California Regulates A.I. Companions + OpenAI Investigates Its Critics + The Hard Fork Review of Slop

This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed a big package of A.I. and social media bills into law — including the first state law in the United States to regulate A.I. companions. We talk through what stood out to us in the package and whether these protections will work. Then, the subpoena that has the whole tech world talking. Nathan Calvin, general counsel at Encode, an A.I. safety advocacy group that has been critical of OpenAI, talks with us about why he thinks the company is investigating him. And finally, grab your opera glasses. It’s time for the first edition of The Hard Fork Review of Slop.Guests:Nathan Calvin, vice president of state affairs and general counsel at EncodeAdditional Reading:California Regulates A.I. CompanionsOpenAI Thinks Its Critics Are Funded by Billionaires. Now It’s Going After Them.We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. 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.

This week, we discuss the standout moments from our field trip to OpenAI’s third annual DevDay — including a bizarre chat between Jony Ive and Sam Altman, and the announcement that OpenAI is putting apps into ChatGPT. Then, we try to make sense of the massive computing deal between OpenAI and AMD, and how it could impact the larger economy. And finally, Katie Notopoulos, a Business Insider reporter, joins us to discuss the growing backlash to A.I. slop and why she refuses to stop making deranged videos of us on Sora.Guests:Katie Notopoulos, senior correspondent at Business Insider covering technology and culture.Additional Reading:OpenAI’s Platform PlayOpenAI Agrees to Use Computer Chips From AMDI’m Addicted to Sora 2!OpenAI’s New Video App Is Jaw-Dropping (for Better and Worse)We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. 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.

This week, an eye-popping $100 billion deal between OpenAI and Nvidia — along with an announcement about the construction of five new American data centers — has us re-examining our predictions of an A.I. bubble. Then, we try to make sense of the Trump administration’s changes to the H-1B visa program, which generated mixed reactions from tech leaders; the immigration expert Jeremy Neufeld joins us to explain why the new $100,000 visa fee is likely to hurt start-ups, universities and the broader U.S. economy. And finally, we take a look at one of the latest trends sweeping TikTok: planning for a biblical Rapture.Guests:Jeremy Neufeld, director of immigration policy at the Institute for ProgressAdditional Reading:Nvidia to Invest $100 Billion in OpenAIOpenAI to Join Tech Giants in Building 5 New Data Centers in U.S.$100,000 Per Employee: How the H-1B Visa Fee Could Reshape Work ForcesA $100,000 Per Worker Visa Fee Tips the Balance to Big TechThe Rapture Was Predicted to Happen Today. TikTok Has Some Advice.We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. 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.

This week, we discuss the assassination of Charlie Kirk, freedom of speech and the terrifying new reality of extremely online violence. Then The Times’s David Yaffe-Bellany brings us inside the blockbuster New York Times investigation into a $2 billion investment in Trump’s crypto company World Liberty Financial and a controversial deal to send the most powerful A.I. chips to the United Arab Emirates. And finally, it’s time to round up This Week in A.I. Guests:David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times technology reporter covering the crypto industry Additional Reading:Trump Administration Wields Its Full Toolbox to Bring Media to HeelSocial Platforms Duck Blame for Inflaming Divisions Before Charlie Kirk’s DeathIn Giant Deals, U.A.E. Got Chips, and Trump Team Got Crypto RichesA Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.OpenAI’s Risky Step to Protect Teens We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. 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.

Apple’s yearly iPhone event took place this week, and it left us asking, Is Apple losing the juice? We break down all the new products the company announced and discuss where it goes from here. Then, Eliezer Yudkowsky, one of the most fascinating people in A.I., has a new book coming out: “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies.” He joins us to make the case for why A.I. development should be shut down now, long before we reach superintelligence, and how he thinks that could happen.Guests:Eliezer Yudkowsky, founder of Machine Intelligence Research Institute and a co-author of “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies”Additional Reading: A.I.’s Prophet of Doom Wants to Shut It All DownAI as Normal Technology, revisitedApple’s misunderstood crossbody iPhone strap might be the best I’ve seen We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This week, we check in on the state of artificial intelligence in education. We talk with a co-founder of Alpha Schools, MacKenzie Price, about how her private K-12 schools are using A.I. to generate personalized lesson plans and enabling teachers to spend their time motivating rather than teaching students. Then, the Princeton historian D. Graham Burnett joins us to discuss the existential threat that A.I. poses to the traditional humanities degree and why he believes we’ll see thousands of new schools emerge outside the university system to carry on the exploration of what it means to be a person in the world. And finally, we hear directly from students who are on the front line of technological change.Guests:MacKenzie Price, co-founder of Alpha SchoolsD. Graham Burnett, historian of science and technology at Princeton UniversityAdditional Reading:A.I.-Driven Education: Founded in Texas and Coming to a School Near YouWill the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?OpenAI and Microsoft Bankroll New A.I. Training for TeachersWelcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

