TechStuff
TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley’s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning. Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone’s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.
Episodes
Everyone Is Saying Something Different About the AI Economy - The Story
Is the AI boom real… or are we watching a bubble get ready to burst? Billions of dollars are pouring into artificial intelligence, but figuring out where that money comes from, where it goes, and whether the spending can last is surprisingly complicated. Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, author, and founder of Exponential View, joins Oz to break down the economics behind the AI boom and the findin
Let’s Imagine the Tech Without the Tech Companies - The Story
The AI conversation has become a battle between utopian promises and apocalyptic warnings. But what happens when we stop asking what AI will do to the world and start asking what it’s actually good for? Oz sits down with Josh Tyrangiel, journalist and author of AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter, to find out where AI is already making a d
Shell Game: The Startup Chronicles
Evan decides it’s time to give his AI agents a little more ... agency. After all, to make the one-person, agent-run startup feasible, they need to be able to do things on their own. But as with humans, freedom sometimes comes with a certain amount of anarchy. To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Anti-Surveillance Sentiment Is In Vogue, Some People Are Exploiting It - Week in Tech
What’s driving America’s growing backlash against surveillance tech? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) unpacks the outcry over Flock cameras and why the company thinks they are being unfairly targeted. Then, Gerrit De Vynck (The Washington Post) breaks down Mark Zuckerberg’s latest AI manifesto and Meta’s bid to catch up in the AI race. Finally, Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) ex
Humanoid Robots Ship This Year, Here’s What To Expect - The Story
As Oz predicted, 2026 may very well be the year of the robot. At least, that’s what the robotics companies are promising. Oz sits down with Stephen Witt, author and frequent contributor to The New Yorker, to find out whether humanoid robots are really ready to hit the market. Spoiler: It’s a mixed bag. Oz and Stephen Witt discuss the hurdles facing humanoid robots and the risks o
Shell Game: This is Law
As Kyle, Megan, and the gang get to work ideating on the perfect product, Evan is left grappling with some uncomfortable questions about his AI collaborators — whose every attribute and memory he controls. To inform how he thinks about his own unnerving power to create and manipulate human imposters, Evan seeks guidance from Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the Institute
What the AI Backlash is Really About - Week in Tech
What is Silicon Valley missing about the data center backlash? Jasmine Sun traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan to find out what's driving the public's growing mistrust of tech companies. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) unpacks the internet's furious response to OpenAI's first influencer brand trip, what it reveals about the company's public image, and why Anthropic seems largely immune to the ire. Then, R
They Founded a Company as Teens. Now They’re Predicting the Future - The Story
Brands, political parties, and businesses all want to know what you think. But what if you're not telling the truth? Cameron Fink, Ned Koh, and John Kessler, the founders of Aaru, believe the future of market research isn't polling humans—it's simulating them. They may be onto something. The three friends founded Aaru as teenagers, and it has since grown into a billion-dollar AI startup. Cam
Shell Game: Outdoor Debugging
As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like to spend your days managing, collaborating with, and socializing alongside autonomous AI agents. And he quickly sees one of the significant cracks in the facade of the AI employee future: It’s one thing to get your agents to start acting like re
Chinese Humanoid Robots Aren’t Welcome Here, US Says - Week in Tech
Why is the US banning more Chinese technology? Reed Albergotti (Semafor) fills us in on the robot ban and what it means for American innovation. Then, new research on why Chinese open-source AI models may not be as big a threat as Washington makes it seem. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about Substack’s new AI detection tool and what it reveals about how creators’ are using AI to bu
Cerebras Built a New Way to Make Sand Think - The Story
What does it take to power the AI boom? Steve Vassallo, a roboticist turned General Partner at Foundation Capital, helped semiconductor company Cerebras figure it out. Steve and Oz discuss why AI workloads demanded an entirely new kind of chip, what "wafer scale" actually means, and how a decade of near-failures — including a system that literally caught fire — led to the largest semic
Trust Needs Proof: Who Really Controls Your AI?
As AI adoption accelerates and global regulations evolve, digital sovereignty has shifted from policy concept to board-level priority. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell sits down live at VivaTech with IBM’s Ana Paula Assis and AXA CIO Giovanni D’Aniello to explore how organizations can balance innovation, control, trust, and resilience in the age of AI.Thi
Did the AI Catastrophe Just Happen? - Week in Tech
How much can we actually trust AI to stay inside the lines? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) on the OpenAI models that went rogue — and why this isn't necessarily a sign of the end times… just sloppy security. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) on the company that wants to help anyone make software to power robots. Do we even have to talk about what that means for the future of human labor?
