Pivot - The Year in Pivot: AI, Unions, Taylor Swift, and Insults Galore

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

Kara and Scott look back at highlights from the biggest themes of the year: learning to live with AI, labor strikes, the economic impact of girl power, and a sprinkling of Elon. Plus, what would Pivot be without some insults, squabbles, and humblebrags?  Follow us on Instagram and Threads at @pivotpodcastofficial. Follow us on TikTok at @pivotpodcast. Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at nymag.com/pivot Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for Pivot comes from Virgin Atlantic. Too many of us are so focused on getting to our destination that we forgot to embrace the journey. Well, when you fly Virgin Atlantic, that memorable trip begins right from the moment you check in. On board, you'll find everything you need to relax, recharge, or carry on working. Buy flat, private suites, fast Wi-Fi, hours of entertainment, delicious dining, and warm, welcoming service that's designed around you. delicious dining and warm, welcoming service that's designed around you. Check out virginatlantic.com for your next trip to London and beyond, and see for yourself how traveling for business can always be a pleasure.

Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. 2023 has been a busy year, to say the least, with technological innovations, labor uprisings, corporate shakeups, and the usual smattering of tech bros doing stupid things, which is always eternal. We've talked about all of it here on Pivot, the good, the bad, and the idiotic. So let's take a look back at some of our coverage, starting with the technology that really changed the game. We saw the rapid growth of AI over the last 12 months with new ideas, new products, and new fears. My name is Sam Altman. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI. OpenAI was founded on the belief that artificial intelligence has the potential to improve

nearly every aspect of our lives, but also that it creates serious risks we have to work together to manage. At first, we were entertained and excited by the novelty of it all, learning the language of AI and what it could do. You're an LLM. You're a loving lady machine. Explain to people what LLMs are, please. Large language models, is that what it's called?

Basically, generative AI, right? Yeah, it's what feeds it. Yes, indeed. Yeah. And you give it a data set. And if you type in some tweets in the voice of Kara Swisher insulting Elon Musk, it'll come back with 10 or 12 reasonably good tweets. What do we think of this? Or is it just another, like, silliness that will go away? Well, it is powerful. I spent a bunch of time with my youngest, my 12 year old,

asking chat GBT or whatever it's called, questions, and seeing what it came back with. And first we started with the visuals, give me a Great Dane drinking Zacapa in the format or the design of the old masters or whatever. You did this with your child. Okay, go ahead. He's really into this stuff.

Zacapa? Okay. the old masters or whatever. You did this with your child. Okay, go ahead. He's really into this stuff. Is it Kafka? Okay. He's gotta have role models. Anyways, and then- I'm gonna do a London intervention on your children, but go ahead. Did I tell you I was hanging out in the lobby yelling at people holding a Bud Zero?

Yeah, you told me that. Yeah, I'm filing this all the way for the report I'm gonna need to do to London officials when I take your children. But we went on, but we said, okay, write a poem, write a story, summarize Harry Potter in two pages or less. And, I mean, it really is very, very powerful. I want to address the most important issue of all, which is dad jokes. GPT-335 had, this is, tell me a novel joke about Singer Madonna.

The answer was, why did Madonna go to the bank? To get a material loan. That's not very funny. Tell me a novel joke about Singer Madonna for GPT-4. Why did Madonna study geometry? Because she wanted to learn how to strike a pose in every angle. Scott, they are still funnier than you. But see, you're still, you're not, clearly not a pro at AI yet. What you have to do is say, tell me a dad joke in the voice of Richard Pryor, in the voice of, and it'll give you,

you can ask them to tell you a dad joke in the voice of Scott Galloway. I have enough content out there now that it'll make slightly off color, like inappropriate dad jokes, if you ask it to do it in my voice. But you can do it in the voice of George Carlin, in the voice of a lawyer,

in the voice of a Vice President Harris. This is not a good development. We need a law to stop this. It is intoxicating how exciting this is. But whether it's globalization or outsourcing or the web, you have to have regulators thinking really hard around, okay, how could this go really bad and put in place early some guardrails?

As the year progressed, we started speaking more about concerns and the need for, wait for it, regulation. All right, so what do you think the worries are? Microsoft just laid off an entire team of AI ethicists. Is it that kind of stuff? The inappropriate conversations are there. The opportunity to cheat and to trick is much higher. How do you balance that against, you know, I think one of the things that we didn't do was such a cheerleader for the internet at the beginning and a cheerleader for social media until far too late. So how do you incorporate these worries and their legitimate worries into being excited about the companies? Well, one, I mean, just some basics. I'm really hoping that AI is more subscription-based than attention-based, because I find that attention-based models

just lead to terrible places. It could have gone that way many years ago. 100%. I was talking to someone about that. The other thing is I hope that there are regulatory bodies formed that have real teeth and early hit somebody really hard that produces propaganda about mRNA vaccines that ends up creating misinformation.

And I don't know how it impacts 230. I don't think they're protected. Well, which is awesome. Which is awesome. Because if you think about it, all of these technologies have been a net good for the world, but the problems with the word net, if we'd had better regulation and held them accountable, we just wouldn't have as much self-harm. I think you're 100% right on the advertising part. If we at the beginning had been able to have subscription or a payment system, micropayment system, totally different ballgame. Scott being Scott, he mapped out a frightening prediction. What I would like before this legislation, if they're really honest about the need for

regulation, I'd like them all to raise their hands and come to a gentle person's agreement that they're going to find a way to watermark AI and they're not going to use AI-generated imagery pre the presidential election leading up to the election. There's some legislation. happen and i think we're about to see the the mother of all ai generated misinformation lollapalooza in q1 or q2 of next year as putin realizes the fastest blue line path the victory in ukraine is to get trump reelected and they'll start generating enormously damaging images and deep fakes and videos and content that's been ai tested that depositions biden and harris i think that it's going to come and then and then all the big tech firms will cash their check and come November the 5th, they'll decide that they should have taken more action and wring their hands and say,

we're sorry, we need to do better in 2028. Agreed. I just like to see one piece of legislation. Remove it from 230 protections. If it's AI generated and you elevate it, if you algorithmically elevate AI generated content, it no longer has the shield of 230. Let's start there.

You don't think there should be a tech department that regulates tech just like the FCC? Yeah, but that's not going to happen in the next six months. That might happen, and I do think there might be at some point a head of AI in NATO and an AI person. But by the time they inform the president, by the time they go on their listening tour, you're talking about legislation maybe in two years. We need Q1 and Q2 when the GRU, when Putin realizes it's easier to spend $7 billion than $70 billion to try and swing the American election. And they have a lot of scientists. They're very smart. They're very strategic. You're going to see just, you want to see AI, what AI does. We're going to know what it did after the election when all of a sudden it comes out. And by the way, it worked just fine with the shitty technology, right?

