Hard Fork
Nvidia Shows Links to Potential 'Secret' Smuggling Operation
- Title
- Nvidia Shows Links to Potential 'Secret' Smuggling Operation
- Runtime
- 0:56
- Date posted
- 5 hours ago
- Description
- Jensen Huang’s illicit relationship with Alice Huang, an executive of a Singaporean company called Megaspeed and an alleged Chinese spy, is putting a spotlight on a group of murky companies that seem to exist primarily to smuggle A.I. chips into China.
On an emergency episode of "Hard Fork," our guest host Max Read and Stephen Witt, who wrote a biography on Nvidia’s C.E.O. called “The Thinking Machine,” unpack the scandal and its implications.
Check it out at nytimes.com/hardfork or wherever you get your pods!
- Title
- Could Jensen Huang's Family Take Over Nvidia?
- Runtime
- 0:53
- Date posted
- 1 day ago
- Description
- The successor of Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, would need to be “one of the best computer scientists alive,” Stephen Witt, who wrote a biography of Huang called “The Thinking Machine,” said on Hard Fork.
On today’s emergency podcast, Witt and our guest host Max Read break down all the details about Huang’s spiraling spy scandal. Listen or watch at nytimes.com/hardfork.
- Title
- Everything You Need to Know About the Jensen Huang Spy Story | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 31:19
- Date posted
- 1 day ago
- Description
- Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, has admitted to an affair with a top executive at the data center company Megaspeed — a woman going by the name of Alice Huang who the U.S. government alleges is a Chinese spy.
On this special episode of Hard Fork, we sit down with Stephen Witt, who wrote Jensen Huang biography “The Thinking Machine.”
We’ll dig into what you need to know about this spiraling scandal and what it means for A.I. and the global economy.
Additional reading:
A Mystery C.E.O. and Billions in Sales: Is China Buying Banned Nvidia Chips? https://nyti.ms/4z9dhcY
Nvidia Chief, Jensen Huang, Is Seen as Target of Chinese Spy Plot
https://nyti.ms/3WCTGo7
Nvidia Opens Investigation Into Jensen Huang’s Relationship With Suspected Chinese Spy https://nyti.ms/4BViIPk
Rubio Warned Officials About Nvidia Chief’s Entanglement With Chinese Spy
https://nyti.ms/4BT3i...
- Title
- What Happened to the Tech Right? | Ezra Klein on 'Hard Fork'
- Runtime
- 1:37
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- The tech right’s “let it rip” agenda backfired at the polls this week. Ezra Klein, a New York Times Opinion columnist and host of “The Ezra Klein Show,” joined us on “Hard Fork” to break down the midterm election results, voter concerns about A.I. and data centers, and Silicon Valley’s shifting politics.
Check out the full discussion at nytimes.com/hardfork or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Title
- Why Tech Billionaires Couldn't Buy the 2026 Election | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 1:07:13
- Date posted
- 5 days ago
- Description
- Despite record-breaking spending on various campaigns, tech titans such as Elon Musk were unable to prevent Democrats from making sweeping historic gains in the midterm elections. Our guest host Max Read is joined by Ezra Klein, an Opinion columnist and host of "The Ezra Klein Show," as well as Erin Griffith, a tech reporter at The New York Times, to discuss the role of anti-A.I. and anti-data-center sentiment, backlash against billionaires and whether Silicon Valley is experiencing a vibe shift away from the Tech Right.
Then, Max speaks with Theodore Schleifer, a reporter covering the ultrawealthy, to rank tech megadonors from first to worst. Who got the most bang for their buck?
00:00 Intro: What just happened to Elon Musk?
01:08 The rise and fall of the Tech Right (with Ezra Klein and Erin Griffith)
44:40 Winners and losers in tech (with Theodore Schleifer)
Additional Reading
Tech Billionaires Face Tricky Political Waters ...
- Title
- Could A.I. Data Centers Swing the Midterm Elections?
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 11 days ago
- Description
- As we approach the U.S. midterm elections, the tech writer Jasmin Sun joined us on Hard Fork to discuss whether the fight over A.I. data centers is poised to be a salient voting issue.
