Blake Lemoine is the ex-Google engineer who concluded the company's LaMDA chatbot was sentient. Gary Marcus is an academic, author, and outspoken AI critic. The two join Big Technology Podcast to debate the utility of AI chatbots, their dangers, and the actual technology they're built on. Join us for a fascinating conversation that reveals much about the state of this technology. There's plenty to be learned from the disagreements, and the common ground as well.
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An AI Chatbot Debate — With Blake Lemoine and Gary Marcus

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators. Alex Kantrowitz, a Silicon Valley journalist who's interviewed the world's top tech CEOs — from Mark Zuckerberg to Larry Ellison — is the host.

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News Commentary

Brian McCullough, host the Techmeme Ride Home podcast, joins us our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI teasing GPT-5 2) Or wait, was it GPT-6? 3) Satya Nadella speaks with Sam Altman about OpenAI's Apple partnership 4) How long will OpenAI and Microsoft be best buds? 5) Does OpenAI benefit by diversifying partnerships? 6) Is Apple going to go all-in on AI at WWDC? 7) What the new Siri might look like? 8) OpenAI's ex-board members speak up about Altman firing episode 9) Statement from OpenAI on alignment work 10) Elon Musk gets $6 billion to build 'gigafactory of compute' at xAI 11) Could Ilya join Elon again? 12) How remote work is increasing loneliness 13) The meetings will continue until morale improves  
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OpenAI Teases GPT-5, Musk's Plan For xAI, Loneliness in Remote Work Era

Louise Matsakis is a technology reporter and writes You May Also Like on Beehiiv. Matsakis joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss her recent story for Big Technology about how Shein and Temu snuck up on Amazon and what these two Chinese ecommerce companies have done to carve out a growing slice of the online retail market. In this story, we talk about demographics, marketing, tariff loopholes, and more. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss the state of the TikTok ban and how China is competing with U.S. Tech.
Read the full story: How Shein and Temu Snuck Up on Amazon
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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
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Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology
Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

How Shein and Temu Snuck Up On Amazon — With Louise Matsakis

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Google's AI Overviews tell us to eat rocks 2) Is this a signal the web really is done? 3) Google's history of messy AI launches 4) OpenAI's super-alignment team in chaos 5) Is there immediate AI safety risk or did the team leave because there isn't? 6) OpenAI's NDA practices 7) Did OpenAI take Scarlett Johansson's voice? 8) Is there a line for the tech industry taking intellectual property? 9) NVIDIA's wild earnings report 10) Is this the end of the NVIDIA run? 11) When are we going to see an ROI on AI spending?
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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/
Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology
Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

Google’s Crazy AI Overviews, OpenAI’s Superalignment Drama, NVIDIA’s Unstoppable Run

Aaron Levie is the CEO of Box. Levie joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the implications of AI getting cheaper and faster after OpenAI cut GPT-4o's prices by half and made it twice as fast. We also cover AI's impact of AI on jobs, the evolving AI safety debate, and how companies like Box are harnessing these powerful technologies. It was our first public event and such a blast to meet so many of you!  Hit play for a thought-provoking exploration of the AI cutting edge, and what comes next.
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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
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Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology
Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

What Cheaper, Faster, and Smarter AI Gets Us — With Aaron Levie

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI's GPT-4o announcement 2) Is voice + video the right user interface? 3) Do we need smartglasses for this technology? 4) Was ChatGPT-4o too flirty? (yes) 5) OpenAI's potential iOS partnership with Apple 6) Siri improvements are coming 7) What AI + iphone could look like ahead of WWDC 8) Will AI features increase iPhone purchases 9) Listener feedback on the iPad 10) Ilya's out 11) Future of allignment at OpenAI 12) "I've resigned" resignation letters 13) Google IO announcements 14) What's left of the web after Google's AI overviews 15) How the latest AI updates change Google's business 16) AWS CEO Adam Selipsky resigns 17) Amazon's AI strategy 
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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/
Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology
Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

OpenAI’s Big Week, Did Google Kill The Web, AWS CEO Resigns

Big Technology Podcast

An AI Chatbot Debate — With Blake Lemoine and Gary Marcus

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