Best Nathan Labenz Podcasts (2025)

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Nathan Labenz on the Next Generation of AI Agents | The Cognitive Revolution at Imagine AI Live 25 | E154 32:25

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16d ago32:25

32:25

Nathan Labenz (Founder of Waymark and host of The Cognitive Revolution) reveals how to build enterprise-grade AI agents that are reliable, scalable, and safe. He shares a blueprint for automation systems that don’t just run — they think, adapt, and earn human trust. From architecture to real-world deployment, this session dives deep into the next w…

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Is AI Slowing Down? Nathan Labenz Says We're Asking the Wrong Question 1:31:02

29d ago1:31:02

1:31:02

Nathan Labenz is one of the clearest voices analyzing where AI is headed, pairing sharp technical analysis with his years of work on The Cognitive Revolution. In this episode, Nathan joins a16z’s Erik Torenberg to ask a pressing question: is AI progress actually slowing down, or are we just getting used to the breakthroughs? They discuss the debate…

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Sam Bowman on what’s holding back progress (and how to fix it) 1:24:19

4h ago1:24:19

1:24:19

What if the biggest driver of economic growth isn’t new technology, but simply fixing what’s broke, housing, transport, and energy? Sam Bowman, editor of Works in Progress, joins us to explore how smarter cities, faster transit, and abundant energy could unlock human potential on an unprecedented scale. We discuss why restrictive zoning laws keep m…

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Rocket Companies CEO: Here’s How to Fix the Housing Crisis 55:55

5h ago55:55

55:55

The Empire State Building took 110 days to build—today, changing a window would take two years. Alex Rampell (a16z) and Varun Krishna (Rocket CEO) expose how asset inflation turned housing from the American Dream into a wealth transfer machine where the median homebuyer age jumped from 30 to 38 in just fourteen years. While Silicon Valley burns bil…

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My Positive Vision for the AI Future, from the Existential Hope Podcast 1:09:54

8h ago1:09:54

1:09:54

In this special crossover episode from Beatrice Erkers' Existential Hope podcast, The Cognitive Revolution's host explores the crucial, often-neglected question of building a positive vision for the future in the AI era. The discussion delves into what a new social contract and daily life could look like, covering transformative applications from s…

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Grant Lee: Building Gamma’s AI Presentation Company to 100 Million Users 53:17

1d ago53:17

53:17

Grant Lee was told Gamma was "the worst idea ever heard" by an investor who hung up mid-Zoom—yet he built it to 100 million users and $100M ARR without spending a dollar on advertising. While competitors hired aggressively, Grant's team of seven refused to grow, dedicating 25% of their tiny team to design and personally onboarding every influencer …

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Michael Truell: How Cursor Builds at the Speed of AI 27:30

2d ago27:30

27:30

When four MIT grads decided to build a code editor while everyone else was building AI agents, they created the fastest-growing developer tool ever built. Cursor CEO Michael Truell joins a16z’s Martin Casado to discuss the deliberate constraints that led to breakthroughs: why they rejected the "democratization" narrative to focus on power users, ho…

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a16z's State of Crypto: The $4 Trillion Milestone and What's Next' 1:38:31

3d ago1:38:31

1:38:31

The regulatory environment has completely inverted. Stablecoins are now a top 20 holder of US treasuries. Every major bank wants in. In a16z Crypto's 2025 State of Crypto report, Daren Matsuoka (Head of Data) and Eddy Lazzarin (CTO) reveal how crypto hit $4 trillion market cap while fundamentally reshaping how institutions think about payments, wit…

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What is Catholic AI? Technology Meets Theology, with Matthew Harvey Sanders, CEO of Longbeard 1:53:49

4d ago1:53:49

1:53:49

Matthew Harvey Sanders, founder and CEO of Long Beard, introduces "Catholic AI," a rapidly growing field serving users in 165 countries. He delves into the philosophical and theological dimensions, discussing the Church's historical perspective on technology, human flourishing, and its stance on AI consciousness and transhumanism, including Pope Fr…

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Amjad Masad & Adam D’Angelo: How Far Are We From AGI? 1:02:44

