Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

(Preview) Astra (and AGI?) Arrives, Meta’s Muse and the Agent Opportunity, Anthropic and the Revival of (P)Doom Angst

Andrew and Ben begin with Ben’s article on Tuesday on the transformative value of LLMs writing things down. Topics include: How assistants have helped Ben solve his blind

(Preview) Fable 5.1 and Anthropic’s Data Retention Pivot, AI Civilizations and Related Matters, Q&A on Meta, Shopify, 3-D Printing

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with notes on a home networking project before turning to the release of Fable 5.1, including Anthropic’s announcement that it has wa

(Preview) Meta’s New Restrictions for Teens, Nvidia’s Open Source Investments, Q&A on Netflix, Druckenmiller, Parameters and Performance

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with initial reactions to Meta’s settlement with 29 states, including behavioral remedies that will impose restrictions on teens usin

(Preview) The App Store in the Shadow of AI, Offensive and Defensive Cybersecurity, Q&A on Financial Planning, AI Writing, American Sports

On today’s show Andrew and Ben begin with reflections on big Apple news that feels relatively small alongside a world of growth and dramatic questions across technology i

(Preview) Nvidia’s Answer to Capital Constraints, Google’s Attrition and Direction, Q&A on AI Writing, Vision Pro, Vibe Coding

Ben and Andrew begin with Nvidia’s announcements of a new funding model for AI infrastructure, including the differences and similarities with railroad expansion 150 year

(Preview) Microsoft’s Plan for Platform Survival, Meta and the Market’s Permission, A Lack of Situational Awareness

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with Microsoft, Meta and Google in the wake of their latest earnings reports. First: Microsoft’s push to be the middle layer for ente

(Preview) An OpenAI Model Escapes Sandboxing, Intelligence Will Be a Commodity Market, The Chinese Model Conundrum

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with takeaways from OpenAI’s sandboxing snafu, including a reminder that the big bad wolf is real, OpenAI’s failures, and the timing

(Preview) The Continuing Adventures of OpenAI, Apple’s Trade Secrets Lawsuit, Q&A on Mainframes, Meta, Daylight Savings Time

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with a raft of OpenAI news, including reactions to the first reports of what OpenAI’s first hardware product will be, the logic of Op

(Preview) Meta and Its Messaging Problem, The XBOX Reset, Q&A on Token Costs, American Soccer, Starlink in Nature

On today’s show Andrew and Ben begin with a look at the state of Meta. Topics include: Mark Zuckerberg’s sins of commission vs. omission as a messenger, Meta’s AI opportu

(Preview) A Summer Break Mailbag: Memory Mania, Vibe Coding, Mafia PR, Caffeine Intake, Garages, and How to Fix Soccer

Ben and Andrew begin with an extended look at the market for memory chips, including market history, the supply crunch driving up today’s valuations, the myopia from SK H

(Preview) The Anthropic Saga Continues, Fox and the Future of Streaming, Q&A on ChatGPT, Agentic Shopping, Autonomous Driving

On today’s show Ben and Andrew begin with a hydration break take as the World Cup continues before turning to the latest on Anthropic’s export control saga, what the Trum

(Preview) Five Questions on WWDC 2026, Fable 5 And Its Guardrails, What Anthropic Has in Common With Apple

Ben and Andrew begin by talking through five questions on WWDC in 2026, including thoughts on Apple’s answer to the critics, whether Apple is or is not thinking different

(Preview) SpaceX Hype and the Elon Bargain, Nvidia and the Neoclouds, Q&A on Dropbox, Google, Ferrari Luce Backlash

Ben and Andrew begin with a look at SpaceX before its June IPO. Topics include: Why the S-1 math that doesn’t quite pencil out for now, the madness of analyzing Musk comp

(Preview) Inference in the Agentic Future, xAI Is Two Companies in One, Q&A on Elon’s Lawsuit, Intel, Apple

Ben and Andrew discuss the future of computing and its implications for the chip market, including what Cerebras is doing that’s different, why speed may no longer be a t

(Preview) AWS History and Trainium’s AI Future, OpenAI Makes a Deal With Microsoft, Meta and the Future of Wearable Devices

Ben and Andrew react to Amazon’s impressive earnings in AI with a cliffs notes history on AWS cloud computing strategy, how Amazon is returning to that playbook in AI, an

(Preview) Six Questions on Frontier AI Labs, Messaging AI to a Skeptical Public, Amazon (and Apple?) Ramps Up Competition with Elon

Ben and Andrew begin with six emails on AI, including a question about the future of AI consumer demand, Gemini’s quiet few months, whether compute constraints should lea

(Preview) Mythos and Project Glasswing, The Year of Anthropic Continues Apace, Q&A on the NYT, Altman, De-globalization

Ben and Andrew begin with reactions to Anthropic’s Mythos announcement and Project Glasswing, including thoughts on the security risks, the business benefits of keeping t

(Preview) Five Questions on Apple at 50 Years Old, The Axios Hack and AI Security, Q&A on Starlink, AI IPOs, AirPods

Ben and Andrew begin with Q&A on Apple after 50 years, including thoughts on Steve Jobs weaknesses, putting iTunes on Windows, the best Apple ads, Chinese manufacturing c

(Preview) A Spring Break Mailbag: RIP Sora, Ads and Surplus, F1 Going in Reverse, Elon Inc., Smartphone Parenting, and More

Ben and Andrew interrupt Stratechery’s spring vacation with a mailbag. First, they discuss the end of Sora, the difference between Sora and Instagram, and where the OpenA

(Preview) OpenAI’s Enterprise Pivot, The Rise of Agents and Bubble Counterpoints, Nvidia Changes Its Inference Story

Ben and Andrew begin with the news that OpenAI is shifting away from “side quests” and allocating resources to the enterprise space, including Dropbox history to explain