Hard Fork

By The New York Times

Technology

What's Hard Fork about?

“Hard Fork” is a show about the future that’s already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.

Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp

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The Surgeon General’s Socia...

05.26.2023

The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, says social media poses a “profound risk of harm” to young people. Why do some in the tech industry disagree? Then, Ajeya Cotra, an A.I. researcher, on how A.I. could lead to a ...

Hard Fork episodes:

05.26.2023 The Surgeon General’s Social Media Warning + A.I.’s Existential Risks The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, says social media poses a “profound risk of harm” to young people. Why do some in the tech industry disagree? Then, Ajeya Cotra, an A.I. researcher, on how A.I. could lead to a ...
05.19.2023 Mr. Altman Goes to Washington + Casey Goes on This American Life In a congressional hearing this week, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, appeared to be on the same page as lawmakers: It’s time to regulate A.I. But like so many other proposals to regulate tech, will it actually happen? The Times’s ...
05.12.2023 Google’s A.I. Bonanza + Driverless Car Talk With Cruise C.E.O. Kyle Vogt At its biggest event of the year, Google announced an avalanche of A.I. product releases: A.I. in search, A.I. that writes emails and A.I. that generates slides. Is Google pulling ahead in the A.I. arms race? And, after years of ...
05.05.2023 Bluesky Has the Juice + A.I. Jobs Apocalypse + Hard Questions The Twitter look-alike Bluesky, started by the former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey, is doing the impossible: making social media fun again. Then, A.I. is coming for jobs but not in the way you think. Plus: Kevin and Casey moonlight ...
04.28.2023 Deepfake Drake + HatGPT + Ben Smith on the End of the BuzzFeed Era A song featuring A.I.-generated versions of Drake and the Weeknd went viral — before being taken down by streaming services. Is censorship of A.I.-generated songs the way forward? Or can singers benefit from synthetic voices, as some artists like Grimes ...
04.21.2023 Hard Fork Presents: The Most Amazing – And Dangerous – Technology In the World Today we’re bringing you an episode on chips. No, not potato chips. While we rarely think about chips, they show up in nearly every aspect of our lives. Our toasters, our cars, our planes, our phones – and, in our ...
04.14.2023 Inside the Hunt for the Discord Leaker + Twitter Chaos Updates Aric Toler untangles the web of teens, gamers and memes at the heart of the latest intelligence scandal. Then, an update on Twitter — where things have gone from bad to worse. Plus: How A.I. is bringing us closer to ...
04.07.2023 A.I. Vibe Check With Ezra Klein + Kevin Tries Phone Positivity The New York Times Opinion columnist Ezra Klein has spent years talking to artificial intelligence researchers. Many of them feel the prospect of A.I. discovery is too sweet to ignore, regardless of the technology’s risks. Today, Mr. Klein discusses the ...
03.31.2023 Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on Bard, A.I. ‘Whiplash’ and Competing With ChatGPT For years, Google was seen as one of the most cutting-edge developers of A.I. But, with OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, and other chatbots beating Google to market, is that distinction still the case? Google’s chief executive is in an unenviable ...
03.24.2023 Bard Fork + How to Talk So Chatbots Will Listen Google has unleashed its A.I. chatbot, Bard, to the world. And, Spotify’s A.I. D.J. knows your taste – perhaps a little too well.
03.20.2023 BONUS: Hard Fork Live! Big Tech’s Arch Nemesis + Bot, or Not? Jonathan Kanter, who heads up the Justice Department’s antitrust division, believes that antitrust laws are critical for innovation — from ad tech to A.I. The assistant attorney general is bringing a new philosophy to enforcing those laws. So, how is ...
03.17.2023 GPT-4 Is Here + The Group Chat Bank Run It’s acing standardized tests, building websites and hiring TaskRabbits — GPT-4 is “equal parts fascinating and terrifying.” OpenAI has released its latest model, alongside A.I. announcements from Meta, Google and other industry players. The A.I. arms race is only accelerating. ...
03.10.2023 A Congressman Goes to A.I. School + How to Ban TikTok Representative Don Beyer thinks artificial intelligence is “the most amazing technology since fire.” So what does it mean that most of Congress seems not to understand it? Then our colleague David McCabe discusses a bill that could dramatically expand the ...
03.03.2023 Everyone Pivots to A.I. + Bad News for Crypto Snapchat launches a chatbot. Meta plans to “turbocharge” its A.I. work. Elon Musk explores “BasedAI.” At this point, who isn’t making an A.I. play? Plus: Is crypto finally dead? Also, a new TikTok filter is making people terrifyingly hot.
02.24.2023 Kevin Killed Sydney + Reddit’s C.E.O. Defends Section 230 Bing AI isn’t sentient. But it’s more than glorified autocomplete. How do we talk about — and understand — the power of today’s large language models? Then, Reddit’s C.E.O., Steve Huffman, on Section 230 and why the future of the ...
02.17.2023 The Bing Who Loved Me + Elon Rewrites the Algorithm “I’m Sydney, and I’m in love with you.
02.10.2023 Bing’s Revenge + Google’s AI Faceplant Microsoft’s release of a ChatGPT-powered Bing signifies a new era in search. Then, a disastrous preview of Bard — Google’s answer to ChatGPT — caused the company’s stocks to slide 7 percent. The A.I. arms race is on. Plus: What ...
02.03.2023 A Trip to TikTok + ChatGPT’s Origin Story + Kevin Systrom’s Comeback TikTok is opening up a “Transparency and Accountability Center” to try to win over skeptics. Is the company’s strategy working? Then, the origin story of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and how the company kicked off an A.I. arms race. Plus: The co-founder ...
01.27.2023 Meta’s Trump Calculus + Regime Change at Netflix What does Donald Trump’s reinstatement on Facebook and Instagram mean for our politics and platforms? Then, Netflix in its post-Reed era. Plus: How the Bored Ape Yacht Club went from being the Disney of Web3 to handing out sewer passes ...
01.20.2023 Elon's Crumbling Empire + Generative A.I. Goes to Court Nearly three months into Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, things are in a "shambolic" state. Is the rest of Elon’s empire also in trouble? Then, an artist fighting generative A.I. sets the stage for a legal clash. Plus: what goes ...
01.13.2023 ChatGPT Transforms a Classroom + Is 'M3GAN' Real? A high school teacher on how the new chatbot from OpenAI is transforming her classroom — for the better. And, “M3GAN” may be closer than you think. Plus: Why Gen Z is chasing the digital camera aesthetic.
01.06.2023 TikTok’s Spying Scandal + ChatGPT Puts Google on Notice + Phone Jail Calls to ban TikTok or force its sell-off from its parent company ByteDance are gaining momentum, especially after reports of ByteDance’s surveillance of several U.S. journalists. And could Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI mark the end of Google’s search monopoly? Plus: ...
12.16.2022 SBF Arrested + 2023 Predictions + Your Questions Answered The year of the “mini-Musk” chief executive, the end of homework as we know it, a crackdown on TikTok and other predictions for 2023. Also, Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest and answers to our listener questions.
12.09.2022 Can ChatGPT Make This Podcast? It’s writing podcast scripts, finishing students’ homework and correcting mistakes in computer code: ChatGPT, the A.I. chatbot from OpenAI, is suddenly everywhere. Who should decide how it’s built? What could go wrong? And what could go right?
12.02.2022 Elon’s Two-Day War with Apple + How to Beat an A.I. Censor + S.B.F.’s ‘Bad Month’ Elon Musk accuses Apple of trying to sabotage Twitter. But after his visit with Apple’s C.E.O., Tim Cook, things are … good? Then, the New York Times reporter Paul Mozur on the tactics Chinese protesters are deploying to avoid the ...
11.18.2022 A Hard Fork in the Road: FTX’s Unraveling and Elon’s Loyalty Oath The balance sheet contains an apology, the in-house coach is concerned that company executives are “undersexed” and billions in customer funds remain in jeopardy. The wreckage at FTX goes from bad to worse. Plus: Elon’s “extremely hardcore” plan for Twitter ...
11.11.2022 A Verified Mess: Turmoil from Twitter to FTX This week, we go inside Elon Musk’s “dire” warnings, FTX’s spectacular collapse and Meta’s big layoffs. Has the tech industry lost its mind? “Hard Fork” listeners: We want to hear your questions about the tech industry. Send them to [email protected]. ...
11.04.2022 Life Under Musk: Two Twitter Employees Speak Out “We cross our fingers and hope to make it through another day.” Twitter hasn’t spoken publicly since Elon Musk bought the company a week ago. But inside, employees describe a mood of fear, chaos, stress and bizarre requests to print ...
10.28.2022 Emergency Pod: Elon Musk Owns Twitter We look into the company’s weird new future with Times tech reporter Kate Conger. Plus, how Apple is single-handedly deciding the future of the digital economy, and a social media death watch.
10.21.2022 Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It? We sit down with the founder of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, on the heels of his $101 million fund-raising round. His open-source Stable Diffusion image generator is the key to unlocking creativity, he says, and “one of the ultimate tools ...
10.14.2022 Legs Are Coming + $36 Burritos + Shocking AI News Meta is in the fight of its life — and Mark Zuckerberg hopes VR is the answer. Hmmm. Plus, an existential threat to the gig economy and the wildest news in artificial intelligence.
10.07.2022 Elon’s Hidden Motives + A Meetup in the Metaverse The $44 billion Twitter deal is back on the table — and Casey isn’t buying it. Kevin looks for friends in the Metaverse. And the “Hard Fork Transparency Report” debuts.
09.27.2022 What’s a Hard Fork? Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore stories from the wild frontier of tech. What’s real? What’s hype? “Hard Fork” is here to help you make sense of it. Tune in on Friday, Oct. 7.
09.27.2022 We Interrupt This Program Stay tuned for “Hard Fork,” a new podcast from The New York Times that comes Friday, Oct. 7 to this feed. If you’re looking for “Sway” with Kara Swisher, you can search for older episodes in any podcast app or ...
07.28.2022 Best Of: Jon Stewart This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the comedian and former Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, taped in March 2022. This episode contains strong language. You can find transcripts (posted ...
07.25.2022 Best Of: Matthew McConaughey This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the actor and self-proclaimed ‘statesman-philosopher, folk-singing poet’ Matthew McConaughey, taped in October 2021. This episode contains strong language. You can find transcripts (posted ...
07.21.2022 Best Of: Stacey Abrams This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the Georgia gubernatorial candidate and Democratic powerhouse Stacey Abrams, taped in March 2021. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more information for ...
07.18.2022 Best Of: Jason Miller This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the longtime Trump adviser and C.E.O. of Gettr Jason Miller, taped in August 2021. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more information ...
07.14.2022 Best Of: Fran Lebowitz This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the humorist and famed New Yorker Fran Lebowitz, taped in February 2021. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more information for all ...
07.11.2022 First Person: She’s Gay and a Republican. Is There a Place for Her in the G.O.P.? This month Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes — usually of Sway. But today she has another show to share with you: First Person. In this episode of the New York Times Opinion podcast, host Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks ...
07.07.2022 Best Of: Monica Lewinsky This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this interview with Monica Lewinsky, the producer, activist and — yes — former White House intern. We taped this conversation in October 2021. This episode contains ...
07.04.2022 Best Of: Elon Musk This month, Kara is revisiting some of her favorite episodes of Sway — including this conversation with the Tesla C.E.O., Elon Musk, taped in September 2020. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more information for all episodes at nytimes.com/sway, ...
06.30.2022 Kara in the Hot Seat As the show comes to a close, it felt fitting to save the most elusive guest for last: Kara Swisher herself. In this conversation with the senior editor of “Sway,” Nayeema Raza, Kara revisits major moments from her year and ...
06.27.2022 ‘Venture Capitalists Are Going to Turn Into Vulture Capitalists,’ and Other Predictions From Andrew Ross Sorkin Stocks tumbling, inflation soaring and interest rates climbing — it’s clear America’s economy has hit some turbulence. And yet President Biden says a recession is “not inevitable.” Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder and editor at large of DealBook at The ...
06.23.2022 Would You Upload Your Consciousness to the Cloud? Instagram, Twitter and TikTok can monopolize all of your time, driven by what the novelist Jennifer Egan calls humankind’s “ongoing hunger for authenticity.” But to Egan, social media is not a winning strategy for discovering what’s real or true: “Looking ...
06.20.2022 ‘The Senate Needs a Soul’ Raphael Warnock claims he’s not a politician, though he certainly sounds like one and serves as one. The U.S. senator from Georgia, who has long been the pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s former church, says that his “entry into ...
06.16.2022 As Bitcoin Busts, What’s the Future of Web3? And What Even is Web3? Chris Dixon is one of Silicon Valley’s most ardent crypto-evangelists. A general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, he leads a16z Crypto, which invests in web3. At the beginning of the year, his proselytizing seemed to be paying ...
06.13.2022 Can We Tech Our Way Out of Climate Change? What if Silicon Valley’s next big frontier were not web3 but climate change? That’s the bet the venture capitalist John Doerr is making: Doerr, the billionaire author of “Speed and Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now,” ...
06.09.2022 David Axelrod, Sarah Longwell and Preet Bharara on What to Look For in the Jan. 6 Hearings The House’s Jan. 6 committee is going prime-time. On Thursday, its members, with Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, serving as vice chair, will present findings in hearings televised throughout June on all major networks (except Fox News). But will ...
06.06.2022 Best Of: Dave Eggers Created the Google-Amazon Mash-Up of Your Nightmares Tech stocks may be under pressure, but the tentacles of Silicon Valley continue to grow, inching us closer to the dystopian world Dave Eggers paints in “The Every.” The novel imagines a world where the fictional equivalent of Google and ...

Older episodes

Hard Fork

What's Hard Fork about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Hard Fork episodes:

The Surgeon General’s Social Media Warning + A.I.’s Existential Risks

Mr. Altman Goes to Washington + Casey Goes on This American Life

Google’s A.I. Bonanza + Driverless Car Talk With Cruise C.E.O. Kyle Vogt

Bluesky Has the Juice + A.I. Jobs Apocalypse + Hard Questions

Deepfake Drake + HatGPT + Ben Smith on the End of the BuzzFeed Era

Hard Fork Presents: The Most Amazing – And Dangerous – Technology In the World

Inside the Hunt for the Discord Leaker + Twitter Chaos Updates

A.I. Vibe Check With Ezra Klein + Kevin Tries Phone Positivity

Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on Bard, A.I. ‘Whiplash’ and Competing With ChatGPT

Bard Fork + How to Talk So Chatbots Will Listen

BONUS: Hard Fork Live! Big Tech’s Arch Nemesis + Bot, or Not?

GPT-4 Is Here + The Group Chat Bank Run

A Congressman Goes to A.I. School + How to Ban TikTok

Everyone Pivots to A.I. + Bad News for Crypto

Kevin Killed Sydney + Reddit’s C.E.O. Defends Section 230

The Bing Who Loved Me + Elon Rewrites the Algorithm

Bing’s Revenge + Google’s AI Faceplant

A Trip to TikTok + ChatGPT’s Origin Story + Kevin Systrom’s Comeback

Meta’s Trump Calculus + Regime Change at Netflix

Elon's Crumbling Empire + Generative A.I. Goes to Court

ChatGPT Transforms a Classroom + Is 'M3GAN' Real?

TikTok’s Spying Scandal + ChatGPT Puts Google on Notice + Phone Jail

SBF Arrested + 2023 Predictions + Your Questions Answered

Can ChatGPT Make This Podcast?

Elon’s Two-Day War with Apple + How to Beat an A.I. Censor + S.B.F.’s ‘Bad Month’

A Hard Fork in the Road: FTX’s Unraveling and Elon’s Loyalty Oath

A Verified Mess: Turmoil from Twitter to FTX

Life Under Musk: Two Twitter Employees Speak Out

Emergency Pod: Elon Musk Owns Twitter

Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It?

Legs Are Coming + $36 Burritos + Shocking AI News

Elon’s Hidden Motives + A Meetup in the Metaverse

What’s a Hard Fork?

We Interrupt This Program

Best Of: Jon Stewart

Best Of: Matthew McConaughey

Best Of: Stacey Abrams

Best Of: Jason Miller

Best Of: Fran Lebowitz

First Person: She’s Gay and a Republican. Is There a Place for Her in the G.O.P.?

Best Of: Monica Lewinsky

Best Of: Elon Musk

Kara in the Hot Seat

‘Venture Capitalists Are Going to Turn Into Vulture Capitalists,’ and Other Predictions From Andrew Ross Sorkin

Would You Upload Your Consciousness to the Cloud?

‘The Senate Needs a Soul’

As Bitcoin Busts, What’s the Future of Web3? And What Even is Web3?

Can We Tech Our Way Out of Climate Change?

David Axelrod, Sarah Longwell and Preet Bharara on What to Look For in the Jan. 6 Hearings

Best Of: Dave Eggers Created the Google-Amazon Mash-Up of Your Nightmares