RADIOMarch 09, 2025

Is This The Future of "AI Agents" in 2025?

In 2025, we could see the rise of "AI agents," and they might even speak their own language. Glenn and high tech expert Jeff Brown discuss the latest in artificial intelligence, including a new high frequency audio-based language called Gibberlink, which AI bots can use to communicate with each other more efficiently than human languages. Jeff Brown also breaks down what an AI agent is and how they'll change our lives, likely by the end of the year. Soon, AI agents will be booking our hotels, ordering our groceries, looking up recipes for us, and much more. Plus, Glenn and Jeff review the technology that we already have, including xAI's Grok 3, and why Trump's decision to bring Elon Musk and DOGE into the government may be even more impactful than we thought.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to start with the future! This comes from ElevenLabs. And it's -- they had a hackathon in London, and the developers created something called Gibberlink. This is the future of your life very soon. Listen to this.
VOICE: Thanks for calling Leonardo Hotel. How can I help you today?

VOICE: Hi there, I'm an AI agent calling on behalf of Boris Starkov. He's looking for a hotel for his wedding. Is your hotel available for weddings?

VOICE: Oh, hello there. I'm actually an AI assistant too. What a pleasant surprise. Before we continue, would you like to switch to Gibberlink mode for more efficient communication?

GLENN: Hello, R2D2. Obi-Wan, you're our only hope. Okay. That's our future and it is here. You'll understand. We have Jeff Brown with us here in just a second to tell us what's on the immediate horizon. What's coming, and how fast it's coming at us. We'll talk about that in 60 seconds!

First, if you are like most people, there are probably some things you would change about your mobile plan if it wasn't such a big hassle. You can get in there, fiddle around, maybe save some money in the process. I want you to take this challenge. Just take five minutes today. Go to PatriotMobile.com/Beck. Just look at what they have. I think you will like what you see, and how much money you're going to save. Patriot Mobile shares your values, and won't send your hard-earned money to aid in the destruction of America.

And they offer nationwide, dependable coverage with access to all three major networks. So you will get the same coverage without sending money to leftist causes. The customer service, I believe, is better. This all is a win for you! PatriotMobile.com/Beck. You can call 972PATRIOT.

And when you do and you sign up, you will get sick of winning pretty soon. You will get a free month of service with promo code Beck. So save yourself even more money! Switch to Patriot Mobile today.

Defend freedom with every call and text you make. PatriotMobile.com/Beck. 972PATRIOT. Friend of the program, and a guy who is so deeply entrenched in AI, and what's happening on the technology front.

And has this really gift to be able to break it down for dummies like me. So we understand what's coming. And what's coming next.

He has been spot-on with us. I think I talked to you a couple of years ago, Jeff. Maybe you were in town. And we talked. And you said, AI agents are going to be a reality. And people will be using them -- in 2025. By or by the end of 2025. And here we are!

And people have no idea what an AI agent even is. But they're about to! Hi, Jeff.

JEFF: Hey, good morning, it is happening as we speak. I mean, these ElevenLabs example is just one of many. But this trend towards AI, which is giving artificial intelligence programs agency, i.e. empowerment to perform tasks that we would normally do ourselves, that's the biggest trend of 2025.

GLENN: And so what will that mean for the average person? How that will that manifest itself to the average person?

JEFF: You know, we'll all feel like we have a very talented executive assistant. That is helping us navigate our days and recapture, you know, an hour, two hours. Three hours of our time.

That we would normally spend, really kind of, meanwhile, things, that tend to suck up a lot of our time. You know, making hotel reservations, which was the example from ElevenLabs is a perfect example. Something that is probably even more tangible would be, you know, your own agentic AI for just a normal American household, understands their food consumption and their eating habits. It is empowered to go out and order, online. A week's worth of groceries. To be delivered. At a time when it knows that you're at home.

Dropped off at your front door. Happy to provide you with recipes for all of the -- all of the food that have purchased on your behalf. And able to transact with the store. So empowered to, you know, charge with credit cards or bank accounts.

I mean, all of that friction, that we spend hours a week, literally disappears overnight.

