Adam Conover explains how YouTube ruined everything

Adam Conover explains how YouTube ruined everything

Author: The Verge September 14, 2026 Duration: 1:05:05
Adam Conover is a familiar face to anyone who’s spent time on the internet. He got his start at CollegeHumor back in the day, before transitioning into cable TV with Adam Ruins Everything, then onto Netflix, and all the way back to YouTube again, where he posts videos and hosts a podcast. That is exactly the kind of career path that fascinates me, and it also happens to touch on basically every major Decoder theme there is.  Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links:  YouTube is making it harder to earn money on YouTube | The Verge Adam Conover regrets shilling Sam Altman’s World | The Verge Elon Musk is an idiot | Adam Conover How HBO’s creatives survived corporate chaos | Decoder YouTube’s Neal Mohan on the future for creators | Decoder (2021) Banning Trump was the right decision, says Instagram’s Mosseri | Decoder (2021) Ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith | Decoder Hank Green will gladly take billionaires’ money for education | Decoder Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder’s producers are Greg Ott, Kate Cox, and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Decoder with Nilay Patel
Podcast Episodes
Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn't kill everyone???? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:18
The biggest story in tech right now is the spiraling debate about AI safety and regulation. The CEOs of all these companies have issued various calls to slow down development and develop regulation, including asking for…
Why the current tech backlash feels different [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:35
We’re back with another Decoder mailbag special. This time, we focused on feedback to Nilay’s “software brain” video essay, our ongoing coverage of AI and Big Tech backlash, surveillance, interviewing politicians ahead o…
How Sonos rebooted itself [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:44
My guest today is Sonos CEO Tom Conrad. Tom was on the board at Sonos during the disastrous 2024 app redesign that threatened to crash the entire brand, and he took over as interim CEO to right the ship during that perio…
New York Governor Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be ‘less evil’ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:10
It’s an election year, with a shocking amount of tech policy at stake, and Gov.Hochul has taken strong positions on almost every major tech issue there is. You'll hear us talk about the settlement Meta reached with dozen…
OpenAI's executive exodus has one big winner [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:40
Today, I’m talking with Hayden Field, The Verge’s senior AI reporter, about some pure Decoder bait: the seemingly-endless org chart changes at OpenAI, and how all of them seem to consolidate power under cofounder Greg Br…
How GoFundMe became America's backup plan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:44
Tim Cadogan is CEO of GoFundMe, the for-profit platform where you can donate to help people with everything from medical expenses to little league uniforms to starting a new business. Tim took over as CEO in March 2020 —…
Welcome to the AI crisis in math [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:30
My guest today is Robert Hart, The Verge’s London-based AI reporter. Robert recently wrote a fantastic story for us about the debate raging inside the world of mathematics — and the existential crisis over what it means…
It's about ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:22
Today I’m talking to Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of Semafor. Ben ran BuzzFeed News at the height of the Facebook traffic boom, and even wrote a book about it, called Traffic, which he discussed with me on Decoder back…
Does Google even want to win in AI? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:13
My guest today is The Verge’s Hayden Field, and we’re discussing a question that’s been rocketing around the tech industry for the past week: Is Google losing the AI race? That's because last week, the company announced…