Good Disruption

The proliferation of AI has given rise to fear of job replacement across many industries, including entertainment. Technologies like Chat GPT and AI-facilitated computer-generated imagery (CGI) threaten the livelihoods of tens of thousands of writers and actors. In April 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Months later, the S...

The COVID pandemic forced people to work from home and left many questioning the value of going back into the office. Employee surveys suggest that most workers want to retain some form of remote work, either full-time or hybrid.  In response to this shift, large companies like Twitter, Slack, and Salesforce have announced new hybrid work plans.  It seems that fully working on-site is a thing of the past.

There are many emotional, ...

One quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the US is attributed to electricity production. Greening the grid is critical to our ability to decarbonize the economy and after decades of investment and technology improvements we are finally at a tipping point with renewables. Utility-scale solar and wind power are cost-competitive with natural gas even without incentives. Renewable energy sources now account for ...

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet – "just setting up my twttr" – sold for more than $2.9 million. Bored Ape Yacht Club digital art pieces fetch just over $100,000. NBA Top Shot sells digital NBA moments for millions of dollars. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are making this possible. But is it more hype than reality?

In previous episodes we explored the phenomenon of algorithms creating art and music and touched on the id...

Deepfakes once used purely for entertainment purposes are becoming more pervasive on social media and, in some alarming cases, more sinister. Take last year’s video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy where he appeared to tell soldiers to surrender to Russia. The video underscores the potential damage that deepfakes could cause if there are not protections in place.

Yet, there are ...

Here on the Good Disruption podcast we talk a lot about technologies, but what about the person behind the disruption?  To tackle wicked problems like climate change, not only do we need innovative technologies but also, innovators who introduce solutions that benefit society more broadly.  What makes a good disruptor?  How can we move the needle on climate change?  Mike and Yael talk with Chrissa Pagitsas (MBA ’09), Laure Katz (GE...

For many patients battling disease, working with their doctors to find the most effective treatment can be a painful exercise of trial and error. What if you could more precisely choose medications and customize treatment based on people’s genes, environment, and lifestyle?

Today, this type of customization is possible thanks to the Human Genome Project, which published the full sequence of the human genome in 2013. The release of ...

In 2018, Director Steven Spielberg released the movie Ready Player One. Set in the year 2045, the movie depicts a virtual world, Oasis, where players can escape their everyday lives to be whoever they want and do whatever they want through an avatar. Fantasy? Perhaps, but big tech players like Facebook are betting on the idea becoming a reality. Last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the rebranding of the company to Meta, a move ...

Livestock farming represents more than 60% of agriculture GHG emissions. Cattle account for most of these emissions and are the primary drivers of deforestation. If we want to reduce the global impact of beef, we need to think differently about how we grow and source it.

Across the U.S., new plant-based alternatives are showing up on menus, offering customers similar taste and texture as beef, but without the carbon footprint. Chai...

When Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827, he left his 10th symphony unfinished. Working off just a few musical sketches and notes by the composer, a team of computer scientists at Rutgers University-based start-up Playform AI trained an artificial intelligence to mimic his style and complete the symphony. The finished product was performed by The Beethoven Orchestra Bonn on October 9, 2021.

The use of AI for creative endeavors is not...

Ten years ago, a group of Stanford professors founded Coursera, an online education platform that allows university partners to offer courses using a subscription-based model. Known in the industry as MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, the company has provided access to more than 95 million learners. These MOOCs have allowed universities to engage a broader audience not able to be reached through traditional means. Market analy...

Bitcoin. Tether. Dogecoin. These are some of the most popular cryptocurrencies being traded around the world. The sheer number of crypto options available today suggests significant market disruption is underway. Building on open source blockchain technology, developers have created more than 4,500 cryptocurrencies. Yet, where there is hype there is also volatility. Just last year, the value of Bitcoin dropped by $6 billion within ...

The automobile industry is in the middle of a significant disruption. Initially led by Tesla, new companies like Rivian and Lucid are emerging while GM, Ford, and other incumbent manufacturers are scrambling to introduce new electric models and shift inventory away from gas-powered cars. Eighteen of the twenty largest car manufacturers representing 90% of global new vehicle sales have committed to expanding their electric offerings...

Welcome to "Good Disruption", a lively discussion between UVA Darden School of Business Professors Mike Lenox and Yael Grushka-Cockayne on cutting edge technologies and practices that are challenging the status quo. They then make their personal call on whether this is a good disruption, bad disruption, or actually no disruption. Subscribe to Darden Ideas to Action podcasts on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your...