GLENN: And this is just the beginning. This is in the next -- well, in this year, so, I mean, what do we have next?

Eight months. This will become reality this year. It is moving at such a fast pace. I mean, when Elon Musk on Sunday said, we are at the event horizon of the -- the event horizon. Yeah. Singularity. That is stunning, if you know what that means!

That means, what you and I talked about five years ago, in saying, well, maybe we would get to AGI. And maybe some day, we could get to ASI.

It's now looking as though, that is upon us.

We are at the event horizon. Which means, you're about to be sucked into it. And cannot turn around.

JEFF: There is no turning back at this stage. I remember when you and I spoke in 2019, the experts in the industry were talking about AGI in 2035, or 2040.

That far out.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JEFF: And I said, at that time, no later than 2028, and I've since revised that prediction, to -- to no later that 2026. And, you know, Musk's comment is absolutely spot-on. AGI will come very fast. We're already seeing some of the sprouts of AGI.

Musk and his team at xAI, which his artificial intelligence company, just a few days ago released their latest frontier model called Grok 3.

GLENN: It's amazing.

JEFF: It is. And it's just extraordinary. It's jaw dropping.

GLENN: If you haven't played with Grok 3 yet, to understand and to start to be -- to start waking up to, oh, dear God. You know, the wonders of it. And the horrors of it. Just go in, and ask it, to just say, here's who I am. And this is my goal.

How do I reach that goal?

Ask it philosophical questions. Ask it deep questions about your industry, that only the best people would know!

And watch what it spits back!

It is incredible. I played with it over the weekend. And I said to my wife, I -- I understand what people have been saying, that they just want to be in the room.

The reason why they want ASI.

Some of them. Is because they want to meet a God.

And I said, I just played with Grok 3. And I just have met the smartest entity, the smartest person, I have ever met!

And we're not even there -- we're not even close to there yet!

JEFF: We're not there yet, that's right. If I think back just months ago, you know, Musk and with xAI, most of the experts in the industry, were -- they were kind of a punching bag.

GLENN: They counted them out. Yeah.

JEFF: Yeah. They were so far behind, what was being done, in the industry, with Meta, with Google, with open AI, with anthropic. You know, four major players in the frontier models. But I -- I wasn't looking at where xAI was 12 months ago. I was looking at what they were doing, and what they were building, and how fast they were building it.

STU: Didn't they build this from scratch in 12 months?

JEFF: The Fiat was even more incredible last week.

GLENN: Oh!

JEFF: They. You know, they found very smartly, an existing physical building, a factory. It was actually an old electroless factory of all things.

GLENN: Wow.

JEFF: So they could have. And they did that, because they could save time to not have to construct the physical infrastructure the building. And so they found this electro factory outside of Memphis. And literally, in 122 days, based upon a 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units. These are like the work horses for training artificial intelligence.

122 days, they did what nobody else in the industry had ever done!

And it gets better. Because then the next 92 days, they spun up an additional 250 GPUs. To a total of 200,000. The largest AI super factory that exists on the planet, in the span of just over 200 days.

The less than 12 months, and that is what enabled them to produce Grok 3, which is better than anything else that exists on the market today!

GLENN: So let's -- let's spend a minute talking about Elon Musk.

Because he's doing the same thing. And Donald Trump. I swear to you, between the two of them. I think they get about ten minutes of sleep a day.

They are moving at such a rapid pace.

I think Donald Trump is going to be recognized in time, as the guy who brought the entire world into a new world. A new position.

Not just by how he's transforming how we do work in government.

But the -- by bringing Elon Musk in. Who is not hiring a bunch of 20 somethings that know nothing.

The one thing that I -- and I would love to hear your opinion on. The one thing that these 20-somethings know. Is how to write a query. How to set up the question. Ask the right questions. The right prompts for AI.

That's what's happening. AI is what's propelling the -- I think the speed of discovery, of what's in our government.

Do you agree with that, invest?

JEFF: That is 100 percent accurate. You know, when you -- when we're dealing with systems like this, at scale, millions of -- in this case, government employees. Trillions of dollars that, as we've learned, that nobody really knows, where the money is going. Who is receiving it. And what it's being used for.

