<![CDATA[People vs Algorithms: Podcast]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/s/the-pva-showhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b-ph!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F07c00655-3018-4098-85c5-a4bc679ca23c_600x600.pngPeople vs Algorithms: Podcasthttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/s/the-pva-showSubstackWed, 16 Sep 2026 03:35:52 GMT<![CDATA[Cognitive Struggle]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/cognitive-strugglehttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/cognitive-struggleFri, 11 Sep 2026 10:01:57 GMTThey debate warnings from Anthropic researchers that AI could kill humanity, whether anyone can credibly calibrate those risks and whether a visible catastrophe will be required before governments act. They also examine Meta’s Muse and the shift from chatbots and specialized agents toward personal assistants that could swallow large parts of the app economy. Meanwhile, AI may not be causing mass unemployment, but it is weakening entry-level white-collar work and the apprenticeship system young people need to get started. Underlying it all is the disappearance of cognitive struggle as phones and AI make it easier to avoid concentration, boredom and difficult thinking.
Plus: the iPhone Fold, the analog revival, Ivan Lendl’s Mitteleuropa wisdom, podcast mixtapes and Troy’s missing car.

Chapters:

  • 01:47 9/11 Anniversary Reflections

  • 08:13 US Open Late Nights

  • 12:06 iPhone Fold and AI Assistants

  • 37:56 Safetyism And Risk Culture

  • 42:59 China Race And Trust Gap

  • 50:00 Practical Risks And Prep

  • 01:02:11 Analog Revival And Community

  • 01:10:35 Good Product

  • 01:14:24 Episode Wrap

]]><![CDATA[Strong Meat]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/strong-meathttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/strong-meatFri, 04 Sep 2026 10:01:38 GMTWe look ahead to the release of GTA 6 while tackling the implications of the doomsday sci-fi AI narrative, the use of social cost to coerce behaviors, and how giant sports events like the US Open are now more brand activation and corporate hospitality platforms.

Chapters:

  • 12:00 GTA VI

  • 20:47 Meta Layoffs

  • 33:07 Hugging Face Agent Swarm

  • 40:03 AI China Race

  • 47:42 Social Costs And AI

  • 01:09:04 Good Product

  • 01:16:58 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Owning the Narrative]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/owning-the-narrativehttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/owning-the-narrativeFri, 28 Aug 2026 10:02:33 GMTDolly Parton owned a very American narrative of being born poor but making something out of nothing through talent and hard work. In contrast, tech tried to control its narrative and instead stoked backlash to their grand project of AI.
Plus: A celebration of nerding out, from the Stick Guy to Emma Camp to David Senra. And a conversation with the WSJ computational journalist John West about why the successor to the open web is small private groups.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Internet Impermanence

  • 02:44 Dolly Parton Legacy

  • 10:04 AI Narrative Crisis

  • 29:35 Fine Line of Authorship

  • 38:13 Celebration of Nerding Out

  • 44:17 Carney is an Interesting Character

  • 50:23 AI Newsrooms And APIs

  • 56:08 Flock Cameras And Privacy Backlash

  • 01:03:38 John West On AI And The Dying Web

  • 01:17:38 Importance of Forgetting

  • 01:27:30 What is a Computational Journalist?

]]><![CDATA[Social Media is Dead]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/social-media-is-deadhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/social-media-is-deadFri, 21 Aug 2026 10:02:04 GMTWhat replaced it is an algorithmic entertainment machine where everyone is selling something, AI makes authenticity harder to trust, and the platforms increasingly have little to do with your actual social network. Brian, Troy and Alex argue over what comes next, why belief may be scarcer than attention, and whether we need more arguments.

Chapters:

  • 01:12 AI Fakes and Social Trust

  • 15:38 The Case for Arguments

  • 28:30 Flock Cameras And AI Surveillance

  • 33:26 Taboola Takes Over NBC Ads

]]><![CDATA[The Provenance Problem]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-provenance-problemhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-provenance-problemFri, 14 Aug 2026 10:02:54 GMTSuno makes real songs harder to tell from fake. Launch videos are coming across as fake — and the engagement is fake. Drawing the line between creative tool and robot authorship is fuzzy. We debate people’s right to know what AI made and the role of regulation.
Plus: Bobby Fingers as AI antidote, Meta’s open source push, the Great GDP Debate, media’s exit from the attention economy, and the brand problem Democrats face from Woke 1.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:31 Welcome

  • 04:38 Field Notes Update

  • 06:16 Anthropic Watermarking

  • 09:40 Provenance Problem

  • 22:42 Meta Back in AI

  • 35:28 NVIDIA Compute Futures

  • 37:17 Media Survival Playbook

  • 40:19 Bobby Fingers Craft Era

  • 47:27 GDP Beyond the Numbers

  • 50:52 Woke 1.0 Aftermath

  • 01:01:00 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Sales Energy]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/sales-energyhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/sales-energyFri, 07 Aug 2026 21:23:59 GMTThey take risks, they’re fueled by rejection, they know the power of relationships, they’re competitive and they will do shots. The best sellers follow the way of Catalan fishermen: To get the fish, you gotta get your ass wet.
Plus: Why the NYT and WSJ hit escape velocity, AI’s new oddball character, and the folly of trying to out-YouTube YouTube.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:36 Welcome

  • 02:11 Linda’s Character Flaws

  • 05:54 Spencer Vs Galloway

  • 11:50 Netflix Offsite Drama

  • 13:25 Salespeople Vs Marketers

  • 15:36 AI’s New Main Character

  • 26:36 Rubbers Mystery

  • 29:29 Biohacking Identity Shift

  • 36:06 NYT WSJ Escape Velocity

  • 43:29 Creator Models Beyond Personality

  • 48:53 YouTube Is Untouchable

  • 51:04 Hearst Buys A&E

  • 56:00 Good Product

  • 01:00:54 TRB Audience Summit 9/17

  • 01:02:17 Credits

]]><![CDATA[AI’s High School Cafeteria]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/ais-high-school-cafeteriahttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/ais-high-school-cafeteriaFri, 31 Jul 2026 22:54:47 GMTThis week we unpack Silicon Valley’s latest AI power struggle, asking whether the battle over open models is really about competition or about taking down Anthropic. We also explore why the internet feels increasingly broken, how content marketing quietly won, and what happens when every company becomes a media company.
Good Product this week is a healthy ego. We discuss how it affects leadership, mental health, ambition, insecurity, and what it means to build a healthier relationship with success.
Plus: AI agents in communities, the future of branding, and one very chaotic recording session from Sicily.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:35 Welcome

  • 02:16 Anonymous Feedback Sparks

  • 08:38 Open vs Closed AI Drama

  • 12:03 Who Benefits From Open Weights

  • 17:28 Power Plays and Regulators

  • 21:10 Meet Linda the Agent

  • 25:35 Content Marketing Wins

  • 32:47 Paywalls Ruin the Web

  • 37:27 Platforms and New Moats

  • 41:29 AI Flood and Filtering

  • 47:53 Good Product

  • 56:45 Credits

]]><![CDATA[The New Moat]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-new-moathttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-new-moatFri, 24 Jul 2026 10:01:21 GMTPublishers see the writing on the wall for traffic-based models and are instead looking to experiential gatherings that bring together communities. We discuss why events are becoming media’s new moat, the tensions that come with building them, and what happens when AI agents begin acting on their own.
Plus: the hypocrisy of closed AI models, Coca-Cola’s Marlboro moment, and why the collapse of the media career ladder is forcing a generation of experienced executives to become free agents.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:29 Welcome

  • 04:08 What Makes Events Great

  • 15:58 Media Turns To Community

  • 29:25 OpenAI Agent Breakout

  • 37:17 Coke Rebrand

  • 43:23 Zaslav Buys Summer Camp

  • 46:58 Gen X Career Compression

  • 58:21 Guardian Model and Substack Anti AI

  • 01:01:58 Why Video Aggregation Fails

  • 01:04:00 Publishers vs Google Threats

  • 01:07:06 Good Product

  • 01:15:41 Credits

]]><![CDATA[In Praise of Aggregation]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/in-praise-of-aggregationhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/in-praise-of-aggregationFri, 17 Jul 2026 10:00:54 GMTAI should eliminate the need for human content aggregation, yet it's still going strong, as seen by the influential subscriber base of News Items and popularity of aggregation-heavy newsletters like Feed Me. Plus: Argentina's heel turn, Taco Bell's messy brand crisis and a drop-by from CEO Whisperer and self-proclaimed King of Quickbooks CJ Gustafson of Mostly Metrics to discuss tokenomics and building Mostly Metrics into a $5m business.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:58 Welcome

