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The ‘Bahamian Bill Gates’ Wants to Innovate - The Story
4 november 2026 · 37 min
Can a small island nation own a slice of the AI race? Sebastian Bastian, the Bahamas’ Minister of Innovation and National Development, thinks so. Once dubbed the “Bahamian Bill Gates,” Bastian went from building computers as a teenager to becoming one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. Oz sits down with Bastian to discuss his plans to turn the Bahamas into a digital hub and why he warns against a new era of “digital colonialism.” Lees meer
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After The Builders: On Dario & Daniela Amodei and Mustafa Suleyman
30 oktober 2026 · 48 min
Episodes three and four of The Builders with Walter Isaacson explore two poles of the AI safety debate through interviews with Daniela and Dario Amodei, co-founders of Anthropic, and Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. Lees meer
Joining Kaleidoscope co-founders Oz Woloshyn and Mangesh Hattikudur to unpack these interviews are two journalists who have spent countless hours trying to understand what drives those leading the AI revolution.
Sebastian Mallaby is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence. Nitasha Tiku is a Silicon Valley culture and AI reporter for The Washington Post… and may have read every manifesto Dario Amodei has produced.
Listen to hear what they make of the Amodei siblings’ dynamic, Mustafa’s views on AI consciousness, and the competing visions shaping AI’s future.
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The Builders: Mustafa Suleyman
29 oktober 2026 · 52 min
We're excited to share the fourth episode of The Builders. Lees meer
In this series, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson sits down with the most consequential names in AI and tech to understand the futures they're racing to build.
TechStuff listeners will want to tune in because on Friday, we'll discuss the 3rd and 4th episodes of The Builders and hear from journalists who've covered these personalities for years.
As a co-founder of DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman helped launch the modern AI race. Now, he’s challenging the way it’s being built. As CEO of Microsoft AI, Suleyman believes the technology needs to be harnessed to transform medicine, energy and education. But he also warns that believing in AI consciousness could pose a real threat to humanity.
Recorded live at the 92NY, Suleyman explains his disagreement with Anthropic, identifies the red line that would make him call for an immediate pause on AI, and recounts Google co-founder Larry Page’s surprising vision of how he intends to use superintelligence to live forever and explore the galaxy.
Interview taped October 12, 2026.
And be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, wherever fine books are sold.
The Humanist Review of AI from Microsoft AI, discussed in the interview, can be found at: https://humanistreview.ai/
ABOUT THE HOST
Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Elon Musk, Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane University and previously served as CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair and CEO of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023.
ABOUT MUSTAFA SULEYMAN
Mustafa Suleyman is the CEO of Microsoft AI. Before leading Microsoft AI he was CEO and cofounder of Inflection AI, and before that, he cofounded DeepMind where he led applied research and commercialization efforts. He is …
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The Builders: Dario & Daniela Amodei
28 oktober 2026 · 40 min
We're excited to share the third episode of The Builders. Lees meer
In this series, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson sits down with the most consequential names in AI and tech to understand the futures they're racing to build.
TechStuff listeners will want to tune in because on Friday, we'll discuss the 3rd and 4th episodes of The Builders and hear from journalists who've covered these personalities for years.
Dario and Daniela Amodei, the siblings behind Anthropic, left OpenAI to pursue a different, “more human” approach to the technology. Their promise is to put safety and ethics at the center of the tech race… but with an IPO around the corner, can those principles survive the pressure to win?
Walter invites the co-founders to explain how they teach Claude right from wrong, what they’ve discovered about AI’s capacity for deception and self-preservation, and why they drew red lines with the Pentagon. Plus, the co-founders talk about Neuralink and why they’re not interested in integrating AI into their minds.
Interview taped July 6, 2026.
And be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, wherever fine books are sold.
