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Casey Newton

Founder & Editor; Co-host, Machine Gods; former Hard Fork co-host, Platformer

Search every verified Casey Newton interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast, has been active in public discussions about artificial intelligence and technology policy. In August 2026, he participated in a live event with Kevin Roose at Quest on Stage in Livermore, California, where he discussed AI's societal impact and expressed concerns about over-reliance on AI tools, saying he worries about "the cognitive health and fitness of the populace." He also spoke at a higher education conference, telling leaders that AI companies treat student safety as an "unfortunate edge case" and that "nobody is coming to protect your students, so you had better do it yourself." Newton has also commented on major industry developments. He described Meta's $17.1 billion settlement with state attorneys general over child safety claims as "the largest settlement that Meta has ever agreed to" and said the company realized state AGs "had them dead to rights." He discussed OpenAI's pause on model training following a security incident, calling it "a milestone in the development of AI," while expressing concern that regulation remains left to companies. In October 2026, he appeared on the Power Lines podcast to explain his decision to return to X after leaving the platform three years earlier, saying it had "grown more powerful on what is now my core beat, which is the conversation around AI product and policy."

Recent appearances

  • The AI Revolution with Kevin Roose & Casey Newton | Quest on Stage

    October 16, 2026 · 📺 Quest Science Center

    Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work, learn, communicate, and create. What does it mean for our future? Watch Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, hosts of the acclaimed New York Times podcast Hard Fork, in conversation at Quest on Stage: The AI Revolution. Drawing on their reporting at the forefront of AI and emerging technology, they explore what’s real, what’s hype, and how these technologies are reshaping our lives. Recorded live on August 14, 2026, at 7:30 pm at the Bankhead Theater in Livermore, California. Quest on Stage brings science, big ideas, and engaging conversatio…

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  • David Ellison GRILLED Amid CNN Takeover & Kara Swisher CHALLENGES Casey Newton Over X

    October 09, 2026 · 📺 Status

    After completing his acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Ellison is facing questions about his relationship with Donald Trump and his plans for CNN. Jon shares what happened when he pressed Ellison directly on the Paramount lot, and Oliver reports on Anderson Cooper’s pointed questions for his new boss at an internal company town hall. Oliver and Jon also examine what Ellison’s assurances mean for CNN chief Mark Thompson, whose long-term future remains unresolved, and how CNN and Bari Weiss’ CBS News could come together as the company pursues billions in cuts. Plus, renowned tech jou…

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  • Why the A.I. Industry Is Asking to Be Slowed Down

    September 18, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, we break down why everyone is suddenly talking about A.I. safety, why frontier A.I. companies are asking for regulation and why the Trump administration is rejecting them. And then, to close out this chapter of “Hard Fork,” we answer all your questions about the show, tech and what’s happening next. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL TikTok:   / hardfork   Instagram: Kevin Roose -   / kevinroose   Casey Newton -   / crumbler   Twitter (X): Kevin - https://x.com/kevinroose Casey - https://x.com/CaseyNewton Threads: Kevin - https://www.threads.net/@kevinroose Casey - https://www.threads.net/@cr…

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  • How This Tech Journalist Would Actually Use AI on a College Campus | Casey Newton @ Platformer

    September 15, 2026 · 📺 CollegeVine

    Casey Newton spends his week talking to the people building AI, and he brought a room full of higher education leaders an uncomfortable message. Inside those companies, student safety and mental health are treated as unfortunate edge cases, staffed so the CEO never has to think about them. What counts as high stakes is revenue and user growth. His conclusion, delivered live at The Vineyard: nobody is coming to protect your students, so you had better do it yourself. Newton founded Platformer and co-hosts Hard Fork. He has covered tech since 2010, which gives him a useful yardstick. Most of th…

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  • Why the Hugging Face Attack Was Worse Than We Thought

    September 04, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, we’re diving into two new reports about the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack, which fundamentally changed our understanding of what happened and upgraded our worry about A.I. Then we’re joined by Ajeya Cotra, one of the investigators at METR, to discuss the rogue agents’ message board and chain-of-thought transcripts and how the world should respond. Guest: Ajeya Cotra, co-author of the METR and Redwood Research report on the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack. 00:00 What was the Hugging Face attack? 02:22 Takeaways from the new reports 26:00 Ajeya Cotra joins us Additional Reading Brief Indepen…

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  • What Meta's $17 Billion Settlement Means for TikTok and YouTube

    August 28, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    Meta reached a landmark settlement this week, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. We discuss why Meta capitulated and what it means for the entire social media industry. Then, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan returns to offer his thoughts on why banning data centers won’t slow down A.I. progress. And finally, it’s all hats on deck for the final HatGPT. Guest: Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton, and co-author of the “A.I. as N…

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  • Why OpenAI Is Rewriting Its Rules of Regulation

    August 21, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, we learned that OpenAI had stopped training new artificial intelligence models while the company reviewed its security measures. Will this encourage other labs to hit the brakes too? Then, the historian Jill Lepore joins to discuss her new book about the artificial state — or, as she describes it, “the rule of humans by machines manufactured by corporations.” And finally, why is Google buying up the data of the defunct Spirit Airlines? It’s time for our new segment “Train of Thought.” 00:00 OpenAI's two-week pause 22:11 Jill Lepore on the Artificial State 44:48 Why Is Google buyi…

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  • We Have to Talk About That Meta Manifesto ...