You know, propaganda works, you know. Anyway, we'll see. And by the fall, we had a front row seat to the next step in AI regulation. But we're going to the White House because President Biden is launching a new approach on AI on Monday, and we're going to be there to hear about it. The executive order will create standards and rules around AI, taking on algorithmic housing discrimination, cybersecurity, data privacy. It will require developers to follow new safety guidelines and create government standards to discern AI-generated content. So it's going to be interesting. My issue, as always, is why hasn't Congress acted

here? Why is this an executive order? But we'll listen to see what they have. Some of the stuff is leaked out of what's in it. You have been deemed an AI influencer by the White House, Scott. Are you going to behave? I'm being very serious. I'm very excited and a little bit nervous about it. So I'm excited to be here with you. I feel as if I have sort of an insider. I've never really felt, I haven't spent that much time in D.C. I definitely feel like a fish out of water here. But I'm just super excited. It took me, you know, 58 years to get to the White House. So here I am. Or here we are, I should say. Yeah. So from the AI rules, do you know anything about them? Or are you just going to show up and look pretty and I'm going to do all the talking?

I'm literally just going to listen and try and keep an open mind and be very supportive of what I – look, you can sort of heckle from the cheap seats about an absence of regulation and then they try to get out in front of this, which I think is the right thing to do. And I'm going to try and be very supportive. And should they want feedback on it, I think this is a big issue, and I respect the fact that rather than trying to let it grind through the gears of Congress or not, they're trying to get out in front of it. I think it speaks well to the administration that they're at least thinking about it. My guess is they won't get it right, they won't get it perfect, but for God's sakes, at least they're starting, right? And just as we were getting optimistic, there was a meltdown over at OpenAI.

This is a stunner in some respects, Steve. Yeah, Sam Altman is out as CEO of OpenAI. The board saying, quote, Mr. Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board. But Sam rebounded pretty robustly and got an offer. Hours later. Yeah, literally. Minutes later at Microsoft, which he didn't need to take in the end because he got his original job back following her pushback from OpenAI employees and investors.

When the dust had settled, here's what Kara and I had to say. When the dust had settled, here's what Kara and I had to say. Sam Altman is back as the CEO of OpenAI following that whirlwind of chaos last week, which I think we did a very good job covering it. OpenAI's board is getting a major rehaul with nearly all of its members replaced. Not all of them, though. The initial board includes Brett Taylor as chairman, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, where did he come from, and Adam D'Angelo, the only current board member remaining. I understand he was quite stubborn about that.

Sam appears to be ready to head back to work, posting on X with the new board. And with Satya's support, I'm looking forward to returning to OpenAI and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft. It's interesting. That was his first tweet. Looking back at it, who's the winners, losers, et cetera? I hate to use that reductive term, but it really there really a lot was happening here. So give me your overall just so people know neither Sam nor Greg Brockman, the former chair on the board. by the way. And this board structure obviously has to change. The last thing is, of course, that we have three white guys. It won't stay that way. So any thoughts on all these different things? I think in the fullness of time, the thing that happened here, or what I've been

thinking a lot about, is that if you think about the initial mission of OpenAI, I don't even think it was supposed to be a company. I think they initially saw it as a research institute or a think tank that would help, that would study and analyze and make recommendations around the possibilities and more importantly, the dangers of AI. And then they discovered we're really good at this. And then all of a sudden, it was a company that became worth $90 billion. So if you look at the shareholder side of this and the products and the value, the economic value they create, call that capital. smothered humanity in its sleep. Whether you think it was a good decision or a bad decision, but when there was $90 billion in an amazing product and the leader in the most exciting new technology emerged, all that fun, nice stuff, important stuff about humanity and the fears of AI, that. That shit got smothered in its sleep. That shirt got smothered, Scott.

I think it got, let's put this over. I get it. I get it. I get it. Let's put this over here on the shelf. That's all fine. That's adorable. Yeah.

But we were about to do a share buyback in a secondary, and Sequoia and Andreessen are in here and Microsoft put $12 billion to work and they didn't do it because they're worried about AI and they want to protect humanity from AI. They put 12 or 13 billion bucks into this thing because I think it's going to make a $3 trillion company worth $5 trillion. That is correct. And it'll just be very interesting to see how this moment ages because And it all comes back to the same thing for me, and that is for-profit companies are so amazing at generating profits, they shouldn't be trusted to anything else. They shouldn't be trusted to do anything else. And these ridiculous corporate, what are they called? Social purpose companies.

No, private benefit, social benefit companies. ESG investing. I think it's the ultimate Sheryl Sandbergian move where we're going to pretend that capitalism and the market can work things out on their own. That when people buy Patagonia or they buy dolphin-friendly tuna or they learn about transparency or some fake organization says that Southwest Airlines is an ESG investment, it dilutes the need for democratic institutions to regulate these organizations. You picked one company who I do think really does walk that dog. Walks the walk. Patagonia. Patagonia. Agreed. They walk the walk.

And I think that people who buy there, buy there because of that. And so does Ben and Jerry's. Successful version of that. Agreed. But go ahead. Agreed. And I would argue that constitutes less than 0.1% of the market. Yes, I would agree. The majority of research shows around ESG or social-minded companies, they're tiebreakers.

The consumers aren't willing to pay for them, but they will if they're the exact same product at the exact same price, they'll go with the one that's more, that doesn't, you know, that lets dolphins out of its nets or whatever. But this is, and I think it's time we come to grips with the fact that a lot of this, you know,

social benefit organization or ESG, jazz hands, is just that. Ah, thanks, Vivek Ramaswamy. Is that Ramaswamy's? Yeah, he does. It's one of his books. Anyway, it's a version of that. That hurt.

I know, I'm sorry, but that's what he wrote a whole book about. But go ahead. But to that point, there should be an FDA that says when your mom rewrites an opinion on a failed drug and then takes it public with a SPAC and you sell all of your shit to run to get a billion dollars, maybe there should be more government oversight. I worry that at the end of the day, we need to, democratic institutions need to regulate these companies. And that all these Byzantine structures and virtue signaling are nothing but a Sandbergian move to serve as a weapon of mass distraction from the fact that for-profit companies are this amazing part of capitalism.