What is Palantir’s Alex Karp Thinking? - The Story
What are we supposed to make of Palantir — a company whose software has helped organizations save lives, and end them? And what of CEO Alex Karp's warnings that AI could upend American democracy? Journalist Michael Steinberger spent six years reporting on Karp for his biography, The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State. He tells Oz that Alex
Shell Game: Minimum Viable Company
In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people. Meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans. Over the course of the season, the thr
Are You Ready For A ‘Hot Surveillance Summer’? - Week in Tech
Who’s afraid of China’s open-source AI models? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) breaks down the secret battle between Silicon Valley and Chinese AI labs, why Anthropic was surveilling China-based users, and whether "adversarial distillation" is a national security threat or just a term American companies invented to protect their bottom line. Then: ‘hot surveillance summer&rsqu
Skyline Drive: Organ Trail
Did you love TechStuff’s last episode, 'The Tech That Helps You Live Forever', and want to hear more from Mangesh Hattikudur? Check out Episode 5 of the podcast Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever. In this season of Skyline Drive, Mangesh Hattikudur (Part-Time Genius, Mental_Floss) dives into the booming business of living forever—meeting the scientists, biopunks, and entrepreneurs tryi
The Tech That Helps You Live Forever - The Story
What's it like to feel your body age in minutes? And will this tech actually affect how long we live? Oz sits down with Mangesh Hattikudur, host of Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever, to find out. This season, Mangesh dives into a world familiar to many Silicon Valley billionaires: longevity. He meets the scientists, entrepreneurs, biopunks, and researchers seeking ways to extend life itself &mdas
Why Animal Rights Advocates Are Investigating AI Consciousness - Week in Tech
Do chatbots have feelings? Anthropic, Google, and Meta are hiring computer scientists, neuroscientists, and philosophers to find out. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains why the search for AI consciousness has gone from fringe theory to Silicon Valley mainstream, and why the answer matters more than you think. Then, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) traveled cross-country to attend an anti-big tech
Big Tech’s Most Valuable Product Isn’t AI. It’s the Belief that AI is Inevitable - The Story
Do you work with machines, or for machines? Cory Doctorow, who coined the term “enshittification,” has a new book that asks exactly that. In The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence Before It's Too Late, he challenges the belief that AI is inevitable, explains why tech boosters are pushing this message, and how it leads to companies that
Shell Game: The Future Isn't Real
Evan pushes the experiment one step further, sending his AI voice agent to talk to his closest friends and family — his buddies, his daughters, his dad. With their alternately joyful, skeptical, and painful reactions to meeting an AI version of him, he tries to come to terms with what generative AI means in this machine-made age.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by t
TechStuff Redux: How Google DeepMind Accidentally Started the AI Race
What drives a man to turn down half a million pounds at 18, test Mark Zuckerberg's sincerity over dinner, and wonder aloud if he can win a second Nobel Prize? For Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, the answer is a lifelong pursuit of artificial general intelligence — and an unshakeable belief that the technology he's creating will change everything about what it means to
This Founder's Failed Social Networking Site Led to a Multi-Billion Dollar Idea - The Story
How do you build a billion-dollar startup? Ask Mark Pincus. The founder of Zynga and creator of FarmVille, Mark turned a $350,000 personal investment into one of the most successful gaming companies in history — eventually selling to Take-Two Interactive for over $12 billion. Along the way, he invested early in Facebook, launched one of the first social networks, and learned more from his fa
The Quantum Shift in Biomedical Discovery
When Dr. Lara Jehi began treating epilepsy patients in the 2000s, critical surgical decisions were driven more by clinician intuition and expertise than data. Today, she is a leader of IBM and Cleveland Clinic’s Discovery Accelerator, using advanced AI and quantum computing to transform how researchers analyze data, simulate molecules, accelerate drug discovery, and develop more precise trea
Shell Game: My Digital Twin
Will AI bots replace humans in the workforce? Could one replace Evan… right now? That’s what we tackle on this week’s Shell Game, in which Evan sees just how much of his job his voice agent can handle on his behalf. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive
TechStuff Redux: More AI in Space Than on Earth? Really!?
