Silicon Valley Girl: AI, Tech and Career Growth

If you lost everything tomorrow — your money, your network, your reputation — and had to rebuild from zero in 2026, what would you actually do? I asked the founders who've already done it.
In this episode, I talk to Samir Vasavada (CEO of Vise), Young Zhao (CEO of Opus Clip), Aravind Srinivas (CEO of Perplexity), Daniel Priestley, and Amjad Masad (CEO of Replit) about the exact strategies they'd use to start over today.
We cover:
How to find your real superpower — and why asking your friends is the fastest way
The 30-day framework for testing an idea before you commit
Why obsession beats strategy in the AI era
The "7-7-6 apprenticeship" — why your first move shouldn't be starting a company
How to build a moat when AI can copy anything in days
At the end, I share my own plan for starting from scratch in 2026 — the niche, the content system, the 30-day sprint, and what I'd focus on first.

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AI is already solving problems scientists said were impossible — and we're just getting started. In this episode, Yossi Matias, VP of Engineering & Research at Google, explains why we're living through the golden age of research and what that means for your career, your kids, and your future.
We cover:
Why AI agents and vibe coding are actually underhyped
How Google's AI co-scientist cracked a superbug hypothesis in 3 days (vs. years of lab work)
Flood prediction in 150 countries — from "impossible" to deployed in 7 years
What Google is building for education, healthcare, and climate resilience
The one mindset shift to stay relevant in 2026 and beyond
Yossi also shares what Google looks for when hiring today — and why the ability to adapt matters more than any specific skill.

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Which Jobs Survive AI by 2030? Saadia Zahidi (WEF) Reveals What the Data Actually Shows
Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum, joins Silicon Valley Girl live from Davos to break down the WEF Future of Jobs Report — and what it actually means for your career.
The data: 78 million new jobs are coming by 2030. But 23% of all roles will go through major disruption. And roughly 1 in 10 workers won't find a place inside their own industry.
We cover:
Why AI isn't the real reason entry-level jobs are disappearing — and what actually is
The "catch-22" problem young job seekers are stuck in right now
Which jobs are growing (agriculture, education) and which are declining fast
Why human skills — creativity, empathy, leadership — are more valuable than ever in an AI world
The "learn to earn" framework WEF launched at Davos to fix broken hiring
What no-regret career moves look like in 2025–2030, no matter which scenario plays out
If you're figuring out your next move — whether you're a student, mid-career, or building a team — this episode gives you the clearest data-backed picture of what's coming.

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Luis von Ahn built Duolingo into a company with 100M+ monthly active users and $1B in the bank — and he's never done a single layoff. While every other CEO is blaming AI for firing people, he's hiring more.
In this episode, Luis breaks down exactly how his team used AI to build a chess course from scratch in 6 months — two people, no engineering background, no chess knowledge. It now has 7 million daily users. That's the real story of what AI can do for your career, if you know how to use it.
We also get into: why "AI is taking your job" is mostly a lie companies tell to cover over-hiring, what happened when Duolingo's stock dropped 82% and why Luis has zero regrets, the one mindset shift that lets him not check the stock price every day, and his honest takes on which jobs are actually going away — translator, teacher, social media manager, strategist, project manager — gone in 5 years, gone in 10, or not going anywhere.
If you're trying to figure out what to do with your career or business right now, this conversation will reset your thinking.
Keywords: AI jobs future, career and AI, Duolingo CEO, Luis von Ahn, AI replacing jobs, future of work, AI startup, vibe coding, education AI, Silicon Valley Girl podcast

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What happens after AI? John Martinis — Nobel Prize-winning physicist and the scientist behind Google's quantum computing breakthrough — says most people are focused on the wrong threat.
He's the only scientist on Trump's new tech advisory council, alongside Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and Jensen Huang. And he has a very different read on where this is all going.
In this episode: why quantum computers could crack Bitcoin encryption, which assets are already at risk, why the entire internet needs to switch encryption protocols in the next decade — and why investing in quantum hardware right now mirrors the Nvidia GPU bet before anyone knew what GPUs were for.
If you're thinking about your career, your savings, or your business in an AI world — this one changes the frame.
Topics: quantum computing, AI future, Bitcoin encryption, cybersecurity, career in tech, future of work, tech investing, Nobel Prize, Silicon Valley

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