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.
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Episodes

Apple's AI Play — With M.G. Siegler

M.G. Siegler is a venture partner at GV, formerly google ventures, and the author of Spyglass . He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss what Apple may have cooking for its AI-themed WWDC event in June. We discuss what Apple may do on the consumer front, including how much of iOS it's willing to change in service of AI features. And then we dig into its potential AI play for developers, including on-device processing and its own foundational model. We also talk about its interest in robotics. ...

Apr 24, 202456 minSeason 1Ep. 286

Meta's Big Llama 3 Release, Google's New Culture, MKBHD vs. Humane

Alex Heath from The Verge is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Taylor Swift's new album 2) Meta's new Llama 3 release 3) Does conversational AI work in a social media products? 4) Will the value of generative AI be realized in foundational models or products? 5) Zuck's new icon status 6) Bearded Zuck 7) The risks of open sourcing massive AI models 8) Sundar Pichai writes a stern letter to Google employees 9) Google fires 28 employees involved in office takeover ...

Apr 19, 202455 minSeason 1Ep. 285

Kara Swisher Rates Tech Leaders — With Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher is the author of Burn Book and host of the Pivot and On With Kara Swisher. Swisher joins Big Technology to discuss the latest tech news and share her opinion of the nature of tech leaders. We discuss Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, and Mark Cuban. Then we examine the nature of a great leader's personality, how much luck vs. skill plays a role in success, the impact of having lots of money. And plenty more, ...

Apr 17, 202455 minSeason 1Ep. 284

Google's AI Narrative Is Flipping, Microsoft Hedges Its OpenAI Bet, AI Clones Are Here

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) The Solar Eclipse! 2) AI Music generation software Suno 3) Google flipping of its AI narrative 4) Ranjan's reflections from Google Cloud Next 5) Is Google's AI enterprise bet the right strategy 6) Microsoft hedging its OpenAI bet 7) Implications of Mustafa Suleyman's remit within Microsoft 8) OpenAI fires leakers 9) Eliezer Yudkowsky refuses interview and his reps won't pick up the phone 10) AI model t...

Apr 12, 20241 hrSeason 1Ep. 283

Anthropic's Co-Founder on AI Agents, General Intelligence, and Sentience — With Jack Clark

Jack Clark is the co-founder of Anthropic and author of Import AI. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a mega episode on Anthropic and the future of AI. We cover: 1) What Anthropic and other LLM providers are building towards 2) What AI agents will look like 3) What type of traning is neccesary to get to the next level 4) What AI 'general intelligence' 5) AI memory 6) Anthropic's partnerships with Google and Amazon 7) The broader AI business case 8) The AI chips battle 9) Why Clark and others fr...

Apr 10, 20241 hr 25 minSeason 1Ep. 282

Why Crypto’s Thriving Post-SBF, Sports Betting Crisis Deepens, Jon Stewart vs. AI

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news, with special guest Zeke Faux of Bloomberg News and Number Go Up fame. We cover 1) Why crypto is thriving after poster boy SBF was convicted and sentenced 2) The latest rise of memcoins including dogwifhat and NFTs like CryptoDickbutts 3) Is this evidence of a deeper societal problem or just gambling? 4) The resilience of crypto, including Tether 5) Zeke's reporting on pig butchering scams 6) The rise of Nudes In B...

Apr 05, 20241 hr 3 minSeason 1Ep. 281

Why Marissa Mayer Is Betting Big On Consumer Tech

Marissa Mayer is the CEO and co-founder of Sunshine, the former CEO of Yahoo, and a longtime Google executive. She joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss why she's betting on consumer tech, building a new array of products including Sunshine Contacts and the newly released Shine, a photo sharing app. Mayer discusses how AI impacts building for consumers today, and whether independent tech stands a chance against big tech. We also discuss the state of OpenAI, Google's competitive position, the l...

