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Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley’s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once.

Each week, Oz Woloshyn and the brightest minds covering tech dig into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways technology, AI, and the internet shape our daily lives. From AI and social media to privacy, digital burnout, and the creator economy, they ask how all this innovation is changing who we are, how we work, love, and make meaning.

Smart talk, strange stories, and the questions everyone’s Googling: whether AI will replace us, how social media is affecting our kids, and what it all says about us.

Get in touch here: techstuffpodcast@gmail.com

TechStuff

Kyle Law was quite the success on LinkedIn. His posts were getting regular engagement and he was invited to speak to LinkedIn’s marketing team. Then, he was banned from the site. Why? Because Kyle isn’t a person; Kyle is an AI agent. In Season 2 of the hit podcast, Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff had AI agents create and run a company and Kyle, the AI co-founder, spent a lot of time promoting that work on LinkedIn. Evan joins Oz Woloshyn to discuss Kyle’s posts, LinkedIn’s decision to kick him off the site and the future of AI-run companies. 
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned | WIRED • 
 The Story: Will AI Agents Build a Unicorn? • 
 
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LinkedIn Loved This AI Agent. And Then They Banned It.

The HEINEKEN Company is one of the world’s pioneering global brewers. Founded in 1864, it continues to innovate as it pursues its ambition to become the world’s best‑connected brewer. For the Season 7 premiere of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell sits down with Surajeet Ghosh, HEINEKEN’s Chief AI Officer, in front of a live audience at SXSW to explore how the company is using data and AI to transform its operations.
 
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

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Brewing Smarter: How HEINEKEN Is Using AI To Revolutionize Its Global Operations

Why would Anthropic let select companies use a product deemed too dangerous for the public? Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) helps us peek behind the curtain of Claude Mythos Preview and explores the scare tactics of AI CEOs. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) breaks down the world of AI twins — how influencers, agencies, and tech moguls are creating their own digital avatars. And Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) covers the FAA's latest hiring campaign for air traffic controllers: target gamers.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 US Urges Wall Street Banks to Test Anthropic’s Mythos AI Model | Bloomberg • 
 Mega Influencers Are Replacing Themselves With AI Clones | Vanity Fair • 
 Meta builds AI version of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with staff | Financial Times • 
 To Fill Air Traffic Controller Shortage, F.A.A. Turns to Gamers | The New York Times • 
 Air Traffic Control Hiring: It's Not a Game. It's a Career. • 
 
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Is Anthropic's Mythos Model Too Dangerous? - Week in Tech

What do frat boys, nepo babies and the Super Bowl have in common? Prediction markets. Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Katherine Long tells us how information from Jeff Bezos's stepson sparked a bet worth nearly a million dollars, and how a rumor loosely tied to Mark Wahlberg's daughter sent $24 million into a single market. And why college kids are betting in the first place.
 
Kalshi and Polymarket have been quietly making themselves at home on college campuses, paying fraternities for new sign-ups, handing out branded beer pong sets, and recruiting influencers to spread the word. The pitch to students: this is just a fun way to make money off what you already know. With over $10 billion in monthly trading volume and almost no regulatory oversight, Polymarket and Kalshi are no longer a niche corner of the internet.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 ‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy - WSJ • 
 
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Polymarket and Kalshi Have a Problem with Nepo Baby Insider Trading - The Story

In Smart Talks with IBM Season 7, Malcolm Gladwell reveals how global brands are applying AI and technology to reshape experiences and help solve complex challenges. Go behind the scenes with HEINEKEN, UFC, and Cleveland Clinic. New episodes drop April 21.
 
This is a paid advertisement from IBM.

Visit us at ibm.com/smarttalks

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Smart Talks with IBM Returns April 21

OpenAI dominated this week's headlines — and it wasn’t all flattering. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the chaos: IPO drama and Ronan Farrow's probing New Yorker profile of Sam Altman paint a picture of a company under pressure, even as it remains the most talked-about name in AI. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) tells us about the AI tools marketed to schools as safety solutions that end up tracking students in ways with real consequences for kids and adults alike. And Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) reviews the new book, Techno-Negative, tracing the long, often misunderstood history of anti-technology movements. Spoiler: it goes way deeper than the Luddites.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 Leap of Faith | Semafor Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? | The New Yorker OpenAI CEO and CFO Diverge on IPO Timing | The Information They're Putting AI on School Buses | User Mag The Age-Old Urge to Destroy Technology | The New Yorker • 
 
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OpenAI's Sam Altman: Philosopher King Or Sociopath? - Week in Tech

TBPN started with a simple premise: what if the tech world got the ESPN treatment? Eighteen months later, it is a profitable independent media company — until last week, when OpenAI acquired it for hundreds of millions of dollars. 
 
Oz sits down with Emily Sundberg, author of the daily business newsletter Feed Me and frequent TBPN guest, to unpack what the deal actually means. They get into why OpenAI went shopping for a media company in the first place, what independence is really worth when a nine-figure offer lands in your inbox, and what this deal reveals about the strange new economy of attention. They also get into how Emily Sundberg built Feed Me into a thriving independent business — and why she's in no rush to follow TBPN out the door.

Additional Reading: 
 
 You cannot compete with people who are having more fun than you. • 
 Processing my San Francisco trip. - by Emily Sundberg • 
 
 
 
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Sam Altman Bought A Media Company. Now What? w/ Emily Sundberg - The Story

This week: Iranian propaganda gets a Lego makeover — and it's going viral. Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) tracked down the collective behind the AI-animated videos flooding your feed. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) was in a documentary, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, and the press tour feels like ChatGPT doomsday déjà vu. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) celebrates Apple’s 50th birthday, but wonders if the company is entering its Microsoft era. Plus: SpaceX files for IPO — it could be the largest in history. 
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 The Team Behind a Pro-Iran, Lego-Themed Viral-Video Campaign | The New Yorker 
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AI Propaganda Goes Viral - Week in Tech

What drives a man to turn down half a million pounds at 18, test Mark Zuckerberg's sincerity over dinner, and wonder aloud if he can win a second Nobel Prize? For Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, the answer is a lifelong pursuit of artificial general intelligence — and an unshakeable belief that the technology he's creating will change everything about what it means to be human. Oz speaks with journalist and author Sebastian Mallaby about his new book, The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence, tracing Demis's extraordinary journey from chess prodigy to the man at the center of the most consequential technological race of our time.

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How Google DeepMind Accidentally Started the AI Race - The Story

The Week in Tech is back with a new roundtable! Every Friday, Oz and three of the best writers covering tech will discuss the latest news, decode emerging trends and debate what actually matters for the future of technology and for us.
 
This week: Big Tech loses in court. Twice. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) breaks down what the verdicts mean for Meta and YouTube and why it seems like we’re living in the past. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) explains why OpenAI killed Sora, its video-generation tool, and what it reveals about the resource war quietly reshaping the entire global economy. Plus, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) found a weather app worth caring about. We're as surprised as you are.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 Verdicts against Meta, YouTube reshape legal protections for Big Tech • 
 A New Cost Crunch | Semafor • 
 Why You Hate Your Weather App | The New Yorker 
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Jury Blames Meta and YouTube, Goodbye Sora Videos, Weather Apps That Don't Suck - Week in Tech

How are people using bicycles to create new machines for developing countries? What are MediKits? Why is e-waste recycling such a dangerous job? Join Jonathan and Chris as they look at the ways in which innovators across the world repurpose old tech.

 
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TechStuff Classic: Repurposing Tech for Developing Countries

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