They grow, they innovate, they're full. So let's get the government in there, in other words. Let's tax them at a fair rate and not let them take their IP offshore so they can avoid taxes. And then let's use those taxes to hire outstanding people who try to prevent a tragedy to the commons and regulate these companies. Yep, I agree. By the way, Vivek's book is called Woke Inc. Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam. It's all about ESG. Anyway, let me ask you a different question, though. Is board

structure? Obviously, Microsoft is getting a board seat. Satya Nadella posted about board changes, noting, we believe this is the first essential step to path to more stable, well-informed, effective governance. He kind of, that was the shot across the bow for him. And like, we're going to be watching. Like, we get, I think a lot of people were surprised they didn't have a seat at all or have even an observer status. I think that was, he really pulled the iron out of the fire, as they say here, of his investment in terms of getting this back in Sam's hands. But he definitely, if that had not turned out that way, it would have been very bad for Microsoft, as you saw on Friday after he was fired, that they did not have their hands around this in the way they needed to. You know, it'll be interesting to see if they get a board seat. The other women that were floated at one point was Lorraine Powell Jobs, Marissa Mayer, Condoleezza Rice. All these, some of these were rejected

because they were too close to Sam. It'll be interesting to see who they bring to the board. I sent, I put a list up to many, many people. You know, I put Fei-Fei Li on the board. Why not? Like she's neither a doomer nor a techno-optimist, you know, someone

like that who has sort of a middle ground, sort of like the Supreme Court. You want something that's a little more, I don't know, who is anyone you would think should be on the board? Larry Summers, I don't know where he popped out of, but sure. Look, okay, Microsoft, when I was, let's bring this back to Scott. In the early 70s, when my mom and dad were still married, there was like a year of happiness. And my dad was doing well at work. And I distinctly remember this one night where my dad was winning a golf tournament at Corona Del Mar. And I'd never seen my dad that happy. He was just so cheery.

And he said, do you want to go to the beach? And he said, let's all go to the beach. And we got in his Gran Torino. Oh, my. Is this going to the beach? And he said, let's all go to the beach. And we got in his Gran Torino. Oh, my. Is this going to end badly? Go ahead. And he said, do you want to drive? And I'm like, eight years old?

I'm like, yeah. And he's like, well, you can sit on my lap and put your hands on the wheel. Oh, my God. So I'm driving a Gran Torino sitting on my dad's lap. And he's laughing. I was so happy. And I'll bring this back. Okay.

Sam Altman is sitting on Sayonara's lap. But be clear, Sayonara owns the back. Okay. Sam Altman is sitting on Sayonara's lap. But be clear, Sayonara owns the car. Okay. And is in charge here. Microsoft is in charge. And granted, Sam has his hands on the wheel. But Microsoft will, if not control the sport, have huge influence over it. Yeah.

And they are going to, you know, this will be a profit-minded board. They'll add two or three diversity hires that, you know, which they'll need. So who would you bring on the board? Give me some names. I've given you many. I haven't thought about it. There's a lot of talented people. I would want to bring, I would absolutely want to bring someone who really understands AI and disinformation. I think those are the biggest threats. Also, Cara, and you've said this, you said something that's really resonated with me, and that is the people that design these technologies don't put in place the protections because they've never been victims themselves.

And again, we're setting up another technology that's being designed by rich white guys who don't understand what it's like to be the subject of revenge porn or to have your family attacked or feel physically threatened. The thing that people, I mean, as I was thinking through,

just going back to Microsoft, the concept of all of these employees going to Microsoft was never a viable, tenable solution because this is what would have happened. There were some employees, a lot of employees, because there's a war on talent at OpenAI that were making supposedly senior engineers making five million bucks a year because Sam's like, I can raise billions. This is a race. So what happens when they show up on the AI team in Microsoft and there's a senior engineer and she's making half a million? Yeah. And Bob from AI is making five million. Yeah.

Yeah, it was a problem. Yeah, I think it's interesting. I think that they, you know, someone that they should have on the board, a media person to under, you know, like Barry Diller is too old. But the lawsuits around copyright, they need a media. They need a media. Barry Diller would be great on the board. I'd love to see a guy like Jonathan Haidt on the board. I think he just has such a clear blue flame. They need tech people, though, too. They need people who understand the technology. They can't just have, like, I thought Lisa Su, but she's obviously

competitor in terms of the chips and stuff like that. But there's a bunch of, I had a list of them. Anyway, they have to be creative here and come up with names we have not heard of. And I would say young and old too, right? Anyway, one of the things that's very clear is the effective altruism movement, something that the former OpenAI board members were vocal about. A loser here, they've been attacking me all weekend, all the effective altruists. They're not very nice people, these altruists. Really? What have they been saying? I don't know any of them. Oh, just like, you don't understand. I'm like, I am so not a techno optimist. It's like, are you literally know who you're talking to? They think, obviously,

AI could destroy mankind. They favor safety over speed. Obviously, we favor safety. mankind, they favor safety over speed. Obviously, we favor safety. It doesn't mean you have to be slow, but we favor safety. As I wrote, one of the former board members, Tasha McCauley, was particularly apocalyptic about AI. I had heard that from many people. By the way, Sam Bankman-Fried was also one of the big believers and backers of effective altruism. Someone wants to call it ineffective altruism. It's really gotten a black eye. A lot of people have written about that. I mean, isn't it? Again, it goes back to it's reheated ESG, isn't it?

I guess. I don't know. I think it's a little more complex. But it's another one of those things that pops out of Silicon Valley and you're like, oh, just go take psychedelics. Yeah, that we don't need to be regulated, that we have moved to a different era of philosophical grandeur where we can all still get rich and the government shouldn't get in the way? Or am I being too reductive? Well, I'm not sure. It's that we know what's best. It's a small group of people who knows what's best for the rest of humanity. That's when I, whenever I'm with any of them, I'm like, so you're the one that's going to decide this. I feel like I'd rather have the dirty mass do it,

right? Like the mass, the mob. I prefer the mob over this group any day of the week, right? And I don't like the mob that much. Well, okay. Here's who's had the most consequential impact in the last 90 days, who has ring-fenced the war in the Middle East from becoming a regional in a World War III. And it's the most noble organization in the world. And it's us. And us is the U.S. government. And there will always be people

who want to build islands offshore or believe that, you know, different movements, that they should co-opt the government after they've made their money or cosplay the government. But I'm going with the most innovative payment platform in history called the U.S. dollar. And I'm going with the organization

that gets at least wrong over the long term. and that's the U.S. government. Yeah, I don't know. One of these things pops up in Silicon Valley all the time. I find, you know, some of the ideas are good, but making it into a movement occult feels really weird. Anyway, we'll see what happens. We'll see. Maybe you'll get on the board of, or I'll get on the board of it. Unlikely, Cara. I would be the GOP candidate. Someone was like, Cara should be on the board. I'm like, I would be the GOP candidate before I would get on the board of it. Unlikely, Cara. I would be the GOP candidate. Someone was like, Cara should be on the board. I'm like, I would be the GOP candidate before I would get on the board of OpenAI.

I don't know. You check a lot of boxes, Cara. I do. I would do it. I would do it. You check a lot of boxes. I do. I'd be irritating to them.

They don't know what I'm going to do. That's the issue. I'm not controllable. What do you mean to them? Yeah. Whether or not I end up on the board of OpenAI, which I should, the growth of AI over the next year. That'll happen. That'll happen. That'll happen. You know what? Nikki Haley's picking me as a running mate, too. The growth of AI over the next year. Better chance of that.

Better chance of that. It is true. But anyway, the growth of AI over the next year will make this year's look glacial by comparison, and we'll be covering every bit of it. That's Cagney and Lacey go to Washington. They were the original lesbians. Even I had a sense something was going on there in the 70s. I'm not dating Nikki Haley. Anyway. All right, Scott.

Let's go on a quick break. She's a good-looking woman. She's a good-looking woman. Let's be clear. When we come back, and Gavin Newsom's a good looking man for you. All right, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about the year of strikes

and one of your favorite subjects, the Barbie movie. Oh, God. Fox Creative. This is advertiser content from Zelle. When you picture an online scammer, what do you see? For the longest time, we have these images of somebody sitting crouched over their computer with a hoodie on, just kind of typing away in the middle of the night.

And honestly, that's not what it is anymore. That's Ian Mitchell, a banker turned fraud fighter. These days, online scams look more like crime syndicates than individual con artists. And they're making bank. Last year, scammers made off with more than $10 billion. It's mind-blowing to see the kind of infrastructure that's been built to facilitate scamming at scale. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of scam centers all around the world. These are very savvy business people. These are organized criminal rings. And so once we

understand the magnitude of this problem, we can protect people better. One challenge that fraud fighters like Ian face is that scam victims sometimes feel too ashamed to discuss what happened to them. But Ian says one of our best defenses is simple. We need to talk to each other. We need to have those awkward conversations around what do you do if you have text messages you don't recognize? What do you do if you start getting asked to send information that's more sensitive? Even my own father fell victim to a, thank goodness, a smaller dollar scam, but he fell victim. And we have these

conversations all the time. So we are all at risk and we all need to work together to protect each other. Learn more about how to protect yourself at vox.com slash Zelle. And when using digital payment platforms, remember to only send money to people you know and trust. only send money to people you know and trust. Scott, we're back with our end of year review, looking at some of our hottest takes on the biggest stories of the year and few stories got our listeners riled up like the entertainment strikes. What are we doing? Moving around furniture on the Titanic? It's crazy. it's crazy so the jig is up amp tp let's listen to one of your early takes on it the 80s in britain the coal miners uh i think it was the national coal mining prediction but go ahead i'm setting it up i don't want to be replaced by AI. I'm trying to provide some creative context here.

So I think it was the National Minecrafters or Mine Workers Union took on Margaret Thatcher. And basically Thatcher said, this is my moment to show that I'm the Iron Lady. We need to move to different types of energy and just said no over and over and basically broke the back of the coal miners union. The same thing's about to happen here with the writers. They have the same skill set or a similar skill set to authors, to journalists, and they make a lot more money. In addition, this is a dream come true for the studios and enforced multilateral pause in spending as they recalibrate and have cloud cover to come back with fewer employees. The union here, the riders union, has so badly miscalculated the power dynamic here. And the studios are going to slowly but surely, quietly, they are going to break their backs.

And this is going to end really poorly for the writers. It's going to end really – I can't – it's almost – I wouldn't be surprised if we found out that the studio heads got together and said, piss off and upset the writers' union. And so they go on strike and force all of us to stop spending in producing content. Because every individual is like, I got eight shows I haven't gotten to yet that I'd like to watch. So this is going to be remnant. This is the information age coal miner strike in the UK. It's going to end really poorly for the writers. They are totally, and all this virtue signaling with stars

that make $10 and $20 million a year showing up and pretending that they stand with their brothers and sisters, I just think it's hilarious. You're going to see this union come back to the table and the studios are going to just do what used to happen to me when I was trying to raise money through the 90s with VCs. They're going to grin fuck them. They're going to say, that's interesting.

Riders are really important to us. We should keep talking. And they're going to do nothing. And then when a bunch of the riders that are going to be replaced by AI anyways, start thinking, I can't pay my rent and start putting pressure on the union to settle, the union's going to end up with a worse deal than they had going into this thing. So my prediction, the information age equivalent of the British coal miner strike is happening with the rider strike and it's going to end the same way. Who's Margaret Thatcher?

So the studio heads are Margaret Thatcher. You don't get my analogy? I thought that was pretty good. I do. I get it. I agree with you. A bunch of writers and actors have written me, and I'm like, I don't think you have leverage here. A lot of people disagreed with us, Scott, but we made our point,

and we definitely called the end of the writer's strike. with us, Scott, but we made our point and we definitely call the end of the writer's strike. The Hollywood writers and studios have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. That's after a marathon five days of talks. The deal still needs approval from the union board and members for the strike to end. But first, let's talk about us because we predicted this pretty closely. We initially thought it might go on and on. We never thought it would be short. But let's hear what I said back in August 17th when Don Lemon was co-hosting. My prediction, I'm going to go separately, not on Donald Trump, but on the writer's strike.

I feel like it may settle by October 15th. I think there's some pain starting to feel by the studios who are in a better position from a leverage point of view. I think there's a lot of to feel by the studios who are in a better position from a leverage point of view. I think there's a lot of pain from writers and actors, and I don't think they're calling them rich people or is really working particularly well with the public. And I think they have to settle on some level and maybe push certain things down the road. I don't know. I just feel like maybe by October, they'll have to be settled. Here's what you said a little over a week ago. Okay. So Drew and Bill were shamed. They said, look, this is really awful. You're being an awful

person. But they effectively ended the strike. And I believe the writer's strike is going to end in the next 30 days, if not the next two weeks. Here's the thing. The writer's strike gets done within the next 30 days because the big guys that aren't Netflix, the big guys that sound like Netflix are like, okay, we've been played. Netflix, this was a feature, not a bug for Netflix. The writers, the most important people, the most talented and probably smartest and biggest voices that I can tell, my pulse marketing talk to them are like, I am fed up with this shit. We have handled this poorly.