Apr 03, 202450 minSeason 1Ep. 280

SBF Sentenced, OpenAI’s $100 Billion Supercomputer, Neuralink’s Potential

Reed Albergotti is the tech editor at Semafor. He joins Big Technology Podcast to break down the week's news. We cover: 1) SBF's sentencing 2) Is 25 years fair? 3) Is FTX a symptom of crypto or an exception 4) OpenAI and Microsoft may build a $100 billion supercomputer 5) Will the supercomputer help OpenAI get closer to AGI 6) Why the supercomputer project may be OpenAI's big swing to stay ahead 7) Claude surpasses GPT-4 in Chatbot Arena 9) Is voice computing the next AI interaction layer 10) A ...

Mar 29, 20241 hrSeason 1Ep. 279

The Yahoo Episode — With Jim Lanzone

Jim Lanzone is the CEO of Yahoo. He joins Big Technology Podcast for the long awaited Yahoo Episode, a deep dive into a company that remains one of the most visited and influential property on the web. Tune in as Lanzone describes how Yahoo's verticals operate, how the company thinks about generative AI for its search bar, and whether it's still possible to build a solid business on the web. Ranjan Roy joins us as well for a rare Wednesday appearance on the podcast. Tune in for a deep, engaging ...

Mar 27, 202450 minSeason 1Ep. 278

OpenAI's GPT-5 Looms, Apple's Antitrust Problem, Sports Betting's Big Scandal

The Information's Jessica Lessin and CNBC's Steve Kovach join us for a star studded Friday episode breaking down the week's news. Lessin is the CEO and founder of The Information and co-host of the More or Less podcast. Kovach is a technology correspondant at CNBC. We cover (with Lessin): 1) Rumors of GPT-5 being shown to founders, and what it might look like 2) Whether OpenAI is vulnerable now that model quality is converging 3) Satya Nadella's claims that Microsoft effectively controls all the...

Mar 22, 202457 minSeason 1Ep. 277

Predicting AI’s Next Advances — With Suhail Doshi

Suhail Doshi is the CEO and founder of Playground, an AI image generation and editing software company. Doshi joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss where the next generative AI breakthroughs might come from. Tune in to hear Doshi's insights on the innovation within language models, image generation, video, and 3D creation. We also cover the business opportunities the competitive landscape among tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, and the debate around AI's true capabilities in unders...

Mar 20, 20241 hr 6 minSeason 1Ep. 276

Is AI Slowing Down?, Trouble at Tesla, Kate Middleton’s Bad At Photoshop

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) AI sales leaders at Google and Amazon tempering expectations 2) Adobe as a practical example of AI hype vs. reality 3) Does Adobe belong in the magnificent 7? 4) Gartner predicts traditional search volume drops 25% by 2026 5) OpenAI video generator Sora is coming out later this year 6) OpenAI CTO Mira Murati didn't know what data Sora trained on 7) Murati address NYTimes report that he helped oust Sam ...

Mar 15, 202459 minSeason 1Ep. 275

TikTok Sale Or Ban Moves Forward In U.S. — With Mike Solana

Mike Solana is the chief marketing officer at Founders Fund and editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the potential forced sale or ban of TikTok as the U.S. congress voted to pass a bill requiring it. Join us for an in-depth discussion of the arguements for and against banning the app, and how big money is influencing some of the key players. We also talk about Elon Musk, the state of X, Temu and Shein, the power of social media algorithms, and Devin, the fi...

Mar 13, 20241 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 274

OpenAI’s Turmoil Rolls On, Apple Under Siege, Bitcoin Hits $70,000

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI's leadership in flux as Mira Murati named in NYTimes report about Sam Altman's ouster 2) Where's Ilya Sutskever? 3) OpenAI reveals that open source was never so important in Musk lawsuit rebuttal 4) The AI field is wide open now! 5) Anthropic's new bot realized it was being tested 6) Is AI close to sentience? 7) Apple sales drop 24% in China as Huawei surges 8) Apple fined 1.9 billion euro for a...

Mar 08, 20241 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 273

Flexport's CEO on Amazon & Shopify, Red Sea Shipping Problems, and Inflation — With Ryan Petersen

Ryan Petersen is the Founder and Co-CEO of Flexport, a supply chain technology company. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether his company is competing with Amazon, his perspective on Amazon culture, and why ex-Amazon leader Dave Clark didn't work out as CEO. We also discuss the Houthis attacks in the Red Sea's impact on global shipping, de-globalization, cargo theft, and inflation. Tune in for a wide ranging, deep conversation about the state of logistics and the world economy. Lear...

