Bold Names

Future of Everything listeners, here's a special presentation of Bold Names, our interview series where you'll hear from the leaders of the bold-named companies featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Marc Benioff is one of the most outspoken names in tech. The billionaire co-founder of customer relationship software company Salesforce has been pivoting the company’s focus to artificial intelligence agents to help its clients manage customer service and other needs. But he has some strong opinions about how others are promoting AI, from how Microsoft is marketing its Copilot feature to companies like Amazon buying up nuclear power contracts for their data centers. And yet he says he’s as excited about AI as he was the day that Apple’s Steve Jobs sent him one of the first iPhones. So what can AI actually do, and what’s a ‘fantasy’? Benioff speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode two of our interview series Bold Names.

Check out Episode 1 in the Tech News Briefing Feed: Bold Names: Why This Tesla Pioneer Says the Cheap EV Market 'Sucks' 

Further Reading

A Powerful AI Breakthrough Is About to Transform the World 

With ‘Founder Mode,’ Silicon Valley Makes Micromanaging Cool 

AI Agents Can Do More Than Answer Queries. That Raises a Few Questions.  

At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits 

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 Have you heard the latest hit podcast? It’s called Deep Dive. It features two relatable hosts, and it’s about whatever you want. That’s because it’s created by you and artificial intelligence. Google released an experimental audio feature as part of its personalized AI research assistant, NotebookLM. On this week’s Science of Success, Ben Cohen speaks with WSJ reporter Deepa Seetharaman about how this tech works, when it doesn’t and what makes those AI voices so convincing.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Hollywood studios are making big bets that artificial-intelligence models could help make movie magic cheaper than ever, including in the visual effects industry. And after Lions Gate Entertainment announced a new partnership with Runway to develop new tools trained on its catalog, AI may be even more integrated in the production process. Host Danny Lewis speaks with editor, director and producer Jon Dudkowski, who has worked on shows including “Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Umbrella Academy” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” He gives us a peek behind the scenes at how movies and TV are made, and how AI could change the industry.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

Lionsgate, Studio Behind ‘John Wick,’ Signs Deal With AI Startup Runway  

Who Owns SpongeBob? AI Shakes Hollywood’s Creative Foundation 

Meet Hollywood’s AI Doomsayer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt 

The Outlook for Streaming: How Netflix Sees It  

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Videogame cartridges and discs have mostly been replaced by downloads. Now, some console makers like Microsoft want to move videogames into the cloud-streaming business. Joost van Dreunen, an industry analyst and CEO of market research firm Aldora, joins WSJ’s Danny Lewis to talk about the new technology behind streaming complex, interactive videogames and how it could change the multibillion-dollar industry.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

Xbox Lost the Console War. Now It’s Redefining Gaming. 

The Tricky—but Potentially Lucrative—Task of Streaming Videogames 

Microsoft Plans Boldest Games Bet Since Activision Deal, Changing How ‘Call of Duty’ Is Sold 

The Road Ahead for Xbox with Phil Spencer 

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Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick says we all have stories to tell and that artificial intelligence can help. This summer, the activist, author and CEO launched Lumi Story AI. Backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, Kaepernick says the platform is meant to “democratize storytelling.” WSJ’s Andrew Beaton interviewed Kaepernick last week at WSJ Tech Live about the new venture and what his many life experiences have taught him about being a CEO.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Most athletes’ competitive years are in their 20s and 30s, but 61-year-old Ni Xia Lian has been playing professional table tennis for nearly 50 years. The Chinese-born Luxembourgish table-tennis player was one of the oldest athletes at this summer’s Paris Olympics. On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen speaks with Ni and Tommy Danielsson, her coach and husband, about how she’s maintained her longevity in competitive sports.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Life expectancy has been increasing over the years, and so has the longevity business. WSJ health and wellness reporter Alex Janin tells WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg about the booming business of extending our healthy years and our lives overall. But, despite the increase in life expectancy in the past few generations, some scientists believe we’ve already reached a plateau. WSJ health and science reporter Amy Dockser Marcus looks at the debate over the limits to longevity and finds that, no matter the hype, some scientists think you won’t live to 100. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading: 

Think You Will Live to 100? These Scientists Think You’re Wrong 

The Longevity Vacation: Poolside Lounging With an IV Drip 

The Longevity Clinic Will See You Now—for $100,000 

For This Venture Capitalist, Research on Aging Is Personal; ‘Bob Has a Big Fear of Death’ 

Outliving Your Peers Is Now a Competitive Sport 

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In the future, the drugs helping you live healthier, happier and longer may have components manufactured in space. In this conversation with WSJ’s Danny Lewis from the Future of Everything Festival in May, Eric Lasker, an executive at Varda Space Industries, and Sita Sonty, former CEO of Space Tango, discuss the advantages and limitations of space manufacturing and how it can benefit pharmaceutical development.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

Is Space the Next Manufacturing Frontier? 

