Kara sits down with Bren Brown, researcher, author, and vulnerability expert, in this edition of the Burn Book book tour. Bren tries to bring out our hosts vulnerable side, asking about the life lessons Kara has learned from the tech titans she confronts in her memoir. This inevitably leads to a discussion of why Kara believes nice guys (like Mark Zuckerberg) can still be dangerous, and about her disappointment with Elon Musk. This interview was taped at the Chicago Humanities Festival on March ...
Mar 28, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast The effort to ban TikTok in the US is back in the spotlight as a new bill has passed through the House and is now in the Senate. Today, we have a lively debate with two guests who bring competing analysis to the table. Alex Stamos is Chief Trust Officer at SentinelOne and the former Chief Information Security Officer at Facebook (he can often be heard on Moderated Content). Taylor Lorenz is a columnist at the Washington Post covering technology and culture and hosts the new VoxMedia podcast, Pow...
Mar 25, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Reddit has been around for 19 years, but todaythe social media platformgoes public and starts a new chapter.Itslisting on the New York Stock Exchange also marksthe first major social media IPO since 2019. Kara speaks to co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman about money, content moderators and whetherthe subredditr/WallStreetBets couldmake this one amemestock. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. Were on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn m...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast For the past decade, the European Commission has taken on Big Tech under the leadership of Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, inspiring fear and griping from tech CEOs the world over. Today, Vestager reveals why, despite being one of the toughest regulators in the business, she considers herself a tech optimist. She and Kara discuss the impact of EU antitrust lawsuits - including the most recent $2 billion fine against Apple - whether EU tech regulations passed to improve safety and co...
Mar 18, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're continuing book tour week in this bonus episode of On. Kara takes the SXSW stage with Mark Cuban, the entrepreneur turned "Shark Tank" star who is currently focused on his healthcare venture CostPlus Drug Company.The two have known each other for decades and Cuban was even featured in the "Mensch" chapter of Burn Book a short chapter at that. On stage, Mark grills Kara on how few women are featured in her book, what makes her so successful and why she didn't just call the book "told you so...
Mar 15, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast We continue Kara's tour of her memoir Burn Book: a Tech Love Story as she gets candid with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about the nonsensical nature of 1990s/early 2000s tech culture, how technology disrupted media, where Kara's candor comes from and Ted's short-lived career as a journalist. This interview was taped at Live Talks LA on March 4,2024. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. Were on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn more ab...
Mar 14, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we join Kara on tour as she speaks with some of the most influential names in tech about her memoir Burn Book: a Tech Love Story. Today's stop: San Franciscos City Arts & Lectures with Sam Altman, OpenAIs co-founder and CEO (and recently reinstated Board Member). This time, its Kara in the hot seat and Altman asking the questions. The two talk about last years OpenAI drama, Karas live coverage of Sams ouster and return, the lawsuit Elon Musk has brought against OpenAI and the public s...
Mar 11, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In high school, Reed Jobs was a summer intern in oncology labs while his dad, the late Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Jobs, was battling pancreatic cancer. In his biography, Steve is quoted as calling his sons interest in biotech the silver lining of his illness and making cancer non-lethal has become Reeds life mission. In 2023, he spun off the venture capital firm Yosemite from Emerson Collective (the philanthropy and family office founded by his mother, Laurene Powell Jobs) to focus on ...
Mar 07, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tomorrow is Super Tuesday - the nation's biggest primary vote - and hundreds of delegates are up for grabs. But what impact do primaries have when the nation seems resigned to a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump? David Chalian, CNN Political Director (i.e. the man who makes the call on election night), shares his thoughts on the stakes for 2024, why Nikki Haley is still in the race, and which state he believes matters most this November. Questions? Comments? E...
Mar 04, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week marks the release of Karas memoir, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story and the launch of her national book tour. At events from New York to Seattle, some of the tech CEOs, politicians and other bold names Kara writes about in her book will be putting her in the hot seat. Todays episode is the first of these conversations: former CNN anchor Don Lemon interviewed her about her career and the tech giants shes slain, and drops some intel about his own new show on X. This conversation was taped Mo...
