253. He Helped Build Waymo. Now Tom Chi Builds Robots That Replant Forests

Today, Matt speaks with Tom Chi, founding partner of At One Ventures and a founding member of the Google X team behind Waymo, about using deep tech to restore ecosystems instead of just slowing the damage.  They talk about the drone companies replanting mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, and how the cost of restoration keeps falling by half. Tom explains that a park ranger in 1926 had a Jeep, a map, binoculars, and a clicker, and today the tools are mostly the same. He also shares his concerns about who is steering AI right now, why regulation may protect an economy rather than slow it, and a simple idea he calls the aperture of care. Check out Tom's book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future: https://www.tomchi.com/ Learn more about At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/ Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Guest Bio: Tom Chi is the founding partner of At One Ventures, a venture firm that invests in deep-tech startups working to make humanity a net positive to nature. He was a founding member of Google X, where he led the teams that created self-driving cars, wearable augmented reality, and deep learning artificial intelligence. Trained in physics and electrical engineering, he is a named inventor on more than 75 patents and has worked on projects at Microsoft and Yahoo. He is the author of the national bestseller Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future. Episode Resources Tom Chi website: https://www.tomchi.com/ At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/ Tom Chi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegoodtomchi/ A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids