Why AI shouldn’t just be for tech’s high priests, according to Andrew Ng

Video Description

On May 31, 2023, we hosted the Sana AI Summit at Stockholm’s Eric Ericsonhallen, bringing together 400 pioneering leaders, investors, and researchers to reflect on the new era of artificial intelligence. One of those pioneers was Dr. Andrew Ng. Andrew Ng is the Managing General Partner at AI Fund, Founder of DeepLearning.AI, and an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. As a trailblazer in both machine learning and online education, Dr. Ng has taught over 7 million people, led the Google Brain team, served as chief scientist at Baidu, and co-founded Coursera—the world’s largest MOOC platform. Named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people, he now focuses on accelerating responsible and accessible AI across the global economy. At the Summit, we premiered an event cut of Andrew’s conversation with Sana founder and CEO Joel Hellermark. Here, for the first time, is their full, wide-ranging discussion. In this episode, Andrew and Joel explore what it means for “AI coding to be the new literacy”—a fundamental shift as profound as the spread of reading and writing. They discuss why building AI must move from the hands of a few “high priests” to the many, and why most of AI’s true creative potential remains untapped. What’s in this episode - Why “AI coding is the new literacy” and what that means for society - How the future of AI will be shaped by democratizing creation, not just consumption - The untapped creative potential in AI’s application layer - Lessons from past tech waves: moats, defensibility, and building lasting businesses - The economics and competition behind the large language model boom - How AI is transforming knowledge work, productivity, and who benefits - The real risks: bias, misinformation, concentration of power, and what to do about them -The future of AI education: personalized learning, AI tutors, and beyond About Andrew Ng and Joel Hellermark Andrew Ng is one of the world’s most influential AI educators and entrepreneurs. He founded DeepLearning.AI and AI Fund, is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford, and previously led Google Brain and Baidu’s AI efforts. He has taught millions through Coursera and continues to shape the field’s future through research, entrepreneurship, and advocacy for responsible AI. Joel Hellermark is the founder and CEO of Sana, an AI-powered knowledge platform recognized by Forbes AI 50. Joel taught himself to code at 13, launched his first company at 16, and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30. This conversation was recorded in 2023 for the Sana AI Summit at Stockholm’s Eric Ericsonhallen, where leading minds gathered to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. About Strange Loop Strange Loop is a podcast about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the systems we live and work in. Each episode features deep, unscripted conversations with thinkers and builders reimagining intelligence, leadership, and the architectures of progress. The goal is not just to follow AI’s trajectory, but to question the assumptions guiding it. Subscribe for more conversations at the edge of AI and human knowledge. Interview chapters 00:00 - Are we still in the “radio show on TV” era of AI? 03:20 - Why application is AI’s biggest creative opportunity 07:10 - AI economics: cost, competition, and the new infrastructure 12:45 - Who wins in the age of AI-augmented knowledge work? 17:15 - The real risks: bias, misinformation, and concentrated power 21:05 - AI literacy and the democratization of building 25:00 - The future of AI education and what’s next for society