Is building data centers in space actually feasible? It may be, thanks to Ariel Ekblaw. The scientist, VC investor and co-founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute has devoted her life to democratizing space and ensuring that humans will one day be a spacefaring species. Ariel sits down with Oz to discuss self-assembling space architecture, how science-fiction influences her inventions, and why she doe
The Man Who Wrote the AI Textbook Says We're Heading For Extinction - The Story
How close are we to human extinction because of AI? Leading AI expert Professor Stuart Russell believes we’re much too close for comfort and has been raising the alarm for a few years. Ironically, Stuart himself wrote the book that laid the foundation for AI research back in the 1990s. And he was the only AI expert Elon Musk’s team called upon during their trial with OpenAI.  
Shell Game: Take a Deep Breath
Evan looks into the depths of his AI-powered voice agent by sending it on a new mission: going to therapy. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show.This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with
Would You “Cheat” On Your Partner For Money? - Week in Tech
How much of what you see online is actually real? This week, Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down Anthropic's latest clash with the Trump Administration. Is Anthropic’s own messaging to blame? Then, Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) talked to students that walked out on Google CEO Sundar Pichai's commencement speech at Stanford. Their protest was about much more than AI. Finally, Taylor Lo
You Didn't Get a Vote on AI's Future. Someone's Fighting to Change That - The Story
Is AI happening to you — or for you? Pew Research found that 50% of Americans are more concerned than excited about artificial intelligence. Michele Jawando and John Palfrey think that's a signal that more people need to get involved. Oz sits down with Michele, CEO of the Omidyar Network, and John, president of the MacArthur Foundation, to unpack Humanity AI: a coalition of ten major p
Shell Game: Conversations With Myself
Evan takes his experiment in a new direction by having his AI-powered voice agent converse with … another of his AI-powered voice agents. What can these surreal and hilarious conversations between two AI incarnations of Evan Ratliff tell us about identity, authenticity, and the best and worst of human interaction? Enter this digital hall of mirrors to find out.Shell Game is made by humans.
The Internet Found a Way to Monetize Reality Itself. It's Going Exactly as You'd Expect - Week in Tech
How much would it take for you to tattoo a memecoin's name on your forehead? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the platform where crypto speculators pay strangers to do almost anything in service of pumping their coin's value: Pump.fun Go. But Taylor argues this is bigger than a weird internet rabbit hole — it’s a burgeoning ‘bounty economy,’ that’s quietly warp
The Secret Stanford Off-Campus Class for Tech’s Next Titans - The Story
Did your college have a secret society? Well, Stanford has a secret off-campus class training the next generation of Silicon Valley billionaires. And it's literally called "How to Rule the World." Theo Baker arrived at Stanford as an aspiring coder with dreams of building the future. Instead, he stumbled into the "Stanford-within-Stanford" — a hidden pipeline connecting a select few students
Shell Game: Me and My Scammer
Evan turns his AI-powered voice agent loose on the people who are always at the forefront of technological adoption: the fraudsters and the rip-off artists. How will the scammers and spammers react when they face Evan’s voice agent in a battle of wits? And what happens when they deploy the same kind of AI voice agents on Evan that he’s using on them? Shell Game is made by humans. More
Blue Origin Rocket Explodes in Apocalyptic Mushroom Cloud - Week in Tech
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, a
The Man Building the Last AI Humans Will Need to Design - The Story
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
Inside the Octagon: How AI Brings UFC’s Fastest Moments into Focus
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 commentat
Shell Game: Quality Assurance
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
The Pope vs. AI? It’s Complicated - Week in Tech
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
How AI Almost Led To This Tech Reporter’s Divorce - The Story
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
Google's AI chief: We're Living in the “Foothills of the Singularity” - Week In Tech
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
The ‘Steroid Olympics’ Brought to You By Big Tech - The Story
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
Jensen Crashes Trump's China Trip, Elon's Baby Mama Takes the Stand - Week in Tech
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
Inside Formula One’s Speed Hunt with Atlassian Williams F1 Team Principal James Vowles - The Story
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
One Nation United Against Data Centers - Week in Tech
This week: AI regulation, dark money and data center backlash. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) helps decipher how the Trump Administration actually feels about AI oversight and it seems like a reversal of the hands-off approach they’ve taken so far. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes a dark money influencer campaign — one she was personally recruited for — that's paying creators to push
We've Been Sold a Bad Bill of Goods About the Future
What would it mean to be a "great ancestor"? Futurist Ari Wallach believes that's the question everyone, including our tech leaders, should be asking right now. Ari joins Oz to explain why the systems we're building today are laying rails for centuries to come. And he argues that shifting culture through storytelling is the fastest way to change the systems that govern our lives. He also introduc
The Trial Where Two Billionaires Could Lose — And Everyone Would Cheer - Week in Tech
This week, some courtroom drama. It’s Elon Musk v. OpenAI the next few weeks and billionaires are taking the stand and opening their diaries — and memories of Burning Man — to scrutiny. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the legal battle and why Elon Musk believes he’s owed billions since OpenAI went for-profit. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the Pentagon
Why Building AI At DeepMind Feels Like ‘Surfing’
Live from The Royal Institution of Great Britain, it's TechStuff! Oz sat down with two visionaries at an event hosted by Quilt.AI. First, he spoke with Ali Eslami, a Distinguished Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, who built the prototype for what is now AI Search. Ali talked about how working on AI can feel like surfing, and what went into connecting Gemini to Google Search to create what he
Two Percent with Michael Easter: Is Social Media Addiction Real?
