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How companies weaponize the terms of service against you
14 mei 2026 · 55 min
Brendan Ballou is founder of the Public Integrity Project and author of the new book, When Companies Run the Courts, about the rise of forced arbitration. Lees meer
Forced arbitration is similarly everywhere in modern life, and there have been some very high-profile cases these past few years highlighting how deeply unfair these clauses are to consumers. Brendan’s book delves into how and why we got here — spoiler: we can blame Antonin Scalia for some of it — but also, most importantly, how we may be able to fight back in the future.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
When Companies Run the Courts | Hachette
Private equity bought out your doctor and bankrupted Toys ‘R Us | Decoder
Press freedom groups demand access to Paramount records | The Wrap
Disney gives up on trying to use Disney+ to settle wrongful death suit | The Verge
Samsung, corruption, and you (2017) | The Verge
The surprising case for AI judges | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decode
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Joanna Stern is not a robot, but she lived with them
11 mei 2026 · 1 uur
My guest today is longtime friend of the show Joanna Stern. You all know Joanna: she is the former senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a former Decoder guest host, one of my co-founders at The Verge, and also just one of my very closest friends. Lees meer
Joanna just left that lofty perch at the Journal to start her own media company called New Things, and she’s starting with her new book about AI called I Am Not a Robot, which is out this week on May 12th. So we had Joanna on to talk about all of that, especially what she learned going all in on automation.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
I Am Not a Robot | Harper Collins
It’s time. Meet my New Thing | Joanna Stern
Why I left My prestigious job to make YouTube videos | Joanna Stern / YouTube
Signing off from this column after 12 years. Here’s what’s changed in tech | WSJ
I tried the robot that’s coming to live with you. It’s still par human | WSJ
The people do not yearn for automation | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Rewind: How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education
7 mei 2026 · 42 min
Hey, everyone, Nilay here. We’re off today, while the team and I are cooking on a lot of really great stuff in the coming weeks. We’ll be back with an all-new interview on Monday. Lees meer
In the meantime, we really wanted to highlight this episode we first aired in the fall, because it’s about a huge subject: AI in schools. The school year is starting to wrap up now around the country, and we’re no closer to figuring out how to thread the needle about generative AI in education than we were in September.
Links:
A majority of high school students use gen AI for schoolwork | College Board
About a quarter of teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork | Pew Research
Your brain on ChatGPT | MIT Media Lab
My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re on to something. | Vox
How children understand and learn from conversational AI | McGill University
‘File not Found’ | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Dara Khosrowshahi on replacing Uber drivers — and himself — with AI
4 mei 2026 · 1 uur 14 min
It’s become an annual tradition to have Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi join us in the studio when he comes to New York for Uber’s big Go-Get event every year. This year, the big news was that Uber's expanding into a much larger platform for travel, starting with hotel booking and services like personal shopping. Lees meer
Uber is going so far as to call this an everything app, so I wanted to see how far Dara thinks everything actually goes — and whether he’s feeling pressure to own more of the user experience in a world where AI companies keep promising that their chatbots will book all the cars for you.
Links:
Uber adds hotels to its app in big travel swing | The Verge
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay with reinventing the bus | Decoder
I have to be honest, AI will replace jobs at Uber | Diary of a CEO
The DoorDash problem | Decoder
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wants to build the everything app | Decoder
Booking and Priceline chief wants you to yell at bots, not humans | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt; this episode was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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How to win — or lose — Decoder
30 april 2026 · 45 min
This is Nick Statt, senior producer on Decoder. We last ran a mailbag episode during the holidays, and we decided it was a good idea to do that kind of thing more often. So we’re back with Nilay as the guest, answering questions and responding to feedback, criticism, and suggestions. Lees meer
We talk through some recent controversial episodes like our interviews with the CEOs of Superhuman and Puck, and we also discuss how we’re covering AI, thinking about the future of the show, and what it takes to win (and lose) Decoder.
Links:
Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions | Decoder Mailbag (2025)
Answering your biggest Decoder questions | Decoder Mailbag (2024)
Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me | Decoder
Can Puck reinvent the news business for the influencer age? | Decoder
The people do not yearn for automation | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
That UL safety logo is a lot more complicated than it looks
27 april 2026 · 1 uur 3 min
Jennifer Scanlon is CEO of UL Solutions, one of those hidden-in-plain-sight companies we like to poke at here on Decoder. UL's been around for more than 100 years; it started as a way for insurance companies to standardize fire and safety testing as electricity was the new technology spreading into homes. Lees meer
But now it's everywhere, and "safety" in tech doesn't just mean the hardware. UL is adapting quickly to the connected, AI-powered era... but do the companies making and distributing tech even care about standards anymore?
Links:
How fake UL certifications led to Chinese ebike suit | Electrek
FCC IoT program loses UL after China probe | Cybersecurity Dive
FCC’s Carr probes IoT program lab over “ties to China” | PC Mag
The US router ban, explained | The Verge
More than 500,000 hoverboards recalled (2016) | The Verge
Brendan Carr is a dummy | The Vergecast
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Kabir Chopra. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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THE PEOPLE DO NOT YEARN FOR AUTOMATION
23 april 2026 · 19 min
Today on Decoder, I want to lay out an idea that's been banging around my head for weeks now as we've been reporting on AI and having conversations here on this show. I've been calling it software brain, and it's a particular way of seeing the world that fits everything into algorithms, databases and loops. Lees meer
Software brain is powerful stuff. It's a way of thinking that basically created our modern world. But software thinking has also been turbocharged by AI in a way that I think helps explain the enormous gap between how excited the tech industry is about the technology and how regular people are growing to dislike it more and more over time.
