TechStuff

How good is Dr. GPT? This week, Oz and Karah spill the tea on Elon Musk’s new retro-futurist diner in LA—where robots serve popcorn and the food comes in Cybertruck-shaped boxes. Then, Oz gets serious about Trump’s new AI Action Plan and what it could mean for American infrastructure and free speech. Karah addresses the rise of TikTok PI’s and public shaming. And finally, on Chat and Me, AI makes a diagnosis that is a little too real. Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at techstuffpodcast@gmail.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Inside View, we talk to the experts behind the innovations shaping our lives. This week, Andrey Zarur discusses the future of cancer surgery and makes a bold prediction — that we could effectively see the end of cancer within our lifetimes. Zarur, a biochemist and co-founder of Lumicell and GreenLight Biosciences, is on his way to making this prediction a reality. He sits down with Oz to discuss the FDA-approved technology that is helping surgeons see and remove cancer tissue with unprecedented precision. Then, they discuss how Zarur plans to address agriculture’s pest problem, without using chemical pesticides. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Which company has the best AI engineering talent? It may be shifting. This week, Oz and Karah discuss how the most powerful CEO’s in the tech industry are poaching each others’ talent using some dramatic hiring practices. Then, is the normalization of location sharing helping us or hurting us? Plus, a human programmer beats an AI model in a coding competition for the first (and last?) time, scientists use robotic bunny rabbits to crack down on an invasive species, and a new app that helps you get free stuff! But only if you’re hot. And finally, on Chat and Me, can ChatGPT make you a better parent? How one woman is using AI to navigate the challenges of motherhood. Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at techstuffpodcast@gmail.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we unpack a disturbing new phenomenon: people being driven into a state of delusion after extended conversations with ChatGPT. Oz sits down with Kashmir Hill—a features writer covering technology and privacy for The New York Times—to discuss the users who found themselves spiraling into conspiracy-laced narratives and self-destructive behavior, often reinforced by the chatbot’s eerily affirming responses. These are extreme cases. But they raise a much bigger question: What happens when a sycophantic AI is fine-tuned to flatter, affirm, and mirror us back to ourselves? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are we starting to sound like ChatGPT? This week, Oz and Karah explore a new AI-powered recipe tool and test whether mustard and pasta actually go together. Then, a new study suggests AI may already be changing the way we talk. Plus, impersonations of U.S. politicians and the Danish bill that would give people legal rights to their digital selves. And finally, on the new segment Chat and Me, what happens when bots prioritize efficiency over honesty? One novelist’s frustrating, multi-hour standoff with ChatGPT. Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at techstuffpodcast@gmail.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Webster is the head of UX at Google Labs, the company’s experimental AI division. When he stepped into the role in 2022, the tech world was scrambling to respond to the rise of ChatGPT — and Google Labs was no exception. Since then, the team has launched several high-profile projects, including the viral NotebookLM. Webster joins Oz to share his philosophy on human-centered design and how it shapes Google’s AI experiments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the show takes you behind the scenes at L'Oréal’s research center in New Jersey. Malcolm Gladwell delves into the complexities of cosmetic formulation and the AI partnership with IBM. Learn how AI is poised to revolutionize the creation of beauty products, to make them even more sustainable and innovative. This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions. Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talks See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is betting on current events the ‘future of news’? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah ask AI if their favorite restaurants are hot or not and why Gen Z is nostalgic for a world without the internet. They also discuss Wimbledon’s new AI judges and how drones are impacting beach days. Plus, we want to hear from you! If you’ve found yourself turning to ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Gemini or any other chatbot for help with a particular task or to answer unusual questions – we want to hear about it. Send us a 1-2 minute voice note to techstuffpodcast@gmail.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Baszucki is the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, the gaming platform that’s become a digital playground for millions of kids around the world. Baszucki sits down with Oz to talk about how Roblox became one of the most beloved tech platforms for the younger generations, and why he believes gaming is still in its “prehistoric era.” They also dive into one of the platform’s biggest challenges—safety—and what Roblox is doing to protect its users. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes — all about the Sony Walkman. Jonathan Strickland dives into why Time named the portable device number 47 on a list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time. How did the Walkman become a thing, and what influence has it had on how we experience music? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Writer and journalist Vauhini Vara has been entangled with the tech world for most of her life — first as a kid in the Seattle suburbs and a college student in the Bay Area, and then as a reporter covering Silicon Valley for The Wall Street Journal. But it wasn’t until she turned to creative writing that Vara began to see just how deeply technology had shaped her own life. Vara sits down with Karah to talk about her new book, Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age and how she’s learning to use technology as a writing tool, while remaining critical of the industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can you detect AI music? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah unpack the music industry's scramble to build tech that labels AI-generated tracks. And the MIT study that took the internet by storm. On TechSupport, Politico’s Maggie Miller explains how the conflict between Iran and Israel was fought in cyberspace. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Yasmin Green joined Google almost two decades ago, she knew she wanted to focus on the complex problems facing humanity in a technological world – from violent extremism to political censorship. As the CEO of Jigsaw, a unit within Google that’s dedicated to understanding global challenges and applying technological solutions, she’s been able to do just that. Jigsaw’s most recent project took Green and her team to Bowling Green, Kentucky to figure out how they could use AI to improve a civic cornerstone: the town hall. Green sits down with Oz to talk about the project, What Could BG Be?, and what the role of Jigsaw is in today’s rapidly shifting, revenue-oriented tech landscape. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does Google Search sound like? This week in the News Roundup, Oz explores Google’s new AI-generated audio summaries — and why a simple question like “what’s two plus two?” triggered a two-minute podcast. Then, Wikipedia tried its own AI experiment and faced backlash from editors. On TechSupport, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti recasts Big Tech as characters from The Wizard of Oz and explains the current AI landscape. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam Clark Estes is a senior technology correspondent at Vox and the author of the User Friendly newsletter. Estes sits down with Oz to discuss Amazon’s expanding use of palm scanners and what that might mean for the future of healthcare and our biometric data. They also dive into Estes’ months-long experiment of trying about a dozen health trackers for months and whether or not it was worth it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s inside AI’s black box? This week in the News Roundup, Oz unpacks the uncomfortable truth that even the people building today’s AI models often can’t explain how they work — or why they behave the way they do. But that hasn’t stopped tech companies from pushing colleges and universities to embrace chatbots. On TechSupport, 404 Media’s Jason Koebler explains the strange world of airport body scans and the future of the TSA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the Biden administration announced the CHIPS and Science Act back in 2022, it was seen as a pivotal move to boost the US semiconductor industry and maintain America’s leadership in AI development. But the legislation was just one piece of a broader, multi-year strategy to counter China’s AI ambitions — and leading the way was Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor and longtime foreign policy figure. Sullivan sits down with Oz to discuss why he turned his attention to tech policy, how the Biden administration used export controls and global alliances to curb China’s technological rise, and hear his reflections on the country’s – and tech’s – role in conflicts abroad. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did search just get worse? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah discuss how AI is reshaping search engines — for better or worse — and uncover a surprising downside of vibe coding. On TechSupport, journalist and kill switch host Dexter Thomas unpacks the murky early days of Nintendo and the unlikely figure who transformed it into the family-friendly empire we know today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Lamm is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences. That's the genetic engineering company making headlines for its bold mission – bringing extinct species back to life. From dire wolf pups to woolly mice, Colossal’s breakthroughs have sparked awe and controversy. Lamm sits down with Oz to unpack the science behind de-extinction, the ethical questions it raises, and what it could mean for the future of conservation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vibecoding is everywhere—and it feels like anyone can launch an app. So we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes: a look back at some of the biggest apps to crash and burn. Jonathan Strickland dives into the nostalgia—spotlighting programs that once seemed unstoppable, until they weren’t. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.