The Social Media Era Is Ending: AI, Voice, and the Rise of AR Glasses

Summary

Podcast Summary:

The GaryVee Audio Experience
Episode: The Social Media Era Is Ending: AI, Voice, and the Rise of AR Glasses
Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Length: ~59 minutes

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Overview of the Episode

This forward-looking conversation between Gary Vaynerchuk and a guest host explores the transformation of digital consumer behavior as social media, AI, voice tech, and AR glasses collide. The episode focuses on the transition from classic social media paradigms to an emerging landscape powered by agentic AI and immersive AR experiences. Gary provides a historical lens, pattern-spotting advice, and practical guidance for creators and brands about what comes next and how to adapt.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Impending End of the Social Media Era

• Host’s Thesis [07:17]:
  The era of social media as we know it is ending due to three major AI-driven shifts:

  • A. AI Cracks Social Platforms: As AI bots consume and create content, the core value proposition of "posting for people" breaks down if real human engagement can't be verified.
  • B. The Phone Habit Is Breaking: With advanced voice AI, people will increasingly use spoken prompts rather than scrolling on their phones, eroding habitual engagement.
  • C. The Next Tech Leap Changes Behavior: Like TV to YouTube, AI is not automation of old habits, but an entirely new paradigm that’s unrecognizable today.

• Gary’s Response:

  • Sees this as an "and" future: Bots won’t fully replace human engagement—if real humans still interact, creators will still have incentive. [09:17]
  • Social metrics may become less reliable (views, likes), but brands should focus on outcomes, not vanity metrics:

    “If the results that I want are still grounded in the 1% of human...I’m still gonna be incentivized to do it.” (Gary, [10:19])

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2. The Convergence of Tech, Attention, and Human Behavior

• Gary credits his knack for predicting trends to relentless observation of human nature and attention, not just following the data:

  “I intuitively understand what people are going to do for real. And I’ve applied that a lot in what is my favorite artistic place, playground, which is building businesses.” (Gary, [04:27])

• Comparing himself to a talent scout (A&R) in music, he says:

  “I walk into the bar...and I gotta watch people react to Kurt Cobain and be like, Nirvana. I would have crushed that.” (Gary, [05:13])

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3. Voice Tech & AR Glasses: The Next Platform Shift

• Voice-First Ecosystems:
  Gary and the host predict a move from typing and scrolling to voice-prompted digital experiences.

  “I only prompt in voice...As someone who can’t write for shit and someone who can voice his ass off, I’m pumped.” (Gary, [12:30])

• AR Glasses Supersede Phones:

  • Glasses will do to phones what phones did to TV/radio—becoming the dominant distribution point for information/attention.
  • Early uses will mimic old habits (e.g., 1-min videos projected), but new forms will emerge as people adapt.
  • AR will make video immersive and 3D, likely creating experiences akin to “being in the movie.”

    “Video starts to get very three dimensional and interactive. Correct. It gets really powerful.” (Gary, [15:03])

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4. Online Behaviors, Generational Patterns, and Tech Backlash

• Barbell Effect:
  Gary foresees extremes: some people unplugging for “renaissance” offline experiences, while tech's pull accelerates elsewhere.

  “The technology is too intoxicating...We go to the next one, we’re going to. Cause it’s just too obvious. It’s the most historical truth of man.” (Gary, [20:44])

• Generational Shifts:
  Gen Alpha’s reduced desire to join social media is noted, as well as the trend of each new generation subverting the last.

  “I have a 16 and 13 year old...There's a lot to see how it all plays out...It's so fun to watch…” (Gary, [24:59])

• Authenticity in the AI Age:
  Debates whether “authenticity” as we now define it (no makeup, casual) will be meaningful when machines mediate most communication:

  “My point of view is the intent and the actions are the authentic part, not what's distributing it.” (Gary, [28:34])

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5. Agentic Economy: Shopping, Discovery, and Brand

• AI Agents Handle Mundane Choices:
  In the voice-first, AI-driven future, people will tell their agent to handle purchases (“buy pizza for 6, one lactose intolerant”), and only specify when they care deeply (wine, perfume, etc.).

  “There is a day of reckoning coming where...the agent’s going to buy it for me. And I’m not gonna be seduced by an end cap at Walmart.” (Gary, [32:51])

• Breaking Through as a Brand or Creator:

  • Strong brands will matter even more—AI/agents will default to well-known, trusted options unless users override.
  • Real-life, experiential marketing may surge (pop-ups, events, clubs, etc.).

    “I'm actually massively bullish on experiential marketing.” (Gary, [37:19])

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6. Creativity, Discovery, and the Next Platform

• AI Content Authenticity and Saturation:
  We're already consuming AI-generated content and soon won't be able to distinguish.

  “We’re all going to consume unlimited content in 24 months and have no fucking clue if it’s real or not.” (Gary, [00:18])

• Discovery Will Be Felt, Not Predicted:
  Gary likens new paradigm emergence to discovering a band in a bar: you’ll recognize the next “TikTok” or “Vine” only once people start using it, not before.

  "I will know it when I see it.” (Gary, [41:23])

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7. Advice for Creators: Navigating the Transition

• Maintain Dual Focus:
  • "Fly two planes at once": Squeeze value from current platforms like TikTok, but start experimenting with new mediums, AIs, and live/interactivity.

    "The more people know who you are...is going to matter. So the number one thing is to squeeze the living shit out of the discoverability that is TikTok.” (Gary, [48:41])

  • Don't overthink the exact shape of the future:

    “You don't have to become a savant or technically deep. But you have to start flirting [with new tech] while extracting [from the current].” (Gary, [50:33])

  • Know your value proposition independent of platform—why do people follow you?

    “You have to be able to answer the question, what is your value proposition? Decoupled from the medium of the moment.” (Host, [50:52])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Technology & Human Behavior:

  “Tech doesn't go in a vacuum. People converge with it. And then new economy, new market economies come at that.” (Host, [06:23])

• On Voice/Glasses Revolution:

  “Glasses is the most obvious thing brewing that is gonna do to phone what phone did to television and what television did to radio.” (Gary, [13:37])

• On Authenticity:

  “I’m passionate about sharing my observations, but I’m in the business of conviction, not convincing.” (Gary, [31:49])

• On Experiential Marketing:

  “There's no question, that's going to be so awesome. We're all going to be in a place of...and it's going to be so cool. We're going to figure out what we actually care about and things will change.” (Gary, [35:39])

• On Technology's Social Impact:

  “Technology is wildly, historically obvious that it has been net good for humans...Penicillin was a good invention. Electricity was a good invention. The automobile was a good invention...” (Gary, [56:22])

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Important Timestamps for Segments

• AI & Fear of Job Loss / Hyperreal Content: [00:00–00:33], [43:05–44:00]
• Gary on Pattern Recognition: [01:23–06:23]
• Thesis: Beginning of End of Social Media: [07:00–09:01]
• Voice and AR Glasses Paradigm Shift: [12:07–15:03]
• Barbell Future, Gen Alpha, Tech and Social Cycles: [20:07–25:46]
• On Authenticity in Content/AI Era: [27:13–31:25]
• Agentic Economy & AI Shopping: [32:13–37:02]
• Brands, Attention, and the Future of Discovery: [37:02–41:04]
• Advice for Creators: [48:38–52:16; 52:40–54:18]

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Episode Takeaways

• Social media’s current mode (“posting for people”) is eroding as AI, voice tech, and AR glasses redefine digital experiences.
• The meaningful action: focus on outcomes & relationships, not outdated metrics or nostalgia for existing platforms.
• The biggest opportunities for brands, creators, and marketers will come by being early on the next platform — and by meeting people where they actually are, not where they “should” be.
• The new brand battleground: breaking into users’ AI “preference stacks,” building actual resonance, and leveraging real-world/experiential marketing.
• Be ready to adapt. Keep a foot in the present (extracting value), but actively “flirt with the future” to ride the next wave when it comes.

