Decoder with Nilay Patel

Inside Anthropic’s trillion-dollar AI gamble

25K views · 1d ago · 42:22

Guest: Joey Brookhart

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.

Topics: Welcome to Decoder · Joey Brookhart Interview · First Take on the S1 · Where's the Trillion? · Tokenomics · Cost of Inference

Kevin Roose is AGI-pilled. Why aren’t you? | Decoder

37K views · 4d ago · 1:04:09

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.

Topics: Welcome to Decoder · Kevin Roose & Machine Gods · Leaving The New York Times · Life as an Independent Creator · Reporting The AGI Chronicles · The Moment AGI Became Real

Bill Gates says to prepare for 20 years of tumultuous AI disruption

610K views · 1w ago · 1:11:04

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.

Topics: Welcome To Decoder · Why AI Urgency Is Real · Most Dangerous Tech Ever Invented · Lost Corporate Ideals · Government Regulation · AGI & Consciousness

JB Pritzker’s frightening theory about AI and jobs | Decoder

18K views · 1w ago · 57:53

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.

Topics: Show Intro & Guest Introduction · The Bears & Illinois · Generational Political Realignment · State Competition for Jobs & Incentives · How Illinois Government Works · AI in Government Services

SpaceX's ambitious, expensive gamble to replace AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile | Decoder

61K views · 1w ago · 51:27

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…

Topics: Welcome to Decoder · SpaceX's Wireless Ambitions · The Spectrum Shopping Spree · Nextel Spectrum History · Why SpaceX Needs Terrestrial · Dish's Failure vs SpaceX

How Benn Jordan became Flock’s biggest headache

124K views · 2w ago · 57:16

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.

Topics: Ben's Background · Surveillance Debate · Flock Losing Contracts · Flock vs. Axon & Motorola · How Flock Works · Does Surveillance Reduce Crime?

Another billionaire thinks he can fix Warner Bros.

54K views · 2w ago · 43:06

Acquiring Warner Bros. never goes well for anyone. AOL failed, AT&T failed, and Discovery failed — although it did succeed in flipping the assets to David Ellison’s Skydance. So I’m talking to Peter Kafka, Business Insider chief correspondent and host of Channels, to see if Skydance has a chance at succeeding where nobody else has yet. Spoiler alert: Peter doesn’t think Skydance has a clear business plan, either.

Topics: Welcome To Decoder · The Skydance Brand · Why Ellison Thinks He'll Succeed · The $80B Debt Problem · Failed Warner Owners: AT&T & Beyond · Oracle, AI & The Ellison Backstop