Episodes
Mark Gurman is the chief correspondent at Bloomberg covering Apple. He joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for a special episode focused entirely on Apple's Vision Pro announcement. We cover: 1) The Vision Pros trajectory over the next five years 2) Whether it will be the future of the computer vs. a complementary media device 3) What the device's impact on society will be 4) Why Tim Cook didn't wear the device at the event 5) Apple vs. Meta 6) The $3,499 price. Enjoying Big Technology...
Published 06/09/23
Astro Teller is the CEO of X, Alphabet's moonshot division. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a taping in front of a live audience at Summit at Sea to discuss the calculations society must make around advancing AI research and how the technology can help the world. Listen for a dynamic discussion that digs into Teller's family history, the current 'moonshots' that X is taking, and whether AI moonshots should've stayed separate from Google for longer. Enjoying Big Technology Podcast?...
Published 06/07/23
Published 06/07/23
Ranjan Roy of Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the week's tech news. We cover: 1) Tech stocks consolidating growth in the S&P 500% 2) The 'Asset Market Meltdown Hypothesis' 3) Amazon's entry into wireless. 4) Japan's threat to AI copyright law 5) The lawyer that used ChatGPT and looked like a fool 6) The Center For AI Safety's bold Statement 7) The fake 'simulation' where an AI killed a military operator 8) Meta's new Quest 3 headset 9) What to expect at Apple's big WWDC...
Published 06/02/23
Ryan Mac is a tech reporter at The New York Times, Bobby Allyn is a technology correspondent at NPR. The two join Big Technology Podcast for a wide-ranging discussion touching on: 1) TikTik's ban in Montana and its potential spillover effects. 2) The rise of Instagram Reels. 3) Twitter's Role in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. 4) Elon Musk as Republican kingmaker. 5) Elizabeth Holmes reports to prison. 6) AI regulation's long road ahead. -- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us...
Published 05/31/23
John Herrman is a contributing editor at New York Magazine. He joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz to break down the week’s news. We cover 1) NVIDIA’s Blowout quarter 2) The emergence of Temu and Shein — in great depth.  -- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Questions? Feedback? Write to:...
Published 05/27/23
Jack Krawczyk is the director of Bard at Google. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his vision for the chatbot, where it's heading, and whether this technology will be as impactful as many imagine. Join us for a fun look into one of the tech industry's most important generative AI initiatives. -- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn:...
Published 05/24/23
Ranjan Roy of Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the week's tech news. We cover: 1) Apple's mixed reality struggles 2) Whether the stock market is in an AI bubble 3) OpenAI's Sam Altman testimony in Washington 4) Montana's TikTok ban 5) The rise of Shein 6) Whether Musk or Bezos is in a better place today. -- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn:...
Published 05/19/23
Richard Mathenge was part of a team of contractors in Nairobi, Kenya who trained OpenAI's GPT models. He did so as a team lead at Sama, an AI training company that partnered on the project. In this episode of Big Technology Podcast, Mathenge tells the story of his experience. During the training, he was routinely subjected to sexually explicit material, offered insufficient counseling, and his team members were paid, in some cases, just $1 per hour. Listen for an in-depth look at how these...
Published 05/17/23
Ben Smith is the author of Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. He's also the editor-in-chief of Semafor. He joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for our weekly news recap show. We cover: 1) New Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino 2) Tucker Carlson's move to Twitter 3) End of the streaming wars 4) Trump's CNN Interview 5) Lessons from Ben's book, Traffic 6) Mark Zuckerberg's jiu-jitsu prowess. You can find Ben's book here. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast?...
Published 05/12/23
Ashlee Vance is the author of When The Heavens Went On Sale, a new book about the modern day space race. Join us for a conversation about the commercial ventures fighting for their place in low earth orbit, and why governments have ceded the space to the private sector. We'll discuss SpaceX, Planet, Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly Aerospace. Stay tuned of for the final 20 minutes, where Vance discusses his relationship with Elon Musk and the state of the billionaire entrepreneur. --- Enjoying...
Published 05/09/23
Brian McCullough of the Techmeme Ride Home Podcast joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for our weekly news recap show. We cover: 1) OpenAI's massive losses 2) Whether generative AI has a business model problem 3) The battle between open source AI and proprietary research 3) AI fears go mainstream 4) The White House hosts AI leaders amid worries 5) The AI PR industrial complex 6) The WGA strike and AI's potential to replace writers 7) The Fed pause 8) Apple earnings 9) Apple's mixed reality...
Published 05/05/23
Ellis Hamburger is Snap's ex-head of marketing strategy, where he spent seven years before moving to The Browser Company. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his view on why social media apps inevitably move from differentiated, and at times delightful, to something where all of them look a lot like TikTok. Hamburger breaks down the cycle: start with a novel format, scale, try to justify expectations, and then capitulate to market forces. Join us for an insider's perspective on the...