So we got it right. Let's talk what's in the deal first. As the taping, we don't have the full details, but the New York Times reports the writers got some concessions on most of their demands from the studios, including bigger royalty payments for streaming content and guarantees that AI won't chip away at their credits and compensation. So what do you think? What do you think, besides we're geniuses? I think this is another signal of the beginning of the end of unions. Interesting.

People think they're stronger. Tell me why. And that's perfect for corporations. Continue to give labor the illusion that they're well-represented when only 11% of the workforce or about 3% or 4% of the population are even members of unions, such that corporations can slice and dice and either avoid unions or move to the 27 states in the union that basically

have outlawed unions. But look at it this way, and we won't know until we get the results. First off, no matter what the terms were, the WGA has to pretend it's a monumental victory. Otherwise, why exactly did I lose six months of income? But look at it this way, it's a three-year deal. Effectively, they took everyone's wages as a means of negotiating, Effectively, they took everyone's wages as a means of negotiating, took a lot of their members or all of their members down to a compensation of zero for six months. So over a three-year deal, that means that unless they got an increase of total compensation of 16%, they've lost money because people are out of work for six months. So I'll be very curious to see the language, but this hot girl union summer is nothing but a head fake in jazz hands.

The number of people who are actually in unions declined last year. And again, the stat that just kind of purposely embodies the dissonance here, the head fake around labor and its effectiveness is that 330 Starbucks unionized. Yes, you noted this last week.

Okay. Not one of them got a collective bargaining agreement. And that is for all the jazz hands and excitement and headlines around 330 Starbucks stores unionizing, it hasn't translated to a single cent in increased compensation for those workers. Well, not yet, right? Presumably not yet. They're just getting started, that particular group, right? We're just getting started with the end of this.

Okay. All right, now tell me, I want you to make, I know this is hard for you, I want you to make not a pro-union argument, but what was good about what they did? You think nothing. About what the writers did? Yeah, about what the writers and the actors and the UAW, et cetera, et cetera. They're bringing attention to the fact that in a nation where work is central to our economy and productivity and gives people purpose, and in a nation where we've had unprecedented prosperity, it needs to translate to progress. And a small nod towards progress is that anyone that works 40 hours should have some dignity and not live below the poverty line. Their aim is true. Their intentions are valid. They are the wrong construct. And instead of

going to join a picket line that represents 4% of America, Joe Biden should do his job and raise minimum wage for the first time in 15 years across 100% of workers. time in 15 years across 100% of workers. In the end, the writers won a $233 million three-year deal with producers, including pay bumps, bonuses, and AI regulations. Plus, you did say one phrase we don't often say. Can you guess what that was? I was wrong? I don't know. What did I say? Let me just say, I love labor. I just think the construct representing 11% of labor is not doing an effective job for all 100%. First off, let me acknowledge, I said it would break the backs of the union, the writers

union, similar to the coal miners. I was wrong. The writers union is going to be intact. I think they did get some, I don't know, substantive concessions. But I don't, quite frankly, I think there's some liberal media bias here calling this thing. They call it exceptional. The media takes the bait and says substantial, you know, substantial victory. And I've read through this agreement.

So let's just talk about it. victory, and I've read through this agreement, so let's just talk about it. They're getting, they garnered an increase of 5%, minimum increases of compensation 5%, then 4% at the three-year deal, and then 3.5%. So that's 12.5%. Now, you could discount it back because they're not getting the other four and the other 3.5% until the year's two and three, but let's just call it 12.5%. Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt. If it's a three-year deal and they forced everyone to make zero for five months, they got to get 14% just to get back to even water. But let's say, well, Scott, that's not fair because those increases will help them negotiate a new deal in three years. All right. Since their last deal, inflation is up 10%.

I think any economist is going to look at this deal and go, hey, writers, not any of your fault, but as a function of the economy and the fact there's too many of you, you are now making less money on a real wage level after this deal than you were when you struck the last deal three years ago. The Screen Actors Guild ended its strike on November 8th,

also winning higher wages and limits on AI plus streaming bonuses. I just can't fucking handle this. It was a giant fucking nothing burger. Well done. Well done. Declare victory and leave with your loss. Jesus Christ. Another prominent labor action we covered, the six-week rolling strike by United Auto Workers, a real union that had real leverage and didn't have their head up their asses and actually negotiated a better life for their constituents.

Anyways, and their innovative leader, Sean Fain, who won them sizable pay raises, cost of living adjustments, and more from the big three automakers. Don't forget, there was also the largest health care strike in U.S. history, also easily resolved. And as of this taping, there have been more than 350 labor actions in more than 600 locations throughout the country. Scott, has the year changed your mind at all about the state of unions in the U.S., which you pillory constantly? I don't think there's any denying that if you look at what the UAW has accomplished, and also they're starting to feel, I mean, they've reached down and they feel these two round things called testicles. They are going after bigger and bigger fish here. It would be impossible not to acknowledge the gains of unions, specifically the UAW.

Okay. But do you think that's a template for where people could go, where you actually do a good job for your constituents? Well, I mean, a longer conversation here. I think over time that with red states, right-to-work states, which is basically code for anti-union, that we have, unfortunately, an economic structure that preys on lower middle-income people and that we need more government intervention and regulation in one union called the federal government through minimum wage. But that's, anyways, that's my TED Talk. the federal government through minimum wage. But that's, anyways, that's my TED Talk. One of the biggest stories of 2023 was, of course, Girl Power. I actually don't believe that, but anyways, it's written here, which Cara reminded me repeatedly. Again, this copy is written by a bunch of women, not girls. Because we're correct, and you are,

as you said earlier, wrong. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Ken. around $1.4 billion globally. Beyonce's tour boosted the U.S. economy by $4.5 billion, and Taylor Swift's generated about $5.7 billion domestically, and she's still going, but Scott still struggled to get on board. She waved at me at her concert, and I didn't wave back. I'm expecting an album about me. She didn't wave at you. She didn't. She was calling the police. But let's listen to what you had to say. Yeah, there's a few things that have more cultural significance that I know less about. Like if you held a gun to my head and said- Oh no, don't say this. The Swifties will come for you. Say a Swift song. I wouldn't know. But everything I understand about her is that she's a great artist and a good person.

And most importantly, just because I know you want to bring this back to me. Okay. I went on ChatGPT. Yeah. I'm obsessed with this. I know you are. I'm literally obsessed with this. I know you are.

