The Stack Overflow Podcast

Seizing the means of messenger production

Ryan sits down with Galen Wolfe-Pauly, CEO of Tlon, to chat about calm computing and how humans can take back ownership of their data and digital world. They discuss the early internet’s evolution from individual creativity into today’s internet that turns users into products, Galen’s takeaways from building a new network architecture that prioritizes user control, and why messenger applications are ripe for decentralization.  Episode notes: Tlon [https://tlon.io/] is releasing a decentralized messenger app that gives you ownership of your data, built on Urbit [https://urbit.org/], a complete, wholly encapsulated system that allows you to run a personal server in the cloud. Use the code STACK to skip the waitlist for the Tlon Messenger app. Connect with Galen on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/galenwolfepauly/].  Shoutout to user mkobuolys [https://stackoverflow.com/users/15427566/mkobuolys] for winning a Populist badge for their answer to Set default transition for go_router in Flutter [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71636397/set-default-transition-for-go-router-in-flutter]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/04/03/seizing-the-means-of-messenger-production/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

How can you test your code when you don’t know what’s in it?

Ryan hosts SmartBear’s VP of AI and Architecture Fitz Nowlan to explore how we’re moving away from old assumptions about software development, the challenges of testing MCP servers as LLM-driven agents introduce non-determinism that breaks tradition, and how data locality and data construction are becoming more valuable when source code is so easy to generate. Episode notes:  SmartBear [https://smartbear.com/] gives devs tools for application performance monitoring, software development, software testing, and API management—all at AI speed and scale. Connect with Fitz on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/fitz-nowlan/] and email him at FitzNowlan@SmartBear.com [FitzNowlan@SmartBear.com]  Congrats to Great Answer winner Alexander [https://stackoverflow.com/users/721079/alexander] for winning the badge for their answer to Is there a way to make Runnable's run() throw an exception? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11584159/is-there-a-way-to-make-runnables-run-throw-an-exception]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/03/31/how-can-you-test-your-code-when-you-don-t-know-what-s-in-it/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Prevent agentic identity theft

Ryan is joined by Nancy Wang, CTO of 1Password, to discuss the security challenges local agents present, how enterprises can create robust governance of credentials through zero-knowledge architecture, and the implications of agent intent and misuse in a world where AI agents are becoming more and more integrated into everyday applications. Episode notes:  1Password [https://1password.com] keeps your credentials secure through end-to-end encryption, zero-knowledge architecture, and more. Read their latest white paper on security design [https://1passwordstatic.com/files/security/1password-white-paper.pdf].  Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangnancy/] or email her at nancy.wang@1password.com [nancy.wang@1password.com].  Congratulations to user Binita Bharati [https://stackoverflow.com/users/1611714/binita-bharati] for winning a Populist badge for their answer to How to know the version of currently installed package from yarn.lock [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60454251/how-to-know-the-version-of-currently-installed-package-from-yarn-lock]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/03/27/prevent-agentic-identity-theft/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Multi-stage attacks are the Final Fantasy bosses of security

Ryan welcomes Gee Rittenhouse, VP of Security at AWS, to the show to discuss the complexities of multi-stage attacks in cybersecurity and how these attacks unfold, the challenges in detecting them, and the evolving role of AI in both enhancing security and creating new vulnerabilities.  Episode notes:  AWS Security Hub [https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/aws-security-hub-is-expanding-to-unify-security-operations-across-multicloud-environments/] is expanding to unify your cloud security options. Learn more about how AWS is keeping your cloud safe on their website [https://aws.amazon.com/security/].  Connect with Gee on LinkedIn [http://linkedin.com/in/geerittenhouse].  Shoutout to user James Kanze [https://stackoverflow.com/users/649665/james-kanze] for winning a Populist badge for their answer to The spiral rule about declarations — when is it in error? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16260417/the-spiral-rule-about-declarations-when-is-it-in-error]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/03/24/multi-stage-attacks-are-the-final-fantasy-bosses-of-security/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

After all the hype, was 2025 really the year of AI agents?

Ryan is joined by Stefan Weitz, CEO and co-founder of the HumanX Conference, for a conversation on how AI has evolved in the last year. They discuss whether “the year of the agent” came to fruition, why companies are moving away from AGI, and the major blockers for AI adoption, from distrust in non-deterministic systems to enterprise data-readiness.  Episode notes:  HumanX 2026 [https://www.humanx.co/], one of the biggest AI conferences of the year, is happening in San Francisco from April 6-9. Listen to our episodes [https://stackoverflow.blog/humanx/] recorded on the conference floor last year.  Connect with Stefan on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanweitz/]. Congrats to Populist badge recipient humblebee [https://stackoverflow.com/users/4859404/humblebee] for winning the badge for their answer to How to open/run YML compose file? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44364916/how-to-open-run-yml-compose-file]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/03/20/was-2025-really-the-year-of-ai-agents/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].