E42: Navigating Tech Antitrust and the Future of AI

"The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg

On this week’s episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss tricky antitrust decisions, Balaji’s Network State, the dynamics of content moderation, and more.

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LINKS:

Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co

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X / TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne)

https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(00:23) Paradox of antitrust in tech

(03:00) Consumer welfare vs. market dominance

(09:48) Lina Khan

(13:29) Sponsors: Babbel | Brave

(15:53) Corporate social responsibility and privatization

(20:28) AI trust and the impact of fake content

(26:48) Technical inputs into AI

(31:40) Absurdity heuristic

(32:24) Exploring intangible capital

(39:05) Network States and organizational challenges

(48:13) Politics and social media dynamics

(55:34) Conservative and progressive elites

(01:00:26) Wrap