Episode 1,001: AI Understanding I Wish I Had Earlier  ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Humble Podcast Origins** - Jaeden Schafer recounts launching his podcast in ChatGPT's early days to learn and attract users for AI Box. - He used rapid episode production and simple mic setups to grow the show from scratch into a large audience. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer Welcome back to the AI Chat Podcast. I am Jaden Schaefer and today is episode 1001. Yes, 1001. I've officially entered the four-digit flex zone. At this point, my podcast has more episodes than some people have unread emails. And actually, I think it might actually have more episodes than I have unread emails. That's only because Gmail stopped counting. In any case, today I wanted to do something different. The episode is going to be a roundup of some of the biggest things I've learned, what I appreciate most about the people in this community, a little reintroduction for anyone who just Jumped in and has been wondering who I am, and telling the story of the show. So for anyone new, I am Jaden. I talk really fast. I love AI. I build companies. Evidently, I say like too much in my episodes, and someday I'll use AI to cut that out. But for now, I'm worried people complain that I'm using AI at all. I accidentally created a podcast network. This is one of many shows that I host. I have three children. I buy domain names like they are Pokemon cards. My biggest domain name flex is that I own podcast studio.com, which is what I run a podcast studio in Arizona out of. I run AI box, which is a no code AI app builder. And I spent the last few years interviewing founders, reading research papers way too late at night and explaining AI in a way that makes my family say that's super cool. But can you pass the salt at the dinner table? I'd probably talk too much about AI at all given moments of the day. So I originally started this podcast. It was called ChatGPT. I started it as just a way to get new users to talk about what was happening in AI and to learn, you know, for myself. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/55ecf26e-6e98-492f-ab13-436230552832)) - **Rapid Episode Spurts** - Jaeden describes posting many daily episodes early on, sometimes ten a day, covering every AI news story. - He leveraged ChatGPT for FAQ-style episodes to accelerate growth and reach new listeners. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer I just got so many people listening that I decided to go all in. So I think sometimes in the really early days, because I was just really stoked about seeing the numbers go up, I would sometimes I'd post 10 episodes a day just covering like every single AI news story that was happening. And I'd do a deep dive on all of them. I think the early episodes I'd actually use chat GPT to help me answer frequently asked chat GPT questions. So I think like if you scroll all the way to the beginning, you'll probably see episodes that are something like, is chat GPT paid? How does chat GPT make money? Like I did all the basic questions that people would have ever had. And that helped it grow a lot. At some point, I realized that the whole AI market was going to be a lot bigger than just chat GPT, even though that was like the crazy thing. ([Time 0:02:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/91a1b1c2-8e72-4723-bafa-1502e1272b29)) - **AI Is Human-Centered** - AI's value depends on the people using it and the problems they solve with it. - Builders and users both remain humble, iterating as models fail and improve through feedback loops. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer I created this podcast talking about what's going on. The first, the big thing I learned after creating a thousand episodes of AI chat is that I think right now the technology, like all of these different AI models are changing really quickly. New ones are coming out all the time, But I think the mission of all of it is really basically the same thing. AI is only as meaningful as the people that are currently using it. I've talked to a lot of different founders and researchers on the show, interviewed them, a lot of different builders. Something that always surprises me is how human the whole journey of AI is when these people are creating AI companies. Everyone essentially is trying to create something that matters. Everyone is trying to solve an important problem to them. Every time I use ChatGPT or AI or Grok or Gemini or anything, I'm trying to solve a problem that's important to me. And I think the thing that's really exciting is that users and creators of these AI models, at this point, it feels like everyone is still humble enough to admit when their model's doing Bad or admit when their favorite model is doing bad, come up with ways to improve it. ([Time 0:04:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6670bbc4-f6ae-432e-b1a4-382ed8615bbd)) - **Motivation Shapes AI Work** - Builders usually pursue problems that matter to them, making AI development deeply human and motivated. - That personal drive shapes the kinds of products and improvements that appear in the market. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer New ones are coming out all the time, But I think the mission of all of it is really basically the same thing. AI is only as meaningful as the people that are currently using it. I've talked to a lot of different founders and researchers on the show, interviewed them, a lot of different builders. Something that always surprises me is how human the whole journey of AI is when these people are creating AI companies. Everyone essentially is trying to create something that matters. Everyone is trying to solve an important problem to them. ([Time 0:04:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b3bb0528-15ed-493e-9843-d8b8117cb885)) - **Failures Drive Better Models** - Public failures (like problematic outputs) lead to improvements because companies listen and fix issues. - The feedback loop between users and builders is making models better over time. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer And it seems like we're getting a really good feedback loop where a lot of these AI companies are actually implementing features, making changes, you know, you can think of back to the Google Gemini famous moment when they created the black images of black Nazis, which is super historically inaccurate and probably pretty offensive. And we've learned, we've changed, and we're making things better. So I'm my hope is that that continues. ([Time 0:05:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/bf228b31-76e3-4106-8993-a5aa6ea06ed2)) - **Show Up Consistently** - Show up consistently; consistency beats talent and luck in building an audience. - Keep producing even with imperfect gear because persistence compounds into results. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer It even beats my microphone when it decides to randomly disconnect in the middle of an interview or right as I'm about to record something and have to record an entire episode. I think showing up is the cheat code. If you want proof, you could look at this podcast. When I started, it was literally me talking into a really crappy $20 Amazon microphone, hoping it would get a couple listeners. ([Time 0:05:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/2845f43a-4ee6-41fd-b7f2-28ddb970c44f)) - **Listener Feedback Shaped The Show** - Jaeden thanks listeners and his team for feedback that improved the podcast's reporting and audio quality. - He adjusted recording times and setups based on listener emails to reduce noise and improve episodes. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer Something I definitely don't take for granted is the concept that in the AI industry, there's a lot of talented people working on it. It is too big for any one person. I think this podcast in particular only grew because of all of the people around me. So I definitely want to say thank you to you that is a listener for everyone on my team that has helped me create these for all of the amazing feedback that I've gotten on the podcast as I've, You know, went through different microphones or had different audio hiccups, different things that have helped to make my reporting better on news stories. ([Time 0:06:38](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fdc312e6-0926-4d39-8827-2b54da2db43e)) - **Memorable Guests And Cohosts** - Jaeden highlights memorable interviews including the cofounder of Oculus and Microsoft AI leaders across his shows. - He credits cohosts Jamie McCauley and Connor Grennan for their work on sister podcasts AI Applied and AI Hustle. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer A lot of them have been really open and honest, and sometimes it's off the record, which I obviously can't include. But they've given some really incredible feedback that has made the show better. And that has helped me learn a lot about HAI and everything I have learned I've tried to pass on to everyone listening. So also to my co hosts on my other shows AI Applied and AI Hustle, Jamie McCauley and Connor Grennan. These are incredible people. And if you haven't listened to the AI Applied or AI Hustle podcasts, a quick plug to them because they have some really incredible co-hosts over there. ([Time 0:07:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8c70ffd8-6d85-4243-8e85-c4f6321c412c)) - **Use Focused Shows For Specific Goals** - Explore Jaeden's other shows to learn applying AI in business or building AI-driven side income. - Use specialized podcasts (AI Applied, AI Hustle) as targeted resources for different AI goals. Transcript: Jaeden Schafer AI Applied helps you apply AI into your work, into your organization, and it's more for business professionals. AI Hustle is for people that are using AI to grow and scale their businesses and for people that are trying to make money on the side or with their main business using AI tools. So go check out AI Hustle and AI Applied, two amazing shows if you're not listening to them already. So as we're crossing the 1,001 episode mark, I wanted to say I really appreciate you for choosing to listen every day. This is the reason I get to do what I love. ([Time 0:07:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/22aa7352-b6ae-4f17-80d5-0b9e0bc48569))