Hard Fork

This week, Max Read talks to the Times religion correspondent Elizabeth Dias, the tech reporter Erin Griffith and the opinion writer David Wallace-Wells about Anthropic’s private meetings with religious scholars on A.I. consciousness and how to make Claude “good,” its differences with the Vatican and the new belief systems taking shape in Silicon Valley.
Panelists:
Elizabeth Dias, national religion correspondent for The New York Times.
Erin Griffith, a tech reporter for The New York Times.
David Wallace-Wells, an opinion writer for The New York Times.
Additional Reading:
Religious Scholars Met With Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them.
What Would You Do If Your Employer Could Destroy the World? Exit interviews with defectors from OpenAI, Anthropic and DeepMind.
I Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken

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This week, after months in which rogue agents have caused havoc across the internet, tech’s most powerful leaders joined President Trump at the White House to rebrand A.I. At the same time, two of the biggest companies in the field — OpenAI and Meta — released what they say are their most useful (and cutest) A.I. tools to date: personal assistants. To discuss it all, we’re joined by the Times tech reporters Mike Isaac, Erin Griffith and Eli Tan. We’ll discuss how things can be more dangerous and potentially more transformative than ever, and what it’s like to hand your life over to Meta’s Muse.
Panelists:
Erin Griffith, a reporter for The New York Times who covers start-ups and venture capital.
Mike Isaac, a reporter for The New York Times who covers Silicon Valley and artificial intelligence companies.
Eli Tan, a reporter for The New York Times who covers Meta and the tech industry.
Additional Reading:
​​OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely Testing A.I. Models
Who Attended Trump’s A.I. Luncheon, and Who Sat Where
F.T.C. Investigates OpenAI and Anthropic Over Potential Consumer Harms
I Gave My Life Over to Meta’s A.I. Agent and Was Blown Away
OpenAI Unveils Dots, New A.I. Agents to Rival Meta’s Muse
Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costs
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes

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



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For the next few months on “Hard Fork,” join the guest host Max Read and an array of Times reporters and experts as we zoom out, catch up and try to understand both what’s happening inside the tech industry and what tech is doing to all of us.
Meet the Host
Max Read has been writing about technology and the internet for more than a decade, most recently in his weekly newsletter, Read Max. His writing has appeared over the years in various publications with the words “New York” in the title, including New York magazine, The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine. He has also recently been dispensing workplace advice as everyone’s “Work Friend.”
We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.



Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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In this episode, Ezra travels to Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., for a wide-ranging conversation with the chief executive Jensen Huang about the future of A.I. and why he thinks predictions of imminent doom are overblown.

Guests:
Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia

Additional Reading:
A transcript and video of this episode can be found here.
America’s A.I. Leaders Warn U.N. of Possible Peril Absent a Global Response
Anthropic Releases a New A.I. Model, Opus 5.5, Amid Safety Debate
What to Know About Recent A.I. Hacks at Google, Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta
The A.I. Party House Where Networking Has a Dark Side

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


Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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This week, we break down why everyone is suddenly talking about A.I. safety, why frontier A.I. companies are asking for regulation and why the Trump administration is rejecting them. And then, to close out this chapter of “Hard Fork,” we answer all your questions about the show, tech and what’s happening next.

Additional Reading:
The A.I. Researcher Whose Rebellion Is Changing Everything
Top A.I. Leaders Call for Slowing Down A.I. Development
President Trump Is on the Line About an A.I. Slowdown
Mark Zuckerberg Takes Aim at Anthropic in Debate Over A.I. Slowdown
The ‘But China!’ Dilemma Driving the A.I. Race

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



Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here 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.

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