Decoder with Nilay Patel

Today I’m talking with Avishai Abrahami, the CEO of Wix. You might know Wix as a website builder. It’s a competitor to WordPress and Squarespace. Tons of sites across the web run on Wix. But the web is changing rapidly, and Wix’s business today is less about web publishing, and more about providing software to help business owners run their entire companies. It’s fascinating, and Avishai has built a fascinating structure inside of Wix to make all that happen.   Wix is also an Israeli company. Avishai joined from the company’s headquarters in Tel Aviv. And I’ll just tell you right up front that we talked about Israel’s war with Hamas and its impact on the company. And that this conversation was not always comfortable. But the main theme of our conversation was, of course, the future of the web, especially a web that seems destined to be overrun by cheap AI-generated SEO spam. Links:  * Doom runs on Excel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2qU7t6Jmfw] * Wix will let you build an entire website using only AI prompts [https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/17/23796600/wix-ai-generated-websites-chatgpt] * Wix.com Launches Wix ADI and Delivers the Future of website creation [https://www.wix.com/press-room/home/post/wix-com-launches-wix-adi-artificial-design-intelligence-and-delivers-the-future-of-website-creat] * YouTube is going to start cracking down on AI clones of musicians [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/14/23959658/google-youtube-generative-ai-labels-music-copyright] * The people who ruined the internet [https://www.theverge.com/features/23931789/seo-search-engine-optimization-experts-google-results] * The restaurant nearest Google [https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23931825/google-search-local-seo-thai-food-near-me-maps] * OpenAI can’t tell if something was written by AI after all [https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/25/23807487/openai-ai-generated-low-accuracy] * AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born [https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23773914/ai-large-language-models-data-scraping-generation-remaking-web] * Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena on why anyone makes a website in 2023 [https://www.theverge.com/23795154/squarespace-ai-seo-web-social-algorithms-anthony-casalena] * What will changing Section 230 mean for the internet? [https://www.theverge.com/22302850/section-230-reform-internet-speech-moderation-platforms] Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23742026 [https://www.theverge.com/e/23742026] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

What actually happened at OpenAI in the last three days? Decoder host and Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks with Verge editors Alex Heath and David Pierce to break it down and try to work out what's next. Further reading: * Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965982/openai-ceo-sam-altman-fired] * OpenAI’s new CEO is Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23968848/openai-new-ceo-emmett-shear-twitch-co-founder-hiring] * OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/18/23967199/breaking-openai-board-in-discussions-with-sam-altman-to-return-as-ceo] * Emmett Shear named new CEO of OpenAI by board [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23967515/sam-altman-openai-board-fired-new-ceo] * Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23968829/microsoft-hires-sam-altman-greg-brockman-employees-openai] * Hundreds of OpenAI employees threaten to resign and join Microsoft [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23968988/openai-employees-resignation-letter-microsoft-sam-altman] * Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO [https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft] We’re doing a survey on how people use The Verge (and what they’d want from a Verge subscription). If you’re interested in helping us out, you can fill out the survey right here: http://theverge.com/survey [http://theverge.com/survey] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Liam James, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. It was edited by Andru Marino.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Today, I’m talking to Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo Cars. Now, Jim’s only been at Volvo for a short time. He took over in 2022 after a decades-long career in the consumer electronics industry. Before Volvo, his two longest stints were at BlackBerry, whose QNX software is used in tons of cars, and then at Dyson, which once tried and failed to make an electric car. Jim and I talked a lot about how that unique experience has influenced how he thinks about the transformational changes happening in the world of cars. For Volvo, the stakes are high. The company has pledged to be all-electric by the end of the decade, and Jim is also making some very different bets on software and revenue than the rest of the car industry. Jim’s view is that automakers are undergoing three major shifts all at once: electrification, autonomy, and direct-to-consumer sales. With Volvo, Jim is trying to steer the ship through these changes and come out an EV-only carmaker on the other end. Links: * Volvo plans to sell only electric cars by 2030 [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/business/volvo-electric-cars.html] * Volvo’s EX90 is a powerful computer that also happens to be an impeccably designed EV [https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/9/23447288/volvo-ex90-suv-ev-price-specs-lidar-mile-range] * Can Polestar design a new kind of car company? [https://www.theverge.com/22574395/polestar-decoder-interview-thomas-ingenlath-ev-cars] * The EV transition trips over its own cord [https://www.theverge.com/23934889/electric-vehicle-ev-transition-sales-delays-politics] * Volvo’s upcoming EVs join the Tesla Supercharger bandwagon [https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/27/23775579/volvo-tesla-electric-car-supercharger-nacs] * Future Volvo cars to run on Volvo operating system [https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/283545/future-volvo-cars-to-run-on-volvo-operating-system-as-company-takes-software-development-in-house] * Audi and Volvo will use Android as the operating system in upcoming cars [https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/15/15640596/google-android-auto-audi-volvo-apple-carplay-io-2017] * Volvo’s first EV will run native Android [https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/9/20906777/volvo-xc40-suv-ev-native-android-auto-google-assistant-maps] * The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto [https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/3/23667793/gm-carplay-android-auto-ford-volvo-honda-response] * The future of cars is a subscription nightmare [https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/13/23206999/car-subscription-nightmare-heated-seats-remote-start] * Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs [https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/4/23669523/gm-apple-carplay-android-auto-ev-restrict-access] Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23722862 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]