Episode · The Rich Roll Podcast · 2026-04-13
Books mentioned on Everything Is A Story: Journalist Nick Bilton Thinks AI Might End Humanity & How Stories Could Save Us
Nick Bilton is a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, a New York Times bestselling author, and screenwriter. This conversation explores the power of story — how tech titans like Jobs, Dorsey, and Musk wield narrative as a weapon, and why AI may be the first technology capable of wiping us off the face of the planet.
Rich Roll recommended American Kingpin by Nick Bilton, and discussed Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Hatching Twitter
Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton is a riveting behind-the-scenes nonfiction account documenting the chaotic and dramatic founding of the social media giant.
Discussed“and yet it's so convenient and helpful in the short term uh and entertaining in the way that uh in an advanced way in comparison to Twitter and 140 characters allowed us to kind of be lulled into this world of social media that you know I think it's pretty clear to everybody right now has deranged us in in”
Where to get it
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American Kingpin
American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is a true-crime non-fiction book that details the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht and his dark web marketplace, the Silk Road.
Recommended“The book on Twitter and the Russell Albbrri book about the Silk Road were just amazing works and and you're somebody who has a lot of irons in the fire.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“I mean I wrote the book on Twitter and one of the greatest quotes someone gave me was um the greatest brand sorry the greatest product that Jack Dorsey ever made was Jack Dorsey and I think that sums up a lot of these people in Silicon Valley.”
“And I think that, you know, like Jack Dorsey is a perfect example because Jack, if you as I researched with the book, um he changed the story of how Twitter was founded hundreds of times quite literally.”
“And um and it's what's crazy is you know I wrote in hatching Twitter this was a white box on a screen that you could type 140 characters into.”
“When I wrote American Kingpin, there was no AI. So, what I would do is I I did like I had an Excel spreadsheet that like had all the dates and the times and everything, but I would have to remember what to search for.”