Hard Fork

‘Something Big Is Happening’ + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good Thing

13 Feb 2026

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Description

This week, we discuss Wall Street’s software-stock sell-off and a viral essay on X about the potential for widespread job displacement from A.I. Then, the New York Times reporter Alexandra Alter walks us through the process that a growing number of writers are adopting to churn out romance novels with help from A.I. chatbots. Finally, we each share one bit of good tech-related news — a new way to make playlists on Spotify and progress toward decoding whale sounds. Guest:Alexandra Alter, a New York Times reporter covering books and publishing. Additional Reading:The Dark Side of A.I. Weighs on Tech StocksMatt Shumer’s essay “Something Big Is Happening”The New Fabio Is ClaudeHow a New A.I. Tool Fixed My Single Biggest Problem With SpotifyHow A.I. Trained on Birds Is Surfacing Underwater Mysteries We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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‘Something Big Is Happening’ + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good Thing

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Hard Fork

‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future

‘Hard Fork’ Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy Cohn

Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT

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