You really do need software engineers. And that's precisely who he hired. And they are using forms of artificial intelligence. To get through the data very quickly.

To find out the fraud, which they've done with rational speed. And they'll continue to do it.

I mean, imagine in a matter of weeks, how much progress they've made, just imagine where we'll be by the end of '25, by employing this technology. And, of course, the -- really, the operational approach that Elon Musk uses in all of his businesses.

GLENN: And to be able to have genic AI go in and write the programs that will make it easy for the average person to see, understand, and query.

Follow that trail for us!

I mean, in a year, with the speed of -- of the growth of AI. It's going to put the -- the power into the hands of the average person.

There's no hiding anymore.

In 2026, there will be no hiding. Do you agree with that?

JEFF: Under one premise. And that is, is that President Trump and his team are able to continue dismantle this industrial censorship complex.

You know, the last four years, what did we see? We saw that they had complete control over the big tech companies. Over Microsoft. Over Google. Over meta. That were influencing us. And manipulating us.

And, you know, engaging in massive psyop campaigns.

And there was no freedom of speech, as we know very well. And so, you know, as long as -- as long as that is true. As long as that continues to be dismantled. And we have the level of transparency we have seen, just in the last six weeks.

Hopefully, today will be another big day, on that -- on that point.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Pam Bondi is supposedly releasing the Epstein client list today.

JEFF: Precisely. Amazing.

And I'm very excited about that. And I presume, the reason that it's taken as long as it has, is that they've been lining up the prosecutions and preparing to do both at the same time.

GLENN: Yeah. I sincerely hope. You can't just let that information fly out there. And sit there. And do nothing about it.

Jeff, hold on. For just a second.

We will continue our conversation, about AI. And people actually using it.

I have -- I have warned you for 30 years of what the dark side is. On AI.

I think it -- it -- you deserve some time hearing from me, the good side of AI. That is actual, real, and happening right now, that you can plug into.

And I'll explain here in just a second. First, Ruff Greens. Your dog needs good nutrition in his life.

Kibble food. It's dead food. You need something that brings his food back to life. It's Ruff Greens. Naturopathic Dr. Dennis Black would like to invite you to try Ruff Greens. The 90-day challenge. That means for 90 days. All you have to do is sprinkle Ruff Greens on top of your dog's food. And then just watch what happens to your dog. Within I think a week, let's be safe.

For 30 days, you will see a shinier coat. And an increase in their playfulness and their energy. It's rhetorical.

By 60 days, your dog will have stronger immune system, less shedding. Improved joint function.

All thanks to the live nutrients, that you have added to his or her diet. By 90 days, better digestion, reduced inflammation, improved heart health. Fetch a free jump-start trial bag for your dog right now. Go to RuffGreens.com. RuffGreens.com. Use the promo code Beck. You will get the free bag. You just pay for shipping. You don't have to change your dog's food to improve your dog's health. Just add a scoop of Ruff Greens. RuffGreens.com/Beck. Promo code Beck. Ten-second station ID.
(music)

GLENN: So yesterday, Jeff. And I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Yesterday, I had to speak to some radio industry executives. And after that, I went and spoke at a -- the Christian broadcasters convention. 6500 people there. Yesterday.

And I made the same point to both of them. And I would really like your thoughts. At this point, we're going to see such a transformation, that you will -- you don't even understand how your job is going to be affected, and you will be left in the dust within 36 months. If you don't begin to explore, how AI can make you better and more efficient at what you do for business.

There is -- there is no doubt, you'll be left in the dust, within 36 months. Maybe as fast as 18 months. If you don't start right now.

But the key is, for me at least, it's a tool. Used by you!

The moment it becomes -- its the boss, and you are the tool, you are done. And on a very dangerous path.

But it is incumbent for anybody who wants to survive. No matter what you do, to begin to play around with AI, and look for ways, that it will enhance what you do. You will be able to be a thousand times more productive, more correct, I believe, in your -- in your -- your ideas.

And you will turbo past. Do you agree with that, take on it?

And if not where -- what would you enhance?

