We’re back with part two of Hard Fork Live (see last week’s episode for part one). This week, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s chief executive, joins us onstage for a wide-ranging conversation about how Silicon Valley could unleash greater progress, from building new housing to curing diseases, and why he believes prestige television is a waste of time. Then, after a quick costume change, Kathryn Zealand, the chief executive of Skip, joins us to talk about her company’s robot pants. We test them out live on a StairMaster. Finally, we end the show by taking questions from audience members.

Guests:

• Patrick Collison, Co-founder and C.E.O. of Stripe
• Kathryn Zealand, Founder and C.E.O. of Skip
   

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The first Hard Fork Live is officially in the books, and for those who couldn’t attend, we’re playing highlights from the event in this episode and the next. This week, Mayor Daniel Lurie of San Francisco makes a surprise appearance to discuss the advice he’s receiving from tech executives during the early days of his administration, as well as how he built a social media presence that’s got Kevin wondering: Could we do that? Then, the conversation that had everyone talking: We’ll play our interview with OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, and chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, and explain what was going on in our heads as the conversation unfolded in a way we did not expect.

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This week, President Trump’s family business announced that it was introducing a mobile phone and a cellular network. We tick through the many potential conflicts of interest this new business venture raises. Then, the co-founders of the startup Mechanize defend their efforts to automate away all jobs — starting with software engineering. And finally, we take a trip to the movie theater. “M3GAN 2.0” is out next week, so its star, Allison Williams, joins us to discuss the film, and A.I.’s impact on her career and parenting.

Guests:

• Matthew Barnett and Ege Erdil, co-founders of Mechanize.
• Allison Williams, actor.

Additional Reading:

• Trump Mobile Phone Company Announced by President’s Family, but Details Are Murky
• The President Is Selling a Phone
• This A.I. Company Wants to Take Your Job

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This week, Meta hits the reset button on A.I. But will a new research lab and a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI bring the company any closer to its stated goal of “superintelligence”? Then we break down Apple’s big developer conference, WWDC: What was announced, what was noticeably absent, and why Apple seems a little stuck in the past. Finally, a couple of weeks ago we asked if your job is being automated away — it’s time to open up the listener mail bag and hear what you said.

Additional Reading:

• Meta looks for an A.I. reset
• Apple Executives Defend Apple Intelligence, Siri and A.I. Strategy
• This A.I. Company Wants to Take Your Job

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This week, Kevin and Casey discuss the sudden breakdown between President Trump and Elon Musk, whose disagreements over the policy bill before Congress quickly erupted into an all-out feud. Then, an ex-DOGE coder explains what it was really like to work inside the Trump administration’s cost-cutting arm. And finally, the former New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells explains why some chefs are turning to A.I. for inspiration.

Guests:

• Sahil Lavingia, C.E.O. of Gumroad, who spent 55 days working for DOGE
• Pete Wells, New York Times restaurant critic from 2012 through 2024

Additional Reading:

• If Elon Musk and President Trump Divorce, Who Gets Silicon Valley?
• This Year’s Hot New Tool for Chefs? ChatGPT.

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This week, we dive into Kevin’s recent column about how A.I. is affecting the job market for new graduates, and debate whether the job apocalypse is already here for entry-level work. Then Mike Krieger joins us to discuss the new Claude 4 model, the future of work and the online chatter over whether an A.I. system could blackmail you. And finally, it’s time to open up the case files for another round of Hard Fork Crimes Division.

Guest:

• Mike Krieger, chief product officer at Anthropic

Additional Reading:

• For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here
• Another Suspect Is Charged in Bitcoin Kidnapping and Torture Case
• Elizabeth Holmes’s Partner Has a New Blood-Testing Start-Up

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This week, we take a field trip to Google and report back about everything the company announced at its biggest show of the year, Google I/O. Then, we sit down with Google DeepMind’s chief executive and co-founder, Demis Hassabis, to discuss what his A.I. lab is building, the future of education, and what life could look like in 2030.

Guest:

• Demis Hassabis, co-founder and chief executive of Google DeepMind

Additional Reading:

• At Google I/O, everything is changing and normal and scary and chill
• Google Unveils A.I. Chatbot, Signaling a New Era for Search
• Google DeepMind C.E.O. Demis Hassabis on the Path From Chatbots to A.G.I.

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The actor, comedian and author Ed Helms has a new book out about historical blunders. He swings by Hard Fork to tell us about it and answer your moral quandaries, ethical dilemmas and etiquette questions about technology: How do I tell my mom she can’t post about her grandkids on Facebook? Am I being an A.I. hypocrite at work? And is it OK to troll the scammers who blow up my cellphone?

Guest:

• Ed Helms, actor, podcaster and author of “Snafu: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups”

Additional Reading:

• Interview: Ed Helms on Historical Snafus and His Reading Life
• 7 Months Inside an Online Scam Labor Camp

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This week, iPhone users started to feel the impact of a stern court order against Apple that requires the company to stop collecting a commission on some app sales. We break down what this means for apps like Kindle and Spotify and why the judge suggested that Apple and a top executive should be investigated for criminal contempt. Then, Karen Hao joins us to discuss her new book about OpenAI and explain why she believes the benefits of using the company’s tools do not outweigh the moral costs. And finally, Casey introduces Kevin to a strange new universe of A.I. slop that’s racking up millions of likes on TikTok.

Guest:

• Karen Hao, Author of “Empire of AI”

Additional Reading:

• Judge Rebukes Apple and Orders It to Loosen Grip on App Store
• Brain Rot Comes for Italy

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This week we dig into the ways chatbots are starting to manipulate us, including ChatGPT’s sycophantic update, Meta’s digital companionship turn and a secret experiment run on Reddit users. Then Kevin reports back from the unveiling of a new eye-scanning orb. And finally, we’re joined by PJ Vogt for a brand-new segment called Group Chat Chat.

Tickets to “Hard Fork Live” on June 24 are sold out. You can join the wait list here to be alerted if additional tickets become available.

Guest:

• PJ Vogt, host of the podcast “Search Engine”

Additional Reading:

• Meta’s ‘Digital Companions’ Will Talk Sex With Users — Even Children
• Reddit Issuing ‘Formal Legal Demands’ Against Researchers Who Conducted Secret A.I. Experiment on Users
• The Group Chats That Changed America
• The Ice Bucket Challenge Worked. Why Not Try It Again?

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