Links:
Why software Is eating the world | Marc Andreessen
Gen Z’s love-hate relationship with AI | The Verge
The attacks on Sam Altman are a warning for the AI world | The Verge
Silicon Valley has forgotten what normal people want | The Verge
I saw something new in San Francisco | The New York Times
Anthropic CEO issues dire warning about white-collar work | The Street
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Canva's CEO on its big pivot to AI enterprise software
20 april 2026 · 1 uur 7 min
The last time Canva CEO Melanie Perkins was on Decoder, the company was starting a big push into enterprise. Now, she's leading it through a total reinvention, going, in Canva's words, "from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design tools." Lees meer
But there's a lot of competition in that AI enterprise space. Not only is Canva competing with design software like the Adobe Creative Suite, but also it's competing with AI companies, like Anthropic and Meta, that are launching their own AI design platforms. So we talked a lot about whether Canva really is the right platform to bring the whole workspace together.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Canva AI 2.0 goes all in on prompt-powered design tools | The Verge
The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe | The Verge
Anthropic launches Claude Design | TechCrunch
Canva is now in the coding and spreadsheet business | The Verge
Melanie Perkins thinks the world needs more alternatives to Adobe | Decoder (2024)
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Ronan Farrow on Sam Altman's "unconstrained" relationship with the truth
16 april 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Today I’m talking with Ronan Farrow, one of the biggest stars of investigative reporting working today. He broke the Harvey Weinstein story, among many, many others. Lees meer
Just last week, he and co-author Andrew Marantz published an incredible deep-dive feature in The New Yorker about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, his trustworthiness, and the rise of OpenAI itself. So Ronan came on the show to discuss the piece, his reporting process, and why he thinks this story and the revelations it contains really matter.
Read the full interview transcript here on The Verge.
Links:
Sam Altman may control our future — can he be trusted? | The New Yorker
Hey ChatGPT, which one of these is the real Sam Altman? | New York Times
Suspect throws molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home | Wired
The attacks on Sam Altman are a warning for the AI world | The Verge
The vibes are off at OpenAI | The Verge
Why Sam Altman was booted from OpenAI | The Verge
Sam Altman, unconstrained by the truth | Gary Marcus
A brief history of Sam Altman's hype | MIT Tech Review
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Can Puck’s CEO reinvent the news business for the influencer age?
13 april 2026 · 1 uur 15 min
Sarah Personette is the CEO of Puck, a media company that's been around for about five years. Puck hires big star reporters who write newsletters as part of a subscription bundle. Those newsletters are often must-reads in their industries, and those reporters get equity in Puck and a share of the company's revenue. Lees meer
It's a place where the financial incentives of the influencer economy crash right into the rigors of traditional journalism — and as regular Decoder listeners know, I have a lot of questions about how those two things work (or don't) in the modern media landscape.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Puck buys Air Mail in deal valued at $16M | The Wrap
The man yelling ‘iceberg’ on the Hollywood Titanic | New York Times
Sarah Personette joins news startup Puck as CEO | Variety
Are we past peak newsletter? | New York Times
Two new newsletters bet they’ve got Hollywood covered | LA Times
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
The AI industry's existential race for profits
9 april 2026 · 38 min
Today, let’s talk about the looming AI monetization cliff, and whether some of the biggest companies in space can become real, profitable businesses before they careen right off it. Lees meer
My guest today is Hayden Field, who’s our senior AI reporter here at The Verge. She’s been keeping close tabs on both Anthropic and OpenAI, and how these two companies, both slate to go public this year, tell us a whole lot about the AI industry in 2026.
Links:
The vibes are off at OpenAI | The Verge
Anthropic essentially bans OpenClaw from Claude | The Verge
Why OpenAI killed Sora | The Verge
OpenAI just bought TBPN | The Verge
National poll shows voters like AI less than ICE | The Verge
The spiraling cost of making AI | WSJ
OpenAI’s Fidji Simo taking leave amid exec shake-up | Wired
OpenAI raises another $122B at $850B valuation | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins wants data centers in space
6 april 2026 · 58 min
My guest today is Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Cisco is one of those big companies that everyone has heard of but most of us don’t have to interact with very much; they’re not really a consumer brand. But without Cisco's actual routers and switches and silicon — and the software to make those things work — there’s no internet, no cloud, and no AI. Lees meer
But a data center is a really unpleasant neighbor to have, and there’s robust opposition to new data center builds all over the country. So I had to start by asking what feels, strangely, like one of the most urgent questions of the moment: Should we build data centers in space?
Links:
Nvidia launches space computing, rocketing AI Into orbit | Nvidia
Nvidia’s AI dominance expands to networking | CRN
Amid rising pushback, 2025 data center cancellations surge | Heatmap
Billionaires want data centers everywhere, including space | The Verge
How Ciena keeps the internet online | Decoder
Okta’s CEO is betting big on agent identity | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
A jury says Meta and Google hurt a kid. What now?
2 april 2026 · 51 min
Today, we’re talking about the landmark social media addiction trials that just resulted in two major verdicts against Big Tech — one in California against Meta and Google, and another in New Mexico against just Meta. Lees meer
These are complicated cases with some huge repercussions for both how these platforms work and the very nature of speech in America. So we’ve brought on two heavy hitters: my friend Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, as well as Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner, who’s been covering these trials since the beginning.
Links:
Meta & YouTube found negligent in social media addiction trial | The Verge
Meta misled users about its products’ safety, jury decides | The Verge
Meta’s legal defeat: a victory for kids, or a loss for everyone | The Verge
Can you have child safety and Section 230, too? | Platformer
The terrible cost of infinite scroll | The New York Times
I watched grieving parents stare down Zuckerberg in court | The Verge
Section 230 turns 30 as it faces its biggest tests yet | The Verge
Congress considers blowing up internet law | The Verge
Sen. Rob Wyden: “Why the internet still needs Section 230” | The Verge
How America turned against the First Amendment | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Okta's CEO is betting big on AI agent identity
30 maart 2026 · 1 uur 7 min
My guest today is Okta CEO Todd McKinnon. Okta is a platform that big companies use to manage security and identity across all the many apps and platforms their employees use. Most of us run into it as login management at work. Lees meer
SaaS companies like Okta are under a lot of pressure in the age of AI, which Todd even said on an earnings call he's "paranoid" about. But you'll also hear Todd say that for Okta specifically, there's also a world of opportunity as the very concept of a digital "identity" has to expand into things that aren't really people.
Links:
CEO ‘paranoid’ as vibe coders stir SaaSpocalypse fears | The Register
$300B evaporated. The SaaSpocalypse has begun | Forbes
How AI assistants are moving the security goalposts | Krebs on Security
What everyone’s missing about AI and development | CRN
Agents run amok: Identity lessons from Moltbook’s experiment | Okta
Breakup of IBM is Antitrust goal (1972) | New York Times
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Everyone hates Ticketmaster. Why'd Trump go easy on them?
26 maart 2026 · 38 min
Today, we’re talking about the major antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, and what it might mean for antitrust and competition law in general now that the Trump DOJ has decided to settle its part of the case — even as several states including California, New York, and Texas carry on. Lees meer
To break it all down, I’m joined by Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner. Lauren’s our resident court expert, and she’s been chronicling this trial from the beginning.
