Decoder with Nilay Patel

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Author: The Verge Language: English Episodes: 100
At the intersection of power, innovation, and consequence, you'll find Decoder with Nilay Patel. Hosted by The Verge's editor-in-chief, this isn't a typical business or technology podcast that simply recites the news. Instead, Nilay engages with founders, CEOs, legislators, and artists in substantive conversations that dissect the mechanics behind major decisions. The dialogue focuses on the real-world implications of big ideas, probing how today's choices in boardrooms and legislatures ripple out into society tomorrow. You'll hear guests articulate their toughest challenges, the trade-offs they've made, and the often-unseen forces shaping industries from social media and artificial intelligence to transportation and entertainment. Each episode is built on a foundation of genuine curiosity, aiming to unpack not just what is happening, but why it matters for the way we all live and work. Listening to this podcast feels like gaining access to a nuanced, behind-the-scenes briefing where strategy and philosophy collide. It's for anyone who suspects that the most important stories aren't the announcements themselves, but the human decisions, the unforeseen problems, and the ethical calculations that happen long before the headlines are written. Through these detailed conversations, Decoder provides a crucial lens on the architects of our modern world and the complex systems they are building, for better or worse.
Episodes
Rewind: How private equity kills companies and communities [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:44
Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. We’re settling back in here after the winter break and CES, and we’ll have new episodes for you starting next Monday. In the meantime, we wanted to highlight one of our favorites from last year:…
Dropout CEO Sam Reich on the business of subscription comedy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:25
We’ve got something special for you today. It’s my friend Hank Green, longtime YouTuber, science educator, and viral TikTok star, interviewing Dropout CEO Sam Reich. Hank did this episode as a guest host over the summer,…
What’s next for Netflix and Paramount in the Warner Bros. battle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:45
Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. Decoder is on our holiday break. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff coming up in the New Year, though, including a special Decoder Live at CES. Stay tuned for more details, including how to RSVP for f…
"All chaos and panic": Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:53
Hey everyone! Decoder senior producers Kate Cox and Nick Statt here. We’ve had a big year, including nearly 100 episodes, a new YouTube channel, an ad-free podcast feed, and a slate of great guest hosts while Nilay was o…
Stack Overflow users don't trust AI. They're using it anyway [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:49
Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar was last on the show in 2022 — just one month before ChatGPT launched and upended literally everything for Stack Overflow in a deeply existential way. He called a company emergen…
Sen. Ed Markey wants media companies to fight for the First Amendment [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:42
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and I agree it seems like democracy is on the line right now, especially around the First Amendment and the increasing pressure the Trump administration — especially FCC chair Brendan Carr —…
Square's product chief on the death of the penny and the future of money [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:47
Today, I’m talking with Willem Avé, who’s the head of product at Square. You know Square — it was started by billionaire Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame more than 15 years ago, and it got big on the back of that little magne…
The tiny team trying to keep AI from destroying everything [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:20
Today, I’m talking with Verge senior AI reporter Hayden Field about some of the people responsible for studying AI and deciding in what ways it might… well, ruin the world. Those folks work at Anthropic as part of a grou…
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says there is no AI bubble after all [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:34
IBM was instrumental to the entire 20th century of computing — but it's a lot harder for most of us to see what it's been up to during this century. That's because it's fully an enterprise company, and CEO Arvind Krishna…
What the climate story gets wrong [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:32
Hey everyone, it's Nilay. It’s been great being back in the Decoder chair this fall, and we’ve got a bunch of great episodes coming up to round out the year. But the production team is off this week for the holiday, so t…