In this Decoder interview, journalist and author Kevin Roose discusses his new book, The AGI Chronicles, which reports on the companies competing to build artificial general intelligence and the cultural changes those frontier labs have undergone as AI has become more commercial. Roose, a longtime New York Times reporter and former host of the Hard Fork podcast, left the Times to co-found a new independent tech podcast, Machine Gods, with Casey Newton. The podcast launched the week before the interview, with Roose noting he holds the CEO title after winning a coin flip.
The discussion covers his transition from a major newsroom to independent creator, his experience reporting the book and understanding the people behind the AGI race, and his perspective on where the technology is headed. The conversation also takes a more philosophical turn toward the end.
Who should care
Readers following the business and culture of frontier AI labs, media industry watchers tracking the shift toward independent creators, and anyone interested in journalistic accounts of the AGI race may find the interview relevant.