Dwarkesh Podcast

The Dwarkesh Podcast was founded in 2020 by Dwarkesh Patel while he was studying computer science at the University of Texas at Austin. Originally called The Lunar Society — a name drawn from the 18th-century Birmingham intellectual club — Patel started the podcast from his dorm room during the COVID-19 pandemic after feeling intellectually isolated. His first notable guest was economist Bryan Caplan, contacted via cold email. The podcast grew significantly as Patel's research-intensive preparation style and willingness to engage with technically demanding subjects attracted high-profile guests. The Economist noted in 2025 that Patel "rose from nowhere to become Silicon Valley's favourite podcaster." In 2024, Time magazine listed him among the 100 most influential people in AI. In 2025, he co-authored The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019-2025 with Gavin Leech, a book composed largely of excerpts from his podcast interviews with leading AI researchers. The podcast is headquartered in San Francisco and operated by a very small team — Patel as host and at least one full-time editor. Early funding came from a $10,000 grant from Anil Varanasi and a follow-up small grant from Effective Ideas; the podcast now sustains itself primarily through sponsorships from companies such as Jane Street, Mercury, and Labelbox, as well as Substack paid subscriptions. The podcast consistently features conversations directly relevant to AI safety, covering alignment approaches, AGI timelines, scaling laws, existential risk, and AI governance. Notable AI-safety-relevant episodes include interviews with Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI/SSI), and researchers from ARC and Redwood Research. With approximately 1.8 million views or listens per episode and an audience comprising 45% AI professionals, 24% researchers, and 14.5% CEOs, the podcast is a significant channel for disseminating AI safety ideas to technically sophisticated and influential audiences.