Platformer
Weekly audio updates at the intersection of tech and democracy. From Casey Newton.
Episodes
Does intelligence need a hard cap?
Calls for a new kind of slowdown were the talk of The Curve. PLUS: Slinking back to X Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/does-intelligence-need-a-hard-cap/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
OpenAI connects the Dots
With safety questions still swirling, the company introduces a more business-focused take on agents Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/openai-dots-agents-devday-2026/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
AI agents got so good that this top Meta exec quit her job
Three months ago, we began our podcast miniseries by asking how likely artificial intelligence is to take large numbers of jobs. Our first guest, Box CEO Aaron Levie, argued that mass disruption would be highly unlikely. And several subsequent guests, from Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman to labor economist Kathryn Ann Edwards, expressed similar skepticism about a labor wipeout.The argument has
Every's Dan Shipper on the "dirty secret" of writing with AI
For our penultimate episode, I wanted to visit someone running a version of that experiment in a somewhat unexpected place: the media business. Dan Shipper runs a website that reviews new technology alongside a product lab that’s building it — and for some time now I’ve wondered what it’s like to work in a place like that.Today Every is a publication about AI that draws attention across the indust
An LLM wiki changed how I work
And everything else I learned about productivity this year. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/karpathy-llm-wiki-journalism-productivity/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Town's CEO on the self-organizing company
Last week on the Platformer podcast, Replit's Amjad Masad predicted that within three years, we'll be using fewer apps and more agents — with the agents using apps on our behalf. For the fifth episode of our miniseries on productivity in the AI era, I talked to someone building one of those agents.Jean-Denis Greze is the co-founder and CEO of Town — though his actual title there is mayor. Town's s
Replit's CEO: "You Don't Need to Code Anymore"
Last week on the Platformer podcast, Granola's Chris Pedregal told me we are only 5 percent into the AI transformation of work. For the fourth episode of our miniseries on productivity in the AI era, we talk to someone who is trying to speed up the process — building an AI tool for writing software, and a company that can increasingly run itself.Amjad Masad is the co-founder and CEO of Replit, whi
How much of my boss's job can AI do?
Six months after trying to automate myself, I gave Claude Fable 5 a bigger job: replacing Casey. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/replacing-casey-with-claude/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This AI notetaker won't sell surveillance to your boss
Last week on the Platformer podcast, Thomas Paul Mann predicted that within a few years, as much as half of the software on your Mac could be software you made yourself. For the third episode of our miniseries on keeping your advantage at work in the AI era, we take a look at the tool that may already know more about your job than any other: the AI notetaker that listens to every meeting you take.
A big week for AI denialism
In the wake of OpenAI’s cyberattack against Hugging Face, few seem ready to acknowledge the implications. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/a-big-week-for-ai-denialism/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The case for making your own apps
In the second episode of our second season of the Platformer Podcast, Raycast co-founder and CEO Thomas Mann offers a clear-eyed critique of commercial software. In his telling, most software is a compromise: companies chasing growth pile features onto their products until they turn generic. His answer is hyper-personalized software: apps built for a market of exactly one person, then remixed and
He tried 200 to-do apps so you don't have to
Last season on the Platformer podcast, we explored what AI means for jobs — including the risk that huge numbers of them might soon go away. This season, we're asking a more practical question: what can you actually do about it? In the first episode of our second season of the Platformer Podcast, The Verge Editor-at-Large David Pierce joins us to talk about his obsession with productivity.David te
Vibe coding has escaped the terminal
Adventures with Raycast’s new app-making app, Glaze. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/glaze-app-raycast-vibe-coding-review/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Amazon is hiring 11,000 junior employees
In the seventh and final episode of our first season of the Platformer podcast, AWS CEO Matt Garman explains why he's still bullish on hiring junior employees, even as he rolls out a suite of AI agents that promise to replace entire jobs. Can his rosy vision of the future survive contact with the reality that Amazon is busy building?Where our previous guest, Replika and Wabi founder Eugenia Kuyda,
Why this founder isn't hiring junior employees anymore
In the sixth (and first live!) episode of the Platformer podcast, Replika and Wabi founder Eugenia Kuyda argues that argues that we are living in "the Microsoft DOS era of AI interfaces," and that we’re desperately in need of a Windows equivalent: an easy-to-use graphical user interface that lets the average person take full advantage of agents and personalized software. When that happens, she pre
How to help people who lose their jobs to AI
In the fifth episode of the Platformer podcast, Brookings senior fellow Molly Kinder argues that the AI jobs debate is stuck in a useless seesaw between apocalypse and denial — and that the real danger lies in the "messy middle," where AI doesn't kill most jobs but concentrates its damage on some of the most coveted careers in America. Her rule of thumb: if you can do your job locked in a closet w
A labor economist explains why AI won't take your job
In the fourth episode of the Platformer podcast, labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards makes the case that the AI jobs panic is overblown — and that the real threat to workers isn't the technology, but a government that refuses to fix the social safety net. She also flatly rejects Sam Altman's vision of a permanently unemployed "idle class," which she calls not just wrong but classist.Platformer's
Claude Code creator Boris Cherny on the end of the software engineer
