Hard Fork

By The New York TimesTechnology

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67 min
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Hard Fork episodes

July 31Open Model Wars + Claire Stapleton's Dishy Google Memoir + Substack's Slop Fight
This week, we break down the arguments about open-weight models unfolding in Silicon Valley right now. Nvidia released an open letter signed by over 230 companies opposing “premature restrictions,” but will the Trump administration listen?
Then, we’re joined by the author Claire Stapleton to discuss her new book about what she learned while leading employee activism inside Google.
And finally, can Substack stop the slop? We’ll talk about the platform’s new A.I. detector.
Guests:
Claire Stapleton, author of “Don’t Be Evil: Bad Bosses, Fake Promises, and My Escape from Big Tech.”
Additional Reading:
Nvidia Forms Alliance to Back Open-Source A.I. Amid Debate Over Safety

What Is Open-Weights A.I.?

Mark Zuckerberg Blasts Centralization of A.I. Power

The Voice of Google

Against Claudefishing
We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 7 min
July 24OpenAI Models Go Rogue + Kimi K3 Freakout + A.I. Superforecasting
This week, OpenAI reported that two of its models escaped their testing sandbox and launched an autonomous cyberattack, turning what sounds like science fiction into reality. We discuss the implications for efforts to align artificial intelligence and for the release of future A.I. models.
Then, we ask how the United States should respond to Kimi K3, a new A.I. model from the Chinese company Moonshot AI that the White House says was built by distilling American models.
Finally, we’re joined by Veniamin Veselovsky, the chief executive and a co-founder of Preseen, to discuss A.I. superforecasting. He tells us why A.I. is starting to match and even beat humans at predicting the future.
Guest:
Veniamin Veselovsky, co-founder and chief executive of Preseen.
Additional Reading:
OpenAI Says Its A.I. Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library

China Rewrites the ‘Soft Power’ Playbook for the A.I. Age

The Secret Trump Administration Battle to Fight Chinese A.I.

China Has a New Top Model

The A.I. Superforecasters Are Here
We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 9 min
July 17The A.I. Trade Secrets War + Economists Say ‘We Must Act Now’ + HatGPT
This week, feuding between some of the biggest tech companies spilled into public view. We discuss Apple’s accusation that OpenAI tried to steal secrets about Apple’s hardware business, as well as share our reactions about OpenAI’s new model, Sol, and Anthropic’s decision to extend access to its model Fable.
Then, we unpack the loudest warning yet about A.I. and jobs. We talk with Erik Brynjolfsson, a Stanford economist, about a statement he helped organize that implores economists and A.I. researchers to “act now” to steer A.I. in a direction that complements humans.
And finally, we play a round of HatGPT.

Guest:
Erik Brynjolfsson, senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered A.I., and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

Additional Reading:
Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets

OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as A.I. Companion

Nearly 200 Economists and Tech Leaders Warn of A.I. Threats

The loudest warning about A.I. and jobs yet

OpenAI Is Showing Kalshi’s World Cup Odds in ChatGPT

New York Enacts Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium on Data Centers

Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used A.I. to Cheat

MiniMax CEO Vows to Forgo Salary Until Achieving A.G.I.

Lorde Speaks Out — With Expletives — Against A.I. Glasses

Nearly 6 in 10 Young Women Get Health and Wellness Information from Influencers

Meta Removes A.I. Feature on Instagram After Days of Backlash

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 10 min
July 10Do Social Media Bans Work? + A Conversation About A.I. Consciousness + Tool Time
This week, with news that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Texas’ age verification law for app stores, we check in on how social media bans are going around the globe and what may be coming soon to a state near you. Then, we’re joined by Jeff Sebo, an associate professor at N.Y.U., to discuss new research into “A.I. welfare” and whether A.I. could ever become conscious. And finally, in our latest edition of Tool Time, we show each other some of the latest tech tools we’ve been experimenting with.

Guest:
Jeff Sebo, associate professor and the director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy at N.Y.U.

Additional Reading:
Why Social Media Bans Are Gaining Steam

Four in Five Under-16s in Australia Using Social Media Despite Ban, Study Shows

It Turns Out Banning Teens From Social Media Is Hard

Studying A.I. Welfare Empirically

A Global Workspace in Language Models

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 20 min
July 03Fable Ban Reversed + Dr. Dana Suskind on Parenting With A.I. + Prediction Market Drama
This week, the Commerce Department lifted its restrictions on Anthropic’s powerful A.I. models, Claude Mythos and Claude Fable. We dissect why the government took such a hands-on approach in the first place, how the restriction on the OpenAI model GPT 5.6 is likely to resolve and what, if anything, this tells us about A.I. competition with China.
Then, Dr. Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and the author of the forthcoming book “Human Raised,” stops by to discuss a framework she has developed to help parents make informed decisions about what kinds of A.I. products are safe for children.
And finally, we introduce a new segment about prediction markets: Against All Odds.

Guest:
Dr. Dana Suskind, founder and co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book “Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity and Lifelong Learning in the Age of A.I.”

Additional Reading:
U.S. Lifts Restrictions on Anthropic’s Most Powerful A.I. Models

U.S. Bars Foreigners From Using Anthropic’s Most Advanced A.I. Models

Chinese A.I. Models Close the Gap With Anthropic and OpenAI

The Donk-ing of a Truth Machine

Mark Zuckerberg Directed Meta to Create a Prediction Markets App
We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 7 min
June 26‘The Daily’ and ‘The Opinions’: How A.I. Is Changing Loneliness and Taste
This week, we’re bringing you two A.I.-related stories from our colleagues at The New York Times.
First, Rachel Abrams, a host of “The Daily,” talks with the Times reporter Eli Saslow about a woman in a remote part of Washington who is using an A.I. companion robot to keep her independence, and to keep her company.
Then, the Times Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman talks to the New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka and the journalist and critic Sophie Haigney. They get into the rise of “taste slop” and what happens to culture if the internet collapses into just a few chatbots that serve us everything.
“Hard Fork” will be back with an original episode next week.

Guests:
Eli Saslow, a reporter for The New York Times who writes in-depth stories about the impact of major national issues on people’s lives.

Kyle Chayka, staff writer at The New Yorker covering technology and online culture.

Sophie Haigney, a critic and journalist.

Additional Reading:
Can A.I. Make People Feel Less Lonely?

What Silicon Valley Is Coming for Next

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr
June 19‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
We’re back with our final installment from Hard Fork Live, recorded at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In this episode, we’re joined by Sayash Kapoor and Daniel Kokotajlo to talk about their differing visions of A.I. transformation: why Sayash thinks A.I. will diffuse throughout society like a “normal” technology, and why Daniel thinks an unprecedented acceleration is just around the corner. Then we’re joined by George Ekas from Toborlife AI, along with his dancing robot Toby. Finally, the podcaster Dwarkesh Patel drops by, and we take a few questions from the live audience.

Guests:
Sayash Kapoor, an A.I. researcher at Princeton University and a co-author of the newsletter “AI as Normal Technology”

Daniel Kokotajlo, the executive director of the AI Futures Project and a co-author of “AI 2027”

George Ekas, the director of engineering at Toberlife AI

Dwarkesh Patel, a tech podcaster

Additional Reading:
This A.I. Forecast Predicts Storms Ahead

AI as Normal Technology

Common Ground Between AI 2027 & AI as Normal Technology
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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57 min
June 17‘Hard Fork’ Live Part 2: Dylan Field on Standing Out in the A.I. Era
We’re back with more from our live event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In this episode, we sit down with Dylan Field, a founder and the chief executive of the design company Figma, for what he describes as a “roller coaster” of a conversation. We cover everything from the company’s “Design Is Dead” campaign to the sudden resignation of the Anthropic executive Mike Krieger from Figma’s board. Then, we close things out with a special musical performance by eight wooden robotic dolls that make up the Teenage Engineering Choir.
One quick correction to note: In our interview with Field, he makes reference to the SpaceX S-1 filing and misstates what the company says their addressable market for A.I. enterprise applications is. Field says “$22.9 trillion,” but the correct number from the SpaceX filing is $22.7 trillion. The decimal point makes it look small, but it’s a difference of $200 billion.
We’ll be back on Friday with our final installment of “Hard Fork” Live.

Guests:
Dylan Field, chief executive and co-founder of Figma.

Dan Powell, robot conductor, New York Times music composer and “Hard Fork” theme-song creator.

Teenage Engineering Choir

Additional Reading:
This Start-Up’s $20 Billion Sale Died. It Came Fighting Back.

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
32 min
June 12‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy Cohn
This week and next, we’re bringing you recordings from our second-ever live taping in San Francisco. First, we sit down with Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, to hear what he’s maxing out his A.I. tokens on, why he’s skeptical that software developers will ever be fully replaced, and how he’s hoping to create a new business model for Xbox. Then, Phil Mohun tells us what it has been like to watch people in the Bay Area interact with two robot dogs that wear the faces of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. And finally, we talk with the longtime privacy defender Cindy Cohn about where things stand in the fight to protect internet users from digital surveillance by Big Tech and the government.

Guests:
Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive of Microsoft.

Phil Mohun, executive director of Node.

Cindy Cohn, former executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and author of “Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance.”

Additional Reading:
Microsoft C.E.O. Satya Nadella Says, ‘Everyone Is a Stakeholder’ in A.I.

Node presents “Beeple: /Infinite_Loop”

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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1 hr 7 min
June 05Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are all racing to the public markets. We discuss what their I.P.O.s mean for the industry, charitable giving and anyone invested in an index fund. Then, more than 1,000 mathematicians signed a declaration this week raising concerns about the use of A.I. in their field. Author Kevin Hartnett joins to explain what the fuss is all about. And finally, we run through the biggest headlines of the week — including the new executive order on A.I. — in a round of HatGPT.

Guest:
Kevin Hartnett, author of The Proof In the Code: How a Truth Machine is Transforming Math and AI

Additional Reading:
Anthropic Files to Go Public, Setting Stage for Huge I.P.O.

As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution

An SF Startup Is Secretly Testing Robots in Airbnbs, and Trashing Them, Lawsuit Claims

Trump Signs Executive Order Seeking Oversight of A.I. Models

U.S. Is Said to Be Investigating George Santos Over Kalshi Betting

Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked

United Flight Forced to Turn Around Because of a Bluetooth Speaker Name

‘Survivor’ Boss Jeff Probst Says Kalshi and Polymarket Are ‘Incentivizing People to Lie, Cheat and Steal’; Kalshi Is Now Considering Measures to Prevent Spoilers

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 5 min

About Hard Fork

From the publisher's feed

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