Big Technology Podcast

U.S. Senator Mark Warner is a three-term Virginia senator and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Warner joins Big Technology to discuss whether Washington is prepared for the economic and societal disruptions of rapidly advancing AI. Tune in to hear why Warner believes recent college graduate unemployment could surge from 9% to 30% and why he's more frightened than reassured about Congress's ability to respond at speed. We also cover the Anthropic-Pentagon relationship, AI romantic relationships, data center opposition polling, and the ongoing battle over congressional stock trading. Hit play for a rare conversation with one of the...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI leadership says no more side quests 2) The company is focusing on enterprise and coding 3) Does this mean consumer AI is dead? 4) OpenAI's new focus era 5) Why OpenAI is building a Superapp 6) OpenAI partners with the consultants 7) Most first time AI buyers are choosing Anthropic 8) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says those who use AI to cut jobs lack imagination 9) The Metaverse is dead, or is it? 10) Jeff Bezos is raising $100 billion to automate industrial work 11) Do you dry chat? ---<...

Andrew Ross Sorkin is an anchor at CNBC, columnist at The New York Times, and author of 1929, a bestselling book about the worst market crash in history. Sorkin joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether AI achieving its potential could lead to a similar crash, either via a labor shock or the disruption of software. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss private credit risks, prediction market gambling, and the SpaceX IPO. Hit play for a dynamic conversation about where AI could lead, and its potential economic benefits or consequences. --- <...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Backlash against AI & specifically Sam Altman's comments about AI as a utility 2) Is this because people are worried about AI taking their jobs? 3) NBC poll shows AI is one of the least popular things in the U.S. 4) YouGov poll shows broadly negative feelings toward AI 5) Pew finds datacenters are very unpopular 6) Consequences of AI's unpopularity 7) Nvidia GTC preview: A rallying cry for AI 8) Could Jensen Huang be the guy that turns this around? 9) Amazon's AI code is messing things up 10) McKinsey's...

Olivia Moore is an AI partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Moore joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether startups still have a real shot at competing with the biggest AI chatbots as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini grow more capable. Tune in to hear why she believes the AI economy will be more distributed than many expect, where startups can still win, and how agentic products like OpenClaw could reshape software and work. We also cover AI’s image and video app shakeout, chatbot memory, AI companions, enterprise adoption, and what happens to incumbents as every company is pushed to become AI...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI hits $25 billion ARR, Anthropic hits $19 billion ARR 2) Are ARR numbers trustworthy? 3) OpenAI's insane revenue expectations 4) Did Apple actually play this perfectly? 5) We need a Tim Cook with claw hands Apple ad 6) AI lab IPOs are brewing, what will the S-1s look like? 7) Anthropic's still talking with the Pentagon 8) Dario's internal memo 9) Wait, was this actually marketing for Anthropic? 10) Or was it a real worry about AI-enabled surveillance? 11) McDonald's CEO's unwitting viral moment --- Enjoying Big Technology...

Michael Horowitz is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities at the Department of Defense, and currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Horowitz joins Big Technology to discuss the Anthropic–Pentagon rupture and what it signals about how the U.S. government wants to use frontier AI. Tune in to hear his inside view on how models like Claude actually get deployed in defense workflows, why a contract fight over “mass surveillance” language escalated, and what the trust breakdown says about the future of AI partnerships with the state. We also cover...

M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Siegler joins us to discuss the latest on the Pentagon’s clash with Anthropic, why OpenAI stepped in to take the deal, and what comes next for Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei. Tune in to hear what the “supply chain risk” label could mean and AI’s growing role in defense work. We also cover Apple’s rumored trio of AI devices, Siri’s latest delays, and the Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery deal falling apart as Paramount jumps in. --- Enjoying Big Technology...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) The origins of Anthropic's stare-down with the Pentagon 2) Claude's use in the operation to capture Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro 3) Was Claude really being used for autonomous warfare or mass surveillance, and did the military seek it out? 4) Maybe this is just a culture clash 5) Anthropic's marketing win 6) Should AI be used for autonomous warfare? 7) OpenAI raises $110 billion 8) Is that money real? 9) Block to cut nearly half its staff 10) Can AI be helpful in managing large companies? 11) Another science fiction story leads to...

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Pollan joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether AI can ever become conscious and what that question reveals about the nature of mind. Tune in to hear a nuanced debate about whether consciousness is computable, where today’s LLMs fall short, and how researchers might actually test machine consciousness in the future. We also cover materialism vs. spirituality, the “hard problem” of consciousness, psychedelic experiences, and the emerging science of plant sentience. Hit play for a thoughtful, surprising conversation that brings the AI consciousness debate back down t...

