FT Tech Tonic

Is generative AI over-valued? At the heart of the generative AI boom has been the premise that a ‘killer app’ for AI will make investors a return on their capital. But it’s unclear how those use cases will actually make money for businesses that deploy them. Plus - is the problem a lack of AI take-up among employees? We hear from Joe Richardson, head of operations at Octopus Energy, Jim Covello, head of global equity research at Goldman Sachs and George Lee, co-head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute for a debate about the investment case for AI; Victor Riparbelli, chief executive of AI video start-up Synthesia, Amjad Masad, chief executive of coding start-up Replit, and Claudia Harris, chief executive at tech training company Makers.

Free to read:

UK artificial intelligence start-up Synthesia hits $2bn valuation

AI-powered coding pulls in almost $1bn of funding to claim ‘killer app’ status

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Madhumita Murgia, and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner, Samantha Giovinco and Joe Salcedo, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Generative AI is impressive, but can it be profitable? Since the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, Silicon Valley investors and tech giants have poured billions into developing generative AI models and tools. But when will it start generating returns? The FT’s artificial intelligence editor Madhumita Murgia investigates efforts to develop a ‘killer app’ for AI, the use of AI in the workplace, and asks if some of the most highly valued AI companies in Silicon Valley are getting it all wrong.

Free to read:

OpenAI targets 1bn users in next phase of growth

AI-powered coding pulls in almost $1bn of funding to claim ‘killer app’ status

Meta sticks with big bet on AI even after DeepSeek shook markets

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Madhumita Murgia, and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner, Samantha Giovinco and Joe Salcedo, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The past two years have seen the EU bring in landmark legislation to curb the power of big tech companies such as Apple, Google and Meta, threatening to break up the companies that do not play by its rules on privacy and competition. But not everyone agrees with its approach. Murad Ahmed speaks to Aura Salla, former lobbyist for Meta and now an MEP in Brussels, who says EU rules will work to rein in Big Tech, and may even harm the development of Europe’s own tech industry.

Free to read:

EU reassesses tech probes into Apple, Google and Meta

Europe’s rushed attempt to set the rules for AI

What impact is the Digital Markets Act having?

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chinese company DeepSeek has shocked the world with an AI model that could rival those built by the biggest artificial intelligence companies in Silicon Valley. For years it has been assumed that China’s AI companies were trailing in the wake of US rivals such as OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT. Murad Ahmed, the FT’s technology news editor, is joined by the FT’s China technology correspondent Eleanor Olcott to discuss whether DeepSeek’s model shows that China is catching up in the AI race, with expert analysis from Tiezhen Wang from AI open-source community platform Hugging Face.

Free to read:

How small Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley

Why Nvidia investors are spooked by Chinese AI upstart DeepSeek

OpenAI’s Sam Altman vows ‘better models’ as China’s DeepSeek disrupts global race

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Murad Ahmed interviews Reid Hoffman - billionaire founder of LinkedIn, venture capitalist, self-proclaimed AI optimist and generally speaking a big name in Silicon Valley. 

Hoffman discusses the enthusiasm for artificial intelligence sweeping the Valley among both start-ups and Big Tech companies, as well as the investors like him pumping billions of dollars into them.

He also talks about the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, and the potential effects - good and bad - on the US tech industry from lighter regulation to the threat of tariffs and the influence of Elon Musk.

Free to read:

What Trump means for Silicon Valley

Joe Biden says ‘oligarchy’ emerging in US in final White House address

Sam Altman reckons with growing threat to OpenAI: Elon Musk

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Incoming president Donald Trump has shown he’s ready to act decisively on tech, giving a stay of execution to TikTok after the US Supreme Court upheld a ban on the social media platform. But how will he deal with the rest of the tech sector and how much influence will Elon Musk wield? The FT’s technology news editor Murad Ahmed is joined by Washington correspondent Joe Miller, and Hannah Murphy and Stephen Morris from the FT’s San Francisco bureau to discuss the potential impact of a Trump presidency on everything from social media to artificial intelligence.

Free to read:

Joe Biden says ‘oligarchy’ emerging in US in final White House address 

Sam Altman reckons with growing threat to OpenAI: Elon Musk

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg seeks ‘active role’ in Donald Trump’s tech policies

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner, Samantha Giovinco and Joe Salcedo, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, generative AI tools have been helping us answer questions, write essays and create AI images and videos. But now, tech companies are promising AI tools that actually complete everyday tasks on our behalf. 

Murad Ahmed is joined by Madhumita Murgia, the FT’s AI editor, who has been speaking to Dario Amodei, chief executive of Silicon Valley AI company Anthropic. They discuss plans to create ‘AI agents’ that could do anything from replying to emails on our behalf to ordering our weekly grocery shopping online, as well as some of the challenges that leading AI companies face as they develop ever-more sophisticated AI systems. 

Free to read:

Move over copilots: meet the next generation of AI powered assistants

OpenAI bets on AI agents becoming mainstream by 2025

Anthropic’s Dario Amodei: Democracies must maintain the lead in AI

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a new season of Tech Tonic, the FT’s technology editor Murad Ahmed asks some of the big questions likely to shape the tech world in 2025, with the help of big names from the tech industry and the FT’s expert reporters and columnists. We’ll hear about the AI industry’s plans for the next generation of tools powered by generative AI, and how Donald Trump’s presidency - and Elon Musk - might influence Silicon Valley. Plus, stories of Big Tech regulation in Brussels and China’s rise as a tech power. 

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed, and produced by Persis Love. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner, Samantha Giovinco and Joseph Enrick Salcedo, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amid the artificial intelligence boom, demand for AI chips has exploded. But this push for chips also creates new challenges for countries and companies. How will countries cope with the huge amounts of energy these chips consume? Will anyone compete with Nvidia to supply the AI chips of the future? And can China develop its own chips to fuel its own AI development? 

James Kynge visits a data centre to find out how advanced AI chips are causing new problems for the sector. In Phoenix, Arizona, James meets Mark Bauer, co-leader with JLL's Data Center Solutions group, and Frank Eichenhorst, vice president of data centre operations at PhoenixNAP. 

How will the clash of titans play out between NVIDIA and Big Tech? And we hear from Amir Salek, senior managing director at Cerberus Capital and the brains behind Google’s TPU chip; Tamay Besiroglu, associate director of Epoch AI; Dylan Patel, lead analyst at consulting firm SemiAnalysis; and the FT’s global tech correspondent Tim Bradshaw to find out more about the battle for AI chips. 

SMIC did not respond to a request for comment.

Free links to read more on this topic:

Nvidia and the AI boom face a scaling problem

Chip challengers try to break Nvidia’s grip on AI market 

Amazon steps up effort to build AI chips that can rival Nvidia

TSMC says it alerted US to potential violation of China AI chip controls

Presented by James Kynge. Edwin Lane is the senior producer. The producer is Josh Gabert-Doyon. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Joseph Enrick Salcedo, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks to Tim Bradshaw.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global tech industry depends on Taiwan’s semiconductor chips and many believe the sector plays a key role in the island’s national security, helping stave off an invasion from mainland China. But as relations between China and Taiwan worsen, some countries are taking steps to become less reliant on Taiwanese chips. Already, the US, Germany and Japan have lured Taiwanese semiconductor makers to their own shores. Could that make Taiwan a more vulnerable target for attack?

Presenter James Kynge visits the island and speaks to FT greater China correspondent Kathrin Hille, Taiwan's science and technology minister Cheng-Wen Wu, the president of Taiwan's semiconductor industry association Chih-I Wu, UMC associate vice-president Michael Wang, and Hsin-mei Cheng, writer and producer of 'Zero Day', a TV show about a hypothetical invasion from the mainland.

Free links to read more on this topic:

US and Taiwan seek to strengthen drone supply chain to keep out China 

Taiwan’s new leader faces China threat and voters left behind by chip boom 

Taiwan on the faultline 

Presented by James Kynge. Edwin Lane is the senior producer. The producer is Josh Gabert-Doyon. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Sam Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks to Kathrin Hille.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.