Varda Hopes New Research Draws More Drugmakers to Space Factories 

How Research in Space Helps Doctors Treat People on Earth 

Space Manufacturing: Building an Economy Beyond Earth 

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More and more people are living longer lives thanks to modern technology and medicine. But what does that mean for our mental health and making sure we’re living better as well as longer? Stanford University Center on Longevity founding director Laura Carstensen digs into how the milestones of life should be reworked, and tells WSJ’s Danny Lewis how society can adapt and plan for the 100-year lifespan to become common.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

The Keys to Aging at Home? Frank Conversations and Financial Planning 

Outliving Your Peers Is Now a Competitive Sport 

Star Scientist’s Claim of ‘Reverse Aging’ Draws Hail of Criticism 

The Secret to Living to 100? It’s Not Good Habits 

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What makes your house a home? For starters, it’s spending time there, relaxing, cooking and watching TV. These days, that means lots of subscriptions, which also means lots of money. In fact, Americans spend billions of dollars on subscriptions they’ve actually forgotten about. On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen looks at the booming subscription business and ways to help you get that spending in check.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading: 

The Real Reason You’re Paying for So Many Subscriptions 

Americans Are Canceling More of Their Streaming Services 

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Whether you’re sprucing up a kitchen or gutting a house, home renovations can be stressful, complicated and expensive. But new tools using artificial intelligence are trying to take some of the struggle out of the process by helping homeowners envision their dream home and communicate with architects and contractors. WSJ real estate, architecture and design reporter Nancy Keates joins host Danny Lewis to talk about how AI is making inroads into home renovations.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

Stressing Over Your Next Home Renovation Project? Let AI Handle It. 

The Big Risk for the Market: Becoming an AI Echo Chamber 

United Arab Emirates Fund in Talks to Invest in OpenAI 

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What if you had a robot that could take care of your household chores, from doing laundry to making dinner? When the Roomba came out over 20 years ago, it seemed like other autonomous robots for the home were not far off. But no other home robot has yet become a household name. WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Charlie Kemp, co-founder and chief technology officer of Hello Robot, about his company's dexterous robot called Stretch 3.They also talk about the technological hurdles we’ll have to overcome before truly helpful robots move into our homes.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading: 

Elon Musk Says Tesla to Use Humanoid Robots Next Year 

AI Startup Making Humanoid Robots Raises $675 Million With Bezos, Nvidia in Funding Round 

Companies Brought in Robots. Now They Need Human ‘Robot Wranglers.’

Rise of the Restaurant Robots: Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Others Bet on Automation  

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The amount of electricity generated by solar panels has surged over the last decade. But while rooftop solar panels are more common than ever, the balance of solar-power generation has shifted from power systems on individual homes to large-scale commercial arrays used by utilities. WSJ’s Danny Lewis sits down with energy and climate reporter Phred Dvorak and Pvilion CEO Colin Touhey to talk about the future of home solar, and the new role it might play in the power grid.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

The Home-Solar Boom Gets a ‘Gut Punch’

The Solar Breakthrough That Could Help the U.S. Compete With China 

Why Californians Have Some of the Highest Power Bills in the U.S.

Coming Soon for Homeowners: Solar Panels That Actually Look Attractive 

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Seaweed has lots of practical applications. We use it as fertilizer, incorporate it into face creams and packaging as a plastic alternative, and we eat it. Very little of the seaweed used worldwide is grown in the U.S., which some proponents and regulators are looking to change because seaweed has been shown to have some positive effects on ecosystems. Maine-based Atlantic Sea Farms is one company looking to increase the amount of seaweed grown in U.S. waters. WSJ’s Alex Ossola speaks with Atlantic Sea Farms CEO Briana Warner about how her company is making that happen, and what it will take for seaweed aquaculture to truly scale in the U.S.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading: 

A Seaweed Crop Finds a Spot in Maine Waters 

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It seems like every airline has a different way of boarding a plane. But which way works best? Astrophysicist Jason Steffen has spent his career trying to crack the deepest mysteries of the universe, and 15 years ago he discovered and published what he says is the optimal boarding strategy. So why aren’t all commercial airlines using it? On the Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen looks at what goes into planning the most efficient boarding process and what airlines are doing to help customers have a smooth entry to their flights. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

The Astrophysicist Who Has a Better Way to Board Airplanes 

Southwest Airlines Is Ditching Open Seating on Flights 

Southwest Fans Wonder if the Airline Has Changed Forever 

It Can’t Be This Hard to Board a Plane 

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The Pokémon videogame series has always been about traveling the world. But eight years after the launch of the mobile-phone game Pokémon Go, some players are taking that to extremes by using the game as a tool to plan their real-life travels. Salvador Rodriguez joins host Danny Lewis to talk about the people circling the globe in order to catch and trade the digital monsters.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

The Adults Who Book Vacations Based on…. Pokémon? 