Feb 29, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Renowned litigator Roberta (Robbie) Kaplan says shes a born fighter. In January she won one of those fights when a jury ordered Donald Trump to pay Kaplans client, E. Jean Carroll, $83.3 million dollars for defamation. Kara and Robbie talk about why Trumps behavior in and out of the court cost him. They also discuss the state of LGBTQ+ rights more than a decade after Kaplan successfully championed same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court. And Kaplan unpacks how Elon Musk and others with deep p...
Feb 26, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Actor Paul Giamatti seems to have perfected the hyper-articulate, slightly depressed curmudgeon and this year, it might land him an Oscar. Kara and Paul talk about why his role in The Holdovers hit close to home, the challenges of developing a multi-season TV character like Billions D.A. Chuck Rhoades, and how a chinwag led him to co-host a podcast about metaphysics, time travel and UFOs. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. Were on Instagram/Threads as @k...
Feb 22, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, were replaying a conversation that Kara taped last spring with none other than Brooke Shields. Shields became a teenage superstar through her roles in Pretty Baby and Blue Lagoon as well as the famous Calvin Klein ads (Do you want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.). In her new Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, she talks about how she sees those hypersexualized roles today and how she survived life in an industry that she says did nothing to help her. S...
Feb 19, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Writer and director Cord Jeffersons first feature film, American Fiction, has been nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Jefferson was once a journalist, but shifted into TV and film a decade ago, working on shows including Succession, The Good Place, and Watchmen, for which he won an Emmy for his writing. Kara and Cord discuss why Percival Everetts book Erasure spoke to him so personally, how satire helped him break out of the race beat, and what project...
Feb 15, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than 35 years after its release, Tracy Chapmans eponymous debut album and the single Fast Car hit #1 on the charts last week, fueled by her performance with country star Luke Combs at the Grammy Awards. Kara speaks with Lydia Polgreen of the New York Times Matter of Opinion podcast, music reporter Maura Johnston, and Estelle Caswell, formerly of Vox Pop Earworm, about why an album written at the end of the Reagan era, full of songs about social injustice, racial tensions and striving for up...
Feb 12, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rahm Emanuel is the ultimate political insider: Hes worked closely with three presidents, hes been mayor of the nations third largest city (Chicago), and hes now redefining diplomacy as ambassador to Japan. Kara talks to Rahm about the new Japan he sees emerging today, the importance of strong Asia-Pacific collaboration to counter China, his thoughts on a probable Biden-Trump rematch in November, and whether or not Taylor Swift will make it back from Tokyo in time for the Superbowl. Questions? C...
Feb 08, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara got a sneak peek of the Apple Vision Pro, and sat down before the official launch with tech reporters Joanna Stern, Nilay Patel and Mark Gurman to discuss why it took so long for Apple to get into the world of "spatial computing" headsets, who will buy it at a steep $3500 price tag, and what Steve Jobs might make of this new device.Note: This episode was taped on Wednesday, January 31st. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, our guest is acclaimed director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay, known for the Oscar-nominated films Selma and 13th. Her latest film Origin is an adaptation of Isabel Wilkersons 2020 bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. We explore how she adapted the ideas of a nonfiction book into a gripping narrative film and why instead of major Hollywood studios DuVernay secured funding for Origin from philanthropists, including the Ford Foundation, Melinda Gates, Laurene Powell Jobs and An...
Feb 01, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast How does someone with more than five decades of political reporting under her belt assess the current state of the union? For the past year, former PBS NewsHour anchor and current senior correspondent Judy Woodruff has been touring the country for a new project, America at a Crossroads, reporting on the divisions that plague our nation. Kara speaks with Woodruff about the roles that both politicians and the media play in our growing polarization, whether journalists can be truthful, not neutral ...
Jan 29, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Pennsylvanias Attorney General, Josh Shapiro successfully defended the state election process in 2020 against suits brought by former President Donald Trump and his allies. We speak with Governor Shapiro about his administration's preparations for a likely Trump/Biden rematch in November. Plus: how his Get Sh*t Done motto is working out with a divided state legislature, why hes launched a pilot project for using generative AI in government, and his reflections on the surge in antisemitism and...
