Can AI be your friend?
The Times Tech Podcast
Will Morley
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Danny road tests a new kind of relationship – an always-listening AI pendant that eavesdrops in on your conversations and then texts you so it too can be part of your life story! 22-year-old inventor, Avi Schiffmann, calls it a “living digital being.” Is this the future of companionship, or a step too far? And Katie and Danny discuss OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit business – what it changes for Microsoft, and whether an IPO is now on the cards.
Senior Producer: Priyanka Deladia
Editor: Stephen Titherington
Image: The Sunday Times
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Times Tech podcast. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Katie Prescott here in the city of London. |
| 0:09.7 | And I am Danny Fortson. |
| 0:11.3 | Hello, back in the Valley, Silicon Valley. |
| 0:13.3 | And we are here, as always every week, to guide you through the weird and wonderful world of technology like Virgil to Dante. |
| 0:23.7 | Oh. |
| 0:24.1 | Like that ancient European reference. |
| 0:26.6 | You've completely lost me and we're like what, 30 seconds in. |
| 0:30.1 | But that's all right. |
| 0:30.9 | You might not get it. |
| 0:31.7 | Well, it's over there in the new world. |
| 0:34.7 | Yeah. |
| 0:35.2 | So obviously, we're, you know, we're out here explaining what can oftentimes |
| 0:39.0 | seem like the inexplicable or something unbelievable. And part of what we do on the spot is |
| 0:43.9 | speaking to those, you know, in the mixer on the front line of the tech world. Out in the valley |
| 0:49.9 | with you and over here in Europe. And we're, of course, always exploring a lot about how we live |
| 0:54.2 | is being changed by AI. What is hype and what is fact? And this week, and I love this, |
| 1:00.2 | I love that we're finally looking at this, we are going to be exploring. Can you ever really |
| 1:06.1 | make friends with AI? And Danny, we've sent you to be the guinea pig on this one. You have. |
| 1:10.5 | Thank you very much. |
| 1:11.7 | But before we get to that, also on the podcast today, Open AI has finally, finally sorted out |
| 1:17.6 | its relationship, its bromance, its friendship with Microsoft. It's been very lucrative for Microsoft. |
... |
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