How brands and creators are fighting for your attention — and your money
This is Hank Green, the cofounder of Complexly. I’m back for my second guest hosting spot here on Decoder while Nilay is out on parental leave. Today, I’m talking with Digitas CEO Amy Lanzi, who runs a major marketing and ad agency. You might remember Amy; Nilay interviewed her for Decoder live at an event in New York City almost a year ago. But Nilay, who runs what might be the last website on Earth, has a very different perspective on the world of digital marketing than I do. So as a career YouTuber, I had a lot of questions for someone in a position like Amy’s.
Links:
Digitas unveils new generative AI platform, Digitas AI | Digitas
Amy Lanzi on steering Digitas through the demands of modern marketing | Sightly
Introducing Reddit Community Intelligence | Reddit
Digitas North America announces Amy Lanzi as CEO | Digitas
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Sierra CEO Bret Taylor on why the AI bubble feels like the dotcom boom
This is Alex Heath. For my final episode as your Thursday episode guest host, I recently sat down with Bret Taylor, the CEO of AI startup Sierra and the chairman of OpenAI, for a live event in San Francisco hosted by Alix Partners.
Bret has worked at Google, Facebook, and Salesforce in high-level, executive roles, and he led Twitter’s board during Elon Musk’s takeover, so very few people have seen the tech industry up close like Bret has. Now, he’s all in on AI. We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, and I hope you find Bret’s perspective as fascinating as I did.
Links:
Ex-Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor’s Sierra is the latest $10 billion AI startup | CNBC
I talked to Sam Altman about the GPT-5 launch fiasco | Verge
Sam Altman says ‘yes,’ AI is in a bubble | Verge
MIT study on AI profits rattles tech investors | Axios
GPT-5 Pro can prove new, interesting mathematics | Sebastien Bubeck
AI chatbots are ready to talk to customers. Sort of. | WSJ
How is AI different than other technology waves? | Acquired Podcast
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Sal Khan is hopeful that AI won't destroy education
This is Hank Green, cofounder of Complexly. You might remember last year when I turned the tables on Nilay and interviewed him on his own show. That was a ton of fun, and it was so much fun that they’ve brought me back again. This time, I’m stepping in for Nilay to host the next few Decoder episodes while he’s out on parental leave.
Today, I’m talking with a very special guest: Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. Sal was actually Nilay’s second-ever guest on Decoder, back in 2020. And well, a whole lot has changed since then. So I wanted to have Sal back on to ask what it’s like running Khan Academy today, in the aftermath of the pandemic. But also how online learning is about to change, in really dramatic ways, due to artificial intelligence.
Links:
Sal Khan on A.I.'s promise and its risks | NBC News (YouTube)
The best-case scenario for AI in schools | BBC News
Meet Khanmigo: the student tutor AI being tested in schools | 60 Minutes| 60 Minutes
Remote learning is here to stay — can we make it better? | Decoder
Hank Green makes Nilay Patel explain why websites have a future | Decoder
In classrooms, teachers put AI tutoring bots to the test | NYT
Elite colleges have found a new virtue for applicants to fake | NYT
Everyone Is cheating their way through college | New York Magazine
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The quest to keep OpenAI honest
Despite being one of the most valuable companies in the world, OpenAI is still technically a nonprofit. That’s what set the stage for the dramatic board coup in 2023 that briefly ousted Sam Altman as CEO. And now, OpenAI is trying to shake this nonprofit structure so it can raise even more money and, eventually, go public. There’s a lot at stake here, and not just for OpenAI.
Links:
OpenAI abandons plans to become a for-profit company | Verge
Why California’s AG must continue investigation into OpenAI | CalMatters
An open letter to OpenAI | EyesOnOpenAI
OpenAI eyes $50B valuation in potential employee share sale | Reuters
OpenAI thinks its critics are funded by billionaires | San Francisco Standard
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Rewind: Bookshop CEO's crusade to save books from Amazon
Hello, and welcome to Decoder! This is Senior Producer Nick Statt. We’re on a small break for the end of summer, and, sadly, Nilay will still be out a little while longer when we come back. But we have an excellent slate of guest host episodes starting up next month, so stay tuned for those.
In the meantime, we wanted to bring back one of our favorite Decoder interviews from earlier this year. It’s with Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter, who back in January launched a pretty bold ebook initiative to take on Amazon and Kindle. It’s been about seven months, but Bookshop has seen big results, including more than $1 million in ebook sales. So we thought it was a good time to revisit our conversation with Andy.
Links:
Bookshop.org reports 65% growth, e-books add $1 Million in sales | Publishers Weekly
Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter’s crusade to save books from Amazon | Decoder
Bookshop.org is launching an ebook store to take on Amazon | Verge
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.
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