Blue Origin's latest rocket test ended in what the company called "an anomaly" — and what everyone else would call an explosion. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) explains why blowing things up is just part of the process and why the US Space Program is probably going to be fine.

Then, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) pulls back the curtain on the shadow market for pre-IPO equity in OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. It’s a mania where people are willing to take pre-IPO stock as payment for $2.9M houses. It's frothy out there.

Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) digs into the concept of a ‘permanent underclass’ — the fear that letting AI run rampant could freeze everyone in their current economic position forever. Do we laugh it off or get serious about regulation?

Additional Reading: 

• Blue Origin and Amazon Had Momentum. Then Came the Fireball. | The New York Times 
• A Booming Shadow Market of Sketchy A.I. Investments | The New Yorker 
• You Are About to Become Economically Worthless | User Mag 
• Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass | The New York Times 

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What if the fastest path to superintelligence is AI that builds itself? That's the bet Richard Socher is making — and he has the track record to back it up. A double unicorn founder and early investor in eight unicorn companies (including Perplexity and Hugging Face), Richard has spent 15 years building the foundational research that powers modern AI. Now he’s co-founded Recursive with an elite team from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta to pursue something more ambitious: a self-improving AI that generates its own scientific breakthroughs — what he calls a "eureka machine."

Richard joins Oz to unpack how recursive superintelligence actually works and why open-ended AI systems could outpace today's giants.

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Most of what happens inside the UFC Octagon is too fast for the human eye to follow. Enter Alon Cohen, Executive Vice President of Innovation for TKO, who has spent 15 years building the data and AI systems that expose the hidden moments that help decide a match. Malcolm Gladwell sits down with Alon to uncover how UFC’s partnership with IBM turns chaos into clarity, giving fans and commentators a deeper story behind every bout.

This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don’t necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talks

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This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show.

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The Pope called for AI to be "disarmed" — then gave Anthropic a seat on the dais. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) unpacks what the Vatican's landmark intervention means for Silicon Valley. Then, get off Nextdoor, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) says hyperlocal publications are in vogue and a respite from algorithmic feeds. And finally, an update on last weekend’s Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. Journalist Chris Gayomali, host of the podcast SuperHuman, persevered through the 95-degree heat and d-list Gen Z influencers to witness one world record that almost didn’t happen. 

Additional Reading: 

• Can AI be a ‘child of God’? Inside Anthropic’s meeting with Christian leaders. | The Washington Post 
• Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical | The New York Times
• Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter | The New Yorker
• SuperHuman Podcast | Vegas
  
  

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What happens when you let technology take over your life? Joanna Stern (Fmr. Wall Street Journal / New Things) found out. She spent all of 2025 letting the robots in: Waymos, AI therapists, robot massagers, assistant researcher agents…

During that yearlong experiment, Joanna Stern chronicled her findings in a new book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything. She speaks to Oz about letting AI diagnose her son’s praying mantis, sending Bill Gates her health log, and how she sees AI impacting the job market.

Additional Reading: 

• I Am Not A Robot | Joanna Stern    

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What does it mean to be at the “foothills of the singularity”? That’s how DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis ended his speech at Google I/O, prompting questions and scratched heads. Oz and Reed Albergotti (Semafor) attempt to dissect the meaning behind Hassabis’s confounding statement. They also discuss why so many commencement speakers are getting booed by college graduates after bringing up AI, and what it means for SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI to all be heading towards an IPO. 

Then, Oz sits down with David Webster, Head of UX at Google Labs, for a deeper look at the products Google unveiled at their annual developer conference of the year.

Additional Reading: 

• DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis on what Google AI products say about ‘singularity’ | Semafor
• A Guide to Commencement | Semafor
• SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI’s Sprint to Go Public Defines the AI Boom’s Big Day - WSJ  
• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed | Strait Times IG 
• Subscriber Q&A: Live @ Google I/O - by Alex Heath - Sources
  
  

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What if Olympic athletes could use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, legally? They can now, at the Enhanced Games. The Enhanced Games take place on May 24th and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.

Unless you’re Chris Gayomali, host of the new podcast SuperHuman, which is an inside look at the ‘steroid Olympics.’ Chris Gayomali joins Oz to break down how aging tanks athletes' earning potential, how the Enhanced Games strives to be like Formula One, and what drew big-money backers Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. to the table.

Additional Reading: 

• SuperHuman | iHeart 
• What Would the Olympics Be Like If the Athletes Could Juice? | GQ 

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This week has it all: geopolitical FOMO, major AI deals, more courtroom drama, and a hacker group that just won't quit. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down why AI tokens are the new oil, and why Anthropic is buying compute straight from SpaceX. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) takes us inside the Elon Musk-OpenAI trial, where Shivon Zilis, aka the “Elon Whisperer” and the mother of four of Musk's children, finally took the stand. And Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dexter Thomas gives insight into how the hacking of education tech platform Canvas could still affect college students, even after Canvas’s parent company says a deal was reached to delete the stolen data. 

Additional Reading: 

• Nvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics | Semafor 
• Anthropic-SpaceX compute deal shows how tokens are taking over the economy | Semafor 
• Shivon Zilis was Elon Musk’s ‘bridge’ to OpenAI. Now she’s entangled in his lawsuit. | The Washington Post 
• Instructure Pays Ransom to Canvas Hackers | Inside Higher Education 

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How did nine rejection letters and “boring” data lead to “the biggest transformation in sport”? Americans might know Formula One Racing from the hit Netflix show “Drive to Survive.” But F1 has long been a fan favorite in Britain and Europe. Today’s guest, team principal James Vowles, sits down with Oz to discuss how he’s bringing his team, Atlassian Williams F1 Team, from a recent slump into the Top 5. His process involves being “data-rich”, pushing his team to the brink, and utilizing AI and technology to get that elusive tenth of a second in speed. 

Additional Reading: 

• ‘Get rid of the battery’: F1 under increasing pressure to make more changes to engine rules | Formula One 2026 | The Guardian
• Formula One Went Green—and It’s Driving Everyone Crazy | WSJ  

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