AI & Optimism

If AI can do your job, what’s left for you? A lot, hopefully. Work isn’t the whole point of being alive. Brian Chau joins Jeremy Kauffman to talk about what AI is already useful for, what we should teach our kids, and whether we have good reasons to be optimistic. AI & Optimism · Free State Unplugged 00:00 Brian Chau on Finding Stories With AI 01:20 Investigating Health Equity Incentives 02:51 From Auditing Tools to Investigative Reporting 05:22 What Can One Person Do With AI? 07:54 Jobs, Progress, and the AI Doom Argument 15:25 Status, Mathematics, and Leaving Academia 21:21 What Becomes More Valuable With AI? 25:01 What Should Children Learn Now? 30:43 If AI Does the Jobs, What Remains? 35:25 Life Beyond Work 37:03 Why Does Technology Inspire Pessimism? 45:13 Where Does Optimism Come From? 49:29 Christianity, Belief, and Meaning 53:11 Fertility, Entertainment, and TikTok 55:51 Finding Brian—and a New Hampshire Favorite Recorded September 21, 2026. Free State Unplugged. Recorded and produced by the Free State Party, a private club in New Hampshire. Join us: https://freestate.party Support the Party: https://freestate.party/patron