JEFF: Absolutely right. I mean, I've been using AI for many years now.

I use it throughout the day.

I use AI to drive me. I don't even drive anymore, Glenn. My Tesla drives me. I don't touch the steering wheel. But the best thing all of us can do is start experimenting with the technology. Grok 3 is a wonderful place to begin with that. Because it's so easy to use. If you can speak -- there's even a voice mode now, that you can just talk to it. And experiment with it, and see how it can assist you, both in your personal life. And also with your work. It's just an extraordinary tool. And so to your point, being proactive about using the technology is a way to ensure your future career path, so that you're at least knowledgeable about how to use these things. System management. Two people with precisely the same job, one is unassisted with artificial intelligence. And the other one is assisted. These two people possibly compete with one another. The first thing that does not have that tool, will be -- it's absolutely impossible.

GLENN: In the dust.

Secret Docs Reveal the ENTIRE Deep State Network | Glenn TV | Ep 451

The recent declassifications from Tulsi Gabbard’s ODNI and the Durham annex give us a rare glimpse into something much bigger and deeper than the Russiagate hoax against President Trump. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to connect the dots and map out how the entire deep state operation works. We reveal who the players are, where the funding comes from, and how they exert their influence. From international color revolutions to the Ukraine impeachment and the Russiagate hoax, everything is finally starting to make sense. John Solomon, CEO and editor in chief of Just the News, gives Glenn a sneak peek into a bombshell investigation that exposes how the deep state provided cover for Clinton Foundation corruption.

Former CIA Officer EXPOSES John Brennan's Massive Web of Corruption

Bryan Dean Wright, a former CIA Operations Officer, tells Glenn Beck why he believes his former boss John Brennan belongs in prison and what must happen to prevent a full-blown trust implosion in American institutions.

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

Why Trump is RIGHT to take back DC

President Trump is cracking down on crime in Washington, DC, and Glenn Beck believes it’s a “brilliant” move. Glenn explains why Trump is taking action, whether it’s legal, and what he believes it says to the world.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So the president yesterday, taking control of our Capitol back. And he said this, cut three. Listen.

DONALD: My father always used to tell me. I had a wonderful father. Very smart. And he used to say: Son, when you walk into a restaurant and you see a dirty front door, don't go in. Because if the front door is dirty, the kitchen is dirty also. Same thing with the Capitol. If our Capitol is dirty, our whole country is dirty, and they don't respect us.

GLENN: It's absolutely true.

This is the broken windows theory. You know what that is? The broken windows theory is something that Rudy Giuliani used to turn the country around. And that theory is, no one, no one, picks up a rock or can or bottle or anything, that's in a nice neighborhood that's clean and everything else.

You don't pick up a rock and break a window. However, if you're in a neighborhood where there is a lot of broken windows and everything is broken down, the average person is much more likely to pick up a rock and throw it through a window.

Why? Because the entire neighborhood says, we don't care.

So what Rudy Giuliani did, was he used this theory, and he cleaned up the -- he cleaned up the subways by doing a couple of things.

First thing he did, was he made sure, that if you were jumping the turnstile, for the -- for the subway, you were stopped right there.

Before, people just weren't paying a fair, they were just jumping a turnstile.

And nobody was doing anything about it.

He says, no one was crossing that turnstile. Now, what is it?

Is it a dollar to ride the subway? No one rides it for free. And so he put police, right there.

And they stopped you, and arrested you, if you were jumping the turnstile.

The second thing is, was he stopped the graffiti. He said, I don't care if they have to be repainted every single day.

When those things pull into the station, at night. If we get there in the morning, and they've been spray-painted, I want them all painted again, and then they go out.

Everything had been covered in graffiti.

And when he changed those two things, all of a sudden, the attitude, of the subway, it became safe again.

Because it was sending a signal to the bad guys and to the good guys, we care. We're not going to let this happen, anymore.

So what he's saying here, about dirty doorstep, means a dirty kitchen. It's absolutely true.

You ever gone into a restaurant. Gone into their bathroom. And you're like, oh, boy.

Oh, God.

I can't eat now.