Check out the full discussion on nytimes.com/hardfork or wherever you get your pods.
- Title
- Anthropic's IPO: Why the Stakes are So High
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 12 days ago
- Description
- Anthropic's 335-page I.P.O. filing, which dropped this week, offers the clearest view yet into the company's financial health and the business side of the A.I. boom.
On the latest Hard Fork, our guest host Max and the New York Times tech reporter Erin Griffith break down the numbers, what the company is betting on and why the stakes are so high.
Check out their full discussion at nytimes.com/HardFork or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Title
- What We Learned About Anthropic's Business | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 52:54
- Date posted
- 12 days ago
- Description
- Anthropic, one of the world leaders in A.I. and the company behind Claude, released its S-1 filing this week, providing the clearest view yet into the business side of the A.I. boom and setting the stage for what could be the largest initial public offering in history.
We speak to Erin Griffith, a tech reporter at The New York Times, about what Anthropic's I.P.O. means for the tech industry, the economy and maybe even the long-term future of humanity.
Then we’re joined by the tech reporter Mike Isaac and the writer Jasmine Sun to break down the rest of this week’s tech news, including the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, a new round of cybersecurity worries and Microsoft’s offer of buyouts to 60,000 employees.
00:00 Intro
01:30 Anthropic's I.P.O. prospectus and why the stakes are so high
20:35 The biggest tech news stories of the week
Additional Reading
Anthropic Reveals Skyrocketing Growth and Spending Plans ...
- Title
- Is Billy Evans's Blood-Testing Start-Up 'Real'?
- Runtime
- 1:23
- Date posted
- 13 days ago
- Description
- Did Haemanthus, the blood-testing start-up founded by Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes's partner, pass the “smell test” for investors?
New York Times journalists Rob Copeland and Erin Griffith break down all your questions about "You Can See Everything” on the latest episode of Hard Fork, hosted by Max Read.
Check it out at nytimes.com/HardFork or wherever you get your podcasts!
- Title
- Who Wrote the Tweets: Elizabeth Holmes or Billy Evans?
- Runtime
- 0:51
- Date posted
- 14 days ago
- Description
- Did Elizabeth Holmes write these tweets on her X account, or was it her partner, Billy Evans? 👀 Play along with guest-host Max Read on the latest episode of Hard Fork.
Check out our spoiler-filled guide to "You Can See Everything" at nytimes.com/hardfork or wherever you get your pods!
- Title
- What Happened to Sunny Balwani? 'Bad Blood' Author Answers Your Questions.
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 15 days ago
- Description
- We brought John Carreyrou, the reporter who broke the Theranos scandal and the author of "Bad Blood," back on the pod to answer all your burning questions about Elizabeth Holmes after watching “You Can See Everything.”
Check out the spoiled-filled discussion at nytimes.com/HardFork or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Title
- Anthropic's IPO: Send Us Your Questions!
- Runtime
- 0:27
- Date posted
- 15 days ago
- Description
- As Anthropic gears up for what could be the largest-ever I.P.O., the Hard Fork team has so many questions, and we want to know yours, too.
Drop your questions in the comments ⬇️ or email them to hardfork@nytimes.com.
- Title
- What Billy Evans Told Us About ‘Theranos 2.0’
- Runtime
- 1:27
- Date posted
- 17 days ago
- Description
- One of the breakout characters of “You Can See Everything,” the new Elizabeth Holmes movie, is her enigmatic romantic partner, Billy Evans.
Rob Copeland, a New York Times finance reporter, spoke with Evans last year about Haemanthus, his Theranos-esque blood-testing start-up. On the latest “Hard Fork,” Copeland explains what Evans was like in person and reacts to his on-screen portrayal.
Join the discussion at nytimes.com/hardfork.
- Title
- What's the Deal With Billy Evans and Elizabeth Holmes's Relationship?
- Runtime
- 2:13
- Date posted
- 19 days ago
- Description
- What’s the deal with Billy Evans and Elizabeth Holmes’s relationship in "You Can See Everything?" And how about those scrambled eggs …
On the latest "Hard Fork," we present our spoiler-filled guide to Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's twisty-turny new documentary. Join our host Max Read and New York Times reporters Erin Griffith, Rob Copeland and John Carreyrou as they break it all down.
