OpenAI's Reasoning Machine + Instagram Teen Changes + Amazon RTO Drama

Last week, OpenAI released a preview of its hotly anticipated new model, o1. We discuss what it has excelled at and how it could accelerate the timeline for building superintelligence. Then, we explain why Meta is making teenagers’ Instagram accounts private by default. And, finally, we chat with the New York Times reporter Karen Weise about why Amazon is forcing its corporate employees to go back to working in the office five days a week and whether other companies will follow suit.

Guests:

• Karen Weise, a technology correspondent for The Times.

Additional Reading:

• OpenAI Unveils New ChatGPT That Can Reason Through Math and Science
• Instagram, Facing Pressure Over Child Safety Online, Unveils Sweeping Changes
• Amazon Tells Corporate Workers to Be Back in the Office 5 Days a Week

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Apple unveiled its latest gadgets at its big September event on Monday. We discuss the most interesting new features — including AirPods that can function as hearing aids and Apple Watch software that can help detect sleep apnea — and offer our advice on when to buy a new iPhone. Then, the best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari joins us to discuss his new book and his biggest fears about A.I. And finally, we crack open some criminal cases in a new segment we’re calling the Hard Fork Crimes Division. We’ll explain how one man made $10 million by manipulating music streaming services and how online instructions for building a 3D-printed gun have ended up in the hands of criminals around the world.

Guest:

• Yuval Noah Harari, author of “Sapiens,” “Homo Deus” and “Nexus.”

Additional Reading:

• Apple Unveils New iPhones With Built-In Artificial Intelligence
• Russia Secretly Worms Its Way Into America’s Conservative Media
• He’s Known as ‘Ivan the Troll.’ His 3D-Printed Guns Have Gone Viral.
• The Bands and the Fans Were Fake. The $10 Million Was Real.

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Over the weekend, X was banned in Brazil. We talk with The New York Times’s Brazil bureau chief, Jack Nicas, about how Brazilians are reacting, whether its owner, Elon Musk, has made a business miscalculation and what this means for free speech around the world. Then, we’re going “founder mode.” We explore why an essay about start-up founders reclaiming their authority went viral and what that tells us about how Silicon Valley thinks about power. And finally, we hear from listeners. Teachers and students left us voice messages describing how phone bans in schools are transforming their lives.

Guest:

• Jack Nicas, Brazil bureau chief for The Times

Additional Reading: 

• Brazil Blocks X After Musk Ignores Court Orders 
• Paul Graham’s Founder Mode

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France and charged with several crimes connected to his operation of the platform. We’ll tell you what the charges against him mean for the internet. Then Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, joins us to discuss why she wants to ban phones statewide in public schools. And finally, Kevin has been using secret codes to try to change what A.I. chatbots think of him. We get to the bottom of whether it is possible to manipulate A.I. outputs.

This episode contains discussion of suicide connected to youth mental health. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Guest:

• Kathy Hochul, governor of New York

Additional Reading:

• How Pavel Durov, Telegram’s Founder, Went From Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg to Wanted Man
• Kathy Hochul’s ‘Big’ Plan to Ban Phones in Schools

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, we discuss why so few campaigns seem to be experimenting with A.I. The Times’s Sheera Frenkel joins us with examples of the many different artificial intelligence products that have been turned down by campaigns in this election cycle, from A.I.-generated endorsements from long-dead historical figures to a synthetic version of Donald Trump. Then, we interview the Wyoming man who ran for mayor on the promise that he would exclusively use a customized ChatGPT bot to run the city. And finally, it’s time for a tech check. We run down the apps we’re using to become more productive.

Guest:

• Sheera Frenkel, a Times reporter covering technology
• Victor Miller, former candidate for mayor in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Additional Reading: 

• The Year of the A.I. Election That Wasn’t
• Mayoral Candidate Vows to Let VIC, an AI Bot, Run Wyoming’s Capital City
• Three Apps That Made Me More Productive This Year

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, we debate whether Elon Musk’s recent stumping and fund-raising for former President Trump could help him get re-elected. Then, former Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, stops by to discuss his effort to depolarize our politics using government data. And finally, This Week in A.I. returns: We run down some of the biggest recent stories that caught our attention.

Guest:

• Steve Ballmer, former chief executive of Microsoft, founder of USAFacts

Additional Reading:

• Inside Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Growing Alliance
• The American Right Is Terminally Online
• The New Home of the L.A. Clippers Is a Hot Ticket for Art
• A California Bill to Regulate A.I. Causes Alarm in Silicon Valley

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, a federal judge ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. David McCabe, a New York Times reporter, joins to discuss what happens next. Then, are we in an A.I. bubble? We weigh in on the wild market swings that started the week and consider the argument that A.I. is overhyped. And finally, it’s time for our new segment: We bat around some of the weirdest recent tech drama — including a MrBeast competition that went awry and a founder who dropped a diss track aimed at a rival. All aboard the Hot-Mess Express.

Guest:

• David McCabe, a Times reporter covering technology policy.

Additional Reading:

• ‘Google Is a Monopolist,’ Judge Rules in Landmark Antitrust Case
• Tech Bosses Preach Patience as They Spend and Spend on A.I.
• What’s Behind All the Stock Market Drama?
• Willing to Die for MrBeast (and $5 Million)

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, with hundreds of thousands of people joining online political rallies for Kamala Harris, we discuss whether 2024 is suddenly becoming the Zoom election, and what that means for both parties’ political organizing. Then, Pushmeet Kohli, a computer scientist at Google DeepMind, joins us for a conversation about how his team’s new A.I. models just hit a silver medal score on the International Mathematical Olympiad exam. And finally, it’s time for a new round of HatGPT! This time, it’s a special Olympics tech edition.
 

Guest:

• Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at Google DeepMind
   

Additional Reading:

• Liberal “White Dudes” Rally for Harris: “It’s Like a Rainbow of Beige”
• Move Over, Mathematicians, Here Comes AlphaProof
• Now Narrating the Olympics: A.I.-Al Michaels

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTubeand TikTok.

This week, the memes didn’t just fall out of coconut trees — a rundown of the social media reaction to Kamala Harris’s election campaign, and an exploration of what her tech platform might look like. Then we discuss a major new study on universal basic income with Elizabeth Rhodes, research director at OpenResearch, and ask whether it could be a solution to job losses to A.I. And finally, Kate Conger, a New York Times reporter, joins us to break down how the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crashed the global IT infrastructure.
 

Guests:

• Elizabeth Rhodes, Research Director at OpenResearch
• Kate Conger, New York Times reporter
   

Additional Reading: 

• What is the KHive?
• Is It Silicon Valley’s Job to Make Guaranteed Income a Reality?
• OpenResearch Unconditional Cash Study
• When Tech Fails, It Is Usually With a Whimper Instead of a Bang 
   

We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

This week, an assassination attempt for the social media age: what the platforms got right and wrong in the chaotic aftermath. Then we talk with the Times reporter Teddy Schleifer from this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee about the wave of Silicon Valley billionaires stepping up to back Trump. And finally, we talk to The Times’s Styles reporter Callie Holtermann about facial fitness gum, a “jawmaxxing” product targeted at teen boys online.

Guests:

• Theodore Schleifer, New York Times reporter
• Callie Holtermann, New York Times reporter

Additional Reading:

• An Assassination Attempt for the Social Media Age
• How a Network of Tech Billionaires Helped J.D. Vance Leap Into Power
• Why Are Gen Z Boys Chewing on Rock-Hard Gum?

  We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.