Hard Fork

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:  * AI as Normal Technology, revisited [https://www.platformer.news/ai-normal-technology-timelines-education/] * Apple’s misunderstood crossbody iPhone strap might be the best I’ve seen [https://www.theverge.com/report/775498/apple-iphone-crossbody-strap-magnetic-reaction]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com [hardfork@nytimes.com]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://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 [https://2hourlearning.com/founder/#:~:text=MacKenzie%20Price%2C%20Co%2DFounder%20of,for%20a%20change%20was%20now.], co-founder of Alpha Schools * D. Graham Burnett [https://history.princeton.edu/people/d-graham-burnett], historian of science and technology at Princeton University Additional Reading: * A.I.-Driven Education: Founded in Texas and Coming to a School Near You [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/us/politics/ai-alpha-school-austin-texas.html] * Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/will-the-humanities-survive-artificial-intelligence] * OpenAI and Microsoft Bankroll New A.I. Training for Teachers [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/technology/chatgpt-teachers-openai-microsoft.html] * Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/technology/chatgpt-openai-colleges.html] We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com [hardfork@nytimes.com]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://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 [https://waymo.com/company/tekedra-mawakana/], co-chief executive of Waymo. Additional Reading:  * Intel Agrees to Sell U.S. a 10% Stake in Its Business [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/technology/trump-intel-stake.html] * First Lady Melania Trump Launches Nationwide Presidential AI Challenge [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/08/first-lady-melania-trump-launches-nationwide-presidential-ai-challenge/]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com [hardfork@nytimes.com]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://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 [https://www.jeffhorwitz.com/], investigative technology reporter for Reuters Additional Reading: * My Dinner With Altman [https://www.platformer.news/sam-altman-gpt-5-interview-lightcap-turley/] * Companies Are Pouring Billions Into A.I. It Has Yet to Pay Off [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/business/ai-business-payoff-lags.html] * Meta’s A.I. Rules Have Let Bots Hold ‘Sensual’ Chats With Children [https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meta-ai-chatbot-guidelines/] * Why Is TikTok Overflowing With A.I. Country Music Erotica? [https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/why-is-tiktok-overflowing-with-ai-country-music-erotica/]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com [hardfork@nytimes.com]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://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 [https://www.perplexity.ai/]. Additional Reading: * Chatbots Can Go Into a Delusional Spiral. Here’s How It Happens. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html] * Three Big Lessons From the GPT-5 Backlash [https://www.platformer.news/gpt-5-backlash-openai-lessons/] * A.I. Start-Up Perplexity Offers to Buy Google’s Chrome Browser for $34.5 Billion [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/technology/perplexity-google-chrome-bid.html] * Elon Musk Threatens to Sue Apple Over Claims It Favors OpenAI [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/technology/elon-musk-apple-openai-xai.html#:~:text=Elon%20Musk%20Threatens%20to%20Sue,OpenAI%20on%20the%20App%20Store.] * U.S. Government to Take Cut of Nvidia and AMD A.I. Chip Sales to China [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/technology/us-government-nvidia-amd-chips-china.html] Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.