Autonomous Systems

From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodak

Aug 20, 2026 · 31:39

Max Hodak, CEO of Science.xyz, tells Sarah Guo the brain is literally a computer, and his PRIMA retinal implant—just approved in Europe—restores formed vision to people blinded by macular degeneration by putting a chip under the retina that receives laser images from glasses. He argues this is the first step toward a BCI strategy focused on vision, hearing, balance, and motor control, not brain keyboards. Hodak ties consciousness to continuity rather than identity, making substrate independence the goal. He defends the Platonic Representation Hypothesis, saying AI model internals align with animal brain recordings, and outlines Science's pipeline—vision, biohybrid neural interfaces, and perfusion program VESSEL—to reduce human fragility and enable adapting to space.

Building an Autonomous Enterprise for Real-World Services with Netic Founder Melisa Tokmak

Jul 31, 2026 · 34:30

Melisa Tokmak, founder and CEO of Netic, tells Elad Gil how Netic's autonomous AI platform acts as an intermediary for essential services like HVAC, pet care, and roofing, with over 70% of customers now AI-first. She explains why she built a product company rather than an AI roll-up, and how selling to 'slow' industries is easier than assumed—they're value-focused and tech-forward. Big labs aren't threats due to focus and last-mile orchestration; robotics is decades away for these jobs. She screens for agency by asking candidates the hardest thing they've done, and sees private equity now demanding measurable ROI. Her five-year vision is an 'autonomous enterprise' where AI handles everything except physical labor; she is most excited about AI's impact on education and expanding agency.

Building an Autonomous Delivery Experience with DoorDash Co-Founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang

Jul 23, 2026 · 49:20

DoorDash co-founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang explain how they are building an autonomous delivery ecosystem with their in-house robot Dot, which has operated at L4 autonomy in Phoenix for over two years, weighing 300 pounds and traveling 20 mph. They discuss how Ask DoorDash, a natural-language interface, drives 50% of restaurant trajectories to new places and 40% larger grocery basket sizes. The founders argue that a multimodal strategy—using Dot for 3-5 mile suburban deliveries, drones for rural areas, and Dashers for complex orders—is key, and that despite autonomy, DoorDash will have more Dashers in 10 years due to 25% annual growth and 9 million active Dashers. They emphasize that their advantage comes from combining world-class operations with real-world data from 10 billion deliveries, solving the first and last 100 feet problem that general-purpose autonomy companies overlook.

Travel Through the Lens of AI with with Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel

Jul 9, 2026 · 41:05

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel tells Elad Gil how he rode Priceline from the dot-com bust to a 1000x gain, arguing AI is a tool, not a threat, to travel. Fogel, who joined a week before the Nasdaq peaked, recalls the stock falling to $1 before a reverse split, and sees the same boom-bust pattern in AI. He shows how agentic tools like Priceline's Penny handle complex trips and cut customer service costs 10% per contact, while Booking invests $700 million in AI and tech. Yet he says there are no moats: scale like 8.6 million alternative accommodation listings only helps, and constant innovation is the only defense. He defends returning cash to shareholders—40% of shares bought back in a dozen years—and warns that AI job displacement demands upskilling, not rejection of technology.