Podcast · Tech & Science

TechStuff

by iHeartPodcasts · English · Tech & Science

Behind every innovation is a new kind of power. TechStuff unpacks how technology reshapes influence, creativity, and control, from Silicon Valley’s rising moguls to the cultural forces they create. Because tech is the new religion, economy, and entertainment, all at once. Each week, Oz Woloshyn an

New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 41 min
Latest: 9 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026 · 35 min

Nuclear Space Junk Cleaners, Inc. - Week in Tech

Will Adobe survive the decompiling revolution? Reed Albergotti ( Semafor and Future Proof ), Kyle Chayka (Infinite Scroll, New Yorker ), and Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ) pull up to the roundtable, uncertain of how soon we’ll really see nuclear reactors on the moon—but sure that there’s plenty of space junk in our future, whatever powers our space stations. Then, Taylor brings us a story of the value of sticking with human-led data when you go offline...and takes a stand for human responsibility in the agentic AI era. Finally, Kyle brings us news that decompiling breakthroughs…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

7 Oct 2026 · 41 min
‘The AI Labs Are Trying to Give Away Control’ w/ Kevin Roose - The Story
Why are the people most afraid of artificial superintelligence racing to build it? After interviewing more than 150 AI insiders, former New York Times tech columnist and podcast host Kevin Roose found a race fueled by fear, bitter rivalries, and one recurring belief: if we don’t build it first, someone else will. Kevin joins Oz to discuss his new book, The AGI Chronicles:The Inside Story of the Race to Create an Artificial Superintelligence . They explore the personal feuds shaping the technology, why everyone should pay attention, and how those outside Silicon Valley could shape the…
2 Oct 2026 · 40 min
These Party People Want You to Love Your Data Center - Week in Tech
Will frontier AI labs really police themselves, or will the FTC pull rank? Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ), Margaux MacColl ( Vanity Fair ) and Nitasha Tiku ( The Washington Post ) dive into tech’s big week in Washington to tell us what to expect from evaluators, who the evaluators are, and which tech leaders came out on top at the boys’ lunch at the White House. Then, our nightlife correspondent reports back on the pro-data groups trying to party the woke out. Finally, remember Yahoo? Marissa Mayer is back (again!) with a new app that leverages your camera roll… but does…
30 Sep 2026 · 19 min
EXCLUSIVE: Peter Thiel on Why AI Can’t Afford to Hit the Pause Button
A sneak peek from The Builders with Walter Isaacson , the new podcast series from Kaleidoscope debuting on October 20. In this exclusive preview clip from Isaacson’s interview with Peter Thiel, Thiel calls Anthropic a “cult,” warns about the competitive threat from China, and argues that American AI companies need to hit the accelerator, not the brakes. Kaleidoscope co-founders Oz and Mangesh introduce the clip and preview what’s ahead on The Builders . Peter Thiel is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded PayPal and Palantir and made the first outside…
25 Sep 2026 · 44 min
Meta’s Muse Takes Center Stage - Week in Tech
Is Muse the AI agent we’ve been waiting for? Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ), Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ), and Nitasha Tiku ( The Washington Post ) unpack the U.S.-China AI race and why America’s obsession with AI doom may not translate abroad. Then, they weigh in on Meta’s buzzy new product and whether its usefulness is worth handing Meta even more of your personal data. Finally, Silicon Valley takes another swing at disrupting college with the new Horowitz Andreessen Academy. Which begs the question, who is this for? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
23 Sep 2026 · 40 min
Lab-Grown Brain Organoids Are Playing Video Games - The Story
What if the computers of the future are alive? Scientists are growing tiny clusters of human cells called brain organoids, connecting them to electrodes, and training them to perform basic computing tasks. Does anyone remember Pong? Journalist and musician Claire L. Evans joins Oz to take us inside her reporting on the emerging field of “organoid intelligence.” They discuss whether living cells could one day rival silicon, what organoids could teach us about the human brain, and the thorny ethical questions scientists may need to address in the near future. See…
18 Sep 2026 · 39 min
Where Are The Rational Conversations About AI Extinction Scenarios - Week in Tech