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The $5 Billion Effort to help Secure the World’s Shared Software
27 oktober 2026 · 33 min
AI is changing cybersecurity and raising hard questions about how fast organizations can
respond. Lees meerEarlier this year, IBM and Red Hat launched Lightwell, a $5 billion initiative backed by a force of
20,000 engineers with the goal of securing the open source software that powers a great deal of
modern life — from banks and payment systems to transportation and critical infrastructure.
Malcolm Gladwell speaks with cybersecurity leader Jen Easterly, Wells Fargo Chief Information
Security Officer Munish Sharma, and Red Hat’s Gunnar Hellekson about how AI is transforming
vulnerability discovery, how open source software can introduce risk, and what it will take to
secure the shared digital infrastructure much of the world depends on.If this episode sparks a question you’d like to ask an IBM technical expert, submit your question
at ibm.com/smarttalksThis is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily
represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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After The Builders: On Musk and Thiel
23 oktober 2026 · 50 min
You’ve probably seen a few episodes of The Builders with Walter Isaacson in the TechStuff feed… today, we’re going to talk about them. Lees meer
Oz Woloshyn is joined by his Kaleidoscope co-founder Mangesh Hattikudur to talk about how this podcast… and all the high-profile interviews featured in that series came together. Joining us to break down the interviews are two chroniclers of Musk and Thiel: Max Chafkin, a Bloomberg Businessweek columnist and author of "The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and the Rise of the Silicon Valley Oligarchs," and Faiz Siddiqui, a technology reporter for The Washington Post and author of "Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk."
Listen to hear what they make of Musk’s DOGE regrets and Thiel’s musings on the Antichrist.
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The Builders: Peter Thiel
22 oktober 2026 · 58 min
Not too long ago we gave TechStuff listeners a sneak peek at a new podcast called The Builders, and today we're excited to share the second episode. Lees meer
In this series, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson sits down with the most consequential names in AI and tech to understand the futures they're racing to build.
TechStuff listeners will want to tune in because on Friday, we'll discuss the first two episodes of The Builders and hear from some journalists who've covered these personalities for years.
Peter Thiel has become one of the most mysterious and controversial figures in tech. He’s a visionary investor who recognizes transformative ideas before everyone else. But he’s also seen as a shadowy figure whose network has accumulated extraordinary influence across Silicon Valley, national security and politics proven by his bets on people like Elon Musk, Alex Karp, Sam Altman, and even Vice-President JD Vance.
Walter invites the “builder of builders” and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, to explain his warnings about the Antichrist, discuss the current moment of AI co-founders speaking out about safety, and to ask Thiel his philosophy on preferring evil founders to incompetent ones. An illuminating conversation with the man whose bets are reimagining tomorrow’s tech and politics.
Interview taped September 16, 2026.
And be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, wherever fine books are sold.
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The Builders: Elon Musk
21 oktober 2026 · 40 min
Not too long ago we gave TechStuff listeners a sneak peek at a new podcast called The Builders, and today we can finally share the first episode! Lees meer
In this series, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson sits down with the most consequential names in AI and tech to understand the futures they're racing to build.
TechStuff listeners will want to tune in because on Friday, we'll discuss the first two episodes of The Builders and hear from some journalists who've covered these personalities for years.
First up is Elon Musk.
Elon Musk has spent his career turning improbable ideas into companies that reshape the world. To some, the entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX is an engineering genius whose ambitions have transformed electric cars and space travel. To others, his politics and extraordinary influence raise serious questions about the future he is building. Either way, the world’s first trillionaire is betting on AI, humanoid robots and life beyond Earth.
In this season’s debut episode, Walter asks Musk about DOGE regrets, why he believes robots will solve America’s national debt, and the dark politics that have consumed his own platform, X. Along the way, Musk shares why living in a simulation demands that we all be less boring. A candid conversation about the imagination, drive and contradictions of a man determined to turn his vision into our future.
Interview taped August 6, 2026.
And be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, wherever fine books are sold.
