TechStuff

Episod

• Would You “Cheat” On Your Partner For Money? - Week in Tech 19.06.2026 46min

  How much of what you see online is actually real? This week, Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down Anthropic's latest clash with the Trump Administration. Is Anthropic’s own messaging to blame? Then, Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) talked to students that walked out on Google CEO Sundar Pichai's commencement speech at Stanford. Their protest was about much more than AI. Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes the fake "caught cheating" videos flooding social media, which are secretly ads for vibe-coded apps promising to catch the unfaithful. Additional Reading:  US Limits Use of Anthropic AI Models Fable 5 and Mythos | Semafor  The White House Said Anthropic’s Powerful AI was ‘jailbroken.’ Here’s What That Means | The Washington Post Sundar Pichai faces boos, walkout at Stanford graduation ceremony over Google's Israel, ICE ties | TechCrunch  The Secret Stanford Off-Campus Class for Tech’s Next Titans - The Story | TechStuff  Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• You Didn't Get a Vote on AI's Future. Someone's Fighting to Change That - The Story 17.06.2026 43min

  Is AI happening to you — or for you? Pew Research found that 50% of Americans are more concerned than excited about artificial intelligence. Michele Jawando and John Palfrey think that's a signal that more people need to get involved.  Oz sits down with Michele, CEO of the Omidyar Network, and John, president of the MacArthur Foundation, to unpack Humanity AI: a coalition of ten major philanthropies pooling $500 million to ensure the future of AI is shaped by — and for — everyone. Along the way, they get into why Michele believes "AI is not destiny, it is design," how Humanity AI grantees are using the technology to serve the public good and what success will look like for the collaborative effort.  Additional Reading:  What the data says about Americans’ views of artificial intelligence | Pew Research Center  Humanity AI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Shell Game: Conversations With Myself 14.06.2026 34min

  Evan takes his experiment in a new direction by having his AI-powered voice agent converse with … another of his AI-powered voice agents. What can these surreal and hilarious conversations between two AI incarnations of Evan Ratliff tell us about identity, authenticity, and the best and worst of human interaction? Enter this digital hall of mirrors to find out.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. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The Internet Found a Way to Monetize Reality Itself. It's Going Exactly as You'd Expect - Week in Tech 12.06.2026 48min

  How much would it take for you to tattoo a memecoin's name on your forehead? Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the platform where crypto speculators pay strangers to do almost anything in service of pumping their coin's value: Pump.fun Go. But Taylor argues this is bigger than a weird internet rabbit hole — it’s a burgeoning ‘bounty economy,’ that’s quietly warping reality itself.  Then: Sriram Krishnan, the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, is leaving the White House. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) explains his impact, what this means for the future of federal tech policy and who is jostling for influence in his place.  Finally, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) on the ‘show’-ification of everything. Even the tech industry is getting into the game, literally. The Founders Fund just bankrolled a slick YouTube series where tech billionaires like Sam Altman and Palmer Luckey play Mafia, the parlor game. It’s bizarre. So why does Silicon Valley keep trying to make content happen, and who is it actually for?Additional Reading:  These 430 Viral Videos Are Being Preserved in a British Archive  The Bounty Economy Is Breaking Reality - by Taylor Lorenz  Top Trump artificial intelligence adviser to leave the White House  Kareem Rahma and the Tyranny of Web Video Shows | The New Yorker Can Tech Legends Find the Liar? (Mafia Episode 1)   Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuff See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The Secret Stanford Off-Campus Class for Tech’s Next Titans - The Story 10.06.2026 41min

  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." 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  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Shell Game: Me and My Scammer 08.06.2026 37min

  Evan turns his AI-powered voice agent loose on the people who are always at the forefront of technological adoption: the fraudsters and the rip-off artists. How will the scammers and spammers react when they face Evan’s voice agent in a battle of wits? And what happens when they deploy the same kind of AI voice agents on Evan that he’s using on them? Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Blue Origin Rocket Explodes in Apocalyptic Mushroom Cloud - Week in Tech 05.06.2026 46min

  Blue Origin's latest rocket test ended in what the company called "an anomaly" — and what everyone else would call an explosion. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) explains why blowing things up is just part of the process and why the US Space Program is probably going to be fine. Then, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) pulls back the curtain on the shadow market for pre-IPO equity in OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. It’s a mania where people are willing to take pre-IPO stock as payment for $2.9M houses. It's frothy out there. Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) digs into the concept of a ‘permanent underclass’ — the fear that letting AI run rampant could freeze everyone in their current economic position forever. Do we laugh it off or get serious about regulation? Additional Reading:  Blue Origin and Amazon Had Momentum. Then Came the Fireball. | The New York Times  A Booming Shadow Market of Sketchy A.I. Investments | The New Yorker  You Are About to Become Economically Worthless | User Mag  Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass | The New York Times  Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The Man Building the Last AI Humans Will Need to Design - The Story 03.06.2026 34min

  What if the fastest path to superintelligence is AI that builds itself? That's the bet Richard Socher is making — and he has the track record to back it up. A double unicorn founder and early investor in eight unicorn companies (including Perplexity and Hugging Face), Richard has spent 15 years building the foundational research that powers modern AI. Now he’s co-founded Recursive with an elite team from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta to pursue something more ambitious: a self-improving AI that generates its own scientific breakthroughs — what he calls a "eureka machine."Richard joins Oz to unpack how recursive superintelligence actually works and why open-ended AI systems could outpace today's giants. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Inside the Octagon: How AI Brings UFC’s Fastest Moments into Focus 02.06.2026 47min

  Most of what happens inside the UFC Octagon is too fast for the human eye to follow. Enter Alon Cohen, Executive Vice President of Innovation for TKO, who has spent 15 years building the data and AI systems that expose the hidden moments that help decide a match. Malcolm Gladwell sits down with Alon to uncover how UFC’s partnership with IBM turns chaos into clarity, giving fans and commentators a deeper story behind every bout.This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don’t necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Shell Game: Quality Assurance 31.05.2026 33min

  This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The Pope vs. AI? It’s Complicated - Week in Tech 29.05.2026 49min

  The Pope called for AI to be "disarmed" — then gave Anthropic a seat on the dais. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) unpacks what the Vatican's landmark intervention means for Silicon Valley. Then, get off Nextdoor, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) says hyperlocal publications are in vogue and a respite from algorithmic feeds. And finally, an update on last weekend’s Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. Journalist Chris Gayomali, host of the podcast SuperHuman, persevered through the 95-degree heat and d-list Gen Z influencers to witness one world record that almost didn’t happen.  Additional Reading:  Can AI be a ‘child of God’? Inside Anthropic’s meeting with Christian leaders. | The Washington Post  Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical | The New York Times Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter | The New Yorker SuperHuman Podcast | Vegas Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• How AI Almost Led To This Tech Reporter’s Divorce - The Story 27.05.2026 43min

  What happens when you let technology take over your life? Joanna Stern (Fmr. Wall Street Journal / New Things) found out. She spent all of 2025 letting the robots in: Waymos, AI therapists, robot massagers, assistant researcher agents…During that yearlong experiment, Joanna Stern chronicled her findings in a new book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything. She speaks to Oz about letting AI diagnose her son’s praying mantis, sending Bill Gates her health log, and how she sees AI impacting the job market. Additional Reading:  I Am Not A Robot | Joanna Stern     EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Google's AI chief: We're Living in the “Foothills of the Singularity” - Week In Tech 22.05.2026 47min

  What does it mean to be at the “foothills of the singularity”? That’s how DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis ended his speech at Google I/O, prompting questions and scratched heads. Oz and Reed Albergotti (Semafor) attempt to dissect the meaning behind Hassabis’s confounding statement. They also discuss why so many commencement speakers are getting booed by college graduates after bringing up AI, and what it means for SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI to all be heading towards an IPO.  Then, Oz sits down with David Webster, Head of UX at Google Labs, for a deeper look at the products Google unveiled at their annual developer conference of the year. Additional Reading:  DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis on what Google AI products say about ‘singularity’ | Semafor A Guide to Commencement | Semafor SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI’s Sprint to Go Public Defines the AI Boom’s Big Day - WSJ   Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed | Strait Times IG  Subscriber Q&A: Live @ Google I/O - by Alex Heath - Sources Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The ‘Steroid Olympics’ Brought to You By Big Tech - The Story 20.05.2026 40min

  What if Olympic athletes could use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, legally? They can now, at the Enhanced Games. The Enhanced Games take place on May 24th and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.Unless you’re Chris Gayomali, host of the new podcast SuperHuman, which is an inside look at the ‘steroid Olympics.’ Chris Gayomali joins Oz to break down how aging tanks athletes' earning potential, how the Enhanced Games strives to be like Formula One, and what drew big-money backers Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. to the table. Additional Reading:  SuperHuman | iHeart  What Would the Olympics Be Like If the Athletes Could Juice? | GQ  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guaranteeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Jensen Crashes Trump's China Trip, Elon's Baby Mama Takes the Stand - Week in Tech 15.05.2026 46min