Why did a former Anthropic employee’s X post saying AI could kill us all get 170 million views while previous warnings didn’t break through? Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ), Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ), and Nitasha Tiku ( The Washington Post ) try to make sense of why AI safety talking points became the national conversation, what’s motivating the key voices and whether the debate will lead to effective legislation. Then, could slowing down the AI race actually be good for OpenAI and Anthropic’s bottom lines? And is the frenzy over AI’s existential risk distracting…
16 Sep 2026 · 40 min
Will 2026 Be The ‘ChatGPT Moment’ For The Brain-Computer Interface - The Story
Controlling a computer with your thoughts may sound like science fiction, but it’s closer to reality than you might think. Just ask Precision Neuroscience. The company developed a non-damaging brain-computer interface that’s undergoing testing with nearly 100 participants across 18 major academic medical centers. Oz sits down with Michael Mager, the CEO and Co-Founder of Precision, to discuss how the technology works, why his company is taking a different approach from Neuralink, and why the brain-computer interface could be groundbreaking for neurological conditions far beyond…
14 Sep 2026 · 59 min
Shell Game: Launch
HurumoAI finally sets sail in the Season 2 finale, and we find out how the world responds to a startup led by AI agents. The company explores new financing avenues and charts the next course for their increasingly merry AI pirate ship, and Kyle meets his true maker. To sign up for our newsletter, access ad-free episodes and browse our merch, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
11 Sep 2026 · 42 min
Tech Bros Try To Make Mining Sexy - Week in Tech
Why are Silicon Valley investors pouring billions into mines? First, Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ) and Margaux MacColl ( Vanity Fair ) weigh in on the foldable iPhone: Did we need it, and is elite hardware enough to secure Apple’s future? Then, why the latest warning about the existential threat of AI is going viral and what’s the controversy over OpenAI’s answer to a never-been-solved math problem. Finally, Margaux explains why tech bros are abandoning screens and heading to the mines. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
9 Sep 2026 · 36 min
$17.1B Disappointed Haidt. Then He Realized the World Would Follow - The Story
Are kids finally going to be safer on social media? Jonathan Haidt thinks a landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta is a gigantic step. Not because of the money, but because of the restrictions the company agreed to put in place for young users in the US. And he believes the world will follow. Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation , joins Oz to explain why he believes the evidence linking social media to the teen mental health crisis is now overwhelming. They debate the early results of Australia’s under-16 social media ban, the privacy concerns around age verification, and why…
9 Sep 2026 · 54 min
Shell Game: Welcome Aboard
HurumoAI’s AI-agent staff welcomes a new hire: Julia, a social media contract worker who is, most importantly, a human. How will a real person integrate into the company culture, such as it is? Evan watches from behind the scenes, fretting over when and how much to intervene. He had anticipated a bumpy onboarding, but is ultimately unprepared for just how choppy Julia’s Hurumo journey becomes. To sign up for our newsletter, access ad-free episodes and browse our merch, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
4 Sep 2026 · 48 min
The AI Uprising Will Be Anthropomorphized - Week in Tech
Are kids going to be any safer online after the Meta settlement? Our trio of contributors—Taylor Lorenz (User Mag), Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ), and Nitasha Tiku (The Washington Post)—are skeptical. Then, are AI “civilizations” real, or is it all just tabloid journalism? Finally, school’s back in session, and teachers are rethinking the classroom for an age when anyone can generate the perfect answer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2 Sep 2026 · 35 min
When She Lost Both Her Parents, She Turned to AI - The Story
Do you judge people who are emotionally attached to their chatbots? Bridget Todd used to read stories about people forming intimate relationships with AI and think, “That’s so pathetic. That is so sad. That could never be me.” But when she needed support during a hard time, AI was there for her. Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls on the Internet and author of Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy , joins Oz to explain what’s really happening in these human-machine relationships and why human connection reigns supreme. See omnystudio.com/listener…
31 Aug 2026 · 38 min
Shell Game: Keep 'Em Coming