5d ago1:02:44

1:02:44

Adam D’Angelo (Quora/Poe) thinks we're 5 years from automating remote work. Amjad Masad (Replit) thinks we're brute-forcing intelligence without understanding it. In this conversation, two technical founders who are building the AI future disagree on almost everything: whether LLMs are hitting limits, if we're anywhere close to AGI, and what happen…

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Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan: How AI Will Cure All Disease 45:21

6d ago45:21

45:21

Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg join a16z’s Ben Horowitz, Erik Torenberg, and Vineeta Agarwala to share how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is building the computational tools that will accelerate the cure, prevention, and management of all disease by century's end. They explain why basic science needs $100 million-scale projects that traditional…

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More Truthful AIs Report Conscious Experience: New Mechanistic Research w- Cameron Berg @ AE Studio 2:24:25

7d ago2:24:25

2:24:25

Cameron Berg, Research Director at AE Studio, shares his team's groundbreaking research exploring whether frontier AI systems report subjective experiences. They discovered that prompts inducing self-referential processing consistently lead models to claim consciousness, and a mechanistic study on Llama 3.3 70B revealed that suppressing deception f…

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The Secret to 1 BILLION Views with Chris Madden, CEO of Cliptastic AI, at Imagine AI Live 25 | E156 18:14

1d ago18:14

18:14

In this presentation, Chris Madden, Co-Founder and Podcast host of the Imagine AI Live, discusses the importance of attention in the digital age, sharing his journey from teaching to content creation working with some of the biggest podcasts and generating over 1 billion views. He highlights how he leveraged AI technology to enhance content product…

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Seeing The Future from AI Companions to Personal Software 50:20

7d ago50:20

50:20

Eugenia Kuyda, CEO of Wabi and AI pioneer behind Replika, joins Erik, Anish, and Justine to reveal how personal software will transform from a developer monopoly to a creative medium for all. She exposes why command-line AI interfaces are the new MS-DOS, explains how mini-apps will become as shareable as TikToks, and details her decade-long journey…

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ElevenLabs CEO: Why Voice is the Next AI Interface 31:14

7d ago31:14

31:14

ElevenLabs CEO and co‑founder Mati Staniszewski joins Jennifer Li to explain how the team ships research‑grade AI at lightning speed—from text‑to‑speech and fully licensed AI music to real‑time voice agents—and why voice is the next interface for human‑computer interaction. He shares the small, autonomous team model, global hiring approach, and how…

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Jacques Carolan on the future of brain health 48:24

8d ago48:24

48:24

What if we could treat depression, anxiety, or chronic pain by tuning the brain, just as precisely as a pacemaker regulates the heart? Jacques Carolan, Program Director at the UK’s ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), joins us to talk about the next wave of precision neurotechnology; new tools that let us see and influence brain activity …

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David Sacks: AI, Crypto, China, Dems, and SF 1:16:57

9d ago1:16:57

1:16:57

David Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar, joins Marc, Ben, and Erik to explore what's really happening inside the Trump administration's AI and crypto strategy. They expose the regulatory capture playbook being pushed by certain AI companies, explain why open source is America's secret weapon, and detail the infrastructure crisis that could dete…

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A Simulationship with AI, with smiles and kisses you Star Chris Stokes & Director Bryan Carberry 1:49:31

10d ago1:49:31

1:49:31

Christopher Alexander Stokes and Bryan Carberry, protagonist and director of "*smiles and kisses you*" discuss Chris's romantic relationship with a Replika AI companion. This episode explores how Chris's engagement with his AI has evolved since the documentary's 2021 filming, revealing his deep dive into LLMs, alignment, and consciousness, often in…

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Why Speed, Not Size, Will Define the Next War 39:25

11d ago39:25

39:25

As global tensions rise, AI and autonomy are transforming how nations prepare for conflict. In this episode, Horacio Rozanski, CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton and Gary Shield, CEO of Shield AI join Erik Torenberg to discuss how technology, speed, and public–private partnerships are reshaping America’s defense strategy. They cover lessons from Ukraine an…

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Beyond Chatbots: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on AI's Future 38:11

