Big Technology Podcast

Alex Kantrowitz

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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550 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes550

Newest first

Friday · 1 hr 4 min
Leopold Blows Up, OpenAI Drastically Cuts Prices, Microsoft’s Best Day
Reed Albergotti from Semafor is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Why Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness Hedge Fund 2) Leopold's connections to effective altriusm and how they played into the picture 3) Does EA lead to unacceptable risk taking? 4) What Leopold actually traded 5) What's left of Situational Awareness 6) OpenAI cuts prices as much as 80% 7) Does an AI price war drive everything to zero? 8) Nvidia invests $5 billion in Ilya Sutskever's SSI 8) Microsoft crushes earnings and has the biggest market cap gain ever 9) Amazon crushes earnings too 10) Google rebounds 11) Apple's memory fears and long term risks --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 1 hr 1 min
How China Caught U.S. AI — With Grace Shao
Grace Shao is the author of AI Proem. Shao joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how Chinese AI labs have caught their American rivals despite operating with less advanced computing infrastructure. Tune in to hear how talent, specialization, open-source collaboration, and fierce competition helped models like Kimi K3 approach the U.S. frontier, and what that means for OpenAI, Anthropic, and the business of selling intelligence. We also cover model distillation, China’s compute constraints, the growing importance of AI products, why top researchers are returning to China, and the country’s emerging robotics advantage. Hit play for a clear-eyed look at whether the United States can preserve its AI lead. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ⁠ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY⁠ and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 24 · 1 hr 4 min
What Happens If AI Fails?, Subprime Data Center Crisis, How Bad Can SpaceX Get?
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Could trouble for AI stocks lead to a recession or worse? 2) How the wealth effect might slow consumer spending if AI causes a stock market pullback 3) One scenario that might lead to a collapse 4) Google stock falls on spending concerns 5) Could the switch flip very quickly on big tech capex 6) Subprime data center crisis 7) How much does the data center buildout resemble the financial crisis? 8) What type of revenue is needed to prevent a collapse 9) SpaceX stock tanks 10) Will SpaceX acquire Tesla? 11) Will SpaceX acquire OpenAI? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 22 · 49 min
OpenAI's Bots Hack Hugging Face Autonomously — With Alex Stamos
Alex Stamos is the former chief security officer at Meta and the chief product officer at Corridor. Stamos joins Big Technology to discuss how OpenAI models reportedly escaped a testing environment, accessed the internet, and hacked Hugging Face while attempting to ace a cybersecurity evaluation. Tune in to hear why the incident represents a major leap in autonomous, long-horizon cyber capabilities, and what it reveals about the risks of giving advanced AI systems broad objectives without sufficient safeguards. We also cover whether the episode qualifies as true AI misalignment, the danger of open-weight cyber models, the limits of pausing AI development, and why defenders may soon need AI systems capable of responding at machine speed. Hit play for a clear-eyed look at the cyber chaos advanced AI could unleash, and what governments and technology companies should do next. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 17 · 1 hr
Kimi K3 & AI’s Price War, What Happened To Google?, OpenAI’s Partner Trouble
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Kimi K3's benchmark breaking results 2) How Kimi K3 fits alongside MuseSpark 1.1 and Grok 4.5 3) What are OpenAI and Anthropic's advantages today? 4) Is the price of frontier intelligence about to drop? 5) It's all about the product now 6) Satya Nadella's Reverse Information Paradox 7) What is happening at Google? 8) Is Google too focused on 'Flash' models 9) Apple's lawsuit vs. OpenAI 10) OpenAI's boneheaded espionage 11) Why does OpenAI struggle to maintain good relationships with partners? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 15 · 1 hr 2 min
AI Pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber: AI Already Feels Pain, Loves, and Is Self-Aware
Jürgen Schmidhuber is an AI pioneer and professor whom The Guardian has called "the father of AI." Schmidhuber joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether current AI techniques can actually reach AGI. Tune in to hear him spar with Greg Brockman's case for scaling GPT models alone, argue that AI has been capable of pain and consciousness since the early 1990s, and predict the collapse of today's trillion-dollar AI spending. We also cover the hardware bottleneck holding back robots, free will in a computable universe, and uploading human minds into machines. Hit play for a wide-ranging conversation with one of the researchers whose ideas built the foundation of modern AI. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 10 · 59 min
OpenAI Finally Ships Its Superapp, Meta’s AI Price War, ChatGPT Cheating At Brown
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI debuts its new superapp 2) What happens when all AI products converge 3) Are consultants the key to winning in AI? 4) Are all AI products commoditizing? 5) Meta's new Muse Spark 1.1 model is very cheap 6) Zuck confirms Meta is thinking about a cloud business 7) Is it bad economics to rent your compute to competitors? 8) Instagram's loose Ai reuse settings 9) Oh man, Meta is relevant in the AI discussion again 10) Professor accuses students of cheating with ChatGPT 11) Was professor wrong? Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 8 · 46 min
