The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway - Can AI Help You Start a Company? + What Social Media Regulation Really Means

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Scott Galloway weighs in on whether AI is actually useful for building a business or just a glorified yes man, what social media regulation could mean for loneliness and AI companions, and how to thrive in your career when you're working in a foreign country. Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to [e-mail], or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to Office Hours with PropG. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, spectacular entrepreneurship and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to Office Hours of Propton Media.com. Again, that's Office Hours of Propton Media.com. Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode.

Question number one. Our first question comes from a sleep percentage 100 on Reddit, they say, Hi, Scott, I'm 25 years old. Two years out of UCLA with a degree in sociology, go Bruins. What are your thoughts on using AI for brainstorming, not just theoretical ideas and debates, but for business plans. I recently had a product idea that I ran through Claude. Do you envision a future where these tools really help form new companies and create new jobs, products, and markets? Is it really the mentor in your pocket,

or at this stage, just a yes man for anything and everything? Love the podcast and your books, thanks. Okay, so we're obviously already seeing people use AI for way more than brainstorming. There was a recent New York Times article about a founder who used tools, including chat GPT to build a company projected to do almost two billion in sales with just two employees. He used AI to write code, generate marketing, and even run customer service. However, there's a flip side, and that is his chat pot began hallucinating products and his ads from misleading, and the company is now facing regulatory scrutiny. So if you think about what AI actually does, very crudely and probably incorrectly, if you're trying to guess, or it says, all right,

I'm going to look at every pattern of words, and then I'm going to look at the seventh words, such if I type in the midnight sky is it'll figure out blue or what have you. So it's sort of a predictive model that helps answer questions and looks at every piece of data or word pattern on the internet and comes back with patterns that might answer your query.

What I would, or the problem is, I would describe AI is all chip no salsa. And that is real insight. Like, what is it you're going to do differently with your business? What is it that's unique about your business? Most new businesses make no sense at the outset. Otherwise, they would already exist. So you have to be, there's a touch of crazy.

And essentially, AI is regressing to the mean. Because it looks at everything, it gives you an answer that is scanned everything, but is perfectly average, if you will. I think you use AI when trying to estimate the, say, total adjustable market of a business idea, trying to come up with maybe corporate structure, how many people you need, or how much money you would need to raise, or help you put together a business model.

But I think the core idea itself, in terms of trying to find something truly differentiated and something that other people haven't bought into, in other words, creativity, I think that's kind of on you, boss. And fortunately for us, at least so far, the wet matter in between your brain, still bests software around creativity

and finding something truly differentiated. And that is, I think if you were to start, a business plan just using AI, including the idea, it would come up with something very anodyne that's already been done where the margins have already been starched out. In other words, it would come up with a ton of businesses that already exist. Having said that, I think it's like having the world's smartest intern who's read everything before you and can help you pull together your business plan and provide support. In some, it's the chip, not the salza. You're the solza. And also, I don't like, I find whenever I ask, chat to be T or Claude, and I do ask for

advice, it doesn't do a great job. It gives me some sort of whitewashed anodyne aunt who is ridiculously safe and risk-aversive giving you just some sort of, I don't know, safe PG-13 material back. However, when I say to it, I'm looking for a discussion around where decency originated and why, you know, who are the philosophers around decency or what, what is the, how did modern architecture, what were the biggest influences in modern architecture, it can absolutely come back with some fascinating insights and do research that would take me a long time.

But if I want to design a new building, I think there's a certain amount of creativity and things that ChatGBTGBT would either disagree with or say don't make any sense or are risky, because that's the whole point. The whole point of starting a business is to take risk and do things that no microchip or anodyne computer could come up with. Thanks for the question. Question number two. Hey Scott, this is David

from St. Louis. I'd recently watched your episode of Markets with Ed, where you guys discussed the landmark cases involving social media. In the episode, you both had talked about, this could lead to further regulation of social media. I'm wondering if the downstream effect of regulating social media will cause certain individuals to go to AI for companionship. And so my question is, what do you think the downstream effects are going to be for further regulation of social media, as well as should we include AI in that so that we can mitigate isolating people further? Thanks for the thoughtful question. So I think it's important to discern between civil liability cases and regulation, and that is key to regulating, if you will, dig tech are laws.

And the reason why these two cases, one in L.A., one in New Mexico, were such watersheds, is it opens up a sense of precedent for other cases, of which there's something like 3,000 on the docket and could finally start to add up to enough economic damage that there would be incentives to be more careful around the context. or even serving underage consumers. So it's a key part of regulation, but it's actually not regulation itself. Regulation is saying you are not allowed to share personal information with government agencies that it's in any way connected to surveillance.

