Times Tech

Humanoid robots are all over social media: making beds, doing backflips, even outrunning Usain Bolt. But how much of it is real and how much is hype?

This week, Danny and Katie are joined by roboticist and co-founder of Bear Robotics Bren Pierce. He’s been building humanoid robots for more than twenty years.

They discuss how AI is finally giving robots ‘brains’ to understand the physical world, why China is winning the robot race and how long it will be until robots are folding laundry in our homes.

The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology.

Guest: Brennand Pierce, Co-founder and Chief Robotics Officer of Bear Robotics
Presenters:
Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times
Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Image: Bear Robotics
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anthropic has pledged to give away 5% of its shares to a fund that will make donations for the quote unquote “public good”. These shares could be worth between 75 and $100 billion.

Days later, Elon Musk posted on X that he would give one of his SpaceX shares to every child in America. These could be worth over $10 billion. So, what’s behind these recent pledges?

Danny and Katie question whether tech companies are finally taking accountability for their impact on society or whether this is just good PR.

Plus, a power outage at one of Google’s data centres in London that disrupted services at Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds bank has renewed concerns about a lack of sovereign AI.

Watch on YouTube
Read more: How I helped to make Elon Musk’s flying car
Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk
Presenters:
Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times
Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Image: Getty
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bending Spoons has become one of Europe’s most unusual tech companies by buying well-known tech businesses and rebuilding them. Katie Prescott speaks to CEO Luca Ferrari about taking the company public, choosing the US over Europe and transforming businesses such as AOL and Evernote.

He also explains why Bending Spoons never sells the companies it buys, and why being the CEO of a public company can feel “a little bit naked”.

Watch on YouTube
Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk
Presenters:
Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times
Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Video Producer: Bronwen Latham
Image: Getty
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MI5 has warned that AI is "supercharging" security threats to the UK, while Britain’s AI minister said it was “inevitable” that Britain is going to be hacked by rogue AI agents.

Danny and Katie look at the growing security fears around AI, including the FBI investigating a case involving a former OpenAI employee accused of planting a covert recording device at the company’s San Francisco office.

This comes days after Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic employee who warned about AI’s existential threat, raised alarms about the possibility of spies inside Anthropic and OpenAI. So, what does this tell us about the AI industry and the potential dangers it poses?

Plus, after years of predictions that AI will replace white-collar workers, Anthropic is reportedly hiring a human personal assistant for a salary of £145,000.

Watch on YouTube
Read more: Chatbot developer Anthropic seeks PA — but only humans need apply
Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk
Presenters:
Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times
Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Image: Getty
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five years after leaking thousands of internal Facebook documents, whistleblower Frances Haugen joins Times Tech to talk about The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s new film about her story and the sequel to The Social Network.

She talks about Hollywood’s current obsession with Silicon Valley, how attitudes towards Big Tech have changed since she blew the whistle and what Mark Zuckerberg, Meta and today’s AI companies can learn from the social media era.

The Interview is our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology.

Watch on YouTube
Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk
Presenters:
Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor, The Times
Danny Fortson, US West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times
Producer: Marnie Duke
Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Video Producer: Bronwen Latham
Image: Getty
Clip: NBC News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.