Mar 06, 202453 minSeason 1Ep. 272

Elon Sues OpenAI, Should Sundar Stay?, RIP Apple Car

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Elon Musk suing OpenAI for breaching its founding agreement 2) What can Musk accomplish with the lawsuit 3) The SEC looks into OpenAI’s conduct 4) Microsoft funds OpenAI competition MistralAI 5) Does OpenAi’s chaos make Google look good? 6) The chaos inside Google’s organization that led to its Gemini 7) Is Sundar Pichai the right leader for Google? 8) The death of the Apple car 9) Apple’s generative A...

Mar 01, 20241 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 271

NVIDIA's AI Moat & Origins — With Bryan Catanzaro

Bryan Catanzaro is NVIDIA's VP of applied deep learning research. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss why NVIDIA is building more than just chips, examining its software and algorithms that help tech companies build and run AI models. Join us for a conversation about how NVIDIA sees the world, what's led to its success, and what makes it indispensable. In the second half, we discuss how Bryan helped kick off NVIDIA's push into AI, from the very start to where it is today. --- --- Enjoying...

Feb 28, 202447 minSeason 1Ep. 270

Secrets of NVIDIA's Surge, Google Gemini's Image Generation Disaster, Reddit IPO

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) NVIDIA's stock market surge 2) How NVIDIA software is behind its lock on the market 3) Is the economy saved, now? 4) Reddit's IPO 5) Is Reddit a good ad business? 6) Reddit's AI licensing play 7) Sam Altman role as Reddit's third largest shareholder 8) Was Google Gemini's image generation mess up a product of woke culture or bad AI? 9) Was Gemini's image generation an emergent runaway capability 10) Go...

Feb 23, 20241 hrSeason 1Ep. 269

Foursquare's Founder on Making the Internet Fun Again + His New App — With Dennis Crowley

Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of Foursquare. He joins Big Technology Podcast to talk about what made the internet fun, why it's lost some of its magic, and how to restore it. He also introduces a new app, called BeeBot, that will deliver short, contextual audio messages to you as you walk around cities. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss whether Web3 can still work, how AI changes things, and whether Crowley's buying a Vision Pro. Listen for a fun, energetic conversation about th...

Feb 21, 202451 minSeason 1Ep. 268

OpenAI's New Video Generation Model, Zuck Returns Fire, Tesla's Fatal Crash

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI's new video generation model Sora 2) Will Sora challenge Hollywood? 3) Does Sora understand physics or is it just spitting back video? 4) ChatGPT's declining user numbers 5) Gemini 1.5 6) Meta's new conceptual model of the world 7) Zuckerberg's Vision Pro review 8) Temu dominates the Super Bowl 9) Tesla's fatal, potentially self driving crash 10) A financial advice columnist put $50,000 in a sho...

Feb 16, 20241 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 267

Perplexity’s CEO on Its Plan to Displace Google Search With AI Answers — With Aravind Srinivas

Aravind Srinivas is the CEO of Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine that answers queries with a few paragraphs in natural language. Srinivas joins the show to discuss how his company might threaten Google search, and whether conversational AI search is actually similar to traditional search at all. Tune into the second half where we discuss Aravind's perspective on how AI search might help or hurt news publishers. We also discuss Jeff Bezos's investment in Perplexity and where the cutting edg...

Feb 14, 202436 minSeason 1Ep. 266

Building One: How Cameron Adams Built Canva

Introducing Building One, a new show from LinkedIn chief product officer Tomer Cohen. Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams is the first guest, and in this episode shares his story of how he built his career and eventually Canva. Ahead of this episode, Cohen introduces the show via a brief interview with Alex Kantrowitz. If you like the show, you can subscribe on your podcast app of choice . --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast a...