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For Listeners:
This episode is an energizing, deep-dive discussion at the very frontier of AI’s collision with our digital lives. Gary’s advice: Don’t panic about the future; keep showing up, mastering the moment, and prepare to recognize — and act on — the signals of what comes next.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because I couldn't have predicted that everyone was going to be so scared shitless that they were going to lose their job that they're going to be mad at AI in any form. Do you know that most people's negative opinions of AI in a commercial in content is all actually predicated on their own fear that they're going to lose their job because of AI as you know, they're not even going to know if it was AI generated or not. The technology is too profound. We're all going to consume unlimited content in 24 months and have no fucking clue if it's real or not. We're dangerously close for no one having any chance of guessing.

[Podcast Host]

I think we're already here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the GaryVee audio experience.

[Podcast Host]

There are a lot of people who talk about the future of the Internet. I'm myself included, and people have a lot to say about it. Very few people are as right as you, as early as you and actually have skin in the game. So I think you, you were one of the early investors in Facebook, right? Twitter, Tumblr as well. Can I throw a snap in there, Ken?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That was a little later, but, like, there was no opportunity for me to get in, but I saw it very early when it was at Stanford.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. And then I've seen your videos telling marketers to pay attention to Facebook, social media, not just television, in that transition. So you call a lot of shots ahead of time about social media, about the Internet. I think you were also behaving like a creator before the creator economy, before we even had that language.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Podcast Host]

So you're always 10 steps ahead of the beat. What are the signals you're paying attention to? Is it psychology, culture? Are there product data points that you're like, this is where we're headed? Because we've always been right history.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm a big user. I was such a poor student, which is, like, funny in its own right. But my history grades were really strong and I would watch a lot of documentaries and History Channel, and I love pop culture. Like, I'm really fascinated by things that are weird, like Saturday morning cartoons or Nixon and Kennedy's debate on radio versus television. I was also always very fascinated. You know, we were just talking before we started that I was born in the ussr. I grew up during the Cold War, and I was very fascinated by coups and like, why would an army go to the newspaper and the TV and the palace? And I started to make the connection points and like, propaganda was a word I knew existed when I was 10, the Berlin Wall falling and why. Lucille Ball translated on television versus boxing and horse racing and baseball did well on radio, but it took television for football to do well and Ted Turner and CNN and Baby Jessica in the well and the whole country watching it. You know, I've always associated with real artists and real athletes. You know, I really do think people come along and they're born for like Michael Jackson was born for music, right? Like we saw the videos when he was five. Like, you know, I think a lot about 14 year old female tennis players winning like a Grand Slam, you know, like, you know, and so I do think it's not as obvious when someone has that around people's behavior. But I feel like, and I don't even know if I've actually, as I'm talking, I probably have not even remotely touched or maximized or extracted this natural skill. I intuitively understand what people are going to do for real. And I've applied that a lot in what is my favorite artistic place, playground, which is building businesses. I get real joy out of playing the game. And it started long before the videos you've seen. I launched an e commerce website for my dad's liquor store in 1997 that was just like, what? And then email marketing. Literally nobody was doing it and I was doing it. And then Google AdWords. If I was making videos, there would be videos right now of me saying this Google, just Google, the new search engine. I know all of you are on Yahoo and Ask Jeeves, but Google's out and it's got this ad product. I'm telling you, it's going to be big. You know, even like now I'm in a fun part of my career where I can clip things I said in 2008 about live shopping. I see them, which is probably why you understand it's there. Cause you can't make that up. The receipts are there. And so yeah, and I'm also scared to be wrong. You know, a lot of people. Like the other day someone's like, you got a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. And I actually stopped her. And I was like, tell me which ones I've gotten wrong. Like, where are the receipts on the Internet that I'm wrong? Listen, by the way, I'm always, I'm wrong all the time, comma, I don't tend to make a lot of content about something until it's turned. Until I'm like, you're sure? I'm sure. And I really don't predict, by the way. Which is probably why it's working for me. I'm just very good about talking about it as it's happening early. I'm like a good ar. I don't know if an A R predicted that Pearl Gym or Guns N Roses were gonna be big. They walked into the bar and they're like, oh shit.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I walk, I'm an A and R. I walk into the bar and I'm not Clive Davis, like the ear. Where, like where, where Mariah Carey could walk in, sing and be like, I got. I'm more. I gotta go to a dungy club on skid row or in Seattle and I gotta watch the people react to Kurt Cobain and be like, Nirvana. I would have crushed that. I mean, look at this. I'm like literally full goosebumped out. Like, I know that's who I am. I do that for what consumers do with attention and commerce. And that's my life.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, we're tech converges with attention.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, I'm very tech. I'm very tech. Curious. I'm very tech. Surface level, dangerous things. Dangerous being a good word as a businessman. But I'm not deep tech. I'm not that scientist. I don't code, I don't understand many of the things you understand, but boy do I understand how humans interact with it. And in the early Silicon Valley Web 2.0 days, a lot of the best tech kids just did not understand people. And back to Zucks, I'm like, oh shit, this kid understands people. And that's why I bet the farm on Facebook meant that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, technology doesn't go in a vacuum. People converge with it. And then new economy, new market economies come at that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. And a lot of times we converge with it early and we don't understand it. For example, when I think about AI and deepfake and oh my God, videos have been the, literally have been the judge and jury and proof of our society for 100 plus years. And we're five years away from no one believing a video on the Internet. Oh, wait, the blockchain. That proves providence and ownership. Wow. Will the blockchain be able to help the Internet? Like, you know, so that's where my brain goes. But I'm not the guy who's gonna sit down and, and understand how to develop the technology. Correct.

[Podcast Host]

So, okay, so I have a thesis and I've been working on this thesis. There's three parts to it. I've teased it out on social media a little bit. I've written about it in my substack But I've never put it together for anyone in its entirety until now. And I think you're the perfect person to run this through with.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, I'm flattered.

[Podcast Host]

So I think we're at the beginning of the end of the social media era.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

Part one of the thesis. So I think. And they're all tied to AI. I think AI cracks the current value proposition of the social media platforms in their current state. So we post because people watch us. Right. Whether I'm signaling that I'm single or taken, that I'm employable, that I was at the beach the other day, there.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Is consumption on the other side.

