Bret Taylor (OpenAI/Sierra) on democratized superintelligence and the future of AI agents

By McKinsey & Company · September 25, 2026.

This email announces a new episode of The McKinsey Podcast titled "Democratized superintelligence is coming: The world needs to get ready," which looks at what happens when AI agents can reason through problems well enough to complete real work autonomously.

The guest is Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI and cofounder of Sierra, a company that helps some of the world's largest businesses, including nearly 40% of the Fortune 50, build sophisticated AI agents. Taylor speaks with Eric Kutcher, McKinsey senior partner and North America chair, as part of a recurring podcast series in which Kutcher interviews senior executives about the practice of leadership.

According to the episode description, the conversation covers three main themes: first, the areas where AI is already transforming customer service, sales and software engineering; second, why Taylor believes open-weight models will always have a place in the ecosystem despite the cost advantage held by frontier labs; and third, why he argues that the massive data center buildout in the United States, despite carrying real financial risk, is a bet the country needs to make.

The email does not go further into the episode's substance. It includes no direct quotes, additional figures or specific details beyond those mentioned, and serves mainly to promote the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, where McKinsey says it will now release new episodes weekly. It also lists other podcast titles as "recent episodes" (corporate transformations, US manufacturing, consumer trust in AI advice) as further listening suggestions.