President Trump announced this week that the U.S. government, in a highly unusual deal, had agreed to take a 10 percent stake in the chip maker Intel, and that he was considering similar investments in other companies. We discuss why Trump cares so much about Intel, what the government is trying to accomplish with this deal, and how people in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are reacting. Then Waymo’s co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana joins us in the studio to discuss the company’s strategy for expanding its driverless car service to Miami, D.C. and the snowy Northeast. And finally, we introduce a new segment where we run through the most surprising technology projects the Trump family is getting involved in.Guests:Tekedra Mawakana, co-chief executive of Waymo.Additional Reading: Intel Agrees to Sell U.S. a 10% Stake in Its BusinessFirst Lady Melania Trump Launches Nationwide Presidential AI Challenge We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Note: This episode contains sexually explicit music.This week, the whole tech world seemed to be asking: Are we in an A.I. bubble? We’ll explore the cases for and against, including who we think stands to lose most. Then we’re joined by the journalist Jeff Horwitz to discuss his blockbuster reporting about an internal Meta policy document that permit the company’s chatbots to engage in romantic role-playing with children. And finally, Casey introduces Kevin to a shocking new TikTok trend. Guests:Jeff Horwitz, investigative technology reporter for ReutersAdditional Reading:My Dinner With AltmanCompanies Are Pouring Billions Into A.I. It Has Yet to Pay OffMeta’s A.I. Rules Have Let Bots Hold ‘Sensual’ Chats With ChildrenWhy Is TikTok Overflowing With A.I. Country Music Erotica? We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

OpenAI spent the week responding to outcry from users who miss the behavior of the old ChatGPT, before the latest flagship model was released.We discuss the criticism, why it caught the company by surprise and what it indicates about the deepening emotional relationships that people are forming with chatbots.Then, Aravind Srinivas, the chief executive of Perplexity AI, joins us to discuss his company’s new artificial intelligence-powered browser, Comet; his company’s bid to buy Google Chrome; and what the future of the internet looks like when users turn to A.I. assistants to browse the web for them. Finally, to cap it all off, we rate the craziest tech stories of the week in our game Hot Mess Express.Guests:Aravind Srinivas, chief executive of Perplexity AI.Additional Reading:Chatbots Can Go Into a Delusional Spiral. Here’s How It Happens.Three Big Lessons From the GPT-5 BacklashA.I. Start-Up Perplexity Offers to Buy Google’s Chrome Browser for $34.5 BillionElon Musk Threatens to Sue Apple Over Claims It Favors OpenAIU.S. Government to Take Cut of Nvidia and AMD A.I. Chip Sales to China Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This week, OpenAI released its much-anticipated flagship model, GPT-5. We break down what we know about the upgrade, drawing from our initial testing and a special news briefing with Sam Altman. Then, we explain why we were underwhelmed by Amazon’s new Alexa+, which is powered by generative A.I., and take our feedback to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, who helps us understand why powering Alexa with L.L.M. capabilities is a major computer science challenge.Guests:Daniel Rausch, Amazon vice president of Echo and AlexaAdditional reading:OpenAI Aims to Stay Ahead of Rivals With New GPT-5 TechnologyAmazon Unveils Alexa+, Powered by Generative A.I.We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.Also, you can still get a special-edition “Hard Fork” hat! For a limited time, you’ll receive one when you purchase an annual New York Times Audio subscription for the first time (U.S. only). Go to nytimes.com/hardforkhat. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.