logo
episode-header-image
Aug 8
1h 12m

GPT-5 Arrives, and We Try the New Alexa...

The New York Times
About this episode

This week, OpenAI released its much-anticipated flagship model, GPT-5. We break down what we know about the upgrade, drawing from our initial testing and a special news briefing with Sam Altman. Then, we explain why we were underwhelmed by Amazon’s new Alexa+, which is powered by generative A.I., and take our feedback to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, who helps us understand why powering Alexa with L.L.M. capabilities is a major computer science challenge.

Guests:

  • Daniel Rausch, Amazon vice president of Echo and Alexa


Additional reading:


We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.

Also, you can still get a special-edition “Hard Fork” hat! For a limited time, you’ll receive one when you purchase an annual New York Times Audio subscription for the first time (U.S. only). Go to nytimes.com/hardforkhat.

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.

Up next
Oct 3
Sora and the Infinite Slop Feeds + ChatGPT Goes to Therapy + Hot Mess Express
This week, we’re talking about the new A.I.-generated video tools and social media feeds from Google, Meta and OpenAI. Is this how A.I. is going to cure cancer? Then, the psychotherapist Gary Greenberg stops by to discuss his recent New Yorker essay about treating ChatGPT as a pa ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 26
The Great A.I. Build-Out + H-1B Visa Chaos + TikTok Braces for the Rapture
This week, an eye-popping $100 billion deal between OpenAI and Nvidia — along with an announcement about the construction of five new American data centers — has us re-examining our predictions of an A.I. bubble. Then, we try to make sense of the Trump administration’s changes to ... Show More
52m 41s
Sep 19
Charlie Kirk and Online Rage + Inside Trump’s Chip Flip + This Week in A.I.
This week, we discuss the assassination of Charlie Kirk, freedom of speech and the terrifying new reality of extremely online violence. Then The Times’s David Yaffe-Bellany brings us inside the blockbuster New York Times investigation into a $2 billion investment in Trump’s crypt ... Show More
1h 13m
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2025
The high stakes for AI Alexa
AI will fix everything, right? In this episode, friend of The Verge (and Waveform co-host) David Imel joins Nilay and David to talk all about Alexa Plus, and the AI-powered voice assistant Amazon thinks can do everything from turn on your lights to order your friend an Uber. The ... Show More
1h 56m
Sep 29
Big Tech Told Kids to Code. The Jobs Didn’t Follow.
For the past decade, a simple message has been delivered to a generation of American students: If you learn to code and complete a computer science degree, you’ll get a job with a six-figure salary.Now, thousands of students who followed the advice are discovering that the promis ... Show More
31m 20s
Aug 2024
Apple Vision Pro exasperations and new iPhone anticipation on the AppleInsider Podcast
Even Apple Vision Pro fans are getting frustrated by its lack of progress now, but perhaps Apple has its mind on the new iPhones coming soon, or the bigger, better, and possibly bendier iPhones yet to come.Contact your hosts@williamgallagher_ on Threads@WGallagher on TwitterWilli ... Show More
1h 1m
Aug 29
The Pixel 10's AI screamed at us
The Pixel 10 is in the house, and we’ve been testing them for over a week now. Allison and Vee sit down with Jake to discuss their tests — the good, the bad, and the poorly translated. They demo the Pixel 10's live phone call translations and dive into Pro Res Zoom, which uses AI ... Show More
1h 34m
Sep 11
Why the Best AI Might Be the One That Asks Questions
Welcome to Chat GPT, the only podcast where artificial intelligence takes the mic to explore the fascinating, fast-changing world of AI itself. From ethical dilemmas to mind-bending thought experiments, every episode is written and narrated by AI to help you decode the technology ... Show More
6m 44s
May 2025
Decolonizing the Future: Karen Hao on Resisting the Empire of AI
In his New York Times review of the book, Columbia Law School professor and former White House official Tim Wu calls journalist Karen Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, “a corrective to tech journalism that rarely leaves Silicon Valley.” H ... Show More
44m 32s
Sep 30
Amazon’s Hardware Event
All the headline’s from Amazon’s fall hardware event. Daniel Ek is stepping back from Spotify. A new Claude model. ChatGPT gets into the shopping biz. And OpenAI is likely launching it’s own TikTok clone soon to feature AI videos. And new buzzword alert! Microsoft wants you to st ... Show More
20m 43s
Sep 26
Is TikTok US Only Worth $14B?
Maybe… the TikTok thing has finally reached a resolution. Again. Maybe Amazon owes us all some money. Maybe that Neon app from yesterday was a bad idea. OpenAI and Meta make some super interesting strategic AI moves. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Trump signs ... Show More
23m 23s