David Remnick

Right now, we are living through some of the most tumultuous political times our country has ever known.

I'm David Remnick, and each week on The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'll try to make sense of what's happening alongside politicians and thinkers like Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, and so many more.

That's all on The New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Right now, we are living through some of the most tumultuous political times our country has ever known.

I'm David Remnick, and each week on The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'll try to make sense of what's happening alongside politicians and thinkers like Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, and so many more.

That's all on The New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour.

I'm David Remnick.

Just a few months ago, Andrew Ross Sorkin, the financial journalist, was on this program.

And he quoted a figure that was really remarkable.

Virtually all of the recent economic growth in the United States, Sorkin told me, is investment in artificial intelligence.

A lot of people are concerned that a huge bubble around AI is about to pop and take the economy with it.

And a few people continue to feel that AI is just overhyped.

But I don't think there's really much doubt at this point that in our lifetimes, at least, AI is going to bring changes as significant as the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago.

At the center of this world-changing technology is a man named Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.

It was OpenAI that really brought artificial intelligence into most of our lives with ChatGPT, and that exploded into our consciousness in 2022.

But the chatbots are just the tip of the iceberg.

OpenAI is planning to go public this year, and it recently fundraised more money than any company ever.

Ronan Farrow and Andrew Morantz have spoken with over 100 people closely connected to Sam Altman and with Altman himself many times.

They began by looking in particular at the week when Altman was very suddenly fired from OpenAI and days later reinstated as CEO.