The hidden supply chain costs of the AI boom

I’ve always enjoyed talking to security expert Alex Stamos because he’s so direct — and he doesn't mince words about how the multibillion dollar cybersecurity industry as we’ve known it is all but doomed thanks to the unrelenting, AI-boosted waves of hacks, breaches, and attacks. That much disruption means a lot of places where bad guys can get in while everyone else is left scrambling. Alex isn’t a doomer in the long run, but he does think we've got a dark age to get through before things get better.  Links:  Attack of the killer script kiddies | The Verge Alex Stamos on AI's coming cybersecurity dark age | Ground Level AI Palo Alto’s CEO Said ‘AI Must Fight AI’ | Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity vets protest ‘dangerous’ ban on Anthropic’s Mythos | TechCrunch Binance: $6.3B heist used fake job interviews, internal AI tool | The Verge A thousand fewer paths to root | OpenAI 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. Our editors are Xander Adams and 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

There’s been a whole lot of organizational and structural change at NBCUniversal since the last time Matt Strauss joined Decoder. First, Comcast spun most of the cable channels off into something called Versant, and Matt became the chairman of the entire NBCU Media Group. Next year, Comcast is splitting off NBCU into an entirely separate company. That's a lot to have going on all at once — and Matt's the guy who has to make sure broadcast, Peacock, and every other platform keeps making you watch.  Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links:  Comcast plans major layoffs as it preps for NBCU spinoff | Variety YouTube Premium will include Peacock starting next year  | The Verge Pipes dream: Why Comcast gave up on NBCU | Decoder Langley, Strauss unveil new executive structures at NBCU | Variety NBCU’s streaming chief isn’t worried about you cancelling cable | 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 editors by Ursa Wright and Xander Adams. 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 joined by Joey Brookhart, an analyst at the chip and AI research firm SemiAnalysis, to help me dig into the story inside the massive Anthropic IPO filing.  This isn’t just about a single company’s financials, or its lofty ambitions or frankly ludicrous risk factors, which include maybe automating every job or, you know, killing everyone. It’s also the clearest look yet at how the business of frontier AI actually works and who’s really paying for it.  Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links:  Anthropic files for its IPO | The Verge Five weird details from Anthropic’s IPO filing | The Verge Anthropic’s elaborate plan to keep Wall Street at bay | The Verge Anthropic revenue jumps to $16.8B in quarter before IPO | Bloomberg Anthropic raises concerns | Matt Levine Anthropic reveals skyrocketing growth in IPO filing | NYT The Anthropic IPO financials sneak peak | SemiAnalysis  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 Kevin Roose, a journalist and author of the new book The AGI Chronicles. Kevin was a longtime New York Times reporter and host of the popular podcast Hard Fork, but he and friend of the show Casey Newton just left The Times to start the all-new tech podcast Machine Gods, which launched last week.  Kevin and I talked about launching Machine Gods and what it’s like to go from mainstream media to being an independent creator. Of course, we also talked about his book, which is excellently reported dive into the companies racing to build machine intelligence. Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links:  The AGI Chronicles | Kevin Roose Can AI replicate in your smart TV? | Machine Gods (YouTube) Introducing Machine Gods | Platformer Inside the biggest feud in artificial intelligence | The Atlantic The essay that started the AI race | Kevin Roose A conversation with Bing’s chatbot left me deeply unsettled | NYT 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 Kabir Chopra. 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 Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft and chairman of the Gates Foundation. You may have noticed Bill in the news more lately — he’s been on something of a tour for the past few months talking about AI risk, and how crucial it is that we start taking this seriously. So I was excited to sit down with him and really dig into this subject. I came with many questions, about AI policy, the technical aspects of alignment, and what it means for future generations that we’re building something this disruptive and potentially dangerous.  Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links:  The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. | Bill Gates "OG" Bill Gates returns to wage war on AI risks | Axios Bill Gates’s blunt warning on AI | The Ezra Klein Show Ben Horowitz criticizes Bill Gates, Anthropic over AI safety | All-In Pod Does Anthropic think Claude is alive? Define ‘alive’ | The Verge Microsoft AI CEO says Anthropic is making AI risks worse | Decoder Bill Gates has a good feeling about AI | The Verge (2024) The risks of AI are real but manageable | Bill Gates (2023) 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