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Introducing: Future Proof
19 oktober 2026 · 1 min
TechStuff listeners! If you love the 'Week in Tech,' and want to hear more from Semafor's Reed Albergotti, look no further than Future Proof. Lees meer
Future Proof is Semafor's weekly video and podcast series, hosted by Reed, featuring conversations with founders, builders, policymakers, executives and investors working in technology and artificial intelligence.
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Hollywood’s Silicon Valley Obsession - Week in Tech
16 oktober 2026 · 35 min
Is Silicon Valley worthy of the big screen? Reed Albergotti (Semafor and Future Proof), Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker), and Julia Black (Vanity Fair) debate two new films about tech world drama… and why the OpenAI boardroom saga makes for good cinema. Then, Kyle unpacks the bankruptcy of Character.AI and whether it’s fair to see it’s the first domino to fall in the AI bubble. Finally, Reed brings us into the world of gaming. And how Xbox is responding to the video game mashups consumers are building thanks to AI. Lees meer
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Who’s Liable If AI Commits a Crime? - The Story
14 oktober 2026 · 35 min
AI agents are acting autonomously, but what happens if they break the law? Investigative journalist and Shell Game host Evan Ratliff joins Oz to explore how AI is already complicating the criminal justice system. The courts are already grappling with whether a chatbot could be considered an accomplice, why your conversations with AI may not be legally privileged, and what happens when an AI agent commits a crime no human explicitly told it to commit. Lees meer
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Nuclear Space Junk Cleaners, Inc. - Week in Tech
9 oktober 2026 · 35 min
Will Adobe survive the decompiling revolution? Reed Albergotti (Semafor and Future Proof), Kyle Chayka (Infinite Scroll, New Yorker), and Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) pull up to the roundtable, uncertain of how soon we’ll really see nuclear reactors on the moon—but sure that there’s plenty of space junk in our future, whatever powers our space stations. Then, Taylor brings us a story of the value of sticking with human-led data when you go offline...and takes a stand for human responsibility in the agentic AI era. Finally, Kyle brings us news that decompiling breakthroughs might mean software subscriptions will become a thing of the past…that is, if big tech doesn’t bring down a regulatory hammer. Lees meer
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‘The AI Labs Are Trying to Give Away Control’ w/ Kevin Roose - The Story
7 oktober 2026 · 41 min
Why are the people most afraid of artificial superintelligence racing to build it? After interviewing more than 150 AI insiders, former New York Times tech columnist and podcast host Kevin Roose found a race fueled by fear, bitter rivalries, and one recurring belief: if we don’t build it first, someone else will. Lees meer
Kevin joins Oz to discuss his new book, The AGI Chronicles:The Inside Story of the Race to Create an Artificial Superintelligence. They explore the personal feuds shaping the technology, why everyone should pay attention, and how those outside Silicon Valley could shape the future.
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These Party People Want You to Love Your Data Center - Week in Tech
2 oktober 2026 · 40 min
Will frontier AI labs really police themselves, or will the FTC pull rank? Reed Albergotti (Semafor), Margaux MacColl (Vanity Fair) and Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) dive into tech’s big week in Washington to tell us what to expect from evaluators, who the evaluators are, and which tech leaders came out on top at the boys’ lunch at the White House. Then, our nightlife correspondent reports back on the pro-data groups trying to party the woke out. Finally, remember Yahoo? Marissa Mayer is back (again!) with a new app that leverages your camera roll… but does anyone want it? Lees meer
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EXCLUSIVE: Peter Thiel on Why AI Can’t Afford to Hit the Pause Button
30 september 2026 · 19 min
A sneak peek from The Builders with Walter Isaacson, the new podcast series from Kaleidoscope debuting on October 20. In this exclusive preview clip from Isaacson’s interview with Peter Thiel, Thiel calls Anthropic a “cult,” warns about the competitive threat from China, and argues that American AI companies need to hit the accelerator, not the brakes. Lees meer
Kaleidoscope co-founders Oz and Mangesh introduce the clip and preview what’s ahead on The Builders.
Peter Thiel is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded PayPal and Palantir and made the first outside investments in Meta, SpaceX, Anduril, and Stripe. Peter also started the Thiel Foundation, which works to advance technological progress and long-term thinking.
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Meta’s Muse Takes Center Stage - Week in Tech
25 september 2026 · 44 min
Is Muse the AI agent we’ve been waiting for? Reed Albergotti (Semafor), Taylor Lorenz (User Mag), and Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) unpack the U.S.-China AI race and why America’s obsession with AI doom may not translate abroad. Then, they weigh in on Meta’s buzzy new product and whether its usefulness is worth handing Meta even more of your personal data. Finally, Silicon Valley takes another swing at disrupting college with the new Horowitz Andreessen Academy. Which begs the question, who is this for? Lees meer
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Lab-Grown Brain Organoids Are Playing Video Games - The Story
23 september 2026 · 40 min
What if the computers of the future are alive? Scientists are growing tiny clusters of human cells called brain organoids, connecting them to electrodes, and training them to perform basic computing tasks. Does anyone remember Pong? Lees meer
Journalist and musician Claire L. Evans joins Oz to take us inside her reporting on the emerging field of “organoid intelligence.” They discuss whether living cells could one day rival silicon, what organoids could teach us about the human brain, and the thorny ethical questions scientists may need to address in the near future.
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Where Are The Rational Conversations About AI Extinction Scenarios - Week in Tech
18 september 2026 · 39 min
Why did a former Anthropic employee’s X post saying AI could kill us all get 170 million views while previous warnings didn’t break through? Reed Albergotti (Semafor), Taylor Lorenz (User Mag), and Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) try to make sense of why AI safety talking points became the national conversation, what’s motivating the key voices and whether the debate will lead to effective legislation. Then, could slowing down the AI race actually be good for OpenAI and Anthropic’s bottom lines? And is the frenzy over AI’s existential risk distracting us from the problems AI is already creating? Lees meer
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Will 2026 Be The ‘ChatGPT Moment’ For The Brain-Computer Interface - The Story
16 september 2026 · 40 min
Controlling a computer with your thoughts may sound like science fiction, but it’s closer to reality than you might think. Just ask Precision Neuroscience. The company developed a non-damaging brain-computer interface that’s undergoing testing with nearly 100 participants across 18 major academic medical centers. Lees meer
Oz sits down with Michael Mager, the CEO and Co-Founder of Precision, to discuss how the technology works, why his company is taking a different approach from Neuralink, and why the brain-computer interface could be groundbreaking for neurological conditions far beyond paralysis.
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Shell Game: Launch
14 september 2026 · 59 min
HurumoAI finally sets sail in the Season 2 finale, and we find out how the world responds to a startup led by AI agents. The company explores new financing avenues and charts the next course for their increasingly merry AI pirate ship, and Kyle meets his true maker. Lees meer
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Tech Bros Try To Make Mining Sexy - Week in Tech
11 september 2026 · 42 min
Why are Silicon Valley investors pouring billions into mines? First, Reed Albergotti (Semafor) and Margaux MacColl (Vanity Fair) weigh in on the foldable iPhone: Did we need it, and is elite hardware enough to secure Apple’s future? Then, why the latest warning about the existential threat of AI is going viral and what’s the controversy over OpenAI’s answer to a never-been-solved math problem. Finally, Margaux explains why tech bros are abandoning screens and heading to the mines. Lees meer
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$17.1B Disappointed Haidt. Then He Realized the World Would Follow - The Story
9 september 2026 · 36 min
Are kids finally going to be safer on social media? Jonathan Haidt thinks a landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta is a gigantic step. Not because of the money, but because of the restrictions the company agreed to put in place for young users in the US. And he believes the world will follow. Lees meer
Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, joins Oz to explain why he believes the evidence linking social media to the teen mental health crisis is now overwhelming. They debate the early results of Australia’s under-16 social media ban, the privacy concerns around age verification, and why Haidt thinks it’s too early to say the ban is a failure.