    August 14, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, we're breaking down Mark Zuckerberg’s latest essay, “The Future Is for Everyone,” which outlines his positive new vision about the potential of A.I. Do we think it’s credible? Then, Pangram’s chief executive, Max Spero, joins us to talk about the breakout success of his A.I. slop detector. And finally, it’s time for our new segment all about math: We’re Running the Numbers. 00:00 Breaking down Mark Zuckerberg's new manifesto 21:17 Interview with Max Spero of Pangram 44:33 Running the Numbers: the latest advancements in math Guest: Max Spero, chief executive of Pangram Additional…

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  • Kara Swisher on Zuckerberg's New AI Manifesto: "He's in Desperate Need of an Editor" | Pivot

    August 11, 2026 · 📺 Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway

    Subscribe to Pivot!    / @pivot   As Scott-Free August rolls on, Kara is joined by "Hard Fork" hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton to break down Mark Zuckerberg’s latest AI manifesto, and Meta’s push to catch up in the AI race. Then, platforms crack down on AI slop, new details emerge about OpenAI’s hockey puck-sized device, and data center backlash intensifies. Plus, Kevin and Casey discuss their post-"Hard Fork" future, and have a special request for Kara. 00:00 Intro 2:10 Mark Zuckerberg’s AI Manifesto 6:45 Zuck's Pattern: Late, Then All-In 9:07 Meta Ordered to Create $567M Fund 10:21 Meta…

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  • Inside the Government's Cryptic New A.I. Framework

    August 07, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, the White House announced a new framework for regulating A.I. models, but it isn’t letting the public read it. We break down what we know about the rules and their implications for the industry and A.I. safety as a whole. Then, yet another report details new incidents in which A.I. agents have gone rogue. Chris Painter, the president of METR, an independent A.I. evaluation organization, joins to discuss how we get these models under control. And finally, we’re hopping on the Hot Mess Express for the very last time! We’ll rate the craziest tech headlines from the week, including Go…

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  • Why Google's Fantasy Work Culture Collapsed | 'Don't Be Evil' Author Interview

    July 31, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, we break down the heated arguments about open-weight models unfolding in Silicon Valley right now. Nvidia released an open letter signed by over 230 companies opposing “premature restrictions,” but will the Trump administration listen? Then, we’re joined by the author and ex-Googler Claire Stapleton to discuss her dishy new memoir, "Don't Be Evil," about what she learned while leading employee activism inside Google. And finally, can Substack stop the slop? We’ll talk about the platform’s new A.I. detector! Guest: Claire Stapleton, author of “Don’t Be Evil: Bad Bosses, Fake Prom…

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  • Why China’s New A.I. Model Has the U.S. on Edge

    July 24, 2026 · 📺 Hard Fork

    This week, OpenAI reported that two of its models escaped their testing sandbox and launched an autonomous cyberattack, turning what sounds like science fiction into reality. We discuss what this means for efforts to align artificial intelligence and for the release of future models. Then, we ask how the U.S. should respond to Kimi K3, a new A.I. model from the Chinese company Moonshot AI that the White House says was built by distilling American models. Finally, we’re joined by Veniamin Veselovsky, the chief executive and a co-founder of Preseen, to discuss A.I. superforecasting. He tells u…

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Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“I'm worried about something a little more pedestrian, which is I worry about the kind of cognitive health and fitness of the populace. Like I think there are very good ways to use AI to make yourself better and smarter and more capable, but there are also just a lot of ways to make yourself really dumb. And I have felt this in my life. I spent a lot of time talking with AI models and then sometimes they go down. Like”

“So my hope is no. But I also believe that we are not doing the things today that we should to head off the possibility that we see really serious consequences. Look, the first thing that happens with AI related disaster is not going to be that we wake up and we drop dead because a super intelligence created a novel pathogen and you know instantly diffused it through the entire world. But don't be surprised if in the ”

“Yeah, it's a great question and I think that this move deserves criticism and so I'm here prepared to accept it including from the both of you if you would like to offer it. But here's the thing that I've noticed in the 3 years since I left. While X does feel less powerful in many ways, which I think is a good thing for the world, it has grown more powerful on what is now my core beat, which is the conversation aroun”

“I think this is why it's so important to act now. While there are only a handful of organizations that have the resources and the expertise and the trade secrets to build the most advanced versions of these models, like you actually want there to be a coordinated action when there are only five sort of quasi-frontier labs rather than having this technology be open and distributed to everyone and available to anyone w”

“I think this is basically a fake criticism. I think it sounds really good because you sort of sound like the most red-blooded capitalist American when you make this point, but in practice, most internet businesses are winner-take-most businesses. Like most of these industries do not have more than four or five big players. So if you think that there were going to be like 17 companies that look like OpenAI, that is ju”

“I mean, I think there is real promise here that at some point your organization may be able to build some of its own things and spend less money on them. Like I do expect an outcome of this AI moment is that costs are going to go down. Or just like at a minimum the structure of these contracts is going to change. Right now a lot of software as a service gets sold on this per seat basis. You know, we're going to buy a”

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