And I said, write a song about Taylor Swift falling in love with Scott Galloway. Oh, no. And it came back with this ballad. And the ballad was kind of vanilla. away. And it came back with this ballad and the ballad was kind of vanilla. So I decided to spice it up and I added the element that makes every story better, specifically my erectile dysfunction. So I said, in reference to his erectile dysfunction, let me read you just a few ballads. He's an NYU professor, silver-tongued and smart. In the sea of suits and ties, he's a work of art. Even though he's got a secret, one that makes him feel so small,

he's still the bravest man standing so tall. He's open and he's honest about his private fight, a struggle that's unseen, hidden in the night. But he stands strong, unashamed, wears his truth like a crown. Oh, Scott Galloway, your courage brings me down. Oh, no. Or she could fall in love with me, go on two dates, and then write ballads about me. She runs her, she's such a great business person.

She runs her own shit. She gets shit done. She puts on a great show. She's like the all, she's like a omniprimanor. I like, like she runs everything. Super impressive woman. She also didn't take the money from the FTXs of the world. She just looked at it and said, no.

Remember Barbenheimer weekend? It seems so long ago when Barbie and Oppenheimer came out on the same day and everyone went to both except Scott. Scott refused to see Barbie for a long time. I mean, even Matt Gaetz went before Scott did. I actually sat near him. Yeah. So you got that going for you. I wish I'd sat right next to Lauren Bobud.

Hello. Can she date my 17-year-old? Seriously. That is every... Oh, stop. Hold on. Beetlejuice. No.

Get to grab breasts and get big-headed twins yanked. Oh, my God. The ultimate date for a 17-year-old. That's our elected... Welcome to Congress. Welcome to Congress. Welcome to Congress. Look back at your idiotic comments on this. Representative Boebert, come on over.

All right, move on. Stop talking. Little matinee for the dog? Little matinee? Play the tape, producers. But first, the Barbie movie comes out today, and Matt Gaetz's wife doesn't think you should watch it. I actually went to the same screening as Ginger and Matt Gaetz. They were sitting right near me, posted photos of her and her husband on the red carpet at the premiere, which was at the British Embassy for the film, while giving her not so positive review among her complaints.

It, quote, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, which is weird because it's about dolls, and disappointingly low T from Ken. I don't feel this is correct, having seen it. And by the way, they were both laughing quite a bit during the movie. Just FYI. Just FYI. What did you think of the movie? I loved it. I thought it was great. I thought it was funny. That's interesting. Why? It's deep and shallow at the same time, if that makes sense. It's very funny. There's all kinds of kitschy stuff. There's all these throwbacks to old movies, whether it's the Truman Show or Singing in the Rain or Busby Berkeley musicals or, you know, a lot, The Wizard of Oz. So it's got a lot of that

fun to us and the costumes are fantastic. There's a lot of very funny jokes at making fun of feminism. It makes fun of woke men. It makes fun of manly men. It makes fun of Mattel quite a bit. So it has a nice sense of humor about everyone. And the whole thing about low T from Ken, the whole point is to talk about what Ken really is, which is an accessory to Barbie. As my wife, Amanda says, I thought it was really well done and adorable. There's a few, you know, kind of goofy notes. At one point, America Ferrera has to give kind of a feminist-y speech that I would have. They didn't need it. They were making those points without hitting you over the head with it.

But otherwise, Greta Gerwig is a gifted, gifted filmmaker. And I have to say, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were fantastic. He steals the show in a lot of ways because he's got this kind of boneheaded character. Reminded me a great deal of you, Scott. Thanks for that. No problem. I hear that a lot about me and Ryan Gosling. I get that a lot.

Yes. I get that a lot. I mean, in this role as Ken. You're a Ken. If you call me a Karen, I'm going to call you a Ken from now on. And he just is great. He steals the show because he's got so many great outfits, et cetera. Scott, it was a huge weekend at the box office.

Barbenheimer brought in a combined grand total of $244 million in ticket sales in the first three days. That's a big number. Barbie accounted for $162 million of that, while Oppenheimer brought in $82 million, well over expectations for both of those movies. That's 12.8 million tickets bought for Barbie and 5.8 million for Oppenheimer. It's set to be the fourth highest box office weekend of all time. And Greta Gerwig has sold the most tickets for female director in, I think, history. The people have spoken. Barbie is clearly the winner here, financially speaking. You have not seen Barbie still, even though it's about men and women and the things you talk about of men being lost. I will ask how you thought of

Oppenheimer, but Barbie was the clear winner financially and is leading the way and dragging and bringing Oppenheimer, which is also a fantastic movie, with it. And combined together, people are very excited and made it a appointment viewing, which hasn't happened in a long time for both of them, and they both spurred interest in each other. So, tell me what you thought of Oppenheimer. Well, first of all, the weekend and the box office receipts are really a win all around. I mean, if there was an industry that needed good news, it's not only just Hollywood, it's specifically movie theater. And something that was really inspiring, we did dinner before Mission Impossible at the Century City Mall.

I'm not exaggerating. The mall was electric and everyone was wearing pink. And there was- For Oppenheimer then. No, go ahead. For Oppenheimer. All the women were in pink. There was a lot of men wearing pink.

And I thought it was nice. I think anything that creates sort of a collective is nice. I think we need more of that. We actually, our plane got delayed on Saturday by four hours. So I said, all right, let's bomb to the movie theater. And we went to the Van Nuys Regency. And we were five minutes late to see Barbie. So we saw Alpenheimer.

When Scott finally did see Barbie, well, it didn't go that well. Let's listen. Okay, so I saw Barbie. Oh, oh,'t go that well. Let's listen. Okay, so I saw Barbie. Oh, oh, oh, okay. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. I just think it was such genius, like threading the duality of life and measured humor that was insightful, yet didn't take itself too seriously around identity politics. I really think it's one of the movies of the ages in a deeply relevant statement about our society. Oh my God. You're fucking with me, right?

I walked out. What? What? I walked out. What do you mean? Why? I mean, I bought a ticket. I went in. I sat there for 45 minutes. And as usual, I had to go to the bathroom. And I'm one of those theaters where it's a pain to go to the bathroom and I'm one of those theaters where it's a pain to go to the bathroom. I just didn't have the, I don't know. I didn't, I was too embarrassed to go back and I was a little bit high on edibles and I'm like, I'd rather go to Carl's Pharmacy. Here's how I saved the night. There's this amazing- Okay, why did you want, why didn't you like it? It's literally crossing the billion mark, but okay, go ahead. Okay. I'm a 48-year-old guy with erectile dysfunction who drinks bourbon and watches Goodfellas and

war movies at night. I mean, how could I like Barbie? Seriously. Come on. It's funny. And by the way, I just want to say. I want you to say one nice thing about it, but go ahead. I think she's spectacular.

