Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

By Andrew Sharp and Ben ThompsonTechnology

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Typical duration
26 min
per episode

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Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson episodes

April 28, 2025 (Preview) All About AI Companions: Personalization Upsides, Dystopian Downsides, AI Therapy, Advertising Tension, and Lots More
After last week's conversation about AI for companionship, Ben and Andrew answer emails about the future of personalized LLM answers, speculative costs and benefits, the tension between building trust and building a product with 3 billion customers, and much more.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
ChatGPT Memory, Boundaries and AI Companions, Auren — Stratechery Update
Tech’s Two Philosophies — Stratechery
How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025 — Harvard Business Review
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
11 min
April 24, 2025 Apple and the Ghosts of Companies Past, Privacy at the Expense of Performance, The Cook Question
Talking through Ben's article on Apple and the Ghosts of Companies Past, including Apple's religious commitment to privacy, untapped platform potential in AI, parallels to Intel, and why Tim Cook is probably the wrong CEO to undertake the cultural shifts today that may be required for the company to thrive tomorrow. At the end: An AppleTV+ public service announcement.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Apple and the Ghosts of Companies Past — Stratechery
The Intel Opportunity — Stratechery
The Deal That Makes No Sense — Stratechery
Apple is Losing Over $1 Billion a Year on Streaming Service — The Information
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
1 hr 1 min
April 21, 2025 (Preview) What Memory Can Do for ChatGPT, OpenAI's Future and Google's Circles Past, What College Football Can Teach Us About Tech
Talking through the implications of memory capabilities for ChatGPT, the future of AI companionship, OpenAI's platform ambitions, and why Google Circles never found a market. At the end: College football, tech, and a bit of Bell Labs history.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
ChatGPT can now remember and reference all your previous chats — Ars Technica
ChatGPT Memory, Boundaries and AI Companions, Auren — Stratechery Update
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
16 min
April 17, 2025 Three Eras of Facebook (and the Internet), The Problems with FTC v. Meta, The Realities of Perfect Competition
Tracing the history of Facebook to understand the challenges for the government in this month's FTC v. Meta trial, and thoughts on the nature of competition on the Internet and its impact on the economy at large.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Meta v. FTC, The Three Facebook Eras, Video Slop and Market Forces — Stratechery Update
Regulators and Reality — Stratechery
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
1 hr 10 min
April 14, 2025 (Preview) Apple Gets a Temporary Reprieve, The End of Internet 2.0, An Incomplete Tech Blog Post Canon
Andrew and Ben discuss another weekend of pivots, updates and clarifications to the Trump trade policies, the big picture shifts and fundamental questions underlying these policies, a question about Spotify, and Stevie's platform rant inspires an emailer's request for a tech blog post canon.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Apple Was on Brink of Crisis Before Trump Tariff Concession — Bloomberg
Internet 3.0 and the Beginning of (Tech) History — Stratechery
Strategy Letter V — Joel on Software
The Bitter Lesson — Rich Sutton
Stevey's Google Platforms Rant — Github Gist: chitchcock
Complexity and Strategy — Terry Crowley
The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce — Tom Wolfe
The Spirit Of The Internet — The Awl
The only thing that matters — Marc Andreessen
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
12 min
April 10, 2025 American Disruption, Tech’s Manufacturing History in Asia, The Power of Demand in an Uncertain Future
Ben and Andrew return to discuss Liberation Day whiplash, Apple’s history in China and tech’s history in Asia, and the various challenges inherent to the efforts to rejuvenate America’s industrial capacity. At the end: Ben recaps a visit to a Formula 1 race in Japan.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
American Disruption — Stratechery
Trade, Tariffs, and Tech — Stratechery Update
A Chance to Build — Stratechery
How Apple tied its fortunes to China — Financial Times
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
1 hr 15 min
March 31, 2025 (Preview) xAI Buys X, The Bitter Lesson for Everyone, Everywhere, Google’s Only Hope in AI
Thoughts on both X and xAI in the wake of Friday’s announcement from Elon Musk, Chat GPT’s image capabilities and whether AI-adjacent SaaS companies will ever have a moat, and emailers offer counterpoints on Sam Altman’s ads answer and the notion that Google can’t make great products anymore. At the end: Should Substack serve ads?, answers on Israeli cybersecurity, and more on Steve Jobs and Studio Ghibli.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Musk Merges His AI Company With X, Claiming Combined Value of $113 Billion — Wall Street Journal
Thread from @realEstateTrent — X
Stevey's Google Platforms Rant — Github Gist
ChatGPT 4o Adds Image Generation and It’s Fun as Hell — Daring Fireball
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
13 min
March 27, 2025 (Preview) The Delights of Images in GPT, The Future of Graphic Design, Signal and Multiple Dimensions of Security
Reactions to OpenAI's "Images in GPT," and thoughts on the Trump administration's Signal debacle, including a few points Ben neglected to emphasize earlier this week.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
OpenAI’s New Image Model, Graphic Design and Google, More on Security — Stratechery Update
The Trump Administration Group Chat, Signal: The Coke of Secure Messaging, Transparency Versus Security — Stratechery Update
Mailbag: A Premature Twitter Eulogy, Netflix in Theaters, Buy or Sell: Strategy Consultants, The Six People You Meet in a Group Chat — Sharp Tech
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
10 min
March 24, 2025 (Preview) Why Google Wants Wiz for $32 Billion, Xbox One and Bygone Streaming Hardware Dreams, Immortality and Daylight Saving Time
A look at the logic of Google's plans to purchase an Israeli cybersecurity firm for $32 billion, more tension between Apple, Google and the EU, and an email about Xbox One and Microsoft's checkered history of consumer tech ambitions. At the end: Moana 2 and what led to the decision to abandon windowing, Bryan Johnson's pursuit of immortality, and a few follow-ups on Daylight Saving Time.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Google acquires cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion — The Verge
Brussels takes action against Google and Apple despite Trump threat — Financial Times
Black Box Strategy — Stratechery
It’s Time to Kill Surface — Stratechery
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
14 min
March 21, 2025 (Preview) Deep Research and OpenAI's Business Model, A Counterpoint on White Collar Concerns, The Future of Cognition and Companionship
After Ben's interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Andrew and Ben hold an impromptu symposium on AI and its implications, featuring questions from listeners. Topics include: The long-term UX for Deep Research, OpenAI's allergy to an ads-based business model, a confession from Ben after an Exponent take years ago, how AI might--or might not--change the White Collar economy, an era of startups capitalizing on AI-enabled cost structures, AI for companionship and adult content, and whether generative AI will slowly erode human cognition. At the end: A few follow-ups on Vision Pro, including proof of concept at a bluegrass concert.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
An Interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman About Building a Consumer Tech Company — Stratechery Interview
Y Combinator startups are fastest growing, most profitable in fund history because of AI — CNBC
She Is in Love With ChatGPT — New York Times
Have humans passed peak brain power? — Financial Times
The Idea Adoption Curve — Stratechery
Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
15 min