Show Notes
Another week, another episode about OpenAI. The eponymous chatbot company has announced that it's video generation/social media app Sora is shutting up shop as they seem to be chasing Anthropic's enterprise focused success. This is important to discuss because it means the boys were sort of right again? They also dipped their toes into the sloppy waters of AI Fruit Love Island, and wrapped back around to revisit private equity.
Warning: James' computer decided to switch his mic input from the gorgeous RODE mic he had plugged in to his crusty little airpods, meaning his recording sounded like dog doo-doo for the first 20 minutes of the ep. Please accept our sincerest apologies, and know that he will be severely punished for this malfeasance in due course.
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More from Down Round
Friend of the pod Richard Cooke has published his new book - The Last Best Place on the Internet: A Human History of Wikipedia. At his book launch in Sydney, James and Raph of Down Round podcast fame sat down for a discussion of the work, the human interest story behind it, and of course AI. Grab yourself a copy of the book here: https://richardcooke.com/books Recorded live at Gleebooks Sydney on 15/10/26 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Elon Musk and his cronies over at Tesla had an event last week where they showed off the latest version of the Roadster. You may be thinking 'hey, didn't they announce that car like 8 years ago?' Yes, they did, yet it remains unreleased. Tesla have also kicked that can down the road another 2 years, announcing a 2028 release. Who better to detangle this web of theatrics than Henno and the Riph Raph.
Over the course of a week, Aussie neocloud company Firmus went from expecting a $40B IPO to cancelling it all together. The company and its Co-CEO Oliver Curtis have, to some, become a punching bag for the media and online critics alike. On the other hand, some are suggesting that Australia's 'tall poppy syndrome' may be obscuring a key opportunity for the country to get a slice of the AI pie. In this episode, Raph and Jimbo take us through the media circus day-by-day to diagnose what went wrong. Get your tickets for the Richard Cooke Book launch AKA Down Round LIVE (GET IN QUICK, ONLY STANDING ROOM LEFT!): https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1647769 If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Some higher-up from Anthropic tried to talk the Pope into conceding that AI agents have a consciousness. Your hosts, Henno and The Riph Raph, discuss why they would make this claim, whether it's a possibility, and what it really means to be sentient.
OpenAI "hacked" an Australian Government website and said NOTHING!? Well, sort of? Albo pulled up his big boy pants and stormed up to New York on Thursday to tell the world and Sam Altman that he was displeased with OpenAI's recklessness in allowing their bots to scrape the "Medicare statistics reporting service portal". But, it didn't necessarily break any laws - it didn't use any passwords or workarounds - it just found some unprotected files and took them for research. Raph and James hike up some big boy pants of their own to get to the bottom of what really went down, and whether or not we should be freaking out about it. Get your tickets for the Richard Cooke Book launch AKA Down Round LIVE: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1647769