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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

This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show.

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Shell Game: Quality Assurance

The Pope called for AI to be "disarmed" — then gave Anthropic a seat on the dais. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) unpacks what the Vatican's landmark intervention means for Silicon Valley. Then, get off Nextdoor, Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker) says hyperlocal publications are in vogue and a respite from algorithmic feeds. And finally, an update on last weekend’s Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. Journalist Chris Gayomali, host of the podcast SuperHuman, persevered through the 95-degree heat and d-list Gen Z influencers to witness one world record that almost didn’t happen. 
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 Can AI be a ‘child of God’? Inside Anthropic’s meeting with Christian leaders. | The Washington Post • 
 Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical | The New York Times Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter | The New Yorker SuperHuman Podcast | Vegas • 

 
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The Pope vs. AI? It’s Complicated - Week in Tech

What happens when you let technology take over your life? Joanna Stern (Fmr. Wall Street Journal / New Things) found out. She spent all of 2025 letting the robots in: Waymos, AI therapists, robot massagers, assistant researcher agents…

During that yearlong experiment, Joanna Stern chronicled her findings in a new book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything. She speaks to Oz about letting AI diagnose her son’s praying mantis, sending Bill Gates her health log, and how she sees AI impacting the job market.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 I Am Not A Robot | Joanna Stern • 
 
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How AI Almost Led To This Tech Reporter’s Divorce - The Story

What does it mean to be at the “foothills of the singularity”? That’s how DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis ended his speech at Google I/O, prompting questions and scratched heads. Oz and Reed Albergotti (Semafor) attempt to dissect the meaning behind Hassabis’s confounding statement. They also discuss why so many commencement speakers are getting booed by college graduates after bringing up AI, and what it means for SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI to all be heading towards an IPO. 
 
Then, Oz sits down with David Webster, Head of UX at Google Labs, for a deeper look at the products Google unveiled at their annual developer conference of the year.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis on what Google AI products say about ‘singularity’ | Semafor A Guide to Commencement | Semafor SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI’s Sprint to Go Public Defines the AI Boom’s Big Day - WSJ • 
 Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed | Strait Times IG • 
 Subscriber Q&A: Live @ Google I/O - by Alex Heath - Sources • 

 
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Google's AI chief: We're Living in the “Foothills of the Singularity” - Week In Tech

What if Olympic athletes could use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, legally? They can now, at the Enhanced Games. The Enhanced Games take place on May 24th and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.

Unless you’re Chris Gayomali, host of the new podcast SuperHuman, which is an inside look at the ‘steroid Olympics.’ Chris Gayomali joins Oz to break down how aging tanks athletes' earning potential, how the Enhanced Games strives to be like Formula One, and what drew big-money backers Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. to the table.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 SuperHuman | iHeart • 
 What Would the Olympics Be Like If the Athletes Could Juice? | GQ • 
 
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The ‘Steroid Olympics’ Brought to You By Big Tech - The Story

This week has it all: geopolitical FOMO, major AI deals, more courtroom drama, and a hacker group that just won't quit. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down why AI tokens are the new oil, and why Anthropic is buying compute straight from SpaceX. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) takes us inside the Elon Musk-OpenAI trial, where Shivon Zilis, aka the “Elon Whisperer” and the mother of four of Musk's children, finally took the stand. And Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dexter Thomas gives insight into how the hacking of education tech platform Canvas could still affect college students, even after Canvas’s parent company says a deal was reached to delete the stolen data. 
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 Nvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics | Semafor • 
 Anthropic-SpaceX compute deal shows how tokens are taking over the economy | Semafor • 
 Shivon Zilis was Elon Musk’s ‘bridge’ to OpenAI. Now she’s entangled in his lawsuit. | The Washington Post • 
 Instructure Pays Ransom to Canvas Hackers | Inside Higher Education • 
 
Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuff

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Jensen Crashes Trump's China Trip, Elon's Baby Mama Takes the Stand - Week in Tech

