Today, we’re talking about the Jensen Huang scandal at Nvidia, which is developing so quickly that we had to do an emergency update of this intro minutes before publishing this episode — Huang just resigned from his position as CEO of Nvidia as news of his affairs, including with an alleged Chinese spy, threatened to engulf the company. 

We’ll have more on that story as things develop. But just two days ago I talked to Kyle Chan, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, about the real heart of the scandal: what China would even seek to accomplish by having a spy so close to Jensen, and what the state of the US-China AI conflict really looks like, particularly from the Chinese point of view.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns amid spy, affair scandals | The Verge
• It only takes a prick to pop a bubble | Vergecast
• Jensen Huang said ot have had relationship with Nvidia exec | NYT
• What could China get from Jensen Huang? | The Verge
• The US is winning the AI race. Jensen Huang could have blown it | The Verge
• The future of AI hinges on… Jensen Huang’s sex life? | The Verge
• Nvidia’s board has a history of letting Jensen Huang get his way | NYT
• Commerce Dept. inquiry halted after Nvidia intervention | NYT
• Rubio warned officials about Huang’s affair with Chinese spy  | NYT
• China’s top spy agency recruited woman who targeted Huang | NYT

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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 edited 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

I was in college when Napster hit, and the RIAA instantly became the big villain because it was suing kids for downloading music. That was when I decided to go be a copyright lawyer, which set the rest of my career in motion — and Mitch Glazier was in the background as a young lawyer at the RIAA, on the other side of those cases.

So part of me was very deeply, very genuinely surprised to discover just how much fun I had talking to Mitch, who's now on the same side as musicians and audiences in the fight against AI. 

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• Major labels propose rules to keep AI slop off charts | The Verge
• Suno snatched songs from YouTube, Genius, and Deezer | The Verge
• Villain of Napster era turns on AI firms: ‘It’s a lot more fun now’ | LA Times
• Spotify working with record labels on ‘responsible’ AI tools | The Verge
• Warner Music signs deal with Suno, settles lawsuit  | TechCrunch
• Universal Music and Udio sign partnership, settle lawsuit | Associated Press

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. Our editors are Xander Adams and 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

I’ve always enjoyed talking to security expert Alex Stamos because he’s so direct — and he doesn't mince words about how the multibillion dollar cybersecurity industry as we’ve known it is all but doomed thanks to the unrelenting, AI-boosted waves of hacks, breaches, and attacks.

That much disruption means a lot of places where bad guys can get in while everyone else is left scrambling. Alex isn’t a doomer in the long run, but he does think we've got a dark age to get through before things get better. 

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• Attack of the killer script kiddies | The Verge
• Alex Stamos on AI's coming cybersecurity dark age | Ground Level AI
• Palo Alto’s CEO Said ‘AI Must Fight AI’ | Palo Alto Networks
• Cybersecurity vets protest ‘dangerous’ ban on Mythos | TechCrunch
• Binance: $6.3B heist used fake job interviews, internal AI tool | The Verge
• A thousand fewer paths to root | OpenAI

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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. Our editors are Xander Adams and 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 Willy Shih, an economist, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, and the author of the upcoming book, Where Does My Stuff Come From? The Powerful Economics Behind Global Supply Chains.

Willy’s new book is all about the economics underlying global trade, which our politicians and regulators seem to insistently ignore. So we got into Trump’s tariffs, why the markets have reacted to supply chain disruptions the way they have, and why China remains a global manufacturing powerhouse even though every other country thinks that’s so risky.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• Where Does My Stuff Come From? | Willy Shih
• RAM price hikes: the latest on the global memory shortage | The Verge
• Tariffs didn’t bring manufacturing jobs back to the US | Decoder
• Trump tariffs mean chaos for consumers | Harvard Crimson
• Why the global chip shortage is making it so hard to buy a PS5 | Decoder (2021)
• Inside Foxconn’s empty buildings, empty factories, and empty promises | The Verge (2020)

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 is produced by Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Eileen Felix. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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

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

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 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

My guest today is Walter Piecyk, a telecom analyst at LightShed Partners, and we’re discussing SpaceX’s plan to become a major wireless carrier. Last week, the company agreed to buy a big chunk of low-band spectrum in its bid to build “the world’s most advanced mobile network.”

So I wanted to dig into whether SpaceX can pull this off, why Walt thinks the existing telecoms have fumbled their response to Starlink’s growing threat, and what happens when Elon Musk’s rocket company jumps headfirst into a business everyone loves to hate.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• SpaceX announces plan to become a ‘major mobile carrier’ | The Verge
• SpaceX has a plan. Do the telcos? | LightShed Partners
• EchoStar offloads satellite spectrum to SpaceX for $17 billion | The Verge
• FCC Grants SpaceX Approval for 15,000 Direct-to-Device Satellites | Via Satellite
• AT&T CEO says Elon Musk's SpaceX phone strategy not "viable" | Axios
• SpaceX Sends Telecom Providers a Shot Across the Bow | WSJ
• Verizon: No to an MVNO with Starlink | Fierce Network

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 Eileen Felix. 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 talking with Benn Jordan, musician, YouTuber, researcher, and investigative journalist. In the last couple of years, Benn has become a high-profile face in the creator and media spaces for his work investigating Flock Safety, the maker of automatic license plate readers and the software that powers them. 

Benn recently testified in front of Congress at a hearing dedicated to Flock and other ALPR systems. So of course I wanted to dig into all of that with Benn, not just because of his role as a Flock critic, but because he’s also become in some ways the face of a new front in the broader debate about surveillance and privacy. 

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links: 

• Benn Jordan testifies in front of Senate | Benn Jordan (YouTube)
• Flock values their privacy. Oh well | Benn Jordan (YouTube)
• We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds | Benn Jordan (YouTube)
• Lawmakers introduce multiple laws to curb Flock | 404 Media
• The fight over Flock and other ALPRs | The Verge
• Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras | Politico
• Cities terminate Flock contracts at record pace in August | Ars Technica
• Flock to cut several hundred jobs amid backlash | Reuters

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