Future Around & Find Out

Jay Dixit helps writers improve their writing with AI. He doesn't recommend that AI write for you — he hates that — but he says it can be a great partner to pull ideas out and to be there for you when you get stuck and just wanna doom Scroll. Jay headed Open AI's Writing Community and is the founder of Socratic AI.

He's a writer and a journalist, and we sat down at South by Southwest to future around and find out. Jay says "We need to be using AI to unlock our humanity — to do the things that we're scared to do."

Chapters
  • (00:30) - Stop asking AI to write for you
  • (02:15) - Flip the script and let AI interview you
  • (04:30) - Why the defaults push you toward lazy thinking
  • (06:30) - Using AI at every phase of the writing process
  • (08:00) - Give the AI your criteria, then ask for feedback
  • (09:30) - The dark night of the soul and the 1 a.m. problem
  • (13:15) - The double-edged sword of always-on AI
  • (16:00) - What's catching Jay's eye at SXSW 2026
  • (17:00) - Why Wikipedia photos are so bad — and how Jay is fixing it
  • (20:30) - AI as a photography coach
  • (23:30) - How to stand out in a sea of AI slop
  • (26:56) - What George Carlin would make of this moment
  • (28:56) - The text Jay was avoiding sending his dad
  • (31:26) - Using AI to unlock your humanity

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Music by Jonathan Zalben

What is Future Around & Find Out?

* Winner of the 2026 Webby Award for Best Technology Podcast *

Future Around & Find Out helps builders think clearly about AI and emerging technologies, grapple with the implications, and decide what to build next.

Independent technologist and former NPR journalist Dan Blumberg speaks with founders, makers, and you to celebrate breakthroughs, call BS on the hype, explore how things might go sideways — and how we can steer the future in the right direction.

On Tuesdays, we interview the builders changing how we work, live, and play.

On FAFO Fridays, futurist Kwaku Aning joins Dan for a playful recap of the week in tech, including the amazing, the scary, and the strange.

You’ll also hear about innovations that too often get overshadowed by AI, including in deep tech, biotech, fintech, quantum computing, robotics, blockchain, and more.

Across it all, you’ll hear sharp takes on what comes next and what builders need to know now.

So let’s Future Around & Find Out together!

https://www.FutureAround.com