Aaron Levie, CEO & co-founder of Box, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how an “AI-first” mindset is reshaping every layer of Box – from product road-maps to pricing – and what that teaches the rest of us about building faster, smarter organisations.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Episode trailer

(02:04) The "lump of labor fallacy" in sci-fi books

(07:37) When individual productivity gains don’t translate to teams

(12:32) Box’s Friday AI demos

(21:23) How agents might redefine 100 years of management science

(26:37) A lesson on AI innovation from the early days of Ford

(29:52) Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Sergey Brin are coding again?

(35:16) Pricing in a post-AI agent world

(38:43) Cheaper tokens, heavier usage: AI’s margin math

(43:02) Solving AI’s verifiability problem

(48:24) How Aaron uses AI in his personal life

Aaron's links:

• Box: https://www.box.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boxaaron/
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/levie

Azeem’s links:

• Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
• Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/azeem

This conversation was recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, live every Friday at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET. Catch it via Exponential View on Substack.

Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd

Lennart Heim, a researcher and information scientist at RAND Corporation, joins Azeem Azhar to unpack a provocative claim: China is catching up with US AI capabilities, but it doesn't matter.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Episode trailer

(01:19) Lennart’s core thesis

(03:26)   Why compute matters so much

(07:31)  The investment split between model R&D and model execution

(11:18)  How test-time compute impacts costs

(16:14) The geopolitics of compute

(21:32) Why does the U.S have more compute capacity than China?

(25:01)  The trade-off between economic needs and national-security needs

(31:54)  How technology change might shift the battlegrounds

(35:33)  Dealing with compute and power concentration

(48:19)  Concluding quick-fire question

Lennart's links:

• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ohlennart
• Personal blog: https://heim.xyz/

Azeem's links:

• Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
• Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack.

Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd

Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, joins Azeem to discuss the Iberian blackout and how we can create a more stable, flexible, and resilient energy grid for the future. This conversation digs into grid technology, market structures, and the real opportunities of the clean energy transition.

• (00:00) Episode trailer
• (01:38)  What caused the Iberian blackout?
• (04:55)  Managing load in traditional vs renewable grids
• (11:57) The role of market incentives
• (18:13)  Greg's social experiments within the UK grid
• (23:49)  How the "virtual power plant" is becoming a reality
• (26:59)  The path to completing the renewable energy transition
• (33:15)  Are lobbyists slowing down the transition?
• (36:26)  What does the next 5-10 years look like?
• (40:42)  Why the name "Octopus?"

Greg's links:

• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/g__j
• LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gregsjackson
• Octopus Energy: https://octopus.energy/

Azeem's links:

• Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
• Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem