Almar Latour is the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and also CEO of its parent company, Dow Jones — itself a part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Almar's been with the paper since the 90s, and now he's got insight into all the modern messes. He's made a big deal with OpenAI, while also suing Perplexity — all while building his own AI data products for Dow Jones customers.

He's also a strong defender of press freedom who fought to have Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich released from Russia after being imprisoned for more than a year — while News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch famously has deep ties to Trump and has overseen a vastly polarized and politicized era of news media.

Links: 

• Here are the WSJ journalists whose jobs were eliminated | Talking Biz News
• OpenAI, WSJ parent strike content deal valued at over $250M | Wall Street Journal
• News Corp sues Perplexity for ripping off WSJ, New York Post | The Verge
• Dow Jones negotiates AI usage rights with 4,000 publishers | Nieman Lab
• Rupert Murdoch joins Trump in Oval Office | The Hollywood Reporter
• WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich is free | Wall Street Journal
• Trump sues Iowa newspaper and top pollster | Reuters
• The FCC is a weapon in Trump’s war on free speech | The Verge
• CBS considers caving on Trump lawsuit to save Skydance merger | The Verge
• Why The Atlantic signed a deal with OpenAI | Decoder

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/626229

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

So today I’m talking to Andy Hawkins, The Verge’s transportation editor, about what’s going on in the skies. Andy just edited a big piece for us by writer Darryl Campbell that helps put a lot of what’s happening in air travel right now in perspective. It has some very reassuring data points, but it also raises important questions about what we need to do next to reinstill confidence in air travel.

Andy and I talked about how safe it really is to fly right now — extremely safe, it turns out — and how the current air traffic systems might change for better and worse. And, of course, we talked about Elon Musk.

Links: 

• What’s the deal with all these airplane crashes? | Verge
• How Elon Musk muscled his way into the FAA | Bloomberg
• Elon Musk says upgrade of FAA’s air traffic control system is failing | CNN
• FAA targeting Verizon contract in favor of Musk’s Starlink, sources say | WashPo
• FAA officials ordered staff to find funding for Elon Musk’s Starlink | Rolling Stone
• FAA announces ‘hiring supercharge’ for air traffic controllers | Forbes
• Air traffic control trainees to get raise, in nod to cost of living | NYT
• Some of the 400 jobs that were cut at the FAA helped support air safety | AP
• DC plane crash marks first major commercial crash in US since 2009 | ABC
• What the ATC controller sees | Flight Training Central

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

Panos Panay is in charge of devices and services at Amazon — that's everything from Alexa and Kindle to Ring, Eero, and even the Project Kuiper satellite internet service that's meant to compete with Starlink.

He's led the team through giving Alexa a big AI infusion which is what drew him to Amazon after nearly 20 years with Microsoft. Like so many folks in tech, he sees AI as a platform shift that will change the way we use computers.

Fair warning: We talk about Alexa a lot in this one, so you might want to go mute your Alexa device mics now.

Links: 

• With Alexa Plus, Amazon finally reinvents its best product | Verge
• The future of the Kindle with Panos Panay | Vergecast
• Amazon announces AI-powered Alexa Plus | Verge
• All of the announcements from Amazon’s Alexa Plus event | Verge
• Alexa Plus arrives with promise but plenty of questions | Verge
• Amazon Leadership Principles | Amazon
• How Amazon runs Alexa, with Dave Limp (2021) | Decoder
• Alexa loses her voice | YouTube
• Humane is shutting down the AI pin | Verge
• Mike Krieger wants to build AI products that are worth the hype | Verge

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/621232

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

This is Alex Heath, deputy editor of The Verge. I’m guest hosting today’s episode while Nilay is still away for a much-needed vacation. He’ll be back next week. But today, we’re diving into the bromance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and more specifically, how it’s impacting the changing right-wing political movement here in the United States. 

There’s no better place to get that temperature check than CPAC. Musk showed up there this year for a wild interview — you may have seen clips of him waving around a literal chainsaw. Thankfully, Verge policy Gaby del Valle was on the ground this year, and as you’ll hear her say, she barely slept. But she got a front-row look at how the world of MAGA really feels about Elon, DOGE, and regulating Big Tech. 

