A.I.’s Data Wall + a Surprise Privacy Bill + What Happened to the TikTok Ban?

On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill into law that would force the sale of TikTok or ban the app outright. We explain how this came together, when just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely to happen, and what legal challenges the law will face next. Then we check on Tesla’s very bad year and what’s next for the company after this week’s awful quarterly earnings report. Finally, to boldly support tech where tech has never been supported before: Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab try to fix a chip malfunction from 15 billion miles away.Guests:Andrew Hawkins, Transportation Editor at The VergeTodd Barber, Propulsion Engineer at Jet Propulsion LabAdditional Reading:‘Thunder Run’: Behind Lawmakers’ Secretive Push to Pass the TikTok BillTesla’s in its flop eraNASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to EarthWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, we drop the Hard Fork Music Megamix. Plus, we talk to two of the New York Time's composers who make the music for our show. It’s all the tracks you know and love, all in one place. Today’s Guests:Dan Powell, creative technical manager at The New York TimesElisheba Ittoop, sound designer and composer at The New York TimesAdditional Reading: The Hard Fork Megamix Youtube PlaylistWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, the companies building artificial intelligence are facing a limit to what training data is publicly available on the internet. Will that stop them from building God? Then, a new bipartisan national privacy law proposal just dropped. We ask what’s in it. And finally, ByteDance is building new apps instead of fighting Congress’s TikTok ban.Today’s Guests:Trevor Hughes, president and C.E.O. of the International Association of Privacy ProfessionalsAdditional Reading:How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I.For Data-Guzzling A.I. Companies, the Internet Is Too SmallLawmakers unveil sprawling plan to expand online privacy protectionsTikTok Turns to Nuns, Veterans and Ranchers in Marketing BlitzWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week we look at how AI is affecting jobs. As companies start announcing AI-related job cuts and experimenting with customer service bots, economists are placing bets on whether AI will lead to major gains for companies and workers. Some are even predicting it will help rebuild the middle class.  Then, multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Paul Trillo joins to talk to us about his experience as part of a select group of testers granted early access to Sora, Open AI’s video generation tool. And finally, Kevin explains what happened when a Microsoft developer stumbled on a huge cyber security breach.Today’s Guests: Paul Trillo, multidisciplinary artist, writer and director Additional Reading: How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle ClassWill A.I. Boost Productivity? Companies Sure Hope So.Paul Trillo’s Sora Video, The Golden RecordDid One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack?We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Warning: The second segment of this episode includes mentions of suicide. If you are in crisis please call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988 or you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.This week, we look at a mess of corporate drama in artificial intelligence. Stability AI has announced that its founder and C.E.O., Emad Mostaque, is leaving the company. Meanwhile, Microsoft hired away two of the co-founders and much of the staff of Inflection, without actually acquiring the company itself. Both moves surprised tech insiders. Then, we talked with listeners who had something to say about our interview with Jonathan Haidt on smartphones, social media and young people. And finally, we examine the true motives behind “Shrimp Jesus” and other hugely popular images on social media that were generated with artificial intelligence.Today’s guests:Jordan Lucero, a high school studentMaya Rayle, a graduate studentJack Campbell, a college studentBrendan Kelley, a high school digital coachAdditional Reading: The indie AI companies are falling apartHow Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience GrowthWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple, saying the company holds a monopoly over the smartphone market. We break down the lawsuit and ask whether it will be a major turning point in Apple’s dominance. Then, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, argues that smartphones and social media are the cause of widespread increases in mental health issues among young people. He tells us his four potential solutions to the problem. And finally, Reddit’s market capitalization hit $9.2 billion when it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange this week, but the company still isn’t making money. We talk about the challenges Reddit faces as it goes public, and how the site may change as a result.Today’s guest:Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation”Additional Reading:U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone MonopolyEnd the Phone-Based Childhood NowReddit’s I.P.O. Is a Content Moderation Success StoryWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok if its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell it off. We talk about why, what happens next, and how likely it is that the app will be banned. Then, how a photoshopped image of Kate Middleton undermines trust in photography. And finally, a new report reveals how your car may be tracking you without your knowledge — and how that might raise your insurance bill.Today’s guest:Kashmir Hill, features writer at The New York TimesAdditional Reading: What to Know About the TikTok Bill That the House PassedEven Photoshop Can’t Erase Royals’ Latest P.R. BlemishAutomakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance CompaniesWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

OpenAI responded to Elon Musk’s lawsuit this week, with a blog post that included emails dating to 2015. We talk about whether the lawsuit could have any impact on the company, and who stands to benefit from it. Then, will the European Union’s Digital Markets Act make the tech industry a more competitive environment for entrepreneurs? We look at how some of the biggest tech giants are changing their services to comply with the law. And finally, Kevin Roose and the Wall Street Journal reporter Joanna Stern compare notes on using the Apple Vision Pro.   Today’s guest:Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal Personal Tech columnistAdditional Reading:Open AI Says Elon Musk Tried to Merge It With TeslaForced to Change: Tech Giants Bow to Global Onslaught of RulesOne Month With Apple Vision Pro: In the Air, on a Train … in a DrawerWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Warning: This episode contains strong language.Google removed the ability to generate images of people from its Gemini chatbot. We talk about why, and about the brewing culture war over artificial intelligence. Then, did Kara Swisher start “Hard Fork”? We clear up some podcast drama and ask about her new book, “Burn Book.” And finally, the legal expert Daphne Keller tells us how the U.S. Supreme Court might rule on the most important First Amendment cases of the internet era, and what Star Trek and soy boys have to do with it.Today’s guests:Kara Swisher, tech journalist and Casey Newton’s former landlordDaphne Keller, director of the program on platform regulation at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy CenterAdditional Reading: Google CEO calls AI tool’s controversial responses ‘completely unacceptable’Kara Swisher Is Not Here to Make Friends in Her New MemoirBurn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara SwisherDaphne Keller’s FAQs About the NetChoice Cases at the Supreme CourtWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week’s episode is a conversation with Demis Hassabis, the head of Google’s artificial intelligence division. We talk about Google’s latest A.I. models, Gemini and Gemma; the existential risks of artificial intelligence; his timelines for artificial general intelligence; and what he thinks the world will look like post-A.G.I.Additional listening and reading: A.I. Could Solve Some of Humanity’s Hardest Problems. It Already Has.This interview was recorded on Wednesday. Since then, Google has temporarily suspended Gemini’s ability to generate images of humans, following criticism of images the chatbot generated of people of color in Nazi-era uniforms.Google Is Giving Away Some of the A.I. That Powers ChatbotsWe want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.