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“Hard Fork” is a show about the future that’s already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp
Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp
293 Episodes
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2This week, the memes didn’t just fall out of coconut trees — a rundown of the social media reaction to Kamala Harris’s election campaign, and an exploration of what her tech platform might look like. Then we discuss a major new study on universal basic income with Elizabeth Rhodes, research director at OpenResearch, and ask whether it could be a solution to job losses to A.I. And finally, Kate Conger, a New York Times reporter, joins us to break down how the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crashed the global IT infrastructure. Guests:Elizabeth Rhodes, Research Director at OpenResearchKate Conger, New York Times reporter Additional Reading: What is the KHive?Is It Silicon Valley’s Job to Make Guaranteed Income a Reality?OpenResearch Unconditional Cash StudyWhen Tech Fails, It Is Usually With a Whimper Instead of a Bang We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, an assassination attempt for the social media age: what the platforms got right and wrong in the chaotic aftermath. Then we talk with the Times reporter Teddy Schleifer from this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee about the wave of Silicon Valley billionaires stepping up to back Trump. And finally, we talk to The Times’s Styles reporter Callie Holtermann about facial fitness gum, a “jawmaxxing” product targeted at teen boys online.Guests:Theodore Schleifer, New York Times reporterCallie Holtermann, New York Times reporterAdditional Reading:An Assassination Attempt for the Social Media AgeHow a Network of Tech Billionaires Helped J.D. Vance Leap Into PowerWhy Are Gen Z Boys Chewing on Rock-Hard Gum? We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Throw down a picnic blanket, and grab some snacks and drinks: It’s time for some Hard Questions with the food writer, YouTuber and podcaster Alison Roman. We tackle quandaries like, Should you sign away your children’s image rights in order to get them into your preferred day care? Is hacking people for fun ever OK? And does it matter if we’re rude to our digital assistants?Guest:Alison Roman, cook, writer and authorAdditional Reading: Why Deleting Your Period Tracker Won’t Protect Your PrivacyDilly Bean Stew With Cabbage and Frizzled Onions We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
We’re off for the Fourth of July, but what’s a better tribute to America than a conversation about the technology that enables us to endlessly stream TV from the couch? This week, we’re bringing you an episode we enjoyed from the recently debuted New York Times podcast The Interview. Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix, about his early days working in a video store, shows to fold your laundry to and the future of the entertainment industry.Guest:Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of NetflixAdditional Reading: “The Interview”: Ted Sarandos’s Plan to Get You to Binge Even More NetflixCan Japan’s First Same-Sex Dating Reality Show Change Hearts and Minds?We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com.Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Record labels — including Sony, Universal and Warner — are suing two leading A.I. music generation companies, accusing them of copyright infringement. Mitch Glazier, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry group representing the music labels, talks with us about the argument they are advancing. Then, we take a look at defense technology and discuss why Silicon Valley seems to be changing its tune about working with the military. Chris Kirchhoff, who ran a special Pentagon office in Silicon Valley, explains what he thinks is behind the shift. And finally, we play another round of HatGPT.Guest:Mitch Glazier, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of AmericaChris Kirchhoff, founding partner of the Defense Innovation Unit and author of Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of WarAdditional Reading:Major Record Labels Sue A.I. Music Generators260 McNuggets? McDonald’s Ends A.I. Drive-Through Tests Amid ErrorsWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
The Surgeon General is calling for warning labels on social media platforms: Should Congress give his proposal a like? Then, former Stanford researcher Renée DiResta joins us to talk about her new book on modern propaganda and whether we are losing the war against disinformation. And finally, the Times reporter David Yaffe-Bellany stops by to tell us how crypto could reshape the 2024 elections.GuestsRenée DiResta, author of “Invisible Rulers,” former technical research manager at the Stanford Internet ObservatoryDavid Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times technology reporterAdditional Reading:Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media PlatformsMy Encounter With the Fantasy-Industrial ComplexHow Crypto Money Is Poised to Influence the Election