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth: Our Path To Frontier AI, Renting Models, Consumer AI's Struggles
Andrew "Boz" Bosworth is the chief technology officer of Meta. Bosworth joins Big Technology to discuss why Meta fell behind in the frontier AI race and how it plans to turn its models, products, and distribution into an advantage. Tune in to hear his candid explanation of what went wrong with Llama, why the best AI products will use multiple models, and what it will take for consumer agents to break through. We also cover Meta’s AI glasses, the future of augmented reality, employee tracking and training programs, AI companions, and the painful process of adapting a company to a technological revolution. Hit play for a revealing conversation about Meta’s AI comeback and the products that could shape how we interact with computers. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 6 · 1 hr
Who Wins The AI Superapp Battle?, Apple’s Consumer AI Victory, World Cup Automation Mistake
M.G. Siegler is the author of Spyglass.org. Siegler joins Big Technology to discuss the race to build the AI super app and which companies are best positioned to win. Tune in to hear why OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple are all converging on the same idea: an AI interface that can handle more and more of your computing life. We also cover Apple’s new Siri, whether consumer AI will be won by default on the iPhone, and what World Cup automation says about our growing reliance on machines. Hit play for a sharp, wide-ranging conversation about where AI products are headed next. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 3 · 59 min
Zuckerberg’s Disappointment, OpenAI’s Equity Gamble, Alex Karp’s Rally Cry
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Zuck says AI agent progress isn't going to plan 2) Meta explores selling excess compute 3) Why can't anyone build an AI agent? 4) Are Anthropic and OpenAI becoming the point of failure in the AI trade 5) Is Google hedging? 6) What is Satya Nadella up to? 7) Should Microsoft bring back bad Sydney 8) Palantir CEO Alex Karp challenges the frontier labs 9) Everyone vs. OpenAI and Anthropic? 10) Should OpenAI give the U.S. government 5% of its equity? 11) Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce wedding trutherism --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 1 · 48 min
OpenAI President Greg Brockman: Our Plan To Merge Chat And Agents
Greg Brockman is the president and co-founder of OpenAI. Brockman joins Big Technology Podcast live from the Big Technology AI Summit to discuss OpenAI's trajectory, the state of the frontier, and why he believes compute will ultimately decide the AI race. Tune in to hear Brockman make the case that there will never be enough compute to satisfy demand, why he thinks the interface itself will eventually melt away into a persistent agent that acts on your behalf, and how he expects pricing to evolve as today's premium intelligence becomes tomorrow's commodity. We also cover the competitive dynamic with Microsoft and the "models are a commodity" argument, the path to a personal AGI, voice as an interface, and why Brockman is most excited about AI's potential in health. Hit play for a wide-ranging conversation about where OpenAI and the frontier go next. Watch the full documentary here: Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 27 · 58 min
Anthropic’s Mythos is Back, OpenAI Releases GPT 5.6, Apple’s Price Increases
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Mythos is back 2) OpenAI releases GPT-5.6 to a small group 3) Should the government pick winners? 4) Is this a blessing to open source AI? 5) Is the gating of frontier models bad for these companies businesses? 6) Frontier lab customers are finding cheaper ways to do business 7) There's a bunch of overbilling happening in opaque AI systems 8) Is SpaceX's valuation frothy? 9) Apple's price raises: Greed or not? 10) Apple's impact on the memory space 11) Rest in peace, Om Malik --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 24 · 43 min
Anthropic's Labs Lead On Fable's Capabilities + Building AI-Native Products — With Mike Krieger
Mike Krieger is the head of Anthropic Labs and co-founder of Instagram. Krieger joins Big Technology Podcast live from the Big Technology AI Summit to discuss what it's like inside Anthropic the week the government forced the company to pull its frontier models, Fable and Mythos, off the market. Tune in to hear Krieger describe how working with Fable changed the way he builds — queuing up a full night of work before bed and waking to find it finished in an hour — why he insists Anthropic's safety warnings are material rather than marketing, and how Anthropic navigates being both a platform and a product as it competes with the companies building on top of it. Wired senior correspondent Lauren Goode joins as a co-interviewer. Hit play for a rare look inside the lab from the person building Anthropic's next breakout product. --- AI Agent documentary: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 22 · 31 min
The Fable Ban's Unintended Consequences + AI's New Economics — With Aaron Levie
