Introducing Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI x Creativity

Featuring Alex Dobrenko` in conversation with:

• Oliver Burkeman , Bestselling Author
  on what he’s betting his career on

• Robin Sloan, Novelist
  on the new economics of content creation

• David Perell , Host at How I Write Podcast
  on the unspoken reality of how the writers he interviews are actually using AI

• seth godin , Bestselling author
  on the talking dog theory of AI

• Anu Atluru, Investor & Writer
  on what happens when every human skill becomes an art or a sport

• Mills Baker , Head of Design at Substack
  on why he’s bearish on LLMs

• Venkatesh Rao, Ribbonfarm
  on why we should ditch the idea of authorship and embrace a transhuman future

• Joan Westenberg, Writer
  on why the "pro-AI vs. anti-AI" debate misses the point

• Jasmine Sun, Writer
  on why creative anxiety is actually economic anxiety

• Billy Oppenheimer, Research Assistant to Rick Rubin & Ryan Holiday
  on how AI is fast, but not necessarily good

These conversations won't give you definitive answers on whether AI is good or bad for creativity. This is not the time to speak in vague generalities. WE LIVE IN STRANGE TIMES!

These are messy, nuanced, conversations with real people doing real creative work—not in the abstract, but within the particular circumstances of their craft, constraints, and aspirations.

If you're trying to make sense of the future of work and what it means to be human, I feel confident in saying this is the best collection of thoughts on the topic.

We’ll be releasing the conversations one at a time over the next ten weeks.

If you’d like early access to all ten interviews + exclusive access to the limited-edition print zine, you can get your copy here.

Get your copy

On all fronts, creating this series has been a home-run of an experience.

First off, all ten of our guests were our immediate ideas for dream conversations. The only two people that did not reply are Robert Greene and Austin Kleon—in case you know either of them and want to forward this note, we’re still down to talk to them ;)

Plus, we got Mercury, the business banking platform we use at Sublime to generously sponsor this series. I was already obsessed with their product, and now that they’ve sponsored this series, I’m even more obsessed.

Let me introduce them properly.

Mercury is the business bank that more than 200k entrepreneurs use and hands down my favorite tool for running Sublime.

I never thought I’d have strong feelings about a bank. And yet… here we are.

Every other banking platform makes me feel like I’m doing taxes. Mercury makes me feel like I’m building something. The interface is unbelievably intuitive, fast, and lets me handle everything in one place – banking, cards, spend management, invoicing, and more.

Running a company is hard. Mercury is one of the rare tools that makes it feel just a little bit easier.

If you’re a business owner of any type and haven’t tried Mercury yet, visit mercury.com today and find out why so many of us actually love how we bank.

**Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

Alright, that’s that.

We are so excited to bring you these conversations. They’re something we made for you, but for us too.

The first episode drops tomorrow! Follow along on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple to get notified when new conversations are live—or unlock the full series today.

Get your copy

However you join, I promise: these conversations will make you feel inspired, connected, human, sublime.