This is CNBC journalist Jon Fortt. This is the last episode I’ll be guest-hosting for Nilay while he’s out on parental leave. My guest today is Richard Robinson, who is the cofounder and CEO of legal tech startup Robin AI.
Richard is a corporate lawyer-turned-startup founder working on AI tools for the legal profession. But law and AI have not mixed well. So I wanted to ask Richard about hallucinations, how lawyers can use AI today, and what it will really take to place our trust in an AI lawyer.
Read the full transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Legal tech startup Robin AI raises another $25 million | Fortune
Why do lawyers keep using ChatGPT? | Verge
Judge slams lawyers for ‘bogus AI-generated research’ | Verge
Lawyers using AI must heed ethics rules, ABA says in first formal guidance | Reuters
Lawyers fined for submitting bogus case law created by ChatGPT | AP
The ChatGPT lawyer explains himself | NYT
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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54:53
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54:53
We are not ready for better deepfakes
This is Alex Heath, your Thursday episode guest host. Today I'm talking with Gaurav Misra, the CEO of Captions. You may not have heard of Captions yet, but by now, you’ve probably seen a video that was generated using its AI models. The company’s Mirage Studio platform lets anyone generate AI versions of real people, and the results are alarmingly realistic.
Captions just put out a blog post titled, “We Build Synthetic Humans. Here’s What’s Keeping Us Up at Night.” It’s a good overview of the state of deepfakes and where they’re headed. So Gauraav and I sat down to discuss the trajectory of deepfake technology and what might be done to prevent it from being misused.
Links:
We build synthetic humans. Here’s what’s keeping us up at night | Captions
Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator is a slop monger’s dream | Verge
Gemini AI can now turn photos into videos | Verge
Trump just unveiled his plan to put AI in everything | Verge
Racist videos made with AI are going viral on TikTok | Verge
Microsoft wants Congress to outlaw AI-generated deepfake fraud | Verge
YouTube is supporting the ‘No Fakes Act’ targeting unauthorized AI replicas | Verge
This Tom Cruise impersonator is using deepfake tech to impressive ends | Verge
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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1:00:56
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1:00:56
Why tech billionaires want a ‘corporate dictatorship’
This is Jon Fortt, CNBC journalist. I’m guest-hosting for a couple more episodes of Decoder this summer while Nilay is out on parental leave. Today, I’m talking with a very special guest: Gil Duran, an old friend, journalist, and author of The Nerd Reich, a newsletter and forthcoming book about the shifting politics of Silicon Valley and the rise of tech authoritarianism.
Links:
Is Peter Thiel the Antichrist? NYT didn’t think to ask | The Nerd Reich
How tech authoritarianism becomes reality | The Nerd Reich
Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America | The New Yorker
The rise of techno-authoritarianism | The Atlantic
JD Vance thinks monarchists have some good ideas | The Verge
Startups meeting with Trump officials to push for deregulated ‘Freedom Cities’ | Wired
Peter Thiel-linked startup wants to build the “next great city” in Greenland | Inside Hook
Bitcoin could replace dollar If US debt grows says Coinbase CEO | CryptoSlate
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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1:06:15
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1:06:15
Perplexity CEO on why the browser is AI's killer app
This is Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge. Nilay’s out on parental leave for the next few months, so I’ll be stepping in to host our Thursday episodes while he’s out. My guest today is Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, who is betting that the browser is where more useful AI will get built.
Perplexity just released Comet, an AI web browser for the Mac and Windows that’s still in an invite-only beta. I’ve been using it, and it’s very interesting. In this conversation, Aravind and I also discussed the future of Perplexity, the AI talent wars, and why he thinks people will eventually pay thousands of dollars for a single AI prompt.
Read the full transcript here on The Verge.
Links:
Perplexity just launched an AI web browser | Verge
Perplexity wants to buy Chrome if Google has to sell it | Verge
The Dia browser is a big bet on the. web and AI | Verge
Perplexity’s CEO on fighting Google & the AI browser war | Command Line
Perplexity launches a $200 monthly subscription plan | Verge
Meta says it’s winning the talent war with OpenAI | Verge
Meta is trying to win the AI race with money | Verge
Meta held talks to buy Perplexity and others | Command Line
Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s AI hiring spree | Command Line
Perplexity is ready to take on Google | Command Line
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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53:45
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53:45
How decision making will change when AI answers are cheap and (too) easy
This is Jon Fortt, CNBC journalist, co-host of Closing Bell Overtime, and creator and host of the Fortt Knox podcast. I’m stepping in to guest host a few episodes of Decoder this summer while he’s out on parental leave, and I’m very excited for what we’ve been working on.
For my first episode of Decoder, a show about how people make decisions, I wanted to talk to an expert. So I sat down with Cassie Kozyrkov, the CEO and founder of AI consultancy Kozyr and the former chief decision scientist at Google. Read the full transcript over on The Verge.
Links:
Google’s ‘chief decision scientist’ explains why she left the company | Fortune
What is Decision Science? | DataCamp (YouTube)
Is It All About the Data? | DLD24 (YouTube)
Cassie Kozyrkov on how AI can be a leadership partner | WorkLab
Decision Intelligence with Cassie Kozyrkov | Google Cloud Platform Podcast
Why AI and decision-making are two sides of the same coin | Cassie Kozyrkov
Google's got a chief decision scientist. Here's what she does | Wired
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.