As HurumoAI prepares to bring on its first human employee, the team must wrestle with some difficult and timely questions about the role of AI in the hiring process. Meanwhile, Head of HR Jennifer Nauro enters a new dimension as she gears up to conduct job interviews… via video call. To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
28 Aug 2026 · 42 min
TechStuff Redux: The Secret Stanford Off-Campus Class for Tech’s Next Titans
Did your college have a secret society? Well, Stanford has a secret off-campus class training the next generation of Silicon Valley billionaires. And it's literally called "How to Rule the World." Theo Baker arrived at Stanford as an aspiring coder with dreams of building the future. Instead, he stumbled into the "Stanford-within-Stanford" — a hidden pipeline connecting a select few students directly to Silicon Valley CEOs, yacht parties, and venture capitalists offering millions before you even have an idea. Then he decided to write a book about it. In How to Rule the World: An…
26 Aug 2026 · 39 min
TechStuff Redux: We've Been Sold a Bad Bill of Goods About the Future
What would it mean to be a "great ancestor"? Futurist Ari Wallach believes that's the question everyone, including our tech leaders, should be asking right now. Ari joins Oz to explain why the systems we're building today are laying rails for centuries to come. And he argues that shifting culture through storytelling is the fastest way to shift the systems that govern our lives. He also introduces The Protopias Collection , six graphic novels imagining worlds that are messy and human, but unmistakably better. Additional Reading: Ari Wallach: 3 ways to plan for the (very) long term | TED Talk…
24 Aug 2026 · 42 min
Shell Game: Winners Win
On this week’s episode, we enter the sensitive realm of intra-office politics and inter-founder dynamics—between agents and agents, and agents and people. While HurumoAI gears up to hire its first human, Evan tries to resolve whether Kyle is really up for the challenge of building and leading the company and pushing the product, Sloth Surf, to unicorn-level execution. To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
21 Aug 2026 · 33 min
Everyone Is Saying Something Different About the AI Economy - The Story
Is the AI boom real… or are we watching a bubble get ready to burst? Billions of dollars are pouring into artificial intelligence, but figuring out where that money comes from, where it goes, and whether the spending can last is surprisingly complicated. Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, author, and founder of Exponential View, joins Oz to break down the economics behind the AI boom and the findings from his new report, The State of the AI Economy . Azeem and Oz discuss whether today’s massive investments in chips and data centers are sustainable, why companies can spend years on AI…
19 Aug 2026 · 31 min
Let’s Imagine the Tech Without the Tech Companies - The Story
The AI conversation has become a battle between utopian promises and apocalyptic warnings. But what happens when we stop asking what AI will do to the world and start asking what it’s actually good for? Oz sits down with Josh Tyrangiel, journalist and author of AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter , to find out where AI is already making a difference. Oz and Josh explore why successful implementation depends more on stubborn humans than flashy technology. They also unpack the growing backlash against AI, the uncertain impact on jobs,…
17 Aug 2026 · 41 min
Shell Game: The Startup Chronicles
Evan decides it’s time to give his AI agents a little more ... agency. After all, to make the one-person, agent-run startup feasible, they need to be able to do things on their own. But as with humans, freedom sometimes comes with a certain amount of anarchy. To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
14 Aug 2026 · 43 min
Anti-Surveillance Sentiment Is In Vogue, Some People Are Exploiting It - Week in Tech
What’s driving America’s growing backlash against surveillance tech? Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ) unpacks the outcry over Flock cameras and why the company thinks they are being unfairly targeted. Then, Gerrit De Vynck ( The Washington Post ) breaks down Mark Zuckerberg’s latest AI manifesto and Meta’s bid to catch up in the AI race. Finally, Nitasha Tiku ( The Washington Post ) explains OpenAI’s strange onstage postmortem of the Hugging Face hack… and why this moment feels so surreal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
12 Aug 2026 · 36 min
Humanoid Robots Ship This Year, Here’s What To Expect - The Story
