Jacob Kastrenakes
We’ll be back in 15 minutes with X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
She’ll wrap up Code Conference 2023. See you then.
Verge Archives
Jacob Kastrenakes
Adobe is “diversifying” its GPU selection.
Verge EIC Nilay Patel asked whether the company is as “dependent on Nvidia as everybody else.” Adobe’s Still didn’t answer the question directly, but she suggested the company needs more than one GPU partner.
“I would say we’re certainly using a lot of GPU server capacity,” she says. Of course, “Nvidia’s a great partner,” she caveats.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Roth’s advice to Twitter’s new leaders?
To CEO Linda Yaccarino: “Look at what your boss did to me,” he says, referring to Musk’s tweets opening him up to death threats. “I hope she is thinking about what those risks are and what she might face.
To Musk: “There are still people within Twitter who care about the platform, who care about making thoughtful, principled, data-backed decisions for Twitter’s users. Listen to them, give them space, don’t overrule them.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
“It scares the crap out of me.”
Roth says he’s worried about the lawsuit trying to stop government agencies from working with platforms on moderation.
“It’s a chilling effect,” he said. Even with parts of the original ruling overturned, the communications haven’t started up again, he said. “The strategy works even when it loses in court.”
He sees a similar chilling effect happening across the tech landscape. “It’s what they’re doing to academics, folks working in government, to platforms themselves,” he says of people trying to stop content moderation.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Roth says he’s received death threats because of Musk.
They started after Musk implied that Roth had advocated for sexualizing children — an obviously untrue statement.
Shortly afterward, his address was published online. “I had to sell my house. I had to move,” Roth said. “I bounced between a couple of different places for a few months and then lived in a temporary apartment for a while while I tried to figure out where to land next.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
“There was only so much” the safety team could do to push back on Elon at Twitter.
Roth says there was “overwhelming pressure to change” the platform. “Maybe that pressure would prove to be positive in the long run. My experience was that it wasn’t,” Roth said.
He expected there to be constraints on what Twitter could strip away in terms of safety. But the company didn’t “behave rationally.” And so things have gotten worse.
Jacob Kastrenakes
And now: Yoel Roth, former head of trust and safety at Twitter.
Kara Swisher is interviewing him, ahead of X CEO Linda Yaccarino appearing at the end of the day.
Roth is a surprise addition — from what I can tell, Swisher added him into the schedule in the last 24 hours. Quick reminder: she doesn’t run this conference any more... but, you know, everyone still listens to Swisher.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“Responsible scaling policies” are the hot new safety method.
Toner and Cotra both say they like this new method for slowing down AI development. Basically, companies have to “clearly state what capabilities [they’re] ready to deal with.”
If they’re not ready to handle something, they need to make sure their AI systems can’t do it. Cotra says what she likes about this method is it can “make you pause as long as you need to” to get AI safety right.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Next up, we’re talking AI ethics. Should be simple...
Platformer’s Casey Newton is moderating a conversation with Ajeya Cotra, senior program officer at Open Philanthropy, and Helen Toner, director of strategy at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Bird Buddy co-founder Kyle Buzzard is here to talk about his smart bird feeder.
It uses AI to identify bird species, take photos of them, and organize the photos on your phone.
He compares it to real life Pokemon Go, which... kind of rules. I’m all in on birds now.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Ads are coming to Bumble... someday.
Wolfe Herd says they’re “definitely on the roadmap.”
She says it’s important to do it responsibly, though, and focus on “never inundating the customer.”
“We do see a huge opportunity in advertising partnerships across the group,” she says. But the company still sees plenty of room to grow its current subscriptions business. “We don’t think the subscription model opportunity is nearly at its potential right now.”
Makes sense, given her plans for a high-priced AI tier.
Jacob Kastrenakes
AI dating coaches could save a whole lot of swiping, says Bumble’s CEO.
Whitney Wolfe Herd envisions an AI coach — “certainly not launching tomorrow, but very realistic” — that you’d be able to tell everything you want out of a partner. It would then go and sync up with other users’ coaches and try to find a match.
Wolfe Herd:
So now instead of you having to swipe and match and chat with dozens of people, you could only talk to the three people who came back as qualified individuals for what you’re looking for. You could really use AI to supercharge compatibility.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is up.