Links:
States’ anti-monopoly case against Live Nation continues | The Verge
The Live Nation trial restarts with a ‘velvet hammer’ | The Verge
Live Nation settles government antitrust suit | The Verge
The Live Nation settlement has industry insiders baffled | The Verge
Listen to Live Nation CEO’s alleged threats to a concert venue | The Verge
The threats and bare-knuckle tactics of MAGA’s top antitrust fixer | WSJ
The Trump admin just gave Live Nation the gift of a lifetime | NYT
How Live Nation allegedly terrorized the concert industry | The Verge
The US government is trying to break up Ticketmaster | The Verge (2024)
Taylor Swift vs. Ronald Reagan: the Ticketmaster story | Decoder (2023)
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me
23 maart 2026 · 1 uur 16 min
Today, I’m talking with Shishir Mehrotra, the CEO of Superhuman, the company formerly known as Grammarly, which is still its flagship product. Back in August, Grammarly shipped a feature called Expert Review, which allowed you to get writing suggestions from AI-cloned “experts,” and recently, reporters at The Verge and other outlets discovered that those experts included me, among many others. Lees meer
No one ever asked permission to use our names this way, and a lot of reporters were outraged by this. To Shishir’s credit, he did not cancel our interview and he came on and stuck it out. This conversation got tense at times, and it’s clear we disagree about how extractive AI feels for people. There’s a lot in this one, and I’m excited to hear what you think.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Why I’m suing Grammarly | New York Times
Grammarly will stop using identities without permission | The Verge
Grammarly to keep using writer identities unless they opt out | The Verge
Grammarly turned me into an AI editor and I hate it | Platformer
Grammarly is using our identities without permission | The Verge
Grammarly is changing its name to Superhuman | The Verge
Grammarly wants to become an ‘AI productivity platform’ | The Verge
Viacom v. YouTube, 2007 | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Paramount's $110 billion Warner Bros. gamble
19 maart 2026 · 48 min
Today, let’s talk about the big Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Right now, Paramount head David Ellison is very much acting like he’s over the finish line after outbidding Netflix, which walked away after what seemed like a done deal. Lees meer
Back in January, I asked Puck’s Julia Alexander to walk me through Netflix’s reasoning, and today I’m digging into Paramount’s with Rich Greenfield, a media and entertainment analyst and cofounder of research firm LightShed Partners. There’s a lot going on here, including the biggest question I’ve had throughout this entire saga: why would anyone want to buy Warner, which has basically killed every acquirer it’s had for the last quarter century?
Links:
David Ellison’s plan to compete with Netflix: Paramount+HBO | Rich Greenfield
The worst acquisition in history, again | Prof G Media
David Zaslav gets the last laugh | THR
Warner Bros. Discovery agrees to Paramount merger | The Verge
Tech, TV, Movies & News: Ellisons on brink of colossal empire | NYT
Pete Hegseth says ‘the sooner David Ellison’ buys CNN, ‘the better’ | NYT
Warner Bros CEO to pocket $887 million from Paramount deal | Reuters
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone on reviving the web's homepage
16 maart 2026 · 1 uur 18 min
Jim Lanzone is the CEO of Yahoo. It's basically impossible to sum up Yahoo's story over the last 25 years, but the short version is that once upon a time, Yahoo paid Google to run the search box on its website, and everything immediately went sideways. Jim calls it Yahoo's original sin. Lees meer
But after a long series of mergers, spinouts, and a hot, weird minute as part of Verizon Yahoo is once again an independent, privately held company — and it's growing. But can Yahoo really take market share from Google?
Links:
Yahoo sells Engadget to Static Media | The Verge
Yahoo sells TechCrunch to Regent | The Verge
Yahoo Finance launches crypto partnership with Coinbase | Yahoo
Yahoo Scout looks like more web-friendly AI search | The Verge
Yahoo Finance launches crypto deal with Polymarket | Yahoo Finance
Yahoo resurrects Artifact inside AI-powered news app | The Verge
Yahoo Mail adds more AI to simplify desktop email | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Anthropic doesn't trust the Pentagon, and neither should you
12 maart 2026 · 49 min
My guest today is Mike Masnick, the founder and CEO of Techdirt, the excellent and long-running tech policy blog. Mike has been writing about government overreach, privacy in the digital age, and other related topics for decades now, and he’s an expert on how the internet and the surveillance state have grown in interconnected ways over the past two decades. Lees meer
I wanted to have Mike on the show to discuss the messy, fast-moving situation at Anthropic, the maker of Claude that now finds itself in a very ugly legal battle with the Pentagon. Instead of covering the daily drama, I wanted to dig in specifically on Anthropic's surveillance red line, and the important history and context around digital privacy in the U.S. that shapes how we should think about this going forward.