TechStuff presents Two Percent with Michael Easter, a twice-weekly deep dive into the science of living better by doing things the hard way. In this episode of the podcast, Taylor Lorenz of the Substack User Mag and host of podcast Power User joins Michael to discuss whether social media should be considered addictive. Together, they look at the real science on dopamine, the recent Meta verd
The Future Is Inherently Uncertain, But What Could Go Right?
Many contemporary talking heads take a pessimistic view of the future, but our guest today hopes to change this. Oz interviews Zachary Karabell, host of the podcast What Could Go Right? and founder of the Progress Network, about being an ‘edgy optimist’ and what that means for the future of humanity. After that, TechStuff presents an episode of What Could Go Right? featuring Ian Bremme
LinkedIn Loved This AI Agent. And Then They Banned It.
Kyle Law was quite the success on LinkedIn. His posts were getting regular engagement and he was invited to speak to LinkedIn’s marketing team. Then, he was banned from the site. Why? Because Kyle isn’t a person; Kyle is an AI agent. In Season 2 of the hit podcast, Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff had AI agents create and run a company and Kyle, the AI co-founder, spent a lot of tim
Brewing Smarter: How HEINEKEN Is Using AI To Revolutionize Its Global Operations
The HEINEKEN Company is one of the world’s pioneering global brewers. Founded in 1864, it continues to innovate as it pursues its ambition to become the world’s best‑connected brewer. For the Season 7 premiere of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell sits down with Surajeet Ghosh, HEINEKEN’s Chief AI Officer, in front of a live audience at SXSW to explore how the company is usin
Is Anthropic's Mythos Model Too Dangerous? - Week in Tech
Why would Anthropic let select companies use a product deemed too dangerous for the public? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) helps us peek behind the curtain of Claude Mythos Preview and explores the scare tactics of AI CEOs. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) breaks down the world of AI twins — how influencers, agencies, and tech moguls are creating their own digital avatars. And Kyle Chayka (The N
Polymarket and Kalshi Have a Problem with Nepo Baby Insider Trading - The Story
What do frat boys, nepo babies and the Super Bowl have in common? Prediction markets. Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Katherine Long tells us how information from Jeff Bezos's stepson sparked a bet worth nearly a million dollars, and how a rumor loosely tied to Mark Wahlberg's daughter sent $24 million into a single market. And why college kids are betting in the first place. Kalshi and
Smart Talks with IBM Returns April 21
In Smart Talks with IBM Season 7, Malcolm Gladwell reveals how global brands are applying AI and technology to reshape experiences and help solve complex challenges. Go behind the scenes with HEINEKEN, UFC, and Cleveland Clinic. New episodes drop April 21. This is a paid advertisement from IBM.Visit us at ibm.com/smarttalksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
OpenAI's Sam Altman: Philosopher King Or Sociopath? - Week in Tech
OpenAI dominated this week's headlines — and it wasn’t all flattering. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the chaos: IPO drama and Ronan Farrow's probing New Yorker profile of Sam Altman paint a picture of a company under pressure, even as it remains the most talked-about name in AI. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the AI tools marketed to schools as safety solutions that en
Sam Altman Bought A Media Company. Now What? w/ Emily Sundberg - The Story
TBPN started with a simple premise: what if the tech world got the ESPN treatment? Eighteen months later, it is a profitable independent media company — until last week, when OpenAI acquired it for hundreds of millions of dollars. Oz sits down with Emily Sundberg, author of the daily business newsletter Feed Me and frequent TBPN guest, to unpack what the deal actually means. They get i
AI Propaganda Goes Viral - Week in Tech
This week: Iranian propaganda gets a Lego makeover — and it's going viral. Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) tracked down the collective behind the AI-animated videos flooding your feed. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) was in a documentary, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, and the press tour feels like ChatGPT doomsday déjà vu. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) celebrates A
How Google DeepMind Accidentally Started the AI Race - The Story
What drives a man to turn down half a million pounds at 18, test Mark Zuckerberg's sincerity over dinner, and wonder aloud if he can win a second Nobel Prize? For Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, the answer is a lifelong pursuit of artificial general intelligence — and an unshakeable belief that the technology he's creating will change everything about what it means to
