OpenAI acquires tech podcast ‘TBPN’

Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI has acquired the technology streaming show “TPBN” in a surprise move for Silicon Valley.

The acquisition was announced online by both brands Thursday, though no official cost for the deal was disclosed.

Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of AGI deployment, said in a blog post the decision comes after the company mulled “the future of how we communicate” and determined the “standard communications playbook just doesn’t apply to us.”

“TBPN” launched just last year, featuring daily podcasts hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, who discuss technology news of the day and interview well-known technology leaders like OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Their guests also extended to those leading tech policy in Washington, including Defense Under Secretary Emil Michael and Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The episodes, which livestream for about three hours every weekday, quickly surged in popularity among Silicon Valley audiences and eventually the broader technology industry last year. This success came with a wave of technology advertisers within its first year, including the New York Stock Exchange and Google’s Gemini — a direct competitor of OpenAI.

Simo said “TPBN” will maintain its “editorial interdependence,” run their own programming, choose guests and “make their own editorial decisions.”

“That’s foundational to their credibility, and it’s something we’re explicitly protecting as part of this agreement,” Simo added.

Some online users were quick to express skepticism about the arrangement, given OpenAI’s business and operations are often a topic of discussion for the show, which has also welcomed the AI firm’s competitors and their leaders for interviews.

Altman said “TPBN” is his “favorite” tech show, and he does not “expect them to go any easier on us.”

“Am sure I’ll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions,” Altman wrote on the social platform X.

The podcast will sit under OpenAI’s strategy organization, reporting to Chris Lehane, the company’s chief global affairs officer.

While the podcast has been “critical of the industry at times,” Hays said, “after getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out most was their openness to feedback and commitment to getting this right.”

Hays suggested the podcast will be moving from commentary to “real impact” in the distribution and global understanding of the technology.

Hays and Coogan hosted the show on Thursday following the announcement, and viewers were quick to point out the show’s banner no longer included a running list of company sponsors.