Links:
AI bros wanted Trump — now they learn what happens when you tell him no | Techdirt
OpenAI’s ‘red lines’ are written in the NSA’s dictionary | Techdirt
Anthropic is suing the Department of Defense | The Verge
Anthropic launches new think tank amid Pentagon fight | The Verge
How OpenAI caved to the Pentagon on AI surveillance | The Verge
Inside the backlash to the AI war machine | Platformer
The Pentagon is violating Anthropic's First Amendment rights | FIRE
Why the Pentagon wants to destroy Anthropic | Ezra Klein / NYT
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Hasbro's CEO lets AI Peppa Pig help design toys
9 maart 2026 · 1 uur 12 min
Hasbro might be a toy company, but CEO Chris Cocks has spent the last several years pushing it more and more into the digital media, gaming, and collectibles space. That makes sense, since adults have money and kids don't. All those IP and licensing deals are working out for Hasbro so far. Lees meer
But Hasbro is also facing a lot of risk from instability: in trade and tariffs, in politics and culture, and in the video game market, which seems to be in a more or less permanent state of crisis.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Chris Cocks on Decoder (2023) | The Verge
Hasbro just made a massive ‘Harry Potter’ Announcement | Parade
Businesses push for tariff refunds as Trump aides hint at fight | New York Times
We’re finally seeing more of Hasbro’s forgotten space game | PC Gamer
Xbox in is danger. Will Microsoft save it, or kill it? | Decoder
OpenAI’s billion-dollar deal puts Mickey Mouse in Sora | The Verge
A comprehensive timeline of JK Rowling’s descent into transphobia | Them
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Prediction markets want to be the news
5 maart 2026 · 45 min
Today let’s talk about prediction markets, which continue to insert themselves into the news cycle and the news in increasingly weird, unsettling, and potentially illegal ways. Lees meer
My guest today is Liz Lopatto, a senior reporter at The Verge who owns what we cheerfully call the chaos beat. Liz has been writing a lot about prediction markets lately and especially why they all seem so intent on being perceived as sources of news — a position which directly incentivizes insider trading. That in turn creates a long list of very predictable problems.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Prediction markets want to eat the news | The Verge
How anonymous bettors cashed In on the Iran strike | NYT
With Iran, Kalshi & Polymarket Bet on the Depravity Economy | 404 Media
Polymarket pulls bet on nuclear detonation in 2026 | 404 Media
Polymarket defends betting on war as ‘invaluable’ | The Verge
Someone made a ton of money betting on Maduro’s capture | The Verge
Are prediction markets gambling? Robinhood CEO bets no | Decoder
Prediction markets roll out war bets beyond Washington’s reach | Bloomberg
Polymarket partners with Substack for some reason | The Verge
It’s MAGA v Broligarch in the battle over prediction markets | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Zillow's CEO on growth during a housing crisis
2 maart 2026 · 1 uur 6 min
Today, I’m talking with Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman. Zillow is one of those apps that really exemplifies what you might call the smartphone era of software: the company built a great mobile app for looking at real estate listings, and it turned into not just entertainment for so many of us, but what has become a vertically-integrated platform for buying, selling, and renting real estate. Lees meer
Jeremy’s argument is that the future of Zillow looks a lot like an end-to-end business platform for real estate agents, and we spent a lot of time talking about whether a business as local and as relationship driven as real estate can benefit from platform-level scale in the way he’s proposing.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Zillow’s new AI staging feature is impressively unimpressive | The Verge
Zillow’s upgraded AI search will show you more homes you can’t afford | The Verge
Zillow adds DMs so you can chat about homes you’ll never buy | The Verge
FTC accuses Zillow of paying $100 million to ‘dismantle’ Redfin | The Verge
Housing is frozen. Wacksman knows you’re still scrolling | NYT
Wacksman on the US housing market | Bloomberg Talks
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Inside Xbox's executive shakeup
26 februari 2026 · 43 min
Today, we’re talking about the future of Xbox. Phil Spencer, a two-time Decoder guest who’s led Xbox for more than a decade, is stepping down. But in a shocking twist, his deputy long-assumed successor Sarah Bond is also out too, and the Xbox division is now in the hands of an Asha Sharma, one of Microsoft’s AI executives with no prior game industry experience. Lees meer
There is no better person to talk to about all of this than Tom Warren, senior editor here at The Verge and author of the excellent Notepad newsletter. Tom is actually on parental leave right now, but Microsoft has a longstanding habit of disrupting his well-earned time off. So, Tom was gracious enough to come on the show after publishing a major scoop about what went down at Xbox this past week.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Inside Microsoft’s big Xbox leadership shake-up | The Verge
Billions of dollars later and still nobody knows what an Xbox is | The Verge
Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft | The Verge
Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo about leaving Microsoft | The Verge
Here’s what Xbox is working on for 2026 | The Verge
AMD hints Microsoft could launch its next-gen Xbox in 2027 | The Verge
The next Xbox is going to be very different | The Verge
Xbox co-founder believes it’s being ‘sunsetted’ in favor of AI | VGC
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
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Hank Green lets loose on YouTube, billionaires, and algorithms
23 februari 2026 · 1 uur 11 min
Today, I’m talking with Hank Green, a longtime friend of Decoder and the co-founder and now former owner of Complexly, an online education company he started with his brother John in 2012. I say former owner because Hank and John have just converted Complexly into a nonprofit and given up their ownership of the company in the process. Lees meer
That’s some of the purest Decoder bait that ever was, because it’s all about how you structure a company and how you make decisions about changing that structure. So of course I had to bring Hank back on to talk all about it.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Greens’ studio becomes nonprofit as they aim to make ‘trustworthy content’ | AP
Hank Green makes Nilay Patel explain why websites have a future | Decoder (2024)
Why Hank Green can’t quit YouTube for TikTok | Decoder (2022)
Hank Green and Sam Reich on running content companies | Decoder
Hank Green and Sal Khan on AI in educational video | Decoder
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Money no longer matters to AI's top talent
19 februari 2026 · 41 min
Today we're talking about the war for AI talent. Right now, the hottest job market on the planet is for AI researchers. And the vast majority of these people are concentrated into a small number of hugely valuable, extremely fast-growing companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of which are now paying some of the highest salaries in the history of tech to poach from one another. Lees meer
We’ve been dying to really dig in and try to unpack what's going on with all these talent moves in AI. So we brought on Verge senior AI reporter Hayden Field, who's been covering the revolving door of the AI industry really closely and also the broader culture that's motivating workers to jump ship.
Links:
What’s behind the mass exodus at xAI? | The Verge
OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI | The Verge
Two more xAI co-founders leave after the SpaceX merger | The Verge
AI safety leader says 'world is in peril' and quits to study poetry | BBC
OpenAI is making the mistakes Facebook made. I quit. | NYT
Anthropic’s chief on AI: ‘We don’t know if the models are conscious’ | NYT
Meet the one woman Anthropic trusts to teach AI morals | WSJ
OpenAI plans fourth-quarter IPO in race to beat Anthropic to market | WSJ
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Let's talk about Ring, lost dogs, and the surveillance state
16 februari 2026 · 27 min
Today, we're talking about the camera company Ring, lost dogs, and the surveillance state. Since it aired for a massive audience at the Super Bowl, Ring’s Search Party commercial has become a lightning rod for controversy. It’s easy to see how the same technology that can find lost dogs can be used to find people, and then used to invade our privacy in all kinds of uncomfortable ways, by cops and regular people alike. Lees meer
Although Ring has since canceled its partnership with controversial surveillance company Flock, the company is now facing hard questions about its plans to use AI to promote safer neighborhoods, and how that intersects with its ongoing relationship with law enforcement.
