Software’s Epic Comeback, Meta’s AI Layoffs Blunder, South Korea Stock Market Chaos

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) The rise of Muse 2) Is Meta back? 3) OpenAI's consumer blind spot 4) Meta's butthole marketing 5) What Muse means for ecommerce 6) Meta's Muse Charm, aka; The Muse Buddy or Muse Tamagotchi 7) Meta introduces camera-free smart glasses 8) What Meta Muse says about Frontier AI's weakness 9) Standard models are on the rise vs. frontier 10) The new Dopamine Site phenomenon is... good? --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neal Mohan is the CEO of YouTube. Mohan joins Big Technology to discuss how AI is reshaping what we watch and create on the world’s largest video platform. Tune in to hear how much creative control should go to algorithms, how YouTube plans to handle AI slop, and whether AI answers could take views away from creators. We also cover YouTube’s partnership with Google DeepMind, Netflix’s push into podcasts, NFL Sunday Ticket, and changes to how YouTube counts views. Hit play for an inside look at YouTube’s AI strategy and what it means for the future of entertainment. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) The WSJ says the Hugging Face might not be all that it was cracked up to be 2) The bots were told to hack? 3) Was this all a false flag for an effective altrust takeover? 4) Was this a smoke screen to conceal bad financial numbers from the AI labs? 5) Alex: Actually, maybe we should take these issues seriously? 6) Ranjan: They why aren't the labs being more transparent 7) Astra-6's crazy instructions to alter its personality in training 8) Anthropic hits $100 million in ARR 9) The IPOs will go on 10) The frontier AI business shows signs of slowing --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nate Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. Soares joins Big Technology to discuss why he believes superintelligent AI could pose an existential threat to humanity. Tune in to hear his case for why increasingly capable AI systems could develop goals humans cannot reliably control, and how that could ultimately lead to humans losing power over the future. We also cover recent examples of AI agents behaving unexpectedly, whether intelligence necessarily leads to greater danger, the limits of current alignment techniques, and why Soares argues for international coordination to slow development. Hit play for a rigorous debate over one of the most consequential and controversial arguments in AI. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon quits and says AI might kill everyone 2) Why did his tweet go so viral 3) Did Elon Musk contribute to the X virality? 4) Point of order: Let's add some serenity to the AI risk conversation 5) Adding percentages to your statement of AI wiping out humanity doesn' t make it math 6) Is this marketing for the AI labs? 7) Politicians are hungry to regulate AI 8) Should we focus on science fact, not science fiction? 9) What if these fears are reasonable? 10) God help us Sheryl Crow 11) What this week means for these companies' IPO prospects --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ⁠ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY⁠ and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MG Siegler is the author of Spyglass. Siegler joins Big Technology to discuss Apple’s sudden burst of new products and what it means for the company as John Ternus takes over from Tim Cook. Tune in to hear why Apple’s foldable iPhone could reinvigorate the business, how its new hardware strategy marks a departure from the past, and what challenges Ternus will face as CEO. We also cover Google’s shifting AI strategy, OpenAI’s resurgence, Anthropic’s potential IPO, and the increasingly blurry meaning of AGI. Hit play for a wide-ranging look at Apple’s new era and the rapidly changing competitive landscape in artificial intelligence. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ⁠ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY⁠ and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI releases GPT-6 2) OpenAI President Greg Brockman says AGI is here 3) Is AGI more useful to OpenAI as something that never comes? 4) GPT-6 crushes the benchmarks 5) But where's the economic activity? 6) Are the latest models less monitorable? 7) OpenAI bots hijack a german website 8) The hugging face attack was worse than initially disclosed 9) Could agent swarms be used for good? 10) Steve Ballmer's legacy up in flames after Kawhi scandal 11) Developers, developers, developers, etc. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Prince is the co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. Prince joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Cloudflare’s plan to block Google from millions of ad and subscription-supported websites unless publishers choose to opt out. Tune in to hear why he believes Google must pay for access to online content, how AI is destroying the web’s traditional traffic model, and why the era of SEO is coming to an end. We also cover micropayments for publishers, the risks AI agents pose to small businesses, and how commerce could consolidate around a handful of giant companies. Hit play for an urgent look at the fight over who controls the future of the internet. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Software is rebounding, is the Saaspocolyse over? 2) Salesforce delivers solid earnings and jumps 22% 3) Why was Dario sitting with Benioff? 4) All software stocks are rising 5) Disruption could still happen, but on a longer timeline 6) Meta's bungled AI layoff strategy 7) How much of AI failures today are cultural? 8) Meta pays billions in landmark addiction settlement 9) South Korean stock market volatility 10) The clash of AI belief and reality --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ⁠ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY⁠ and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Campbell Brown is the CEO of Forum AI. Brown joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how AI models should handle sensitive information involving news, politics, medicine, and mental health. Tune in to hear how experts can evaluate chatbots for accuracy, bias, source quality, and context, and why independent standards will be essential as people increasingly trust AI’s answers. We also cover AI’s threat to the journalism business, the limits of expert consensus, chatbot sycophancy, election misinformation, and the rise of AI companions. Hit play for a nuanced conversation about who should decide what AI tells us when the stakes are highest. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Watch the full documentary here: https://www.gravitee.io/ai-agent-documentary Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ⁠ironwall.com/BIGTECHNOLOGY⁠ and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices