Social Media In Wartime + Betting on the Future + A.I. Passes the Smell Test
Hard Fork13 Loka 2023

Social Media In Wartime + Betting on the Future + A.I. Passes the Smell Test

As the Israel-Hamas war broke out, misinformation and fake imagery surged on X, the platform formerly known at Twitter. Can Meta’s Threads fill the real-time news hole that X created? Should it?

Then, Kevin debriefs us on his reporting on Manifold Markets, where Silicon Valley Rationalists bet on the likelihoods of different events.

Plus: The company digitizing smell.

Today’s Guest:

  • Alex Wiltschko is the founder of Osmo, a company trying to digitize smell.

Additional Reading:

  • Casey Newton on how the war in Israel may change Threads.
  • Some tech insiders believe betting can change the world.
  • The company Osmo put out a research paper showing that an A.I. model it had created was performing better than the “average human panelist” in predicting odor. We want to hear from you.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(182)

Life Under Musk: Two Twitter Employees Speak Out

Life Under Musk: Two Twitter Employees Speak Out

“We cross our fingers and hope to make it through another day.” Twitter hasn’t spoken publicly since Elon Musk bought the company a week ago. But inside, employees describe a mood of fear, chaos, stre...

4 Marras 202239min

Emergency Pod: Elon Musk Owns Twitter

Emergency Pod: Elon Musk Owns Twitter

We look into the company’s weird new future with Times tech reporter Kate Conger. Plus, how Apple is single-handedly deciding the future of the digital economy, and a social media death watch. Guest t...

28 Loka 202256min

Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It?

Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It?

We sit down with the founder of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, on the heels of his $101 million fund-raising round. His open-source Stable Diffusion image generator is the key to unlocking creativity, h...

21 Loka 202253min

Legs Are Coming + $36 Burritos + Shocking AI News

Legs Are Coming + $36 Burritos + Shocking AI News

Meta is in the fight of its life — and Mark Zuckerberg hopes VR is the answer. Hmmm. Plus, an existential threat to the gig economy and the wildest news in artificial intelligence. Subscribe today at ...

14 Loka 20221h

Elon’s Hidden Motives + A Meetup in the Metaverse

Elon’s Hidden Motives + A Meetup in the Metaverse

The $44 billion Twitter deal is back on the table — and Casey isn’t buying it. Kevin looks for friends in the Metaverse. And the “Hard Fork Transparency Report” debuts. You can read Kashmir Hill’s sto...

7 Loka 20221h 4min

What’s a Hard Fork?

What’s a Hard Fork?

Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore stories from the wild frontier of tech.What’s real? What’s hype? “Hard Fork” is here to help you make sense of it. Tune in every Friday. Subscribe today at n...

27 Syys 20221min