42:I[185,["/_next/static/chunks/2ys9ev5m3_24i.js","/_next/static/chunks/0bk1pu_8e598k.js","/_next/static/chunks/42spz6paskvb6.js","/_next/static/chunks/178kgr5-cejk9.js","/_next/static/chunks/2rb7hbw702gwm.js","/_next/static/chunks/3jnlvw-emqotx.js"],"SendEmailButton"] 44:I[63625,["/_next/static/chunks/2ys9ev5m3_24i.js","/_next/static/chunks/0bk1pu_8e598k.js","/_next/static/chunks/42spz6paskvb6.js","/_next/static/chunks/178kgr5-cejk9.js","/_next/static/chunks/2rb7hbw702gwm.js","/_next/static/chunks/3jnlvw-emqotx.js"],"AddToLibraryButton"] 45:I[29721,["/_next/static/chunks/2ys9ev5m3_24i.js","/_next/static/chunks/0bk1pu_8e598k.js","/_next/static/chunks/42spz6paskvb6.js","/_next/static/chunks/178kgr5-cejk9.js","/_next/static/chunks/2rb7hbw702gwm.js","/_next/static/chunks/3jnlvw-emqotx.js"],"ShareButton"] 46:I[58016,["/_next/static/chunks/2ys9ev5m3_24i.js","/_next/static/chunks/0bk1pu_8e598k.js","/_next/static/chunks/42spz6paskvb6.js","/_next/static/chunks/178kgr5-cejk9.js","/_next/static/chunks/2rb7hbw702gwm.js","/_next/static/chunks/3jnlvw-emqotx.js"],"ProcessEpisodeButton"] 47:I[45269,["/_next/static/chunks/2ys9ev5m3_24i.js","/_next/static/chunks/0bk1pu_8e598k.js","/_next/static/chunks/42spz6paskvb6.js","/_next/static/chunks/178kgr5-cejk9.js","/_next/static/chunks/2rb7hbw702gwm.js","/_next/static/chunks/3jnlvw-emqotx.js"],"SignupCTA"] 3a:["$","time",null,{"dateTime":"2026-07-11T15:00:00.000Z","children":"July 11, 2026"}] 3b:["$","span",null,{"aria-hidden":true,"children":"·"}] 3c:["$","span",null,{"children":"00:39:37"}] 43:T52d,

A veteran of three tech eras on how the innocence was lost — and whether AI actually might win it back, through what he calls “enlightened AI.”

Recently, on WhoWhatWhy podcast, Matthew Stepka — early internet-café founder, McKinsey alum, nine-year Google veteran who shepherded many of the company’s mission projects including the first self-driving cars, and now an investor in what he calls “enlightened AI” — walks us back through the Valley’s reinventions and asks what each one cost.

Before the trillion-dollar IPOs, before the data centers and the doom, before “Silicon Valley” became shorthand for unaccountable power and unimaginable wealth, there was a teenager with an Atari — a gift from his NASA-engineer father — certain he could build any world he could imagine.

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