The Neuron: AI Explained

Scientific discovery has always been slow. Until now.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Qichao Hu, CEO of SES AI, to reveal how they are using AI agents to turn a 8-year research cycle into a 2-week sprint. By combining autonomous "wet labs" with advanced AI models, they are solving one of the hardest physics problems in tech: the battery bottleneck.

We dive deep into how this "Molecular Universe" project isn't just about EV batteries—it's about unlocking power for data centers, robotics, and AR glasses. If you want to see a concrete example of AI agents working in the physical world to solve material science constraints, do not miss this conversation.

🔗 Learn more about SES AI: https://www.ses.ai/
🔗 Follow the Molecular Universe project: https://molecular-universe.com/about

Subscribe for more interviews with the people building AI’s next wave.

For more practical, grounded conversations on AI systems that actually work, subscribe to The Neuron newsletter at https://theneuron.ai.

In this episode, we sit down with Yaron Inger, co-founder of Lightricks and LTX, to explore the future of open-source AI video.

LTX-2 is currently the #1 ranked open-source audio & video model on Hugging Face — with over 4.5 million downloads in just two months.

But what makes it different?
It runs locally.

It can be fine-tuned on your own IP.

It integrates into real video workflows.

And it might change how filmmaking, education, and creative work evolve in the AI era.

We talk about:
• Why open models are catching up to Big Tech
• How smaller models are getting better through distillation
• Running AI video on consumer GPUs
• Infinite, autoregressive video generation
• AI teachers that change environments in real time
• Whether AI will replace filmmakers — or empower them

If you care about the future of creativity, open AI, or the economics of filmmaking… this one is worth your time.

Check out LTX: https://ltx.io
LTX-2 on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/Lightricks/LTX-2.3
LTX Desktop Repo: https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Desk

For more practical, grounded conversations on AI systems that actually work, subscribe to The Neuron newsletter at https://theneuron.ai.

You've probably used Canva—but you probably haven't seen what it can do with AI.

In this episode of The Neuron, we sit down with Danny Wu, Head of AI Products at Canva, to explore how the platform went from a simple design tool to a full-blown "Creative Operating System" powered by AI—serving 230+ million users every month.

Danny walks us through how Canva's MCP server lets you create fully editable designs from inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot, why their new Canva Design Model is fundamentally different from typical AI image generators (hint: layers), and why 24 billion AI tool uses later, the most surprising use cases are ones they never anticipated.

We also get Danny's take on whether AI will homogenize all design, his advice for freelancers who don't want to get replaced, and a live demo of Canva's AI design generation in action.

You'll learn:
• How MCP powers Canva inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot
• What the Canva Design Model understands that GPT-4 doesn't
• Why editable layers (not flat images) are the real AI design breakthrough
• Danny's advice for freelancers to become irreplaceable in an AI world
• How Canva uses AI internally on tens of millions of lines of code
• Why AI assistants are becoming "the new SEO" for user acquisition

Try Canva AI at https://canva.com/ai

Special thanks to the sponsor of this video, Cohesity: https://www.cohesity.com/ResilienceEverywhere/?utm_source=brand-ta-podcast&utm_medium=direct-publisher&utm_campaign=fy26-q2-01-amer-us-digital-awarewbpg-brd-genbr&utm_content=podcast

For more practical, grounded conversations on AI and emerging tech, subscribe to The Neuron newsletter at https://theneuron.ai.

Ryan Carson taught over 1,000,000 people how to code at Treehouse and spent 25% of his entire life doing it. Now he says everything about that process needs to change.

In this livestream, Ryan joins Corey Noles and Grant Harvey to rethink programming education from scratch. When AI agents can write production code, pass competitive coding challenges, and ship features while you sleep.

We'll cover:🧠 What’s still fundamental when agents handle the syntax
🔄 Where beginners should start in 2026 (it’s not where you think)
🚀 The new hard parts: deployment, databases, security, and getting your app on the internet
⭐ Ryan’s viral 3-file system for building with AI agents (5,000+ GitHub stars)
🧪 Why “vibe coding” gets you a prototype but not a product
🛠️ The skills that separate someone who prompts from someone who ships

Ryan is the founder of Treehouse (raised $23M, taught 1M+ students, acquired 2021), Builder in Residence at Amp (Sourcegraph's coding agent), and is currently building Untangle, a real production app, almost entirely with AI tools.

Whether you're a complete beginner curious about coding in 2026 or an experienced developer rethinking your workflow, this one's for you.

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES:
• Ryan Carson's website: https://www.ryancarson.com/
• Ryan's articles on agent workflows: https://www.ryancarson.com/articles
• Code Factory workflow: https://x.com/ryancarson/status/2023452909883609111
• Agent teams in OpenClaw: https://x.com/ryancarson/status/2020931274219594107
• Agents that ship while you sleep: https://x.com/ryancarson/status/2016520542723924279
• Ryan's newsletter: https://ryancarson.substack.com/
• Untangle: https://untangle-us.com/
• Amp (Sourcegraph coding agent): https://ampcode.com/

🗞️ Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter: https://theneuron.ai

AI data centers are going to double their power consumption by 2030—so where's all that energy coming from? One answer is fusion, the same process that powers the sun.
In this episode of The Neuron, we're joined by Brandon Sorbom, Chief Science Officer and Co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, to explore how his company is racing to build the world's first commercial fusion power plant—and how AI is helping them get there faster.
Brandon explains why fusion has been "30 years away" for decades, what changed with high-temperature superconducting magnets, and why fusion is fundamentally safer than fission (hint: fusion is "default off"). We dive into CFS's collaborations with Google DeepMind and NVIDIA, what it takes to wrangle 10,000 unique parts, and when we might actually see fusion on the grid.
You'll learn:
• What fusion actually is (and why it's not nuclear fission)
• Why high-temperature superconducting magnets changed everything
• How AI is accelerating plasma control and simulation
• The safety profile that makes fusion regulated like an MRI, not a reactor
• When CFS expects to hit Q > 1 (net energy) and beyond
To learn more about Commonwealth Fusion Systems, visit https://cfs.energy.
For more practical, grounded conversations on AI and emerging tech, subscribe to The Neuron newsletter at https://theneuron.ai