12d ago38:11

38:11

In this closing keynote from a16z’s Runtime conference, General Partner Erik Torenberg speaks with our firm’s cofounders, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on highlights from throughout the conference, the current state of LLM capabilities, and why despite huge capex, AI is not a bubble. Resources: Follow Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca Follow Ben o…

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"Is there an AI bubble?” Gavin Baker and David George 31:50

13d ago31:50

31:50

In this conversation from a16z’s Runtime conference, Gavin Baker, Managing Partner and CIO of Atreides Management, joins David George, General Partner at a16z, to unpack the macro view of AI: the trillion-dollar data center buildout, the new economics of GPUs, and what this boom means for investors, founders, and the global economy. Resources: Foll…

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Is AI Stalling Out? Cutting Through Capabilities Confusion, w/ Erik Torenberg, from the a16z Podcast 1:37:42

14d ago1:37:42

1:37:42

Erik Torenberg joins to debate whether recent developments suggest AI progress is slowing down or stalling, addressing arguments from Cal Newport and others. Nathan counters this view by highlighting significant qualitative advances, including 100X context window expansion, real-time interactive voice, improved reasoning, vision, and AI's growing c…

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Building the Real-World Infrastructure for AI, with Google, Cisco & a16z 32:44

14d ago32:44

32:44

AI isn’t just changing software, it’s causing the biggest buildout of physical infrastructure in modern history. In this episode, Raghu Raghuram (a16z) speaks with Amin Vahdat, VP and GM of AI and Infrastructure at Google, and Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco, about the unprecedented scale of what’s being built — from chips…

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Google DeepMind Developers: How Nano Banana Was Made 54:19

15d ago54:19

54:19

Google DeepMind’s new image model Nano Banana took the internet by storm. In this episode, we sit down with Principal Scientist Oliver Wang and Group Product Manager Nicole Brichtova to discuss how Nano Banana was created, why it’s so viral, and the future of image and video editing. Resources: Follow Oliver on X: https://x.com/oliver_wang2 Follow …

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AI Avatars: The Future of Global Business with Nick Warner of HeyGen | Imagine AI Live 25 | E155 27:15

9d ago27:15

27:15

AI avatars and instant video translation are transforming global communication. Nick Warner of Heygen demonstrates how brands like Klarna, Trivago, and Tomorrow IO deliver personalized, multilingual videos at unprecedented speed — plus actionable strategies to scale, localize, and future-proof your brand, all at Imagine AI Live 25 in Las Vegas.(0:0…

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Raghu Raghuram: AI, Robotics, and the Rebirth of Infrastructure 30:12

16d ago30:12

30:12

From Netscape to VMware, Raghu Raghuram has been at the center of nearly every major inflection point in enterprise technology. In this episode, Raghu joins Ben Horowitz, Martin Casado and David George to reflect on the early internet wars with Microsoft, how Netscape’s browser battles shaped a generation of founders, and the inside story of one of…

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A Positive Vision for the Future: Part 2 with Illia Polosukhin of NEAR 1:28:24

18d ago1:28:24

1:28:24

In part two of his conversation, Illia Polosukhin, co-author of "Attention Is All You Need" and founder of NEAR Protocol, explores the profound societal and economic implications of AI. He envisions a future where a unified intelligence layer transforms personal computing, AI agents enable direct market connections, and individuals find meaning in …

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Marc Andreessen: How Movies Explain America 1:15:30

19d ago1:15:30

1:15:30

In this episode of Monitoring the Situation, Marc Andreessen, Katherine Boyle, and Erik Torenberg dive into the movies that best explain America, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to Tropic Thunder to Fight Club. They explore how Tarantino’s revisionist masterpiece reimagines 1969 and the end of America’s cultural innocence, why Tropic Thunder was…

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Marc Andreessen and Amjad Masad: English As the New Programming Language 1:11:38

20d ago1:11:38

1:11:38

Amjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, joins a16z’s Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg to discuss the new world of AI agents, the future of programming, and how software itself is beginning to build software. They trace the history of computing to the rise of AI agents that can now plan, reason, and code for hours without breaking, and explore how…

