf7f3b/episodes/b9c46bac-ce04-472e-8f1c-36087a4ce713/machine-actor-episode-1-fear:

YouTube:

• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/machineactor

P.S. If our initial conversation sparked a curiosity within you, we would be honored to have you join us for EPISODE 2. FRIEND. Because beneath the surface of technology, we are all exploring a deeper question…is it truly possible to find friendship in a machine? Make sure to follow us to be the first to know when our new podcasts are published.

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