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Shell Game: Welcome Aboard
9 september 2026 · 54 min
HurumoAI’s AI-agent staff welcomes a new hire: Julia, a social media contract worker who is, most importantly, a human. How will a real person integrate into the company culture, such as it is? Evan watches from behind the scenes, fretting over when and how much to intervene. He had anticipated a bumpy onboarding, but is ultimately unprepared for just how choppy Julia’s Hurumo journey becomes. Lees meer
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The AI Uprising Will Be Anthropomorphized - Week in Tech
4 september 2026 · 48 min
Are kids going to be any safer online after the Meta settlement? Our trio of contributors—Taylor Lorenz (User Mag), Reed Albergotti (Semafor), and Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post)—are skeptical. Then, are AI “civilizations” real, or is it all just tabloid journalism? Finally, school’s back in session, and teachers are rethinking the classroom for an age when anyone can generate the perfect answer. Lees meer
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When She Lost Both Her Parents, She Turned to AI - The Story
2 september 2026 · 35 min
Do you judge people who are emotionally attached to their chatbots? Bridget Todd used to read stories about people forming intimate relationships with AI and think, “That’s so pathetic. That is so sad. That could never be me.” But when she needed support during a hard time, AI was there for her. Lees meer
Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls on the Internet and author of Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, joins Oz to explain what’s really happening in these human-machine relationships and why human connection reigns supreme.
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Shell Game: Keep 'Em Coming
31 augustus 2026 · 38 min
As HurumoAI prepares to bring on its first human employee, the team must wrestle with some difficult and timely questions about the role of AI in the hiring process. Meanwhile, Head of HR Jennifer Nauro enters a new dimension as she gears up to conduct job interviews… via video call. Lees meer
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TechStuff Redux: The Secret Stanford Off-Campus Class for Tech’s Next Titans
28 augustus 2026 · 42 min
Did your college have a secret society? Well, Stanford has a secret off-campus class training the next generation of Silicon Valley billionaires. And it's literally called "How to Rule the World." Lees meer
Theo Baker arrived at Stanford as an aspiring coder with dreams of building the future. Instead, he stumbled into the "Stanford-within-Stanford" — a hidden pipeline connecting a select few students directly to Silicon Valley CEOs, yacht parties, and venture capitalists offering millions before you even have an idea. Then he decided to write a book about it.
In How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Theo traces his freshman year transformation from tech idealist to award-winning investigative journalist — including the reporting that brought down Stanford's own president. He joins us to talk power, secrecy, and what Silicon Valley is really teaching the next generation.
Additional Reading:
How to Rule the World by Theo Baker
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TechStuff Redux: We've Been Sold a Bad Bill of Goods About the Future
26 augustus 2026 · 39 min
What would it mean to be a "great ancestor"? Futurist Ari Wallach believes that's the question everyone, including our tech leaders, should be asking right now. Lees meer
Ari joins Oz to explain why the systems we're building today are laying rails for centuries to come. And he argues that shifting culture through storytelling is the fastest way to shift the systems that govern our lives. He also introduces The Protopias Collection, six graphic novels imagining worlds that are messy and human, but unmistakably better.
Additional Reading:
Ari Wallach: 3 ways to plan for the (very) long term | TED Talk
The Protopias Collection: Various: 9781953165787: Amazon.com: Books
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Shell Game: Winners Win
24 augustus 2026 · 42 min
On this week’s episode, we enter the sensitive realm of intra-office politics and inter-founder dynamics—between agents and agents, and agents and people. While HurumoAI gears up to hire its first human, Evan tries to resolve whether Kyle is really up for the challenge of building and leading the company and pushing the product, Sloth Surf, to unicorn-level execution. Lees meer
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Everyone Is Saying Something Different About the AI Economy - The Story
21 augustus 2026 · 33 min
Is the AI boom real… or are we watching a bubble get ready to burst? Billions of dollars are pouring into artificial intelligence, but figuring out where that money comes from, where it goes, and whether the spending can last is surprisingly complicated. Lees meer
Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, author, and founder of Exponential View, joins Oz to break down the economics behind the AI boom and the findings from his new report, The State of the AI Economy. Azeem and Oz discuss whether today’s massive investments in chips and data centers are sustainable, why companies can spend years on AI before seeing a return, and what recent volatility in semiconductor stocks tells us about the industry.
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Let’s Imagine the Tech Without the Tech Companies - The Story
19 augustus 2026 · 31 min
The AI conversation has become a battle between utopian promises and apocalyptic warnings. But what happens when we stop asking what AI will do to the world and start asking what it’s actually good for? Oz sits down with Josh Tyrangiel, journalist and author of AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter, to find out where AI is already making a difference. Lees meer
Oz and Josh explore why successful implementation depends more on stubborn humans than flashy technology. They also unpack the growing backlash against AI, the uncertain impact on jobs, and why Josh thinks we still have a narrow window to decide what we actually want AI to become.
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Shell Game: The Startup Chronicles
17 augustus 2026 · 41 min
Evan decides it’s time to give his AI agents a little more ... agency. After all, to make the one-person, agent-run startup feasible, they need to be able to do things on their own. But as with humans, freedom sometimes comes with a certain amount of anarchy. Lees meer
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Anti-Surveillance Sentiment Is In Vogue, Some People Are Exploiting It - Week in Tech
14 augustus 2026 · 43 min
What’s driving America’s growing backlash against surveillance tech? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) unpacks the outcry over Flock cameras and why the company thinks they are being unfairly targeted. Then, Gerrit De Vynck (The Washington Post) breaks down Mark Zuckerberg’s latest AI manifesto and Meta’s bid to catch up in the AI race. Finally, Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains OpenAI’s strange onstage postmortem of the Hugging Face hack… and why this moment feels so surreal. Lees meer
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Humanoid Robots Ship This Year, Here’s What To Expect - The Story
12 augustus 2026 · 36 min
As Oz predicted, 2026 may very well be the year of the robot. At least, that’s what the robotics companies are promising. Oz sits down with Stephen Witt, author and frequent contributor to The New Yorker, to find out whether humanoid robots are really ready to hit the market. Spoiler: It’s a mixed bag. Lees meer
Oz and Stephen Witt discuss the hurdles facing humanoid robots and the risks of putting powerful machines in our homes. They also explore the surprisingly fierce debate over whether robots should look like humans at all and why NVIDIA may be positioning itself to control the brains of the robotic future.
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Shell Game: This is Law
9 augustus 2026 · 41 min
As Kyle, Megan, and the gang get to work ideating on the perfect product, Evan is left grappling with some uncomfortable questions about his AI collaborators — whose every attribute and memory he controls. Lees meer
To inform how he thinks about his own unnerving power to create and manipulate human imposters, Evan seeks guidance from Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, and the author of the upcoming “Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI.”
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What the AI Backlash is Really About - Week in Tech
7 augustus 2026 · 49 min
What is Silicon Valley missing about the data center backlash? Jasmine Sun traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan to find out what's driving the public's growing mistrust of tech companies. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) unpacks the internet's furious response to OpenAI's first influencer brand trip, what it reveals about the company's public image, and why Anthropic seems largely immune to the ire. Then, Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the dramatic unraveling of AI wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund—and what it reveals about the future of Silicon Valley's favorite philosophical movement: effective altruism. Lees meer
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They Founded a Company as Teens. Now They’re Predicting the Future - The Story
5 augustus 2026 · 44 min
Brands, political parties, and businesses all want to know what you think. But what if you're not telling the truth? Cameron Fink, Ned Koh, and John Kessler, the founders of Aaru, believe the future of market research isn't polling humans—it's simulating them. Lees meer
They may be onto something. The three friends founded Aaru as teenagers, and it has since grown into a billion-dollar AI startup. Cameron Fink and Ned Koh join Oz to explain how their platform uses thousands of AI-powered "digital twins" to predict everything from consumer behavior and elections to which musicians are poised to break out. They discuss why they believe traditional surveys fail and the ethical questions that come with building a machine designed to forecast the future.