So regulation creates the laws that they can be accused or found guilty of civil litigation and damages or criminal prosecution. So it creates new laws and guidelines. But at the same time, the actual liability, on existing liability that they knew that they were harming these teens. This is, that's an enforcement vehicle, but they're somewhat separate, if you will. It was a bit of a word salad. Between 2020 and mid-2025, the number of AI companion apps surge by 700% or eightfold.

I think AI, character AI, is kind of the next big threat, if you will. And unfortunately, because the parents or people my age and younger don't spend a lot of time on character AI. It seems to be something that young people are using more. I don't think, like, similar to TikTok, a lot of parents, especially are elected individuals whose average ages, let me think, dead, don't really understand the nuance of these technologies and what a threat they present or even how you would regulate them. That's evidenced by Senator Hatch asking Mark Zuckerberg how they made money, and he responded glibly. We sell advertising, Senator. So I believe that first off, age-gating antitrust, and then more of these cases are going to do what it took 30 years of tobacco to do, 20 years in opiates, and it looks like it's going to take about 20 years in social AI or in social media and AI.

Unfortunately, my kids were in the kill zone, and others they grew up with this bullshit and their brains were being wired. My son today, my son is, I can tell he's upset about something. And like a lot of kids, he doesn't want to talk to me about it. And I'm pretty sure something happened to them online. I don't know what, but I would bet anything that something happened that's bummed them out today online. And there's some really scary statistics about the use of character AI. There's some data from the American Institute of Boys and Men. Roughly three and four U.S. teens have used an AI companion around half are now regular users.

One in five say they spend as much or more time with AI companions as with human friends. one of five of the top AI apps are productivity tools, excuse me, one in five of top AI apps aren't productivity tools, but companions. Supposedly the number one use of AI in corporations is not spreadsheets or research. It's therapy. It's people looking for a friend.

Essentially, when you have a friend, a good friend is someone you can ask embarrassing questions to. I have a friend going through a breakup, and he's thinking about how to do it. And it's like, at our age, you'd think we'd have this figured out, and he doesn't. And we're close enough where he can kind of ask me embarrassing questions,

talk about fairly intimate details. But there's just certain questions you'd rather ask, you know, you'd rather ask AI, like, oh, you know, it hurts when I pee. Is that my prostate or is that agent? You know, what, there's just certain things you'd rather not ring up your mom or your close friend or you'd talk to your boss about. Unfortunately, people have lost so many skills and so many opportunities to bump off of people that the bar around where they would go to AI before a friend gets lower and lower and lower. And so people are kind of outsourcing advice and relationships, which I think is really unhealthy and also decreases the likelihood you're going to try and express vulnerability to people, which is a key part of establishing friendships. And also see above AI

hallucinates. These character AI, so I think the average query on AI is 15 minutes. be the average session on character AI is 75 minutes. And I think the most dangerous thing in society right now, it's probably income inequality, but a close second would be that big tech is trying to convince you to outsource your relationships to a screen and an algorithm. And I think that's just a fucking disaster. I think it's people become more reliant on chatting with a computer

that always tells you're right. You know, I just asked a query of AI. And it's like, great question. I'm like, was it really? Was it really a great question? And so I don't, it creates as less, as little friction as possible. It tries to be nice. It's not messy.

And I think relationships and part of learning with relationships is, is that they're messy. And that's why when relationships work, friendships, mentorship, romantic relationships, that's what real true victory feels like because they're not easy. They're hard. I generally found I heard this quote and I liked it, that sometimes the hard thing and the really rewarding thing are the same. same thing. And AI, the bottom line is just too easy and too anodyne. And I think these character AI, I don't think anyone under the age of 18 should be involved or allowed to communicate with it in a synthetic relationship. I just think there's no advantage to that. As hard as it is,

it's difficult it is, as lonely as you can be, you need to start or you need to be, have the motivation to interact and figure out a way to interact with people. And I worry that if you don't develop those skills in your teens and your 20s, you kind of never develop the skills. to have them. I had a what's called a portrait on Google where it was me or a meme of me or a avatar of me answering questions and they uploaded all of my No Mercy posts, all of my books. It's such that people could ask simple questions. And the motivation was I get dozens of emails every day. I really thought will ask me for advice and I just have time to get to them. And when it came out within about 12 hours, I was very uncomfortable with it. And the idea that

I was in any way going to participate in sequestering young men from seeking advice, from the relationships, I just got very uncomfortable. And I called Google and I said, this was a mistake. Can you take it down? And to their credit, they agreed and took it down right away. But this is, again, I think a real threat. I think it's regulation. The cases are different.

