Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Mike Allen interviews Axios CEO Jim VandeHei about his year as an “AI lab rat,” inputting copious amounts of personal and business data, and seeing firsthand the superhuman possibilities and real workplace limitations.

Jim explains why he thinks AI is more powerful than most people realize, why it is still messy inside companies, and what the experiment revealed about work, health, anxiety, and the future of AI-empowered employees.

Timestamps:
00:00 - AI should challenge your thinking
00:37 - Why Jim became an AI lab rat
01:19 - What AI knows about Jim
03:53 - How Jim uses AI agents
05:49 - How to build your own personal AI
09:14 - Don’t outsource your thinking
11:05 - What AI agents can actually do
13:24 - Why AI still feels clunky
15:02 - Why the AI job panic may be wrong
17:19 - The rise of AI super-workers
19:17 - How anyone can start using AI
23:27 - How AI changed Jim’s writing
27:22 - Why Jim trusts AI with health questions
29:02 - Be curious and humble about AI
31:46 - How AI changed Jim’s mind and mood
33:17 - What AI makes possible now