Newcomer Pod

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Taylor Lorenz Unfiltered on Social Media, Free Speech & the Surveillance State

July 10, 2026

Taylor Lorenz on why the social media panic is overblown and who's actually driving it.Taylor Lorenz, journalist and author of Extremely Online, joins Eric Newcomer to push back on the moral panic around phones, social media, and screen time. Taylor argues there is no such thing as social media addiction, that age verification laws do more harm than good, and that the groups pushing child protection legislation have their own agendas. She and Eric also get into the surveillance state, ano...

The Goldman Sachs Exec on AI, Wall Street & the Firm That Went Bankrupt in 40 Minutes

July 06, 2026

The Goldman Sachs exec who automated Wall Street on what AI agents actually do to jobs, companies, and the future of enterprise software. Marty Chavez got his AI PhD in 1991 when there were exactly zero AI jobs. So he went to Goldman Sachs and spent decades building the machines that took over Wall Street. Now at Sixth Street and on Alphabet's board, he joins Eric Newcomer at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit in London to explain what actually happens when AI replaces human labor, why a tradi...

Ben Smith on Trump, Anthropic & the Collision of Government and Big Tech

June 29, 2026

Semafor's editor-in-chief on why Washington has decided Anthropic needs to pick a side.Ben Smith, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor, joins Eric Newcomer to break down the collision between the Trump administration and Anthropic, and what it reveals about the new relationship between Washington and big tech. Ben explains why the government is taking equity stakes in companies, how the Trump family is monetizing the presidency, and why he believes this is one of the most corrupt per...