That's financial penalties based on laws and regulation are laws and guidelines that need to be passed, of which there have been almost none. But I don't think, I agree with you. I think they are productivity tools, not companions. And it's pretty smart, I think, or it's worthwhile. think this is what I'm going to use AI for, and this is what I'm going to not use AI for. Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.

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All in one place. No jumping between apps. With Rippling, you can run your entire HR, IT, and finance operations as one. Or pick and choose the products that best fill the gaps in your software. software stack. So if you or your company want to run the backbone of your business on one unified platform with people at the center, head to rippling.com slash prop G and sign up today. That's r-i-p-p-l-i-n-g.com slash prop G to sign up. Welcome back. Question number three.

Hi, Prof G. This is Miguel from Frankfurt, Germany. I'm originally from Colombia and I have been working here as an automation engineer for the past three years. My Germany is actually pretty good, but I still struggle with the corporate culture. The hardest part is speaking up in meetings. I feel intimidated about making mistakes and being perceived as incompetence, simply because Germany is not my first language. I would love to hear your thoughts on how to really thrive when you are building a career in a foreign country. And also, based on your experience, I would like to know what are the common traits

of the most successful immigrants and nerd natives speakers, you know. Thanks. Hi, Miguel from Frankfurt. So, first off, I think a lot of times, it's difficult when you're in a meeting or in a social setting not to take yourself out of your body and watch yourself speak and be thinking about shaping, optimizing for prestige or image instead of optimizing for contribution.

What do I mean by that? I think as a younger man, most of the time I spoke, especially when I was on boards. I was speaking to sound smart, not speaking to add value. And I think there's a couple tricks. The first is, and I don't know if you are, but you shouldn't be self-conscious about your language skills. If you're German is half as good as you're English, you speak much better German than probably the majority of the Germans speak Spanish.

I know in English you speak perfect English. So I don't, I bet some of it is just imposter syndrome or feeling a little bit maybe more self-conscious than you should. In terms of showing up to meetings, Jim Barksdale, who is the CEO of Netscape and Booth without AT&T, said something that struck me in meetings. He said that if we have data, let's look at the data. data. Otherwise, if we're going with opinions, let's go with mine. And that is, I almost find in meetings where people start just expectrating or vomiting their opinions. Okay, that's fine. And a viewpoint is interesting. But try and keep it short. Less is more. And two, more than anything, try and be the guy who shows up to meetings with data. And that is, look at the topic of the

meeting and then see what data you can find that's relevant to the discussion. Because I think that's sort of the mic drop. Because oftentimes opinions become identity. and in a politicized world, everybody then the ego gets involved and it becomes about being right as opposed to getting to the right solution for the organization. So in a very unemotional way, just be the guy in the room that's sort of armed with data or interesting case studies or anecdotes. Because I think that takes away the need or away the fear of, do I sound dumb or smart? No, just you're talking about data, maybe extrapolate a few conclusions from that. Also, just in terms of personal interactions, try not to interrupt others, try to be respectful, acknowledge points, don't confront people,

you know, if you disagree, have you thought about this, or is it possible that? I think you want to be seen as a colleague that's supportive of people. I wouldn't be afraid to compliment and say, that's an interesting point, or nod your head. I think you want to be seen as someone who's supportive and additive to the meeting. And again, I think at least my secret weapon is trying to be to show up with data. I find that if I'm going on a show where I know that people have a different viewpoint than me, I just try to cite data

instead of getting into an argument because if it's about opinions, it's like, well, you know, everyone's already decided who's right or who's wrong based on their preconceived notions. And in terms of your language skills, you have to decide how are your language skills and just, you know, do a lingo,

supposedly a big breakthrough. I have someone in my life who was a Polish speaker and then a German speaker and then an English speaker and said that the way that she learned the language by watching a ton of Native TV, which is kind of interesting, but only you can assess

where your language skills are and what you need to do to try and improve them. I do think that's key. What else? Find your people in the other country. Find an expac community. Find friends. Try and be a socialist as possible.

Try and go out as much as possible. Also, keep in mind that you bring something different to the table, and I don't, you know, you're interesting. And Germany's actually been more pro-immigration than the U.S. for better, for worse. So I wouldn't be too self-conscious, if you will.

And also, you're obviously a thoughtful guy who's successful. You've got a very cool accent. So I don't know. I think some of this, my impression is some of these issues are issues you've invented for yourself. And that is, you're more self-conscious than you should be. I think you just, I think people are so wrapped up in their own shit. They're not thinking about your comments. But again, just try to show up with fact-based.

data sets. Anyways, thanks to the question and best of luck in your new home and venture. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to OfficeArice at Property Media.com. Again, that's Office Office of Proptumee.com. Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode. This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Jenaer. Cameric is our social producer. Brad Williams is our editor. And Drew Burroughs is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prophechie Pod from Propvgy Media.