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Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Joe Lonsdale
Artificial Intelligence
China
United States
Innovation
Education
Cybersecurity
Meritocracy
Taiwan
Russia
Palantir
Elon Musk
Trump Administration
Robotics
Education Reform
Social Media
Silicon Valley
Free Speech
Healthcare
University Of Austin
Police Shootings

American Optimist, hosted by Joe Lonsdale: entrepreneur, investor, and founder of four multi-billion dollar companies and other mission-driven organizations. American Optimist is an alternative to the fear, cynicism, and zero-sum thinking in mainstream media. Learn from the innovators and leaders who are solving our nation’s most pressing challenges, and doing it in a way that will lift everyone u... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes169Founded5 years ago
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Artwork for Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Latest Episodes

In the 1930s and 40s, the United States built thousands of airports; today that number is virtually zero. What happened? Why is it nearly impossible to build major new airports or even find hangar space in large cities? And how will the coming AI wea... more

Rayan Krishnan is the co-founder and CEO of Vals AI, a leader in the independent evaluation of frontier AI models. What is the science behind model evaluation? What role should independent evaluators play as we debate AI oversight? How soon will mode... more

Eric Glyman is the co-founder and CEO of Ramp, the finance platform doing over two billion in annual revenue and growing over 100 percent year per year. How did a company built on the promise of helping customers spend less become one of the fastest-... more

Scott Kupor is the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and has achieved some of the most important reforms in DC in only a couple years. How has he reduced the size of the federal government for the first time in generations? How is h... more

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Recent Guests

Rayan Krishnan
Co-founder and CEO of Vals AI; former Palantir employee and Stanford computer science student
Vals AI
Episode: Ep 167: The Company That Evaluates the AI Labs — Vals AI CEO Rayan Krishnan on Measuring Frontier Models & the Race to Recursive Self-Improvement
Vivek Gopalan
Partner at 8VC
8VC
Episode: Ep 167: The Company That Evaluates the AI Labs — Vals AI CEO Rayan Krishnan on Measuring Frontier Models & the Race to Recursive Self-Improvement
Eric Glyman
CEO of Ramp
Ramp
Episode: Ep 166: Eric Glyman on Ramp's Meteoric Growth, Selling Outcomes vs Products, and the Future of White-Collar Work
Scott Kupor
Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
OPM (Federal Government)
Episode: Ep 165: OPM Director Scott Kupor on Shrinking Government, Bringing Merit Back, and Why America’s Best Minds Should Join the U.S. Tech Force
Nick Marwell
Key member of the technical staff at Anthropic, RL Science lead
Anthropic
Episode: Ep 164: Inside Anthropic with Sholto Douglas & Nicholas Marwell — AGI, Optimism vs Risks, Regulatory Capture, Open Source & More!
Sholto Douglas
Tech lead in reinforcement learning at Anthropic
Anthropic
Episode: Ep 164: Inside Anthropic with Sholto Douglas & Nicholas Marwell — AGI, Optimism vs Risks, Regulatory Capture, Open Source & More!
John Jovanovic
President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Episode: Ep 163: John Jovanovic on Turning Around the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Trump’s $12B Critical Mineral Reserve, and "Revenge of the Physical World"
Brian Chau
Founder of Effort News, investigative journalist
Effort News
Episode: Ep 162: Brian Chau Built an AI That Uncovers Fraud — It Just Found a $21 Billion Racial Wealth Transfer
Pete Florence
CEO and co-founder of Generalist
Generalist
Episode: Ep 161: Generalist CEO Pete Florence on the Robot Revolution & Bringing General Intelligence to the Physical World

Host

Joe Lonsdale
Host of American Optimist

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 323 ratings
  • Nice

    Podcast Addict
    4
    Dee
    9 months ago
  • Spying on us

    A Palantir tech bro was just made Corporal in our military with not even basic training. What exactly are they planning, aside from spying on us. it’s definitely not good for Americans. This is what an oligarchy looks like.

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    JOYDIVISIONJG
    United Statesa year ago
  • Pretentious Amateur

    Host and guest love the sound of their own voices and annoyingly agreeable mostly anecdotal less analytical name dropping narcissist and reductive

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    Transmogrification
    United States2 years ago
  • Innovative

    If you want innovative ideas, this is the show for you!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Vance Ginn
    United States3 years ago
  • I never miss an episode

    American Optimist is an incredibly well-suited name for this podcast. In a time of incredible cynicism, Joe Lonsdale brings a stark clarity of thinking and objectivity to his interviews and his analysis of different markets and opportunities. I think what sets this podcast apart is a. the quality of the interviewees that Joe is able to get on the show, and b. the objective, insightful manner in which he interviews these individuals. Given his track record as founder of Palantir and as also as an... more

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Alden Guy
    United States3 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Host can sometimes interrupt guests, which some listeners feel diminishes interview flow.
Strong guest quality and thoughtful conversations that cover a broad range of tech and policy topics.
Audience generally appreciates optimism and practical takeaways for applying emerging tech to real-world problems.
Guests and topics regularly spark new ideas about AI, energy, and national competitiveness.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#92
United States/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#216
Canada/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#125
India/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#202
Mexico/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#208
Hong Kong/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Ep 167: The Company That Evaluates the AI Labs — Vals AI CEO Rayan Krishnan on Measuring Frontier Models & the Race to Recursive Self-Improvement
Q: You guys have a way of measuring RSI, and I think you've talked about it a bunch. Do you want to explain to the audience?
Krishnan says Vals AI's RSI index tracks proxies for AI researchers' work on pre-training, post-training, and harness engineering, comparing model performance with human baselines. Based on its latest estimates, Anthropic could reach full RSI by July or August 2027.
Ep 167: The Company That Evaluates the AI Labs — Vals AI CEO Rayan Krishnan on Measuring Frontier Models & the Race to Recursive Self-Improvement
Q: What even is this whole model evaluation space?
Krishnan describes evaluation as measuring whether models can produce desired outputs and whether they present asymmetric risks. Vals AI assesses capabilities and risks, including how long models can work without human intervention.
Ep 165: OPM Director Scott Kupor on Shrinking Government, Bringing Merit Back, and Why America’s Best Minds Should Join the U.S. Tech Force
Q: What is Tech Force and how does it differ from previous approaches?
Tech Force brings 1,000 top engineers into government teams for two years, placed under agency leadership to drive modernization, rather than scattered, piecemeal placements.
Ep 165: OPM Director Scott Kupor on Shrinking Government, Bringing Merit Back, and Why America’s Best Minds Should Join the U.S. Tech Force
Q: How did you manage the scale of the workforce reduction, and what did you learn?
Reducing 300,000+ workers required clear, defensible policies, severance when needed, and then institutionalizing efficiency as a first-class goal to ensure long-term sustainability.
Ep 165: OPM Director Scott Kupor on Shrinking Government, Bringing Merit Back, and Why America’s Best Minds Should Join the U.S. Tech Force
Q: What has surprised you most about working in DC so far?
The dedication of many public servants who believe in the mission, alongside the stark reality of systemic incentives that need realignment to elevate performance and accountability.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

What is Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show tends to center on technology, entrepreneurship, and policy with a forward-looking lens. Episodes frequently explore AI, software automation, national security implications of tech, energy and industrial strategy, and how innovative leaders apply capital, policy, and engineering to real-world problems. A notable pattern is deep-dive conversations with founders, VCs, and policy technologists about practical implications, long-term incentives, and America's competitive posture. The format often blends personal origin stories with big-picture bets on productivity, infrastructure, and governance, and the host's optimistic framing aims to translate complex topics into actionable insights for listeners building or investing in the next w... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist:

1. BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley
2. All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
3. Sourcery
4. The a16z Show
5. Cheeky Pint

How many episodes of Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist are there?

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist launched 5 years ago and published 169 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist?

Recent guests on Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist include:

1. Rayan Krishnan
2. Vivek Gopalan
3. Eric Glyman
4. Scott Kupor
5. Nick Marwell
6. Sholto Douglas
7. John Jovanovic
8. Brian Chau

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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