[Podcast Host]

We pose for human receipt.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

If we can't verify that I'm posting for a bunch of R2D2s or actual people, that psychology of signaling starts to break. So I post. But what is the incentive? Because the feedback.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You want to stop there. Want to start.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, I'm going to build them all and then you can.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, okay. No worries.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. Part two, the better AI gets and the more reliable this technology gets, especially as it transitions towards first, the less I'm going to want to pull out my phone and it's going to start to break that habit, that habit that we formed of opening, swiping, watching, viewing, and I'm just going to say Alexa Uber, order this thing, do this thing, and I'm not going to open and watch. And then the third AI, it's a general purpose technology like the Internet. And these technologies don't mean that we do the same thing, just faster or more automated. We do different. Different things.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

So I think, you know, television, YouTube isn't automated TV. It was new people that gained influence. So I feel like we're on the beginning of something entirely new that will have threads to the social media economy, but it'll be unrecognizable as going from cable to TikTok.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Couple things. So that's awesome. This is so fun. This is already my favorite podcast ever. I would argue that cable and TikTok are not wildly different. So that's put on a shelf. Let's go back to the beginning.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, the value prop.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. The reality is it will be and not. Or if your numbers. Let's just go where I think you're going. Correct me if I'm wrong. So I don't believe AI bots or agents consuming content eliminates the reality that humans could also consume that content. So I view it as an and environment versus or to your point, to many people's points in Fake fraud media world, pre social like bots in digital marketing. You know, if I see 14 million views and I know that that's actually only 300,000, that creates a new, you know, microdynamic. But if the results of what I want to happen happen from the 300,000 people that actually saw it, if I'm now posting and 99% is bots, but 1% is human and all my metrics are 99% fake, but 1 is human or AI or bots or agents or wherever we go. If the results that I want are still grounded in the 1% of human instead of 100% human, I'm still gonna be incentivized to do it. If I say I'm single and the only people that are trying to date me is an AI agent robot, bad. But if it is also going to be people just drowned out metrically and maybe optically by data, robots, agents, well then I'm still going to do it. If I am going to sell wine or get stopped by 500 people in the street and say you changed my life, even though yesteryear it was 100,000 views and that's what resulted it and now it's 40 million views, but it's really only 100,000 views, I'm still going to do it. So the question becomes if there is still human consumption, no matter how drowned out in an overall metric and the actions are executed on by those humans, I don't think we walk away.

[Podcast Host]

So you're saying, okay, if I'm selling makeup and sure, now I maybe have a million views, some of those are going to be synthetic. But if I'm still growing my sales because that information is getting back to a human somehow I know that this is still working. Something's happening, that it is actually working.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct. One of the cool things about why I think we I built one of the biggest marketing companies is I don't care about marketing in a silo. And I think the marketing industry does. I care about what marketing does for a business.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So I've never worried about anything other than I do this all the time. Like trying to remind people like this is not art class. This is we have to drive this insurance company's business. So that is a comp to what I'm saying.

[Podcast Host]

But how does this happen on the same platforms? Because what I'm envisioning is cable and then TikTok on the same channel. And that's.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is where I think you're wildly right. So I think one of the things you said is like, you know, so A. I could not agree with you more about voice. In fact, we started talking about this. I've got some good ass receipts in 1617 because I became infatuated. I started seeing early AI. I'm like, oh shit, Alexa's a beast. You know, like I really voice AOR for Chase.

[Podcast Host]

The worst voice technology will ever be.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh my God, it's gonna be so good. I only prompt and voice me. I only prompt and voice.

[Podcast Host]

And there are entire businesses that are now voiced first. So you go into their offices, there are startups, they're not typing, they're talking.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's much more by the way. I'm so pumped about that. As someone who can't write for shit and somebody can voice his ass off, I'm pumped. Anyway, so I'm a buyer. I've got another build on yours because you're talking about a very smart thing. When distribution changes, everything changes. I also believe forget about voice. And I'm with you on that. That's one thing. Where is it?

[Podcast Host]

So you do agree that voice could break that loop of open phone and.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Watch something for sure. And open phone and watch something is being battled on not just by the voice devices, but this is coming glasses. I would argue that voice would be an and because we still want to consume visually. I think it's glasses. I think voice to your point may be a dent in consumption. But I think if Glasses pulls off its mission, whether it's meta, whether it's.

[Podcast Host]

Google, Apple, who knows Apple.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And you know, this could be some secret lab right now there's a Chinese based company. Yes, correct. That when Glasses comes that I believe Glasses is the most obvious thing brewing that is gonna do to phone what phone did to television and what television did to radio. I fully agree.

[Podcast Host]

And so okay, so let's paint this new economy. So maybe you throw on your glasses and. Or you have AirPods. So when Apple dropped AI translation in their AirPods a couple months ago, everyone thought and it is amazing that you can do translate anything. Anytime I saw an AI in your ear, that is the beginning of that behavior. AI and ear talking to AI. I mean social media companies are now actually competing with people talking to ChatGPT versus going on those platforms 100%.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So we're already seeing every. You know, I wrote a book. Oh, there it is. I wrote a book. Day trading attention. I think it's the only asset and I think you're touching on this. They're all competing.

[Podcast Host]

They're all competing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I mean they're competing with sleep, they're competing with working out. They're competing with us doing what we're doing right now. Netflix versus TikTok. TikTok versus the New York Times.

[Podcast Host]

The live experiences which we can get into. But let's paint this ecosystem. Right. So you may be throw. Someone's going to throw on glasses when they need to see something, but it can't look the same way. Right. You can't be sweet scrolling TikTok with your eyes. The format has to change. So I think that 90 second video clip, we are at the beginning of the end of that as the center of gravity.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think video is a very big deal for human beings. So I think that's the dangerous part of this. So let's talk about it. Couple things I believe and I have a feeling as I'm starting to get in here with you that you'll see see this as well. I think augmented reality is a huge winner. AR is gonna be very big. If we really do go to glasses and we're really here, we could have a third guest right now and she's here. So I think video starts to get very three dimensional and interactive. Correct. It gets really powerful. So to your point, like watching a 30 second video in a box on your phone and is absolutely gonna feel as mundane as like the old motion pictures where like, you know, like you see like they used to move it manually. Like no doubt. I think that again I'm just looking at everything I can see with my eyes right now. It goes back to the sphere in Las Vegas, that venue. Like do I watch Star Wars 67 in 20 years where everything is activated? I think so. Right. And then that's right. Like it's not limited, but it will be in video form. It might be in AR3 dimensional form. As the technology grows, I'm in the movie, like it gets really immersive. Like I don't see how we are not robots at some point. You know, probably not in my lifetime. Maybe in my lifetime. This stuff sometimes goes pretty fast. But hopefully I live long. But yes, I think that is the case. I think it's the glasses and AR content becoming the winner in that decade. What video in this device? I think this is the distribution, like for example, the LLM AEO GEO thing that you brought up about Uber or utility. When I'm going into Uber, I'm going into Uber. I'm not on Instagram anyway. I don't think that's taking away. You know what I mean? I'm an Uber Anyway, I'm in Uber for 13 seconds and I go back to Instagram now. It's frictionless. To your point, it's so easy. But I'm not worried about that part that you brought up. I think voice plus glasses is bad for phone and we reset. And I agree. I think in the beginning, just like this is such, I'm gonna make a prediction I'm very passionate about. I believe a lot of the early executions will be silly. They will be one minute videos that just show up in your glasses. Cause a lot of people won't be used to the new distribution. The first commercials on television were radio reads. It was a photo and a man read it just as if he was on radio. And it took time for us to understand the power. Correct. So totally new operating system, voice interface and AR interface. In a world where we're wearing this predominantly. I think it's gonna get so good 10 years after it comes out that people will struggle to take their glasses off because you won't even be able to live in the world because you'll be missing too much 20 years after. Just like the iPhone. You may know this, the original big app on the iPhone was drinking a beer like it was silly. We didn't know yet. That's a long cry from Uber or Instagram or what have you. And so, yeah, I think those are the themes I agree with. Hey, everybody. Hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. They'll make my mom super happy.

