Astro Teller: Inside Google X’s 2,000-Idea Moonshot Factory & How Google Brain Made the T in ChatGPT

The mates sit down with Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, at MOONSHOTS Live 2026 to discuss how moonshots are built, why ambitious innovation is getting cheaper, and how X turns thousands of ideas into breakthrough technologies.

This episode was filmed at Moonshots Live 2026. Learn more at https://moonshots.com/

Get access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else – https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends

Peter H. Diamandis, MD, is the Founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, ZeroG, and A360

Salim Ismail is the founder of Open ExO, a GP at Exponential Venture Capital/The Organizational Singularity Fund and a sought after global speaker and thought leader.

Dave Blundin is the founder & GP of Link Ventures

Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross is a computer scientist and founder of Reified

Astro Teller is the co-founder and Captain of Moonshots at X, Alphabet’s innovation lab, where he leads the development of ambitious technologies aimed at solving some of the world’s biggest problems.

Chapters
00:00 What Makes a Moonshot
03:16 How to Kill Bad Ideas Fast
05:09 Inside X’s Moonshot Factory
06:45 How Google Brain Helped Shape Modern AI
09:09 Clean Water, Energy and Education Moonshots
12:33 Why Moonshots Disappeared — and Came Back
15:08 Why Big Companies Struggle With Radical Innovation
17:31 Why Advanced Technology Is Getting Cheaper
20:27 Moonshots Are 3x Cheaper Than 16 Years Ago
24:08 The Meta Moonshot: Systematizing Innovation
25:18 Humans, AI Agents and the Future of R&D
30:24 Why X Kills 98% of Its Ideas
33:23 Failure, New Materials and the Culture Behind X

–

This event is presented with:
Google — https://www.google.com/
Circle — https://www.circle.com/

Future Vision XPRIZE Partners:
Salesforce — https://www.salesforce.com/
ARK Invest — https://www.ark-invest.com/
Xsolla — https://xsolla.com/
Range — https://www.rangemp.com/

Build with Gemini XPRIZE Partner:
Google — https://www.google.com/

_

Connect with Peter:
X: https://qr.diamandis.com/twitter
Instagram: https://qr.diamandis.com/instagram
Substack: https://substack.com/@peterdiamandis
Website: https://www.diamandis.com/
Xprize: http://www.xprize.org
A360: https://www.abundance360.com/

Connect with Dave
Web: https://db2.ai
X: https://x.com/DaveBlundin?s=20
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-blundin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dave.blundin
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@daveblundin

Connect with Salim:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salimismail/
X: https://x.com/salimismail
Join Salim’s 10x Shift: https://openexo.com/10x-shift?channel=moonshots
Subscribe to Salim’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SalimIsmail
Exponential Venture Capital: https://organizationalsingularity.fund

Connect with Alex
Web: https://www.alexwg.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwg/
X: https://x.com/alexwg
Email: alexwg@alexwg.org
Substack: https://theinnermostloop.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1thtZk5vHTXbtDHezPT7tl
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@alexwissnergross

Connect with Astro
Website: https://www.astroteller.net/
X: https://x.com/astroteller
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/astroteller/ Wikipedia

Listen to MOONSHOTS:
Apple: https://qr.diamandis.com/applepodcast
Spotify: https://qr.diamandis.com/spotifypodcast

Follow MOONSHOTS:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonshots_pod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moonshots_pod
X: https://x.com/moonshots_pod
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@moonshots_pod

–

*Recorded on September 25th, 2026
*The views expressed by me and all guests are personal opinions and do not constitute Financial, Medical, or Legal advice.