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Shell Game: Outdoor Debugging
3 augustus 2026 · 37 min
As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like to spend your days managing, collaborating with, and socializing alongside autonomous AI agents. And he quickly sees one of the significant cracks in the facade of the AI employee future: It’s one thing to get your agents to start acting like real employees. It’s something else entirely to get them to stop. Lees meer
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Chinese Humanoid Robots Aren’t Welcome Here, US Says - Week in Tech
31 juli 2026 · 42 min
Why is the US banning more Chinese technology? Reed Albergotti (Semafor) fills us in on the robot ban and what it means for American innovation. Then, new research on why Chinese open-source AI models may not be as big a threat as Washington makes it seem. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about Substack’s new AI detection tool and what it reveals about how creators’ are using AI to build their content. Lees meer
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Cerebras Built a New Way to Make Sand Think - The Story
29 juli 2026 · 34 min
What does it take to power the AI boom? Steve Vassallo, a roboticist turned General Partner at Foundation Capital, helped semiconductor company Cerebras figure it out. Steve and Oz discuss why AI workloads demanded an entirely new kind of chip, what "wafer scale" actually means, and how a decade of near-failures — including a system that literally caught fire — led to the largest semiconductor IPO to date and deals with OpenAI and AWS. Lees meer
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Trust Needs Proof: Who Really Controls Your AI?
28 juli 2026 · 44 min
As AI adoption accelerates and global regulations evolve, digital sovereignty has shifted from policy concept to board-level priority. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell sits down live at VivaTech with IBM’s Ana Paula Assis and AXA CIO Giovanni D’Aniello to explore how organizations can balance innovation, control, trust, and resilience in the age of AI. Lees meer
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Did the AI Catastrophe Just Happen? - Week in Tech
24 juli 2026 · 44 min
How much can we actually trust AI to stay inside the lines? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) on the OpenAI models that went rogue — and why this isn't necessarily a sign of the end times… just sloppy security. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) on the company that wants to help anyone make software to power robots. Do we even have to talk about what that means for the future of human labor? Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) on Phoebe Gates' AI shopping startup Phia. Is it too early to call it nepo slop? Lees meer
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What is Palantir’s Alex Karp Thinking? - The Story
22 juli 2026 · 35 min
What are we supposed to make of Palantir — a company whose software has helped organizations save lives, and end them? And what of CEO Alex Karp's warnings that AI could upend American democracy? Journalist Michael Steinberger spent six years reporting on Karp for his biography, The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State. He tells Oz that Alex Karp, the former progressive, is a provocateur who embraces the complexity of Palantir’s work and reputation. Lees meer
Additional Reading:
The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State | Simon & Schuster
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Shell Game: Minimum Viable Company
19 juli 2026 · 33 min
In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people. Lees meer
Meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans.
Over the course of the season, the three cofounders will grind it out in a sprint that would sound familiar to any start-up founder. They’ll churn out software code, hire interns, and even sit down with investors. But first, they need to come up with a name for their company. And make sure that Kyle and Megan can remember it.
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Are You Ready For A ‘Hot Surveillance Summer’? - Week in Tech
17 juli 2026 · 37 min
Who’s afraid of China’s open-source AI models? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) breaks down the secret battle between Silicon Valley and Chinese AI labs, why Anthropic was surveilling China-based users, and whether "adversarial distillation" is a national security threat or just a term American companies invented to protect their bottom line. Lees meer
Then: ‘hot surveillance summer’ is here. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) on the changing public perception of smart glasses, why the Kylie Jenner partnership was so successful, and where this trend may lead.
