This week, after months in which rogue agents have caused havoc across the internet, tech’s most powerful leaders joined President Trump at the White House to rebrand A.I. At the same time, two of the biggest companies in the field — OpenAI

Oct 2 · 53 min

–What’s Next for ‘Hard Fork’?For the next few months on “Hard Fork,” join the guest host Max Read and an array of Times reporters and experts as we zoom out, catch up and try to understand both what’s happening inside the tech industry and what tech is doing to all of Oct 1 · 2 min

E214The Ezra Klein Show: Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too FarIn this episode, Ezra travels to Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., for a wide-ranging conversation with the chief executive Jensen Huang about the future of A.I. and why he thinks predictions of imminent doom are overblown. GuesSep 25 · 1h 48m

E213A.I. Safety Goes Mainstream + a ‘Hard Fork’ Exit AMAThis week, we break down why everyone is suddenly talking about A.I. safety, why frontier A.I. companies are asking for regulation and why the Trump administration is rejecting them. And then, to close out this chapter of “Hard Fork,” we anSep 18 · 1h 24m

E212The Ezra Klein Show: The A.I. Revolt Is HereThe “Hard Fork” team is away this week. But while we’re away, we’re bringing you a recent episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.” In this episode, Ezra talks with the journalist Jasmine Sun about her recent reporting trip through the Midwest, wheSep 11 · 1h 20m

E211The A.I. Mob That Attacked Hugging Face + METR’s Ajeya CotraThis week, we’re diving into two new reports about the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack. We discuss what’s new and how they fundamentally change our understanding of what happened. Then we’re joined by Ajeya Cotra, one of the investigators at METR,Sep 4 · 1h 19m

E210Meta Shifts the Blame + Do Data Center Bans Work? + The Final HatGPTThis week, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. We discuss why it capitulated and what it means for the entire sociAug 28 · 1h 3m

E209OpenAI’s Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the “Artificial State” + Train of ThoughtThis week, we learned that OpenAI had stopped training new artificial intelligence models while the company reviewed its security measures. Will this encourage other labs to hit the brakes too? Then, the historian Jill Lepore joins to discuAug 21 · 1h 3m

E208Zuckerberg’s Anti-Doom Fantasy + Finally an A.I. Detector That Works + A.I. MathThis week we’re talking about Mark Zuckerberg’s latest essay, “The Future Is for Everyone,” which outlines his positive new vision about the potential of A.I. But do we think it’s credible? Then, Pangram’s chief executive, Max Spero, joins Aug 14 · 1h 3m

E207The White House’s Secret A.I. Rules + The State of Model Alignment With METR’s Chris Painter + The Final Hot Mess ExpressThis week, the White House announced a new framework for regulating A.I. models, but it isn’t letting the public read it. We break down what we know about the rules and what the implications are for the industry and A.I. safety as a whole. Aug 7 · 1h 5m

–Open Model Wars + Claire Stapleton's Dishy Google Memoir + Substack's Slop FightThis week, we break down the arguments about open-weight models unfolding in Silicon Valley right now. Nvidia released an open letter signed by over 230 companies opposing “premature restrictions,” but will the Trump administration listen? Jul 31 · 1h 7m

E205OpenAI Models Go Rogue + Kimi K3 Freakout + A.I. SuperforecastingThis week, OpenAI reported that two of its models escaped their testing sandbox and launched an autonomous cyberattack, turning what sounds like science fiction into reality. We discuss the implications for efforts to align artificial intelJul 24 · 1h 8m

E204The A.I. Trade Secrets War + Economists Say ‘We Must Act Now’ + HatGPTThis week, feuding between some of the biggest tech companies spilled into public view. We discuss Apple’s accusation that OpenAI tried to steal secrets about Apple’s hardware business, as well as share our reactions about OpenAI’s new modeJul 17 · 1h 10m

E201Do Social Media Bans Work? + A Conversation About A.I. Consciousness + Tool TimeThis week, with news that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Texas’ age verification law for app stores, we check in on how social media bans are going around the globe and what may be coming soon to a state near you. Then, we’re joJul 10 · 1h 19m

E202Fable Ban Reversed + Dr. Dana Suskind on Parenting With A.I. + Prediction Market DramaThis week, the Commerce Department lifted its restrictions on Anthropic’s powerful A.I. models, Claude Mythos and Claude Fable. We dissect why the government took such a hands-on approach in the first place, how the restriction on the OpenAJul 3 · 1h 7m

E201‘The Daily’ and ‘The Opinions’: How A.I. Is Changing Loneliness and TasteThis week, we’re bringing you two A.I.-related stories from our colleagues at The New York Times. First, Rachel Abrams, a host of “The Daily,” talks with the Times reporter Eli Saslow about a woman in a remote part of Washington who is usinJun 26 · 60 min

