For the past 18 months, every chief executive in Silicon Valley has clawed at the door to talk to “TBPN,” a streaming show focused on technology and business. They have embraced the “TBPN” hosts, John Coogan and Jordi Hayes, who often speak optimistically about technology on their show, which airs online three hours a day, five days a week.
Now, a leading artificial intelligence start-up is giving the show a full-on bear hug. On Thursday, OpenAI said it had bought “TBPN” for an undisclosed amount and would continue to support it as the show promoted the business of technology and media.
“One thing that’s become clear is that the standard communications playbook just doesn’t apply to us,” Fidji Simo, a top OpenAI executive, said in an internal memo to employees about the deal. She added that buying “TBPN” would help OpenAI “create a space for a real, constructive conversation about the changes A.I. creates — with builders and people using the technology at the center.”
“TBPN,” which employs 11 people, said it would remain editorially independent and continue running its daily show but would wind down its advertising operations. The company had not raised a major amount of venture capital. OpenAI and “TBPN” declined to disclose the terms of the deal.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the deal. (The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 for copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied those claims.)
The acquisition comes at a pivotal moment for Silicon Valley as A.I. companies face more scrutiny amid an accelerating boom.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, has said he “miscalibrated” the level of mistrust for A.I. companies from the public after OpenAI struck a deal with the Pentagon in February to provide services for military operations. Prominent venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel have claimed the mainstream news media does not give the tech industry a fair shake. OpenAI executives have expressed similar concerns, current and former employees said.
“TBPN,” which aired its first episode in October 2024, gained traction among techies because it bucked that discourse. Mr. Coogan and Mr. Hays, both former start-up founders, have professed their love of capitalism, building businesses and watching technology companies reshape the world.
Mr. Altman also invested in Mr. Coogan’s first company, the nutritional supplement drink Soylent, more than a decade ago.
Dylan Abruscato, the president of “TBPN,” said in an interview that the show had ambitions to expand, which would be easier to do with OpenAI’s support and funding. “TBPN” will sit in OpenAI’s strategy division and report to Chris Lehane, the chief global affairs officer.
As part of the deal contract, the companies created a “commitment to editorial independence.” OpenAI will not have a say in which guests Mr. Coogan and Mr. Hays have on the show or in the topics they cover. OpenAI also does not get the rights to the likenesses of Mr. Coogan and Mr. Hays, should the company one day decide an A.I. version of them may be better than the real thing.
“I don’t expect them to go any easier on us, am sure I’ll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions,” Mr. Altman said in a social media post on Thursday.
The reality may not be so simple. Part of the success of “TBPN” has been its independence, with guests like Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, whose companies compete with OpenAI. It may be difficult for the “TBPN” hosts to continue nabbing high-profile interviewees with their new affiliation.
Mr. Abruscato said “TBPN” pushed hard for contract terms that would ensure the show would remain in control of its own direction. He added that it had ambitions of building an events business, or potentially taking the “TBPN” broadcast on the road in the future.
In a text message to The New York Times on Thursday, Mr. Coogan put it more succinctly.
“Expect the unexpected,” he wrote.
Mike Isaac is The Times’s Silicon Valley correspondent, based in San Francisco. He covers the world’s most consequential tech companies, and how they shape culture both online and offline.
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