Newcomer Pod

Newcomer Pod

A podcast about Silicon Valley, hosted by newsletter writer and independent journalist Eric Newcomer. Listen in for interviews with the dealmakers and builders who matter. Subscribe to newcomer.co for summaries of the episodes plus tech industry news, scoops, and analysis.

www.newcomer.co

Ed Zitron Unfiltered on OpenAI, Anthropic & Why the Whole Thing Is a Con
Newcomer PodJune 08, 202600:58:0553.19 MB

Ed Zitron Unfiltered on OpenAI, Anthropic & Why the Whole Thing Is a Con

Ed Zitron is back, and he's making his strongest case yet that OpenAI and Anthropic are running a deliberate con on the public. In his second appearance on the Newcomer Podcast, Ed Zitron sits down with Eric Newcomer to break down why he believes there is no real ROI in AI, how Sam Altman and Da...

How Tech's San Francisco Values Gave Way to the Right
Newcomer PodMay 29, 202601:06:4561.12 MB

How Tech's San Francisco Values Gave Way to the Right

How San Francisco's tech culture went from countercultural idealism to right-wing power, and what it means for the rest of us. Jonathan Weber, editor at large at The New Yorker and author of City on the Edge, joins Eric Newcomer to trace the 30-year arc of how San Francisco became the center of ...

WIRED's Editor on Elon, Trump & Silicon Valley's War on the Press
Newcomer PodMay 22, 202600:54:1249.62 MB

WIRED's Editor on Elon, Trump & Silicon Valley's War on the Press

WIRED's global editorial director on why Silicon Valley wants to control the press and what she's doing about it. Katie Drummond, global editorial director of WIRED, sits down with Eric Newcomer to talk about the simmering war between tech and media. From surviving the Gawker bankruptcy to n...

The Man Who Helped Destroy Gawker Is Coming Back For The Rest of Media
Newcomer PodMay 15, 202601:10:5264.89 MB

The Man Who Helped Destroy Gawker Is Coming Back For The Rest of Media

The man who helped bring down Gawker is back, and this time he’s coming for the media industry. Eric sits down with Aron Ping D’Souza, the Oxford law student who first pitched Peter Thiel on the idea that would eventually bankrupt Gawker. Today, Aron is building the Enhanced Games, a PED-legal sport...

Vinod Khosla on the End of Jobs and the Future of Capitalism
Newcomer PodMay 12, 202601:05:2659.91 MB

Vinod Khosla on the End of Jobs and the Future of Capitalism

Vinod Khosla on Why AI Could End Human Labor and Change Capitalism Forever Vinod Khosla joins Newcomer to discuss AI, capitalism, freedom, education, religion, and why he believes technology will fundamentally reshape how humans live and work. The legendary venture capitalist behind Sun Microsystems...

Katie Jacobs Stanton on Elon, Trump & Why Silicon Valley Won’t Speak Up
Newcomer PodApril 27, 202600:56:2051.59 MB

Katie Jacobs Stanton on Elon, Trump & Why Silicon Valley Won’t Speak Up

Silicon Valley has more power than ever, so why won't it speak up? Katie Jacobs Stanton, former Twitter executive, Obama White House alum, and founder of Moxxie Ventures, joins Eric Newcomer to talk about what's really happening inside the Valley right now. They get into why tech leaders sta...

Amanda Askell on AI Consciousness, Claude & Silicon Valley’s Biggest Fear
Newcomer PodApril 20, 202600:55:3650.91 MB

Amanda Askell on AI Consciousness, Claude & Silicon Valley’s Biggest Fear

Amanda Askell, AI safety researcher at Anthropic, joins Eric Newcomer to break down one of the biggest and most uncomfortable questions in tech right now: could AI systems like Claude become conscious, and if they do, what do we owe them? They discuss why treating AI systems poorly might matter more...

Kara Swisher — "I'd rather have Ted Cruz make decisions about AI"
Newcomer PodApril 14, 202600:52:1847.89 MB

Kara Swisher — "I'd rather have Ted Cruz make decisions about AI"

Kara Swisher has spent decades as the most feared journalist in Silicon Valley. She predicted the January 6th insurrection in 2019. She called out Zuckerberg on hate speech years before it became a mainstream conversation. She warned about techs drift toward right wing politics before anyone wanted ...