Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Satya Nadella's criticism of AI benchmark hacking 2) Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new Thinking Machines Lab startup 3) There are too many AI startups 4) Why foundation models have commoditized 5) Did Google 'DeepSeek' itself? 6) Grok3 arrives 7) How do you evaluate whether models are good? 8) Grok3 at the top of Chatbot arena 9) Benedict Evans on Deep Research 10) Does using AI tools make our brains atr...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 376
Saagar Enjeti is the co-host of Breaking Points. He joins Big Technology podcast to asses whether the Big Tech CEOs will win their Trump bet, assessing the stakes involved, the positioning, and the likely outcomes. We talk about Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, and, of course, Elon Musk. Stay tuned as we discuss how the U.S. and China will handle the AI battle, especially after DeepSeek. And we end with a fun back and forth on Apple Intelligence and The Vision Pro, of which ...
Feb 19, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 375
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Musk's $97 billion bid for OpenAI 2) Whether the bid is real 3) How damaging could holding up OpenAI's for-profit conversion be? 4) Musk throws OpenAI off its rhythm 5) New OpenAI roadmap: GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 are coming 6) Should models flip dynamically between standard LLM and reasoning 7) Anthropic strikes back 8) Apple + Alibaba partnership 9) iPhone SE launch looms 10) TikTok is back in app stores......
Feb 14, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 374
Evan Ratliff is the host of Shell Game. Ratliff joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how he cloned his voice with AI and sent it to interviews, social calls, and therapy. In this conversation, we learn about why he conducted the experiment and what it portends for the future of voice AI. Tune in for a lively discussion with plenty of fun anecdotes from when Ratliff send his AI voice clone out into the wild. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast a...
Feb 12, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 373
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) New data showing ChatGPT's impressive growth since mid-2024 2) Was ChatGPT voice mode responsible? 3) How important ChatGPT's growth is for OpenAI 4) How seriously DeepSeek challenged ChatGPT's traffic numbers 5) Does brand matter or are bots interchangeable? 6) OpenAI does the Reddit AMA 7) Experimenting with OpenAI's Deep Research 8) Why AI reasoning methods contain so much promise 9) New Gemini rele...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 372
Rev Lebaredian is the Vice President, Omniverse & Simulation Technology at NVIDIA. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a conversation about NVIDIA's push to develop AI that understands the dynamics of the real world, including physics. In this conversation, we cover how NVIDIA is building this technology, what it might be useful for (things like robotics and building common sense into AI models), how it will change labor, and even potentially warfare. We also cover how AI videos today posses...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 371
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) The DeepSeek impact on Silicon Valley 2) The four areas of margin in AI 3) How OpenAI is positioned after this week 4) Whether OpenAI can be fine losing the lead on model building 5) DeepSeek's impact on Anthropic 6) Why Amazon is happy about DeepSeek 7) Should NVIDIA be taking the worst of it? 8) Okay, let's discuss Jevon's Paradox 9) We have a discord now 10) Apple made Siri even dumber --- Join us o...
Jan 31, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 370
Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, a legendary Silicon Valley investor, and author of the new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future. Hoffman joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his optimistic case for AI, the massive investments flooding into the field, and whether they can possibly pay off. Tune in to hear Hoffman's insider perspective on OpenAI's $6.6 billion raise, the emergence of Chinese AI competitor DeepSeek, and why he believes these unprecedented...
Jan 29, 2025•56 min•Season 1Ep. 369
M.G. Siegler is a writer and investor and the author of Spyglass. Siegler joins Big Technology for a bonus depisode to discuss DeepSeek R1, the Chinese open-source AI model and its impact on the tech industry. Tune in to hear why DeepSeek's ability to match OpenAI's performance at just 3-5% of the cost could upend the AI industry's economic model. We also cover the immediate market fallout, why Silicon Valley's scaling hypothesis might be invalidated, and what this means for companies like Micro...
Jan 27, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 368
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) DeepSeek r1, an efficient, cheap reasoning model from China 2) How DeepSeek stacks up against the state of the art 3) Does DeepSeek invalidate the billions of dollars invested in current foundational models 4) DeepSeek's wild origin story 5) How DeepSeek changes U.S. and China's AI rivalry 6) OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle team up to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in a program called Star...
Jan 24, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 367
Demis Hassabis is the CEO of Google DeepMind. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the cutting edge of AI and where the research is heading. In this conversation, we cover the path to artificial general intelligence, how long it will take to get there, how to build world models, whether AIs can be creative, and how AIs are trying to deceive researchers. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss Google's plan for smart glasses and Hassabis's vision for a virtual cell. Hit play for a f...
Jan 22, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 366
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban 2) Will Apple and Google comply even if the White House doesn't enforce? 3) What does TikTok's behavior tell us about its ties to China's government? 4) How TikTok might stick around 5) Will Elon Musk buy TikTok 6) TikTok CEO Shou Chew is going to sit at the dias during Trump's inauguration 7) Chinese app Little Red Book, or RedNote takes off 8) Does China want American...
Jan 17, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 365
Eugenia Kuyda is the founder and CEO of Replika, an AI companion app where people befriend — and sometimes fall in love with — AI bots. Kuyda joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the nature of these relationships, and what they say about our society. In this conversation, Kuyda reveals Replika's ambition for its "phase two," a plan to have AI friends join us in the real world, helping us keep in touch with friends, get off social media, or even watch movies together. Tune in for a fascinating...
Jan 15, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 364
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Sam Altman declares the path to AGI is clear 2) Could AGI come before GPT-5? 3) Up next: Superintelligence 4) Anthropic raising $2 billion 5) NVIDIA says robotics is a multi-trillion opportunity 6) NVIDIA has a personal 'supercomputer' 7) Smarter NPCs are here 8) Meta's AI training copyright issues 9) Zuckerberg's fact check reality check 10) Motives of Zuckerberg's moderation moves 11) TikTok ban migh...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 363
Ryan Broderick writes the Garbage Day newsletter and hosts the Panic World podcast. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how the internet has fundamentally changed since the pandemic, in a special episode with Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz. Tune in to hear Broderick's insights about the rise of viral normie culture which includes Hawk Tuah and the Costco Guys, why sites like BuzzFeed are struggling to adapt, and how platforms are shifting from follow models to algorithmic feeds. We also c...
Jan 08, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 362
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Skydiving with the Meta Raybans 2) OpenAI's GPT-5 delay 3) AI's crucible year 4) We finally know what OpenAI's definition of AGI is 5) Was AGI just a financial thing all along? 6) Trump throws TikTok a lifeline 7) The best divestment ever 8) Meta changes its political leadership 9) Manifesting in twenty twenty thrive --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast a...
Jan 04, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 361
Casey Newton is the author of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork. He joins Big Technology Podcast for our annual predictions episode. Tune in to hear Newton analyze 2024's major developments in AI, debate whether AI agents will take off in 2025, and explore what might happen to companies like Apple, Google, and OpenAI in the coming year. We also cover quantum computing breakthroughs, self-driving car expansion, and what a potential Trump presidency could mean for tech antitrust. Hit play for an...
Jan 01, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 360
Brian Chesky is the CEO and co-founder of Airbnb. This week on Big Technology Podcast , we roll back the clock to our interview with Chesky in 2023, where he discussed cleaning fees, listening to customer feedback, and getting involved in the details of the product and user experience. This interview was one of the earliest moments Chesky shared his 'Founder Mode, philosophy, passionately talking about why he gets in the details, even as CEO. Please enjoy this holiday throwback. Alex and Ranjan ...
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 359
Dr. Rona Novick is a clinical psychologist and Dean Emerita of Yeshiva University's Azrieli School. Jinja Birkenbeuel is CEO of Birk Creative, and a parent of three children. They join Big Technology Podcast to discuss the right amount of technology to give to kids and how it impacts the developing brain. Tune in to hear their insights about pandemic-era screen time, the creation vs. consumption debate, how parents should approach digital supervision, and why schools are struggling to manage pho...
Dec 25, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 358
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI's o3 reasoning model 2) Is reasoning a real step forward or a head fake after other methods hit a wall 3) Is AI reasoning too expensive 4) AI models attempt to trick their trainers 5) Are we getting close to AGI? 6) Is it silly to start discussing AI sentience now? 7) 1-800-CHAT-GPT 8) Okay, we call ChatGPT 9) Assessing Neuralink's prospects 10) Meta brings Live AI to its smart glasses 11) And l...
