Bernard Leong
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bernardleong.com
Bernard Leong
@bernardleong.com
CEO and co-founder Dorje AI; Host of Analyse Asia & Augment AI Podcast, Adjunct Associate Professor, NUS Business School & NUS-ISS. Member @NetworkXA Past: AWS & Airbus; Alumni: NUS, Cambridge University & Singularity University, Opinions my own.
Watch the full episode on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3QNi...
The AI Industry Is Building Modern Empires with Karen Hao
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December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
If we want this technology to serve the public good, everyone from builders to policymakers to educators must confront the full equation, not just the upside.
Grateful to Karen for the clarity, courage, and humanity she brings to this topic.

Enjoy the episode.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
For me, this conversation was a timely reminder: AI’s benefits are real — but so are its costs.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
3️⃣ We need a more honest conversation about the trajectory we’re on: Frontier model scaling is hitting scientific limits, yet the industry is doubling down with unprecedented resource demands. The environmental and societal trade-offs are becoming impossible to ignore.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
2️⃣ Innovation without accountability has real human consequences: From Kenyan data workers to Chilean communities defending their water supply, AI’s progress is not abstract. It has footprints — sometimes heavy ones — and we rarely name them.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
1️⃣ The AI industry now resembles a modern empire. Not metaphorically — structurally. Concentrated power, resource extraction, ideological expansion, and the centralisation of knowledge. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
We talk a lot about breakthroughs, benchmarks, and new models. What we talk far less about is the actual cost behind the systems we celebrate — and who bears it.

Here are three reflections that stayed with me:
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
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🎙️ #58 From Analyze Asia to Reinventing ERP: Bernard Leong’s Double Life
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December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Of course, I did talk about my not so secret plan with Dorje AI in their podcast. Agentic AI is only one part of the equation. In case, the transformers paper is not the only paper that mattered in 2017. Another paper was important to why I ended up working on Dorje AI.
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
If there’s one thing I’d tell my younger self: Learn From Everyone, Follow No One, Observe the Patterns, and Work like Hell. Everything connects eventually — just not in the order you expect.
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
3️⃣ Storytelling compounds Analyse Podcast (formerly Analyse Asia) started as a project. Now it’s a global reference used by investors, operators & policymakers. I used the podcast as a startup to ensure that my muscles are ready for what I am doing today.
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
2️⃣ Corporate experience is not the enemy of entrepreneurship: My years in enterprise environments shaped how Dorje AI is built today: Enterprise readiness, Governance, Kill-switch design and “Problem–market fit” before product
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Being able to shut down a company gracefully and ensuring customers and suppliers are alright is a skill. I am thankful to the late Professor Patrick Turner, who gave me this key advice when I was making the major decision to shut down the company with my co-founder.
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
1️⃣ Failure is only a pause — if you treat it as a reset: When Chalkboard crashed, I helped founders shut down their “zombie startups” and transition into stability. That period taught me how important it is to refill the tank — mentally, financially, and emotionally.
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The truth is simple: my failures taught me more than my successes.

Here are three lessons I wished someone had told me earlier:
December 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Watch it on Spotify too: open.spotify.com/episode/2tOF...
Open Source AI: Faster Innovation Through Community Across Asia Pacific with Simon Milner
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December 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
This is one of the most forward-looking conversations I’ve had this year in the midst of Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

🎧 Full episode available now and here's the full transcript: www.analyse.asia/open-source-...
Open Source AI: Faster Innovation Through Community Across Asia Pacific with Simon Milner
Simon Milner shares how Meta's open source AI models are accelerating local AI innovation across the Asia Pacific and why wearable AI glasses represent computing's next platform.
www.analyse.asia
December 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
3️⃣ Transparency is the non-negotiable foundation for responsible AI. Meta’s approach to documenting safeguards, processes, and red-teaming is a reminder that governance must be visible, explainable, and measurable — especially as models scale.
December 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
2️⃣ Sovereign AI fragmentation could slow global progress: While national priorities matter, Simon highlights the real risk of creating isolated AI “bubbles.” An open, interconnected AI ecosystem benefits everyone — especially smaller economies.
December 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Here are my 3 personal takeaways from our discussion:
1️⃣ The next computing platform will be AI wearables — not the smartphone. Simon paints a compelling future where AI sits in your glasses. This changes how we consume information, navigate the world & stay present in reality.
December 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM