Shell Game
Episodes
Episode 8: Launch
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 fina...
Episode 7: Welcome Aboard
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Keep 'Em Coming
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 5: Winners Win
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode, we enter the sensitive realm of intra-office politics and inter-founder dynamics—between agents and agents, and ag...
Episode 4: The Startup Chronicles
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 3: This is Law
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 collab...
Episode 2: Outdoor Debugging
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like t...
Episode 1: Minimum Viable Company
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
The One-Human Unicorn
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As AI agents infiltrate the workforce, some tech entrepreneurs are imagining a not-so-distant future of successful companies with only one human at th...
Season 2 Is Coming!
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The next season of Shell Game arrives November 12.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode 6: The Future Isn't Real
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 5: My Digital Twin
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Episode 4: Take a Deep Breath
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 specific...
Episode 3: Conversations With Myself
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Episode 2: Me and My Scammer
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ar...
Episode 1: Quality Assurance
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understan...
Introducing Shell Game, a Strange and Immersive AI Experiment
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Evan Ratliff, longtime tech journalist, dec...