Dec 20, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 357
Noland Arbaugh is a 30 year old quadriplegic who can control computers with nothing but his mind. Earlier this year, he allowed Elon Musk’s Neuralink to drill a hole in his skull, insert more than one thousand electrodes into his motor cortex, and translate his brain signals into cursor movement and clicks. In this week's Big Technology Podcast, Alex Kantrowitz interviews Arbaugh at his Yuma, Arizona home in a conversation that covers his injury, the Neuralink selection process, the surgery, the...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 356
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) What's the use case for OpenAI's Sora video generator? 2) Maybe Sora helps OpenAI understand physics and sets up world models + robotics 3) Siri is still bad 4) Check in on OpenAI's shipmas 5) OpenAI o1 tries to escape being shut down 6) Time Magazine's Person of the Year AI 7) Gemini 2.0 8) Google Deep Research 9) Tech's approach to Trump's second term 10) Is 'Big Tech' a monolith? 11) GM kills its au...
Dec 13, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 355
Alexandr Wang is the CEO and co-founder of Scale AI. He joins Big Technology Podcast to share his predictions for AI in 2025, including insights about emerging geopolitical drama in the AI field, AI agents for consumers, why data may matter more than computing power, and how militaries worldwide are preparing to deploy AI in warfare. We also cover quantum computing and why Wang believes we're approaching the current limits of what massive GPU clusters can achieve. Hit play for a mind-expanding c...
Dec 11, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 354
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Amazon's new Nova AI model 2) How Nova is differentiated 3) OpenAI heading to AWS in 2025? 4) OpenAI's 12 days of Shipmas 5) OpenAI's $200/month ChatGPT PRO 6) Google's new Veo video generation model 7) Will OpenAI's Sora video generation model measure up? 8) Jeff Bezos talks at Dealbook 9) OpenAI considers an ad product 10) Generative AI companies suck at advertising 10) Bitcoin $100,000 11) Hawk Tuah...
Dec 06, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 353
Matt Garman is the CEO of Amazon Web Services. Garman joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Amazon's AI strategy and future plans. Tune in to hear Garman's insights on AWS's AI chips, partnerships with leading AI companies including OpenAI, the ROI of generative AI, and how AWS is helping customers leverage AI while managing costs. We also cover AWS's investment in nuclear energy, the current state of the cloud market, and Amazon's culture challenges Hit play for a wide-ranging and in-depth co...
Dec 04, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 352
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Elon Musk tries to stop OpenAI from going for-profit 2) Should OpenAI be able to convert to for profit? 3) Should OpenAI be able to prevent investors from investing in competitors 4) What happens if OpenAI delays the for-profit conversion 5) State of GenAI 6) Musk's xAI raise and scale up 7) Artists leak OpenAI's Sora 8) Sora is actually pretty good 9) Evaluating Marx Benioff's agent pitch with Agentfo...
Dec 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 351
Marc Benioff is the CEO and co-founder of Salesforce. Benioff joins Big Technology Podcast for a wide ranging discussion on AI agents, automation, and the future of labor. In this episode, we discuss his vision for AI agents and how they'll transform the way companies interact with customers. Tune in to hear why Benioff believes the future isn't about personal AI assistants, but rather company-specific agents built on robust data systems that can take effective action on our behalf. We also cove...
Nov 27, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 350
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) OpenAI's browser initiative 2) Can the ChatGPT browser succeed 3) DOJ wants to split off Chrome 4) Is spinning off Chrome a just punishment? 5) Would we be better off with Google services disconnected from each other? 6) Apple is trying to improve Siri with LLMS 7) Microsoft's copilot has struggled in the early going 8) Anthropic raises $4 billion 9) Was the Jaguar rebrand good? --- Enjoying Big Techno...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 349
RJ Scaringe is the CEO of Rivian. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a deep discussion about the state of electric vehicles and where Rivian goes from here. We go into depth about Elon Musk's role in the coming Trump administration and what Scaringe would do if he was the "first buddy." Then we talk about Rivian's affordability, its partnership with VW, its road to profitability, and more. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss energy and the grid — and Scaringe shares a passionate sta...
Nov 20, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 348
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson 2) Why researchers believe Generative AI training methods might be plateauing 3) Is the application really what matters? 4) Will reasoning save the day? 5) Writer raises $200 million 6) ChatGPT defeats Chegg 7) Should ad agencies bill by the hour in the age of AI? 8) Ranjan reflects on our interview with Gustav Soderstrom 9) Gratitude for listeners 10) Yes, we're launching vide...
Nov 15, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 347
