Culture & Code: "Elevators, AI, and the Fear of Change"

Hosts: Rei Inamoto & Tara Tan
Date: September 23, 2025

Overview

In this thought-provoking episode of Culture & Code, Rei Inamoto and Tara Tan explore the intersection of technology, culture, and our collective apprehension toward change. Using the historic adoption of automatic elevators as a metaphor, they analyze technophobia, rapid digital transformation (especially with AI), and how these phenomena are re-shaping society, industries, and the role of human creativity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Elevator Metaphor: How We Fear New Tech

• Timeline of Automatic Elevators (00:00—04:25):

  • Otis automated elevator buttons were invented in the 1890s, but it took about 50 years (until the 1940s-50s) for the public to broadly accept and use operator-less elevators.
  • Despite technological safety, people were reluctant: “When these automatic elevators were introduced, nobody wanted to get into them. ... The technology was there, but the human passengers were afraid to get into them without somebody you can trust to operate the box.”
    — Rei Inamoto, 03:32

• Pattern Recognition:

  • This mirrors today’s reluctance to embrace autonomous vehicles or AI—in both cases, trust and the need for “the human touch” play crucial roles in adoption.

2. Comparing Adoptions: Then vs. Now

• Unprecedented Speed in AI Adoption (04:56—07:46):

  • Tara details her own heavy LLM (Large Language Model) usage—“I’ve had about 3,800 conversations in the last two and a half years, which averages out to about 75 minutes of collaboration a day.” (05:37, Tara Tan)
  • She notes that AI tools, such as ChatGPT, reached 100M users in 2 months, compared to TikTok’s 9 months and Instagram’s 30 months.
  • “We’re going at it at a pretty exponential rate. … I’m a moderate heavy user, but I think there are folks who are much, much more heavy users.” (07:10, Tara Tan)

• Nature of New Tools:

  • LLMs and generative AI streamline tasks previously handled by humans, like minute-taking in corporate meetings, often producing equal or better results.

3. Human Factors: The Role of “Touch” in Service

• Tasks Easy for AI vs. Tasks Still Requiring Humans (07:51—11:28):

  • Routine, transactional work—like note-taking or certain types of customer service—are the first to be automated.
  • But experiences where emotional nuance or personal interaction are valued (e.g., hotel check-in, luxury services) are slower to change.

• Quote:

  • “I appreciate being greeted by a human being and I appreciate being checked in by a human being at that hotel.”
    — Rei Inamoto, 10:13

4. Enduring Fear of Change & Acceptance Barriers

• Cultural Resistance (11:28—12:41):
  • Tara observes, “Fear of new tech has been something that’s plagued us for centuries. ... Even like when writing was invented or printing press was invented and industrial machines were invented. I feel like humans have always been fearful of change.” (11:41, Tara Tan)
  • Example: Autonomous vehicles (Waymo). Tara’s informal poll—about a third of San Francisco visitors refuse to ride in one, even though data suggests they are 12x safer than human drivers (12:13).

5. Industries at an Inflection Point

• Auto & Energy (14:14—15:08):

  • Rapid EV adoption in China, driven by battery technology advances, shows industrial leapfrogging.
  • "I think something crazy. Like a majority of cars in China right now are EVs." (14:45, Tara Tan)

• Filmmaking & Creative Industries (15:08—19:29):

  • The hosts discuss “prompt-based” filmmaking and animation tools that can rival professional studios, disrupting jobs but also increasing creative access.
  • Rei notes, “Animation studios and animators unfortunately have to either reskill and retool or upskill themselves ... or maybe even find a completely different thing.” (16:26)

• Entertainment Market Expansion (16:40—19:10):

  • Tara argues the market will actually "double or triple" in size, with demand for entertainment skyrocketing—creators just need to adapt to new tools and models instead of clinging to old workflows.

• Democratization vs. Craft

  • Rei and Tara go back and forth on technological democratization:
    • Rei: “What used to be reserved for highly skilled people with expensive tools, software and hardware tools, is now available to many people…” (19:29)
    • Tara: Access doesn’t equal quality—skill and relentless improvement (e.g., MrBeast’s hundreds of videos) still matter.
    • “AI is the same. You put in schlop, you get schlop and it's gonna be easier to create slop. But the people who put in the time and energy and craft into making these pieces, that's not gonna go away.” (21:47)

6. Other Sectors Facing Disruption

• Broader Impacts (24:38—26:48):

  • Retail/E-commerce: Transformed radically with Web 2.0; early critics were wildly wrong.
  • Legal, Accounting, Consulting: White-collar professions based on information retrieval/organization are being upended by AI’s ability to process, retrieve, and reason with vast data.
  • Tara: “A lot of the white collar jobs ... will get impacted. It will grow in many ways. But ... it’s going to be disrupted anyway.” (25:08)

• Case Example: Legal Automation

  • Increasing accessibility to high-level legal information, less need for human intermediaries—except at the highest stakes.

7. Closing Reflections: The Golden Age of Ideas & Using AI as Leverage

• Rei’s Takeaway (27:26–28:51):

  • “Because the bar for execution has lowered ... we may be entering a new golden age of ideas. ... But the people who are doing good work ... are relentless about coming up with good ideas ... and fine-tuning the ideas as opposed to just executing for the hell of it.”

• Tara’s Takeaway (28:51–29:36):

  • “How can you use AI as leverage, and not just as a tool? … It will almost make you superhuman. ... That’s the challenge I would leave you and everyone with, including myself, which is: how can we build these systems to leverage that change?”

• Final Exchange:

  • Rei: “It’s like a leapfrog, you know, let’s be human superhumans. Let’s become superhumans.” (29:36)
  • Tara: “Let’s be superhuman.” (29:42)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On technological resistance:

  • “The technology was there, but the human passengers were afraid to get into them without somebody you can trust to operate the box.”
    — Rei Inamoto, 03:32

• On AI tool usage and adoption speed:

  • “ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months... We’re going at it at a pretty exponential rate.”
    — Tara Tan, 06:54

• On the ongoing necessity of craft:

  • “You put in schlop, you get schlop ... the people who put in time and energy and craft, that’s not going to go away.”
    — Tara Tan, 21:47

• On societal transformation:

  • “Every time that there’s been a new technology revolution, it’s always created a new prosperous cycle for humanity, always.”
    — Tara Tan, 28:51

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–03:32 — Origin Story: Elevators & Cultural Resistance
• 04:56–07:46 — The Explosive Uptake of LLMs & Age of Rapid Adoption
• 07:51–11:28 — AI’s Role in Task Automation & Human Interaction
• 11:28–12:41 — Fear of Change: Autonomous Cars, Then & Now
• 14:14–15:08 — Industrial Leapfrog: EVs in China
• 15:08–19:10 — AI in Filmmaking: Expansion, Disruption, and Democratization
• 19:29–22:36 — Democratization of Tools vs. Quality of Output
• 24:38–26:48 — AI’s Disruption in Retail & White-Collar Jobs
• 27:26–29:42 — Key Takeaways: The Golden Age of Ideas & Leveraging AI

Summary

Through engaging anecdotes and relatable metaphors, the hosts illuminate how our anxieties about automation and AI echo past technological upheavals, but with unprecedented scale and speed. The conversation offers both caution and optimism: while barriers to creation and information are plummeting, the enduring importance of skill and adaptability remains clear. The invitation to become “superhuman” by using AI as leverage—rather than just a tool—serves as an inspiring note on which to end the episode.