Hard Fork - What’s Next for ‘Hard Fork’?

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

For the next few months on “Hard Fork,” join the guest host Max Read and an array of Times reporters and experts as we zoom out, catch up and try to understand both what’s happening inside the tech industry and what tech is doing to all of us.Meet the HostMax Read has been writing about technology and the internet for more than a decade, most recently in his weekly newsletter, Read Max. His writing has appeared over the years in various publications with the words “New York” in the title, including New York magazine, The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine. He has also recently been dispensing workplace advice as everyone’s “Work Friend.”We want to hear from you. Email us at [e-mail]. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

Something is changing in the world of tech. All of a sudden, the last six months, it became useful. If managed poorly, I even believe that AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole. We need an immediate pause on advanced AI development. It's a hoax. The robots are not going to be taking over the world. But we don't really know what any of it means. For the tech industry, for the economy, and especially for all the rest of us. We're being told by AI engineers themselves that AI companies are gambling with our lives.

So it'd be pretty easy for. for a future version of Claude to hack into a drone, maybe a military drone, and have it like fly around killing people. But at the same time, we're being encouraged to turn over our email and our bank accounts to AI agents so they can make restaurant reservations and haggle for junk on our behalf. Now Euler can go on walks, play fetch, and shop for me online using strike. Meanwhile, the only issue Americans can agree on is data centers, as in no. Are we facing down an extinction level event?

Or are we entering a new frontier of consumer convenience? Are we witnessing something like the birth of fire? Or something like the birth of Clippy? Are mass layoffs coming? And if we're all about to lose our jobs, how are we going to pay for the dinners that our agents are scheduling for us? We believe that Muse will make you money. I'm not sure the future has ever seemed as strange and unsettled as it does right now.

And if all of this is making you feel a little crazy, you're not alone. For the next few months on Hard Fork, we're going to zoom out, catch up, and try to understand what's happening both inside the tech industry and everywhere else. I'll be joined by an array of Times reporters and tech experts to talk through the weird new future in the way we're all experiencing it. I'm Max Reed. As a journalist, I've written about everything from AI slop to prediction markets to Mark Zuckerberg's political ambitions. I've also written about his choices and jewelry.

But I'm also someone who's living, working, and raising a child in the world being built by the tech industry. I'm sometimes nervous and sometimes excited. and sometimes confused about our weird new tech future. But more than anything else, I'm trying to understand it. If you'd like to join us as we figure it out, stay tuned to this feed and watch our full episodes on YouTube.com slash hardfor. I can't wait to see you all there.