Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI × Creativity

In this episode we sit down with writer, theorist, and consultant Venkatesh Rao to talk about authorship, risk, and why AI is pushing us back to a pre-Gutenberg culture. We get into:

• How “AI alignment” became PR-speak
• The concept of individual authorship as a very recent invention
• Treating LLMs as channels for our shared cultural inheritance, not plagiarism machines
• Why creative work isn’t “labor” and the middle-class myth that effort guarantees economic value
• Risk as the price of originality and why most AI slop is low-risk human behavior
• How Venkatesh actually writes with AI and playful “Lego” ideation
• Why disclosing AI-use in your writing will soon disappear

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.

If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with writer and strategist Joan Westenberg to talk about creativity and using AI without losing your humanity. We get into:

• The essay that blew up: deleting her “second brain” and ditching productivity guilt
• Human in the loop: why tools are neutral—and responsibility isn’t
• Joan's AI rule: use it for the stuff you hate (titles, charts, video edits), never for the stuff you love (writing, music)
• Editors vs. yes-bots: why Joan won’t trust AI for feedback
• The real fear behind AI backlash: replacement after decades of creative devaluation
• Choosing friction: manual workflows, single‑purpose tools, and keeping agency
• Comms without spam: building relationships in a world drowning in AI-generated pitches

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.

If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with writer Jasmine Sun to talk about:

• Why beauty and craftsmanship—not AI—are the real story of our time
• Democratic beauty: why everyday public spaces used to lift the human spirit (and why they don’t now)
• The “paradox of abundance”: why AI makes the best better and the average worse
• How David actually writes with AI (hint: it involves Theo Von)
• Why David decided to end Write of Passage
• New York vs. LA vs. SF: the unspoken culture war over AI in publishing and entertainment
• Personalization vs. prose: why he’ll start with deep research before a book
• Why David's bullish on spirit-lifting, live performance and theater in an AI-saturated world
• … and more

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.

If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with writer Jasmine Sun to talk about:

• Why AI pushed her to leave Substack and write full-time
• How she actually uses ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini (and what each is best at)
• Why she’s pro-transparency about using AI—even when it upsets people
• The AlphaGo lesson: letting AI make you more creative, not less
• The real anxiety underneath “AI ruins art” (it’s economics, not aesthetics)
• Custom instructions, long-context workflows, and how she summarizes 20,000-word reports
• Why she thinks AGI is less milestone, more vibe

• … and more

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.

If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with Robin Sloan to talk about:

• What it was like experimenting with GPT back in 2017—and whether he burned out before the hype
• Why AI writing lacks the density of choices that makes human work feel alive
• The paradox of AI humor and why real art depends on things being a little weird
• His shift from online publishing to hand-printed zines—and why “offline math” works better for artists
• How he actually uses AI for travel and editing, and where it still falls short
• Why discovery and criticism matter more than ever in the age of algorithms
• and more

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.

If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with Seth Godin to talk about:

• Why AI is like the weather (and why arguing for or against it misses the point)
• How he’s gone from 1 hour to 7 hours of daily creativity with AI
• His “talking dog” theory and why most AI output is still just mayonnaise
• Why he thinks community will be the scarce thing people actually pay for
• How he uses Claude and ChatGPT differently—and why he believes Claude is a “close friend”
• What creators should really be asking: how can AI make my work harder, not easier
• His prediction for where humans will be in 10 years
• … and more

Whoa Vol. 2This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.

👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

In this episode we sit down with Mills Baker, Head of Design at Substack to talk about:

• What he's witnessing AI do to Substack's ecosystem of writers and creators
• How he uses (and doesn't use) AI
• Why he's bearish on LLMs
• How Mills sees Substack changing in the coming years
• Substack’s lead engineer's hot take on how AI impacts timelines of coding projects
• His prediction for where humans will be in 10 years
• ...and more

Whoa Vol. 2

This episode is part of a limited series of ten in-depth conversations put together by sublime.app with some of our favorite thinkers and creatives where we explore how artificial intelligence is changing and challenging creative work.👉 Get your copy of the zine: https://sublime.app/whoa

Brought to you by Mercury

This interview is made possible by Mercury — business banking trusted by 200,000+ entrepreneurs and hands-down our favorite tool for running sublime.app.If you’re a founder or business builder of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit https://mercury.com today.

Disclaimer

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.