[Podcast Host]

Is it the current. So it's either the current players and they're probably planning for this because you do see Meta step into our glasses. But the future, it's not a continuation. Right. You don't just pile on the new thing. There is an app or some kind of experience waiting to be born that combines either the glasses and. Or airpods and. Or some form of a pendant. That's a new type of interaction. That's just not this.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This has no shot. It's. This has no sh. Yeah, I mean, it will take time. This is tomorrow, correct? I think it's. You know, I think it's still. I think this has got a decade for real.

[Podcast Host]

Do you think so?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I do, I do. Because I think the glasses that I'm talking about and the voice interface, universal everywhere we turn has more work to be done. Meta's project Orion, I think is hoping for six years from now. And that's like, they're ambitious and hopeful, and then even when it comes out, I mean, this was my thing back then. Like, I was like, when the iPhone came out, I'm like, all of you are gonna have an iPhone. They all laughed at me. Cause they all loved their BlackBerry.

[Podcast Host]

After TechCrunch, did you see new after everybody slammed the iPhone, I remember it was gonna bomb, of course, fail miserably.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

People don't understand people's. People don't understand what people value. At the time, for me, it was an easy read. I'm like, the Internet's on this. And not like the BlackBerry, like the real Internet. This is a computer. So, you know, I think that it will be that kind of window, but this will be replaced by a more extreme version of this. Just so you know.

[Podcast Host]

Do you. Okay, so I think. I mean, some of the data that I'm seeing show that we're starting to show that we want something new or we're ready for what's next. Whether that's people spending less time on social media, especially Gen Alpha. And I know that that's something that you've talked about. People want to live in the world now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love that. I agree.

[Podcast Host]

I love that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think it's barbells. My. I think we're gonna go into extremism on both. Look, the technology is too intoxicating to the human being. Like, we only go one direction.

[Podcast Host]

It's always extreme.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Like, it's always. The new technologies win. Like, people held on to candles and lanterns, but electricity won. People stuck with their horses for a little.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We go to the next one, we're going to. Cause it's just too. It's too obvious. It's the most historical truth of man. From the wheel to AI, we will go, and we will have pockets of adjusting. Like, everyone smoked then. No one smoked. And by the way, smoking's starting to come back. Like, not vapes. Cigarettes. The cool kids in Brooklyn are starting to do it again. You could see it. It's starting to happen. Alcohol. No. Yes. No. By the way, cannabis. Most people don't know the history. They don't understand, like, go back 150 years, and we were good. It's medicine. Correct. So we ebb and flow in the micro. We're tired of all this for sure. And then there's. Kids always want to be cool. So I'm gonna get a CD player. There's all that. But in the macro. The tech will win. The tech could be getting so extreme. The fun thing to think about Is that's how he's always gone. Is this so extreme that it does create this counter on the barbell? Do we start understanding the weekends more? Do we go in hyper acceleration of AI to a three day, two day work week? What the fuck does that mean? Five days of leisure. Now you are yoga ing and climbing a mountain. You know, like extreme capitalism might look like socialism. This gets really fascinating. What I meant by that everyone is if seven companies become trillions because of this technology and they have all the moats. Well, they might. And jobs are just getting. Government's gonna get involved and make them subsidize the carnage. So I don't know. These are all the fun questions I think about constantly.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. And I think we do ebb and flow. I think we're gonna go through a dip where people are going to go offline and we see a bit of a renaissance. And I think marketing companies are going to figure out how do I leverage technology? Because it's not that you're getting now a telegram to tell you where the new thing is in the park. Companies are going to figure out how do we use technology to get people into offline experiences that are worth attending. And that's coming.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's happening and we're seeing it. I would argue that's been happening. I would argue that technology has been the gateway drug to in real life. I'll give you an example. Do you know how many people are gonna go out on a date tonight? That it started in their phone tonight. Do you know how insane that is? I would argue that's been happening like literally in New York. We're in New York City right now. Tonight. Is tonight Wednesday or Thursday?

[Podcast Host]

Wednesday.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay, tomorrow night. I'm just gonna go with Thursday. Tomorrow night. Do you know how many people are about to go on a date tomorrow night in New York City or where that started with a DM on Instagram or Tinder or something else.

[Podcast Host]

LinkedIn apparently.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Substack writers are getting on fire. That happened digital to then go to have a meal or a drink or a coffee. It's been happening. I think we in society are tackling a lot of anxiety around a lot of issues. Geopolitics is not chill. It's not 2002. I think modern parenting had a tough chapter the last 30 years. So we have a lot of insecurity in the early 20s and 30s in society in Western first world countries. I think we've become dramatically materialistic. Unfortunately. Materialism has really had a good run. I think we're really overly.

[Podcast Host]

We're really subscribed from that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I mean, I've been. My whole life's been unsubscribed for that. And I think so much of my happiness comes from. Yeah, I love that. Well, that's cool. You know, that's ironic. Cool. The other way. I'm like, oh, she's cool. So I think there's a lot going on that makes it easy for us to not be accountable of our own shortcomings and say, ooh, it's you. And so that's what I'm spending a lot of time thinking about, which is why we're, for example, you know this with data, a lot more people are saying they're gonna unplug than actually unplug. We talk big game. That's what people are like. G recent poll, I'm like, not interested. Stop, stop.

[Podcast Host]

I think it's less. People are talking about moving offline, but hardly anyone's going. We're seeing it in some of the data with Gen Alpha. They're physically not getting the same. Yes. And they're not signing up.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That I see.

[Podcast Host]

Or they're in DMs.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I agree. That I see. That's right. I see that there's a lot to watch with them. I have a 16 and 13 year old and I spend so much time on youth culture. There's a lot to see how it all plays out. I think there's a lot of ironic cool. I think Gen Alpha is doing its thing against Gen Z, which is so fun to watch because I got to really watch Gen Z do it to Millennials created a whole new dynamic. When I was growing up on Gen X, we didn't even know that we were in Gen X or I didn't know what a boomer was. We found another thing to separate us.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I actually, I hate it. I hate the whole generational thing. As if religion, race, gender wasn't enough things to divide us, we added another thing. Like boomers and Gen Z fighting with each other. Breaks my heart. I'm being serious.

[Podcast Host]

Are they fighting?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, you know, fuck. What do you mean, are they fighting? You know, what's going on in the world?

