Decoder with Nilay Patel

Acquiring Warner Bros. never goes well for anyone. AOL failed, AT&T failed, and Discovery failed — although it did succeed in flipping the assets to David Ellison’s Skydance.

So I’m talking to Peter Kafka, Business Insider chief correspondent and host of Channels, to see if Skydance has a chance at succeeding where nobody else has yet. Spoiler alert: Peter doesn’t think Skydance has a clear business plan, either. But he’s got some really good guesses about what might come next.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

CNN boss remains as Paramount, WBD merge into Skydance | The Verge

Skydance CEOs: Layoffs will be coming | Variety

Ynon Kriez, the new Skydance co-CEO | Business Insider

Skydance sets leadership across games, experiences | Variety

Paramount settles lawsuit blocking $110B WBD merger | The Verge

Larry Ellison’s big dumb gift to his large adult son | The Verge

Weiss’ ratings wipeout | Status

Decoder is a Signal Awards finalist in the Business category! You can vote to help us win her.

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today is Hayden Field, The Verge’s senior AI reporter, and we're discussing the new wave of consumer friendly AI agents. AI enthusiasts have been using agents for a minute now, but the launch of Meta’s Muse, OpenAI’s Dots, and XAI’s Grok Bot has brought easy to use agents to millions.

Muse, notably, is free, while Dots is not, and you’ll hear Hayden and me get into why Meta, which still doesn't have a frontier model of its own, might have a meaningful edge here because it's much better at making and distributing consumer products. And wrapped up in this heated agent race are a lot of really big ideas — about AI capability, privacy, and trust.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

OpenAI’s new agent is a shot at Meta — but can it compete with free? | The Verge

The AI Tamagotchis are coming | The Verge

Muse escapes containment | 404 Media

Meta’s Muse AI sent a YouTuber’s address to a stranger | The Verge

It’s sinister that Meta’s Muse AI mascot is so cute | The Verge

Muse sure looks a lot like OpenClaw | The Verge

Decoder is a Signal Awards finalist in the Business category! You can vote to help us win here.

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

California Sen. Adam Schiff sits on a bunch of the committees that do tech and AI oversight, so I really wanted to ask him about how we might regulate anything related to the tech industry at this moment in time.

He started our conversation by talking about the self-dealing and corruption present all through our politics now — right against the backdrop of President Trump gathering AI CEOs to the White House to pinky-swear they'll try to keep AI safe.

Read the ⁠full interview transcript on The Verge.⁠

Links:

How tech will self-police AI safety under Trump deal | The Verge

Supreme Court ruling kneecaps federal regulators | The Verge

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone? | Decoder

Flock, Axon dodge Senate hearing | CNBC

Trump admin illegally blacklisted Anthropic, court rules | The Verge

Decoder is a Signal Awards finalist in the Business category! You can vote to help us win here.

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Eileen Felix. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, it’s Nilay. We’ve got a little bonus drop for you today — I was recently interviewed about AI safety by Shumita Basu for Apple News In Conversation, and I enjoyed the conversation so much I asked if we could share it with you all.

We’ve actually got a few bonus drops coming up this month; we’ve been having a lot of great conversations lately, and we want to get them out to you on the news cycle. And of course, nothing is moving as fast as the AI safety news cycle. So enjoy this one, and we’ll see you next time.

Links:

Apple News In Conversation | Apple Podcasts

Inside the suddenly explosive world of AI safety | The Verge

Here’s what AI leaders are saying about Trump’s new safety plan | The Verge

One company is at the center of a wave of rogue AI attacks | The Verge

Microsoft AI CEO says AI threats are real, and Anthropic is making it worse | Decoder

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone? | Decoder

Subscribe to The Verge⁠ to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder is produced by Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. The show is edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today I’m talking with Josh Dzieza, a longtime features writer here at The Verge, about a massive data center in Utah that does not exist, might never exist, and yet has already completely reshaped the politics of the entire state.

Josh just published a major feature this week on the struggling Stratos data center project in Utah backed by Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary. So I invited Josh on the show to discuss what’s happening inside the AI industry’s infrastructure boom, inside the bipartisan backlash to data centers, and how the tech industry is running into the one obstacle it can’t seem to spend its way out of: local democracy.

Read the ⁠full interview transcript on The Verge⁠.

Links:

The People of Utah vs. Kevin O'Leary | The Verge

Adams — burdened by data center fallout — ousted by voters | Salt Lake Tribune

‘Shark Tank’ star sued by opponents he claimed were foreign agents| NYT

Fox News apologizes for airing O’Leary claims about data centers | The Hill

Kevin O’Leary agrees to downsize massive Utah data center | The Verge

The biggest data center ever is becoming a huge problem in Utah | The Verge

America's data center future is Loudoun County's past | The Verge

The left and right agree on one thing: no data centers | Decoder

Decoder is a Signal Awards finalist in the Business category! You can vote to help us win ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices