Decoder with Nilay Patel

There’s been a whole lot of organizational and structural change at NBCUniversal since the last time Matt Strauss joined Decoder. First, Comcast spun most of the cable channels off into something called Versant, and Matt became the chairman of the entire NBCU Media Group. Next year, Comcast is splitting off NBCU into an entirely separate company.

That's a lot to have going on all at once — and Matt's the guy who has to make sure broadcast, Peacock, and every other platform keeps making you watch.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

Comcast plans major layoffs as it preps for NBCU spinoff | Variety

YouTube Premium will include Peacock starting next year | The Verge

Pipes dream: Why Comcast gave up on NBCU | Decoder

Langley, Strauss unveil new executive structures at NBCU | Variety

NBCU’s streaming chief isn’t worried about you cancelling cable | Decoder

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder is produced by Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. The show is editors by Ursa Wright and Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, I’m joined by Joey Brookhart, an analyst at the chip and AI research firm SemiAnalysis, to help me dig into the story inside the massive Anthropic IPO filing.

This isn’t just about a single company’s financials, or its lofty ambitions or frankly ludicrous risk factors, which include maybe automating every job or, you know, killing everyone. It’s also the clearest look yet at how the business of frontier AI actually works and who’s really paying for it.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

Anthropic files for its IPO | The Verge

Five weird details from Anthropic’s IPO filing | The Verge

Anthropic’s elaborate plan to keep Wall Street at bay | The Verge

Anthropic revenue jumps to $16.8B in quarter before IPO | Bloomberg

Anthropic raises concerns | Matt Levine

Anthropic reveals skyrocketing growth in IPO filing | NYT

The Anthropic IPO financials sneak peak | SemiAnalysis

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today is Kevin Roose, a journalist and author of the new book The AGI Chronicles. Kevin was a longtime New York Times reporter and host of the popular podcast Hard Fork, but he and friend of the show Casey Newton just left The Times to start the all-new tech podcast Machine Gods, which launched last week.

Kevin and I talked about launching Machine Gods and what it’s like to go from mainstream media to being an independent creator. Of course, we also talked about his book, which is excellently reported dive into the companies racing to build machine intelligence.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

The AGI Chronicles | Kevin Roose

Can AI replicate in your smart TV? | Machine Gods (YouTube)

Introducing Machine Gods | Platformer

Inside the biggest feud in artificial intelligence | The Atlantic

The essay that started the AI race | Kevin Roose

A conversation with Bing’s chatbot left me deeply unsettled | NYT

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Kabir Chopra. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today is Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft and chairman of the Gates Foundation. You may have noticed Bill in the news more lately — he’s been on something of a tour for the past few months talking about AI risk, and how crucial it is that we start taking this seriously.

So I was excited to sit down with him and really dig into this subject. I came with many questions, about AI policy, the technical aspects of alignment, and what it means for future generations that we’re building something this disruptive and potentially dangerous.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. | Bill Gates

"OG" Bill Gates returns to wage war on AI risks | Axios

Bill Gates’s blunt warning on AI | The Ezra Klein Show

Ben Horowitz criticizes Bill Gates, Anthropic over AI safety | All-In Pod

Does Anthropic think Claude is alive? Define ‘alive’ | The Verge

Microsoft AI CEO says Anthropic is making AI risks worse | Decoder

Bill Gates has a good feeling about AI | The Verge (2024)

The risks of AI are real but manageable | Bill Gates (2023)

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, has a lot of thoughts about AI, tech, and privacy. Those issues are driving a big and maybe kind of unexpected political realignment — and with the midterms coming up next month, and early voting already underway in a lot of places, the stakes are pretty high right now. And as he notes, some problems are just collective action problems that require a government. We can’t solve everything one at a time, or even one state at a time.

And of course, I had to ask him: Are the Bears gonna stay in Illinois?

Links:

How ordinary Utahns fought the biggest data center in the world | The Verge

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be ‘less evil’ | Decoder

YouTube CEO: ‘We’re focused on internal safety efforts’ | CNN

Pritzker signs landmark AI regulation bill | Capitol News Illinois

Pritzker establishes AI Cabinet amid calls for regulation | NPR Ilinois

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by [TK EDITOR]. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices