Paloma Newton is the founder of Elita, a longevity platform for dogs that combines biological testing, clinical history, and the changes owners notice day to day into one picture of how a dog is ageing. She built it backwards by most startup standards, a stem cell bank before a product, years of science before a single marketing push, all under one rule: don't promise more than the platform can back up.
On this episode, Paloma brings that same rigor to two of the week's biggest AI headlines. She explains why South Australia's $3 million Royal Commission into AI is aimed at the wrong problem, and makes the sharper case that most of our anxiety about AI isn't really about the technology at all, it's about trust in who controls it. She also gets into the Jevons Paradox and why AI was never going to hand us more free time, her own weekly system for separating real output from busywork, and why she thinks women stepping back from AI over ethical concerns is a bigger loss than it looks.
Plus, the origin story behind Elita, starting with her dog Edgar's breed health scan, and a closing surprise guest who may or may not understand what a podcast is.
Whether you're building, funding, or just trying to make sense of the AI news cycle, this one's worth the full listen.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open
01:10 Welcome & episode preview
02:14 Sponsor: Deel
02:40 AI hack of the week: the self-updating Slack to-do list
04:01 What is Elita
04:51 Headline: South Australia's $3M AI Royal Commission
11:31 Headline: Does AI actually give us more free time
14:58 Sponsor: Deel
18:29 The Elita origin story: Edgar, stem cells, and building backwards
25:35 Pet longevity vs. human longevity
32:18 Holding AI's promise and its doom and gloom at once
40:52 The AI-designed cancer vaccine that started with one dog
45:06 Why women opting out of AI should worry everyone
50:01 Rapid fire
53:23 What Australia does best in AI and deep tech
