Big Technology Podcast

M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Siegler joins us to discuss the latest on the Pentagon’s clash with Anthropic, why OpenAI stepped in to take the deal, and what comes next for Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei. Tune in to hear what the “supply chain risk” label could mean and AI’s growing role in defense work. We also cover Apple’s rumored trio of AI devices, Siri’s latest delays, and the Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery deal falling apart as Paramount jumps in.

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Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) The origins of Anthropic's stare-down with the Pentagon 2) Claude's use in the operation to capture Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro 3) Was Claude really being used for autonomous warfare or mass surveillance, and did the military seek it out? 4) Maybe this is just a culture clash 5) Anthropic's marketing win 6) Should AI be used for autonomous warfare? 7) OpenAI raises $110 billion 8) Is that money real? 9) Block to cut nearly half its staff 10) Can AI be helpful in managing large companies? 11) Another science fiction story leads to a market panic.

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Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Pollan joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether AI can ever become conscious and what that question reveals about the nature of mind. Tune in to hear a nuanced debate about whether consciousness is computable, where today’s LLMs fall short, and how researchers might actually test machine consciousness in the future. We also cover materialism vs. spirituality, the “hard problem” of consciousness, psychedelic experiences, and the emerging science of plant sentience. Hit play for a thoughtful, surprising conversation that brings the AI consciousness debate back down to earth while opening up some of its strangest possibilities.

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Box CEO Aaron Levie joins for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI's anticipated $100 billion fundraise 2) Does OpenAI's big forthcoming raise settle questions about its competitiveness 3) What's going on with OpenAI and NVIDIA? 4) Hype or True: Big Proclamations from the India AI Impact Summit 5) Why can't Sam And Dario hold hands? 6) Anthropic's powerful new model 7) OpenAI acquires OpenClaw 8) What the acquisition portends 9) If software is an API, what is software? 10) Wait, is AI not increasing productivity?

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Lila Ibrahim is the COO of Google DeepMind. James Manyika is the senior Vice President for Research, Technology, and Society at Google. The two join Big Technology Podcast to discuss how Google's AI effort operates and runs experiments. In this conversation, we discuss the fundamental operating structure of DeepMind, how Google proper has become more experimental with the revival of Labs and other programs, and how the company is thinking about AI and education. We also cover weather and flood prediction at global scale, and training AI in space. Hit play for a deep inside look at the mechanics behind Google’s AI research machine and the big ideas it’s betting on next.

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