Science of Success: The Mind at Work Behind an Iconic Song 

How Pokémon Became a Monster Hit 

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The Concorde has long been retired, but future skies may be filled with aircraft that can go even faster, criss-crossing the world in a matter of hours. Hypersonic engines that are being developed for military and government applications, like defense, drones and missiles, could one day propel future planes much faster than conventional engines for less money. Host Danny Lewis looks at the technical and business obstacles, and finds out what it would take to make hypersonic air travel a reality. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

Silicon Valley’s Next Mission: Help the U.S. Catch China and Russia in Hypersonic Weapons 

How Hypersonic Flight Could Transform Transatlantic Flights 

Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them 

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From flights to hotels to entire itineraries, AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini Advanced can help you plan your next vacation. In fact, more than 30% of “active leisure travelers” have used artificial intelligence for travel planning, according to MMGY global, a travel marketing agency. But how soon might these bots go from travel planning tool to travel planning agent? WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Google’s Amar Subramanya, vice president of engineering for Gemini experiences, about the future of using AI for travel planning.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading: 

How Well Can AI Plan Your Next Trip? We Tested Gemini and ChatGPT 

Don’t Trust an AI Chatbot With All Your Travel Plans Just Yet 

AI Apps For Travel 

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What makes for a luxury strawberry? Is it the taste? Texture? Color? Around five years ago, berry company Driscoll’s released a new, premium line of berries with a higher price tag. Some consumers are shelling out almost 70% more to get their hands on this fancy fruit. But what are the qualities of a premium berry? On this Science of Success, we delve into the food science behind breeding and selling Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch, from creating more objective benchmarks for the highly subjective experience of taste to how the company works with supertasters and sensory analysts to create the best possible berry.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

Why America’s Berries Have Never Tasted So Good 

How Designer Fruit Is Taking Over the Grocery Store 

Trying to Breed Better Fruit 

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Restaurants are a tough business with tight margins, from the cost of food to paying for staff. Kernel, the new venture by Steve Ells, the founder and former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, is trying to fix that by introducing food-making robots and a "digital-first" approach to restaurants. In this conversation from the WSJ Global Food Forum in June, reporter Heather Haddon talks with Ells about his new bet on consumers’ desire to eat less meat, and on a business model that could solve some of the industry’s thorny challenges.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

Further reading:

Rise of the Restaurant Robots: Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Others Bet on Automation 

How Chipotle’s Founder Is Moving Beyond Burritos 

Chipotle’s Labor Costs Are Rising. Customers Will See It in Pricing. 

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To hear proponents talk about it, seaweed could solve a whole lot of problems. It could feed people, restore polluted habitats and be an economic boost for fishermen. Though seaweed aquaculture has grown in the U.S. in recent years, the country produced less than 1% of the global seaweed crop in 2019. Now, some companies are trying to get seaweed aquaculture to scale in the U.S. But there are regulatory hurdles to overcome, and researchers have questions about how a scaled industry would affect existing ecosystems. WSJ’s Alex Ossola looks at what it will take to make seaweed a bigger part of the American diet in the future.  

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

Inside the Quest for a Super Kelp That Can Survive Hotter Oceans 

Cows Make Climate Change Worse. Could Seaweed Help? 

A Sargassum Bloom Is Hitting Florida: What to Know About the Seaweed Mass 

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No more mealy apples and flavorless oranges. There’s a growing category of produce available in your local grocery store: fruits and vegetables that have been carefully bred with flavor in mind. But these more delicious varieties tend to come in premium packaging—with a premium price to boot. WSJ contributor Elizabeth G. Dunn tells host Alex Ossola how this produce is bred and whether we can expect to see more of it in the future. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

This Strawberry Will Blow Your Mind: Inside the Startlingly Delicious World of Designer Produce 

The Race to Save Ketchup: Building a Tomato for a Hotter World 

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They’re ugly. They’re clunky. They’re loud. And, worst of all, they spike your energy bills every summer. The window air conditioner is a dreaded summer staple in many homes. But one company is redefining how an AC functions by thinking outside the typical window box. For Science of Success, WSJ’s Ben Cohen tells the story of Midea’s U-shaped window AC that captured the collective consciousness for its noise reduction and energy efficiency.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

How Did the World’s Coolest Air Conditioner Get So Hot? 

The Race to Build a Better Air Conditioner

Does Turning Off Your A/C When You’re Not Home Actually Save Money? 