How did nine rejection letters and “boring” data lead to “the biggest transformation in sport”? Americans might know Formula One Racing from the hit Netflix show “Drive to Survive.” But F1 has long been a fan favorite in Britain and Europe. Today’s guest, team principal James Vowles, sits down with Oz to discuss how he’s bringing his team, Atlassian Williams F1 Team, from a recent slump into the Top 5. His process involves being “data-rich”, pushing his team to the brink, and utilizing AI and technology to get that elusive tenth of a second in speed. 
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 ‘Get rid of the battery’: F1 under increasing pressure to make more changes to engine rules | Formula One 2026 | The Guardian Formula One Went Green—and It’s Driving Everyone Crazy | WSJ • 
 
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Inside Formula One’s Speed Hunt with Atlassian Williams F1 Team Principal James Vowles - The Story

This week: AI regulation, dark money and data center backlash. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) helps decipher how the Trump Administration actually feels about AI oversight and it seems like a reversal of the hands-off approach they’ve taken so far. Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) exposes a dark money influencer campaign — one she was personally recruited for — that's paying creators to push pro-American AI, anti-China messaging on behalf of a Big Tech super PAC. And Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the fast-growing, bipartisan movement fighting data center construction in communities across the country. Plus: Sam Altman's leaked texts, 120,000 tech layoffs, and the GPT-5.5 launch party.
 
Additional Reading: 
 
 So Long Jeeves and Ask.com, Relics of Yesterday’s Internet • 
 White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released | The New York Times • 
 A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat | WIRED • 
 Inside a growing movement warning AI could turn on humanity | The Washington Post • 
 ‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers | The New York Times • 
 
Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One Nation United Against Data Centers - Week in Tech

What would it mean to be a "great ancestor"? Futurist Ari Wallach believes that's the question everyone, including our tech leaders, should be asking right now. 
 
Ari joins Oz to explain why the systems we're building today are laying rails for centuries to come. And he argues that shifting culture through storytelling is the fastest way to change the systems that govern our lives. He also introduces The Protopias Collection, six graphic novels imagining worlds that are messy and human, but unmistakably better. 
 
Also on the show: Alex Thier, the CEO of Lapis, discusses Lalah, an AI-powered chatbot built to help Afghan students learn beyond the classroom, a place girls can’t access past the sixth grade. 

Additional Reading: 
 
 Ari Wallach: 3 ways to plan for the (very) long term | TED Talk • 
 The Protopias Collection: Various: 9781953165787: Amazon.com: Books • 
 

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We've Been Sold a Bad Bill of Goods About the Future

This week, some courtroom drama. It’s Elon Musk v. OpenAI the next few weeks and billionaires are taking the stand and opening their diaries — and memories of Burning Man — to scrutiny. Reed Albergotti (Semafor) breaks down the legal battle and why Elon Musk believes he’s owed billions since OpenAI went for-profit. Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post) reports on the Pentagon agreement Google was ‘proud’ to sign. But it’s déjà vu for many Google employees, who once again demanded company leadership proceed cautiously. Finally, Taylor Lorenz (User Mag) on the ‘girlboss-ification’ of AI: the coordinated push by major AI companies to win over women, from Anthropic's invite-only influencer supper clubs in New York to Reese Witherspoon's suspiciously enthusiastic (and allegedly unpaid) AI pep talk on Instagram.

Additional Reading: 
 
 Shadowboxing Emperors | Semafor Google workers petition CEO to refuse classified AI work with Pentagon | The Washington Post Google told staff it is ‘proud’ of Pentagon AI contract after internal backlash | Financial Times • 
 The Girlboss-ification of AI w/ Kat Tenbarge | User Mag • 
 

Download SAILY in your app store and use our code techstuff at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/techstuff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trial Where Two Billionaires Could Lose — And Everyone Would Cheer - Week in Tech

It's been a while since I did a tech predictions episode. What trends are going to be big in 2022? From Web3 to the Great Resignation, we look ahead at what will shape tech in the year to come.

 
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TechStuff Predicts 2022

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