In part four of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how there’s literally not enough money in the world to pay for OpenAI’s estimated $1 trillion four-year burn, and why the media tell the truth about AI to save retail investors. Original Air Date: 10.3.25 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. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betteroffli...
Jan 02, 2026•29 min
In part three of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how “AI replacing software engineers” is a myth spread by the media and investors - and how Microsoft only has 8 to 12 million active paying customers for Microsoft 365’s AI Copilot out of 440 million users. Original Air Date: 10.2.25 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. --- LINKS: http...
Dec 31, 2025•27 min
In part two of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how NVIDIA funds and pumps money into unprofitable, debt-ridden “neoclouds” all to create vehicles to buy more GPUs - all to cover up the lack of demand for generative AI compute. Original Air Date: 10.1.25 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. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betteroffl...
Dec 26, 2025•29 min
In part one of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how generative AI is sold through a complete misunderstanding of the concept of labor - and myth-building by companies like NVIDIA and OpenAI. Original Air Date: 9.30.25 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. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wher...
Dec 24, 2025•25 min
In part three of this week's three-part NVIDIA series, Ed Zitron walks you through why there are millions of Blackwell GPUs sitting in warehouses, and why AI’s lack of any profits makes NVIDIA’s future entirely dependent on endless debt and venture capital. This series took a lot of work, so if you want to support me, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? Get $10 off a year’s subscription today: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/p94my1c5ya YOU CAN...
Dec 19, 2025•33 min
In part two of this week's three-part NVIDIA series, Ed Zitron walks you through the history of Enron, why it differs from NVIDIA, and why growth-desperation led big tech to waste hundreds of billions of dollars on GPUs. This series took a lot of work, so if you want to support me, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? Get $10 off a year’s subscription today: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/p94my1c5ya YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to ...
Dec 18, 2025•30 min
In part one of this week's three-part NVIDIA series, Ed Zitron walks you through why NVIDIA is specifically nothing like Enron, WorldCom or Lucent, and why investors might be thinking that’s the case anyway. Thank you to Ben Cahn of the Ben and Emil show for voicing "NVIDIA" - listen here - https://www.youtube.com/@benandemilshow This series took a lot of work, so if you want to support me, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? Get $10 off a year’s subscription today: https://edzitronswher...
Dec 17, 2025•31 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron lists the questions he’s asking - and the things he’s looking for - that he believes will actually burst the bubble. Reach out at ezitron.76 on Signal. Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping ...
Dec 12, 2025•6 min
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed is joined in-studio by CNN Tech Editor Lisa Eadicicco to talk about the state of consumer electronics, Samsung’s Vision Pro competitor, and why every phone kind of looks the same. https://www.cnn.com/profiles/lisa-eadicicco https://x.com/LisaEadicicco Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/pub...
Dec 10, 2025•33 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Nathan Grayson of worker-owned games site Aftermath to talk about building an independent media outlet and the state of the game industry writ large. Nathan Grayson: https://aftermath.site/author/nathan-grayson https://bsky.app/profile/nathangrayson.bsky.social Celebrate Aftermath’s anniversary by subscribing - just $1 for your first month! https://aftermath.site/11-06-2025-01-12-00-2ndbirthdayoffer Buy Aftermath’s “Destroy AI” Hoodie: https://aftermath.si...
Dec 05, 2025•39 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron breaks down how economically irrelevant AI is, and how no bailout is coming to save the Large Language Model era. Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg It would mean a lot! 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 ...
Dec 04, 2025•10 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about Valve’s new console-like Steam Machine and Vision Pro-like Steam Frame, and what this means for the future of gaming. GamersNexus: Valve Steam Machine, Desktop SteamOS, Steam Frame VR, & Controller | ft. Engineering Discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWUxObt1efQ Valve Steam Frame Engineering Deep-Dive: Water Cooling, Thermals, Power, Acoustics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NSjvJDe6Ic Support GamersN...
Dec 03, 2025•39 min
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron thanks you for being such wonderful listeners. If you ever have a tip, reach out on ezitron.76. Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg 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. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betteroffl...
Nov 27, 2025•7 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Carl Brown, a veteran software developer and host of The Internet of Bugs, to talk about the realities of software development, what coding LLMs can actually do, and how the media gets it wrong about software engineering at large. Original Air Date: 6.4.25 https://www.youtube.com/@InternetOfBugs New GitHub Copilot Research Finds 'Downward Pressure on Code Quality' - https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2024/01/25/copilot-research.aspx Report: AI codin...
Nov 26, 2025•58 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Gerrit De Vynck of The Washington Post to discuss what an analysis of 47,000 ChatGPT conversations can tell us about how people use the service - and how willing it is to fuel basically any conversation. We analyzed 47,000 ChatGPT conversations. Here’s what people really use it for - https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/12/how-people-use-chatgpt-data/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/gerrit-de-vynck/ https://x.com/GerritD https://bsky.app...
Nov 20, 2025•42 min
In a Better Offline exclusive, Ed Zitron reveals how much OpenAI spent on inference in 2024 and 2025, as well as how much it paid Microsoft as part of its 20% revenue share. Inference costs are much higher - and implied revenues much lower - than previously reported. (Free) Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/oai_docs/ The Information - OpenAI’s First Half Results: $4.3 Billion in Sales, $2.5 Billion Cash Burn - https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openais-first-half-results-4-3-billion-s...
Nov 12, 2025•7 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. 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 that runs an acclaimed six-wee...
Nov 12, 2025•58 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about OpenAI hinting they’d want a federal backstop for data center loans, NVIDIA’s weird, desperate post about China, and his deep suspicion about OpenAI’s leaked numbers. Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg It would mean a lot! WSJ: OpenAI Made a $12 Billion Loss Last Quarter, Microsoft Results Indicate http...
Nov 07, 2025•7 min
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed is joined in-studio by founder and writer Charlie Meyer to talk about the BS of vibe coding, why the valley went so crazy about scaling laws, and the realities of AI coding. https://blog.charliemeyer.co/ https://csmeyer.substack.com/ Code Doesn’t Happen To You - https://csmeyer.substack.com/p/code-doesnt-happen-to-you The Trillion Dollar Chart (scaling laws piece) - https://blog.char...
Nov 05, 2025•53 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron takes a moment to discuss the current state of the bubble, and the way we’re all feeling at this time in history. Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg it would mean a lot! The Register: Microsoft seemingly just revealed that OpenAI lost $11.5B last quarter https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_...
Oct 31, 2025•11 min
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed is joined in-studio by Paris Martineau of Consumer Reports and freelance writer Ashwin Rodrigues to talk about the amount of lead in protein shakes, why people turn to the internet for medical advice, and how supplements are the wild west of e-commerce. Paris Martineau https://www.consumerreports.org/about-us/our-people/our-experts/paris-martineau/ https://bsky.app/profile/paris.nyc ...
Oct 29, 2025•50 min
In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through why nobody should be afraid of generative video, and how it’s impossible, impractical and expensive to make movies with Sora. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5567119/sora-2-openai-hollywood https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/video-generation https://mediashower.com/blog/first-ai-viral-ad/ https://x.com/PJaccetturo/status/1932893269228466270 Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter...
Oct 24, 2025•13 min
In a Better Offline exclusive, Ed Zitron reveals how much Anthropic spent on Amazon Web Services in 2024 and 2025, and how the costs of running their services are increasing linearly with their revenue, suggesting there may be no path to profitability for LLMs. (Free) Newsletter: www.wheresyoured.at/costs/ Want to support me? Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER O...
Oct 20, 2025•21 min
In this week’s Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through data from Deutsche Bank that shows ChatGPT’s growth is flatlining in Europe, and how advertising isn’t going to save OpenAI. OpenAI’s ‘flatlining’ subs in Europe: The AI boom’s poster child may be struggling to recruit new subscribers, Deutsche Bank warns https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-flatlining-subs-europe-ai-145343677.html Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghost...
Oct 17, 2025•8 min
In this week’s episode of Better Offline, Ed flies out to North Carolina for a deep interview with Steve Burke of Gamersnexus about the state of PC hardware, AI, Linux gaming, their extremely scientific hardware testing, and building a channel watched by 2.5 million people. https://www.youtube.com/gamersnexus Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go ...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr 39 min
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by writer Brian Merchant to talk about US AI regulation, and how governments never seem to make the effort to understand technology. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/ https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/were-about-to-find-out-if-silicon Get $10 off a year’s subscription to my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/w08jbm4jwg YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/b...
Oct 10, 2025•29 min
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed Zitron is joined in studio by The Verge’s Victoria Song and Defector’s David Roth to talk about Sora 2, Meta’s AR glasses, the “friend” pendant, and why none of these products can ever truly deliver meaningful friendship. Victoria Song: https://www.theverge.com/authors/victoria-song https://bsky.app/profile/vicmsong.bsky.social David Roth, Defector: https://bsky.app/profile/davidjrot...
Oct 08, 2025•51 min
In part four of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how there’s literally not enough money in the world to pay for OpenAI’s estimated $1 trillion four-year burn, and why the media tell the truth about AI to save retail investors. Latest Premium Newsletter: OpenAI Needs A Trillion Dollars In The Next Four Years: https://www.wheresyoured.at/openai-onetrillion/ YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and us...
Oct 03, 2025•29 min
In part three of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how “AI replacing software engineers” is a myth spread by the media and investors - and how Microsoft only has 8 to 12 million active paying customers for Microsoft 365’s AI Copilot out of 440 million users. Latest Premium Newsletter: OpenAI Needs A Trillion Dollars In The Next Four Years: https://www.wheresyoured.at/openai-onetrillion/ YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.c...
Oct 02, 2025•27 min
In part two of this week’s four-part case against generative AI, Ed Zitron walks you through how NVIDIA funds and pumps money into unprofitable, debt-ridden “neoclouds” all to create vehicles to buy more GPUs - all to cover up the lack of demand for generative AI compute. Latest Premium Newsletter: OpenAI Needs A Trillion Dollars In The Next Four Years: https://www.wheresyoured.at/openai-onetrillion/ YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and u...
Oct 01, 2025•29 min