My Love Affair With Air-Conditioning 

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Our climate is changing. In the last 100 years, the planet has warmed about 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to NASA. But how can we learn more about our planet’s climate and what we can do to slow the changes? Gavin A. Schmidt, a top NASA climate scientist and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, spoke with WSJ reporter Emily Glazer at the Future of Everything Festival on May 22, 2024 about the future of climate science and the data NASA is collecting on the Earth by looking at it from space.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

2023 Was the Hottest Year on Record 

Extreme Heat, Floods, Fire: Was Summer 2023 the New Normal? 

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2023 was the world’s hottest year on record, and temperatures are expected to continue heating up. Cities, where more than half of the world lives, are contending with this extreme heat. But some places, such as Singapore, are looking for ways to modify aspects of their cities to make them more comfortable for people to live. The Cooling Singapore project is creating a hyper detailed digital twin of the city-state to be able to test the effectiveness of new methods the city would want to implement. WSJ’s Alex Ossola explains what they’ve learned, and how it can help us understand how more cities in the future might make changes to combat heat. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

The Cooling Singapore 2.0 project, funded by the Singapore Nat ional Research Foundation, is led by the Singapore ETH Centre in partnership with Cambridge CARES, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), and TUMCREATE (established by the Technical University of Munich).

2023 Was the Hottest Year on Record 

Earth Just Had Its Hottest Month Ever. How Six Cities Are Coping. 

How Reflective Paint Brings Down Scorching City Temperatures 

These Photos Show How Urban Growth Fuels Extreme Heat 

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What good is a future without ketchup or pasta sauce? These are just two potential casualties of a changing climate, as tomato growers face shrinking harvests due to hotter and drier weather. WSJ reporter Patrick Thomas takes us behind the scenes of how seed breeders are trying to make a tomato that can thrive with less water, and how that highlights the efforts going into protecting crops against the effects of climate change.

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What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

Further reading:

The Race to Save Ketchup: Building a Tomato for a Hotter World 

How to Eat Your Way to a Greener Planet 

Sustainable Agriculture Gets a Push From Big Corporations 

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 How did a sandal that originally entered the U.S. market as a health product become a fashion staple and the crowning shoe of a multibillion dollar company? Margot Fraser originally brought Birkenstocks to the U.S. thinking that the comfort of the German sandal would appeal to women. But she couldn’t get shoe stores to sell them. They finally made it into the U.S. market through health food stores. Now, the seductively ugly shoe is a cultural icon and was valued at about $8.6 billion when the company went public last year. WSJ’s Ben Cohen explores the history of Birkenstock and how it paved the way for the future of women’s feet.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

Further reading: 

Why Americans Are Obsessed With These Ugly Sandals 

A Key to Birkenstock’s Billion Dollar Success? Its Frumpiest Shoe 

A Visual History of Birkenstock’s Rise, From Insoles to IPO 

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How does your doctor know that a drug or procedure will work to treat a condition before they try it? Often, they don’t. Researchers are looking to create “digital twins,” digital versions of individual organs, to see how a patient will respond. Eventually there could be digital twins of entire bodies that are updated in real time with patient data. WSJ’s Alex Ossola speaks with WSJ senior special writer Stephanie Armour about how that might change the way we treat diseases in the future. 

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading: A ‘Digital Twin’ of Your Heart Lets Doctors Test Treatments Before Surgery  

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Ultrasound is known for its use in imaging during pregnancy. But new advancements in the technology suggest that in the future, ultrasound could be used to disrupt the blood-brain barrier. This would allow doctors to more easily diagnose and directly treat illnesses like brain cancer without major surgery. WSJ’s Danny Lewis and Charlotte Gartenberg examine the new ways that ultrasound could be used more specifically and subtly to deliver accurate diagnoses and precise treatments.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected]

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Further reading:

New Ultrasound Therapy Could Help Treat Alzheimer’s, Cancer 

Treatment Breakthrough for an Intractable Brain Cancer 

The ‘Mini Brains’ solving medical mysteries and raising concerns

We Can Now See the Brain Like Never Before 

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A day when people can interact directly with computers using their thoughts could be on the horizon. Several companies, including Elon Musk’s Neuralink, have begun preliminary human trials of brain-computer interfaces - devices that decode the electrical signals in their brain and translate them into digital bits. Neurosurgeon Benjamin Rapoport is a co-founder and chief science officer of Precision Neuroscience, a company working on brain-computer interfaces. He spoke with WSJ’s Danny Lewis about how the technology works and how these implants could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who could gain the ability to independently engage with the digital world.

Correction: Dr. Benjamin Rapoport is the co-founder of Precision Neuroscience. An earlier version misspelled his name Rapaport. (Corrected on May 3)

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

Further reading:

Inside the Operating Room: Doctors Test a Revolutionary Brain-Computer Implant 

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Wants to Make ‘The Matrix’ a Reality. It Has a Lot to Prove First. 

She Didn’t Speak for 18 Years. A Computer Helped Find Her Voice. 

The Devices That Will Read Your Brain—and Enhance It 

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