“Hard Fork” chronicles the future that Silicon Valley is building for the rest of us. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton dive into the most consequential and sometimes absurd corners of the tech industry to make sense of the moment and explore living in an increasingly tech-dominated world. Kevin and Casey break down the week’s news into three segments, incorporating newsmaker interviews and listener voices. Thus, the show provides a distinct mix of original reporting, newsmaking interviews and brisk analysis on this pivotal moment in tech. In the series of three Open AI segments we’re putting forward, Roose and Newton chronicle the company’s unprecedented upheaval at the world’s most influential AI company. These episodes feature reporting from the inside of Open AI during a frenetic week and the only exclusive interview with Sam Altman, Open AI’s CEO, recorded only two days before he was ousted by his own board.
Up until that point, the rise of Open AI had been almost universally celebrated as Sam Altman’s latest and most illustrious success in Silicon Valley, unscathed by the types of scandals that were often associated with Elon Musk’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s companies. But in late November, the week before Thanksgiving, the world witnessed the stunning ouster of Altman, in real time. “Hard Fork” had just recorded Altman proclaiming that ‘the future is gonna be great.” The team incorporated the interview into a series of “emergency podcasts” on tech’s wildest weekend, explaining the origins and implications of the upheaval. This interview, which we published days after his ouster, alongside new analysis from our hosts, gave our audience special insight into the extent to which Sam Altman was caught off guard. We provided reporting and analysis over these three episodes, offering regular updates and analysis over a five day period, a cadence and depth of coverage that set us apart from other technology and business shows.
That kind of insight and urgency is what sets “Hard Fork” apart in an increasingly crowded podcast universe.