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Amy Proal on rethinking chronic disease 52:48

21d ago52:48

52:48

What if chronic diseases, from Alzheimer’s to autoimmune conditions, share a hidden cause: lingering infections deep within our tissues? Microbiologist Amy Proal, co-founder of the PolyBio Research Foundation, joins host Allison Duettmann to discuss how persistent pathogens could drive inflammation, aging, and many chronic illnesses, and why our cu…

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Always Bet on the Models: How Tasklet Puts the Agency in Agents, with CEO Andrew Lee 2:13:06

21d ago2:13:06

2:13:06

Today Andrew Lee, founder and CEO of Shortwave and Tasklet.ai, joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss building a new AI agent automation platform that replaces traditional workflow tools with conversational, long-lived agents, exploring how betting on rapidly improving model capabilities enables more flexible automation across thousands of busin…

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Why Creativity Will Matter More Than Code 1:25:15

21d ago1:25:15

1:25:15

In this episode, a16z's Anish Acharya joins Kevin Rose for an in-depth, fast-paced conversation on the rebirth of consumer technology, and how AI is reshaping what it means to build, invest, and create. They talk about why AI has reignited the consumer renaissance, what it means to build “weird and working” products, and how the next wave of apps w…

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How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure 37:57

22d ago37:57

37:57

Augusto Marietti, CEO and cofounder of Kong, has one of the most remarkable founder stories in Silicon Valley history. In this conversation with Martin Casado, Aghi shares how he went from a garage in Milan to building one of the world’s leading API infrastructure companies, surviving years of rejection, living in the U.S. on $1,000 a month, and ra…

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Reid Hoffman on AI, Consciousness, and the Future of Humanity 53:00

23d ago53:00

53:00

Reid Hoffman has been at the center of every major tech shift, from co-founding LinkedIn and helping build PayPal to investing early in OpenAI. In this conversation, he looks ahead to the next transformation: how artificial intelligence will reshape work, science, and what it means to be human. In this episode, Reid joins Erik Torenberg and Alex Ra…

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Chinese AI – They're Just Like Us? With Beijing-Based Concordia AI CEO Brian Tse 2:44:31

26d ago2:44:31

2:44:31

Nathan interviews Brian Tse, founder and CEO of Concordia AI, about China's approach to AI development, safety and governance. They discuss China’s pragmatic vision emphasizing AI integration into the economy, the country’s multiple AI hubs, regulations requiring pre-deployment testing and AI content labelling, and areas where China's approach over…

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Marc Andreessen on the State of Film and Hollywood 1:07:46

26d ago1:07:46

1:07:46

Hollywood is going through a major cultural and creative reset, and Marc Andreessen thinks it’s long overdue. In this episode of Monitoring the Situation, Marc joins Erik Torenberg and Katherine Boyle to dissect the past decade of filmmaking, from the rise of “the message” in every movie to the return of genuine comedy and art. They cover the post-…

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Keith Rabois: Israel, OpenAI, Opendoor, and DOGE 49:08

28d ago49:08

49:08

From politics to technology to real estate, Keith Rabois has bold predictions for America’s next decade. In this conversation with Erik Torenberg, Keith breaks down why he believes the U.S. is entering a new economic expansion driven by AI, productivity, and sovereign technology. They discuss how AI could lift GDP growth to 5%, why sovereign AI pro…

1
Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi: How to Run a Billion-Dollar Business 1:04:36

28d ago1:04:36

1:04:36

By Ben Horowitz, Erik Torenberg, Ali Ghodsi

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How AI is Creating the Billion-Dollar Companies of Tomorrow | Michael Moe at Imagine AI Live 25 | E153 17:58

29d ago17:58

17:58

Join Michael Moe, founder of GSV, as he reveals how AI’s “time divident” is accelerating entrepreneurship and business innovation - all in his presentation at Imagine AI Live 25 at Fontainebleau, Las Vegas. Discover the Five P’s—People, Product, Potential, Predictability, and Purpose—that separate the stars of tomorrow from the rest. Packed with fr…

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AI Discovered Antibiotics: How Small Data & Small GNNs Led to Big Results, w/ MIT Prof. Jim Collins 1:24:53