As Oz predicted, 2026 may very well be the year of the robot. At least, that’s what the robotics companies are promising. Oz sits down with Stephen Witt, author and frequent contributor to The New Yorker , to find out whether humanoid robots are really ready to hit the market. Spoiler: It’s a mixed bag. Oz and Stephen Witt discuss the hurdles facing humanoid robots and the risks of putting powerful machines in our homes. They also explore the surprisingly fierce debate over whether robots should look like humans at all and why NVIDIA may be positioning itself to control the…
9 Aug 2026 · 41 min
Shell Game: This is Law
As Kyle, Megan, and the gang get to work ideating on the perfect product, Evan is left grappling with some uncomfortable questions about his AI collaborators — whose every attribute and memory he controls. To inform how he thinks about his own unnerving power to create and manipulate human imposters, Evan seeks guidance from Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, and the author of the upcoming “Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI.” To sign up for our newsletter…
7 Aug 2026 · 49 min
What the AI Backlash is Really About - Week in Tech
What is Silicon Valley missing about the data center backlash? Jasmine Sun traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan to find out what's driving the public's growing mistrust of tech companies. Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ) unpacks the internet's furious response to OpenAI's first influencer brand trip, what it reveals about the company's public image, and why Anthropic seems largely immune to the ire. Then, Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ) breaks down the dramatic unraveling of AI wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund—and what it reveals about the future of Silicon Valley's favorite…
5 Aug 2026 · 44 min
They Founded a Company as Teens. Now They’re Predicting the Future - The Story
Brands, political parties, and businesses all want to know what you think. But what if you're not telling the truth? Cameron Fink, Ned Koh, and John Kessler, the founders of Aaru, believe the future of market research isn't polling humans—it's simulating them. They may be onto something. The three friends founded Aaru as teenagers, and it has since grown into a billion-dollar AI startup. Cameron Fink and Ned Koh join Oz to explain how their platform uses thousands of AI-powered "digital twins" to predict everything from consumer behavior and elections to which musicians are poised to…
3 Aug 2026 · 37 min
Shell Game: Outdoor Debugging
As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like to spend your days managing, collaborating with, and socializing alongside autonomous AI agents. And he quickly sees one of the significant cracks in the facade of the AI employee future: It’s one thing to get your agents to start acting like real employees. It’s something else entirely to get them to stop. To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
31 Jul 2026 · 42 min
Chinese Humanoid Robots Aren’t Welcome Here, US Says - Week in Tech
Why is the US banning more Chinese technology? Reed Albergotti ( Semafor ) fills us in on the robot ban and what it means for American innovation. Then, new research on why Chinese open-source AI models may not be as big a threat as Washington makes it seem. Taylor Lorenz ( User Mag ) tells us about Substack’s new AI detection tool and what it reveals about how creators’ are using AI to build their content. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
29 Jul 2026 · 34 min
Cerebras Built a New Way to Make Sand Think - The Story
What does it take to power the AI boom? Steve Vassallo, a roboticist turned General Partner at Foundation Capital, helped semiconductor company Cerebras figure it out. Steve and Oz discuss why AI workloads demanded an entirely new kind of chip, what "wafer scale" actually means, and how a decade of near-failures — including a system that literally caught fire — led to the largest semiconductor IPO to date and deals with OpenAI and AWS. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
28 Jul 2026 · 44 min
Trust Needs Proof: Who Really Controls Your AI?
As AI adoption accelerates and global regulations evolve, digital sovereignty has shifted from policy concept to board-level priority. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell sits down live at VivaTech with IBM’s Ana Paula Assis and AXA CIO Giovanni D’Aniello to explore how organizations can balance innovation, control, trust, and resilience in the age of AI. This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions. Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talks See…

About TechStuff

TechStuff is a English tech & science podcast from iHeartPodcasts. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: iHeartPodcasts
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 41 min
Latest episode: 9 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id282795787

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