Oswald Losch

Taylor, Natasha, really good to see you all.

I want to ask you today about the sunsetting of Ask.com and any fond farewells you all have for the artist formerly known as Ask Jeeves, who I think to my mind kind of scooped the chatbot moment by almost 30 years before dying too young.

That's true.

Barry Diller didn't have enough vision for the SpaceX merger of us.com.

You were flexing before we started about how you were vibe coding into the early hours last night.

Okay, let's get into it.

Welcome to Tech Stuff.

I'm Oswald Losch, and this is The Week in Tech, where I'm joined by three of the most plugged-in reporters to break down what's really happening in tech right now.

Today, we're joined by Reid Al-Brigotti, tech editor for Semaphore and tech founder, Natasha Tiku, tech reporter for The Washington Post, and Taylor Lorenz of Usermag.

Reid, I want to start with you.

There was a story this week in the New York Times that the Trump administration wants oversight of AI models before they're released.

This was kind of a stunning about-face, because I remember Vice President Vance's trip to Europe last February, where he scolded all of the European leaders about the fact they were strangling AI's development with all of their nasty regulations.

What's going on here?

Wait, Natasha, you're way ahead of me.

I don't know what the licensing regime or the Overton window is, so you've got to elucidate.

Including introspection, by the way.

I mean, like David Sachs, who was the AI czar and the kind of great booster for the AI industry within the White House has left his position.

Is this one of those moments where like there's a MAGA split and the kind of regulating side or the more anti-tech side or an ascendancy?

Or is this just kind of post-mythos noise?

Like how significant is this?