February 06, 2026

How Epstein became a tech influencer

1 hour 34 minutes

A new tranche of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails makes one thing painfully clear: Epstein was a central figure in the lives of a lot of big names in tech, and had influence on a surprising number of companies and executives. David and Nilay talk through what we’ve learned from the new emails so far. Then they turn to Anthropic’s spicy new Super Bowl ads about... ads, which caused a big reaction from OpenAI (which is betting big on ads). They also discuss this week’s antitrust hearing about Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros., the latest in Brendan Carr is a Dummy, Google Home’s big buttons upgrade, and much more.

Further reading:

Here's how Epstein broke the internet

Former Windows 8 boss recruited Epstein to help negotiate his messy Microsoft exit

Jeffrey Epstein arranged a meeting with Tim Cook for the former head of Windows

The Epstein files

Google co-founder Sergey Brin visited Epstein’s private island and traded emails with Ghislaine Maxwell.

It turns out Elon Musk didn’t exactly ‘refuse’ the invite to Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

Will Elon Musk’s emails with Jeffrey Epstein derail his very important year?

Bill Gates says accusations contained in Epstein files are ‘absolutely absurd'

Jeffrey Epstein was permanently banned from Xbox Live

‘We’ve basically funded an elite global pedophile ring since 2015.’

Anthropic says ‘Claude will remain ad-free,’ unlike an unnamed rival

Anthropic’s blog post: Claude is a space to think

Sam Altman responds to Anthropic’s ‘funny’ Super Bowl ads

OpenAI’s CMO on X

Nvidia CEO denies he’s ‘unhappy’ with OpenAI

Netflix lands in the middle of a culture war during Senate hearing

Everyone is stealing TV

Disney says Josh D’Amaro will replace Bob Iger as CEO

FCC aims to ensure “only living and lawful Americans” get Lifeline benefits

Elon Musk is merging SpaceX and xAI to build data centers in space — or so he says

Peloton’s gamble on expensive new hardware has yet to pay off

Google Home finally adds support for buttons

Raspberry Pi is raising prices again as memory shortages continue

Valve’s Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing

Aluminium: Why Google’s Android for PC launch may be messy and controversial

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