Links:
Ring cancels partnership with Flock after surveillance backlash | The Verge
Ring’s lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of surveillance | The Verge
Ring says it’s not giving ICE access to its cameras | The Verge
How police recovered Nancy Guthrie’s Nest Doorbell footage | The Verge
Ring’s Jamie Siminoff thinks AI can reduce crime | Decoder
Ring CEO says cameras can almost ‘zero out crime’ within 12 months | The Verge
ICE taps into nationwide AI camera network, data shows | 404 Media
ICE, Secret Service had access to Flock's camera network | 404 Media
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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The surprising case for AI judges
12 februari 2026 · 1 uur 13 min
My guest today is Bridget McCormack, former chief justice for the Michigan Supreme Court and now president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association. For the past several years, Bridget and her team have been developing an AI-assisted arbitration platform called the AI Arbitrator. Lees meer
So I sat down with her to talk about how the tool works, the pros and cons of automating parts of the arbitration process, and the bigger picture questions around institutional trust, justice, and the future of law.
Links:
All rise for JudgeGPT | The Verge
Why do lawyers keep using ChatGPT? | The Verge
Judge berates AI entrepreneur for using a generated ‘lawyer’ | The Verge
Judge slams lawyers for ‘bogus AI-generated research’ | The Verge
LexisNexis CEO says the AI law era is already here | Decoder
ChatGPT can be a disaster for lawyers — Robin AI wants to fix that | Decoder
Considerations In building guardrails for AI use In arbitration | Law360
The AI Arbitrator: What it is, what it isn’t, and where it’s going | Law360
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Chris Jereza and Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Siemens CEO's mission to automate everything
9 februari 2026 · 1 uur 3 min
Siemens is one of those absolutely giant, extremely important, fairly opaque companies we love to dig into on Decoder. At a very basic, reductive level, Siemens makes the hardware and software that let other companies run and automate their stuff. Lees meer
We spent a lot of time talking about what happens to jobs when Siemens automates everything — and what happens to a company like Siemens when the free trade era we’re used to gets turned on its head.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Siemens Energy CEO attends Trump meeting at Davos | Reuters
PepsiCo, Siemens, Nvidia announce digital twin collaboration | PepsiCo
Siemens spins off Healthineers majority stake | Reuters
Siemens USA to train 200,000 electricians by 2030 | Siemens
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Reality is losing the deepfake war
5 februari 2026 · 49 min
Today, we’re going to talk about reality, and whether we can label photos and videos to protect our shared understanding of the world around us. To do this, I sat down with Verge reporter Jess Weatherbed, who covers creative tools for us — a space that’s been totally upended by generative AI. Lees meer
We’ve been talking about how the photos and videos taken by our phones are getting more and more processed for years on The Verge. Here in 2026, we’re in the middle of a full-on reality crisis, as fake and manipulated ultra-believable images and videos flood onto social platforms at scale. So Jess and I discussed the limitations of AI labeling standards like C2PA, and why social media execs like Instagram boss Adam Mosseri are now sounding the alarm.
Read the full transcript on The Verge.
Links:
This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t we using it? | The Verge
You can’t trust your eyes to tell you what’s real, says Instagram | The Verge
Instagram’s boss is missing the point about AI on the platform | The Verge
Sora is showing us how broken deepfake detection is | The Verge
Reality still matters | The Verge
No one’s ready for this | The Verge
What is a photo, @WhiteHouse edition | The Verge
Google Gemini is getting better at identifying AI fakes | The Verge
Let’s compare Apple, Google & Samsung’s definitions of 'photo’ | The Verge
The Pixel 8 and the what-is-a-photo apocalypse | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Docusign's CEO on the dangers of trusting AI to read, and write, your contracts
2 februari 2026 · 1 uur 6 min
Today, I’m talking with Allan Thygesen, who is the CEO of Docusign. You know Docusign, it’s the platform that lets you sign stuff online. It turns out 7,000 people work there, which is one of those facts floating around that’s always felt like perfect Decoder bait. What are all those people doing? And what kind of product roadmap does a company like Docusign even need? Lees meer
Alan has only been CEO of Docusign for three years, so he has some interesting perspective on where the company was, the changes he wanted to make, and where he thinks this is all going. Hint: it involves AI.
Read the full transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Docusign's AI will help you understand what you're signing | Fast Company
Docusign on ‘transformational journey,’ CEO Says | Bloomberg
How Docusign Is modernizing the age-old business contract | Barron’s
Docusign unveils next-gen eSignature with AI | Docusign
Docusign brings its contract AI to ChatGPT | Docusign
Interview with Docusign CEO Allan Thygesen | Motley Fool (Podcast)
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Netflix is eating Hollywood — because it has to
29 januari 2026 · 56 min
Today, we’re talking about the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the biggest story in the entertainment industry right now, and for good reason. It has pretty much everything you could want in a buzzy Hollywood saga — big names, big money, and big drama. Lees meer
To help me make sense of it all, I wanted to talk with Julia Alexander, a Verge alum and now media correspondent at Puck News who’s one of the best in the business at analyzing corporate strategy, Hollywood, and what’s next in entertainment. Julia really helped me break down why Netflix is the clear front runner to acquire Warner Bros., why David Ellison of Paramount Skydance is so desperate to win, and, perhaps most importantly, how the tech industry fits into this puzzle.
Links:
Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion | The Verge
Paramount launches hostile $108 billion bid to snatch Warner | The Verge
Netflix revises Warner Bros. bid to an all-cash offer | The Verge
Why Netflix needs Warner Bros. | Puck News
The Warner Bros. bidding war Is over | Bloomberg
The Son King of Hollywood | Vulture
FCC Chair: ‘Legitimate competition concerns’ with Netflix’s Warner deal | Variety
Netflix's Ted Sarandos to testify at antitrust hearing over Warner deal | Variety
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Experian's tech chief defends credit scores: 'We're not Palantir'
26 januari 2026 · 1 uur 10 min
Experian is one of those giant multinationals convoluted enough to have multiple CEOs all over the world, so first I asked Alex Lintner, Experian's CEO of technology and software solutions, to dig into the classic Decoder questions and explain how all of that even works. Lees meer
He oversees big operations like security and privacy, and now, of course, AI. If you want to participate in the modern economy — rent an apartment, buy a car, get a job, etc — you’re part of Experian’s ecosystem, whether you like it or not. At its heart, Experian’s core service is data about people and the choices they make. And this extremely valuable data weirdly makes Experian a part of your life — a life that becomes much smoother if the data the company collects about you tells a good story.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Roughly half of Americans are knowledgeable about personal finance | Pew Research
How Americans view data privacy | Pew Research
Consumer voices on credit reports and scores | CFPB
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius on Decoder | The Verge
The Palantir app ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid | 404 Media
T-Mobile customers exposed in major Experian breach (2015) | The Verge
All the news about the Equifax breach | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Why nobody's stopping Grok
22 januari 2026 · 1 uur 6 min
Grok, the chatbot made by Elon Musk’s xAI, is able to make all manner of AI-generated images on demand, including non-consensual intimate images of women and minors. It's the kind of "controversy" that would have completely sunk a platform five or 10 years ago, but now it seems clear that Elon wants Grok to be able to do this. Lees meer
A lot of people feel like someone should be able to do something about a one-click harassment machine like this. But who has that power, and what they can do with it, is a deeply complicated question,tied up in the thorny mess of history that is content moderation and the legal precedents that underpin it. So I invited Riana Pfefferkorn, from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, to come talk me through it.
