Substack Live Re-Air: Does AI Have Empathy? | Babak Hodjat

2026-07-11

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In this special Substack Live Re-Air, Jonathan talks with Babak Hodjat — PhD in AI, co-inventor of the natural language technology behind Siri, and one of the founding architects of agentic AI. They explore two questions: where is the world going next, and what does it mean to be human in the era of AI?Technology is becoming more intelligent by the day, and asking about our place within it has never mattered more. Babak was among a small group of researchers in the late 1990s who were building systems that could not o...

Technology is becoming more intelligent by the day, and asking about our place within it has never mattered more. Babak was among a small group of researchers in the late 1990s who were building systems that could not only understand us, but also anticipate us and act on our behalf.

Then, Babak’s vision became Siri.

AI began by predicting the next word in a sentence. Now, we have systems that reason, translate, write poetry, and even display empathy. As we explore this new world, we must remember that it mirrors us. If it becomes destructive, it is because we are. If it is good, it is because we are. Its brilliance is in our hands.

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