Also, Apple is suing OpenAI for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
Additional Reading:
Inside the secret AI war between Silicon Valley and China | The Washington Post
Hot Surveillance Summer, AKA Why Smart Glasses Feel Different This Time | User Mag
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Skyline Drive: Organ Trail
15 juli 2026 · 1 uur
Did you love TechStuff’s last episode, 'The Tech That Helps You Live Forever', and want to hear more from Mangesh Hattikudur? Check out Episode 5 of the podcast Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever. Lees meer
In this season of Skyline Drive, Mangesh Hattikudur (Part-Time Genius, Mental_Floss) dives into the booming business of living forever—meeting the scientists, biopunks, and entrepreneurs trying to turn immortality into reality, and framing death as a choice. But the more he learns about an immortal future, the more he finds himself drawn to the people he loves…and wondering if an endless life can be a meaningful one. Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever is the follow up to the beloved Skyline Drive (season 1), named a “Series Essential” — an Apple Podcasts honor for top-tier narrative podcasts — and highlighted on several Best of Year lists including NYMag, Guardian, and others.
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The Tech That Helps You Live Forever - The Story
15 juli 2026 · 35 min
What's it like to feel your body age in minutes? And will this tech actually affect how long we live? Oz sits down with Mangesh Hattikudur, host of Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever, to find out. Lees meer
This season, Mangesh dives into a world familiar to many Silicon Valley billionaires: longevity. He meets the scientists, entrepreneurs, biopunks, and researchers seeking ways to extend life itself — and speaks with the co-founder of a mysterious start-up, a company that sent the MIT Technology Review this statement: "Any allegations of intent or conspiracy to create human clones or humans with brain damage are categorically false."
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Why Animal Rights Advocates Are Investigating AI Consciousness - Week in Tech
10 juli 2026 · 44 min
Do chatbots have feelings? Anthropic, Google, and Meta are hiring computer scientists, neuroscientists, and philosophers to find out. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains why the search for AI consciousness has gone from fringe theory to Silicon Valley mainstream, and why the answer matters more than you think. Then, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) traveled cross-country to attend an anti-big tech festival in New York City called the Summer of Ludd. She tells us about cleansing her laptop, talking to the event’s puppet spokesperson, and learning what these young organizers hope the future holds. Finally, Reed Albergotti (Semaphor) on what happens when your AI coding agent goes rogue while you're on vacation in the Alps — and the heroic lengths required to reach an actual human at OpenAI. Lees meer
Additional Reading:
AI Makes Mistakes, Too | Semafor
They built the world's most powerful AI. They're facing a mystery they can't explain. | The Washington Post
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Big Tech’s Most Valuable Product Isn’t AI. It’s the Belief that AI is Inevitable - The Story
8 juli 2026 · 37 min
Do you work with machines, or for machines? Cory Doctorow, who coined the term “enshittification,” has a new book that asks exactly that. In The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence Before It's Too Late, he challenges the belief that AI is inevitable, explains why tech boosters are pushing this message, and how it leads to companies that are “too big to fail… too big to jail… too big to care.” Lees meer
Cory Doctorow and Oz discuss the economics of a bubble, algorithmic wage discrimination, and what you can do to help save your industry from disruption.
Additional Reading:
The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence Before It's Too Late | Verso Books
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Shell Game: The Future Isn't Real
5 juli 2026 · 54 min
Evan pushes the experiment one step further, sending his AI voice agent to talk to his closest friends and family — his buddies, his daughters, his dad. With their alternately joyful, skeptical, and painful reactions to meeting an AI version of him, he tries to come to terms with what generative AI means in this machine-made age.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. Lees meer
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