On today's, we dive into the dysfunction in Meta's newly formed AI unit and why it's been driving already-low employee morale even further into the ground. This week on, our hosts discuss the meltdown that has been recently unfolding at Meta and what it says about the company's relentless ambitions in the AI race. They also dive into the leaked messages and names of an invite-only group cofounded by billionaire tech founder Peter Thiel, and how Sam Bankman-Fried is now actively seeking a pardon from the Trump administration. Plus, they share their impressions on SpaceX acquiring Cursor and the latest on the negotiations between Anthropic and the government. 'Tell Him He's a Piece of Shit': Meta's New AI Unit Is a Total Mess Write to us at [email protected] . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . Before we start, two quick things. If you've been enjoying listening to the show, we would appreciate it if you took a second to rate it in your podcast app of choice. It really helps us reach more people. And second, if you have any questions related to tech, privacy, or politics that you would like me, Zoë, and Leah to take on, now is the time to submit them to [email protected] . It doesn't matter how big or how small, we want to hear from you and get you answers. Today on the show, we're talking about the dysfunction in Meta's newly formed AI unit and why it's been driving employee morale, which was already very, very low, even further into the ground. We'll also break down the recent online leak that shed light on Peter Thiel's invite-only group, Dialog, more than 200 names of high profile people in government, tech, academia, beyond are listed in the documents as members and guests of this secretive society, not to mention a look at what they talk about behind closed doors.

Rep. Shri Thanedar blasted top Trump immigration officials during a heated House hearing, calling federal officers “thugs" and warning they “better hope" for a presidential pardon.

Billionaire UK businessman Joe Lewis, whose family trust owns Tottenham Hotspur football club, has received a pardon from US President Donald Trump. Lewis, 88, pleaded guilty to insider trading as part of an agreement with prosecutors in 2024 that saw him avoid prison. He was accused of passing on information about his companies to his private pilots, friends, personal assistants and romantic partners in a fraud that authorities said netted millions of dollars in profit. A White House official said Trump approved the pardon for Lewis, who requested it so he could receive medical treatment and visit his grandchildren and great grandchildren in the US. Mr Lewis admitted he made a terrible mistake, did not fight extradition in the case, and paid a $5 million fine, the official told the BBC.

Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy has the latest on the Department of Justice investigating former President Joe Biden's pardons and his alleged autopen usage on'The Faulkner Focus.' There is mounting evidence that Joe Biden was president in name only during much of his time in office. In his stead, a cabal of top White House staffers appears to have secretly operated a de facto presidency, making crucial decisions without a shred of constitutional authority. If proven true, it would call into question the validity of pardons and executive orders issued under his name but without his knowledge or consent. For this reason, it is imperative that Biden's closest advisers answer questions under oath and others in his orbit be forced to disclose what they knew or observed.

President Joe Biden signs a document with his very own hands.Oliver Contreras/White House/Zuma President Donald Trump has a new hobbyhorse: That his predecessor, President Joe Biden, didn't legally grant pardons to people Trump wants to harass because the pardons were signed with an autopen, a device for replicating a signature, rather than by hand. Trump has identified some signature requirement as the one rule presidents must obey. "The'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," he ranted on Truth Social just after midnight on Monday. "In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!" Trump and his MAGA allies have embraced a lawless approach to the presidency. Trump's executive orders, actions, and legal filings all point to an understanding of the president as far more powerful than previously understood, with king-like powers over the entire executive branch.

Whoopi Goldberg and'View' guest Charlamagne Tha God argued over President Biden's pardon of Hunter and whether he was a liar. "The View" co-host Ana Navarro admitted that she relied on information given by ChatGPT after she was mocked for sharing false information about presidential pardons in her defense of President Biden. Biden came under fire this week for issuing a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter Biden on Sunday after repeatedly insisting he would not do so. Navarro, who identifies as a Republican but is an ardent supporter of Democrats who reliably offers liberal commentary on "The View" and on CNN, came out swinging against Biden's critics. She wrote on X, "Woodrow Wilson pardoned his brother-in-law, Hunter deButts. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger. Donald Trump pardoned his daughter's father-in-law, Charlie Kushner. And just appointed him Ambassador to France. But tell me again how Joe Biden'is setting precedent'?" Navarro's bizarre claim about Woodrow Wilson's pardon of a fictional brother-in-law named "Hunter deButts" instantly raised eyebrows.

Donald Trump granted clemency to 237 people during his administration. Some of the pardons--particularly those related to drug offenses--fit within the norms of the office. But a much larger portion were favors done for wealthy people who could access Trump through top-dollar lawyers, golf clubs, rich South Floridian social circles, and family. We revisited these pardons four years later to see what they could tell us about Trump's 2024 campaign. The biggest takeaway had to do with the shadowy political operatives--including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone--who have spent the past four years pushing dangerous and wild election conspiracy theories in hopes they will be rewarded once more.

In October last year, a Russian news site published a short video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary army, sitting with four men on a rooftop terrace in the resort town of Gelendzhik, on Russia's Black Sea coast. Two are missing parts of a leg. A third lost an arm. They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. "You were an offender, now you're a war hero," Prigozhin tells one man in the clip. It was the first video to depict the return of some of the thousands of convicts who joined Wagner in return for the promise of a pardon if they survived six months of the war. Reuters news agency used facial recognition software to examine this video and more than a dozen others and photographs of homecoming convict fighters, published between October 2022 and February 2023.

The Bank of England's new 50-pound note will feature mathematician Alan Turing, honoring the code-breaker who helped lay the foundation for computer science. The Bank of England's new 50-pound note will feature mathematician Alan Turing, honoring the code-breaker who helped lay the foundation for computer science. Alan Turing, the father of computer science and artificial intelligence who broke Adolf Hitler's Enigma code system in World War II -- but who died an outcast because of his homosexuality -- will be featured on the Bank of England's new 50-pound note. The new note will be printed on polymer and will bear a 1951 photo of Turing, the bank announced Monday. It's expected to enter circulation by the end of 2021. It will include a quote from Turing: "This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be." Turing was just 41 when he died from poisoning in 1954, a death that was deemed a suicide.

Canada is leading the world in artificial intelligence, thanks largely to huge government investments. At the perfect intersection of technology and civil service, every government process will be an automated one, streamlining benefits, outcomes, and applications for every citizen within a digitally-enabled country. With that approach comes a significant layer of protocol that is necessary to ensure citizens feel empowered regarding decision-making processes and how their government addresses needs from a digital perspective. Right now, Canada is leading the world in artificial intelligence (AI), thanks largely to huge government investments like the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The growing field is pervasive right now--there is hardly an industry it has not disrupted, from mining to legal aid.