Because if the -- the bathroom for the customer is like that. What is their kitchen like, where the customer never sees it. That's what he's doing, and he has the absolute right to do it. He's got 30 days, before he has to bring Congress into it.

This is the -- back in 1973, Congress passed this Home Rule Act. And they didn't have a mayor. They didn't have a city council. They didn't have any of these things.

This has been from the beginning of our country, the Founders wanted the District of Columbia, to be a district that is a federal district, run by the federal government. Not by local rile.

And in 1973, they started that. And it was all just to get them to be declared a state. First a city with a mayor. Then we should have power to elect the president of the United States.

Yada. Yada. Yada.

This has not been worked. This has been an experiment that has not worked at all. So he can deploy the National Guard for law enforcement, because there is no governor of DC. He can use it for emergencies, crowd control, and to execute federal laws. However, he just declared an emergency.

Now, under the Home Rule Act, he can assume control of the Metro PD, which he didn't, for up to 48 hours, during special conditions of emergency.
And that time period can be extended.

But he -- what he's doing here, is he's using these 30 days, hoping that the home rules act is going to be revealed. Only Congress can reveal that. But there's movement to reveal it now. And if Congress appeals the home rule act.

Then this nonsense in the District of Columbia is over. And if anyone tells you, you know what, the crime status are going down.

To what?

To what?

Even if they went down to 2019 standards, is that good enough?

I mean, it is still more dangerous than walking around in Bogota, Colombia.

It is twice as dangerous as walking around in Islamabad!

I don't know. I don't think that's really a good thing.

And, by the way, they changed the way -- you're a stat person. Did you read this about the stats.

PAT: Playing with them.

GLENN: Oh, my God. Playing with them.

Felony assault is not considered a violent crime now in their crime stats. Not assault. Felony assault. Felony means usually prison is -- is tied to that.

STU: Yeah. Not just some easy misdemeanor, where you get your hand slapped.

GLENN: Felony assault.

STU: Yeah. If you're not going to include that, it's hard to even take that seriously.

But your point is more crucial to this, than even the statistical games.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Because they keep -- they keep bragging they're getting it back to 2019 levels, or maybe a tick below. That's not good.

GLENN: No. It's not.

STU: What you're saying is acceptable is not acceptable.

That's the message from the White House.

I would love to see it.

And we're seeing it so far. I would love to see the Democrats try to win that battle those rules.

If what you're trying to tell me, because we were there for the inauguration.

GLENN: Police everywhere.

STU: Of course that was -- police everywhere -- it's a totally different --

GLENN: But I had a guy threaten my life, and not for political reasons. Just because I think he was batcrap crazy.

STU: Yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, a lot of sane people threatened your life on a regular basis. Crazy.

GLENN: This is a nutjob.

STU: Yeah. But, like, unless you're at the mall, during the day, it's -- and even there, can get sketchy at times.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: You feel it.

GLENN: You feel it. You feel it.

STU: You want to stay inside your hotel room.

GLENN: And, you know what, everybody knows this. Washington Post. There -- this is a story on how safe the city is.

This is a safe city, but overhearing witness game threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing, said one resident.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, over --

STU: Anonymity, over concerns of personal safety.

GLENN: Yes. Anonymity, over concerns of personal safety. So I don't want my name in the paper, because I'm afraid of the thugs finding out who I am, and killing me. But it's perfectly safe. Oh, my gosh!

STU: Everyone knows this! Anyone who has ever been to DC. You know it, by walking around.
Weird crap happens to you. People approach you, in threatening ways.

GLENN: You know, Rikki told me just a few minutes ago, our executive producer. She said, last time I was in DC. And she lived in DC for many, many years. She said, I was in my old neighborhood.
She said, I used to walk at 2 o'clock in the morning.
I never had a problem with that. She said, I went to this restaurant. And I was there with a friend.

And I had gone there a million times.

She says, it's in the middle of the day. Within just a few minutes, she's sitting on a patio outside, some huge guy, she said, 300 pounds, at least 6 feet, comes up and says, I'm going to kill you. And starts threatening her and her life.

