Down Round

Hosted by Down Round

Technology Business

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Episodes

301

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

The number one podcast about tech business and culture, from James "JR" Hennessy and Raph Dixon.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 19, 202641 min

AI Markers: The Scarlet Letter

The EU is making AI companies put identifiable markers in their AI generated content, so that they can be easily spotted as such. A lot of the big hitters have played ball, but it opens up an interesting discussion about how much AI use earns the title of slop, who stands to benefit from it, and whether or not the models' outputs are going to be worse as a result. 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.

August 12, 202638 min

Demis Hassabis and Google's AI Plan

Demis Hassabis has stepped up/down/around from his position as CEO of Google Deepmind, becoming Chair of Deepmind and Chief Scientist at Alphabet. "Henno and the Riph Raph" discuss how this reflects on Google and it's AI landscape as a whole. 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.

August 5, 202635 min

Wunderkind No More

Eminent babychild/investor Leopold Aschenbrenner has been in the news lately as his over-leveraged AI fund "Situational Awareness" collapsed in a dramatic fashion. Interestingly, the portfolio shares striking ideological similarities with the Down Round Investment Fund™️... 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.

July 29, 202640 min

The Future of Computers ft. Dan Nolan

One of the oldest friends-of-the-pod, Dan Nolan returns triumphant, joining James and Raph for some victory laps and speculation on the future of AI and computing. 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.

July 22, 202655 min

Battle Lines are Drawn

President Xi has weighed in on the AI chat, touting the virtues of open source models as a great equaliser for AI as a tool across the world. Some American AI heads are shitting and pissing their pants because of the threat open source could pose to their business models. James and Raph discuss the potential road map for a future where China's powerful and cheap models take a dominant position in the market, and also touch on the idea of distillation. 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.

July 15, 202647 min

OpenAI: New App, New Lawsuit, New Beef

🥚 I WANT TO CONSULT THE EGG. 🥚 In a grab-bag style, James and Raph plunge into the murky waters of OpenAI's current state. They're being sued by Apple for [allegedly] doing corporate espionage, they've released a new desktop app which is alienating parts of their audience, and Sam "Scam Altman" Altman is on twitter chatting a bunch of shit about his competitors. Where is this all going? STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 9, 202648 min

Bending Spoons' Spending Boons

Bending Spoons, a company you may not have heard of, went public last week and had a decent pop. Some people are attributing this as a short bet on software. The boys sit down to discuss the market dynamics at play and dissect the company's playbook. PLUS! Cow chat. 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.

July 1, 202637 min

Don't Tread on GPT

We're back to discuss this whole Anthropic Mythos thing again, this time with a focus on one question: Should the U.S. government exercise control over the AI companies, deciding what is and isn't suitable for release? Also, Raph sings a song. 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.

June 24, 202637 min

Snap Specs

Glasses/goggle chat is so back, folks. Today our hosts convene to discuss Snap, the company best known for creating Snapchat. You know, the app for teenagers and perverts alike. Last week they announced their new 'SPECS', a chunky pair of AR glasses. They make some big promises, but a high price tag and a few obvious hurdles brought them wide skepticism and ridicule online. Paradigm shift coming? iPhone is dead? Possibly? but probs not. 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.

June 17, 202645 min

Anthropic's Fable is TOO POWERFUL

Anthropic has been talking up their world-threateningly powerful new Mythos model, suggesting it needs to be held back from the public because we cretins can't be trusted with it. So they gave us a nerfed version called 'Fable', but the US government got tipped off, said "Not today, champ" and forced Anthropic to take it back down. James and Raph come together this week to discuss why this all happened, the marketing of AI as big and scary, and also plastic in your balls. 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.