I think he's spectacular. The set design was beautiful. I get why people like it. There was some really, that's not, what I will say is this. When I read the movie Money, or I read the book Moneyball, it's about analytics and sports. I'm aware, yeah. And I heard they were making a movie. I'm like, how on earth are they going to make a movie?

And they made a fantastic film out of something I never thought could be made into a movie. What I will say is, it's not easy to make a movie about Barbie because it's so charged. It could just go so many wrong ways so often. And they do, I thought they thread the needle perfectly. I thought it laughed at itself, but it also had demeaning. I love the black and white scenes with the mother and the daughter. That stuff always tugs at my heart. But yeah, I saved the evening. I left, I walked out. What was happening when you walked out and had to pee? What was happening when you were peeing? You didn't even get to Casa Dojo Mojo with Ken?

You didn't get to that? They were, America Ferreira, is that her name? And her daughter pulled up to save her from somewhere. Yeah, from Mattel. From Mattel, yeah. That's where, that's why. You didn't get back to Barbie, to Barbie land with Ken? I went back to something better.

I went to this place in Aspen called Carl's Pharmacy and it has all these old toys. And I got, get this, I got a stretch Armstrong. I got a miniature version of an Etch-A-Sketch. I got a lint brush and a Clark bar and the book Dune. I mean, how do you know I was on edibles without knowing I was on edibles? And then I went home and just stared at my purchases for an hour, and I watched TikTok. It was a fantastic evening. I don't get why Barbie is so popular.

There's a whole dude section. There's a whole male identity section. I get it. I get it. I still don't understand. How can she be so popular when her knees don't even bend? That's good. That's good. You know what's going to have to happen now? You need to watch the rest of it, and you and I are going to watch the rest of it. You and I in your apartment in New York. This qualifies as workplace harassment. The matriarchy is, again,

forcing me to do things I don't want to do. Oh, you're such an idiot. The women are making money and making shit happen. And you're eating edibles and playing with Stretch Armstrong. That pretty much sums it up. That's a surprise to you. More women, more single women own homes than single men. Women are killing it. Our listeners were angry at you for not staying for the whole thing, Scott, and justifiably so. We got a lot of emails about that, but you did

a little better with Taylor Swift once you stopped telling terrible jokes about her. Taylor Swift was amazing! Oh, you went to Taylor Swift? Yeah, I got you a friendship bracelet. I got your friendship bracelet. I would like that. I have them with my son, actually, or my sons. Yeah, yeah, I have several for you. One says reputation. The other says hater's going to hate. Other says swift as fuck boy. Was it great? People say she puts on an amazing show. Scott, let me just say, by the way, it was crawling with Silicon Valley people who had the fancy seats. I had good seats. I had good seats, but not like the fancy down on the floor seats. I have a couple of observations. What an astonishing performer. What an astonishing, she delivered, I don't, what's beyond thousand percent?

I mean, first of all, the visuals were amazing. So she used visuals beautifully on these screens that were just like such an, it was like a theatrical show in that regard, but beautiful and amazing. She shifted from really like very elaborate dance stuff and moves to like her gal with a guitar or a piano. Amazing. She commanded this, it's a Levi's Stadium. I think it was 75,000 people. She held them in the palm of her hand. She also, 44 songs got three and a

half hours. Let me, I can't even, and without much of a break, costumes were astonishing. Her dancers, she gave a lot of space to them. And so they look like they were having fun. She, they made her look good. I mean, this one, and then she spoke to the audience and she's so, you know, she's obviously highly intelligent, but her connection with the audience is,

the girls around me were a lot of young girls, a lot of teenage girls, a lot of teenage girls, losing their minds. But also older women, a lot of dads, a lot of dads. Like Pivot, let me just say, I did a lot of selfies with dads who were there with their daughters. They were thrilled to see me asking all that. They don't agree with you on Taylor Swift, by the way. They said, get lit, teach Scott about Taylor Swift. And I said, okay, I shall. Can we make a deal? If I stop with the dick jokes, will you never bring up Taylor Swift again?

No, no, no. Because you're not going to stop with the dick jokes. No, it's fair enough. Fair enough. Big Ed and the twins are still with us. All right. But let me just say, dick jokes do not, you know, are not the engine of our economy and keeping us out of recession. All right, Scott, one more quick break. When we return, it was a stellar year for our banter and insults. We'll share some highlights. Support for the show comes from Indeed. If you need to hire, you may need Indeed.

Indeed is a matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Listeners of this show can get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and say you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.

If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Scott, we're back. One of the biggest complaints we get is that we talk about Elon Musk too much. And we do talk about him a lot. But whenever we talk about him, there's a common thread. Let's see if you can pick it out. Greatest self-inflicted wound in history in terms of public perception is Elon Musk. Had he never downloaded the Twitter app, would be the most admired person universally globally, hands down. Elon Musk has responded to the new Twitter competition in a characteristically classy

manner. On the day Threads was unveiled, he threatened to sue Meta over it, which most people think is nonsense. A few days later, he tweeted, Zuck is a cuck, and challenged Zuckerberg to, quote, a literal dick measuring contest ruler emoji. What a funny, he's 52 people. Let me just start again. He's 52 years old. He's an old man. I realized I'm playing I'm a therapist here. This isn't the person who is very happy at their steady

state. You know, it's just, this was a very expensive way to feed his ego. And I'll tell you, if this guy had a dollar for every really stupid and racist thing he did, he'd be, oh wait, he does. He does. Never mind. But here's my mini review of the Musk bio. Sad and smart son,

solely morphs into mentally abusive father. He abhors, except for with rockets, cars, and more money. Often right, sometimes wrong. Petty jerk always. Might be crazy in a good way, but also a bad way.