[Podcast Host]

There's 10. There's 10.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like every third post is either a boomer shitting on a Z or a Z or gym. Like, you know, so, you know. Yeah. Honestly, like even think about some of the things I worry about. I think we don't respect our elders. I think we've discounted wisdom, you know, like Gen Z to boomers. Back in the day, you looked up to that. Now we shit on that. You know, there's a lot of tension, and I think that seeps into how we view technology. I think we're blaming technology. And I also think we're posturing. I think we say something in a poll or a survey and we act a different way.

[Podcast Host]

We are aspirational. So your dating profile, your LinkedIn, your resume is who you hope to present yourself. And you probably answer a poll in that way, too.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're very sweet. I would argue that we're full of shit and we're hypocrites. You know, I think we're audacious. I think people think they can trick people. You know, one of the great things that happened in my life, luck of the draw, DNA wise parenting circumstance, was my intuition's really on and it's really hard to trick me. And I think that scared me because I was like, wait a minute, I don't want to trick the 99%. I want the 1%, intellectual, successful, optimistic, good to like me. I'm not gonna trick. I think a lot of people get away with tricking people or think they can trick people because they're trickable.

[Podcast Host]

I think so. And it brings me to an interesting point because we've been hearing a lot about the word authenticity, especially as it relates to AI. So people saying, okay, AI is coming, there's going to be AI influencers, or. I mean, I think Adam Zeri did a big mini essay on Instagram talking about the rise of AI on the platform. And we know we see what you're seeing, and we're going to try to figure this out. Instagram's going to have to figure something out. But for the meantime, try to be authentic, because authenticity is going to win. I feel like we're off to shaky ground. If we're thinking about authenticity in relationship to a machine, I feel like that's already out. I think authenticity should have nothing to do with the AI or anything else. Or you see people saying, okay, this means go more, no makeup and just you. But I don't even know where we're going with that, with authenticity.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's a great. I love how you think. Couple things. Let's go backwards. Is it authentic to make art on a canvas? This is one of my favorite historical events. When the canvas was invented, all the artists said it was radical. They said it wasn't real movies. They said, if you make art on a canvas, it's not real. You must make it on a building. The amount of people that just heard that, that had never knew that and they think that's real art and like an nft. No way. Digital art. Right. So machines, was it authentic for people to show up on radio and television? Because that was a machine. So like those are machines. Did that require. Did that require like did you have to. Did Martin Luther King have to just be. Was he only authentic to the people that were on that lawn? Because fuck. I surely felt something as a guy. I went to MLK elementary school and that was a big deal for me as a kid. That speech, you know, you know, I get where you're coming from, but I think it goes further back. Like was it authentic to write down words on a piece of paper with an ink pen versus saying it to someone? I don't know, it depends on my point of view is the intent and the actions are the authentic part, not what's distributing it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, and totally the intention because we quickly go to authenticity. Just being don't put effort in. I mean if you're looking at someone like Wes Anderson, I'm sure his movies aren't cheap to make, but they're authentic to him.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, that's right.

[Podcast Host]

So authenticity, it shouldn't even be in comparison to others or machines. It's what is interesting to you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Plus what can you do? Like you earlier said my substack, like I'm so not jealous or envious, but like I'm like man, I'm so capable of communicating with my words and thank God that can translate into written. But to write God, I've got nothing. And like sometimes authenticity is incredibly insular and solo.

[Podcast Host]

It shouldn't be a performance. The fact that we immediately went to how you present yourself to the world.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it comes back to you, that's missing the point. I agree with you. I've never. By the way, by the way, actually back to the original creator. I am one month away. In a month will be the 20th anniversary of me making my first YouTube video. YouTube wasn't even six months old. No lighting, no audio. And I did that for five years and by that time everybody did have lighting and audio. And I don't know, it just like it felt just fine. And guess what? It did great. Because I knew what I was talking about with wine. I was knowledgeable about wine, I was passionate about wine and I really wanted people to learn about wine that were under 40 from a non pretentious person so they could enjoy it instead of thinking it was some academic test.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, totally. And if you're.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But that goes to intent. I feel like I can do that with an AI movie right now too. And it will be authentic.

[Podcast Host]

It's whatever is interesting to you. If you are someone, too, that likes the frills and likes the perfection. Just because people are saying AI can maybe do that. If that was where you. That's what inspires you. Keep doing that. Because we don't want to adapt away from ourselves because of a machine. And I think we're running in circles around it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's a really funny saying that modern parenting has for little kids that says, this is the saying they'll say to a kid, don't. Yuck. They're yum. And my kids are 16 and 13, and I heard that 10 years ago, and I was like, that's awesome. That's how I see life. This was more about, like, don't say that kids snacks are not nice.

[Podcast Host]

They love them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. But that's where you're going. And that's just like. I'll be honest with you. That's like. In fact, it's my number one thing. I don't understand people's audacity to think that people should see the world the way they see it. I'm passionate about sharing my observations, but I'm in the business of conviction, not convincing. And I think we are all special, spending way too much time on convincing.

[Podcast Host]

I agree. Okay. I want to step into the agentic economy, because I think we see it quite similarly and talk about it a little bit. And you had painted an example at an event. You were doing a Fireside chat, and just in case anyone's listening that isn't familiar with what is going to happen in a voice. First, agentic economy. Can you give us an example of where we could be going? And then we'll talk about what that could mean for people who think they have a message to. To say. And how does the agent find you or a brand?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I think what you're setting me down a path of is this concept where you just walk in and you're just like, hey, Alexa, I have six boys coming over for dinner tonight, and I want pizza, and one of them's lactose intolerant. Enter. You're done. You don't even say enter. I'm laughing. That I'm saying enter. We're in a place where you're gonna talk this out. And if you do not name the brand or you're not specific, the agentic is gonna make the decision for you. It's a very big deal. We're also gonna Set our preferences. There is a day of reckoning coming where I can tell you for me, I'm gonna set the deodorant I buy and it will be set and repeat and the agent's gonna buy it for me. And I'm not gonna be seduced by an end cap at Walmart. And like, will an ad on social media compel me enough to change my settings? Maybe. Actually, possibly. In fact, that could be the biggest of them all. You can really prove advertising in a world where. Imagine if Amazon buys Snapchat, has a feed during that short term era as we're changing platforms and I see an ad for something and I'm not liking it. I'm actually resetting my preferences on the reordering of my shampoo to this shampoo. You're going to find out how valuable advertising is fast.

[Podcast Host]

It is about to change so much. I think if you're buying a wedding dress, sure, you're going to be in the mix. You're going to be watching, looking at.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Or check this out. Or for some people, pickles. You're right about wedding dress. Of course. Correct. I'm actually really fascinated by pickles. Do you like pickles?

[Podcast Host]

I do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good. Me too. Do we like pickles enough that we're really going to be deliberate about it? No, I don't. I don't think so either for me. But let me give you one that I will be just. Cause this is fun wine. I'm not gonna be like, hey, agent, just $20 wine. Whatever you think best deals go. Uh, I like wine too much. I'm gonna be in there with. It's gonna be. And 90% is gonna be you. Price, convenience set. Reorder. For me, reorder like the product's gonna be Internet of things. When it's down to a little bit, it'll reorder itself. All that. But it'll be fun to see who cares enough about pickles to set pickles. Will you do toothpaste? How do you feel about toothpaste? Chill.