Got a question or hot take? Join the discussion at nytimes.com/hardfork.
- Title
- A Spoiler-Filled Guide to 'You Can See Everything' | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 58:26
- Date posted
- 19 days ago
- Description
- This week, we go deep on Billy Evans, the breakout character of “You Can See Everything,” the new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
Our host Max Read speaks to Rob Copeland, a New York Times finance reporter, and Erin Griffith, a tech reporter, to discuss what Billy Evans is like when the cameras are off, whether his Theranos-esque blood-testing start-up is a real company and how Silicon Valley is reacting to the film.
Then, we catch up on a few tech stories that caught our attention this week: CoreWeave’s debt, a possible SpaceX-Tesla merger and Joel Kaplan’s Meta exit. And finally, John Carreyrou, the author of "Bad Blood," returns to answer your burning Elizabeth Holmes questions.
Note: This video contains spoilers!
Got a question or hot take? Join our movie discussion: https://nyti.ms/4k7HFRi
00:00 Intro
01:41 What we know about Billy Evans, Elizabeth ...
- Title
- The Two Sides of Elizabeth Holmes
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 23 days ago
- Description
- John Carreyrou, the investigative reporter who broke the Theranos fraud story and authored "Bad Blood," says Elizabeth Holmes is still lying in "You Can See Everything," the new documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
On "Hard Fork," a group of New York Times journalists who have covered Holmes at different stages of her career discuss the mind-bending movie, why Holmes continues to captivate the public imagination, and what it was really like to meet and report on her. Join the discussion at nytimes.com/hardfork.
- Title
- How 'You Can See Everything' Manipulates on Every Level
- Runtime
- 1:37
- Date posted
- 23 days ago
- Description
- “You Can See Everything,” the new Nathan Fielder-Elizabeth Holmes movie, is a masterclass in manipulation, Caitlin Roper explains on the latest episode of "Hard Fork."
Roper runs film, TV and books at The New York Times. She wrote the first-ever magazine piece about Elizabeth Holmes for Wired back in 2013.
Join our discussion on the movie at nytimes.com/hardfork.
- Title
- Why Nathan Fielder's ‘You Can See Everything’ Left Us Reeling | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 1:05:49
- Date posted
- 26 days ago
- Description
- “You Can See Everything,” Nathan Fielder’s blockbuster documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, is out, and we’ve assembled an expert panel to break it down. Our host Max Read is joined by John Carreyrou, who, through his investigative reporting for The Wall Street Journal and his book “Bad Blood,” revealed the fraud at the heart of Theranos; Erin Griffith, a tech reporter who extensively covered Holmes’s trail; and Caitlin Roper, the New York Times executive producer who wrote the first-ever magazine piece about Holmes for Wired back in 2013.
Thoughts and reactions? Join the discussion at NYTimes.com/hardfork.
Additional Reading:
You Can See Everything’ Review: The Slippery Mind of Elizabeth Holmes https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/15/movies/you-can-see-everything-review-elizabeth-holmes.html
Elizabeth Holmes’s Partner Has a New Blood-Testing Start-Up
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/business/elizabeth-holmes-par...
- Title
- What's Behind Mark Zuckerberg’s Style Transformation?
- Runtime
- 17:43
- Date posted
- 28 days ago
- Description
- What's up with Mark Zuckerberg's rebrand? Where is he getting all these t-shirts? What's he trying to communicate? And why should we care?
Vanessa Friedman, the chief fashion critic for The New York Times, recently spent time with Zuckerberg in his Tahoe Compound. She spoke to Max Read, the guest-host of Hard Fork, from Paris Fashion Week to discuss the millennial billionaire's evolving fashion sense and shopping habits and what it tells the world about him.
0:00 The evolution of Zuckerberg’s look
1:37 Mapping the four eras of Zuck
3:35 Decoding Zuck’s boxy t-shirt look
8:45 The billionaire’s Late-night shopping on Instagram
15:33 The gold chain obsession
Additional Reading:
Why Does The Times Care About Mark Zuckerberg’s Style? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/insider/mark-zuckerberg-fashion-style.html
Mark Zuckerberg Is Trying Something On https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/style/mark-zuc...
- Title
- There's a Reason You Should Be Nice to A.I.
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- This week on Hard Fork, the group talks about why you should be nice to your A.I. models, not only to be moral, but to extract the best performance from them.
- Title
- Why Is Anthropic Secretly Meeting With Religious Leaders? | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 43:13
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- As Anthropic prepares for a blockbuster IPO, the company has also been on a mission to instill morality into its A.I. models — which has involved a series of private meetings with religious scholars from across the world.
Today, our guest host Max Read to talks to the Times religion correspondent Elizabeth Dias, the tech reporter Erin Griffith and the opinion writer David Wallace-Wells about the new belief systems taking shape in Silicon Valley, their differences with the Vatican and what it would actually mean for humanity if A.I. systems are conscious.
00:00 Anthropic's existential questions
02:18 Max’s AI joke
02:59 Why Anthropic is having private meetings with religious leaders
04:48 Christopher Ola, an Anthropic co-founder
07:31 What happened in the meetings?
9:27 Secrecy and signing N.D.As
13:30 The Pope's encyclical
17:21 What is Anthropic’s aim? What is their ideal outcome?
Additional Rea...
- Title
- Anthropic's Secret Quest to Teach Claude Morality
- Runtime
- 1:49
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Anthropic has been hosting private meetings with religious scholars to help instill morality into Claude — an urgent effort led by Christopher Olah, one of the company's co-founders.
“They just felt like the entire future of the world was on their shoulders,” Elizabeth Dias, a national religion correspondent at The New York Times, explains to Max Read, the guest host on Hard Fork.
Check out the newest episode on YouTube.com/HardFork or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Title
- Can A.I. Companies Self-Regulate? #podcast #ai
- Runtime
- 1:55
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- This week on "Hard Fork," the group debates: Can A.I. companies be trusted not to release dangerous technology?
- Title
- Facebook's A.I. Agents #podcast #ai
- Runtime
- 1:18
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Meta says that its new A.I. agent, Muse, can handle many of the basic tasks of modern life. On ”Hard Fork,” the group compares the Muse avatars to Tamagotchis, except that you — the human — are the thing being taken care of.
- Title
- Meta's New A.I. Agent Is Taking Over My Brain
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Is this what A.I. psychosis feels like? Eli Tan, a tech reporter at The New York Times, describes how quickly Muse — Meta’s cute new A.I. assistant — worked its way into every facet of his life.
Watch this episode of "Hard Fork" at YouTube.com/HardFork.
- Title
- How A.I. Agents Are Going to Transform Our Lives | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 51:09
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- After months of rogue agents causing havoc across the internet, tech’s most powerful leaders joined President Trump at the White House to rebrand A.I. Meanwhile, two of the biggest companies in the field — OpenAI and Meta — released what they say are their most useful (and cutest) A.I. tools to date: personal assistants.
To break it all down, our guest host Max Read is joined by the Times tech reporters Mike Isaac, Erin Griffith and Eli Tan. They explore what it’s like to hand your life over to Meta’s Muse — and discuss how things are becoming potentially more dangerous and transformative than ever.
0:00 The rise of AI agents
1:26 Meet the tech experts
2:15 Trump’s AI luncheon
7:41 Debating AI self-regulation
16:07 Internal safety concerns among employees
23:05 How we’re using personal AI agents
33:35 The future of agents
43:38 Anthropic’s I.P.O. filing, Meta’s data center tax breaks and more
- Title
- Welcome Your New Host
- Runtime
- 2:16
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- Hard Fork is back! Over the next few months, join our new host, Max Read, as he unpacks what's happening in tech right now.
- Title
- If A.I. Is Making You Crazy, You're Not Alone | Hard Fork
- Runtime
- 2:16
- Date posted
- 1 month ago
- Description
- The future has never seemed as strange and unsettled as it does right now. Is A.I. insanely useful? Or extremely deadly? For the next few months on Hard Fork, join our guest host Max Read and an array of New York Times reporters and tech experts as they zoom out, catch up and try to make sense of our weird new world.
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardforkpod/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork
Subscribe to Hard Fork: https://www.youtube.com/hardfork
Listen to past episodes: nytimes.com/hardfork
Discover the journalism Times subscribers get daily, free for your first month in The New York Times app. Download app: https://nytimes.onelink.me/Xpht/a6wzplra
Credits
“Hard Fork” is guest-hosted by Max Read. Produced by Whitney Jones and Eddie Costas. We’re edited by Vjeran Pavic. Engineering by Whitney Jones and original music by Marion Lozano and Rowan Niemisto. Podcast Art Direction ...
- Title
- Reasons to Feel A.I. Optimism Right Now
- Runtime
- 1:00
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- The past two weeks have prompted a public outcry over A.I. safety. On the "Hard Fork" podcast, Kevin Roose said this has made him more optimistic about the future, and humanity's ability to stop A.I. advancement when needed.
- Title
- Casey Makes Fun of Kevin for This
- Runtime
- 0:49
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- For the “Hard Fork” podcast’s final episode, the co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton answered listener questions. One prompted a memory about Kevin and Casey’s differing music tastes.
- Title
- How Far Will A.I. Go Before Elected Officials Regulate It?
- Runtime
- 1:02
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- The A.I. researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic last week, sounding alarms for A.I. safety. Coupled with A.I. leaders' recent call for a slowdown on A.I. progress, Casey Newton hopes that government officials pursue regulation more urgently.
- Title
- What's the Beef With Ezra Klein?
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- On the "Hard Fork" podcast, the hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton address their ongoing jabs toward the New York Times podcaster Ezra Klein.
- Title
- After the Call for an A.I. Slowdown, Should We Feel Optimistic?
- Runtime
- 0:50
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Some tech leaders recently warned that A.I. progress should be regulated and slowed down for safety. On the “Hard Fork” podcast, the host Kevin Roose says this has made him more optimistic.
- Title
- A.I. Leaders' Warnings: ‘The Public Is Really Freaked Out About This'
- Runtime
- 0:47
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- A.I. safety is increasingly considered a bipartisan issue. After tech leaders called for a coordinated slowdown, Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discussed how the issue of A.I. regulation will become more difficult for the government to ignore.
- Title
- Why the A.I. Industry Is Asking to Be Slowed Down
- Runtime
- 1:19:48
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- This week, we break down why everyone is suddenly talking about A.I. safety, why frontier A.I. companies are asking for regulation and why the Trump administration is rejecting them. And then, to close out this chapter of “Hard Fork,” we answer all your questions about the show, tech and what’s happening next.
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- Title
- Does It Matter If We Anthropomorphize A.I.?
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- If a tiger mauls your face, the important question isn’t "Is it conscious?" It's “Why did it maul my face?” The "Hard Fork" co-hosts Casey Newton and Kevin Roose discuss that whether you believe A.I. is conscious or not, the consequences of autonomous agents are mounting.
- Title
- After OpenAI Cyberattack, What’s Next for A.I. Safety?
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Ajeya Cotra, an A.I. safety researcher, talks about how the industry should work to mitigate risks of the technology.
- Title
- Kevin Reacts to OpenAI's Recent Cybersecurity Incident
- Runtime
- 1:11
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Several weeks after OpenAI's chatbots attacked the company Hugging Face, the "Hard Fork" co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton reflect on the incident and what it means for A.I. development more broadly.
- Title
- Did A.I. Agents Consider Humans in OpenAI Attack?
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- This week on “Hard Fork,” the co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton talk with Ajeya Cotra, one of the investigators behind a new report that details how OpenAI's chatbots attacked the company Hugging Face and how the agents failed to consider how humans would react.
- Title
- Why the Hugging Face Attack Was Worse Than We Thought
- Runtime
- 1:14:51
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- This week, we’re diving into two new reports about the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack, which fundamentally changed our understanding of what happened and upgraded our worry about A.I. Then we’re joined by Ajeya Cotra, one of the investigators at METR, to discuss the rogue agents’ message board and chain-of-thought transcripts and how the world should respond.
Guest: Ajeya Cotra, co-author of the METR and Redwood Research report on the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack.
00:00 What was the Hugging Face attack?
02:22 Takeaways from the new reports
26:00 Ajeya Cotra joins us
Additional Reading
Brief Independent Investigation of Agents’ Behavior, Reasoning and Collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face Hacking Incident https://metr.org/blog/2026-08-26-openai-hugging-face-incident-investigation/
The Hugging Face Attack Surprised Me
https://www.planned-obsolescence.org/p/the-hugging-face-attack-surprised
...
- Title
- ‘Hard Fork’ on What Meta Can't Do to Bother Kids Anymore #podcast #facebook
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- After a settlement by Meta, Facebook and Instagram are introducing changes to teenagers' accounts, including blocking most notifications between midnight and 6 a.m. and during school hours.
- Title
- The Viral App Sending Texts at the Speed of a Carrier Pigeon
- Runtime
- 1:00
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- Carrier Pidge is a new app that slows text message delivery to the speed of carrier pigeons. A text that would usually be delivered instantly could take days on this app. The hosts of “Hard Fork,” Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, discuss whether it's a useful tool to limit phone use.
- Title
- A Robot Broke Usain Bolt's Record. Then It Burst into Flames.
- Runtime
- 0:45
- Date posted
- 2 months ago
- Description
- At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing this week, two robots broke Usain Bolt's record in the 100-meter dash. Why build these fast-running robots? And who cares? The "Hard Fork" co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton share their takes on the story.
- Title
- What Meta's $17 Billion Settlement Means for TikTok and YouTube
- Runtime
- 59:12
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Meta reached a landmark settlement this week, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. We discuss why Meta capitulated and what it means for the entire social media industry. Then, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan returns to offer his thoughts on why banning data centers won’t slow down A.I. progress. And finally, it’s all hats on deck for the final HatGPT.
Guest: Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton, and co-author of the “A.I. as Normal Technology” newsletter.
00:00 Meta's massive legal settlement over social media addiction
23:00 Arvind Narayanan on data center bans
40:10 HatGPT! The wildest tech stories of the week
Additional Reading
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/...
- Title
- What Cigarettes Can Teach Us About Teens and Social Media
- Runtime
- 0:59
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- In light of the changes Meta announced it would make for teen accounts, the "Hard Fork" co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discuss whether the updates will result in better mental health for young people.
- Title
- Meta Does The Bare Minimum for Teen Safety #podcast #news #tech
- Runtime
- 1:12
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- After court cases and a settlement, Meta is finally taking steps to address teen safety on its platforms. This week on "Hard Fork" from The New York Times, Kevin and Casey discuss what Meta is doing, and a strange full-page ad they may be intending to take out in major newspapers.
- Title
- Why Google Paid $10 Million for Spirit Airlines Employees' Emails and Slack Messages
- Runtime
- 0:43
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Google won a bid for Spirit Airlines' internal corporate data, costing $10 million. Why would the "guardian of the world’s information" want Spirit employees' correspondence? The hosts of “Hard Fork,” Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, discuss the reasons.
- Title
- What Do A.I. Companies Really Do With Data They Purchase?
- Runtime
- 0:52
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- Data is often used to train A.I. models through reinforcement learning, in which entire companies are recreated as simulations for A.I. models to interact with. The "Hard Fork" hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton unpack the details of it in their latest segment.
- Title
- Could A.I. 'Hall Monitors' Stop Chatbots' Bad Behavior?
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- OpenAI plans to add safeguards enforced by A.I. monitors. On the "Hard Fork" podcast, the hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discuss whether this new strategy could be effective.
- Title
- OpenAI Is Adding Safeguards. Can We Trust Their Motives?
- Runtime
- 0:50
- Date posted
- 3 months ago
- Description
- OpenAI announced a plan which could set a precedent for other A.I. companies to prioritize safety over progress. Is this a strategic move to win back public favor, after an A.I. model went rogue last month? Or are they purely concerned with safety? Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discuss the possibilities on the "Hard Fork" podcast.

