Hard Fork

Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT

SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are all racing to the public markets. We discuss what their I.P.O.s mean for the industry, charitable giving and anyone invested in an index fund. Then, more than 1,000 mathematicians signed a declaration this week raising concerns about the use of A.I. in their field. Author Kevin Hartnett joins to explain what the fuss is all about. And finally, we run through the biggest headlines of the week — including the new executive order on A.I. — in a round of HatGPT.   Guest: * Kevin Hartnett [https://kevinstenhartnett.com/], author of The Proof In the Code: How a Truth Machine is Transforming Math and AI [https://www.quantabooks.org/books/the-proof-in-the-code/] Additional Reading: * Anthropic Files to Go Public, Setting Stage for Huge I.P.O. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/technology/anthropic-ipo.html] * As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/science/ai-mathematics-leiden-declaration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] * An SF Startup Is Secretly Testing Robots in Airbnbs, and Trashing Them, Lawsuit Claims [https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/28/sf-startup-secretly-testing-robots-airbnbs-trashing-lawsuit-claims/] * Trump Signs Executive Order Seeking Oversight of A.I. Models  [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/technology/trump-executive-order-ai.html] * U.S. Is Said to Be Investigating George Santos Over Kalshi Betting [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/us/politics/george-santos-investigation-prediction-markets.html] * Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked [https://www.404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/] * United Flight Forced to Turn Around Because of a Bluetooth Speaker Name [https://www.theverge.com/transportation/940486/united-flight-236-bluetooth-speaker-name-bomb] * ‘Survivor’ Boss Jeff Probst Says Kalshi and Polymarket Are ‘Incentivizing People to Lie, Cheat and Steal’; Kalshi Is Now Considering Measures to Prevent Spoilers [https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/survivor-jeff-probst-kalshi-polymarket-spoilers-1236757354/]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Interesting Times: Why Are We Still Driving?

The “Hard Fork” team is taking a break this week as we prepare for our upcoming live show in San Francisco. While we’re away, we’re bringing you a recent episode of “Interesting Times” with Ross Douthat that we really enjoyed. In this episode, Ross talks with Andrew Miller, writer of the transportation policy newsletter “Changing Lanes” and co-author of the book “The End of Driving.” Together, they explore the potential benefits of driverless cars — from fewer car crashes to reclaimed time and attention — as well as what could be lost if we don’t have to be in the driver’s seat anymore. Guest: * Andrew Miller,  writer of the newsletter “Changing Lanes.” [https://www.changinglanesnewsletter.com/about] Additional Reading: * A full transcript and video of this episode can be found here [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/opinion/waymo-self-driving-cars-andrew-miller.html].  We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our Field Trip to Google I/O + A Sit-Down With Sundar Pichai + System Update

This week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updated flash model of Gemini that the company says is faster than competitors. Then, we ask Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, how he’s responding to growing evidence that the public is souring on A.I., what advice he’d give to college grads frightened by the current job market and where the company stands relative to competitors in the A.I. race. Finally, we run through the other big tech headlines of the week in our segment System Update. Guest: * Sundar Pichai, [https://blog.google/authors/sundar-pichai/] chief executive of Google. Additional Reading: * Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/google-seach-bar-ai-gemini.html] * How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/technology/personaltech/google-gemini-ai.html] * Elon Musk Loses $150 Billion Suit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/elon-musk-lawsuit-openai-sam-altman.html] * Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers to Focus on A.I. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/meta-reassigns-7000-employees-ai.html] * Pope to Launch Encyclical on AI Alongside Anthropic Co-Founder [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-18/anthropic-s-co-founder-to-launch-encyclical-on-ai-with-pope-leo] * Was a Story That Just Won a Literary Prize A.I.-Generated? [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/books/ai-fiction-contest-granta.html] * Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/media/future-of-truth-ai-quotes.html] We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A.I. Safety Is So Back + Mythos Mayhem with Nikesh Arora + Hot Mess Express

This week, between the president’s negotiations in China and a potential executive order, we discuss why the Trump administration seems to be changing its tune on A.I. safety. Then, Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo Alto Networks, the largest cybersecurity company in the world, gives us a firsthand account of where we stand in the race to secure the internet. And finally, we run through some of the wildest headlines of the week in a round of Hot Mess Express. Guest: * Nikesh Arora [https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/about-us/management], chief executive and chairman of Palo Alto Networks. Additional Reading: * White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html] * Chief Executives to Accompany Trump to China [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/us/politics/trump-china-musk-cook.html] * Is Anthropic’s New A.I. Really That Scary? It Depends Whom You Ask. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/technology/anthropic-claude-mythos.html] * Venmo Finally Takes Privacy Seriously [https://www.theverge.com/tech/927503/venmo-app-redesign-privacy-posts] * Amazon Staff Use A.I. Tool for Unnecessary Tasks to Inflate Usage Scores [https://www.ft.com/content/8ee0d3ef-9548-422d-8ff1-ebd48ad4b2ca?syn-25a6b1a6=1&] * Graduates Boo Commencement Speech About A.I. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/style/ucf-commencement-ai-booed-gloria-caulfield.html] * Dua Lipa Files $15 Million Suit Against Samsung for Using Her Face to Sell TVs [https://variety.com/2026/music/news/dua-lipa-sues-samsung-sell-tvs-1236742471/] * EBay Rejects GameStop’s $55 Billion Takeover Bid [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/business/ebay-gamestop-takeover.html] * Shein, Temu Trade Blows as UK Trial Spotlights Supply Chains [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-11/shein-temu-trade-blows-as-uk-trial-spotlights-supply-chains] * People Are Seriously Pissed That Grindr Outed Them With Its Latest Madonna Advert [https://www.queerty.com/people-are-seriously-pissed-that-grindr-outed-them-with-its-latest-madonna-advert-20260511/] * Sam Altman Testifies That Elon Musk Wanted Control of OpenAI [https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/12/technology/openai-trial-sam-altman-elon-musk] We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can the U.S. Rein in Prediction Markets? + Joanna Stern on Her Year of A.I. Experiments + Our Producer Goes to Attention School

This week we’re taking another look at prediction markets and a new series of scandals. Is Congress finally ready to rein them in? Then, the journalist Joanna Stern returns to the show to discuss her new book “I Am Not A Robot [https://joannastern.com],” all about turning her life over to a chatbot for a year. And finally, Hard Fork’s Rachel Cohn reports back on her month attending classes at the Strother School of Radical Attention [https://www.schoolofattention.org/], the center of a movement to resist the commodification of attention by technology companies.   Guests:  * Joanna Stern, chief everything officer at New Things [https://thenewthings.com] * Rachel Cohn [https://www.nytimes.com/by/rachel-cohn], producer of “Hard Fork”   Additional Reading: * Soldier Used Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster, U.S. Says [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/nyregion/polymarket-maduro-indictment-soldier.html] * Soldier Pleads Not Guilty in $400,000 Betting Case Over Maduro’s Ouster [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/nyregion/polymarket-special-forces-maduro-bets.html] * French weather service alerts police to tampering after suspicious Polymarket bets [https://www.ft.com/content/89be7df3-b7b8-4b4a-8b88-e24e877b439d?syn-25a6b1a6=1] * The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Battle for Your Attention Is Built on a Lie [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/opinion/attention-world-war-2-technology-nazis.html]   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.