Links:
Grok’s gross AI deepfakes problem | The Verge
Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it? | The Verge
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards | The Verge
Senate passes a bill to let nonconsensual deepfake victims sue | The Verge
EU looks to ban nudification apps following Grok outrage | Politico
Grok flooded X with millions of sexualized images | The New York Times
The Supreme Court just upended internet law | The Verge
Mother of Elon Musk’s son sues xAI over sexual deepfake images | AP
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Razer CEO on AI in game dev, Grok, and anime waifus
19 januari 2026 · 1 uur 5 min
We’re back to start the year with a very special live interview with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, which we taped in front of a terrific audience at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas during CES. At this year’s show, Razer made headlines for something it calls Project Ava, an AI companion that has a physical presence in the real world, as an anime hologram that sits in a jar on your desk. It’s powered by, you guessed it, Elon Musk’s Grok. Lees meer
There are a whole lot of choices bundled up in all of that, as well as Razer’s decision to go all-in on AI at a moment when the gaming community is outright rejecting it. So Min and I really got into it. I think you’ll have a lot to think about with this one.
Links:
Razer is making an AI anime waifu hologram for your desk | The Verge
Razer thinks you’d rather have AI headphones instead of glasses | The Verge
Baldur’s Gate 3 studio says it won’t use AI for concept art or writing | The Verge
In 2025, AI became a lightning rod for gamers and devs | The Verge
Razer plans $600M push to capture 'untapped' AI gaming demand | Bloomberg
Replika CEO says it’s okay if we end up marrying AI chatbots | Decoder
Lawsuits blame ChatGPT for suicides and harmful delusions | NYT
Inside three longterm relationships with AI chatbots | NYT
Torment Nexus | Know Your Meme
The future of gaming is AI | Razer (Instagram)
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Rewind: How private equity kills companies and communities
15 januari 2026 · 52 min
Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. We’re settling back in here after the winter break and CES, and we’ll have new episodes for you starting next Monday. In the meantime, we wanted to highlight one of our favorites from last year: an interview with journalist and author Megan Greenwell about her book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. Lees meer
My conversation with Megan last year was extremely illuminating as to why private equity does what it does to industries like healthcare, media and real estate — and just how deeply it's affecting the everyday lives of Americans everywhere. It's a really great conversation that feels just as timely today as it did last summer. Enjoy.
Links:
Bad Company | HarperCollins
How private equity kills companies and communities | Decoder
Private equity bought out your doctor and bankrupted Toys ‘R’ Us | Decoder
Private equity makes its first college sports play | Axios
Private equity Is gutting America — and getting away with it | NYT
I was fired from Deadspin for refusing to ‘stick to sports’ | NYT
Will private equity be the next ‘Big Short’? | Marketplace
The profit-obsessed monster destroying American ERs | Vox
Why your vet bill is so high | The Atlantic
The investment firms leave behind a barren wasteland’ | Politico
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Dropout CEO Sam Reich on the business of subscription comedy
12 januari 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
We’ve got something special for you today. It’s my friend Hank Green, longtime YouTuber, science educator, and viral TikTok star, interviewing Dropout CEO Sam Reich. Lees meer
Hank did this episode as a guest host over the summer, and it’s a fan favorite, bringing together two internet personalities that’ve known each other for a very long time and who have a lot of inside knowledge about how the internet, Hollywood, and entertainment all intertwine.
Links:
Dropout’s Sam Reich on business, comedy, and keeping the internet weird | Decoder
How Dropout broke through in 2025 | AV Club
Dropout CEO on launching ‘Superfan’ tier, crossing 1M subscribers | Variety
How CollegeHumor reinvented itself for the new internet age | People
CollegeHumor shaped online comedy. What went wrong? [2020] | Wired
‘I believe in this enough to try to do it myself’ [2020] | Digiday
Jacob Wysocki needed a minute to process that Game Changer | Vulture
Game Changer smartly weaponizes its online following | Mashable
Vimeo CEO Philip Moyer is betting on the human touch | Decoder
Vimeo to be acquired by Bending Spoons for $1.38B | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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What’s next for Netflix and Paramount in the Warner Bros. battle
22 december 2025 · 44 min
Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. Decoder is on our holiday break. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff coming up in the New Year, though, including a special Decoder Live at CES. Stay tuned for more details, including how to RSVP for free tickets. Lees meer
In the meantime, we’ve got a great episode of the podcast Channels, featuring two of the best media reporters in the business. Host Peter Kafka sat down with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to talk about the bidding war between Paramount SkyDance and Netflix over Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s the biggest story in entertainment right now, and this episode breaks down everything you need to know about the contentious acquisition.
Links:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing”: Lucas Shaw on the battle for Warner Bros. | Channels
Five things we’re getting wrong about Warner Bros.′ Netflix deal | Bloomberg
Warner Bros.’ bidders brace for a fight that will last months | Bloomberg
WBD wants its shareholders to reject Paramount’s latest offer | The Verge
There are no good outcomes for the Warner Bros. sale | The Verge
Netflix is “100% committed” to releasing WB films in theaters | The Verge
Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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"All chaos and panic": Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions
18 december 2025 · 57 min
Hey everyone! Decoder senior producers Kate Cox and Nick Statt here. We’ve had a big year, including nearly 100 episodes, a new YouTube channel, an ad-free podcast feed, and a slate of great guest hosts while Nilay was on parental leave. It’s been a lot! Lees meer
We’ve also had a lot of great questions and comments this year from you, our audience. So we pulled together all the feedback we’ve received on topics like CarPlay, Monday episode guest suggestions, and — of course — AI. And then we turned the tables on Nilay to ask him his thoughts on the past 12 months: What we liked, what we want to improve, and how he’s making decisions for Decoder in the new year.