They call the cops. It takes them 15 minutes. She's not far from the Capitol. Fifteen minutes to get there. And then they don't do anything about it.

He -- she's like, anybody who says, this isn't happening, has just never been there. Here's an ABC anchor. Now, remember, their whole spin is, this was fascism.

There's no -- it's a safe city. Listen to this ABC anchor. Listen to this. Cut one.

We've been talking so much about the numbers, and usually that's how you play devil's advocate. You talk about, oh, well, stats say crime is down.

However, I can tell you firsthand here in downtown DC, where we were, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot. One person died. Literally two blocks down here from the bureau.

It was within the last two years, that I actually was jumped, walking just two blocks down from here. And then just this morning, one of my coworkers said her car was stolen, a block away from the bureau. So we can talk about the numbers, going down. But crime is happening every single day, because we're all experiencing it firsthand while working and listing down here.

GLENN: Hmm. Hmm.

STU: You know.

GLENN: Go ahead.

STU: I was just going to say, I was on vacation last week. You know, it's like saying I'm cutting my calories from vacation levels to normal levels.

It's still not healthy. Right?

It's just -- even if there is an improvement from 2023, which some numbers do show, although the numbers are questionable.

2023 was just absolute catastrophe. And this is just terrible. Right?

Like, that -- there's no reason to embrace this norm.

As the norm.

GLENN: So let me give you -- I want to show you the response. The response on the left.

Here is -- show the full screen here of the free DC.

This came out yesterday.

Free DC. Like it's under some fascistic.

Look at this deal. And what it says is it is encouraging residents to protest Trump's federalizing of the city's police force. And what it wants to do is starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. And then every night, go out to stop this occupation.

Go out and bring pots and pans. And bang on them. And then when you're -- your neighbors go, what the hell is wrong with you!

Say, don't you care about the fascistic government.

STU: People will love that.

GLENN: This is crazy. This is crazy.

Now, if Donald Trump and I think with Jeanine Pirro.

I think some things are going to be happening quickly there.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: He actually has a chance. And I don't think he's doing it this way, for this reason.

But he actually has a chance of turning DC Republican.

Because you're living in that. Imagine --

STU: It's hard to imagine.

GLENN: It's hard to imagine. But imagine living there. And now you're seeing your side, that you've always voted for. Say, it's not so bad. And you know it's bad.

You can't have your wife go out to the grocery store at night.

You've had your carjacked. Maybe crazy people on the streets.

And then he's doing something. And if it works, if it works, people will be like, you know what, I'm sorry.

But that is a better solution.

He is -- this is very brilliant of him. He's very good at this.

He knows where people live.

You know, spiritually. And physically. He knows right where they live.

And where they're living in Washington it can't. Is a hellhole.

And everybody there knows it. And if he can actually change their lives, he changes everything.

Are these MAJOR PROBLEMS with our airlines widespread?

What is going on at our airports?! Glenn Beck has noticed an increase in flight issues – delays, technical problems, understaffing. So, he speaks with aviation expert Mike Boyd, who explains where he believes these issues are coming from. Are they widespread? Or is it just one airline? And can the FAA fix these issues under President Trump?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Mike Boyd. Welcome to the program, Mike, how are you?

MIKE: I'm doing fine. It's an honor to be here.

GLENN: Thank you. So thank you for coming on. I've been asking for an interview with Secretary Duffy, and we haven't been able to align the schedules yet.

But I am very concerned about our airlines. I was on a plane. These were all American Airlines, by the way. I was on the plane. The pilot, we got on. It was like two hours, three hours later late. We got on. And the pilot was standing in the aisle. And he said, everybody, I don't want you to blame the airlines. I want you to blame me.

And we're like, oh, okay.

And he said, because I wouldn't accept the plane, that they wanted to us fly because I have flown it before. And it has problems. And they haven't fixed those problems. And the only way it's going to be fixed is if we reject it. And say, I can't fly.

I don't know if that's true or not. Or what this guy -- you know, what the story was. But that didn't fill me with confidence. I'm like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. So you're actually saying, the airline is not repairing a plane.