  This week has it all: geopolitical FOMO, major AI deals, more courtroom drama, and a hacker group that just won't quit. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down why AI tokens are the new oil, and why Anthropic is buying compute straight from SpaceX. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) takes us inside the Elon Musk-OpenAI trial, where Shivon Zilis, aka the “Elon Whisperer” and the mother of four of Musk's children, finally took the stand. And Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dexter Thomas gives insight into how the hacking of education tech platform Canvas could still affect college students, even after Canvas’s parent company says a deal was reached to delete the stolen data.  Additional Reading:  Nvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics | Semafor  Anthropic-SpaceX compute deal shows how tokens are taking over the economy | Semafor  Shivon Zilis was Elon Musk’s ‘bridge’ to OpenAI. Now she’s entangled in his lawsuit. | The Washington Post  Instructure Pays Ransom to Canvas Hackers | Inside Higher Education  Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Inside Formula One’s Speed Hunt with Atlassian Williams F1 Team Principal James Vowles - The Story 13.05.2026 36min

  How did nine rejection letters and “boring” data lead to “the biggest transformation in sport”? Americans might know Formula One Racing from the hit Netflix show “Drive to Survive.” But F1 has long been a fan favorite in Britain and Europe. Today’s guest, team principal James Vowles, sits down with Oz to discuss how he’s bringing his team, Atlassian Williams F1 Team, from a recent slump into the Top 5. His process involves being “data-rich”, pushing his team to the brink, and utilizing AI and technology to get that elusive tenth of a second in speed.  Additional Reading:  ‘Get rid of the battery’: F1 under increasing pressure to make more changes to engine rules | Formula One 2026 | The Guardian Formula One Went Green—and It’s Driving Everyone Crazy | WSJ   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• One Nation United Against Data Centers - Week in Tech 08.05.2026 1j 1min

  This week: AI regulation, dark money and data center backlash. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) helps decipher how the Trump Administration actually feels about AI oversight and it seems like a reversal of the hands-off approach they’ve taken so far. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes a dark money influencer campaign — one she was personally recruited for — that's paying creators to push pro-American AI, anti-China messaging on behalf of a Big Tech super PAC. And Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the fast-growing, bipartisan movement fighting data center construction in communities across the country. Plus: Sam Altman's leaked texts, 120,000 tech layoffs, and the GPT-5.5 launch party. Additional Reading:  So Long Jeeves and Ask.com, Relics of Yesterday’s Internet  White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released | The New York Times  A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat | WIRED  Inside a growing movement warning AI could turn on humanity | The Washington Post  ‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers | The New York Times  Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• We've Been Sold a Bad Bill of Goods About the Future 06.05.2026 43min

  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. 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 change 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.  Also on the show: Alex Thier, the CEO of Lapis, discusses Lalah, an AI-powered chatbot built to help Afghan students learn beyond the classroom, a place girls can’t access past the sixth grade. Additional Reading:  Ari Wallach: 3 ways to plan for the (very) long term | TED Talk  The Protopias Collection: Various: 9781953165787: Amazon.com: Books  EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• The Trial Where Two Billionaires Could Lose — And Everyone Would Cheer - Week in Tech 01.05.2026 57min

  This week, some courtroom drama. It’s Elon Musk v. OpenAI the next few weeks and billionaires are taking the stand and opening their diaries — and memories of Burning Man — to scrutiny. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the legal battle and why Elon Musk believes he’s owed billions since OpenAI went for-profit. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the Pentagon agreement Google was ‘proud’ to sign. But it’s déjà vu for many Google employees, who once again demanded company leadership proceed cautiously. Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) on the ‘girlboss-ification’ of AI: the coordinated push by major AI companies to win over women, from Anthropic's invite-only influencer supper clubs in New York to Reese Witherspoon's suspiciously enthusiastic (and allegedly unpaid) AI pep talk on Instagram.Additional Reading:  Shadowboxing Emperors | Semafor Google workers petition CEO to refuse classified AI work with Pentagon | The Washington Post Google told staff it is ‘proud’ of Pentagon AI contract after internal backlash | Financial Times  The Girlboss-ification of AI w/ Kat Tenbarge | User Mag    Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff  at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
• Why Building AI At DeepMind Feels Like ‘Surfing’ 29.04.2026 41min

  Live from The Royal Institution of Great Britain, it's TechStuff! Oz sat down with two visionaries at an event hosted by Quilt.AI. First, he spoke with Ali Eslami, a Distinguished Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, who built the prototype for what is now AI Search. Ali talked about how working on AI can feel like surfing, and what went into connecting Gemini to Google Search to create what he called "neural Google." After that, Oz chats with Saad Mohseni about his work with MOBY Group. Saad guides Oz through his twenty-year effort to bring top-tier news and entertainment to Afghanistan and beyond — from a reality TV singing competition that changed the country, to using WhatsApp and AI to provide education to girls banned from school. Additional Reading:  Radio Free Afghanistan – HarperCollins EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/techstuff Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.