Published 05/03/23
Ranjan Roy of Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the week's tech news. We cover: 1) The rise of Bluesky 2) What we want from a social network 3) Big Tech's strong earnings 4) What Big Tech's performance says about the broader economy 5) UK blocks Microsoft Activision 6) Clubhouse layoffs 7) End of the pandemic economy 8) Do we want humans to disclose when AI writes for them? -- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly...
Published 04/28/23
Josh Brown is the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and the host of the Compound and Friends podcast. Brown joins Big Technology Podcast to dig into why tech companies are still reeling from tighter financial markets even as their share prices return to something approximating normal after the 2022 bloodbath. In this episode, Brown shares what Wall Street demands from the tech industry and its employees and where it might be headed next. Stay tuned for the second half where we go company by...
Published 04/26/23
Nico Grant of The New York Times joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for our weekly news recap show. We cover: 1) The state of the AI war between Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI 2) Google's AI reorganization and what it means 3) Sundar Pichai's PR offensive 4) Google's forthcoming product counterpunch 5) How finances factor in to the companies' decision 6) Where we are on the innovation curve 7) The forthcoming multimodal models 8) Who wins 9) Elon's rough 4/20 10) The end of BuzzFeed News and...
Published 04/21/23
Congressman Ro Khanna represents California's 17th congressional district. He joins Big Technology Podcast fresh off a visit to Taiwan, where he visited with Taiwan Semiconductor leadership and Taiwan government officials. In this episode, we discuss TSMC's strategic importance to the global economy, the prospect of conflict in Taiwan, and the U.S. effort to build manufacturing capacity at home. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss why Big Tech regulation has stalled, the latest on...
Published 04/19/23
Square co-founder and Invisibly founder Jim McKelvey joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for our weekly news recap show. We cover: 1) The state of the economy and markets 2) Fears of a credit crunch, or is it a credit tightening? 3) The state of the commercial real estate market 4) How commercial real estate's struggles impact small and regional banks 5) The decline in VC funding in Q1 6) What is 'dry powder' anyway? 7) Reflecting on Uber again 8) What is AutoGPT? 9) Regulating AI 10) Sell...
Published 04/14/23
Emil Michael is the former chief business officer of Uber and the current chairman and CEO of DPCM Capital. Michael joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss what's happened to 'sharing economy' darlings Uber, Lyft, AirBNB, and more. With deep insight into these companies' business models, Michael breaks down how they've reacted to our shift away from a zero-interest rate environment, examining who might win — if anyone. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss Michael's thoughts on the...
Published 04/12/23
Ranjan Roy of Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the week's tech news. We cover: 1) Whether the Internet has actually helped increase our productivity 2) Whether AI will do a better job of it 3) How Meta might use AI 4) Google's plan to but AI chat into search 5) Whether companies developing on AI platforms might be subsumed by them 6) The jobs report 7) The end of perks at big tech companies 8) Workers who did nothing at big tech companies 9) Twitter vs. Substack 10) Substack's...
Published 04/07/23
Michael Mignano is a partner at Lightspeed VC. Joe Marchese is a general and build partner at Human Ventures. The two investors join Big Technology Podcast to discuss this new wave of generative AI's potential. We interrogate how this technology might be overhyped, and then speak about the potential areas of opportunity. Three domains stand out: 1) Content creation and entertainment. 2) Search and discovery. 3) AI as an assistive agent. Tune in for the second half where we discuss platform...
Published 04/05/23
Erin Griffith is a reporter at the New York Times. She joins Big Technology Podcast to break down the week's news. We cover: 1) The end of Blue Check verification on Twitter for notable users. 2) The open letter to stop AI research processing beyond its current state. 3) Whether we could stop developing AI technology, even if we wanted to. 4) Italy's plan to stop ChatGPT. 5) Police departments using facial recognition to make wrongful arrests. 6) The rising field of 'prompt engineers.' 7)...
Published 03/31/23
Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus VR and the founder of Anduril, a military technology company. Luckey joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Meta’s Metaverse ambitions, whether they’re misguided, and how Apple is poised to compete. Stay tuned for the second half, where we discuss the prospects — and advisability — of AI warfare, how the technology might spill over to police departments, and what a just war is. We discuss the prospects of sentient AI's threat to humanity at the very...
Published 03/29/23
Eric Newcomer is the founder and author of Newcomer. Louise Matsakis is the tech and China reporter for Semafor. Both join Big Technology podcast to break down the week's news. We cover: 1) The SEC's notice to Coinbase that enforcement action might be coming. 2) Hindenberg Research targeting Block. 3) Character AI raising $150 million at a $1 billion valuation with no revenue. 4) Tiktok's day before congress 5) TikTok's future in the U.S. 6) Cow and Zebra escapes this week. ---- Enjoying Big...
Published 03/24/23
Kevin Systrom is the co-founder of Instagram and co-founder of Artifact, a news app that uses AI to determine your preferences and show stories you might be interested in. Systrom joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the implications of all social media — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter — starting to look like each other. We speak about how the rise of AI recommendation feeds impacts the future of competition among these apps, creativity upon them, and distribution for people...
Published 03/22/23