Sam Altman, AI and the future tech bros want

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In an extensive New Yorker investigation, Ronan Farrow looks into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and whether one of the most influential AI minds can be trusted.

Then, tech billionaires are trying to create autonomous communities, fueled by cryptocurrency and free from governmental oversight. They’ve set their sights on the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevi. Professor and author Douglas Rushkoff breaks down the implications.

And, Anthropic’s new large language model, Claude Mythos, is said to be a skilled hacker with the ability to reshape cybersecurity. Axios correspondent Ina Fried explains more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WeBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:05.6	We are in a situation post-citizens United where there is just no political willpower to create oversight for these companies.
0:13.9	This is a situation that does require oversight, not just of Sam Malman, but of all of the leaders of this tech.
0:19.9	Talk about the intrigue at Open AI and all you want, and there is plenty of it.
0:24.8	But concerns about artificial intelligence are bigger than one company, or one CEO.
0:45.2	It's Tuesday, April 14th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBOR.
0:46.2	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:58.1	Today on the show, a glimpse into the lives of our tech overlords, or how AI, crypto, and the egos of unfathomable wealth can make anything seem possible.
1:03.7	In a few minutes, we'll hear about the billionaire version of Turn-On, Tune-in, Dropout,
1:10.1	setting up your own anarcho-capitalist utopia, free of pesky things like
1:14.9	taxes. Of course you want a private enclave, a private place with its own rules, so that you can
1:21.5	really enact the survival of the fittest, or in this case the survival of the riches.
1:27.4	Also, Anthropics' newest AI model comes with a dire warning about cybersecurity,
1:33.3	but there is marketing value in saying your product is so powerful it could end the world.
1:42.1	That's coming up in a few minutes. But first, Ronan Farrow on his recent story in The New Yorker,
1:49.3	written with Andrew Morantz, about Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT.
1:56.5	Reportedly, OpenAI is preparing for an initial public offering that could value the company at more than a trillion dollars.
2:04.2	And according to the New Yorker investigation, insiders are concerned about Altman's leadership.
2:10.4	I'll let Robin Young take it from here.
2:13.0	Now, you may have heard, a suspect has been arrested after an attempt to fire a bomb Sam Altman's home.
2:18.6	Sam Altman said the New Yorker article was incendiary. The New Yorker has responded with a
2:24.0	statement saying in part, the New Yorker's investigation into Open AI and Sam Altman was
	...

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