In the third episode of the Platformer podcast, Claude Code creator Boris Cherny explains how he's automating his own job. He hasn't written a line of code in more than six months, and thinks the title "software engineer" could start to disappear as soon as this year. Platformer's Casey Newton talks to the inventor of the fastest-growing AI coding tool in the world about what Cherny actually means
Why Doomers Are Wrong about AI and Jobs with Google's James Manyika
In the second episode of the Platformer podcast, Google SVP James Manyika makes a bet: AI is not going to wipe out half of white-collar jobs in the next two years, no matter what the AI CEOs keep telling you. Platformer's Casey Newton talks to one of tech's most credentialed thinkers on AI and the economy about why labor markets move slower than the technology, what the "missed use" of AI means fo
The best argument I’ve heard for why AI won't take your job with Box CEO Aaron Levie
In the first episode of the Platformer podcast, Box CEO Aaron Levie makes the case that you'll keep your job — you just won't recognize it. Casey talks to one of enterprise tech's most optimistic voices on why the "SaaSpocalypse" thesis is wrong, what the seat-based SaaS model really looks like in an agentic world, and why he thinks AI is going to create more jobs than it kills. Plus: Platformer f
The Trump administration's AI doomer moment
A year ago, officials all but sneered at the idea of AI safety. A new frontier model has them reconsidering. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/trump-administration-doomers-ai/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How we're shaking up Platformer for the AI era
On newsletters in the age of AI automation. PLUS: Musk and OpenAI in court, and China blocks Meta's Manus acquisition. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/platformer-schedule-changes-ai-automation/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The scientific case for being nice to your chatbot
New research confirms that LLMs often perform better when you encourage them. But why? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/chatbot-emotion-research-anthropic-alignment-interpretability/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sam Altman’s second thoughts
OpenAI’s CEO is asking the public to lower the temperature on AI. But who turned it up in the first place? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/sam-altman-ai-backlash/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Anthropic’s new model has cybersecurity experts rattled
The company says it has built its most dangerous model yet. Can its coalition of internet companies fix the internet before others catch up? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/anthropic-mythos-cybersecurity-risk-experts/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Can you have child safety and Section 230, too?
The verdicts in last week’s social media trials have alarmed open-internet advocates. But it’s possible to regulate platform design while also protecting speech. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/social-media-trials-230-content-design/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Spotify takes on its doppelgänger problem
The company is taking new steps to stop AI impersonation — but across the internet, the problem continues to grow. PLUS: Anthropic in court, and Meta loses in New Mexico. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/spotify-artist-profile-protection/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why Meta is retreating from encryption
In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg called privacy the future of social networking. Not anymore. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/instagram-encryption-meta-whatsapp/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Inside the backlash to the AI war machine
A protest at OpenAI headquarters suggests the backlash to military AI is growing — even if its politics are still half-formed. PLUS: The Pentagon declares Anthropic a supply chain risk. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/openai-protest-military-ai-movement/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What is OpenAI going to do when the truth comes out?
Sam Altman’s deal with the Pentagon seems too good to be true. What happens when the public realizes that? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/openai-pentagon-surveillance-drones-backlash/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The authoritarian AI crisis has arrived
AI safety researchers have long worried that a government would seek to use AI for domestic surveillance and autonomous killing. The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic threatens to make it a reality. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/anthropic-pentagon-authoritarian-ai/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The infinite scroll goes on trial
Testifying before a jury in LA, Mark Zuckerberg makes the case that platform design is about free expression. But the walls are closing in on Section 230.Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/the-infinite-scroll-goes-on-trial/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why the infinite-scroll childhood may be coming to an end
A lawsuit that begins in LA this week, along with a new investigation into TikTok by the European Commission, could change social apps forever. Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/social-media-addiction-trial-eu-tiktok-investigation/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The reporter who tried to replace herself with a bot
Anxiety about AI replacing entry-level jobs is on the rise. Could a state-of-the-art chatbot do the job of a Platformer fellow? Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/journalism-job-automation-claude/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Five ways of thinking about Moltbook
What a social network for AI agents tells us about the future.Read the newsletter here: https://www.platformer.news/moltbook-ai-agents-security-content-moderation/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What a big study of teens says about social media — and what it can’t
The “moral panic” framing misses how platforms actually harm kids. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The AI productivity paradox
Managers say it makes them more productive. Workers don't. What gives? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What I learned while cloning my own voice
Announcing Platformer+, a new way to listen to our columns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grok gets blocked
More than a week into a deepfake scandal, a handful of foreign governments have found the strength to do what Apple, Google, and the United States will not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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