OpenAI is moving into an unexpected industry: media.
The San Francisco AI giant just bought TBPN, a tech talk show that’s gone viral among Silicon Valley insiders, it announced Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Jordi Hays and John Coogan host the two-man talk show, which streams every weekday. It has garnered attention as a must-watch for tech bros, thanks to interviews with tech leaders like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. It has a lighter, highly online tone — for example, by turning the AI talent wars into pro sports drafts.
“This is not an April Fool’s joke; that was yesterday,” TBPN co-host John Coogan joked on the show on Thursday.
“The TBPN team has built something special,” Fidji Simo, CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, said in a statement shared with Business Insider. “It’s a real-time window into what’s happening in AI. It brings together the people building the technology with leaders across every industry, figuring out how to use it for work and everyday life.
“We’re excited to bring TBPN to OpenAI and keep growing it as an independent place for companies to share ideas, launch new things, and have honest conversations about where this is all going,” Simo added in the statement.
The acquisition is part of a new OpenAI communications strategy. Simo wrote in OpenAI’s announcement that the standard communications playbook “just doesn’t apply” to the company.
Buying TBPN — which stands for Technology Business Programming Network — gives OpenAI a more direct voice in online commentary about AI. TBPN will be part of OpenAI’s Strategy org, reporting to its chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane.
“This acquisition brings a team with strong editorial instincts, deep audience understanding, and a proven ability to convene influential voices across tech, business, and culture,” Simo wrote in the announcement.
OpenAI says it is keeping TBPN independent, with the show keeping its own programming, guests, and editorial decisions. TBPN co-host Hays said in a statement that while the show has at times been critical of the industry, after getting to know Altman and OpenAI, their openness to feedback stood out.
The TBPN hosts said the show has never considered itself a journalistic outlet, but rather as a place where industry leaders can talk about and contextualize technology.
“We were never in the scoop industry,” Coogan said on the show on Thursday.
The move also comes as the AI companies that dominate online discourse increasingly move into branding and content.
Anthropic, for example, has begun selling merch and has tripled the size of its communications team in the past year.
TBPN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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