How to Break Free from the Algorithm's Web and Live Without Anxiety? | A Conversation with Danny Xiao, Host of "Big and Small Horse Talk Tech" | Creators in the AI Era Ep02
March 17, 2024
Today our guest is Danny Xiao, host of the podcast Big & Small Horses Talk Tech. He's also a Bilibili creator with 450,000 followers and a leading influencer in consumer tech and electric vehicles.
Koji first guested on Big & Small Horses Talk Tech for an episode on "What AI Products Are Young People Using?"
Then we invited Danny to guest on Crossroads with us to discuss how AI helps and disrupts creators — especially multi-modal creators like him who work across video, audio, and text. Danny considers himself "probably among the last batch of creators to be replaced by AI."
Danny also shares his stories and observations from venturing into the Middle East during the pandemic to start a business and establish himself there. He talks about his "Early to Bed, Late to Rise" phone detox project, how he fights the algorithmic nets of social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu as a content creator, and how he maintains a stable mindset and lives without anxiety. We hope you find it inspiring and helpful.
🥷 This is the second episode of our content series "Creators in the Age of AI." In this series, we interview writers, directors, video creators, podcast hosts, stand-up comedians, and other creators to explore how the AI era will affect their work — and more importantly, how it will affect their lives as ordinary people.
🚦 Welcome to Crossroads, where we track the industry transformations and entrepreneurial opportunities brought by the new wave of AI technology. Crossroads is Steve Jobs' metaphor for Apple — a company standing at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, where great products are born. AI is reshaping every industry. We seek out, interview, and bring together "active participants" of the AI era to explore and embrace new changes and new possibilities, together with them.
👦🏻 Host Koji: Co-founder of The Fair and Tangdao, and an active participant diving into AI. On Jike: [A Self-Introduction from Koji]
👧🏻 Host Ronghui: Works at a tech VC, former Silicon Valley correspondent for Yicai Weekly. On Jike:
Add our assistant on WeChat at Rwkfbcianvd to join the Crossroads community:
🦀 Daily AI Fresh News Morning Brief
👫🏻 Encouraging everyone to date/make friends/find future collaborators
🎬 Timeline:
02:03 Danny started using AI to create videos a year ago
03:21 Big & Small Horses Talk Tech is the only Chinese podcast that releases both audio and video simultaneously, with strong performance on both
06:49 Danny's podcast monetization is only 1/10 as efficient as his videos — so why does he prefer podcasting?
07:44 Why are podcasts suited for deep connection?
08:23 What curiosity and possibilities has Sora opened up?
11:26 "I'm probably among the later batch of creators to be replaced by AI"
12:51 Only Zhao Wei deserves to belt out "There's a Girl" — AI doesn't qualify
13:49 In the AI era, will people become lazy and useless?
18:46 The era of tech gridlock has ended; the torch of innovation is lit again!
20:43 Why can humans get a driver's license after 30 hours of practice, while AI still can't after millions of hours?
24:43 How do AI tools change the way we think?
28:28 If you want to be optimistic about the future, what should you read?
34:59 How do you develop "internet sense"?
37:47 The story of Danny getting "whipped" by netizens
39:25 Emotionally stable Danny — whose life would he want to trade?
43:13 MEGA gets slammed as a "hearse"; Koji strikes back with a photo
44:19 In the algorithmic net: give up, or resist?
49:13 "Late Eight, Early One" — phone detox
55:42 The Middle East and UAE: Any surprising or even shocking stories from Danny's overseas entrepreneurship?
🎄 This podcast is supported by The Fair Sound Forest Podcast Project.