The Times Tech Podcast

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'For nearly seven years Danny Fortson has made the Valley his own, interviewing the newcomers and the established; the inventors and the entrepreneurs; the brightest minds and most daring doers in Silicon Valley. Now the show gets an extra dimension as he is joined by London Technology Business Editor, Katie Prescott for the new Times Tech Podcast as they look at who is shaping tech not just in Silicon Valley, but around the world. It will be with you very soon, but first a special edition of Danny in the Valley, where Danny talks Katie through the people and the themes from the journey so far.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the point of quantum computing now we have generative AI? Will quantum computing change the world? And just what is quantum computing anyway? Raj Hazra, CEO of Quantinuum, joins the show to explain. Plus the Bluesky debate continues, and should we use Google to find out what a monopolist is? Clip from BBC Radio 5Live Breakfast used by permission. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on John Chambers, former chief executive of Cisco, to talk about artificial intelligence (4:30), why booms are necessary (8:00), coming to Silicon Valley (12:15), Cisco (14:15), buying 180 companies (19:00), the dotcom bust (23:00), how the old startups have grown up (29:15), whether founder shares are a good thing (31:00), still working at 75 (34:00), competition (35:40), why he has bet on the startup Humane (40:45), spending his own money (45:00), how AI will change everything (48:15), and his worst day (53:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The gig economy is coming for your soul. The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Natalie Monbiot of HourOne, to talk about the digital clone company starting before the ChatGPT moment (4:15), turning 5 minutes of footage into a digital clone (7:10), the hunt for the “killer app” for virtual humans (13:25), how the company started (18:20), Hollywood (24:00), bringing the dead back to life (27:20), your rights over what your clone does (32:40), and virtual human marketplaces (37:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artificial intelligence “agents” will create more economic value than humans within ten years. Sound outlandish? That is the prediction of this week’s guest, George Sivulka, founder of AI startup Hebbia, who comes on to talk about building AI that actually works for business (3:20), AI orchestra conductors (9:15), coral reefs and why he called the company Hebbia (10:30), why he started the company (19:30), being a “disappointment” to his athlete parents (29:30), working at NASA as a teen (33:00), meeting Peter Thiel (36:45), and how AI is going to revolutionize the economy (42:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Steve Oldham of Captura, to talk about why sucking CO2 out of the air is not a bad idea (6:30), using the ocean (10:00), their contraption (11:15), whether it can be done at scale (16:45), the maths of climate solutions (19:00), paying for it (21:00), the evolution of carbon removal tech (26:00), moving to Canada from England (30:00), how the space industry is like climate (31:45), the role of regulation (34:15), raising $60m (37:45), and politics (41:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Zal Bilimoria to talk about being a solo venture capitalist (3:15), how he decided on investments (6:30), happening into climate tech (9:30), raising $50m every three years (10:45), learning at his dad’s business (12:20), bouncing around the tech industry (14:30), his first job as a kid (21:40), focusing on hard tech (28:00), where he won’t invest (31:00), hunting for the “fund returner” (35:30), why venture is not glamorous (37:00), reinventing IVF (43:20), and the potential backlash (46:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It wasn’t long ago that lab-grown meat was booming. Startups raised billions of dollars. Investors boldly predicted the large scale slaughter of cows, chickens and fish would soon end. Then it all went pear-shaped. This week Joshua March and Kasia Gora come on to talk about how their startup, SciFi Foods, failed after raising more than $40 million on how the market turned against their company and the industry broadly (3:30), being affected by the downturn in plant-based meat (7:30), the Gamechangers documentary (10:30), being transparent with staff (15:10), the importance of failing well (19:30), the progress they made (27:30), Big Meat’s lobbying efforts (30:45), whether they would do it again (32:45), the Silicon Valley machine (37:00), venture debt (40:30), and the next thing (42:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch faced potentially dying in a federal prison. But in a 12-week trial in America, he beat all the odds and was found “not guilty” last month on 15 counts of fraud brought by the Department of Justice. He comes on the show to talk about the insight gleaned from a 12-year legal fight (5:30), the need for a British “Innocence Project” (11:30), going back to the origin of the case in 2011 (16:15), how the Autonomy sale went pear-shaped (18:45), why the boring nature of the case may have helped (23:15), what he would say to HP’s former chief executive Meg Whitman (26:15), getting smeared (29:15), how he won (36:30), most deals fail (43:30), getting extradited (48:20), his family (53:00), spending tens of millions of pounds on his defence (56:00), his treatment in British business and society (58:30), advising startups and the public conversation about AI (1:01:15), acquittal day (1:03:00), overhauling the US extradition treaty (1:04:30), how his wife managed (1:08:00), watching the Super Bowl (1:10:30), and feeling like he has won a second life (1:13:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Alex Deghan, founder of Conservation X Labs, to talk about avoiding the sixth mass extinction (3:00), getting near a tipping point in the Amazon (11:40), raising money from tech billionaires (14:40), growing up in northern Idaho (17:50), almost dying from malaria (20:00), rebuilding science in Iraq (23:30), close calls (30:40), setting up the first national park in Afghanistan (33:10), optimism (39:15), air conditioning (42:15), and building their own products (47:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Hany Farid, a digital forensic professor, to talk about launching a cybersecurity startup called Get Real Labs (3:00), the growing capability of AI to create totally believable images (6:45), and video (9:00), the Slovakia election example (12:00), the end of shared truth (15:30), why we might learn the lessons from social media regulation failures (20:50), how AI could make things far worse, pre and post election in America (23:45), and how he managed to start a company while also being a university professor (27:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.