[Podcast Host]

I'm chill on it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Me too. Give me something mundane that you're not chill about. Perfume. Beautiful. There you go. So let me say me could give a fuck. I'll be like, whatever. Actually back to where the world's really going. I'll go to Atria, my bougie place here in the city. They're gonna do blood work and whatever the right math is. I. I don't care. Right. So like.

[Podcast Host]

But like for you, I'm comparing it. I'm running it through an AI. I'm just.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. And you're gonna not let a. You're not gonna be like, order supplements, just keep me good. No, no, you're not.

[Podcast Host]

We're converse about it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so I'm painting the picture that I think we're all going to, which is we're gonna all learn that everyone has things that they really care about. I mean, there are people listening right now that'll be like, I'm not letting my AI order my beer. I'm gonna be specific.

[Podcast Host]

Sure. And there's a place for you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's what's gonna be so awesome. We're all gonna be in a place of. And it's gonna be so cool. We're gonna figure out what we actually care about, and things will change. I may have my beer set and forget just so I have beers for company. And then I might go on a trip, and I'm like, oh, I'm into microbrews now. And then I might reset it. And that whole interface of watching your life of what you care about, what you don't care about, some people think you should really. I'm gonna blow you away. You said car. I don't give a fuck. That's crazy, because I know car is like, big ticket. People really care. The logo, the color, the leather. I don't. So Gary will be like, car, best price, best deal, like, whatever. The arbitrage is that I care about time, convenience, you know?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. AI will meet you where you are.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And where you are at all times.

[Podcast Host]

And also, you're gonna set your intention. So for me, with food, I would be like, okay, I have people coming over to Pizza Party Organic. Try to go low on the microplastics if you can.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Either what?

[Podcast Host]

This is my budget. I'm good. I don't need to see what it looks like. And I don't want to. I don't need to pick things somebody else might not.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My wife spends 15 hours trying to make sure every single part of the food she puts in her body is clean. Now, AI will do that for her in a real way, too.

[Podcast Host]

But then how does the pizza parlor break through here? The supplement person, Somebody who has something to say. Where are you in that stack?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't know. And I kind of know. Here's what I mean by that. So first, what Google did as being a toll booth for the world for 25 years is wildly misunderstood. OpenTable, Kayak, Priceline. The amount of companies that were built on top of Google search to become massive companies. On the arbitrage of Google Ads, bookings.com, travelosta. I mean, it's insane. That's about to happen with LLMs agents and what have you. There's going to be. But the question becomes, do the companies that have the control of our attention want to get into the businesses? So will Google with Gemini during this era, because there's so little friction. Well, they decide instead of sending people to H and R Block, do they want to become H and r block? Does OpenAI want to get the ad revenue from, you know, from Geico, or do they want to compete with Geico? Because everyone's going to go through their funnel. So to your point, how do you break through one? This is going to send the world into a frenzy of understanding why brand is so important. You know, there is like, this goes back to religion. Like, things are gonna have to really matter or it's just gonna all happen in the backdrop. How you get something to matter will come in a million ways. Back to your point. I'm actually massively bullish on experiential marketing. Popping up at Coachella and the super bowl, doing your own stuff, having a running club, hiking club, fishing club. I'm very into it. Again, I think the way the world's gonna work is whether it's. We're still gonna live, right? You know, ready? Player one is gonna come at some point, some version of it, but we're still gonna live for a little while, especially us who are listening right now. I'm going to the super bowl in a couple weeks. That Saturday, I'm gonna walk around before the game and do events and go to parties. By the way, I really did take note of your T shirt. It's funny you brought it up. I take note. I'm like, that's cool. I want that. Like, maybe I don't want my AI to keep ordering me blank black shirts. Maybe I want that one. I'm gonna be able to, in two seconds be like, I want that, and it's gonna go cook. So in a lot of ways, it might be more extreme. See where I just went? It might be more. No friction. You can have what you want all the way. And what makes us want something is word of mouth, a conversation with walking down the street.

[Podcast Host]

You know, it's kind of like real life influence.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Real life influence. Right. But by the way, there's going to be something that we consume.

[Podcast Host]

Sure. We'll be digitally connected. No one's going.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, correct. And so whatever the, you know, whatever the YouTube or the Instagram or the TikTok of the day is whether it's an AR app. I mean, look, if Meta wins, I promise you, Instagram's gonna have a place. If Meta wins this, they're not gonna be like, it's going to be something. And by the way, it may be as mundane. I'm looking at you right now, there's a blank wall here. It is potentially as mundane. And this will break your heart. Maybe depending on your vibes right now, it might be that scrolling. I don't think so. I do think in the short term it will be.

[Podcast Host]

I think.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Sure. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Between times.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like I said about the radio ad. Exactly. Long term, definitely not.

[Podcast Host]

It's gonna be unrecognized.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, of course. Because history has told us that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. But I think. Okay, so how does. If you are an economist that has some course to sell or whatever it is that you're doing in the future, understanding.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

How things resonate with people, how you sell a mission that you bring someone on board. I feel like we're now in a time where it's really easy. A TikTok finds you because of algorithm. And that's the selling part. I think you're gonna have to make your brand so resonant and so. Because everything can be instant and everything is gonna be much more. I don't know, I think it's gonna be trickier, but maybe easier.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. I think you're. I think you're thinking about it, so. Right. And notice I said the same thing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Here's what you and I don't know, which is why I don't even think about this shit. I think about it in the macro, but I do not try to go further. It goes back to discovering Pearl Jam in a bar. I will know when I see it.

[Podcast Host]

That's it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You got it. You and I agree. I'm sure people are like, oh, wow. And I'm saying the next part that you're trying to do in your world that is meaningful and you need to do you. Do you. I can tell you for me what's gonna happen is when it's here, you'll.

[Podcast Host]

See a signal and you'll be like, this is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it. When vine was five seconds in, I'm like this. And then, you know, Jerome Jar and Logan Paul and King Bachelor. Like, I understood it and I also knew. I'm like, oh, short form, remember? Six seconds only. And I was like, oh, this is a new paradigm. Right? And now here we are. Right. Like we're in A shorter form, snackable. You know, some people think it's slop. I'm like, okay, like, one man's slop is another man's dinner. Right? Like so. You know, I think that. I think the principles are the same. I think you're right. I'll tell you what I like about your vibe. I think you're right that we're in the very early pre. Yes, I think you're right. In fact, I know. Let me phrase. I really think you're right that we're in the beginnings of the crack. I think that you're young. I can tell you what mistakes I made. I thought they were gonna happen faster.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'll never forget when I launched winelibrary.com in July of 1997. Thank God I wasn't making prediction videos. I was like, by the year 2000, everybody will buy everything on the Internet. Yeah. So, you know, these gray hairs come in handy. Notice how I said some things? You're like, oh, wow. When I said 10 years, you know, it takes time. Because look at what's happening with AI. There's so many dynamics you can't predict. Several years ago, I was like, oh, shit. Cause I have some nerdy ass friends. I'm like, oh, fuck. AI's getting close, right?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't think I could have even understood how profound it really was, but I was like, oh, it's coming close. I could have never predicted then, even though I knew it was close, that there would be such a backlash because I couldn't have predicted that everyone was gonna be so scared shitless that they were gonna lose their job, that they're gonna be mad at AI in any form? Do you know that most people's negative opinions of AI in a commercial in content is all actually predicated on their own fear that they're going to lose their job because of AI. As you know, they're not even going to know if it was AI generated or not. The technology is too profound. We're all going to consume unlimited content in 24 months and have no fucking clue if it's real or not. Now the girl's blurry. You're like, oh, that's an AI model. We're dangerously close. For no one having any chance of guessing.