Links:
Answering your biggest Decoder questions, 2024 edition | Decoder
The DoorDash Problem | Decoder
How decision making changes when AI answers are cheap and (too) easy | Decoder
Why GM will give you Gemini — but not CarPlay | Decoder
Rivian CEO: ‘We’re really convicted’ about skipping CarPlay | Decoder
How SharkNinja took over the home, with CEO Mark Barrocas | Decoder
Why Tubi CEO Anjali Sud thinks free TV can win again | Decoder
Disney accuses Google of copyright infringement following OpenAI deal | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Stack Overflow users don't trust AI. They're using it anyway
15 december 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar was last on the show in 2022 — just one month before ChatGPT launched and upended literally everything for Stack Overflow in a deeply existential way. Lees meer
He called a company emergency, reallocated about 10 percent of the staff to figure out solutions to the ChatGPT problem, and made some pretty huge decisions about structure and organization to navigate that change — all of it pure Decoder bait.
Links:
2025 Developer Survey | Stack Overflow
The people who make your apps go to Stack Overflow for answers | Decoder
OpenAI, Stack Overflow partner to bring technical knowledge to ChatGPT | The Verge
Stack Overflow feeds programmers’ answers to AI whether they like it or not | The Verge
Stack Overflow cuts 28 percent of its staff | TechCrunch
AI-generated answers temporarily banned on Stack Overflow | The Verge
Stack Overflow’s strike is over, but problems persist | Jon Ericson
A new era of Stack Overflow | Stack Overflow
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Sen. Ed Markey wants media companies to fight for the First Amendment
11 december 2025 · 58 min
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and I agree it seems like democracy is on the line right now, especially around the First Amendment and the increasing pressure the Trump administration — especially FCC chair Brendan Carr — is putting on free speech. I also had a lot of questions for Sen. Markey about the supposed TikTok ban, which no one seems to know anything about, and all the other problems we’re facing in 2025. Lees meer
Links:
Even the lawmakers behind the TikTok ban have no idea what’s going on | The Verge
Carr’s FCC is an anti-consumer, rights-trampling harassment machine | The Verge
The FCC is a weapon in Trump’s war on free speech | Decoder
Here’s the Trump EO that would ban state AI laws | The Verge
Silicon Valley is rallying behind a guy who sucks | The Verge
Silicon Valley’s man in the White House is benefiting himself and his friends | The New York Times
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Square's product chief on the death of the penny and the future of money
8 december 2025 · 1 uur 14 min
Today, I’m talking with Willem Avé, who’s the head of product at Square. You know Square — it was started by billionaire Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame more than 15 years ago, and it got big on the back of that little magnetic reader that once plugged into the headphone jack of the iPhone and let small businesses accept credit cards. Lees meer
Nowadays, of course, Square is more than a credit card reader, and sadly, the headphone jack is ancient history. The company itself is now part of parent organization called Block, which is made up of a very interesting mix of financial services like Afterpay, Cash App, and, yes, the streaming music service Tidal. So Willem and I really got into where Square is headed next with AI and automation, why he’s excited about crypto and Bitcoin specifically, and even what it means that the US is discontinuing the penny.
Links:
Square’s public roadmap | Square
Jack Dorsey is reorganizing the entirety of Block | Fortune
How Block turned Square into a financial services giant | Fast Company
Block to roll out bitcoin payments on Square | Square
Square buys $170 million worth of bitcoin | CNBC
Square, Jack Dorsey’s payments company, changes its name to Block | NYT
The penny dies at 232 | NYT
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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The tiny team trying to keep AI from destroying everything
4 december 2025 · 38 min
Today, I’m talking with Verge senior AI reporter Hayden Field about some of the people responsible for studying AI and deciding in what ways it might… well, ruin the world. Those folks work at Anthropic as part of a group called the societal impacts team, which Hayden just spent time with for a profile she published this week on The Verge. Lees meer
The team is just nine people out of more than 2,000 who work at Anthropic, and their only job, as the team members themselves say, is to investigate and publish quote "inconvenient truths” about AI. That of course brings up a whole host of problems, the most important of which is whether this team can remain independent, or even exist at all, as it publicizes findings about Anthropic's own products that might be unflattering or even politically fraught.
Links:
It’s their job to keep AI from destroying everything | The Verge
Anthropic details how it measures Claude’s wokeness | The Verge
White House orders tech companies to make AI bigoted again | The Verge
Chaos and lies: Why Sam Altman was booted from OpenAI | The Verge
How Elon Musk Is remaking Grok in his image | NYT
Anthropic tries to defuse White House backlash | Axios
New AI battle: White House vs. Anthropic | Axios
Anthropic will pursue gulf state investments after all | Wired
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says there is no AI bubble after all
1 december 2025 · 1 uur 10 min
IBM was instrumental to the entire 20th century of computing — but it's a lot harder for most of us to see what it's been up to during this century. That's because it's fully an enterprise company, and CEO Arvind Krishna says that business is booming. Lees meer
But there’s a huge change coming to that business as well, as Watson-style deep learning has given way to LLMs and generative AI. Sure, Arvind says IBM got there a little too early. But he doesn’t seem concerned that IBM would be stuck on the sidelines.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Computer wins on ‘Jeopardy!’: Trivial, it’s not | New York Times (2011)
What Ever Happened to IBM’s Watson? | New York Times (2021)
America Forgot About IBM Watson. Is ChatGPT Next? | The Atlantic
IBM acquires Red Hat | The Verge
IBM and Groq Partner to Accelerate Enterprise AI Deployment | IBM
IBM’s Jerry Chow on the future of quantum computing | Decoder
IBM: quantum computing partnership with AMD is bearing fruit | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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What the climate story gets wrong
24 november 2025 · 51 min
Hey everyone, it's Nilay. It’s been great being back in the Decoder chair this fall, and we’ve got a bunch of great episodes coming up to round out the year. But the production team is off this week for the holiday, so today, we’re going to share this episode of The Gray Area with you. Lees meer
This time, host Sean Illing is talking to data scientist Hannah Ritchie — about climate science and how although the crisis is definitely real, it’s not all bad news. There are actually a lot of great indicators out there in the data that show real progress in limiting emissions and boosting clean energy. It’s a nuanced, hopeful take at a time when, admittedly, it kind of feels like all the news about everything is pretty doom and gloom.