She’s being interviewed by CNBC senior media and tech correspondent Julia Boorstin.
From question one, they’re jumping right in on AI and how it’s used to power Bumble’s algorithms.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Things are about to start back up.
Next on the schedule: Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, a panel on AI ethics, and a chat between Kara Swisher and former Twitter trust and safety leader Yoel Roth.
Jacob Kastrenakes
The Instagram —> Threads —> Code Conference pipeline.
Who’s better to ask questions of the co-founder of Instagram than the current head of Instagram?
The Verge’s Alex Heath asked the question, written in on Threads by Instagram leader Adam Mosseri, in response to Artifact co-founder Mike Krieger, one of the co-founders of Instagram.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Alright, time for a break.
Code’s on pause while everyone grabs lunch. Things start up again at 5:50PM ET with Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, a panel on AI ethics, and more.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“It’s freaky and fantastic at the same time.”
An audience member asked about how Lovett and Swisher handle strong parasocial relationships from listeners.
Swisher said the strong bond was why she got into podcasting into the first place, then recounted a recent interaction she had at a wedding.
“An older person came up to me and said ‘You’re my friend,’” Swisher said. “And then they said, ‘I’m not your friend, but you’re my friend.’” That experience, she said, was “freaky and fantastic.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
Most of their conversation has been about the 2024 election.
“It’s gonna be close,” Lovett says.
He thinks the media has better learned how to cover Trump, though. “I am a little bit more optimistic,” he told Axios’ Ina Fried in an audience question. “I think there has been a lot of lessons learned.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
Lovett and Swisher are discussing the challenge of getting into podcasting in 2023.
The Pod Save America crew got in when podcasting was nascent and there was still a lot of free listening time.
Now, they both agree, there’s less opportunity. “Getting someone to add a new podcast to the mix is harder than it once was,” Lovett says.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Jon Lovett is up now, speaking with Kara Swisher.
It’s the podcast crossover event of the century... or at least the afternoon. As you can imagine, the audience is very energized.
Swisher also just teased a surprise guest she’s bringing in later: Yoel Roth. Should be fun counter-programming to X CEO Linda Yaccarino at the end of the day.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Renaming HBO Max to Max was meant to “protect the HBO brand.”
Bloys made fun of critics for complaining that the “HBO Max” name diluted the HBO brand... and then complaining that the “Max” rebrand cast HBO aside. Here’s his reason:
If HBO is in the title of the platform, it represents everything on the platform, and it was about to get a lot bigger ... I did not want the HBO brand to take on all that stuff because it wasn’t designed to. So now we get to go back to HBO being exactly what HBO is.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“It’s not gonna affect what I make.”
Max’s Casey Bloys says the new writers contract isn’t going to raise costs so much that he won’t make a show that he thinks will be great.
“Is it gonna be more expensive?” he asked. “Yeah, but not that I’m gonna say I’m not gonna make this show now.”
He thinks the strike went on so long because “there’s a lot changing, a lot shifting” in the industry. “It has been upended,” he said.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Max/HBO content leader Casey Bloys is on.
He’s talking with Vox senior correspondent Peter Kafka. Are there any major developments in Hollywood they might want to talk about?
Jacob Kastrenakes
Instagram’s co-founder says seeing Threads is like watching “your kid going off to college.”
Mike Krieger says it’s “a very strange experience to see Instagram do these big things.”
He’s happy to see that some of the ethos he and co-founder Kevin Systrom built continue onward, though. “They really nailed photo galleries on Threads,” he said.
Jacob Kastrenakes
We’re on to Artifact co-founder Mike Krieger —
AKA, the co-founder of Instagram. He’s speaking with Platformer’s Casey Newton.
Artifact, his news app, has been doing some neat things with AI and just launched a fun new section called Links.
Jay Peters
There might be some hurdles to getting some kind of federal right to repair legislation passed for agricultural equipment.
According to Monarch Tractor CEO Praveen Penmetsa, the problem right now is that farmers “cannot let somebody monkey with [their] emissions equipment that is not certified to do so.” He argues that if the industry moves to electric and zero emissions, then its not a question of emission equipment anymore.