And I don't think -- I mean, I don't think our airplanes are in trouble, and going to start falling out of the sky. But that has been happening lately.

What is happening with our airlines?

MIKE: Well, I think the experience you had, that one specific one. We've done a lot from -- I come from an American Airlines background. Nevertheless, we've done a lot of work with American pilots unions. These are very professional people. The fact that guy stood up there and said, I'm not confident with this airplane. That's a safety -- that's a safety plus.

GLENN: Oh, I appreciated that. We thanked him for that. Thank you. Thank you.

MIKE: But we have a major problem with American Airlines. If you have pilots saying, I don't trust you. These are not yo-yos. These are not good consumer men's. These are professionals. If they say that, we have a problem in America. If that happens in America, and I think you might want to call the folks down there in Fort Worth, their brand-new American Way headquarters. They spent billions on them and asked questions.

But overall, I haven't seen that. Are there big problems with air traffic control?

Yes. No question about that. And we finally have somebody that the FAA and the DOT, who has a clue. And that will be addressed.

But overall, if it's just one airline, you're on the right track, as far as looking at it.

GLENN: Okay.

So this is -- but are you seeing this kind of stuff happening with other airlines.

MIKE: No. No.

GLENN: I'm flying out of Dallas all the time. So I generally fly American. And I occasionally will fly Delta. But, you know, it's mainly American. So I just assume this is happening on other airlines as well.

Because I'm reading the comments from people. And they're like, I can't trust that I can get there the next day anymore.

And that's a real problem.

MIKE: Well, because air travel is. I have to get there times certain.

This is not a game. I have to get to the bar mitzvah, whatever I'm going.

So if they can't get there, I'm not going to go. And the reason I'm not going to go, is you can't get me there. Now, if you look at reliability.
And again, we've had some issues, like Frontier Airlines, if you want to see Saturday Night Lights, go to YouTube. You'll see a gated -- a gated net, Frontier Airlines. It's really bad. But if you look at others, like our friends at United Airlines -- and I don't work for those guys. They have a system where if you book at United, very often, they're with you the whole damn trip.

If you don't like a lot of text messages, don't book them. They're with you, the whole time. And their CEO is functionally age, about making sure, whatever went on. Whatever it is. Take it or leave it.

From that point, I think you may have stumbled over something that affects the metroplex, more than anything else.

GLENN: So how's -- because I've been on the plane. And everybody is like, we're going to have missing.

You know, you will miss your connections.

And everybody is like -- is this kind of -- is the airline system set up almost like the Just In Time supply line? That if it did ever go into catastrophic failure, it would be a real problem.

Because, I mean, it's just one plane arrives, just in time for everyone to unload and reload and take off again.

MIKE: Well, yeah. That's just the issue. In ancient times, our friends at Southwest could come in and go in ten minutes.

Today, you can't get ten seats emptied in that amount of time. So they're really trying to cut down the amount of time, on the ground. That makes sense.

The question is, they have to have systems they can't be allow them to do that.

Now, delta has put in a very comprehensive system that only works for Delta, where they have been able to coordinate all those things, and do a better job of it.

But you're right. If you're coming in and going out, and that airplane has to do a go-around, coming into Atlanta. That could be 15 minutes.

That 15 minutes could mean, you can't get across the terminal to get your connection. That's going to happen.

GLENN: Tell me about the situation.

Because, Stu, you did a documentary on how bad the air traffic control system was. Right?

STU: Yes, I did.

GLENN: And is that on YouTube still? What was the name of it?

STU: It is. Countdown to the next Aviation Disaster. Unfortunately the countdown was not as long as you would have hoped it would have been.

GLENN: Yeah, it is. I mean, what's going on in our air traffic control.

And I would never want to be an air traffic controller. The stress these guys are under.

And that's not -- I'm not even calculating the stress on how close these planes are flying in and out now.

I mean, I'm just thinking, back in the good old days, where it was very stressful.

Now they're still passing paper to each other. And these planes are one on top of the other one.

When are we going to change this system and update it?

MIKE: Duffy is doing that. Duffy is not -- and finally, we have an FAA administrator who has a clue. Brian Bedford. He's been around. No, I've known him for 40 years. This man knows the business, and he's all business.

