Plain English with Derek Thompson

Tech Talk: AI Supremacy, TikTok’s Fate, and Crypto Decadence

Jan 24, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Kevin Roose, a New York Times columnist and host of the Hard Fork podcast, sheds light on the controversial future of TikTok and its influence on Gen Z, particularly amidst its legal battles in the U.S. The conversation turns to the rapidly advancing world of AI, with experts predicting breakthroughs that could reshape technology. Roose also delves into the rise of meme coins in the crypto scene, exploring their implications on financial culture and governance amid national security concerns. A thought-provoking listen!

01:04:17

Episode guests

Kevin Roose

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

TikTok's ongoing legal battles highlight the complexities of national security and data privacy amidst its widespread popularity among American users.

Experts predict transformative breakthroughs in AI within two to three years, raising questions about workforce implications and societal readiness for advanced technologies.

The cryptocurrency landscape is increasingly scrutinized for its potential to enable financial exploitation and political corruption, complicating regulatory efforts.

Deep dives

The State of TikTok in the U.S.

TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is caught in a complicated legal situation in America. Despite a bipartisan bill requiring the app to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban, the app remains widely used due to Donald Trump's executive maneuvering to avoid enforcement of the law. This unique state of affairs raises essential questions about national security and data privacy, primarily concerning the Chinese government's potential influence over American users' data. Arguments against banning TikTok center on free speech, suggesting that any restrictions could stifle the voices of many who rely on the platform for expression.

Intro

5min

TikTok's Legal Minefield and AI Future

14min

TikTok's Legal Limbo: A Digital Schrodinger's Cat

3min

The Degradation of TikTok and the Rise of Artificial General Intelligence

2min

Understanding AI's Evolution and Public Perception

4min

AI's Transformational Impact on Work and Society

25min

Meme Coins and the Gamble of Crypto

8min

The Convergence of Washington and Silicon Valley: Implications for Tech Policy

3min

Today, tech talk with an old friend of the pod, Kevin Roose of The New York Times, who is also host of the 'Hard Fork' podcast.

This is a show about everything. And it’s going to remain a show about everything because I’m a little bit interested in everything. But one cost of that purposeful lack of narrow focus is that sometimes you fail to communicate the gravity of the important things that are happening in the world.

And at the moment, I think some of the most important stories in the world are in tech—and more specifically, in the relationship between government and technology. A relationship that is closer now than it’s been in many decades.

We begin with TikTok—the most popular source of news for Gen Z in America and the most downloaded mobile app in the world in 2024. Last year a bipartisan bill signed by Joe Biden demanded that the parent company of TikTok, which is the Chinese firm ByteDance, sell its American business or else face a ban. Well, today, TikTok is legally banned in America, and also in broad use, because Donald Trump—the man who called for banning the app in 2020—saved it in 2025 by essentially declaring that he won’t uphold the law.

We then spend most of this episode talking about the crescendo of predictions from Silicon Valley that the AI frontier is nearing a breakthrough. In the past few weeks, members of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier labs have claimed that they are less than three years away from building AI agents that are, to borrow their language, better than humans at everything. I ask Kevin how widespread these predictions are, whether we should believe them, what it would mean if they’re right, why they might wrong, what’s the biggest bottleneck still standing in their way, and why it’s so hard for the news media to report responsibly on a story like this, where we’re asked to take seriously the economy-shifting potential of a technology that we can’t actually report on because it doesn’t actually exist.

And then, because I’m also completely bewildered by the bonfires of corruption that are erupting in crypto-land, we close on crypto.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com.

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Kevin Roose

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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Plain English with Derek Thompson

Tech Talk: AI Supremacy, TikTok’s Fate, and Crypto Decadence

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The State of TikTok in the U.S.

Impending Advances in Artificial Intelligence

Economic Implications of AI Agents

Corruption in the Cryptocurrency Space

The Convergence of Technology and Government

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts