In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how organizations are freaking out after having to pay the real cost of AI tokens, and how the surge of competitive open weight models could lead to the post-bubble locally-run future of LLMs. Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-...
Jun 26, 2026•24 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how AI is the pinnacle of Silicon Valley monoculture, and a monument to the cargo cult desperation of a tech industry that celebrates mediocrity and has run out of ideas. Newsletter: Cargo Culture: https://www.wheresyoured.at/cargo-culture/ OpenAI Exclusive: https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscr...
Jun 24, 2026•9 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed talks with computer science professor and writer Cal Newport about AI companies “doom trolling” consumers using scary stories about conscious computers, and how we need to make fun of the scare-mongering and ridicule the executives peddling in it. Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen Cal Newport’s “Dear A.I. Comp...
Jun 19, 2026•1 hr 2 min
In a special exclusive episode of Better Offline, Ed Zitron digs into the audited financials of OpenAI from 2024 and 2025. Companion newsletter: www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or m...
Jun 16, 2026•4 min
Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI. Original Air Date: 6.5.24 Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/pro...
Jun 10, 2026•31 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how the “does AI have ROI?” debate is coming at the worst possible time for two companies that can’t afford to slow down thanks to their $1.1 trillion in compute commitments. Newsletter: AI Doesn’t Have ROI https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-doesnt-have-roi/ Ed on Bloomberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKDmkJPVvI The AI industry's profit problem is getting bigger, says Goldman Sachs' equity research chief https://www.businessin...
Jun 05, 2026•6 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by economist Paul Kedrosky to talk about why nobody can find the ROI of AI, why there won’t be a Dot Com Bubble-style recovery for AI data centers, and how Google’s $80bn equity sale shows we’re at the top. https://paulkedrosky.com/ The Nick, Dick and Paul Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbDiETo29GTIjg6Lk4imig Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv...
Jun 03, 2026•47 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how AI’s move to token-based billing has revealed that absolutely nobody has a way of measuring AI’s ROI - and how these massive costs might finally burst the bubble. Companion newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/ Axios: AI sticker shock hits corporate America https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs Uber COO story: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-mac...
May 29, 2026•12 min
In this week's Better Offline, Ed Zitron runs you through how Uber’s COO said the quiet part out loud - that AI’s outputs and efficacy do not match up with its ruinous costs - and how despite its bluster, the AI industry’s grift is failing. Free newsletter tie-in: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/ Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwk...
May 27, 2026•19 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through Anthropic’s claims it will be non-GAAP EBITDA profitable for Q2 2026 by having SpaceX discount its compute costs, and how said revenues don’t match up with its CFO’s sworn affidavit or previous reporting on its finances. Companion newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/anthropics-profitability-swindle/ https://www.flyingpenguin.com/wheres-ed-anthropic-told-court-5-billion-but-public-19-billion/ Please subscribe to my premium ne...
May 22, 2026•13 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about NVIDIA’s alleged GPU shipments to China, how AI is choking the PC gaming industry, and how mad Jensen Huang keeps getting on podcasts. Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! GamersNexus: Yes, This All Seems Very Legitimate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbJDrL6ZfM Support GamersNexus’ AI Surveilla...
May 20, 2026•50 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how LLMs and the obsession with AI is actively destroying the fabric of the tech industry. Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. --- LINK...
May 15, 2026•22 min
On this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by the hosts of the Ben & Emil show to talk about how the markets have been driven insane by semiconductor buzz and social media hysteria. https://benandemilshow.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@benandemilshow Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https...
May 13, 2026•55 min
This week’s Better Offline is a recording of a panel held by Clarion West in Seattle earlier this year with Cory Doctorow and Ed Zitron, discussing enshittification, The Rot Economy, and the destruction of modern tech platforms, moderated by Whitney Beltrán. Original Air Date: 11.12.25 Cory Doctorow: https://craphound.com/ Whitney Beltrán: https://brightwhitney.com/ Get involved with Clarion West: https://www.clarionwest.org/get-involved/give/ Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization th...
May 06, 2026•58 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how 70-80% of Amazon and Microsoft’s AI revenue and capacity is taken up by OpenAI and Anthropic, and how capacity constraints across the industry are a result of hyperscalers sacrificing their infrastructure to the least-profitable startups of all time. Premium newsletter out later today - AI’s Demand Story Is A Lie - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subsc...
May 01, 2026•19 min
On this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron digs into Palantir’s 22-point manifesto with Caleb and June from Kill The Computer. The Manifesto: https://x.com/PalantirTech/status/2045574398573453312 Caleb and June https://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecter.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/killthecomputer.com https://bsky.app/profile/junlper.beer https://x.com/canteverdie Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyoureda...
Apr 29, 2026•1 hr 7 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how OpenAI must grow its revenue by 1000% in the next three years and raise at least another $200 billion for it to be able to pay its compute deals with Oracle and other providers, and how Oracle dies if OpenAI fails to pay its bills. This week’s free newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/four-horsemen-of-the-aipocalypse/ Premium newsletter out later today - How OpenAI Kills Oracle - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: ...
Apr 24, 2026•11 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed is joined by computer science professor and writer Cal Newport to talk about the Claude Mythos marketing scam, the lies around AI job loss, and why LLMs shouldn’t talk like they’re people. Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen Podcast & Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CalNewportMedia/ Newsletter: https://caln...
Apr 22, 2026•59 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron discusses how AI labs’ dangerous rhetoric around AI capabilities and job loss are antagonizing and terrifying people that are already on edge, and that de-escalation starts with Altman and Amodei talking about LLMs as normal software. This week’s free newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/i-will-never-respect-a-website/ Premium newsletter out later today - the Hater’s Guide to Private Credit - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: http...
Apr 17, 2026•12 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by journalist and astrophysicist Adam Becker to talk about introspection-free venture capital, the Pee-Wee’s Playhouse effect of LLMs, and trying to find a better future to focus on. https://bsky.app/profile/adambecker.bsky.social https://www.youtube.com/@DreamingAgainstTheMachine https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adam-becker/more-everything-forever/9781541619593/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyoured...
Apr 15, 2026•48 min
In a special episode of Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by writers Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz of the New Yorker to talk about their massive investigation into Sam Altman, his ouster from OpenAI, and the consequences of trusting Silicon Valley with the future. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1...
Apr 09, 2026•43 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by economist Paul Kedrosky to talk about the large amount of speculative data center land purchases, the brittle NVIDIA GPU economy, and the economic realities of AI. https://paulkedrosky.com/ The Nick, Dick and Paul Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbDiETo29GTIjg6Lk4imig Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! YOU CAN NOW B...
Apr 07, 2026•41 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron breaks down why AI isn’t too big to fail, why no bailout is coming, and how people need to learn more about history before using it to justify burning billions of dollars. This week’s free newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/ Premium newsletter tie-in out later today - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 YOU CAN NO...
Apr 03, 2026•18 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron discusses Anthropic’s aggressive new rate limits, the leak of Claude Code’s source code, and the dread consequences of having software written 100% by LLMs. Free newsletter: The Subprime AI Crisis Is Here https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! Peak hours announcement: https://www.t...
Apr 01, 2026•11 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about OpenAI killing Sora, and how the majority of announced data centers are either barely getting built or vaporware, with only 3GW of IT load coming online in 2025 in America, and only 5GW of data centers under construction worldwide. This week’s free newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-industry-is-lying-to-you/ JustDario’s piece - The Data Center Frenzy Will Be Remembered As The Largest Waste Of Capital In History https://ju...
Mar 27, 2026•11 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about NVIDIA’s strange and embarrassing GTC, DLSS5, and the increasingly-hysterical AI bubble. Free newsletter that discusses data center timing and NVIDIA's China situation: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-industry-is-lying-to-you/ https://www.youtube.com/user/gamersnexus https://x.com/GamersNexus GamersNexus “Microslop” Shirt https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/microslop-parody-t-shirt Save $10 off a year o...
Mar 25, 2026•58 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about hyperscalers allowing non-technical workers to ship code, and how the over-reliance on LLMs and push to ship as much code as possible is setting big tech up for a calamity. This week’s free newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/why-are-we-still-doing-this/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! The Information piece:...
Mar 20, 2026•12 min
In this week’s Better Offline, Ed is joined by Rebecca Ungarino and Nick Devor of Barron’s to talk about the legalities of prediction markets, their effect on society, and how everyone is operating on the bleeding edge of financial regulations. Nick Devor: https://www.barrons.com/authors/nick-devor https://x.com/nickdevor_ Rebecca Ungarino: https://www.barrons.com/authors/rebecca-ungarino Story (from both of them!): JPMorgan Is Considering New Prediction Market Guidance for Employees https://www...
Mar 18, 2026•49 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about the end of tech’s hypergrowth era, generative AI’s failure as a business model, and why we need to stop looking to the past to prove that the future will work out. Free newsletter tie-in: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-beginning-of-history/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! G...
Mar 13, 2026•15 min
Better Offline’s “Hater Season” - an ongoing roundtable with tech’s greatest haters - continues as Ed is joined by Henry Zebrowski of Last Podcast on the Left to talk about Business Idiots, the metaverse, and the beauty of the human mind. https://www.patreon.com/cw/lastpodcastontheleft youtube.com/@lpntv Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen YOU C...
Mar 11, 2026•59 min