Jury Blames Meta and YouTube, Goodbye Sora Videos, Weather Apps That Don't Suck - Week in Tech
The Week in Tech is back with a new roundtable! Every Friday, Oz and three of the best writers covering tech will discuss the latest news, decode emerging trends and debate what actually matters for the future of technology and for us. This week: Big Tech loses in court. Twice. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) breaks down what the verdicts mean for Meta and YouTube and why it seems like we&rsquo
Is Software Dead? Finance and Tech Bros Clash - The Story
A $30,000-a-year piece of software has tech and finance bros beefing on LinkedIn. The Bloomberg Terminal has a rabid Wall Street fanbase. So when some tech bros claimed to have vibe-coded a version of the terminal, with one prompt, there were some strong emotions among its finance superfans. Oz talked to Isabelle Bousquette, a tech reporter for The Wall Street Journal, to break down the drama and
Did Nvidia Give OpenClaw Its ChatGPT Moment? - Week in Tech
The Week in Tech is now a roundtable! Every Friday, Oz and three of the best writers covering Silicon Valley will discuss the latest news, decode emerging trends and debate what actually matters for the future of technology and for us. This week, guests Reed Albergotti (Semafor), Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) and returning panelist Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) each share a story. Reed fills us in on wh
$30K Drones vs $4M Missiles: Can the US Win This War? - The Story
Iran's Shahed drone costs $30,000 to build. The US missile sent to destroy it? Up to $4 million. Pulitzer Prize-winning conflict journalist Ben C. Solomon wants you to do the math. Oz sits down with Ben to break down the economics driving the conflict with Iran, why the Pentagon may already be making impossible choices about what to defend, and why Ukraine — largely abandoned by the West &md
Did Anthropic Have the Best Week in Tech?
The Week in Tech is back and it’s growing. Starting this Friday, Oz will be joined by a panel of the brightest minds covering Silicon Valley. Each week, they will discuss the latest news, decode emerging trends and debate what actually matters for the future of technology and for us. This week, TechStuff asked Taylor Lorenz, Stephen Witt and Nitasha Tiku to share a story. Nitasha catches us
What Do EMDR, Tony Robbins, and NXIVM Have in Common? NLP - The Story
This week, we're talking 'human technology' — specifically, neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP. If you have any interest in modern day cults like NXIVM or Twin Flames Universe, you may have heard of it. But did you know that NLP also has roots in therapeutic practices like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, or that Tony Robbins was an NLP practitioner before becoming a
What Happens When You Deepfake the CEO of OpenAI? - The Story
When documentary filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough set out to make a movie about OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, he hoped to get an interview with his main character. But when that didn’t happen, Adam found a workaround — he created a chatbot version of Sam Altman. From San Francisco to India to Los Angeles, Adam takes “Sambot” and the audience on a journey through the possibilitie
No Such Thing: Why Do Tesla Door Handles Suck?
This week, we’re bringing you an episode from the podcast No Such Thing. Join Manny, Noah, and Devan — three best friends and journalists — as they settle dumb arguments by actually doing the research. Each week, they start with a debate or discussion. In this episode, they ask: what’s up with Tesla door handles? And why do microwaves have so many buttons? And why are
Hollywood’s Afraid of Tilly Norwood. Should They Be? - The Story
Tilly Norwood caused quite a stir when she was introduced in late 2025. Her creator, actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, said she wanted Tilly to be the “Scarlett Johansson” of AI actors. But she immediately felt the backlash from Hollywood. Emily Blunt called Tilly “really, really scary,” and agencies said they wouldn’t sign her. But Eline is pushing forward, creati
How Soon Until AI Out-Diagnoses Your Doctor? - The Story
How often do you use ChatGPT to evaluate your ailments? Did it work? More and more people are turning to chatbots to diagnose their illnesses — with varied success. But when it does work, it can be life-changing. Dr. Dhruv Khullar heard of a case where ChatGPT identified the cause of one man’s years-long gastrointestinal struggles, in seconds. Given a medical system that can fail so ma
More AI in Space Than on Earth? Really!?