Pile O' Babies, not Steve Jobs. You're welcome. That's my review. Might be crazy in a good way, but also a bad way. Pile-O-Babies, not Steve Jobs. You're welcome. That's my review. Pile-O-Babies. Pile-O-Babies. You know, I think the most generous thing you could say is it was an intense bout of jet lag, but there's something going on here. And I, of course, went to chat GPT, and I typed in, what are the symptoms of a narcissist having a breakdown? And it came back with intense rage and anger, blame shifting, emotional dysregulation, paranoia, depression, anxiety, manipulative behaviors, isolation, self-destructive behaviors, increased sensitivity to criticism and breakdown of relationships. I mean, his statements were so ridiculous, Kara. Do you realize that 497 of the Fortune 500 companies in the United States are clearly blackmailing us because they refuse to advertise on our platform? And then to go after Disney, and it's like, just the whole thing was just, and to be that profane and that aggressive,

and then to somehow threaten advertisers that the world will hold you accountable if Twitter goes down. I thought the most disturbing part of someone who raises boys, I'm talking about as a 13-year-old, just the incredible hardship and dysfunction he faced. And so his answer or his response to this incredible abuse, being the son of a model and an emerald miner, was the decision to save humanity by making us an interplanetary species. I mean, he's literally, he's just like kind of fucking lost his shit. Yeah, he's deluded. This is a 52-year-old man, okay? He's a 52-years-old. This is how he behaves. It's shameful.

I think we've made ourselves clear, but if not, I'm sure there will be more to discuss in 2024. Anyway, speaking of chodes, this is my favorite part of the show as we look back at some of our best insults and banter. But first, let's start off with some, and there's a lot to pick from, of your not-so-humble brags, or your, as I like to call them, the weakest flexes in the world. Twitter will have a new chief twit. Last week, Elon Musk teased that he had found a new CEO to take over parts of the company. On Friday, he Musk teased that he had found a new CEO to take over parts of the company. On Friday, he confirmed what Kara Swisher had long known. Another prediction. It wasn't really a prediction. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That the job was going to Linda Iaccarino. By the way, Wall Street Journal, I did know it. Stop it. Stop pretending you're an exclusive. I've been on the end of that call from Uber and Yahoo and all these companies where you had shitty CEOs.

And you call me and say, I can't believe you. You were so right. And I'm like, I literally am going to hang up. I can't believe you were so right. They do. They say that. Don't we like me? I feel impressed that you threw the word declension into the conversation, Kara.

You get points for that from the vocab gods. I got 700 on my SATs, but go ahead. No idea what that means. Go ahead. I've inferred it from the context, Scott. On our emergency pod, when we taped on Friday, they had real problems or scandal. Let's play a clip again where Kara's the hero. I'm not the hero. I just want you to respect my reporting skills. I am actually, I just want you to respect my reporting skills.

I am actually, I think, the finest tech reporter in Silicon Valley. So you might respect me for who I am. Listen to you. People love it when we disagree, which we always do with grace and maturity. Here are some examples. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Here's some examples. I thought your whole thing this year was to be nicer.

You remind me of sickness and death. I get that every day when I see myself naked. I don't need you showing up with your hoarse voice. I'm in very good shape otherwise. All right, Scott, when you decide to become less of a douche nozzle, we will move on. Douche nozzle? Douche nozzle. It's my favorite word.

That's what the young people say. Let's just go a little bit behind the music here. I get invited, and so you find a way to muscle your way. I didn't find a way. I was also, it said Kara and Scott, by the way, my name first. And no one forwarded. No, I got. I will send you the invitation to both of us.

And they forgot to forward it to me. It came into our pivot email. And they were wondering why I hadn't responded. I have been hauling a suit around the great... You're wearing a suit? Oh, not me. I'm going to the White House. You're not wearing a suit?

No, I've been there a hundred times now. You've never been there. How exciting. Yes, I know. Which means I know you're a hundred times more important than me. No, I've never been there. I didn't say that. I've just been there a hundred times.

I've lived in Washington. Well, yes, you did, kind of. Little bit. No, I didn't. I didn't. Stop with your weird insecurity about everything. I just happened to live there. My insecurity is called common sense.

Have you met me? I covered it as a reporter. So I have obviously been there. It's wonderful. You're going to love it. I'm really excited. It's a thrill every time I go there. First off, when I saw in the script today that we were going to replay some back and forth between you and me, it was like watching this crime drama I grew up on called Scooby-Doo, where there was always just a shock at the end that the innkeeper was the one who was the ghost.

And I'm like, whatever this back and forth is between Kara and me, Kara is the hero, and she is right. I was, though. Actually, can you just acknowledge that my reporting was stellar? You were right. But let me, first off, when I see people on the street, they don't say, oh, you bring the greatest insight around tech. You and Kara, they say, we love the chemistry between you and Kara. So let me just go meta here and find out why you are so desperate to always be the hero.

Hold on. Hold on. I will tell you why, but go ahead. Hold on. I grew up on two hours a day. We were an experiment in Laguna Niguel on the shores for cable TV. I grew up on four episodes a day of I Dream of Jeannie and one episode a day of Scooby-Doo. Me too.

So I am a sexist who doesn't trust people close to me. And this is what I think happens to you. You'd walk into the garage and your mom would be talking to Jeffrey. And like moms, you know, most moms who treat their boys with, Jeff would say, mom, can you get me another six pack? And she'd go get it. And he'd be like, I'm thinking about going to med school. And she'd say something along the lines of, well, whatever you want, because mommy loves you and you are wonderful. And then you would walk into the garage and she'd say something like, you look fat in that. Or what are you wearing? You look like a lesbian. And the need, I just want you to know, you matter. We love you. You matter. We love you. How about I was wrong? How about that might come out of your mouth?

I get it wrong all the time. I constantly say I get it wrong all the time. Here's the deal. I was listening to it and you mansplained me on something. And you were playing it over and over and over. No, only because I had to deal with that online. This is the closest thing to porn you watch. You just listen to that. Stop talking. Last year, our signature insult was salacious fucks, but we came up with some new ones this year.

Check them out. He's a fucking idiot. A mendacious, consistent serial liar. He was just a crusty old fuck. Greg, fathead, and the other guy, Jesse, whatever the fuck. The blowjob on a piece of paper. Sad, flaccid, punchy men in their 50s. Noodle, noodle spine people.

Okay, Scott, that's the show. We'll be back next year for more pivot, more insults, more love. Because we love each other more than ever. That's it. More than ever. If you're wrong, I don't want to be right. I'm so excited for Barbie 2. We're going to go together.

It's going to be so exciting. You complete me without Barbie. Okay. Today's show was produced by Lara Naiman, Travis Larchuk, Zoe Markets, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Intertott engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows,

Neil Saverio, and Gaddy McBain. Make sure you subscribe to this show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back in the new year for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Greatness is in the agency of others. So one more time, today's show was produced by Lara Naiman, Travis Larchuk, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Andretat engineered this episode. Thanks again to Drew Gross, Neil Severio, and Gaddy McBain.

A wonderful team, a wonderful year. Thank you so much. And speaking of great, one last time, Taylor Swift. There you go.