Big Technology Podcast - podcast cover

Big Technology Podcast

Alex Kantrowitzwww.bigtechnology.com
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators. Alex Kantrowitz, a Silicon Valley journalist who's interviewed the world's top tech CEOs — from Mark Zuckerberg to Larry Ellison — is the host.
Last refreshed:
Download Metacast podcast app
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Is OpenAI Ready To IPO?, The Datacenters in Space Myth, The Kids Boo AI

Join us for the Big Technology AI Summit on June, 18, 2026. Get your tickets here: summit.bigtechnology.com.... Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI's revenue numbers come out ahead of its potential IPO filing 2) Why is OpenAI considering going public now? 3) Is OpenAI trying to IPO ahead of Anthropic? 4) Is the Iran War accelerating the timeline of these fundraisings? 5) What would the top of the AI boom look like? 6) SpaceX file...

May 23, 20261 hr

Claude Code Head Boris Cherny: Insane Growth, Tokenmaxxing, AI Agents' Next Frontier

Boris Cherney is the head of Claude Code at Anthropic. Cherney joins Big Technology to discuss Claude Code’s explosive growth and whether the rise of AI agents is sustainable. Tune in to hear how Claude Code is changing software development, why Anthropic believes agents will spread far beyond coding, and what happens when people start running hundreds or thousands of AI agents in parallel. We also cover token maxing, rate limits, Codex competition, SaaS disruption, self-improving AI, and whethe...

May 20, 202659 min

Satya Nadella’s OpenAI Concerns, Google’s Next AI Model, The AI Monet Prank

Join us for the Big Technology AI Summit on June, 18, 2026. Get your tickets here: summit.bigtechnology.com .... Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Satya Nadella criticizing his OpenAI partnership 2) Did Microsoft play the OpenAI deal right? 3) AI native vs. bold on debate 4) Which big tech company will rank No. 1 in AI? 5) Bill Ackman buys Microsoft 6) OpenAI and Apple are on the outs 7) Claude for Small Business is here 8) What's com...

May 15, 202655 min

Does Anyone Want AI Wearables? + The Allure of AI Love — With Joanna Stern

Joanna Stern is the author of "I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do Almost Everything" and the founder of The New Thing. Stern joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss what happens when you infuse AI into every part of your life. Tune in to hear about her 48-hour road trip with an AI boyfriend, why she found chatbot relationships genuinely tempting, and what the sycophancy of these tools means for how we relate to each other. We also cover the promise and limits of AI wearables, how AI is qui...

May 13, 202643 min

The Unlikely Anthropic & SpaceX Marriage, OpenAI Trial Revelations, AI Layoffs Or Cope?

Join us for the Big Technology AI Summit on June, 18, 2026. Get your tickets here: summit.bigtechnology.com .... Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Anthropic gets SpaceX compute 2) Is this announcement real or marketing? 3) Anthropic increases rate limits with the new compute 4) Elon + Dario vs. Sam 5) Is this all IPO maneuvering? 6) Mythos is proving valuable for cybersecurity 7) Anthropic's demand is 80Xing 8) OpenAI's communication ...

May 08, 202657 min

AI Agents: Mirage Or Real Revolution? — With Dmitry Shevelenko

Dimitri Shevelenko is the chief business officer of Perplexity. Shevelenko joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether the AI industry’s shift toward agentic 'super apps' and computer-using assistants will become a real business. Tune in to hear why Perplexity believes computer use is a durable productivity tool, how it thinks about consumer AI’s growth slowdown, and why multi-model orchestration could be a competitive advantage. We also cover AI search, enterprise adoption, trust and permis...

May 07, 20261 hr 2 min

Did Apple Get AI Spending Right?, Microsoft & OpenAI’s New Reality, Where’s Stargate?

M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Siegler joins us to discuss whether Apple made the right decision to hold off on spending a mid-sized country GDP worth of money on AI infrastructure, and whether the company's restraint will continue under incoming CEO John Ternus. We also cover OpenAI and Microsoft scrapping their "AGI" claude and whether Microsoft should've agreed to let OpenAI work with Amazon. We round off with a state of Stargate and where the risk is i...

