--- title: "Mockery Abounds at AI-Generated Interview Between Bill Gates and Socrates" description: "Someone shared an AI-generated \"podcast\" featuring a conversation between Bill Gates and Socrates to Twitter. Twitter, uh, had some thoughts." date: "2023-05-31" modified: "2023-05-31" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-generated-interview-bill-gates-socrates" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "Bill Gates" - "generative ai" - "the digest" --- # Mockery Abounds at AI-Generated Interview Between Bill Gates and Socrates ![Someone shared an AI-generated "podcast" featuring a conversation between Bill Gates and Socrates to Twitter. Twitter, uh, had some thoughts.]() *\Image: @LinusEkenstam / Futurism\* ## Mind Blown Emoji Over the weekend, an AI Guy presented Twitter with what he thought was a game-changing, AI-generated "conversation" between the billionaire Bill Gates and the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. And rest assured, folks on Twitter definitely have some thoughts — but they probably weren't what the AI Guy in question, a designer named Linus Ekenstam, wanted to hear. "Is this the future of podcasts?" Ekenstam [tweeted on Friday](). "I think very realistic conversations like this will be bread and butter in any streaming app." https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1662073874425544706 Art is relative, sure, but Twitter was ruthless. Users called out the AI optimist for everything from lack of originality to, among other qualms, the very Greek Socrates' [curiously British accent](), his [noted technopessimism](), and more. "Stuff like this makes me realize AI creators and (even more so) boosters have extremely limited imaginations," [tweeted one commenter](). "It's so good watching what Silicon Valley guys think entertainment should look like," [added *Insider* writer Ed Zitron](). "Almond-brained technocharlatans when their godless computer program jizzoms out the most pitiful mockery of the human spirit," [echoed a particularly foulmouthed commentator](), mocking the designer's mind-blown emoji to boot. https://twitter.com/TonySneedprano/status/1663491726009421824 ## Dust in the Wind To these folks' point, there is indeed something mesmerizingly unimaginative about this bizarre content format. It's already been proven that there are creative ways to put imagined resurrections of famous figures in the same room with each other; if Socrates is still the example, let's not forget the imagined — and still Greek-speaking!! — version of the [philosopher running wild through a 1980s San Dimas mall](). High art. But [this kind of AI-powered podcast](), where two famous figures regurgitate hustle-bro-hype-speak back to each other on a seemingly endless loop, is all kinds of depressing. ## Wow Factor Elsewhere, others raised attention to the fact that Socrates famously believed that *writing* was technology gone too far — and thus, getting Gatesplained about laptops and AI might not have gone over particularly well with the philosopher. "This wouldn't happen," [one commenter added](), "Socrates would smash Bill Gates' head in with a rock once he brings up the laptop thinking he's some creature of dark magic." Others still called out the sheer ridiculousness of the conversation. "This idea of Socrates saying 'wow!' to something Bill Gates said is soooo funny to me," [quipped another online](). Ekenstam, for his part, seemed taken aback by the negative response. "People really have split opinions on this," he [wrote](). "I want to understand why this makes so many people angry?" But instead of dealing with the substantive complaints, he just teased better-performing tech in the future. "Regardless, here is perhaps a more impressive audio demo," he added. **More on AI:** [*Lawyer in Huge Trouble after He Used Chatgpt in Court and It Totally Screwed Up*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()