Links:
We can have growth while fighting climate change | Vox
The Grey Area | Apple Podcasts
Clearing the Air | Hannah Ritchie
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
20 november 2025 · 31 min
Okay, let’s talk about AI and what I’ve been calling the “DoorDash problem.” This is about to define the next battle in AI, and it might completely transform not only how you order a sandwich, but also how the entire internet economy works in general. Lees meer
If you’ve been listening to the show this past year, you’ve heard me bring up the Doordash problem nearly a dozen times. I’ve been asking CEOs and leaders in tech and AI about it any chance I can get. Now, a lawsuit between Amazon and Perplexity is bringing this exact issue to the forefront, kicking off a major AI browser fight that could define the future of agents and the web itself.
Links:
Amazon and Perplexity have kicked off the great AI web browser fight | The Verge
Amazon sues to stop Perplexity from using AI tool to buy stuff | Bloomberg
Amazon's Cease and Desist letter to Perplexity | Amazon
Bullying Is not innovation | Perplexity
Amazon gets hit by a Comet | Platformer
Humans Only! Why Amazon doesn’t want AI shoppers | NY Mag
Amazon vs Perplexity: the AI agent war has arrived | The Guardian
Amazon ad revenue soars 24 percent to $17.7 billion | THR
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Ring's Jamie Siminoff thinks AI can reduce crime
17 november 2025 · 1 uur 10 min
Jamie Simonoff, founder of Ring, won't let me call him the CEO. He says his title is and always has been 'chief inventor.' His mission with Ring is to make the world safer, and he has a pretty expansive view of what that means. He told The Verge last month he thought Ring could 'almost zero out crime' in some neighborhoods within a year or two. Lees meer
That's a big promise — and also potentially a very troubling one, as we face the erosion of privacy and a surveillance panopticon that only ever seems to expand.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Ring CEO: Cameras can almost ‘zero out crime’ within 12 months | The Verge
Ring plans to scan everyone’s face at the door | The Washington Post
Ring’s Search Party is on by default; should you opt out? | The Verge
Ring now works with video surveillance company Flock | The Verge
US spy agencies getting a one-stop shop to buy personal data | The Intercept
Do Video Doorbells Really Prevent Crime? | Scientific American
Ding Dong: How Ring went from Shark Tank Reject to Everyone’s Front Door | Amazon
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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The company at the heart of the AI bubble
13 november 2025 · 38 min
So a lot of people think AI is a bubble. So we sent Verge senior reporter Liz Lopatto out to report on the AI bubble — whether it's real, how it might pop, and what all of this means. She’s joining the show today to talk about a particular company that sits right in the middle of all of it. That company is called CoreWeave, and Liz has spent considerable time diving into its history, its financials, and the truly fascinating story that all of that tells us about the modern AI boom. Lees meer
Links:
CoreWeave CEO plays down concerns about AI-spending bubble | WSJ
Why debt funding is ratcheting up the risks of the AI boom | NYT
Inside the data centers that train AI and drain the electrical grid | The New Yorker
How a crypto miner transformed Into the multibillion-dollar backbone of AI | Wired
CoreWeave signs $14 billion AI infrastructure deal with Meta | Reuters
CoreWeave, Nvidia sign $6.3 billion cloud computing capacity order | Reuters
Nvidia turned CoreWeave into major player in AI years before saving its IPO | CNBC
CoreWeave inks $6.5 billion deal with OpenAI | CNBC
‘Project Osprey:’ How Nvidia seeded CoreWeave’s rise | The Information
For this startup, Nvidia GPUs are currency | The Verge
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Sir Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t think AI will destroy the web
10 november 2025 · 55 min
Today, I’m talking with a very special guest: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Tim is a legend in the history of the internet. He created HTML and HTTP. It doesn’t really get more foundational than that — Tim was there at the very very beginning of the modern internet. Lees meer
He also has a new memoir out called This Is For Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web. So Tim joined the show to talk about the state of the web, as well as his current work at the decentralization startup Inrupt, and, of course, where AI fits into the conversation.
Read the full interview on The Verge.
Links:
This Is For Everyone | Macmillan
The Semantic Web | W3C
Tim Berners-Lee invented the web, now wants to save it | The New Yorker
Why I gave the world wide web away for free | The Guardian
Amazon, Perplexity kick off the great AI web browser fight | The Verge
Web War III | The Verge
Google admits the open web is in ‘rapid decline’ | The Verge
Cloudflare will now block AI crawlers by default | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education
6 november 2025 · 40 min
We keep hearing over and over that generative AI is causing massive problems in education, both in K-12 schools and at the college level. Lots of people are worried about students using ChatGPT to cheat on assignments, and that is a problem. But really, the issues go a lot deeper, to the very philosophy of education itself. Lees meer
We sat down and talked to a lot of teachers — you’ll hear many of their voices throughout this episode — and we kept hearing one cri du coeur again and again: What are we even doing here? What’s the point?
Links:
Majority of high school students use gen AI for schoolwork | College Board
Quarter of teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork | Pew Research
Your brain on ChatGPT | MIT Media Lab
My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re on to something. | Vox
How children understand & learn from conversational AI | McGill University
‘File not Found’ | The Verge
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Lyft CEO David Risher on paying drivers more and the shift to robotaxis
3 november 2025 · 1 uur 18 min
David Risher was on Lyft's board for years, but only stepped in as CEO in 2023, to help turn the company around. He's done pretty well so far, but there are still a lot of open questions for him to face. It's not just competition for riders and drivers Lyft has to deal with; it’s the future of transportation itself, and new AI tools that might take apps like Lyft out of the equation entirely. Lees meer
Links:
Lyft’s first ‘robotaxis’ are live in Atlanta | The Verge
Tensor robocar will be “Lyft ready” out of the factory | Engadget
Congrats, Lyft | The Verge
Lyft’s AI assistant offers drivers advice on how to make money | The Verge
Lyft gets toehold in Europe with FreeNow acquisition | The Verge
Lyft co-founders to step down as company struggles | New York Times
How Silicon Valley enshittified the internet | Decoder
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices