Hard Fork

By The New York TimesTechnology

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Hard Fork episodes

May 29Interesting Times: Why Are We Still Driving?
The “Hard Fork” team is taking a break this week as we prepare for our upcoming live show in San Francisco.
While we’re away, we’re bringing you a recent episode of “Interesting Times” with Ross Douthat that we really enjoyed.
In this episode, Ross talks with Andrew Miller, writer of the transportation policy newsletter “Changing Lanes” and co-author of the book “The End of Driving.”
Together, they explore the potential benefits of driverless cars — from fewer car crashes to reclaimed time and attention — as well as what could be lost if we don’t have to be in the driver’s seat anymore.

Guest:
Andrew Miller, writer of the newsletter “Changing Lanes.”

Additional Reading:
A full transcript and video of this episode can be found 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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59 min
May 22Our Field Trip to Google I/O + A Sit-Down With Sundar Pichai + System Update
This week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updated flash model of Gemini that the company says is faster than competitors. Then, we ask Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, how he’s responding to growing evidence that the public is souring on A.I., what advice he’d give to college grads frightened by the current job market and where the company stands relative to competitors in the A.I. race. Finally, we run through the other big tech headlines of the week in our segment System Update.

Guest:
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google.

Additional Reading:
Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years

How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race

Elon Musk Loses $150 Billion Suit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers to Focus on A.I.

Pope to Launch Encyclical on AI Alongside Anthropic Co-Founder

Was a Story That Just Won a Literary Prize A.I.-Generated?

Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.

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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56 min
May 15A.I. Safety Is So Back + Mythos Mayhem with Nikesh Arora + Hot Mess Express
This week, between the president’s negotiations in China and a potential executive order, we discuss why the Trump administration seems to be changing its tune on A.I. safety. Then, Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo Alto Networks, the largest cybersecurity company in the world, gives us a firsthand account of where we stand in the race to secure the internet. And finally, we run through some of the wildest headlines of the week in a round of Hot Mess Express.

Guest:
Nikesh Arora, chief executive and chairman of Palo Alto Networks.

Additional Reading:
White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released

Chief Executives to Accompany Trump to China

Is Anthropic’s New A.I. Really That Scary? It Depends Whom You Ask.

Venmo Finally Takes Privacy Seriously

Amazon Staff Use A.I. Tool for Unnecessary Tasks to Inflate Usage Scores

Graduates Boo Commencement Speech About A.I.

Dua Lipa Files $15 Million Suit Against Samsung for Using Her Face to Sell TVs

EBay Rejects GameStop’s $55 Billion Takeover Bid

Shein, Temu Trade Blows as UK Trial Spotlights Supply Chains

People Are Seriously Pissed That Grindr Outed Them With Its Latest Madonna Advert

Sam Altman Testifies That Elon Musk Wanted Control of OpenAI

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 8 min
May 08Can the U.S. Rein in Prediction Markets? + Joanna Stern on Her Year of A.I. Experiments + Our Producer Goes to Attention School
This week we’re taking another look at prediction markets and a new series of scandals. Is Congress finally ready to rein them in? Then, the journalist Joanna Stern returns to the show to discuss her new book “I Am Not A Robot,” all about turning her life over to a chatbot for a year. And finally, Hard Fork’s Rachel Cohn reports back on her month attending classes at the Strother School of Radical Attention, the center of a movement to resist the commodification of attention by technology companies.

Guests:
Joanna Stern, chief everything officer at New Things

Rachel Cohn, producer of “Hard Fork”

Additional Reading:
Soldier Used Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster, U.S. Says

Soldier Pleads Not Guilty in $400,000 Betting Case Over Maduro’s Ouster

French weather service alerts police to tampering after suspicious Polymarket bets

The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Battle for Your Attention Is Built on a Lie

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 13 min
May 01OpenAI’s Big Reset + A.I. in the Doctor’s Office + Talkie, a pre-1930s LLM
This week, OpenAI announced a loosened partnership with Microsoft and an aggressive new strategy to secure computing power. We unpack what these updates signal about OpenAI’s business strategy and whether the company can scale while balancing a trial against Elon Musk and investor concerns over missed financial targets. Then, the A.I. researcher Dr. Adam Rodman, of Harvard Medical School, returns to tell us about the most significant ways A.I. is changing how doctors treat patients. And finally, can an LLM trained only on very old texts predict the future? We’re talking with one of the creators of the chatbot talkie.

Guests:
Dr. Adam Rodman, internal medicine physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

David Duvenaud, associate professor at the University of Toronto, former team lead at Anthropic and co-creator of talkie.

Additional Reading:
Microsoft and OpenAI Loosen Their Partnership

Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Epic Fight Heads to Court

OpenAI Misses Key Revenue, User Targets in High-Stakes Sprint Toward IPO

Take It From a Doctor: It’s OK if Your Medical Advice Comes From A.I.

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 10 min
April 24Tim Cook’s Legacy + The Future of U.B.I. With Andrew Yang + HatGPT
This week, Tim Cook announced he would step down as chief executive of Apple. We discuss what he got right and what he got wrong, and we offer some unsolicited advice for his replacement, John Ternus. Then, Andrew Yang joins us to discuss A.I.-powered job automation and why universal basic income may be making a comeback. And finally, we catch up on more recent tech news with a round of HatGPT.

Guest:
Andrew Yang, chief executive of Noble Mobile and author of “Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?”

Additional Reading:
Tim Cook Will Step Down as Apple C.E.O.

Who Is John Ternus, Apple’s Low-Profile Leader?

Why U.B.I. Is Making a Comeback

His 2020 Campaign Message: The Robots Are Coming

This Pasta Sauce Wants to Record Your Family

Chinese Robot Beats Human Best Time in Half-Marathon, After a Stumble

What Happens When A.I. Runs a Store in San Francisco?

Meta to Start Capturing Employee Mouse Movements, Keystrokes for A.I. Training Data

SpaceX Strikes Deal With Cursor for $60 Billion

OpenAI Beefs Up ChatGPT’s Image Generation Model

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 15 min
April 17A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is Coming
This week, amid violent attacks on the homes of the OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson, we debate why artificial intelligence and data centers are so unpopular. Then, Kara Swisher returns to the show to discuss her new docuseries on Silicon Valley’s obsession with living longer. And finally, can chief executives replace themselves with A.I.? Mark Zuckerberg seems to be trying.

Guests:
Kara Swisher, tech journalist and host of the podcasts “Pivot” and “On With Kara Swisher.”

Additional Reading:
Shots Fired at Indianapolis Councilman’s Home, After Vote Backing Data Center

Man Held in Attack on OpenAI Chief’s Home Had List of A.I. Leaders, Officials Say

Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever

Meta Builds A.I. Version of Mark Zuckerberg to Interact With Staff

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 4 min
April 10Anthropic’s Cybersecurity Shock Wave + Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Their Sam Altman Investigation + One Good Thing
This week, we look at the cybersecurity threats that a new unreleased model from Anthropic are posing to software everywhere. And we ask whether Project Glasswing, the company’s bold new defense initiative, will give tech companies enough of a head start to secure the web. Then, we’re joined by Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker to discuss their blockbuster new profile of Sam Altman. And finally, we look to the skies for this edition of One Good Thing.

Guests:
Ronan Farrow, investigative reporter and a contributing writer to The New Yorker.

Andrew Marantz, staff writer at The New Yorker.

Additional Reading:
Anthropic Claims Its New A.I. Model, Mythos, Is a Cybersecurity ‘Reckoning’

Why Anthropic’s New Model Has Cybersecurity Experts Rattled

Sam Altman May Control Our Future — Can He Be Trusted?

Artemis II Moon Launch

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
April 03The Future of Addictive Design + Going Deep at DeepMind + HatGPT
Last week, two separate juries held social media companies liable for harming young users. We unpack what these landmark decisions mean — not only for the future of social platforms like Meta and YouTube, but also for A.I. chatbots. Then, Sebastian Mallaby, the author of “The Infinity Machine,” joins us to talk about the three years he spent with Demis Hassabis and those closest to Google DeepMind. And finally, we catch up on some of our favorite tech headlines from the week with a round of HatGPT.

Guest:
Sebastian Mallaby, author of “The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence.”

Additional Reading:
Juries Take the Lead in the Push for Child Online Safety

An A.I. Agent Was Banned From Creating Wikipedia Articles, Then Wrote Angry Blogs About Being Banned

I Met Olaf — the Frozen Robot who Might be the Future of Disney Parks

Claude’s Code: Anthropic Leaks Source Code for A.I. Software Engineering Tool

What’s With All the A.I. Videos of Cheating Fruit?

This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into A.I. Podcasts

North Korean Hackers Suspected in Axios Software Tool Breach

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 10 min
March 27The Ezra Klein Show: How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?
The “Hard Fork” team is off this week, taking a much-needed break. While we’re away, we wanted to draw your attention to a recent episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.”
In this conversation, Ezra speaks with Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic, about how he is using A.I. agents; how the technology is leading to meaningful changes in the ways we work and think; and how policy can or must change to anticipate potential job displacement on the horizon.
We’ll be back with a new episode next week.

Guest:
Jack Clark, a co-founder and the head of policy at Anthropic.

Additional Reading:
A full transcript and video of this episode can be found 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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 41 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.