Decoder with Nilay Patel

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, has a lot of thoughts about AI, tech, and privacy. Those issues are driving a big and maybe kind of unexpected political realignment — and with the midterms coming up next month, and early voting already underway in a lot of places, the stakes are pretty high right now. And as he notes, some problems are just collective action problems that require a government. We can’t solve everything one at a time, or even one state at a time.

And of course, I had to ask him: Are the Bears gonna stay in Illinois?

Links:

How ordinary Utahns fought the biggest data center in the world | The Verge

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be ‘less evil’ | Decoder

YouTube CEO: ‘We’re focused on internal safety efforts’ | CNN

Pritzker signs landmark AI regulation bill | Capitol News Illinois

Pritzker establishes AI Cabinet amid calls for regulation | NPR Ilinois

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by [TK EDITOR]. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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My guest today is Walter Piecyk, a telecom analyst at LightShed Partners, and we’re discussing SpaceX’s plan to become a major wireless carrier. Last week, the company agreed to buy a big chunk of low-band spectrum in its bid to build “the world’s most advanced mobile network.”

So I wanted to dig into whether SpaceX can pull this off, why Walt thinks the existing telecoms have fumbled their response to Starlink’s growing threat, and what happens when Elon Musk’s rocket company jumps headfirst into a business everyone loves to hate.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

SpaceX announces plan to become a ‘major mobile carrier’ | The Verge

SpaceX has a plan. Do the telcos? | LightShed Partners

EchoStar offloads satellite spectrum to SpaceX for $17 billion | The Verge

FCC Grants SpaceX Approval for 15,000 Direct-to-Device Satellites | Via Satellite

AT&T CEO says Elon Musk's SpaceX phone strategy not "viable" | Axios

SpaceX Sends Telecom Providers a Shot Across the Bow | WSJ

Verizon: No to an MVNO with Starlink | Fierce Network

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Eileen Felix. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, I’m talking with Benn Jordan, musician, YouTuber, researcher, and investigative journalist. In the last couple of years, Benn has become a high-profile face in the creator and media spaces for his work investigating Flock Safety, the maker of automatic license plate readers and the software that powers them.

Benn recently testified in front of Congress at a hearing dedicated to Flock and other ALPR systems. So of course I wanted to dig into all of that with Benn, not just because of his role as a Flock critic, but because he’s also become in some ways the face of a new front in the broader debate about surveillance and privacy.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

Benn Jordan testifies in front of Senate | Benn Jordan (YouTube)

Flock values their privacy. Oh well | Benn Jordan (YouTube)

We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds | Benn Jordan (YouTube)

Lawmakers introduce multiple laws to curb Flock | 404 Media

The fight over Flock and other ALPRs | The Verge

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras | Politico

Cities terminate Flock contracts at record pace in August | Ars Technica

Flock to cut several hundred jobs amid backlash | Reuters

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, it’s Nilay. We’re off today for the holiday, and we’ll be back this Thursday with new episodes. In the meantime, we wanted to revisit a conversation from earlier this year I had with investigative journalist and New Yorker contributor Ronan Farrow, all about the in-depth feature on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman he co-authored with Andrew Marantz.

The conversation holds up remarkably well, and I think it tells us a lot about the current moment, as calls for meaningful federal AI oversight have ground to a halt yet again. Enjoy.

Links:

Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? | The New Yorker

Ronan Farrow on Sam Altman’s ‘unconstrained’ relationship with the truth | Decoder

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone? | Decoder

Inside the suddenly explosive world of AI safety | The Verge

Here’s what AI leaders are saying about Trump’s new safety plan | The Verge

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder is produced by Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. The show is edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Acquiring Warner Bros. never goes well for anyone. AOL failed, AT&T failed, and Discovery failed — although it did succeed in flipping the assets to David Ellison’s Skydance.

So I’m talking to Peter Kafka, Business Insider chief correspondent and host of Channels, to see if Skydance has a chance at succeeding where nobody else has yet. Spoiler alert: Peter doesn’t think Skydance has a clear business plan, either. But he’s got some really good guesses about what might come next.

Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.

Links:

CNN boss remains as Paramount, WBD merge into Skydance | The Verge

Skydance CEOs: Layoffs will be coming | Variety

Ynon Kriez, the new Skydance co-CEO | Business Insider

Skydance sets leadership across games, experiences | Variety

Paramount settles lawsuit blocking $110B WBD merger | The Verge

Larry Ellison’s big dumb gift to his large adult son | The Verge

Weiss’ ratings wipeout | Status

Decoder is a Signal Awards finalist in the Business category! You can vote to help us win her.

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices