TheChek News Flow

The tech company’s surprise purchase of the web program underscores its efforts to help shape the narrative about AI

For weeks, OpenAI’s top new executive had been buzzing about a talk show making the rounds in Silicon Valley.

When she appeared on the online video show “TBPN” in December to discuss the release of a new artificial-intelligence model, it was clear the hosts understood the message OpenAI was trying to get out into the world.

“We’re feeling the AGI here,” host John Coogan said with a smile, before saluting goodbye to Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s newly anointed chief executive officer of applications.

Simo recently rebranded her role to “CEO of AGI deployment,” a reference to artificial general intelligence—or AI that is smarter than humans. In February, she decided to reach back out to Coogan and his co-host Jordi Hays. This time, she came with an offer to buy their company.

The acquisition is an unexpected move by Simo early in her tenure at OpenAI, where she oversees its product and business functions. (News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.)

When rumors began floating about the impending acquisition Wednesday, some OpenAI employees thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Simo had just told staffers in an all-hands meeting three weeks earlier that they had to cut back on “side quests” and refocus the company on winning the AI coding wars.

In a fast-changing media environment—one whose evolution has been accelerated by OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT —Simo felt that the company needed to think outside of the box when it came to promoting its vision. Chris Lehane, the architect of OpenAI’s political messaging, had often described the approach as getting into “the room where it happens,” an apparent reference to the Broadway show “Hamilton.”

“TBPN,” shorthand for Technology Business Programming Network, treats technology news with the seriousness of a sportscaster describing a winning play. It is widely followed by tech enthusiasts, from industry practitioners to AI-curious young people.

OpenAI is trying to change long-established habits around how people interact with technology, and fight growing anxiety about the impact that AI will have on the workforce and society writ large. Within Silicon Valley, it is battling for mind-share among young startup founders, software engineers and tech executives whose perceptions are largely shaped by what they see on social media—specifically X.

That is where “TBPN” comes in.

The talk show began in October 2024 and quickly became all the rage among the Silicon Valley tech crowd.

Episodes of “TBPN” span three hours, with content ranging from interviews with the likes of Mark Cuban and Apple’s Eddy Cue to riffs on the day’s tech and business news. It is all delivered, with frat-bro-like gusto, by co-founders and hosts Hays and Coogan. There is even a gong, which is used to celebrate business milestones, new funding rounds or anything else worth marking with a ceremonial bang.

The show’s nontraditional approach—a mix of clever analysis and laudatory commentary—has allowed it to nab high-profile interviews with executives, some of whom rarely speak to legacy media outlets. The daily, live video podcast is now a favorite stop for the power players at the center of the tech orbit.

Simo, who also leads OpenAI’s communications team, had been talking to CEO Sam Altman about finding a way to own the messaging around not just their company, but AI more generally.

She doesn’t have time to watch the full show—most people don’t—but devours the snippets that go viral on X. Simo specifically wanted to reach terminally online people to help OpenAI tell its story, and felt that Hays and Coogan were plugged in to technology’s pulse.

The show has about 59,000 YouTube subscribers—a following dwarfed by the likes of Joe Rogan (20.8 million) and Lex Fridman (4.96 million). But clips from the show often make waves on social media, and have a way of changing how the tech crowd thinks about the issues of the day.

OpenAI said “TBPN” would keep its editorial independence. Still, executives from AI companies such as Meta Platforms and Anthropic might now think twice before appearing on a show owned by their rival.

OpenAI executives are hoping that, by giving Hays and Coogan access to the company’s latest research and culture, they will be able to absorb OpenAI’s messaging into their content.

Coogan co-founded the meal-replacement drink company Soylent over a decade ago, and counted Altman among his early investors in 2013. His second company, called Lucy, was backed by Y Combinator, the venture firm that Altman ran at the time. Coogan met Hays, another repeat startup founder, a few years ago.

The tech world’s ambitions to shape media are nothing new. MSNBC was launched as a joint venture with Microsoft. Amazon.com, which started as an online bookstore, now has an expansive media operation that includes movies, television shows and streaming. The investment giant Andreessen Horowitz tried to build out its own media arm, called Future, a few years ago, though it isn’t currently active.

Tech companies and venture-capital firms have long tried to make and own their own media, said Kara Swisher, co-host of the “Pivot” podcast, which is part of New York magazine owner Vox Media’s podcast network. “Most have ended up, well, ended without a trace,” she said.

While OpenAI hopes the “TBPN” deal will help shape the narrative around the company and AI, Simo and top executives have also told employees they have to focus on improving the company’s key products.

“We really have to nail productivity in general and particularly productivity on the business front,” she said during her all-hands meeting last month. “Everything else is going to have to take a back seat to those priorities.”