Links: 

• I cannot describe how strange Elon Musk’s CPAC appearance was | Verge
• At CPAC, the world’s populists parrot the leader who inspired them | Politico
• Government still threatening to ‘semi-fire’ workers who don’t answer Musk email | Verge
• Saying ‘no’ to Musk | NYT
• What that chainsaw was really about | NYT
• Sequins, merch, chainsaws: Trump’s return to CPAC | NYT
• Bannon calls Musk a ‘parasitic illegal immigrant’ | NYT
• New York got $80 Million for migrants. The White House took it back | NYT
• Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE | AP
• National Park Service layoffs, hiring delays impact visitors | NPR

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

Vimeo started many years ago as something of an artsier, more creative competitor to YouTube. Its last CEO, Anjali Sud, took the company through a pretty huge transformation into an enterprise software company, and we had her on the show to talk about that transformation a couple years ago.

Now, her successor, new CEO Philip Moyer, not only has to decide what parts of that strategy are working, but also how to navigate the addition of AI to the mix, and deal with the basic math of the creator economy: The amount of video in the world is exploding, but the total amount of time a person can spend watching any of it is pretty fixed. So with AI adding to the volume, how is anyone going to be able to make any money at all?

Links: 

• How Anjali Sud reinvented Vimeo | Decoder (2021)
• How Dropout is taking control with Vimeo OTT | Vimeo
• Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena on making a website in 2023 | Decoder
• Wix CEO Avishai Abrahami on why the web isn’t dying | Decoder
• NBCU’s streaming chief isn’t worried about you canceling cable | Decoder
• Vimeo names new CMO as it focuses on business video | WSJ
• The truth about Vimeo and YouTube SEO | Vimeo
• Google’s counteroffer to a breakup is unbundling Android apps | Verge
• China opens Google antitrust probe in retaliation to tariffs | Verge
• Vimeo’s position on AI | Vimeo

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/616820

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

This is David Pierce, editor-at-large at The Verge. Nilay is off this week for a much-deserved break. So I’m filling in for him, and the Decoder team thought this would be a good opportunity to switch gears a little bit from the political apocalypse beat and talk about something completely different. So today we’re diving into the video game industry and discussing a particular set of very thorny problems facing Microsoft and its Xbox division.

I invited Ash Parrish, The Verge’s video game reporter, to discuss the issues facing Xbox, Microsoft’s big ambitions with its Game Pass subscription service, and why the game industry hasn’t had its Netflix or Spotify moment yet.

Links: 

• Xbox continues its push beyond consoles with new ad campaign | Verge
• The next Xbox is going to be very different | Verge
• 2025 looks like a great year for Xbox | Verge
• Microsoft prepares to take Xbox everywhere | Verge
• Microsoft and Google are fighting over the future of Xbox | Verge
• Microsoft was the No.1 games publisher in the world last month | VGC
• Xbox games in Game Pass ‘can lose 80% of premium sales’ | VGC
• Phil Spencer: No ‘red lines’ over Xbox games coming to Switch, PlayStation | Eurogamer
• Microsoft’s Xbox turmoil isn’t slowing down | Verge
• Microsoft says Game Pass is profitable as subscription growth slows | 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

The First Amendment, protecting free speech and free media, is a pillar of US law. It is, famously, the first one. We don’t usually tolerate government interference with speech.

So it’s been disconcerting these first few weeks of the second Trump administration to realize suddenly, there’s a nonzero chance the government will punish our work. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is absolutely determined to turn all that talk about the media being the enemy of the people into concrete legal action — incredibly serious, unprecedented attacks on free speech.

Links: 

• Carr’s emerging agenda and its dangerous effects | Tech Policy Press
• Trump’s MAGA enforcer is having ‘the time of his life’ | The Daily Beast
• FCC to investigate Comcast for having DEI programs | The Verge
• Trump amends CBS ’60 Minutes’ lawsuit & demands $20 billion | LA Times
• No Apology Over Trump Lawsuit, ‘60 Minutes’ Top Producer Says | New York Times
• The FCC is investigating NPR and PBS | The Verge
• ABC News to pay $15 million to settle Trump defamation suit | Wall Street Journal
• Top Trump donor wants SCOTUS to reverse press protection | The New Republic

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

Today, I’m talking with Senator Ron Wyden, a democrat and the senior senator from Oregon. He’s been in the Senate for almost 30 years, which makes him one of longest serving members of the institution. We scheduled this interview with Senator Wyden a while ago — he’s got a new book out called “It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change.” 

But recent events made it vastly more important to talk about the state of our federal government – and specifically, what Elon Musk and DOGE are doing as they seize power in various federal agencies. So right up front and very bluntly, I wanted to ask Wyden: What is even going on? And can even he and his fellow senators keep up with it?

Links: 

• It Takes Chutzpah | Hachette Book Group
• DOGE wreaked havoc on the government in just one week | Verge
• “For all practical purposes, I’d call that a coup.” | Verge
• Elon Musk’s presidency is just getting started | Decoder
• Elon Musk’s computer coup | Vergecast
• Can anyone stop President Musk? | Verge
• Demand for GAO to investigate what Elon is doing at Treasury [PDF]
• Senator Has Dire Warning About Letting Elon Musk Run Wild | New Republic
• “Trump and Bessent are asking you not to believe what’s playing out right in front of your eyes.” | Wyden (Bluesky)
• “My message to Musk is simple: get your hands off our money and get the hell out.” Wyden (Bluesky)

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

Today, we’re discussing a very big problem with extremely far-reaching consequences: Do we still have a functional federal government here in the United States? And how much of it has been handed entirely to Elon Musk? 

If you’ve been following the news, you know there’s a lot here that’s unfolding very fast, but I wanted to know how all these changes are affecting the people who’ve so far been the most newly supportive of Trump because they have the most to lose – the money, the billionaires. So I invited New York Times reporter Teddy Schleiffer, who’s been covering this closely every day since the inauguration, on the show to help break it down.

Links: 

• Inside Musk's aggressive incursion into the federal government | NYT
• ‘The biggest heist in American history’: DC is just waking up to Musk’s takeover | Verge
• ‘Scared and betrayed’ — workers are reeling from chaos at federal agencies | Verge
• Treasury Department sued over DOGE takeover | Verge
• Can anyone stop President Musk? | Verge
• Elon Musk’s team one has access to Treasury’s payments system | NYT
• Elon Musk’s bureaucratic coup | Atlantic
• Trump: Elon Musk won't do anything 'without our approval' | NBC News
• The young, inexperienced engineers aiding Musk’s government takeover | Wired
• USDS head Mina Hsiang wants big tech to help fix government (2023) | Decoder

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

Andy Hunter is the CEO of Bookshop.org, a website he launched in 2020 that lets local bookshops sell all over the country. He always meant it to compete directly with Amazon, and the timing of that launch right into the teeth of the pandemic meant it was able to start strong and grow quickly.

Now Bookshop is selling ebooks, which is another market hugely dominated by Amazon. For Andy and Bookshop to get what they want, they’re probably going to have to gear up for a big fight. It’s kind of the app store question all over again, just like the big cases Epic had against Apple and Google, and it's all prime Decoder territory.

Links: 

• Bookshop is launching an ebook store to take on Amazon | The Verge
• As greenwashing soars, some question B Corp certification | BBC
• ‘The Goliath is Amazon’: After 100 years, B&N wants to go back to its roots | Decoder
• How Bookshop survives and thrives in Amazon’s world | Wired
• Apple to pay $450M after Supreme Court denies price-fixing appeal [2016] | The Verge
• Epic Games vs Apple | The Verge

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/604809

Credits:

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

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams. 

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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

Today, we’re talking about DeepSeek, and how the open source AI model built by a Chinese startup has completely upended the conventional wisdom around chatbots, what they can do, and how much they should cost to develop. 

We’re also talking about Stargate, OpenAI’s new $500 billion data center venture that’s supposed to supercharge domestic AI infrastructure. Both stand in stark contrast with one another — and represent a new, escalating front in the US-China relationship and the geopolitics of AI. Verge senior AI reporter Kylie Robison joins me to break it all down.  

Links: 

• Why everyone is freaking out about DeepSeek | Verge
• DeepSeek FAQ | Stratechery
• DeepSeek: all the news about the startup that’s shaking up AI stocks | Verge
• OpenAI and Softbank are starting a $500 billion AI data center company | Verge
• The AI spending frenzy is just getting started | Command Line
• After DeepSeek, VCs face questions about AI investments | NYT
• Satya Nadella on Stargate: ‘All I know is I’m good for my $80 billion’ | Verge
• OpenAI says it has evidence DeepSeek used its model to train competitor | FT
• DeepSeek sparks global AI selloff, Nvidia loses about $593 billion of value | Reuters
• Four big reasons to worry about DeepSeek (and four reasons to calm down) | Platformer

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