This is our full interview with Ben Thompson, recorded live on TBPN.

We discuss his essay on Anthropic, why AI is colliding with hard questions about state power, surveillance, and military leverage, whether private labs can realistically defy governments when AI becomes a true source of geopolitical power, and how trade offs around Taiwan, chips, and democratic accountability could shape the next phase of the AI era far more than abstract debates about safety in the lab.

TBPN is a live tech talk show hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, streaming weekdays from 11–2 PT on X and YouTube, with full episodes posted to podcast platforms immediately after.

Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” TBPN has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.

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