Feb 12, 202443 minSeason 1Ep. 265

Sam Altman’s $7 Trillion Fundraise, Google Gemini Catches OpenAI, The Return To Office Ploy

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Sam Altman seeking to raise trillions for a new chip company 2) S&P 5,000 3) Google’s Gemini reaching parity with GPT-4 4) The commoditization of AI models 5) The rise of AI agents 6) Google's looming identity criss 7) What happens if Meta is more valuable than Google 8) FCC bans AI generated robocalls 9) The fallout of failed acquisitions like Amazon - iRobot and Adobe - Figma. 10) Snap doing layo...

Feb 09, 20241 hr 8 minSeason 1Ep. 264

Apple Mega-Episode W/ Daring Fireball's John Gruber: AI, Vision Pro, China, App Store & More

John Gruber is the author of Daring Fireball. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a mega episode on the state of Apple. We cover: 1) The company's vibe amid revenue declines 2) The impact of its services business 3) Its position in China 4) How AI might change the user interface of computing 5) Can Apple keep up with the changes if we move beyond the screen 6) Gruber's reaction to the Vision Pro 7) The stakes of Apple's Vision Pro bet 8) Apple conflict with Meta and who is getting the best of it...

Feb 07, 20241 hr 43 minSeason 1Ep. 263

Hands-On With the Vision Pro, Big Tech's Back in Washington, Elon Musk’s $55 Billion Payday — With Joanna Stern

Joanna Stern from the Wall Street Journal joins us to talk about her hands-on experience with the Vision Pro. We also break down the dramatic big tech hearings in Washington, Meta's monster earnings report, Elon Musk’s $55 billion pay package, and Peter Thiel’s steroid Olympics. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970...

Feb 02, 202453 minSeason 1Ep. 262

Robinhood's CEO On Dumb Money, Day Trading, and Retirement — With Vlad Tenev

Vlad Tenev is the CEO and co-founder of Robinhood. He joins Big Technology Podcast to share what's happened to meme stock traders after the meme stocks. We talk about how the company's 23 million members are adjusting to a challenging investment environment after riding the zero interest rate investment environment. We also discuss about how Robinhood is evolving, providing retirement services and working on a credit card. And Tenev addresses some controversial areas like margin trading and paym...

Jan 31, 202457 minSeason 1Ep. 261

The Taylor Swift Deepfake Problem, Tech All Time Highs + Layoffs, Quitting Amazon Prime

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Why nude Taylor Swift deepfakes could be a problem for generative AI 2) Whether the technology slows due to this Taylor Swift episode 3) Google's latest video generator, Lumiere 4) Are Generative AI margins lower than software margins? 5) Why tech layoffs are happening at a time when tech stocks are hitting all-time highs 6) Are media layoffs a result of generative AI? 7) Are tech investors overexubera...

Jan 26, 202456 minSeason 1Ep. 260

Why Meta Wants To Build Artificial General Intelligence — With Joelle Pineau

Joelle Pineau is the head of Meta's AI Research division. She joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the company's recent proclamation that it intends to build Artificial General Intelligence, digging into how we get there and why it feels it must. In a wide-ranging discussion, we cover the latest research trends, the company's open-source practices, what actual products developers have been built with AI, video generation, and the reasons why NVIDIA chips are so in demand. Tune in for a deep d...

Jan 24, 202448 minSeason 1Ep. 259

Microsoft & OpenAI Visit Davos, Is The Vision Pro Dead On Arrival, Google Makes More Cuts

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Satya Nadella on the state of Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI 2) Satya Nadella on OpenAI’s governance 3) Sam Altman on OpenAI’s potential for a big breakthrough this year 4) Altman on whether AI will replace jobs 5) How Generative AI will factor in politics this year, and whether it will actually be a big problem 6) The threat of video deepfakes 7) HeyGen’s translation of Argentina president Javier...

Jan 19, 202449 minSeason 1Ep. 258

Would a World Without Algorithms Be Better? — With Kyle Chayka

Kyle Chayka is a New Yorker staff writer and author of FILTERWORLD: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Chayka joins Big Technology Podcast to talk about his book — which debuts this week — and dig into whether algorithms really do make our culture flatter. In this spirited conversation, we interrogate the role of algorithms in society, ask how they reflect in the real world, and ponder how products would be redesigned to take back control. Stay tuned for the second half, where we discuss Chayka's...

Jan 17, 202447 minSeason 1Ep. 257
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