[Podcast Host]

I think we're already here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I agree. I agree. I agree.

[Podcast Host]

By the way, I don't think anyone can tell.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think we're in an era where. Let me say it a different way. I agree that every person listening has consumed an AI person and did not know, But I think, you know what I'm about to say. Many are consuming AI people in their feeds right now, and they can tell it's AI. Got it. So that's gonna go away. So I'm with you on the. On the first part. I know that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's the second part that's gonna get them, I think.

[Podcast Host]

And where it gets AI gets really interesting to me because the. The pressure that I think we know we're at the beginning of whatever's gonna come next in social. We're seeing the cracks. It's not even unique to social media as an industry. Any tech company that was any tech incumbent born of the Internet era is feeling the pressure. We're seeing it with dating apps, Netflix. Okay, so Netflix stepping into the creator economy. They're going to be putting some YouTube videos on podcasts. Great. Everybody was really excited. The headlines were, this is amazing. Amazing. If you're a creator or podcaster. I didn't see this as a good signal for Netflix. To me, this is an incumbent under stress. They're stepping into a mature industry. Podcasting and the creator economy. It's a mature industry. We're going on almost two decades. Netflix is a tech company. Yes, they're in the business of Hollywood, but they are first and foremost an innovator. And for them to not be reinventing and instead stepping. To me, this is consolidation.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let me tell you. Let me tell you what my. Let me tell you how I process that. Yes. And that's it. I think you're right. It's the classic Holly. It's the last 80 years of media consolidation. Fragmentation, pendulum swings. Consolidate, break up. New things come up. Consolidate, break up. And this is the same old shit. Summer Redstone was trying to do this 25 years ago with Viacom. Like in cable. It's all the same thing, but we don't know what they're doing. That's one thing for you and I that like, you know, to look at.

[Podcast Host]

The market signals, but we don't know what they're actually working on, especially in.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The game that they're all playing now, which is the secrets of what they're working on have too much value.

[Podcast Host]

And no one. And that's even with AI companies, no one's talking anymore because everyone's copying what I'm waiting for in entertainment. And I'm actually not interested in watching a movie with digital twins of Leo and Brad Pitt. To me, that's not interesting. And that, again, isn't what the future is, just an automated present. I Think no one's doing that. Or hopefully not. What's interesting to me is the kid that's in their basement right now working with AI to bring in a new type of entertainment that we can't even imagine. Imagine. And it seems so radical as going from Broadway to movies. It's a different type of entertainment.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I agree. And I think when the distribution is more voice and glasses and not phone and television. Correct to your point. I could not agree more. There is a seven year old girl right now in her basement in Toronto who is working on something and she will be our Scorsese and our Spielberg. And it's going to be an immersive AR environment and we're gonna be like, holy fuck, it's too obvious. That's right.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's great and it's great. But I also think in the same way that from an ironic lens, people want to read a newspaper.

[Podcast Host]

Totally. They'll want to sit down and watch.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

A movie or reboot their old iPhone from 2026 and go through like, I think social in feed. You're so young, you're gonna see the whole thing. You're going to see people doing it in 40 years as a counter to full immersive. This is going to seem like the simple day.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. And when you power this with AI and this gets interesting when you, you have all your photos, you have all of your calendar, everything that you've done on your phone, you could one day theoretically pass it to AI and say, make me a documentary of my life.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I mean, by the way, I mean, that's why I filmed myself every minute, like for five and a half, for seven years.

[Podcast Host]

Passing that down to your kids.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh my God. I mean, there's. We are so aligned. You're right. Like the early videos is like, I know this is weird. I'm having a man follow me in a camera. Back in 2015 when I did DailyVee, I'm like, But do you understand that I didn't know either of my grandfathers? Do you know how cool this is that my grandchildren are gonna be able to like, really know who I was? Not all like me. Holy cow. Only famous people used to have a glimpse. This is way deeper. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Footage of your life. Okay. So people are listening now and they hear us talking about the creator. Economy is going to look like something different. We're going eventually somewhere else. And you're on it maybe five, ten year time frame. Even though things are trying to change now. I mean, I'm a creator, so I benefit from this world. And I know it's changing. What should creators be doing today to start positioning themselves for what's coming? Going more agent first. How should we. What should we be posting doing?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Showing up, not getting over crippled by tomorrow.

[Podcast Host]

Yep.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So it's flying two planes at once. So step one in all this noise, keep doing what you're doing. If it's working, the more people know who you are. No matter what happens in technology, that is going to matter. So I actually would argue the number one thing a creator can do right now is squeeze the living shit out of the discoverability that is TikTok. I have transformed to every platform. I'm one of the few humans on earth that has millions of followers from LinkedIn to Snap, YouTube to Facebook. Right. I've done it in real time. In fact, it's one of my biggest pet peeves of creators that they're too one dimensional, that they're only on one or two platforms. So I go vertical, this is gonna go horizontal. And so that's got a whole different thing to it. But the amount of brand and awareness they create right now will service them incredibly well. Right now, the transition. Here's where you're going. The transition of like, we're all here and now we're all over here. They have to make sure they make that transition. Right?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Cause the MySpace friends I had did not. Dane Cook could be the biggest. I mean, he had whatever his wants and needs are. Tila Tequila, whatever her wants and needs are, their personalities. But they didn't take their MySpace fame and attack Facebook and Twitter the way I thought they should or could have. Right. So I think it's extracting. But this other plane has to start to be built where you have to start challenging yourself to know what's coming. You need to know what lovable is. And vibe coding. Maybe it works for you. You need to know what's going on. On with live shopping. Because you might be better at the QVC part than the content stuff. You need to start trying to use an agent or AI or for research. Like, you have to start getting on the treadmill because the marathon's coming.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. So you got to get on the treadmill. You don't have to become you in a fucking savant or technically deep. But you have to start flirting. You have to start flirting while extracting. I can tell you for myself, I plan on going nowhere.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I'm trying to extract the fuck out of the current. And I'm dangerous and knowledgeable about tomorrow.

[Podcast Host]

And what it seems like you've done. And I think every creator needs to be able to do is, what is your value proposition? You have to be able to answer the question, what is your value proposition? Decoupled from the medium of the moment. So it doesn't matter what the platform is at this moment. Maybe it's YouTube, maybe it's TikTok, maybe it's whatever comes next. But what your value proposition is, you can translate it on all the platforms.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is why I've told so many people through the years, like, don't trade on looks. They go away. Don't trade on, you know, like. Like, what are you trading on?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, what's your mission?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What's your value?