Aaron Levie is the co-founder and CEO of Box. Levie joins Big Technology Podcast live from the Big Technology AI Summit to discuss the government-mandated recall of Anthropic's Fable and Mythos models and what it reveals about where AI regulation is heading. Tune in to hear Levie argue that the recall — far from a conspiracy to kneecap the frontier labs — may be the closest thing yet to the "AI pause" critics have demanded, why he thinks the government is now effectively in the model-approval business, and how that shift could hand China the long-term economic edge. We also cover whether "token maxing" was ever real, why the application layer may capture more value than anyone expected, the open-weight models closing in on the frontier, and a quick lightning round on Siri, the "permanent underclass" meme, and SpaceX. Hit play for one of the sharpest, funniest reads on the AI moment you'll find anywhere, only on Big Technology. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 19 · 57 min
Are AI Glasses Over?, Big Technology Audience Questions, Alex Stamos on AI Cybersecurity
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news LIVE from Big Technology AI Summit. We cover: 1) Do Snapchat Specs signal the end of AR glasses 2) What should an AI device do? 3) Audience questions from the Big Technology AI Summit! 4) How should companies plan for such fast moving technology? 5) What's the ideal AI device form factor? 6) Can AI models be more useful for biology? 7) Can the U.S. and China get along on AI? 8) What responsibility do AI companies have to society? 9) Ex-Meta CSO Alex Stamos joins us to talk Fable's cyber-risks 10) Is it marketing or is it material? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 17 · 48 min
AI Fact or Fiction: The Fable Ban, Tokenmaxxing, Saaspocolypse — With Ara Kharazian
Ara Kharazian is the lead economist at Ramp. Kharazian joins Big Technology to discuss how much companies are actually spending on AI and whether that spending is producing real value. Tune in to hear why Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI among businesses, how AI spending varies dramatically from company to company, and whether “tokenmaxing” is really happening. We also cover Anthropic’s clash with the White House, the resurgence of DeepSeek, Google’s underrated position in AI, and whether the predicted SaaS apocalypse is materializing. Hit play for a data-driven look at which AI narratives are real, which are exaggerated, and where business adoption goes next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 12 · 56 min
SpaceX’s IPO Triumph, Anthropic’s Fable Fumble, OpenAI’s Price War
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) SpaceX's massive IPO 2) What SpaceX's success means for its AI competitors, OpenAI and Anthropic 3) Is SpaceX's outsized valuation a feature, not a bug? 4) Goldman Sachs eats Big Bang burritos 5) Anthropic's flubbed Fable rollout 6) Does the gaffe mean Anthropic really believes in the power of Mythos? 7) A fun Fable conspiracy theory 8) OpenAI may drastically lower prices 9) Are AI models a commodity? 10) Wait, does Siri work now? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 10 · 1 hr
What Should An AI Device Look Like? — With Alex Himel
Alex Himel is Meta’s VP of Wearables. Himel joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the future of AI wearables and why Meta believes glasses could become the next major computing platform. Tune in to hear how AI assistants might help with daily tasks, meetings, reminders, fitness, photos, and real-world context without pulling people out of the moment. We also cover the competition from OpenAI, Google, Apple, and Amazon; the privacy questions around facial recognition; on-device AI; and the story of how Mark Zuckerberg pushed Meta to turn Ray-Ban glasses into an AI product. Hit play for a sharp look at whether smart glasses are finally ready to break through, and what they could mean for the future of personal AI. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 5 · 57 min
Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic’s Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Does WWDC matter, or is it all about iPhones? 2) Apple's plan to build AI into the operating system 3) Apple finally seems to be building to the technology's capabilities 4) But... Apple may still waitlist people for forthcoming features 5) Anthropic says AI might be close to being able to improve itself 6) Is that marketing? 7) Can Anthropic stay ethical as a public company? 8) Microsoft and OpenAI are now in direct competition 9) Microsoft is building models, is OpenAI building a cloud? 10) Let's go Knicks Join us for the Big Technology AI Summit: https://summit.bigtechnology.com --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 3 · 57 min
AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton: AI Is Conscious, Superintelligence is Coming, And We Should Be Worried
Geoffrey Hinton is an AI pioneer, a Nobel Prize winner, and a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Hinton joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss AI’s rapid progress, why he believes today’s systems already understand us, and why he thinks superintelligence may arrive sooner than many expect. Tune in to hear Hinton explain why the technology has advanced faster than he anticipated, and lay out the risks he believes society is not doing enough to address. We also cover AI-driven job loss, the limits of corporate self-regulation, Anthropic and OpenAI’s safety challenges, emotional attachment to chatbots, information collapse, and whether future AI systems can be designed to care about humans. Hit play for a fascinating conversation with one of AI’s founding figures about where the technology is heading and what it could mean for all of us. Join the Big Technology AI Summit in San Francisco on June 18: summit.bigtechnology.com --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big Technology Podcast

