Hard Fork

“Hard Fork” is a show about the future that’s already here. Each week, New York Times journalists explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

  1. 11 hr ago

    A.I. Agents: Cute, Cuddly and Maybe Catastrophically Dangerous?

    This week, after months in which rogue agents have caused havoc across the internet, tech’s most powerful leaders joined President Trump at the White House to rebrand A.I. At the same time, two of the biggest companies in the field — OpenAI and Meta — released what they say are their most useful (and cutest) A.I. tools to date: personal assistants. To discuss it all, we’re joined by the Times tech reporters Mike Isaac, Erin Griffith and Eli Tan. We’ll discuss how things can be more dangerous and potentially more transformative than ever, and what it’s like to hand your life over to Meta’s Muse. Panelists: Erin Griffith, a reporter for The New York Times who covers start-ups and venture capital.Mike Isaac, a reporter for The New York Times who covers Silicon Valley and artificial intelligence companies.Eli Tan, a reporter for The New York Times who covers Meta and the tech industry.Additional Reading: ​​OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely Testing A.I. ModelsWho Attended Trump’s A.I. Luncheon, and Who Sat WhereF.T.C. Investigates OpenAI and Anthropic Over Potential Consumer HarmsI Gave My Life Over to Meta’s A.I. Agent and Was Blown AwayOpenAI Unveils Dots, New A.I. Agents to Rival Meta’s MuseAnthropic's IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costsHow Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes  We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.   Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  2. 28 Aug • Subscribers Only

    Meta Shifts the Blame + Do Data Center Bans Work? + The Final HatGPT

    This week, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. We discuss why it capitulated and what it means for the entire social media industry. Then, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan returns to offer his thoughts on why banning data centers won’t slow down A.I. progress. And finally, it’s all hats on deck for the final HatGPT. Guests: Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton, and co-author of the “A.I. as Normal Technology” newsletter. Additional Reading: Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make Sure His Competitors Share His Pain Arvind Narayanan’s Post About A.I. Data Centers Apple Vision Pro in Surgery: A New Paper Rockstar Finally Breaks Its Silence Over The GTA 6 Leaks, Calls Them ‘Heartbreaking’ Amazon Delivery Drone Dumps Texas Woman’s Parcel Straight Into Her Swimming Pool What if Your Texts Traveled as Slowly as a Carrier Pigeon? A.I. Agents Are Turning Founders Into Insomniacs What is a ‘Meat Proxy’? The New Term For Coworkers Who Blindly Share A.I. Output Chinese Robot Tiangong Clocks Sub-9 second 100 Metres in Beijing Inside OpenAI’s Reboot Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  3. 21 Aug • Subscribers Only

    OpenAI’s Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the “Artificial State” + Train of Thought

    This week, we learned that OpenAI had stopped training new artificial intelligence models while the company reviewed its security measures. Will this encourage other labs to hit the brakes too? Then, the historian Jill Lepore joins to discuss her new book about the artificial state — or, as she describes it, “the rule of humans by machines manufactured by corporations.” And finally, why is Google buying up the data of the defunct Spirit Airlines? It’s time for our new segment “Train of Thought.” Guests: Jill Lepore, professor of history and law at Harvard University, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the new book “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.” Additional Reading: OpenAI Slows Model Training to Bolster Security After Hugging Face Hack A Government for the People, but Not by People Google to Buy Spirit Airlines Business Data for $10 Million A.I.’s New Training Data: Your Old Work Slacks and Emails We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon A.I. Training Facility. We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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“Hard Fork” is a show about the future that’s already here. Each week, New York Times journalists explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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