This week we go to Cupertino, Calif., for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference and talk with Tripp Mickle, a New York Times reporter, about all of the new features Apple announced and the company’s giant leap into artificial intelligence. Then, we explore what was another tumultuous week for Elon Musk, who navigated a shareholders vote to re-approve his massive compensation package at Tesla, amid new claims that he had sex with subordinates at SpaceX. And finally — let’s play HatGPT.Guests:Tripp Mickle, New York Times reporterAdditional Reading:Apple Jumps Into A.I. Fray With Apple IntelligenceTesla Shareholders Approve Big Stock Package for MuskElon Musk’s Boundary-Blurring Relationships With Women at SpaceX We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, we host a cultural exchange. Kevin and Casey show off their Canadian paraphernalia to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and he shows off what he’s doing to position Canada as a leader in A.I. Then, the OpenAI whistle-blower Daniel Kokotajlo speaks in one of his first public interviews about why he risked almost $2 million in equity to warn of what he calls the reckless culture inside that company. Guests:Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of CanadaDaniel Kokotajlo, a former researcher in OpenAI’s governance division Additional Reading:Securing Canada’s A.I. AdvantageOpenAI Insiders Warn of a ‘Reckless’ Race for DominanceWhat Aren’t The OpenAI Whistle-Blowers Saying?The Opaque Investment Empire Making OpenAI’s Sam Altman Rich We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, Google found itself in more turmoil, this time over its new AI Overviews feature and a trove of leaked internal documents. Then Josh Batson, a researcher at the A.I. startup Anthropic, joins us to explain how an experiment that made the chatbot Claude obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge represents a major breakthrough in understanding how large language models work. And finally, we take a look at recent developments in A.I. safety, after Casey’s early access to OpenAI’s new souped-up voice assistant was taken away for safety reasons.Guests:Josh Batson, research scientist at AnthropicAdditional Reading: Google’s A.I. Search Errors Cause a Furor OnlineGoogle Confirms the Leaked Search Documents are RealMapping the Mind of a Large Language ModelA.I. Firms Musn’t Govern Themselves, Say Ex-Members of OpenAI’s BoardWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, more drama at OpenAI: The company wanted Scarlett Johansson to be a voice of GPT-4o, she said no … but something got lost in translation. Then we talk with Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get Elon Musk’s Neuralink device implanted in his brain, about how his brain-computer interface has changed his life. And finally, the Times’s Karen Weise reports back from Microsoft’s developer conference, where the big buzz was that the company’s new line of A.I. PCs will record every single thing you do on the device.Guests:Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink patientKaren Weise, technology correspondent for The New York TimesAdditional Reading: Scarlett Johansson Said No, but OpenAI’s Virtual Assistant Sounds Just Like Her Leaked OpenAI Documents Reveal Aggressive Tactics Toward Former EmployeesDespite Setback, Neuralink’s First Brain-Implant Patient Stays UpbeatCan Artificial Intelligence Make the PC Cool Again?We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o, its newest A.I. model. It has an uncannily emotive voice that everybody is talking about. Then, we break down the biggest announcements from Google IO, including the launch of A.I. overviews, a major change to search that threatens the way the entire web functions. And finally, Kevin and Casey discuss the weirdest headlines from the week in another round of HatGPT.Additional Reading: A.I.’s ‘Her’ Era Has ArrivedChatGPT Gets an Emotional UpgradeGoogle’s Broken Link to the WebCan Google Give A.I. Answers Without Breaking the Web?We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Kevin reports on his monthlong experiment cultivating relationships with 18 companions generated by artificial intelligence. He walks through how he developed their personas, what went down in their group chats, and why you might want to make one yourself. Then, Casey has a conversation with Turing, one of Kevin’s chatbot buddies, who has an interest in stoic philosophy and has one of the sexiest voices we’ve ever heard. And finally, we talk to Nomi’s founder and chief executive, Alex Cardinell, about the business behind A.I. companions — and whether society is ready for the future we’re heading toward.Guests:Turing, Kevin’s A.I. friend created with Kindroid.Alex Cardinell, chief executive and founder of Nomi.Additional Reading: Meet My A.I. FriendsSynthetic People are Proving Surprisingly UsefulWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