May 05, 20261 hr 1 min

OpenAI’s User Growth Miss, Musk vs. Altman, Prediction Market Ban

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI misses revenue and user projections, per WSJ 2) Why can't ChatGPT break the 1 billion user mark? 3) Is consumer AI not working? 4) Ranjan makes the case for consumer AI 5) Musk vs. OpenAI at trial 6) Potential outcomes of the case 7) Musk admits distillation? 8) Cloud services crush earnings 9) U.S. Senators ban themselves from trading prediction markets 10) CBS Sports' shameless gambling artic...

May 01, 202658 min

Mark Cuban: AI Hype vs. Reality, OpenAI's Wasting $1 Trillion, Lebron vs. Jordan

Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur and investor. Cuban joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping business, software, jobs, and education. Tune in to hear why he believes AI is an exponential shift, how companies should rebuild themselves around it, and why curiosity will matter more than ever in the AI era. We also cover the economics of foundation models, which software companies are most vulnerable, how young people should build careers with AI, and his though...

Apr 29, 202654 min

Apple After Tim Cook, OpenAI’s New Mojo, Meta’s Internal Tracking Escapade

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus's biggest challenge 2) Is turnover at Apple a good thing 3) The products Ternus will take to market 4) What is Apple's tabletop robot all about 5) OpenAI is communicating differently 6) Is TBPN helping OpenAI messaging? 7) Anthropic's Mythos rollout vs. OpenAI's Spud rollout 8) Meta's latest layoffs. 9) Meta tracks employees keystrokes 10) Is Meta's tracking a reinforcem...

Apr 25, 202657 min

OpenAI President Greg Brockman on GPT-5.5 “Spud,” AI Model Moats, and Cybersecurity Risks

Greg Brockman is the president and co-founder of OpenAI. Brockman joins Big Technology to discuss GPT-5.5, also known as Spud, and what it means for OpenAI’s next phase of AI development. Tune in to hear Brockman explain how the model gets better at coding, computer use, slides, spreadsheets, and agentic work across everyday applications. We also cover OpenAI’s competitiveness, model economics, distillation, cybersecurity risk, trust in agents, and the compute-powered economy. Hit play for a tim...

Apr 23, 202628 min

Are We Too Obsessed With AI Predictions? — With Carissa Véliz

Carissa Véliz is an Oxford philosopher and the author of Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI. Véliz joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether society has become dangerously naive about prediction as AI systems shape decisions around jobs, loans, justice, surveillance, and war. Tune in to hear a debate about predictive algorithms, generative AI, prediction markets, and whether forecasts are actually tools of knowledge or instruments of power...

Apr 22, 202655 min

Tim Cook Steps Down — With Joanna Stern

Joanna Stern is the ex-WSJ senior personal technology columnist and author of I Am Not a Robot. News of Tim Cook stepping down as CEO of Apple broke as Stern and I were recording a forthcoming episode of Big Technology Podcast. In this episode, we discuss Cook's exit, his successor, John Ternus, and his legacy. Tune in for a quick but substantial look at what's next for Apple after Cook's exit. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Wa...

Apr 21, 202616 min

Jensen On The Ropes, Sam Altman’s Conflicts, Allbirds’ GPU Pivot

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's pedestrian performance on the Dwarkesh Podcast 2) Jensen's argument about competing chipmakers 3) Jensen's argument about China export controls 4) What Jensen should've said 5) Why Jensen is in a tough place when he does these interviews 6) Mythos seems real btw 7) Anthropic is talking with the government about a peace deal 8) Alex's interview philosophy 9) Sam Altman's confl...

Apr 17, 202658 min

The Pentagon's AI Plan + Behind the Anthropic Fight — With Under Secretary of War Emil Michael

Emil Michael is the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering at the Pentagon. Michael joins Big Technology to discuss how AI is transforming the Department of War, from targeting systems to drone warfare to cyber defense. Tune in to hear his account of why the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, what actually happened in the contract negotiations, and whether the decision was wise. We also cover how the military's Maven Smart System works in practice, what the U.S. lear...

Apr 15, 20261 hr

Anthropic’s Mythos Dilemma, Violence Against AI, Tokenmaxxing at Meta

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Anthropic's new Mythos preview 2) Is Mythos marketing or a legit breakthrough? 3) The Mythos sandwich guy story 4) OpenAI and Anthropic's brewing 1st party vs. API conflict of interest 5) The Meta-Harness 6) Violence against AI on the rise 7) Maine is going to pass a data center moratorium 8) Was Medvi really a $1.8 billion two person startup? 9) Tokenmaxxing is all the rage --- Enjoying Big Technolog...

