#14 Phoenix Rising: Harnessing Collective Intelligence and AI for a New Dawn – with Stephen Messer

In this episode, we meet Stephen Messer, an active serial entrepreneur, founder of Collective[i], and co-founder of LinkShare. Stephen has been an investor in the digital economy since the commercialization of the Internet. He is also an angel investor, a winner of several prestigious entrepreneurial awards, an affiliated research fellow at Columbia Business School, and a prominent speaker and keynote on technology and Artificial Intelligence. He has been featured in the NYTimes, WSJ, Fortune, Forbes, and other top publications.

Stephen has an exceptional talent for identifying and activating new and disruptive business avenues with technology and AI. In this conversation, we dive into his mission to help people and companies prosper by building a foundation model for financial decision-making. We also discuss his thoughts on unleashing our full potential through AI, disruptive innovation, the road to Artificial General Intelligence, seed investments, and his close collaboration with his sister and family. Underlying it all is a profound vision for expanding human and societal potentials.

I hope this interview can catch a glimpse of how a brilliant mind grasps opportunities from the deconstruction and reconstruction of complexities.

Thank you to our sponsor Nomono for the amazing podcast kit: https://nomono.co/

Recommended sources:

1. Collective[i] website: www.collectivei.com

2. Forecast, a 90-minute weekly online event that highlights innovation and leadership that will impact society: www.ciforecast.com.

Timestamps: 01:16:51

[00:00:00] Intro.

[00:01:44] Sponsor: Nomono Podcasting Kit.

[00:02:51] How his journey started.

[00:05:25] Building LinkShare and disrupting the advertisement industry.

[00:19:09] Selling LinkShare and the process of company acquisitions.

[00:26:25] Building Collective Intelligence and disrupting economic decision-making with foundational AI models.

[00:34:52] AI as a cognitive revolution disrupting workflows and workflow software.

[00:41:52] The road to Artificial General Intelligence and Super Intelligence.

[00:44:00] Fear-driven AI debates, unintended and intended aims, and effects of regulation.

[00:51:55] Fear of unlocking our full potential and the opportunity to unleash it with AI.

[00:57:05] A responsibility to lift people by embracing AI in companies and education.

[01:03:49] Being a seed investor and opportunities to learn about new areas and use cases.

[01:07:39] Space, quantum, AI, and quantum technology.

[01:09:48] Collaborating with his sister and family.

[01:14:55] Outro and commentary.