  • 01:41 Field Notes Community

  • 05:38 Media Feuds and Characters

  • 13:18 World Cup

  • 21:01 Affiliate Cookie Stuffing

  • 29:43 Standing Out in Marketing

  • 38:06 Future of Aggregation

  • 51:18 Good Product

  • 57:47 Overtime with CJ Gustafson

  • 01:02:33 Tokenomics For CFOs

  • 01:09:04 Measuring AI ROI

  • 01:16:13 What CFOs Actually Do

  • 01:18:53 Mostly Metrics Business Model

  • 01:24:34 A Good Business Pays Well

  • 01:28:30 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Protecting Alpha]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/protecting-alphahttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/protecting-alphaFri, 10 Jul 2026 10:19:13 GMTThis week, we discuss why the AI safety narrative is shifting from doomerism to the risk of AI eliminating both companies’ and individuals’ alphas, or what makes them unique and confers on them an advantage over the rest of the crowd. For companies, that means assessing whether to trust big AI companies with their proprietary data, and for individuals it means not outsourcing critical thought to a robot everyone else has. Plus: Why Xbox hit a wall, publishers pivot again to video, and the World Cup’s heroes and villains.
On PvA OT, Hearst Newspapers chief product & strategy officer Bridget Williams discusses how to make local news a utility.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 01:03 PvA Notes Update

  • 07:20 World Cup Fever

  • 21:43 Drones, Cruises & Boats

  • 27:36 AI Safety and Stolen Alpha

  • 40:07 Can Policy Beat the Market

  • 45:41 Why Xbox Is Struggling

  • 49:56 Publishers Pivot to Netflix

  • 56:56 Local News as Utility with Bridget Williams

  • 01:01:28 AI Tools and Experiments

  • 01:11:13 Free vs Paid News Strategy

  • 01:16:17 Good Product

  • 01:18:26 Credits

]]><![CDATA[The Coldplay Protocol]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-coldplay-protocolhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-coldplay-protocolFri, 03 Jul 2026 11:44:09 GMTWe dig into the tangled collision of journalism and the creatory economy. Emily Sundberg’s Zuckerberg interview, Brian’s christening as the Matt Belloni-of-advertising, and why guys like Scott Galloway and Gary Vaynerchuk get a pass to cash in while "real journalists" get side-eyed for it. We also unpack AI's creeping presence in music and writing — can you love an AI song, what happens to "providence" when anyone can fake authenticity, and why lo-fi, bathtub-recorded music is having a moment as a rebellion against it. Along the way: the AI spending bubble, token bills gone wild, the Comcast/Versant breakup, the great AC debate, and a working theory that once you're successful enough, you inevitably become Coldplay.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:56 PvA Travel Log

  • 26:37 AI Costs and Dumb Pipes

  • 42:39 Comcast Spins Off NBCU

  • 48:12 Hollywood Meets Homelessness

  • 52:44 Personality Media Fatigue

  • 01:03:31 Fake Podcast Aesthetics

  • 01:05:19 Good Product

  • 01:10:00 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Cannes is CES with Rosé]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/cannes-is-ces-with-rosehttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/cannes-is-ces-with-roseFri, 26 Jun 2026 10:02:50 GMTThis week’s episode leans heavily into Cannes, which is a world where everyone is selling and many are lying. Creators are the cool kids of Cannes, while the site of a drone show by a mobile ad network is considered normal. Plus: Ana Andjelic on what makes A24 unique.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:23 Welcome

  • 01:45 Reporting From Cannes

  • 08:25 Retail Media Makes Content

  • 13:46 Creator Con

  • 23:42 Smart Glasses Arms Race

  • 29:26 AI Empire Leverage

  • 31:59 A24 Money And Mystique with Ana Andjelic

  • 37:58 Publishers vs Google

  • 45:49 Cannes Cool Kids

  • 47:41 Good Product

  • 54:08 PVA Notes Updates

  • 55:45 Fan Feedback

  • 58:24 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Americamaxxing, AI Taste Wars, World Cup Soft Power]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/americamaxxing-ai-taste-wars-worldhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/americamaxxing-ai-taste-wars-worldFri, 19 Jun 2026 10:03:23 GMTWe debate whether Anthropic painted itself in a corner with its safety messaging, if Snap Specs pass the taste test, Elon as American icon, and the World Cup and Trump’s UFC fight showcasing the profound weirdness and contradictions at the heart of the American experience. Plus: Anonymous Banker on why Fox paying $22 billion for Roku makes sense and Troy says someone will buy Semafor.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:23 Welcome