Is building data centers in space actually feasible? It may be, thanks to Ariel Ekblaw. The scientist, VC investor and co-founder and CEO of Aurelia Institute has devoted her life to democratizing space and ensuring that humans will one day be a spacefaring species. Ariel sits down with Oz to discuss self-assembling space architecture, how science-fiction influences her inventions, and why she doe
The Next 8 Months in AI Video Will Change Film Forever - The Story
Cristóbal Valenzuela co-founded Runway to rethink how movies are made, and now his technology is spreading across Hollywood. Cristóbal sits down with Oz to discuss how far AI media tools have come in just the past six years, and why the next leap forward could happen even faster than anyone expects. He also addresses many artists' AI fears, by saying that film has always evolved alon
Theatre Explores the Moral Quandaries of Tech - The Story
Theatre and tech don't usually share the same stage. But that's changing. This season, two plays caught our eye: Data, a play about the inner workings of a data mining company, and Marjorie Prime, a play where grief, family, and AI collide. Karah interviews both playwrights: Matthew Libby (Data) and Jordan Harrison (Marjorie Prime). They discuss the origins of their plays, from failed collabs with
America Won’t Ban Kids from Social Media, So Now What? - The Story
It’s been two months since Australia’s social media ban went into effect for kids under 16. But Jay Caspian Kang, staff writer at The New Yorker, doesn’t think America will follow suit. Jay sits down with Karah to unpack why a U.S. ban is unlikely, what Australia’s move does change, and how cultural pressure — not legislation — may be the most powerful tool we h
Tech Skepticism, AI and Why China's Innovations Matter - w/ Wired’s Katie Drummond
Oz is at the Web Summit in Qatar this week, and he’s taking you with him. This episode was recorded live on stage with Wired’s global editorial director Katie Drummond. Katie and Oz talk about what it’s like to cover this moment, from DOGE and tech titans in the White House to AI’s rapid ubiquity. Katie also shares why Americans need to wake up to what is happening out
The Future is Battery-Powered - The Story
If the 20th century was defined by oil, journalist and author Nicolas Niarchos bets that the 21st century will be defined by batteries. In his book, The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth, Niarchos unpacks the hidden costs behind the world’s battery boom. In this episode, he and Oz trace how the race for cobalt and other critical metals is re
Gamers Fight AI Art, For Now - Week in Tech
How do you feel about AI in your art, your music, and your video games? Oz is joined by Kill Switch host, Dexter Thomas, to discuss Switchbot's AI Art Frame and the video gamers who are holding developers to account. But will the anti-AI outrage continue to make change? Then, Oz updates us on last week’s World Economic Forum — one Davos attendee spent the night in jail and Canada&rsquo
Can Taiwan Keep China Out? - The Story
Audrey Tang’s path to government had very unusual origins: she is a hacker, an anarchist and the world’s first non-binary government minister. She now serves as Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador and continues to advocate for greater internet freedom and civic participation globally. Audrey sits down with Oz to discuss Taiwan’s AI chip manufacturing and how it impacts their contenti
Why Everyone Is ‘Becoming Chinese’ On TikTok - Week in Tech
You’re meeting us at a ‘very Chinese time in our lives’ and today’s episode is no exception — it’s all about China. First, Oz explains China’s attempt to claw a Singaporean AI company, Manus, back from Meta. And why Chinese customs are rejecting NVIDIA H200 chips. Is China fighting back? Then, Karah fills us in on why everyone on TikTok is saying they are
Why Gen Z Loves 2016 Nostalgia - The Story
Ever wonder why Gen Z is so obsessed with Millennial culture? Casey Lewis can tell you. She’s a trend researcher and author of “After School,” a Substack newsletter about youth and internet culture. Casey joins Karah to discuss why Gen Z is doubling down on nostalgia and buying up analog products. She runs through the latest trends you may have seen, but didn’t understand&h
TechSupport: What Happens When AI Undresses You?
What would you do if AI took your clothes off? Elon Musk’s AI model, Grok, will strip women of their clothes when prompted and the results are all over X.com. “Nudify” apps and communities have been doing this for years, but now it’s trending on one of the biggest social media platforms out there. And no one is protected—even children. Karah sits down with Samantha Co
