Hard Fork

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 2.0.

Additional Resources:

• George K. Lerner, FTX’s in-house performance coach, said he was shocked by the collapse of FTX.
• In an interview with Matt Levine, a Bloomberg columnist, Sam Bankman-Fried described his strategy to restore faith in the crypto ecosystem.
• Bankman-Fried reflected on his actions as chief executive of FTX in a series of Twitter messages with Kelsey Piper, a Vox reporter.
• Elon Musk told Twitter employees in an email that the company would become an “extremely hardcore” operation. Employees were asked to click yes to be part of the new Twitter or take severance.
• Musk’s social calendar includes courting comedians and hopping on yachts.

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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]. Also, check us out on TikTok: @hardforkpod

Additional Resources:

• Elon Musk told Twitter employees the company faced a bleak financial picture in a meeting with staff on Thursday and in his first companywide emails.
• The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, said it had reached a deal to buy its competitor FTX, which was on the verge of collapse. The news about FTX had left crypto investors scrambling.
• Is the collapse of FTX crypto’s Lehman Brothers moment?
• Meta announced layoffs of 11,000 employees, accounting for about 13 percent of its work force.

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

“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 out code.

Additional Resources:

• Members of Elon Musk’s inner circle, including the podcast hosts David Sacks, Jason Calacanis and Sriram Krishnan, are advising Mr. Musk on changes at Twitter.
• Engineers at Twitter were told to print out their most recent software code to show to Mr. Musk.
• Under pressure to increase revenue, Mr. Musk considered making Twitter users pay to keep their verification badges. The acclaimed horror author Stephen King was not thrilled by the idea.
• Twitter’s chief customer officer, Sarah Personette, and several other executives have left the company in recent days.
• Mr. Musk faces financial challenges in owning Twitter.

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

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. 

Guest today:

• Kate Conger, a technology reporter in the San Francisco bureau of The New York Times

Additional resources: 

• Elon Musk has closed the $44 billion deal to own Twitter.
• In the lead up to the deadline to complete the acquisition of the social media service, Elon Musk visited Twitter’s San Francisco office and sought to reassure advertisers about his plans for the platform through a Tweet.
• Spotify has struggled to bring audiobooks onto its platform after Apple rejected Spotify’s new app three times.
• The CEO of Altimeter Capital, the hedge fund and Meta shareholder, wrote a critical open letter to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg.

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

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 for freedom of expression” — as long as it stays out of the hands of a few censorious tech giants. So what’s this former hedge fund manager turned tech mogul thinking about how this technology could be used — or misused? Plus: A.I. Kevin and A.I. Casey stop by.

On today’s episode

• Emad Mostaque, the chief executive of Stability AI

Additional resources

• “Eshoo Urges N.S.A. & O.S.T.P. to Address Unsafe A.I. Practices” (Press Release, Representative Anna Eshoo of California)
• “This artist is dominating A.I.-generated art. And he’s not happy about it.” (Melissa Heikkilä, M.I.T. Technology Review)
• “A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze” (Kevin Roose, The New York Times)

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

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.

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

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. 

You can read Kashmir Hill’s story here: "This Is Life in the Metaverse."

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

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 every Friday.

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