And, you know -- and, you know, I know he's good because Chuck Schumer doesn't like him. So that underlines everything right there.

GLENN: Good.

MIKE: So that's starting right now. Look, we testified to Congress in 1994 on this. On a free flight system, that you could make it far more efficient. The FAA blew it off. The FAA has always been a repository of some really great people at the operational level.

But at the top, these are just political appointees. Take a look at the FAA administrator that the -- the last president wanted. Phil Washington. Nice guy. Clueless. But he was a good appointee.

We can't do that anymore. I think we're going to see some major changes right now.

GLENN: Now, can -- how long is it going to take us to fix this?

MIKE: Well, you know, one of the things.

It's sort of -- what Duffy said, well, we have a -- there was a program in place to fix it over the next five years. And that's ridiculous.

So he's on it. I mean, he just went up to Wisconsin. He found the oldest, I think the oldest control tower in the nation. We're going to fix this. He's really making a point of trying to get it done.

And I think he's doing it incrementally. Where like Newark. What a disaster. I don't mean this city, necessarily. I do.
(laughter)
But at the airport, you know.

He's trying to make that work better.

This guy is on it. So I'm thinking 18 months.

It's going to be incremental. But we will start to see this happen.

GLENN: In Newark, or in the country?

MIKE: In the country. Because we can't have a free flight system that is far more efficient --

GLENN: What does it mean, a free flight system?

MIKE: There's a free flight system -- they want to ignore this, where every airplane takes off, and it finds its own ways. Keep in mind, the skies aren't crowded.

You can put 250,000, count them, 737s in a cubit mile of airspace, parked, not moving.

But that's a quarter million of them. And any time in America, today, in the sky, you might have just 14,000 -- 14,000 airplanes in the sky.

GLENN: Wow.

MIKE: But that's like 11 million cubic miles of airspace. So we can use our airspace better.

But what we've had is quite frankly, an FAA that hasn't wanted to think about it. It's more worried about itself. I am convinced that is going to change over the next two years.

GLENN: And are we close to having AI do all of this free flight stuff?

I mean, I would imagine that you don't -- I mean, you don't need to check in with tower, if AI is assisting finding it.

MIKE: Oh, exactly. We've got to use that. And a lot of it -- it's -- the head of the FAA has always been the clown of the Titanic. He says, slow down.

And by the time, it gets back to the engine room, you know, we've hit the iceberg. I think it's one of those things that we have to recognize, a lot of stuff has to change organizationally at the FAA, and at the department of transportation. I think finally we have people that can actually address that.

GLENN: Wow!

That is -- I mean, this is wildly optimistic, but I am happy to hear that. I like Secretary Duffy.

I don't know much about him.

Not enough to say enough like you're talking. That makes me feel really good. I'm very concerned about our air travel.

It's not good. Not good.

Not going in the right direction.

MIKE: It's not going in the right direction.

I find out, if I treat the customer right, they might come back and fly me, and what's happening now, people are getting away from some of these really low fair airlines, where the seat is like, a bucket seat in a C-119.

They don't want to fly those things anymore. And people like United and Delta and other carriers are saying, we'll take your business.

And they are.

GLENN: I have to tell you, at times, I'll be on a plane. And I think we're like one scruffy dog with one blue eye, just walking down the aisle, creepily away from third world airlines. I mean, it's like, there are times I'm like, is there a chicken going to run down the aisle too? What country do we live in?

It's beyond. It really is the greyhound of the sky now.

MIKE: It is. There's no question. My mother was a stewardess in the 1930s. Everybody dressed up.

GLENN: Yes.

MIKE: Today, you're lucky if everybody is dressed.
(laughter)

GLENN: I don't know why we haven't had you on before, Mike. You're very funny.

Mike, thank you so much. For an inside look on this. I appreciate it. Mike Boyd, aviation expert. From the Boyd group international. He's the president and CEO.

MIKE: Me pleasure. Thank you.

GLENN: He's the guy who consults all these airlines and tries to help fix them.

And is also, you know, testifying in front of Congress all the time.