How Epstein became a tech influencer
How Epstein became a tech influencer

There are bold-faced tech names all over the Epstein files. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Reid Hoffman, Steven Sinofsky, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, on and on and on. These men (and they’re pretty much all men) had wildly varying degrees of interaction with Epstein, and the details matter […]

Reality is losing the deepfake war
Reality is losing the deepfake war

Today, we’re going to talk about reality, and whether we can label photos and videos to protect our shared understanding of the world around us. No really, we’re gonna go there. It’s a deep one. To do this, I’m going to bring on Verge reporter Jess Weatherbed, who covers creative tools for us — a […]

Millions of books died so Claude could live
Millions of books died so Claude could live

When ChatGPT launched, in November of 2022, it started a race that almost immediately consumed the tech industry. OpenAI didn’t invent the concept of AI, but most of the state-of-the-art technology was confined to research labs at companies and institutions around the world. Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. And better than anyone expected. So many […]

Docusign’s CEO on the dangers of trusting AI to read, and write, your contracts
Docusign’s CEO on the dangers of trusting AI to read, and write, your contracts

Today, I’m talking with Allan Thygesen, who is the CEO of Docusign. You know Docusign; it’s the platform where you sign things online. It turns out 7,000 people work there, which is one of those facts you see flying around sometimes that’s always felt like perfect Decoder bait. What are all those people doing? And […]

Tim Cook is destroying his own legacy
Tim Cook is destroying his own legacy

What responsibility do you have to speak up about bad things happening in the world? Does that responsibility change when speaking up might affect your business? What about if you’re a sports creator, or the moderator of a deeply NSFW subreddit? What about if you’re just a little ol’ phone website? Ultimately, everyone has to […]

Netflix is eating Hollywood — because it has to
Netflix is eating Hollywood — because it has to

On today’s episode of Decoder, I’m talking about the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the biggest story in the entertainment industry right now, and for good reason. It has pretty much everything you could want in a buzzy Hollywood saga — big names, big money, and big drama. Right now, the winning […]

Truth and AI in Minneapolis
Truth and AI in Minneapolis

When federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, video of the shooting – from lots of people, and lots of angles, with wildly varying levels of quality – immediately began to fly around the internet. This is what always happens in times like these, and there have unfortunately been a lot of […]

Experian’s tech chief defends credit scores: ‘We’re not Palantir’
Experian’s tech chief defends credit scores: ‘We’re not Palantir’

Today, I’m talking with Alex Lintner, who is the CEO of technology and software solutions at Experian, the credit reporting company. Experian is one of those multinationals that’s so big and convoluted that it has multiple CEOs all over the world, so Alex and I spent quite a lot of time talking through the Decoder […]

The end of the Sony era in TVs
The end of the Sony era in TVs

There aren’t many tech companies that can claim Sony’s level of influence in how we live our lives. From the Walkman to the PlayStation to the Trinitron, Sony has been making excellent gadgets in multiple categories for decades, which makes this week’s news just a little sad. Sony’s new joint venture with TCL isn’t the […]

Substack is launching a TV app, and not everyone is happy
Substack is launching a TV app, and not everyone is happy

Substack announced Thursday it’s launching Apple TV and Google TV apps that audiences can use for videos and livestreams – and early reactions suggest not all users are thrilled. Subscribers can watch videos and livestreams from creators they follow, but the app will also have a recommendations-based “For You” feed that mixes in other creators’ […]