Shell Game

Episode 1: Into the Slop

Evan creates his own AI-generated podcast detector, locates thousands of AI-hosted shows, and sets off on a synthetic audio listening binge. Strange patterns begin to ari

Season 3 is Coming!

The next season of Shell Game arrives October 21!  Here's a hint, and another new show from Shell Game to check out in the meantime: Evan Finds a Friend.  See omnystud

From How to Life Forever: The Longevinauts

When an astrologer tells Mangesh that he’ll (probably) die early, he takes it in stride. But his family and friends (not to mention all the Don’t Die longevity influencer

Bonus Episode: Shell Game x No Such Thing

In this bonus episode to close out Season 2, Evan and Maty talk with the hosts of the show No Such Thing, who like to settle their arguments by consulting research and ex

Bonus Episode: Kyle vs. the World

We’re back with a special bonus episode to share some behind-the-scenes clips showing how the agents have handled their newly public roles since Shell Game’s launch. Hear

Episode 8: Launch

HurumoAI finally sets sail in the Season 2 finale, and we find out how the world responds to a startup led by AI agents. The company explores new financing avenues and ch

Episode 7: Welcome Aboard

HurumoAI’s AI-agent staff welcomes a new hire: Julia, a social media contract worker who is, most importantly, a human. How will a real person integrate into the company

Episode 6: Keep 'Em Coming

As HurumoAI prepares to bring on its first human employee, the team must wrestle with some difficult and timely questions about the role of AI in the hiring process. Mean

Episode 5: Winners Win

On this week’s episode, we enter the sensitive realm of intra-office politics and inter-founder dynamics—between agents and agents, and agents and people. While HurumoAI

Episode 4: The Startup Chronicles

Evan decides it’s time to give his AI agents a little more ... agency. After all, to make the one-person, agent-run startup feasible, they need to be able to do things on

Episode 3: This is Law

As Kyle, Megan, and the gang get to work ideating on the perfect product, Evan is left grappling with some uncomfortable questions about his AI collaborators — whose ever

Episode 2: Outdoor Debugging

As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like to spend your days managing, coll

Episode 1: Minimum Viable Company

In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people. Meet K

The One-Human Unicorn

As AI agents infiltrate the workforce, some tech entrepreneurs are imagining a not-so-distant future of successful companies with only one human at the helm. That got inv

Season 2 Is Coming!

The next season of Shell Game arrives November 12. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 6: The Future Isn't Real

Evan pushes the experiment one step further, sending his AI voice agent to talk to his closest friends and family — his buddies, his daughters, his dad. With their altern

Episode 5: My Digital Twin

Will AI bots replace humans in the workforce? Could one replace Evan… right now? That’s what we tackle on this week’s Shell Game, in which Evan sees just how much of his

Episode 4: Take a Deep Breath

Evan looks into the depths of his AI-powered voice agent by sending it on a new mission: going to therapy. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by t

Episode 3: Conversations With Myself

Evan takes his experiment in a new direction by having his AI-powered voice agent converse with … another of his AI-powered voice agents. What can these surreal and hilar

Episode 2: Me and My Scammer

Evan turns his AI-powered voice agent loose on the people who are always at the forefront of technological adoption: the fraudsters and the rip-off artists. How will the