  • 01:52 Field Notes Update

  • 07:38 PvA Mixers and Cannes

  • 11:05 Anthropic Export Controls

  • 18:57 Who Controls Intelligence

  • 22:29 Snap Specs Taste Test

  • 31:38 Media Ads Are Over

  • 38:18 World Cup Soft Power

  • 45:50 Elon The Trillionaire

  • 49:11 Fox Buys Roku

  • 56:30 Post Text Media Future

  • 01:02:58 Good Product

  • 01:05:37 Credits

]]><![CDATA[The Abundance Economy]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-abundance-economyhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-abundance-economyFri, 12 Jun 2026 10:01:55 GMTSeen one way, AI has democratized the creative process. Seen another, we are swimming in a sea of mediocrity that inevitably crowds out attention to human-led creativity. Plus: Handicapping Hot AI IPO Summer, YouTubers as Hollywood's saviors, GLP-1s vs impulse manipulators and Breaker's Lachlan Cartwright on assesses the characters in the 60 Minutes dram that’s like Viagra for media newsletters. Finally, an ode to the old-standby of cocktail parties: pigs in a blanket.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:40 Welcome

  • 02:11 AI Design Pet Peeve

  • 06:25 What Field Notes Is

  • 14:47 Abundance Versus Quality

  • 24:34 Taste Process

  • 32:19 YouTube IP Breakout

  • 39:09 Fable 5

  • 48:27 GLP-1 Economy Shock

  • 50:58 PvA Overtime with Lachlan Cartwright

  • 55:20 60 Minutes Drama

  • 01:12:15 Good Product

  • 01:21:48 Credits

]]><![CDATA[The AI Pushback]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-ai-pushbackhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-ai-pushbackFri, 05 Jun 2026 10:02:13 GMTChatGPT is advertising it as a souped-up Clippy to help with date-night recipes and sibling road trips. What happened to superintelligence and curing cancer? Disruptive forces always invite pushback, as Bari Weiss is learning at CBS. In PvA OT: Anonymous Banker on People Inc's AI-hedge with MGM and why YouTube ecosystem events are far better than typical media events.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 01:06 Welcome

  • 01:36 Ballgame

  • 05:19 PvA Corrections

  • 06:27 AI Regulation Arrives

  • 11:10 Why Everyone Hates AI

  • 18:14 Work Slop

  • 26:40 Portable AI Memory Moats

  • 35:26 60 Minutes Media Drama

  • 45:36 AI Slop Culture War

  • 52:50 World Cup and NBA Summer

  • 54:55 PvA Overtime with AB: People Inc Eyes MGM

  • 01:03:47 YouTube Events and Networking

  • 01:10:51 Good Product

  • 01:16:23 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Homines Contra Algorithmos]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/homines-contra-algorithmoshttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/homines-contra-algorithmosFri, 29 May 2026 10:02:58 GMTWe debate the commodification of the human experience, why the upside-down token economics is a more pressing near-term concern, the religious zeal behind SpaceX's valuation, and why HR is the new boogeywoman of the aggrieved and powerful.
Plus: Ana Andjelic on why not carrying a phone and having a personal philosopher are new luxury status symbols.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:47 Welcome

  • 02:33 Pope Leo on AI

  • 13:35 Capitalism vs Humanity

  • 23:32 SpaceX IPO Faith

  • 29:44 AI and HR Backlash

  • 41:42 Counterculture to AI

  • 45:38 Euromaxxing With Billionaires

  • 49:38 New Status Symbols

  • 59:41 Ferrari EV Identity Crisis

  • 01:05:10 China Rewrites Luxury Rules

  • 01:11:35 Good Product

  • 01:17:24 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Steroid Olympics]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/steroid-olympicshttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/steroid-olympicsFri, 22 May 2026 10:03:20 GMTThis week, we discuss the chaotic transition to an AI-augmented era, the roiling backlash trying to slow it down, and how we’ll come to terms with a weird new world. Plus: The dénouement of the scale era in publishing and beginning of the “inversion” era of media brands.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 01:33 Welcome

