Perplexity CEO on why the browser is AI's killer app
This is Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge. Nilay’s out on parental leave for the next few months, so I’ll be stepping in to host our Thursday episodes while he’s out. My guest today is Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, who is betting that the browser is where more useful AI will get built.
Perplexity just released Comet, an AI web browser for the Mac and Windows that’s still in an invite-only beta. I’ve been using it, and it’s very interesting. In this conversation, Aravind and I also discussed the future of Perplexity, the AI talent wars, and why he thinks people will eventually pay thousands of dollars for a single AI prompt.
Read the full transcript here on The Verge.
Links:
Perplexity just launched an AI web browser | Verge
Perplexity wants to buy Chrome if Google has to sell it | Verge
The Dia browser is a big bet on the. web and AI | Verge
Perplexity’s CEO on fighting Google & the AI browser war | Command Line
Perplexity launches a $200 monthly subscription plan | Verge
Meta says it’s winning the talent war with OpenAI | Verge
Meta is trying to win the AI race with money | Verge
Meta held talks to buy Perplexity and others | Command Line
Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s AI hiring spree | Command Line
Perplexity is ready to take on Google | Command Line
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How decision making will change when AI answers are cheap and (too) easy
This is Jon Fortt, CNBC journalist, co-host of Closing Bell Overtime, and creator and host of the Fortt Knox podcast. I’m stepping in to guest host a few episodes of Decoder this summer while he’s out on parental leave, and I’m very excited for what we’ve been working on.
For my first episode of Decoder, a show about how people make decisions, I wanted to talk to an expert. So I sat down with Cassie Kozyrkov, the CEO and founder of AI consultancy Kozyr and the former chief decision scientist at Google. Read the full transcript over on The Verge.
Links:
Google’s ‘chief decision scientist’ explains why she left the company | Fortune
What is Decision Science? | DataCamp (YouTube)
Is It All About the Data? | DLD24 (YouTube)
Cassie Kozyrkov on how AI can be a leadership partner | WorkLab
Decision Intelligence with Cassie Kozyrkov | Google Cloud Platform Podcast
Why AI and decision-making are two sides of the same coin | Cassie Kozyrkov
Google's got a chief decision scientist. Here's what she does | Wired
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Inside the AI startup frenzy: ‘Everyone’s pivoting, then pivoting again’
On this episode of Decoder, Ellis Hamburger — former journalist at The Verge, early Snap employee, and founder of the brand strategy studio Meaning — joins guest host Alex Heath to share why many AI founders are missing the bigger picture.
Links:
Meaning | Ellis Hamburger
Social media is doomed to die | Verge
I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything | Verge
Hideo Kojima sees Death Stranding 2 as a cautionary tale | Verge
Apple heard your complaints about the Liquid Glass | Verge
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How SharkNinja took over the home
It’s summertime, which means it’s time for our annual grilling episode. In years past we’ve talked to the leaders of Big Green Egg, Traeger, and Blackstone, and it’s always fascinating how those companies have all the same kinds of problems and ideas as any of the tech companies we have on the show.
This time, I finally had the opportunity to sit down with SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas. We’ve wanted to have SharkNinja on the show for years now, mostly because it has the best name of any company I think we’ve ever had on Decoder — it perfectly describes the structure of the company. And just in time for our grilling episode, the Ninja division of Mark’s business just launched its first ever grill.
Check out the full transcript here on The Verge.
Links:
Ninja announces its first ever propane grill with the FlexFlame | Tom’s Guide
How SharkNinja became a viral marketing machine | Ad Age
How airfryer brand SharkNinja became a $1bn UK household name | The Sunday Times
Mark Zuckerberg just declared war on the entire advertising industry | Verge
Dyson, SharkNinja settle patent lawsuits over bagless vacuums | Bloomberg
How arson led to a culture reboot at Traeger | Decoder
Big Green Egg is inviting zoomers to the cult of kamado cooking | Decoder
How Blackstone became the darling of grill TikTok | Decoder
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Why Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg went to war over WordPress
Today, I’m talking with Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic and the public face of WordPress. Last year, Matt essentially went to war, publicly and in the courts, against a hosting company called WP Engine, and there’s been significant fallout at Automattic and the broader WordPress community.
It’s been a long, drawn-out saga. That said, Matt was willing to come on the show and talk through some of this thinking here, why he made some of the decisions he did, and also what he regrets about how some of this went down.
Links:
The messy WordPress drama, explained | Verge
Celebrating 20 Years of Automattic | Automattic
Matt Mullenweg: ‘WordPress.org just belongs to me’ | Verge
Automattic offered employees another chance to quit over | Verge
WordPress owner Automattic is laying off 16 percent of workers | Verge
Tumblr will move all of its blogs to WordPress | Verge
Beeper was just acquired by Automattic | Verge
Automattic acquires relationship manager Clay | TechCrunch
How WordPress and Tumblr are keeping the internet weird | Decoder
How to buy a social network, with Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg | Decoder
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.
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