Sam Altman took the stand this week to defend himself and his company against a lawsuit by Elon Musk. The three-week long trial has featured some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, including Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI cofounder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. As the trial nears its end, Danny Fortson and Katie Prescott talk about why the stakes are so high and debate whether this is a case of sour grapes, or if OpenAI did actually “steal a charity” from Musk. Plus, the founder of Raspberry Pi on the future of AI and how he feels about his microcomputer being used to power AI agents such as OpenClaw.

Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk

Producer: Marnie Duke

Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

Image: Getty

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The Met Gala has been dubbed the “Tech Gala” after a heavy Silicon Valley presence and sponsorship from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. But as tech billionaires try to win over culture, Elon Musk’s court battle with OpenAI is exposing the messy origins of the AI boom.

Danny Fortson has been covering the California trial, now in its second week, where OpenAI president Greg Brockman has taken the stand. He and Katie Prescott discuss Big Tech’s cultural rebrand, the courtroom drama, and why companies from Coinbase to Meta are increasingly linking layoffs and restructuring to AI. Plus, Bebo co-founder Michael Birch on relaunching the social network and why he thinks AI could become an existential threat.

Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk

Producer: Marnie Duke

Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

Image: Getty

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, has reportedly signed a deal allowing the Pentagon use of its AI for classified purposes. It's just one of many recent deals between Silicon Valley tech companies and the US military. Meanwhile, tech company Palantir says future AI warfare is inevitable and is calling on big tech bosses to "participate in the defence of the nation". Danny Fortson and Katie Prescott discuss this cultural shift, and whether AI is actually making us safer or enabling the rise of the ‘Big Brother’ state. Plus, Julian Cracknell, CTO of defence company BAE Systems, talks about the future of defence and killer robots.

Get in touch: techpod@thetimes.co.uk

Producer: Marnie Duke

Executive Producer: Priyanka Deladia

Image: Getty

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.