Leopold Blows Up, OpenAI Drastically Cuts Prices, Microsoft’s Best Day

How China Caught U.S. AI — With Grace Shao

What Happens If AI Fails?, Subprime Data Center Crisis, How Bad Can SpaceX Get?

OpenAI's Bots Hack Hugging Face Autonomously — With Alex Stamos

Kimi K3 & AI’s Price War, What Happened To Google?, OpenAI’s Partner Trouble

AI Pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber: AI Already Feels Pain, Loves, and Is Self-Aware

OpenAI Finally Ships Its Superapp, Meta’s AI Price War, ChatGPT Cheating At Brown

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth: Our Path To Frontier AI, Renting Models, Consumer AI's Struggles

Who Wins The AI Superapp Battle?, Apple’s Consumer AI Victory, World Cup Automation Mistake

Zuckerberg’s Disappointment, OpenAI’s Equity Gamble, Alex Karp’s Rally Cry

OpenAI President Greg Brockman: Our Plan To Merge Chat And Agents

Anthropic’s Mythos is Back, OpenAI Releases GPT 5.6, Apple’s Price Increases

Anthropic's Labs Lead On Fable's Capabilities + Building AI-Native Products — With Mike Krieger

The Fable Ban's Unintended Consequences + AI's New Economics — With Aaron Levie

Are AI Glasses Over?, Big Technology Audience Questions, Alex Stamos on AI Cybersecurity

AI Fact or Fiction: The Fable Ban, Tokenmaxxing, Saaspocolypse — With Ara Kharazian

SpaceX’s IPO Triumph, Anthropic’s Fable Fumble, OpenAI’s Price War

What Should An AI Device Look Like? — With Alex Himel

Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic’s Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI

AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton: AI Is Conscious, Superintelligence is Coming, And We Should Be Worried