[Podcast Host]

It's whatever the medium of the moment is, it should be independent of that. It's above that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, that's why everything has worked for me. Like, I'm audience. What's in it for them? I'm in a full 5149 mindset with the world. I want to give it more than I'm asking for in return.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Makes me feel like I can never lose this podcast. What am I doing here? I'm desperately trying to say something that brings value to your audience. I have context for your audience. It allows me to deliver content that has a higher propensity to do well. I'm not worried about, like, who's gonna discover me. I'll take it. I'm a human. I'd like it. I'm deft. I'll tell you one thing because I know how I roll. I really hope that somebody who used to think I was a bozo because I was yelling in 13 second videos like, wait a minute, there's a little more depth to that garyvee than I. Of course I'm a human, but my main intent is I need to respect this distribution.

[Podcast Host]

We're here now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Your context. And how do I as a human being say things that might bring value, that might be a compliment to the things they're hearing from you? Which gives them two data sets that allows them. Oh, yeah, it wasn't me siloed. It was you prepping them three episodes ago saying something that's been in their head. I have a little spin on it, a different voice on it. And all of a sudden.

[Podcast Host]

Yep, yep. And okay. And this would be more of a personal question. You're over under on live. I know you're saying live shopping is the future, and I think it's the present. Is the present. Do you think that that's also the on ramp to where we're going next in terms of a social ecosystem.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, it's happening too. In fact, I would argue Twitch and Kick and these live streamers. Cuz and that and like you know, Aiden Ross. I would say that's even further along than live shopping. I would say Live is very obvious. Massive. Yeah, I think you would slay. It's a huge commitment. It's a crazy thing. It's not for most because it's a level of like always on that intense. But like I would say what's going on on Twitch and kick right now, YouTube Live is massive. And I think in doses like you know, a 24 hour a thon with you answering. Hey everybody on the podcast. I'm sure all of you would love her to commit from a 9 to 912 hour available to you. Come to this Twitch. I'll answer questions. Because right now you're getting her brilliance through the podcast. They want to be able to interact with. That's the digital version of what you're talking about in analog. That's the halfway point.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Live. And it's really interesting because it's participatory. Everybody's there together. So it's asynchronous.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's sports. Yeah, it's sports. We're all in the openness. Correct. Oh, it's awesome.

[Podcast Host]

And to me, I don't know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But not only does, but it's actually double good.

[Podcast Host]

But then you can share it after.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course, they clip the fuck out of it and put it everywhere. You build more. That's right. It's a production day.

[Podcast Host]

Live is the offering of what's not working today. People are ready to be more synchronized in community or it's the on ramp to the world that we're building.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We're about to wrap up, obviously. I can feel it. I just want to say something to you that I also think is going to really land for everyone else. You strike me as dangerously close to a next level and I'm going to say something right now that I desperately hope brings you value because it's wildly intended for that. As I'm recapping this last hour, the more you think about the not what's not working but what's about to work, I feel like that's gonna really service you well.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My ability to not dwell or get myself over concerned about the many things that are not working because in a macro I have incredible belief in the human race because we've proven it will actually create a different energy in you. That I think will extract your brilliance even more. I genuinely believe that.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you. It's on the record, so take note.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do you see where I'm going?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think you're just a conscious person. I think that helps you a lot. And I think, you know, man, there's so many things that are challenges and there's so much going on. But I think the reason I got into root causes, self esteem, parent, like real shit is all these are just byproducts, you know, like, you know, paint.

[Podcast Host]

The picture for people.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Gary, everyone's lonely. I'm like, they don't have to be.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, we just talked about the online dating phenomenon. Like a girl that's getting picked on in her class at 14 right now, she can go home and go on Twitch and be with our homies or Fortnite or Social. I don't know. I think we're in an incredible place. And don't forget, I'm part of the era. 2008, Obama, all the, like, this stuff was changing the world. It was nirvana. We're on the other side now where a lot of the. We're getting exposed to, you know, our shortcomings are coming out, our angst is coming out.

[Podcast Host]

They definitely are.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think technology is wildly historically obvious that it has been net good for humans. Penicillin was a good invention. Electricity was a good invention. The automobile was a good invention. And unfortunately, someone today will. You will drive drunk and hit someone. You know, I think we focus on the 0.001% of bad and don't see the 99% that's good. I. I really believe that, by the way. And I think for you specifically, the way you're thinking and the way you're rolling, I felt very compelled to share that.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you. I'll take it. I appreciate it. What a great point to end off. All right, I think we're good here. Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Podcast Host]

This is a pleasure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

For me, too. That's a wrap.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Was it good?

[Podcast Host]

It was amazing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that was really interesting. Lots to think about.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What stood out for you on the quick hot take?

[Podcast Host]

I think we think about the future in similar ways in terms of where social behavior is going to go. The question marks of what we can't fill in yet.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm not crippled by.

[Podcast Host]

I'm not crippled by it. I have to figure some of it out for my work. I literally.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That I respect. That I respect and I alluded to that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That to me, what's so fun about what I get to do is I get to counter punch the truth. I'm not forced to, you know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. That's why I wanted to tease it out with you because I was like, okay, there's nobody else that I. That has been as rape but is also as in it. And it's hard to also understand social and how people behave on it if you're not Also in it 100%, you have to be a part of it to understand. This is why we react in this way. This is why certain things go viral.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But a lot of it. What gets really interesting is the individuality, the lack of accountability right now is a very big issue. This whole, like, it's their fault. It's become the easy scapegoat for society. Which clouds the data.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Data can be very skewed. Don't know everything. Awesome. You finish, right, or. Yeah, but we're going to do the intro.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Sure.

[Podcast Host]

For sure. Yeah. We going to roll for the intro? Sure. Sweet.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We got to go. We got to go.

[Podcast Host]

You're on the run.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Awesome. Awesome. Bye.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Podcast Host]

Awesome. Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Meeting you. I wish you well.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you too. Well, thank you. Great combo.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you. You enjoyed it.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Fantastic. Thank you so much.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Byebye. Thank you. Amazing. You were listening over here. Yeah. How was it? I thought it was really smart.

[Podcast Host]

I think it was a lot more.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Energy than the last one. Yeah. I like my energy in the last one too, though. Oh, push. Thank you. I was being very introspective. The first one was much more personal. Yeah. Because this one was much more future AI based. Also the host of this one, just a lot more. I was talking to her before and she didn't like any technology in her own personal space, so I thought her questions were very interesting. Yeah. Compared to her personal stuff. Yeah. Thank you. You have a meeting. Yeah. Thank you. Good job. How are you? I'm well. I'm in the city. I just did a podcast with a very brilliant lady. Young lady, like real futurist girl. Super fun convo. One of my favorite podcasts I've ever done. Are we waiting for AJ or. No, we should start or. Okay, I'll wait one more second, but we'll start if he's not here. There he is. What's up, bro? No problem. Jace, you're looking at kind of the inner circle, you know, family vibes, you know, everybody's obviously. Me and AJ have been together for 38 years or whatever. However. Well, patient's about to do in a couple weeks here, but, you know. 39. Oh, wow, man. Oh, shit, you 40's gonna fuck me up. But, you know, Sid's been running my team for a decade or so, and Kaylin's been at Vayner for 13 years. Everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention, and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.