Hard Fork

This 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 model, Sol, and Anthropic’s decision to extend access to its model Fable.

Then, we unpack the loudest warning yet about A.I. and jobs. We talk with Erik Brynjolfsson, a Stanford economist, about a statement he helped organize that implores economists and A.I. researchers to “act now” to steer A.I. in a direction that complements humans.

And finally, we play a round of HatGPT.

 

Guest:

Erik Brynjolfsson, senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered A.I., and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

 

Additional Reading:

Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets

OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as A.I. Companion

Nearly 200 Economists and Tech Leaders Warn of A.I. Threats

The loudest warning about A.I. and jobs yet

OpenAI Is Showing Kalshi’s World Cup Odds in ChatGPT

New York Enacts Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium on Data Centers

Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used A.I. to Cheat

MiniMax CEO Vows to Forgo Salary Until Achieving A.G.I.

Lorde Speaks Out — With Expletives — Against A.I. Glasses

Nearly 6 in 10 Young Women Get Health and Wellness Information from Influencers

Meta Removes A.I. Feature on Instagram After Days of Backlash

 

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

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This 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 joined by Jeff Sebo, an associate professor at N.Y.U., to discuss new research into “A.I. welfare” and whether A.I. could ever become conscious. And finally, in our latest edition of Tool Time, we show each other some of the latest tech tools we’ve been experimenting with.

 

Guest:

Jeff Sebo, associate professor and the director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy at N.Y.U.

 

Additional Reading:

Why Social Media Bans Are Gaining Steam

Four in Five Under-16s in Australia Using Social Media Despite Ban, Study Shows

It Turns Out Banning Teens From Social Media Is Hard

Studying A.I. Welfare Empirically

A Global Workspace in Language Models

 

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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This 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 OpenAI model GPT 5.6 is likely to resolve and what, if anything, this tells us about A.I. competition with China.

Then, Dr. Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and the author of the forthcoming book “Human Raised,” stops by to discuss a framework she has developed to help parents make informed decisions about what kinds of A.I. products are safe for children.

And finally, we introduce a new segment about prediction markets: Against All Odds.

Guest:

Dr. Dana Suskind, founder and co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book “Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity and Lifelong Learning in the Age of A.I.”

 

Additional Reading:

U.S. Lifts Restrictions on Anthropic’s Most Powerful A.I. Models

U.S. Bars Foreigners From Using Anthropic’s Most Advanced A.I. Models

Chinese A.I. Models Close the Gap With Anthropic and OpenAI

The Donk-ing of a Truth Machine

Mark Zuckerberg Directed Meta to Create a Prediction Markets App

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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This 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 using an A.I. companion robot to keep her independence, and to keep her company.

Then, the Times Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman talks to the New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka and the journalist and critic Sophie Haigney. They get into the rise of “taste slop” and what happens to culture if the internet collapses into just a few chatbots that serve us everything.

“Hard Fork” will be back with an original episode next week.

 

Guests:

Eli Saslow, a reporter for The New York Times who writes in-depth stories about the impact of major national issues on people’s lives.

Kyle Chayka, staff writer at The New Yorker covering technology and online culture.

Sophie Haigney, a critic and journalist.

Additional Reading:

Can A.I. Make People Feel Less Lonely?

What Silicon Valley Is Coming for Next

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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We’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. transformation: why Sayash thinks A.I. will diffuse throughout society like a “normal” technology, and why Daniel thinks an unprecedented acceleration is just around the corner. Then we’re joined by George Ekas from Toborlife AI, along with his dancing robot Toby. Finally, the podcaster Dwarkesh Patel drops by, and we take a few questions from the live audience.

 

Guests:

Sayash Kapoor, an A.I. researcher at Princeton University and a co-author of the newsletter “AI as Normal Technology”

Daniel Kokotajlo, the executive director of the AI Futures Project and a co-author of “AI 2027”

George Ekas, the director of engineering at Toberlife AI

Dwarkesh Patel, a tech podcaster

 

Additional Reading:

This A.I. Forecast Predicts Storms Ahead

AI as Normal Technology

Common Ground Between AI 2027 & AI as Normal Technology

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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