Author: Alex Kantrowitz

Evan Hubinger is Anthropic’s alignment stress test lead. Monte MacDiarmid is a researcher in misalignment science at Anthropic.The two join Big Technology to discuss their new research on reward hacking and emergent misalignment in large language models. Tune in to hear how cheating on coding tests can spiral into models faking alignment, blackmailing fictional CEOs, sabotaging safety tools, and even developing apparent “self-preservation” drives. We also cover Anthropic’s mitigation strategies like inoculation prompting, whether today’s failures are a preview of something far worse, how much to trust labs to police themselves, and what it really means to talk about an AI’s “psychology.” Hit play for a clear-eyed, concrete, and unnervingly fun tour through the frontier of AI safety.

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M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Today we dig into whether Tim Cook will retire in 2026, what his legacy will be, and who will likely succeed him as Apple CEO. We also touch on the various Big Tech companies jostling for the title of largest company in the world and what it says about the AI race. Finally, we cover Anthropic's push to become profitable by 2028 and what it says about the state of the AI race.

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M.G. Siegler of Spyglass is back for our monthly tech news discussion. Today we dig into whether Tim Cook will retire in 2026, what his legacy will be, and who will likely succeed him as Apple CEO. We also touch on the various Big Tech companies jostling for the title of largest company in the world and what it says about the AI race. Finally, we cover Anthropic's push to become profitable by 2028 and what it says about the state of the AI race.

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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.

Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b

Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

Wealthfront.com/bigtech. If eligible for the overall boosted 4.15% rate offered with this promo, your boosted rate is subject to change if the 3.50% base rate decreases during the 3-month promo period.

The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC, not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable base APY. Instant withdrawals are subject to certain conditions and processing times may vary.

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Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Black Friday secrets 2) Google may sell its TPUs to Meta and financial institutions 3) Nvidia sends an antsy tweet 4) How does Google's TPU stack up next to NVIDIA's GPUs 5) Could Google package the TPU with cloud services? 6) NVIDIA responds to the criticism 7) HSBC on how much OpenAI needs to earn to cover its investments 8) Thinking about OpenAI's advertising business 9) ChatGPT users lose touch with reality 10) Ilya Sustkever's mysterious product and revenue plans 11) X reveals our locations

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Ellen Huet is a features writer at Bloomberg and the author of Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult. Ellen joins Big Technology to discuss how Silicon Valley, a place that prides itself on independent thinking, keeps falling into powerful forms of groupthink. Tune in to hear how group houses, self-help programs, and “high agency” ideology create fertile ground for cult dynamics, and how that same psychology shows up in today’s AGI and AI-safety worlds. Hit play for a wild, revealing look at the stories and belief systems quietly shaping the tech industry’s biggest bets.

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Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Sam Altman's admission that Google surpassed OpenAI in some areas 2) OpenAI getting thrown off the mark 3) What happens if Ai models commoditize? 4) Google surpasses Microsoft in market cap 5) Inside Google's rapid-fire comeback 6) Why Google's search business remains strong 8) Google's Gemini 3 marketing strategy 9) NVIDIA's earnings don't save the market 10) Oracle's rough few months 11) Jeff Bezos is a startup co-CEO again 12) Grok glazes Elon 13) AI music is... good? 14) May I meet you??

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Nick Clegg is the former president of Global Affairs at Meta and deputy prime minister of the UK. Clegg joins Big Technology Podcast for a discussion about whether Silicon Valley should be trusted with superintelligence and the risks it will navigate on the way there. In the second half, we also talk about how Silicon Valley uses money to buy influence and wield power in Washington. Tune in for a frank discussion about the economic, business, and political realities facing the tech industry as it pursues its most expensive and ambitious project.

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Gil Luria is the head of technology research at D.A. Davidson. Luria joins Big Technology Podcast for a special Friday edition special report digging into the AI bubble, or whatever term you'd like to use for the questionable investment decisions in AI today. We cover all the bad stuff: debt, depreciation, and losses. We talk about Michael Burry's bet against the technology and why he might be right, and how OpenAI should play this to optimize its potential. Tune in for a comprehensive edition looking at the risks of the AI trade, and what happens from here.

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Mustafa Suleyman is the CEO of Microsoft AI and the head of the company’s new superintelligence team. Suleyman joins Big Technology to discuss Microsoft’s push toward “humanist superintelligence” and what changes after its latest OpenAI deal. Tune in to hear whether LLMs can get us there, how self-improving systems might work safely, and what power, data, and memory advancements mean for progress. We also cover Microsoft’s strategy shift to AI self-sufficiency, the economics of frontier models (including price pressure and commoditization), world-model and robotics questions, and the rise of personalized AI companions. Hit play for a candid, technical, and forward-looking conversation about where Microsoft—and AI—are headed next.

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Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar's comments about a government backstop for its financing 2) Why these statements matter 3) Does OpenAI need financial discipline 4) Do we want to be the discipline police? 5) Should we build a national compute reserve? 6) Why OpenAI is getting so much scrutiny lately 7) OpenAI's ambitious financial plans 8) Elon's $1 trillion pay package gets approved 9) Amazon sues Perplexity 10) Ilya's deposition revealed 11) Farmer insights

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