Hard Fork

A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is Coming

This week, amid violent attacks on the homes of the OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson, we debate why artificial intelligence and data centers are so unpopular. Then, Kara Swisher returns to the show to discuss her new docuseries on Silicon Valley’s obsession with living longer. And finally, can chief executives replace themselves with A.I.? Mark Zuckerberg seems to be trying. Guests: * Kara Swisher, tech journalist and host of the podcasts “Pivot” and “On With Kara Swisher.” Additional Reading: * Shots Fired at Indianapolis Councilman’s Home, After Vote Backing Data Center [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/us/indianapolis-data-center-shooting.html] * Man Held in Attack on OpenAI Chief’s Home Had List of A.I. Leaders, Officials Say [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/technology/man-who-attacked-openai-ceos-home-had-list-of-other-ai-executives.html] * Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever [https://www.cnn.com/kara-swisher-wants-to-live-forever] * Meta Builds A.I. Version of Mark Zuckerberg to Interact With Staff [http://ft.com/content/02107c23-6c7a-4c19-b8e2-b45f4bb9ce5f?accessToken=zwAAAZ2YBMcBkc8CEHwjbHpMGdO44rRfS7nOXw.MEYCIQDssvG3RYyhNQfO6Xnuaw5PG30RmuDW5U2afGCfE9edswIhAPcxqjPWmcfIYN1NvUuNPMw6hbpAIVPlYeH4DDm4oHKB&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareId=fc8a23cd-b5c1-4c68-9bbe-b3424f533ece&shareType=enterprise&syn-25a6b1a6=1]   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.

Anthropic’s Cybersecurity Shock Wave + Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Their Sam Altman Investigation + One Good Thing

This week, we look at the cybersecurity threats that a new unreleased model from Anthropic are posing to software everywhere. And we ask whether Project Glasswing, the company’s bold new defense initiative, will give tech companies enough of a head start to secure the web. Then, we’re joined by Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker to discuss their blockbuster new profile of Sam Altman. And finally, we look to the skies for this edition of One Good Thing.    Guests: * Ronan Farrow [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/ronan-farrow], investigative reporter and a contributing writer to The New Yorker. * Andrew Marantz [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/andrew-marantz], staff writer at The New Yorker.   Additional Reading: * Anthropic Claims Its New A.I. Model, Mythos, Is a Cybersecurity ‘Reckoning’ [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/anthropic-claims-its-new-ai-model-mythos-is-a-cybersecurity-reckoning.html] * Why Anthropic’s New Model Has Cybersecurity Experts Rattled [https://www.platformer.news/anthropic-mythos-cybersecurity-risk-experts/] * Sam Altman May Control Our Future — Can He Be Trusted? [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted] * Artemis II Moon Launch [https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/artemis-ii] 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.

The Future of Addictive Design + Going Deep at DeepMind + HatGPT

Last week, two separate juries held social media companies liable for harming young users. We unpack what these landmark decisions mean — not only for the future of social platforms like Meta and YouTube, but also for A.I. chatbots. Then, Sebastian Mallaby, the author of “The Infinity Machine,” joins us to talk about the three years he spent with Demis Hassabis and those closest to Google DeepMind. And finally, we catch up on some of our favorite tech headlines from the week with a round of HatGPT.   Guest: * Sebastian Mallaby [https://www.cfr.org/experts/sebastian-mallaby], author of “The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence.”   Additional Reading: * Juries Take the Lead in the Push for Child Online Safety [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/technology/social-media-verdicts-child-safety.html] * An A.I. Agent Was Banned From Creating Wikipedia Articles, Then Wrote Angry Blogs About Being Banned [https://www.404media.co/an-ai-agent-was-banned-from-creating-wikipedia-articles-then-wrote-angry-blogs-about-being-banned/] * I Met Olaf — the Frozen Robot who Might be the Future of Disney Parks [https://www.theverge.com/tech/895369/olaf-disney-imagineering-frozen-robot-up-close] * Claude’s Code: Anthropic Leaks Source Code for A.I. Software Engineering Tool [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/01/anthropic-claudes-code-leaks-ai] * What’s With All the A.I. Videos of Cheating Fruit? [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/style/ai-cheating-fruit-slop-videos-tiktok.html] * This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into A.I. Podcasts [https://www.404media.co/this-company-is-secretly-turning-your-zoom-calls-into-ai-podcasts/] * North Korean Hackers Suspected in Axios Software Tool Breach [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-31/axios-software-tool-used-by-millions-compromised-in-hack]   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.

The Ezra Klein Show: How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?

The “Hard Fork” team is off this week, taking a much-needed break. While we’re away, we wanted to draw your attention to a recent episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.” In this conversation, Ezra speaks with Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic, about how he is using A.I. agents; how the technology is leading to meaningful changes in the ways we work and think; and how policy can or must change to anticipate potential job displacement on the horizon. We’ll be back with a new episode next week. Guest: * Jack Clark [https://importai.substack.com/about], a co-founder and the head of policy at Anthropic.  Additional Reading: * A full transcript and video of this episode can be found here [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jack-clark.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.-Washing’ Layoffs? + Why L.L.M.s Can’t Write Well + Tokenmaxxing

This week, we start by talking about the new wave of tech layoffs at Atlassian and Block, as well as reports that Meta plans to cut up to 20 percent of its work force. This raises the question of whether A.I. job loss has truly begun, or if there are other factors at play. Then, we’re joined by the writer Jasmine Sun to talk about why chatbots are still so bad at creative writing. And finally, it’s tokenmaxxing time! Kevin takes us behind the scenes of his latest reporting about why tech companies are building leaderboards to measure who is using the most A.I.   Guest: * Jasmine Sun, journalist and writer at jasmi.news [https://jasmi.news]   Additional Reading: * I Worked for Block. Its A.I. Job Cuts Aren’t What They Seem. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/opinion/block-jack-dorsey-layoffs-ai.html] * Meta Planning Sweeping Layoffs as A.I. Costs Mount [https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/meta-planning-sweeping-layoffs-ai-costs-mount-2026-03-14/] * Meta Delays Rollout of New A.I. Model After Performance Concerns [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/technology/meta-avocado-ai-model-delayed.html] * The A.I.-Washing of Job Cuts Is Corrosive and Confusing [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-03-13/the-ai-washing-of-job-cuts-is-corrosive-and-confusing] * The Human Skill That Eludes A.I. [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/03/ai-creative-writing/686418/]   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]. 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.