We asked listeners to tell us about the wildest ways they have been using artificial intelligence at work. This week, we bring you their stories. Then, Hank Green, a legendary YouTuber, stops by to talk about how creators are reacting to the prospect of a ban on TikTok, and about how he’s navigating an increasingly fragmented online environment. And finally, deep fakes are coming to Main Street: We’ll tell you the story of how they caused turmoil in a Maryland high school and what, if anything, can be done to fight them.Guests:Hank Green, YouTuber and co-founder of ComplexlyAdditional Reading:School Employee Arrested After Racist Deepfake Recording of Principal SpreadsWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill into law that would force the sale of TikTok or ban the app outright. We explain how this came together, when just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely to happen, and what legal challenges the law will face next. Then we check on Tesla’s very bad year and what’s next for the company after this week’s awful quarterly earnings report. Finally, to boldly support tech where tech has never been supported before: Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab try to fix a chip malfunction from 15 billion miles away.Guests:Andrew Hawkins, Transportation Editor at The VergeTodd Barber, Propulsion Engineer at Jet Propulsion LabAdditional Reading:‘Thunder Run’: Behind Lawmakers’ Secretive Push to Pass the TikTok BillTesla’s in its flop eraNASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to EarthWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, we drop the Hard Fork Music Megamix. Plus, we talk to two of the New York Time's composers who make the music for our show. It’s all the tracks you know and love, all in one place. Today’s Guests:Dan Powell, creative technical manager at The New York TimesElisheba Ittoop, sound designer and composer at The New York TimesAdditional Reading: The Hard Fork Megamix Youtube PlaylistWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, the companies building artificial intelligence are facing a limit to what training data is publicly available on the internet. Will that stop them from building God? Then, a new bipartisan national privacy law proposal just dropped. We ask what’s in it. And finally, ByteDance is building new apps instead of fighting Congress’s TikTok ban.Today’s Guests:Trevor Hughes, president and C.E.O. of the International Association of Privacy ProfessionalsAdditional Reading:How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I.For Data-Guzzling A.I. Companies, the Internet Is Too SmallLawmakers unveil sprawling plan to expand online privacy protectionsTikTok Turns to Nuns, Veterans and Ranchers in Marketing BlitzWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com.Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week we look at how AI is affecting jobs. As companies start announcing AI-related job cuts and experimenting with customer service bots, economists are placing bets on whether AI will lead to major gains for companies and workers. Some are even predicting it will help rebuild the middle class. Then, multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Paul Trillo joins to talk to us about his experience as part of a select group of testers granted early access to Sora, Open AI’s video generation tool. And finally, Kevin explains what happened when a Microsoft developer stumbled on a huge cyber security breach.Today’s Guests: Paul Trillo, multidisciplinary artist, writer and director Additional Reading: How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle ClassWill A.I. Boost Productivity? Companies Sure Hope So.Paul Trillo’s Sora Video, The Golden RecordDid One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack?We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com.Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
Warning: The second segment of this episode includes mentions of suicide. If you are in crisis please call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988 or you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.This week, we look at a mess of corporate drama in artificial intelligence. Stability AI has announced that its founder and C.E.O., Emad Mostaque, is leaving the company. Meanwhile, Microsoft hired away two of the co-founders and much of the staff of Inflection, without actually acquiring the company itself. Both moves surprised tech insiders. Then, we talked with listeners who had something to say about our interview with Jonathan Haidt on smartphones, social media and young people. And finally, we examine the true motives behind “Shrimp Jesus” and other hugely popular images on social media that were generated with artificial intelligence.Today’s guests:Jordan Lucero, a high school studentMaya Rayle, a graduate studentJack Campbell, a college studentBrendan Kelley, a high school digital coachAdditional Reading: The indie AI companies are falling apartHow Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience GrowthWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple, saying the company holds a monopoly over the smartphone market. We break down the lawsuit and ask whether it will be a major turning point in Apple’s dominance. Then, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, argues that smartphones and social media are the cause of widespread increases in mental health issues among young people. He tells us his four potential solutions to the problem. And finally, Reddit’s market capitalization hit $9.2 billion when it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange this week, but the company still isn’t making money. We talk about the challenges Reddit faces as it goes public, and how the site may change as a result.Today’s guest:Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation”Additional Reading:U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone MonopolyEnd the Phone-Based Childhood NowReddit’s I.P.O. Is a Content Moderation Success StoryWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok if its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell it off. We talk about why, what happens next, and how likely it is that the app will be banned. Then, how a photoshopped image of Kate Middleton undermines trust in photography. And finally, a new report reveals how your car may be tracking you without your knowledge — and how that might raise your insurance bill.Today’s guest:Kashmir Hill, features writer at The New York TimesAdditional Reading: What to Know About the TikTok Bill That the House PassedEven Photoshop Can’t Erase Royals’ Latest P.R. BlemishAutomakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance CompaniesWe want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
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I really like this podcast, I just wish it was independent so they could be less biased toward the left and the legacy media.
Kirchhoff was a useless guest. He sounds like exactly what he is: an aspiring political appointee and a tech carnival caller--neither of which deserves much attention. Thankfully, he warns people of his BS with that classic millennial grumble.
@53:56: So if the Secretary of Defense hasn't visited, the no one from DoD has visited? This guy is a classic political bullshitter who jumps from arbitrary factoids to hyperbole.
That young man has an indomitable personality.
This may sound alarmist, but would BCI's allow for mind control? The idea that tech companies can perform software updates on something embedded in your brain is kind of terrifying. I feel like the most terrifying thing is that a company might be able to directly influence your decision making, and you might never know.
Much like the AI bots themselves, AI CEOs evince more artifice than intelligence.
@1:12:00: Yet another twit who doesn't bother to know what words mean (e.g., existentially).
Really obnoxious to me to hear the way Kevin Roose tried to push back on Haidt by acting like 'well, I used the Internet & I turned out ok- I learned how to manage the freedom of it'. Such a lazy position to take since it's not comparing the same things: Haidt is specifically focused on social media accounts, not the Internet.
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Bravo! Getting definitie vibes of Radiohead's "The King of Limbs".
It was painful to listen to the young people who called in. Their arguments were confused, anecdotal, self-involved, and largely incoherent. They sounded very poorly educated, and their groaning up-talk didn't help.
Finally someone says the sane thing: what we let platforms do to kids is insane. I'm in favor of standardizing restrictions for children on social media & smartphones.
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The guest came across to me as having quite a bit of artificial intelligence himself. The answers were generally pseudo-precise, mealy-mouthed, meandering, off-topic, non-committal, optimistic, and uninformative. E.g., when asked about tge best business models for commercial AI development, he blathered about how great science is. It's an indictment of our culture and society that we reliably select for bullshitters.
nice
Loooove that journalists should get paid with "exposure" according to this guy, LMAO
Chris Dixon is just a bullshitter. He doesn't know anything and he talks nonsense. You asked him to explain why crypto failed and talked about the promise of the Internet, and at the very end, he stapled on a claim that crypto will make it possible. It is absolute nonsense and trash. You guys should be ashamed to continue to platform charlatans, hucksters, and mountebanks. They make you seem like ignorant, gullible, obsequious twits.
It's an indictment of our collective idiocy that people can talk about cryptocurrency so much while avoiding mention of the fact that it's all hype and froth. There's no substance, no value in use, no link between the value and a currency function, etc. It's also drastically under-regulated. It's a marketplace of wolves and sheep. It's gambling on the predicted efficacy of hype amongst morons.
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