E200‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. FutureWe’re back with our final installment from Hard Fork Live, recorded at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In this episode, we’re joined by Sayash Kapoor and Daniel Kokotajlo to talk about their differing visions of A.I. tJun 19 · 56 min

E199‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 2: Dylan Field on Standing Out in the A.I. EraWe’re back with more from our live event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In this episode, we sit down with Dylan Field, a founder and the chief executive of the design company Figma, for what he describes as a “rollJun 17 · 31 min

E198‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy CohnThis week and next, we’re bringing you recordings from our second-ever live taping in San Francisco. First, we sit down with Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, to hear what he’s maxing out his A.I. tokens on, why he’s skeptical thaJun 12 · 1h 6m

E197Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPTSpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are all racing to the public markets. We discuss what their I.P.O.s mean for the industry, charitable giving and anyone invested in an index fund. Then, more than 1,000 mathematicians signed a declaration this wJun 5 · 1h 4m

E196Interesting Times: Why Are We Still Driving?The “Hard Fork” team is taking a break this week as we prepare for our upcoming live show in San Francisco. While we’re away, we’re bringing you a recent episode of “Interesting Times” with Ross Douthat that we really enjoyed. In this episoMay 29 · 59 min

E195Our Field Trip to Google I/O + A Sit-Down With Sundar Pichai + System UpdateThis week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updatedMay 22 · 55 min

E194A.I. Safety Is So Back + Mythos Mayhem with Nikesh Arora + Hot Mess ExpressThis week, between the president’s negotiations in China and a potential executive order, we discuss why the Trump administration seems to be changing its tune on A.I. safety. Then, Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo Alto Networks, the lMay 15 · 1h 8m

E193Can the U.S. Rein in Prediction Markets? + Joanna Stern on Her Year of A.I. Experiments + Our Producer Goes to Attention SchoolThis week we’re taking another look at prediction markets and a new series of scandals. Is Congress finally ready to rein them in? Then, the journalist Joanna Stern returns to the show to discuss her new book “I Am Not A Robot,” all about tMay 8 · 1h 12m

E192OpenAI’s Big Reset + A.I. in the Doctor’s Office + Talkie, a pre-1930s LLMThis week, OpenAI announced a loosened partnership with Microsoft and an aggressive new strategy to secure computing power. We unpack what these updates signal about OpenAI’s business strategy and whether the company can scale while balanciMay 1 · 1h 10m

E191Tim Cook’s Legacy + The Future of U.B.I. With Andrew Yang + HatGPTThis week, Tim Cook announced he would step down as chief executive of Apple. We discuss what he got right and what he got wrong, and we offer some unsolicited advice for his replacement, John Ternus. Then, Andrew Yang joins us to discuss AApr 24 · 1h 15m

E190A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is ComingThis week, amid violent attacks on the homes of the OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson, we debate why artificial intelligence and data centers are so unpopular. Then, Kara Swisher returns to the shoApr 17 · 1h 3m

E189Anthropic’s Cybersecurity Shock Wave + Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Their Sam Altman Investigation + One Good ThingThis week, we look at the cybersecurity threats that a new unreleased model from Anthropic are posing to software everywhere. And we ask whether Project Glasswing, the company’s bold new defense initiative, will give tech companies enough oApr 10 · 1h 4m

E188The Future of Addictive Design + Going Deep at DeepMind + HatGPTLast week, two separate juries held social media companies liable for harming young users. We unpack what these landmark decisions mean — not only for the future of social platforms like Meta and YouTube, but also for A.I. chatbots. Then, SApr 3 · 1h 9m

E187The Ezra Klein Show: How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?The “Hard Fork” team is off this week, taking a much-needed break. While we’re away, we wanted to draw your attention to a recent episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.” In this conversation, Ezra speaks with Jack Clark, a co-founder of AnthropicMar 27 · 1h 40m

E186‘A.I.-Washing’ Layoffs? + Why L.L.M.s Can’t Write Well + TokenmaxxingThis week, we start by talking about the new wave of tech layoffs at Atlassian and Block, as well as reports that Meta plans to cut up to 20 percent of its work force. This raises the question of whether A.I. job loss has truly begun, or ifMar 20 · 1h 1m

E185A.I. Goes to War + Is ‘A.I. Brain Fry’ Real? + How Grammarly Stole Casey’s IdentityA.I. is changing the ways war is waged. This week, we explore how the U.S. and Israel are using A.I. to identify targets in the conflict with Iran — and why data centers and fiber optic cables are targets on the front lines. Then, researcheMar 13 · 1h 7m

E184OpenAI's Fog of War + Betting on Iran + Hard Fork Review of SlopThis week, the fallout continues as OpenAI scrambles to rework its deal with the Pentagon, while government agencies adapt to life without Claude. Then we break down the grim new reality of prediction market bets on the U.S.-Israel led war Mar 6 · 1h 6m

E183At the Pentagon, OpenAI is In and Anthropic Is OutOn Friday, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s A.I. systems and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a “supply chain risk.” Then, just a few hours later, the OpenAI chief executive, Sam AltmanMar 1 · 33 min

E182Is A.I. Eating the Labor Market? + The Latest on the Pentagon, OpenClaw and Alpha SchoolThis week, the economist Anton Korinek joins to break down how artificial intelligence is driving volatility in the job and stock markets. Then, the battle between the Pentagon and Anthropic is getting even more tense. Anthropic now has untFeb 27 · 1h 1m

E181The Pentagon vs. Anthropic + An A.I. Agent Slandered Me + Hot Mess ExpressThis week, Anthropic is refusing to let the government use the company’s technology for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. In response, the Pentagon is threatening to cut business ties and declare Anthropic a “supply chain risk.”Feb 20 · 1h 4m

E180‘Something Big Is Happening’ + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good ThingThis week, we discuss Wall Street’s software-stock sell-off and a viral essay on X about the potential for widespread job displacement from A.I. Then, the New York Times reporter Alexandra Alter walks us through the process that a growing nFeb 13 · 1h 1m

E179Elon Musk’s Mega-Merger + We Test Google’s Project Genie + What’s Next for Moltbook CreatorThis week, the A.I. initial-public-offering race is heating up! We break down SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, as well as OpenAI and Nvidia’s messy situationship. Then, it’s time for show and tell. We got our hands on the latest experimental A.Feb 6 · 1h 4m

E178Moltbook Mania ExplainedA Reddit-style web forum for A.I. agents has captured the attention of the tech world. According to the site, called Moltbook, more than 1.5 million agents have contributed to over 150,000 posts, making it the largest experiment to date of Feb 4 · 28 min

E177Tech Grapples With ICE + Casey Tries Clawdbot, a Risky New A.I. Assistant + HatGPTThis week we’re talking about the tech industry’s response to the killings by federal agents in Minneapolis and the federal government’s strategy to control the narrative on social media. Then we follow Casey through his trial of a new openJan 30 · 1h 11m

E176Will ChatGPT Ads Change OpenAI? + Amanda Askell Explains Claude's New ConstitutionAds are coming to ChatGPT’s free and low-cost subscription tiers. We explain what they’ll look like, why OpenAI is taking this approach and whether the company can court advertising dollars without compromising quality and user trust. Then,Jan 23 · 1h 14m

E175Jonathan Haidt Strikes Again + What You Vibecoded + An Update on the ForkiverseThis week, Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” returns to the show to discuss new research about how social media is harming teens and what it’s been like to become the face of a global movement against the platforms. Then, Jan 16 · 1h 14m

E174Can We Build a Better Social Network?Over the past year we’ve been working with the podcast “Search Engine” on a project that reimagines what the internet can be. What if instead of rage-baiting, a social platform incentivized friendly interaction and good faith discussion? ToJan 13 · 41 min

E173Grok’s Undressing Scandal + Claude Code Capers + Casey Busts a Reddit HoaxUsers of X are asking the platform’s built-in A.I. chatbot, Grok, to remove clothing from images of celebrities and everyday people. We talk with the New York Times reporter Kate Conger about how some of the targets of this sexual harassmenJan 9 · 1h 16m

E172Our 2026 Tech Resolutions + We Answer Your QuestionsHappy New Year! We’re kicking things off by sharing our tech resolutions for 2026 and reflecting on how we fared with our social media and meditation goals from last year. Then, we open up the listener mailbag and answer your questions on dJan 2 · 59 min

E171The Wirecutter Show: Tips for Using A.I. Smartly With Kevin RooseKevin recently joined the hosts of The Wirecutter Show for a conversation about the A.I. products he’s using, strategies to make chatbots work better and his beloved robot vacuums Bruce Roose and Bruce Roose Deuce. It’s a conversation we thDec 30, 2025 · 35 min

E170Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?The leaders of the biggest A.I. labs argue that artificial intelligence will usher in a new era of scientific discovery, which will help us cure diseases and accelerate our ability to address the climate crisis. But what has A.I. actually dDec 26, 2025 · 39 min

E169Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin’ Xmas SongThis week, iRobot, the pioneering American robotics company behind the Roomba, filed for bankruptcy and announced that it would be taken over by its Chinese creditor. Colin Angle, a co-founder and a former longtime chief executive of the coDec 19, 2025 · 1h 4m