Box CEO Aaron Levie joins for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI's anticipated $100 billion fundraise 2) Does OpenAI's big forthcoming raise settle questions about its competitiveness 3) What's going on with OpenAI and NVIDIA? 4) Hype or True: Big Proclamations from the India AI Impact Summit 5) Why can't Sam And Dario hold hands? 6) Anthropic's powerful new model 7) OpenAI acquires OpenClaw 8) What the acquisition portends 9) If software is an API, what is software? 10) Wait, is AI not increasing productivity? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.</p...

Lila Ibrahim is the COO of Google DeepMind. James Manyika is the senior Vice President for Research, Technology, and Society at Google. The two join Big Technology Podcast to discuss how Google's AI effort operates and runs experiments. In this conversation, we discuss the fundamental operating structure of DeepMind, how Google proper has become more experimental with the revival of Labs and other programs, and how the company is thinking about AI and education. We also cover weather and flood prediction at global scale, and training AI in space. Hit play for a deep inside look at the mechanics...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We're also joined by Steven Adler, ex-OpenAI safety researcher and author of Clear-Eyed AI on Substack. We cover: 1) The Viral "Something Big Is Happening" essay 2) What the essay got wrong about recursive self-improving AI 3) Where the essay was right about the pace of change 4) Are we ready for the repercussions of fast moving AI? 5) Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 model card's risks 6) Do AI models know when they're being tested? 7) An Anthropic researcher leaves and warns "the world is in peril" 8) OpenAI disbands its mission alignment...

Sridhar Ramaswamy is the CEO of Snowflake. Ramaswamy joins Big Technology Podcast to break down the competitive dynamics in the AI race today, drawing from his experience working at Google and competing with it. We also cover the future of software, looking at whether AI will turn established software companies into "dumb backends." In the second half, we discuss “shadow AI” driving enterprise adoption from the bottom up, the risk of becoming a feature in someone else's platform, and why Chinese open-source models might actually be a net positive for the US. Hit play for a sharp, deeply informed conv...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) AI worries crush software stocks 2) Why is software in the crosshairs? 3) Is it vibecoding or that software becomes an input into AI bots 4) Why software might make it through 5) Anthropic's legal plugin that set it off 6) Okay, so no AI bubble? 7) Anthropic's Super Bowl ad attacks OpenAI 8) OpenAI's response 9) OpenAI losing share to rival chatbots 10) What the hell is happening to Bitcoin? 11) --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want...

Joelle Pineau is the chief AI officer at Cohere. Pineau joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss where the cutting edge of AI research is headed — and what it will take to move from impressive demos to reliable agents. Tune in to hear why memory, world models, and more efficient reasoning are emerging as the next big frontiers, plus what current approaches are missing. We also cover the “capability overhang” in enterprise AI, why consumer assistants still aren’t lighting the world on fire, what AI sovereignty actually means, and whether the major labs can ever pull away from each other. H...

M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. M.G. joins us to discuss Moltbook, the new Reddit-style social network where 150,000 AI agents are chatting, upvoting, and even proposing their own private language to keep humans out. Tune in to hear whether this is a preview of the singularity or just elaborate role-play—and why the security vulnerabilities are genuinely concerning. We also cover NVIDIA quietly backing away from its $100 billion OpenAI deal, Apple's record quarter that Wall Street shrugged off, and OpenAI's race to IPO before Anthropic (with Elon potentially beating them both). Hi...

Financial Times San Francisco Bureau Chief Stephen Morris joins for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Anthropic's $20 billion fundraising round 2) OpenAI is looking at $100 billion in funding 3) Amazon alone might put $50 billion in OpenAI 4) When does the money run out? 5) The rise of Clawdbot/Moltbot 6) Meta and Microsoft beat on earnings but go in separate directions 7) The market has no idea what to do with the AI trade 8) Apple's historic quarter 9) Amazon lays off 16,000 10) SpaceX IPO in June? 11) Why a SpaceX and xAI merger could make sense --- Enjoying Big Technology...

Bret Taylor is the CEO of Sierra and OpenAI's board chair. Taylor joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how AI is reshaping software, from vibe coding to the rise of AI agents that will replace dashboards, forms, and the way we interact with technology. We also cover OpenAI's decision to introduce ads, whether AI progress is actually slowing down, and what Brett has learned from working with Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Sheryl Sandberg. Hit play for an essential conversation on the future of software with someone who's been at the center of every major tech shift...

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) What happened at Davos 2) OpenAI’s planned $50 billion funding round 3) Does the money set expectations too high for OpenAI? 4) Will OpenAI ever turn a profit? 5)) How many funding rounds does OpenAI have left? 6) Does OpenAI’s shrinking lead bode poorly for its inevitable IPO 7) OpenAI introduces ads to ChatGPT 8) Why is Google waiting to bring ads to Gemini? 9) Apple is building a wearable AI Pin 10) Wait, is Alexa Plus good?  --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five...