The House just introduced the Agricultural Right to Repair Act. We’ll see how far it gets.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Nilay took the 2024 Polestar 2 for a spin.
“It’s wicked fast,” he says. But naturally, he’s mostly here to talk infotainment systems and CarPlay.
Jay Peters
Monarch Tractor’s autonomy features are already seeing a 30 percent attach rate.
Three out of ten customers are paying for Monarch Tractor’s digital subscription for autonomous features on its tractors, according to CEO Praveen Penmetsa. That’s higher than I would have expected!
Jacob Kastrenakes
“We are basically becoming the Android of agriculture.”
Penmetsa says Monarch Tractor is licensing its technology to other tractor companies and is very open about sharing data with “everybody who works in the food ecosystem.”
“Today we know more about the DoorDash person who delivered our food than the person who grew our food,” he says.
Jay Peters
Monarch Tractor has more than 200 of its electric and autonomous MK-V tractors on farms.
That’s according to the company’s CEO, Praveen Penmetsa, who is onstage at Code 2023. Last month, it delivered more than 75 of its tractors to customers, he said.
Jacob Kastrenakes
Monarch Tractor CEO Praveen Penmetsa is up.
He’s speaking with Verge EIC Nilay Patel.
Monarch makes an electric, autonomous tractor that runs on top of Nvidia AI tech. It’s a big day for AI convos, and Penmetsa’s company is trying to expand the tech to a very different corner of the market than everyone else.
Jacob Kastrenakes
The AI question is here:
Is it a threat to creators, Boorstin asks?
Here’s Allen:
It’s a phenomenal tool it’s new to us, and we have to really work hard to make sure it doesn’t get out of control. If we handle it right we’re only going to be better.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“[Iger] texted me back and said, ‘I’m not ready.’”
But Allen is staying on top of Disney anyway so that when Iger is ready to sell ABC, he’ll be first in line.
“Their biggest challenge is how do you decouple it. How do you pull it out of their ecosystem? It’s integrated into everything Disney.”
Once Iger does figure it out, Allen says, “I’m gonna chase it down like a lion chasing down a gazelle.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
“The money, that’s easy.”
Allen says he isn’t worried about raising $10 billion to buy ABC. The thing that makes his offer so special: “Approval of the deal, that’s the commodity.”
He says tech companies can’t buy it because they “can’t even buy a lemonade stand today” without regulators getting upset. And the big media companies are “maxed out” in terms of broadcast assets under FCC rules.
“I’m the prettiest girl at the dance,” he says. “The best looking thing you’re ever gonna see this year.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
Allen says he made the Weather Channel start talking about global warming.
When he bought the network, Allen says employees wouldn’t discuss it because they “don’t want to offend certain people” — aka former President Trump.
“I said hold up, hold up,” Allen said. “You’re joking, right? ... I don’t care who we offend, we’re going to tell the American people the truth.”
Jacob Kastrenakes
Allen Media Group CEO Byron Allen is up next.
He’s speaking with CNBC senior media and tech correspondent Julia Boorstin.
Allen just offered $10 billion to buy ABC and other TV assets from Disney, so expect some questions about what he wants to do with those networks.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“To me it’s the one that moves you.”
Getty CEO Craig Peters describes what he thinks makes a great photo:
Whether it’s computer generated or otherwise, it’s the one that makes you stop, think, react, have emotion, engage. That’s a great photo.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“Copyright needs to evolve.”
Peters was asked by an audience member if copyright laws need to adapt for AI, and he very much agrees.
“If we want it just to stay stagnant, it’s going to ultimately not match up to the world we’re living in,” he says.
Jacob Kastrenakes
“We don’t have perfect solutions.”
Peters says Getty is working with partners and newsrooms on content authenticity initiatives ahead of the 2024 election but there’s no silver bullet to solve the misinformation problem posed by generative AI.
Jacob Kastrenakes
How will Getty pay photographers when their work is used to train AI?
Peters says the company looked at paying them each time their photo is used to create a specific AI image, but its models couldn’t nail the attribution. “We tested out a bunch and didn’t find them to be sufficient,” he said.
Instead, they’re using a proxy: “What proportion of the training set does your content represent, and how has that content performed in our licensing world over time?” That’s a good measure of quality and quantity, he says.