Apr 10, 20261 hr 2 min

OpenAI vs. Anthropic's Direct Faceoff + Future of Agents — With Aaron Levie

Aaron Levie is the CEO of Box . Levie joins Big Technology to discuss the battle between OpenAI and Anthropic as their product roadmaps converge around coding, enterprise, and AI agents. Tune in to hear where AI agents are actually gaining traction, why coding has emerged as the breakthrough use case, and what stands in the way of broader adoption across knowledge work. We also cover trust and security concerns, the messy reality of enterprise data, and the debate over whether value will accrue ...

Apr 08, 202659 min

More OpenAI Executive Drama, Is Siri Seriously Broken?, Meta’s Elusive Next Hit

M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Siegler joins us to discuss latest turmoil inside OpenAI, what the reported tension between CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Friar says about the company’s spending and IPO plans, and whether Anthropic or OpenAI is better positioned to win the agentic AI battle. We also cover Apple’s latest Siri plans, whether Apple should try to buy Anthropic, and why Meta still hasn’t found its next big hit beyond advertising. --- Enjoying Big ...

Apr 06, 20261 hr 5 min

OpenAI buys TBPN, SpaceX’s $2 Trillion IPO?, Iran Disables Amazon Infrastructure

Liz Hoffman of Semafor joins us for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Why OpenAI bought TBPN 2) The best possible explanation for why OpenAI did it 3) Does the deal really accomplish OpenAI's content marketing goals? 4) Will TBPN convince any non-believers that AI is good? 5) OpenAI's Fidji Simo takes medical leave from the company 6) SpaceX files to go public at a potential $2 trillion market cap 7) Will SpaceX and Tesla merge? 8) Some AWS servers are "hard down" in Ba...

Apr 04, 202655 min

OpenAI President Greg Brockman: AI Self-Improvement, The Superapp Bet, Path To AGI, Scaling Compute

Greg Brockman is the President and co-founder of OpenAI. Brockman joins Big Technology to discuss OpenAI’s product strategy, the rise of its coming super app, and why he believes AI is entering a new takeoff phase. Tune in to hear Brockman explain OpenAI's bet on the GPT reasoning model tree over video generation, what the "Spud" pre-training run means for upcoming models, and why he believes AGI is 70-80% achieved. We also cover the competitive landscape, the economics behind OpenAI's $110 bill...

Apr 01, 20261 hr 15 min

Why OpenAI Killed Sora, Did Apple Just Save Siri?, Meta’s Big Loss

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Why AI-video didn't take off 2) Who wins now that OpenAI is shutting down Sora 3) The real reason OpenAI shut down Sora 4) What happens now that OpenAI and Anthropic are competing for similar AI assistant customers 5) Anthropic's new 'Capybara' model class is coming 6) OpenAI has a big new model called Spud in the works 7) Apple's Siri fix isn't much of a fix at all 8) Meta and Youtube lose a preceden...

Mar 28, 20261 hr 3 min

Senator Mark Warner: Nobody’s Ready for What AI Could Do To Us

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 ...

Mar 25, 202648 min

OpenAI’s Superapp Ambitions, Jensen on Jobs, Bezos’s $100 Billion Automation Fund

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? 1...

Mar 20, 20261 hr 1 min

Are We Screwed If AI Works? — With Andrew Ross Sorkin

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 le...

Mar 18, 20261 hr 5 min

AI Backlash Intensifies, Nvidia GTC Preview, Meta’s Embarrassing Delay

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) C...

Mar 13, 20261 hr 1 min

AI’s Unpopularity + Competing With ChatGPT — With Olivia Moore

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 compani...

Mar 11, 202657 min

AI Revenue Explodes, Dario’s Memo, McDonald's CEO’s Baby Burger Bite

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? ...

Mar 06, 20261 hr 1 min

Pentagon Insider: What's Next For Anthropic and The Department of War — With Michael Horowitz

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 surveillan...

Mar 04, 202648 min

Dario’s Choice and Anthropic’s Future, Apple’s AI Devices, Netflix Loses WBD

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 ...

Mar 02, 20261 hr 1 min

Anthropic vs. The Pentagon, Bloodbath at Block, The Citrini Selloff

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...

Feb 27, 20261 hr 5 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android