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Anthropic has pledged to give away 5% of its shares to a fund that will make donations for the quote unquote “public good”. These shares could be worth between 75 and $100 billion. Days later, Elon Musk posted on X that he would give one of his SpaceX shares to every child in America. These could be worth over $10 billion. So, what’s behind these recent pledges? Danny and Katie question whether tech companies are finally taking accountability for their impact on society or whether this is just good PR. Plus, a power outage at one of Google’s data centres in London that disrupted services at Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds bank has renewed concerns about a lack of sovereign AI. Watch on YouTube Read more: How I helped to make Elon Musk’s flying car Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bending Spoons has become one of Europe’s most unusual tech companies by buying well-known tech businesses and rebuilding them. Katie Prescott speaks to CEO Luca Ferrari about taking the company public, choosing the US over Europe and transforming businesses such as AOL and Evernote. He also explains why Bending Spoons never sells the companies it buys, and why being the CEO of a public company can feel “a little bit naked”. Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MI5 has warned that AI is "supercharging" security threats to the UK, while Britain’s AI minister said it was “inevitable” that Britain is going to be hacked by rogue AI agents. Danny and Katie look at the growing security fears around AI, including the FBI investigating a case involving a former OpenAI employee accused of planting a covert recording device at the company’s San Francisco office. This comes days after Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic employee who warned about AI’s existential threat, raised alarms about the possibility of spies inside Anthropic and OpenAI. So, what does this tell us about the AI industry and the potential dangers it poses? Plus, after years of predictions that AI will replace white-collar workers, Anthropic is reportedly hiring a human personal assistant for a salary of £145,000. Watch on YouTube Read more: Chatbot developer Anthropic seeks PA — but only humans need apply Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five years after leaking thousands of internal Facebook documents, whistleblower Frances Haugen joins Times Tech to talk about The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s new film about her story and the sequel to The Social Network. She talks about Hollywood’s current obsession with Silicon Valley, how attitudes towards Big Tech have changed since she blew the whistle and what Mark Zuckerberg, Meta and today’s AI companies can learn from the social media era. The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology. Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Clip: NBC News Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI companies are investigating a growing number of incidents where agents have gone rogue and done things which would be considered crimes if committed by a human. But when AI causes serious damage, who is responsible and crucially, who pays? Katie’s been speaking to London’s major insurers who have been war-gaming scenarios where AI causes harm and asking who would ultimately pick up the bill. This week, Yoshua Bengio, chair of the International AI Safety Report said that a “dangerous myth” about agent hacks has gained traction. He warned that these aren't just cybersecurity glitches but a bigger problem built into how we design and train AI. Danny and Katie ask whether he’s right, and if AI hacks like Hugging Face can be avoided in the future. Plus, they discuss the unexpected consequences of Trump’s new ‘super intelligence’ rebrand and why a spelling mistake in his AI pact with tech leaders has made the internet laugh. Watch on YouTube Read more: Who will put the brake on AI? Count on lawyers and underwriters Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Times Tech Podcast is in paid partnership with ServiceNow. How do you navigate the rapid pace of AI development in business? With Matt Higham, ServiceNow’s chief digital and technology officer for UK and Ireland, we ask how companies can use AI governance to dodge the pitfalls thrown up by AI, and embrace the opportunities safely. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Danny speaks to Amjad Masad, co-founder and CEO of Replit, a ‘vibe-coding’ company which enables anyone – coder or not – to build software simply by telling AI what they want it to do. Amjad makes the case that we’ve lost the original joy of computing, leaving everyday users "at the mercy" of Silicon Valley giants. He also pushes back on the current wave of AI doomerism, arguing that apocalyptic fears are overblown and that focus should shift toward real-world accountability, including strict penalties for companies whose AI agents go rogue. Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Replit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Warnings that AI is going to kill us are once again abounding. This week, Anthropic’s long awaited IPO prospectus was leaked. In it, the company warns that its technology poses “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” while simultaneously asking investors to finance their $518 billion AI buildout. Danny and Katie break down the contradictions at the heart of the prospectus and question why Dario Amodei is asking investors to fund doom. Meanwhile, amid mounting safety concerns, President Trump invited tech leaders to the White House to talk regulation. Leaders of Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI and SpaceXAI agreed to sign a voluntary self-policing pact and to rebrand AI as “super intelligence”. But when Silicon Valley sets its own rules, can we ensure they will keep us safe? Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The TimesDanny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday TimesProducer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Clip: Saturday Night Live Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ordnance Survey might just be the oldest tech company around. For 235 years, it has been mapping out every single metre of the UK – no matter how remote. And that data plays a huge part in how we use technology today; think of the many apps we use that rely on maps. The average person in the UK uses some element of Ordnance Survey mapping data 42 times a day. Its CEO, Nick Bolton, joins Danny and Katie to discuss how the company has evolved from the days of paper maps to supplying to the likes of Apple and Google, why it’s building a map you can talk to, and how AI is changing geospatial mapping. The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology. Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The TimesDanny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday TimesProducer: Marnie Duke Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Image: Ordnance Survey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meta’s new AI agent app, Muse, has rocketed straight to number one on the App Store. Having put it to the test, Danny explains what the hype is all about. Meanwhile, Katie has bid farewell to her agent Norman in favor of a new AI assistant called Bridget hosted by rival app, Instinct. They look at why this sudden commodification of agents is significant and why OpenAI and Anthropic should be worried. And despite being on track to make more than $100 billion in revenue this year, Anthropic has decided to delay their IPO. Meanwhile, OpenAI is trying to convince investors they’re worth $1.5 trillion as losses balloon. The question is who will come out on top? Plus, what does Donald Trump’s ‘AI Force’ mean? And what should we make of the China-US AI hotline pitched during his meeting with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. Watch on YouTube Get in touch: [email protected] Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times Producer: Marnie Duke Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Nu Quantum founder and CEO Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero explains how quantum computing could change the world — and why the industry is still waiting on its "ChatGPT moment."  She joins Danny and Katie to discuss the global quantum arms race between China, the US, and the UK and why she’s not worried about the quantum cyber threat. The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology. Watch on YouTube  Get in touch: [email protected]  Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times  Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times  Producer: Marnie Duke  Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Nu Quantum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the past week, warnings about the existential threat of AI have reached fever pitch. In an essay backed by Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei called for international cooperation with states like China and for independent safety assessors to be given access to the frontier AI labs. All these warnings have caught the attention of leaders and dignitaries – from President Trump to King Charles – and have started a global conversation about how we should regulate the companies developing these systems.  The problem is, no one can agree on how to do it.  Watch on YouTube  Get in touch: [email protected]  Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times  Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times  Producer: Marnie Duke  Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Microsoft co-founder tells Danny and Katie why AI is "ultra-different" from any previous technology - and why tech companies shouldn’t be responsible for controlling it.  Speaking about a new report on AI and equity published by The Gates Foundation he also explores the “vacuum of US leadership” in AI regulation. The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology. Watch on YouTube  Read more: Bill Gates: My plan to keep the world safe in the age of AI Get in touch: [email protected]  Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times  Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times  Producer: Marnie Duke  Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Evan Hubinger, the Alignment Lead at Anthropic has warned there’s more than a ten percent chance that AI could kill all humans. And he’s the person responsible for making sure their AI systems are safe.  He’s also not the only person sounding the alarm this week, following the release of OpenAI’s powerful new model ‘Astra’. Danny and Katie question how seriously we should take these warnings or whether they’re really a distraction from the serious problems AI faces right now.  Plus, they talk about ‘You Can See Everything’ - the new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced boss of Silicon Valley tech company Theranos. The film has lit a conversation about the problems of mixing powerful tech with human weakness, and offers a sobering message about this current AI moment.   Watch on YouTube  Get in touch: [email protected]  Presenters: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times  Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times  Producer: Marnie Duke  Executive Producer: Dan Box Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Interview from Times Tech – our conversation with the people shaping the future of technology.  This week, Katie speaks to Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, one of the few companies building large language models outside of the US and China. Born in Canada, Aidan is acutely aware of where artificial intelligence is built, who controls it and why it matters. He argues that sovereign AI is becoming essential to democracies as technology becomes a source of economic, cultural and geopolitical power.  He reflects on his remarkable life, from growing up in an off-grid log cabin in rural Ontario, to emailing Nobel Laureate Geoff Hinton as an undergrad, securing a job at Google Brain, and now running Canada’s leading AI company. Watch on YouTube  Get in touch: [email protected]  Presenter: Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times Producer: Marnie Duke  Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia Video Producer: Bronwen Latham Image: Cohere Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.