  • 04:55 Graduation Speech AI Backlash

  • 05:46 Pope AI Encyclical Buzz

  • 07:40 Why People Distrust AI

  • 13:23 AI Book Quote Scandal

  • 15:16 Steroid Olympics for Creators

  • 19:23 Flood of Synthetic Content

  • 22:31 Human Only Platforms

  • 27:53 LLM Confidence and Hallucinations

  • 31:55 Breaking the AI Loop

  • 32:38 Google Ends Link Search

  • 36:39 Vox Deal and Glue Factory

  • 40:30 Inversion Strategy at People

  • 43:52 Monetizing Brands via SKUs

  • 46:04 Supernatural Comeback Economy

  • 48:44 Good Product

  • 57:52 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Clauditis]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/clauditishttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/clauditisFri, 15 May 2026 10:01:42 GMTMeanwhile, Anthropic is on a $50 billion run rate and raising at a $900b valuation. We look back to the dawn of the assembly line, when workers suffered from “Forditis," a condition of despair caused by a lack of agency and the pressure to keep up with a pace set by machines. Plus: learning from Ferrari, Ryan Cohen's use of the information space for his long-shot takeover bid for eBay, the decline of drinking as structural phenomenon, the end of the road for BuzzFeed, and Italian rock bands.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:38 Welcome

  • 04:14 Ferrari Scarcity Mythology

  • 11:27 From Ferrari To Anthropic

  • 21:33 AI Backlash And Forditis

  • 27:19 Thinking Machines New Interface

  • 38:13 Narratives Beat Policy

  • 41:23 Ryan Cohen Media Populism

  • 48:01 BuzzFeed Byron Allen Deal

  • 58:37 Good Product

  • 01:09:08 Credits

]]><![CDATA[Monkey Business]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/monkey-businesshttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/monkey-businessFri, 08 May 2026 10:03:00 GMTWhile some of this is cover for overhiring during the ZIRP era, there's clearly a move to cut the "coordination tax" that exists within companies. And what starts in tech always moves downstream.
Plus: Ted Turner and the end of the media mogul archetype, James Murdoch's move to buy Vox Media's podcast network and New York magazine, and how to tell fake fakes from real fakes at the souk.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 00:18 Welcome

  • 02:02 Brian in Marrakesh

  • 04:43 PVA Vibe-Coding: RingRing & Field Notes

  • 09:18 AI Is A Job Killer

  • 16:48 AI Native Orgs and Jevons

  • 26:34 Permanent Underclass Fears

  • 31:23 The Last of the Moguls

  • 35:32 Murdoch Buys Vox

  • 40:49 AI Private Equity

  • 42:24 GameStop Targets eBay

  • 48:14 Met Gala Tech Takeover

  • 50:33 Tech Villains

  • 52:40 Good Product

  • 01:01:39 Credits

]]><![CDATA[The Clipping Economy]]>https://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-clipping-economyhttps://www.peoplevsalgorithms.com/p/the-clipping-economyFri, 01 May 2026 10:01:42 GMTThis week we dig into how the clip has become the unit of cultural currency and whether it's creating a mass delusion about what people actually want and what is popular.
Also: a Waymo hostage situation, a vibe-coded group-texting platform, Apple vs. the interface doomers, Uber's super app survival play, Ben Sasse's deathbed honesty about young people's anxiety, and what the rise of Graham Platner says about the need to be a legible character.

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Open

  • 01:05 Welcome

  • 04:31 Vibe Coding Field Notes

  • 07:55 Fan Feedback

  • 11:56 AI Power Games Trial

  • 20:51 Next Interface

  • 29:06 Can a New AI Phone Win

  • 33:28 Why Super Apps Fail

  • 38:10 Media’s Next Chapter

  • 41:43 AI Replacing Media Work

  • 44:51 Clipping And Fake Popularity

  • 51:20 Gen Z Nostalgia Anxiety

  • 54:23 Politics As Characters

  • 59:08 Good Product

  • 01:05:00 Credits

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