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Artwork for What's Your Problem?
Artificial Intelligence
Climate Change
Mental Health
Robotics
Renewable Energy
Machine Learning
Energy Transition
Solar Energy
Nvidia
Solar Power
Gene Therapy
Cancer Treatment
Psychedelics
Clinical Trials
China
Drone Delivery
Wing
Transportation Technology
Amazon
AI Revolution

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with entrepreneurs and engineers tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is ... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes205Founded5 years ago
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Artwork for What's Your Problem?

Latest Episodes

In 2016, Geoffrey Hinton, one of the inventors of modern AI, predicted that AI would replace radiologists within years. Ten years later, we have a shortage of radiologists. AI has yet to revolutionize the field. What happened, and what does the story... more

After spending decades as marginal players in the global auto industry, Chinese carmakers have become the world’s biggest exporters of cars. Chinese cars are some of the best cars on the planet, and they’re available almost everywhere – except in the... more

Phages are viruses that attack bacteria. People have been using phages to treat infections for over a hundred years, but in most cases they just don't work as well as antibiotics.

Paul Garofolo is the co-founder and CEO of Locus Biosciences. His p... more

David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome.

Read David’s article about A... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Paul Garofolo
Co-founder and CEO, Locus Biosciences
Locus Biosciences
Episode: Using Viruses to Fight Disease
David Otter
Labor economist at MIT, known for work on technology and inequality
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Episode: How AI Could Reduce Inequality
John Mills
CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty
Watch Duty
Episode: Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public
Josh Tyrangiel
Staff writer at The Atlantic and author of AI for Good
The Atlantic
Episode: How AI Could Actually Make the World Better
Betsey Stevenson
Labor economist, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
Episode: Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age
Brian McClendon
Chief Technology Officer at Niantic Spatial
Niantic Spatial
Episode: Using Pokémon Go to Map the World
Dan Shipper
Co-founder and CEO of Every
Every
Episode: The Company Where Everyone Has Their Own AI Agent
Kate Evans
Professor in the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University
Washington State University
Episode: Inventing a Better Apple
Rob Meyerson
Co-founder and CEO of Interlune
Interlune
Episode: Building a Business on the Moon

Host

Jacob Goldstein
Host of What's Your Problem?, Pushkin Industries / What's Your Problem?

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 597 ratings
  • Delete the Process, Crash the Car

    The advertisements are annoying, frequent and blaring.

    Interesting topic but turned off when it was revealed the guest was an Elon Musk fan. Sure it’s possible to work faster but when it comes to public safety this can result in cars that crash and kill people, rockets that crash land in areas where rockets shouldn’t crash. Then there is what was done to Twitter and to democracy and government. Very broken and toxic. Delete the process, demolish the rose garden.

    Musk is also a liar who said he ... more

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    acuteangle
    Australia9 months ago
  • Good, but...

    You have really good content. BUT, you like, can't speak an entire like sentence without like using really distracting like language. Like grow up and learn how to like speak. Your language is like way too like distracting

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    disappointed 206
    United States10 months ago
  • Love the podcast...... Jacob covers lots of interesting topics and the length of the episodes are perfect for when I'm out walking. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the amount of commercials. I get it, you have to generate income to finance the podcast, but a recent episode i listened to had almost 10 minutes of commercials in the 28 minute length.

    Podcast Addict
    4
    kathyaj
    10 months ago
  • Fantastic

    Jacob, come on, Nan kept explaining that their climate capture strategy is the opposite of a marginal investor (they are a first mover investor at much higher than marginal cost ) and you kept repeating marginal several times!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Charly358
    United Kingdoma year ago
  • Knowledge and Hope

    This might be my favorite podcast. So many interesting solutions to important current problems. It gives me hope for the future. Jacob has become a great interface between the science, scientist and the listener.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    🌻Jocelyn🌻
    United Statesa year ago

Listeners Say

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

Listeners value the mix of deep tech topics with practical business insight, and appreciate the guest diversity.
Some reviews note improved interview style over time and praise the host's curiosity.
A recurring critique mentions ads and occasional interruptions impacting listening experience.
Positive feedback often highlights inspiring conversations and broad coverage of innovative solutions.

Chart Rankings

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

Apple Podcasts
#94
United States/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#55
Canada/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#208
United Kingdom/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#83
Australia/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#216
Germany/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#27
Ireland/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

How AI Could Reduce Inequality
Q: What are concrete policy options to help workers transition as AI changes the demand for different skills?
He discusses wage insurance to bridge earnings during transitions, more effective retraining programs with real-time evaluation, and universal basic capital to diversify income and give people an ownership stake in capital.
How AI Could Reduce Inequality
Q: Tell me about AI arriving in the labor market differently from computers and what that could mean.
Otter outlines a nuanced view: AI could expand the scope of who can perform expert work, potentially lowering service prices and broadening job opportunities, but it will not automatically empower everyone; domain knowledge and appropriate tools will still be essential.
Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public
Q: If you download the app, how does a user experience the alert and the story of a fire as it unfolds?
Users get a pin on a map, a live feed of radio chatter, updates on resources being dispatched, and a running storyline of how the incident is developing, including when forward progress is stopped and when the situation is under control, giving a sense of safety and closure.
Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public
Q: Okay, let's talk about the LA Fires of twenty twenty five. Tell me about what it meant for Watch Duty.
Watch Duty scaled massively during LA in 2025, drawing on tens of thousands of radio-derived signals and military-grade coordination among volunteers and professionals to avoid false alarms and provide a real-time picture of how the fire spread and what was being done, ultimately becoming a lifeline during a time of overwhelmed official systems.
Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age
Q: What is the data dividend and why should people care?
The data dividend proposes that since AI systems are trained on human knowledge, ordinary people should receive a share of the benefits, funded by an institutional framework that treats cognition as a public good.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About What's Your Problem?

What is What's Your Problem? about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A tech-leaning interview show where a seasoned journalist speaks with founders, engineers, and researchers about high-impact problems at the intersection of technology, policy, and society. Guests range from AI practitioners and space entrepreneurs to agricultural biotechnologists and consumer hardware leaders, yielding conversations that mix practical product insights with broader implications for work, safety, and public policy. Notable throughlines include how AI augments work and creativity, practical near-term applications of advanced tech, and the social and economic dynamics surrounding emerging technologies. The host's style has evolved to feature more attentive, topic-driven dialogue with a diverse slate of guests, making the serie... more

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1. Business History
2. Planet Money
3. The Indicator from Planet Money
4. Freakonomics Radio
5. The Economics of Everyday Things

How many episodes of What's Your Problem? are there?

What's Your Problem? launched 5 years ago and published 205 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 What's Your Problem??

Recent guests on What's Your Problem? include:

1. Paul Garofolo
2. David Otter
3. John Mills
4. Josh Tyrangiel
5. Betsey Stevenson
6. Brian McClendon
7. Dan Shipper
8. Kate Evans

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