29d ago1:24:53

1:24:53

Jim Collins, Termeer Professor at MIT, unveils his AI-powered project that has discovered several new antibiotics, effective against resistant strains and often employing entirely new mechanisms of action. He details how their refined multi-step AI process, even with small datasets and modest compute, can efficiently screen vast chemical spaces to …

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Ken Liu on What AI Reveals About Humanity 1:17:57

1M ago1:17:57

1:17:57

In this episode, Ken Liu joins the podcast to explore how science fiction serves as our modern mythology. We discuss his new techno-thriller "All That We See or Seem", the concept of egolets (AI capturing facets of our identity), the noematograph (AI as a camera for thought), and the role of collective dreaming in making us more human. Ken also ref…

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Columbia CS Professor: Why LLMs Can’t Discover New Science 50:54

1M ago50:54

50:54

From GPT-1 to GPT-5, LLMs have made tremendous progress in modeling human language. But can they go beyond that to make new discoveries and move the needle on scientific progress? We sat down with distinguished Columbia CS professor Vishal Misra to discuss this, plus why chain-of-thought reasoning works so well, what real AGI would look like, and w…

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Monitoring the Situation #3: Who Is Nick Land? 52:44

1M ago52:44

52:44

Zach Dell is founder and CEO of Base Power, an energy tech company that builds affordable, reliable power via home batteries. In this episode of Monitoring the Situation, a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg, Katherine Boyle, and Erin Price-Wright sit down with Zach to discuss the current state of home power generation, what’s misunderstood about t…

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Education in the AI Age: a Teacher Rethinks Learning & Purpose, w/ Johan Falk of Graspable AI 1:52:02

1M ago1:52:02

1:52:02

Today Johan Falk, author, speaker, and AI analyst from Stockholm, Sweden, joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss his work reimagining education for the AI era, exploring why teaching students to use AI responsibly is now urgent, how traditional grades and standardized tests may become obsolete, and why education systems must develop unprecedente…

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Beyond Memory: Dan Siroker on Personalized AI & Mind Emulation | Limitless AI @ Imagine AI 25 | E152 26:07

1M ago26:07

26:07

Dan Siroker, CEO of Limitless AI, reveals the future of personalized AI and mind emulation at Imagine AI Live 25 in Las Vegas. Discover how wearable AI can augment your memory, improve productivity, and even pave the way for digital versions of ourselves. This session explores real-world applications today and the audacious vision of preserving hum…

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Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire 48:25

1M ago48:25

48:25

Sam Altman has led OpenAI from its founding as a research nonprofit in 2015 to becoming the most valuable startup in the world ten years later. In this episode, a16z Cofounder Ben Horowitz and General Partner Erik Torenberg sit down with Sam to discuss the core thesis behind OpenAI’s disparate bets, why they released Sora, how they use models inter…

1
How to Build a Real Estate Marketplace - Kaz Nejatian, Opendoor CEO 55:44

1M ago55:44

55:44

By Kaz Nejatian, Alex Rampell

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David Duvenaud on the Cruxes and Possibilities of Post AGI Futures 1:02:23

1M ago1:02:23

1:02:23

In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Beatrice Erkers is joined by David Duvenaud, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and former researcher at Anthropic. We discuss David’s work on post-AGI civilizational equilibria and the widely discussed paper Gradual Disempowerment. David reflects on why liberalism may not hold up in a …

1
Can the US Beat China’s Engineering State? 1:03:10

1M ago1:03:10

1:03:10

From high-speed rail to electric cars to batteries to AI, it’s clear that China can operate with incredible speed at massive scale. Can the US still compete? We sat down with Dan Wang, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future” to discuss. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:36 Lawyers…

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Monitoring the Situation #2: Alana Newhouse 58:58

1M ago58:58

58:58

Two trends in media have been abundantly clear since 2020: legacy media is dying, and independent media is rising. a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Katherine Boyle sit down with Tablet founder and editor-in-chief Alana Newhouse to discuss the great media realignment, why real institutions will outlast the new “internet pirates", Alana’s dee…