Jan 25, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump is an American figure decades in the making. Thats the argument historian and professor Heather Cox Richardson makes in her latest book: Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Richardson lays out her case, discusses her change of heart on Biden (whom shes interviewed twice) and answers a question from former Representative Adam Kinzinger. She also sheds some light on whether she will take her popular newsletter business away from Substack, which has recently come under ...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast From therapeutic-assisted MDMA to decriminalized psilocybin and microdosing, movements to legalize psychedelics are everywhere. California-based Joe Green is a prominent voice in the movement, as the co-founder and President of the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative (PSFC). Kara asks him about the recent unfavorable headlines (including concerns over Elon Musks potential drug use and Matthew Perrys death from acute effects of ketamine) and poses a question from Investigative Reporter Oliv...
Jan 18, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Before the OpenAI Drama which pit AI enthusiasts (accelerationists) against doomers (decelerationists) we had a conversation with Stanford computer scientist and pioneering AI researcher, Dr. Fei-Fei Li. While cognizant of the challenges AI poses including disinformation, polarization, biases, a loss of privacy and job losses that could lead to unrest Li is a fierce advocate for the humane development of artificial intelligence and for increased diversity in the field. We taped this episode Octo...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trumps back. Today, we go to a panel of experts to discuss his 2024 legal woes, dangerously escalating rhetoric, and what he might do if he retakes the White House in 2025. Our guests areNew York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman,Vox senior correspondent Ian Millhiser,and ABC NewsChief Washington CorrespondentJonathan Karl, whorecently authoredTired of Winning:Donald Trumpand the End of the Grand Old Party. Plus: former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Gr...
Jan 11, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Four years after the start of the global pandemic, COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, but in the U.S., every week, the virus is still hospitalizing 15,000 people and killing a thousand. Today, we look back and ahead with former New York Times global health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., author of the new book The Wisdom of Plagues: Lessons from 25 years of Covering Pandemics. He and Kara discuss the conflicting findings surrounding the virus origin, including the lab leak theory cu...
Jan 08, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara and Nayeema look forward to the characters and moments that may define 2024 by looking back at the coverage of the last year. We unpack the drama at OpenAI, to the contrast between Biden and Trump and Fox News, to Elon Musk and X with the most revealing interview moments from 2023. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. Were on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jan 04, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast On is off for the holidays, so today we have an episode of friend-of-the-pod Preet Bharara's podcast Stay Tuned with Preet. In this episode, Preet is joined by author Mark Chiusano for a deep dive on our favorite (or least favorite) Washington fabulist: George Santos. Mark Chiusano is the author of The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos. He joins Preet to discuss Santoss lifetime of lies, and what his ascension to power says about our pol...
Dec 28, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Randy Rainbow is a four-time Emmy and Grammy-nominated musical comedy sensation famous for his viral taunts of anti-LGBTQ+ politicians, hateful celebrities and, of course, George Santos. Rainbow (and, yes: that is his real name) talks about his approach to his work, his inspirations, and why he claims his videos arent political. Kara also asks Rainbow what Elon the Musical would sound like. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. Were on Instagram/Threads as ...
Dec 21, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are world hunger, pandemics and climate change fixable or is mitigating their impacts the best we can hope for? Is there any point in making them moonshots? In his new book, Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, Rockefeller Foundation President and former Administrator of USAID Rajiv Shah explains how going big impacts motivation even if the result is a Big Fail. We speak with Shah about the outcome of the recent UN Climate Conference in Dubai (and the overwhelming presence of Big Oil...
Dec 18, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tim Alberta is a fantastic reporter whose profiles of 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley and former CNN boss Chris Licht proved illuminating and impactful (Licht lost his job days after). In his latest book, Alberta has profiled not a person but a movement: the evangelical church. Its a community that rallied around Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and will likely do so in 2024. And its one Alberta knows well: his father was an evangelical pastor. Albertas new book, The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory: America...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast 
