IM 858: The Itinerant Salt Miner from Buffalo - Silicon Valley's Military Dilemma

IM 858: The Itinerant Salt Miner from Buffalo - Silicon Valley's Military Dilemma

Author: TWiT February 19, 2026 Duration: 2:51:57

OpenClaw's creator makes headlines by joining OpenAI after GitHub fame and a whirlwind of VC and big tech offers, redefining what's possible for independent developers in the AI arms race. Is this the year agentic AI goes mainstream, and are the big players ready for that disruption?

  • OpenClaw, OpenAI and the future | Peter Steinberger
  • OpenAI disbands mission alignment team
  • Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw. - The New York Times
  • Introducing GPT‑5.3‑Codex‑Spark
  • Anthropic releases Sonnet 4.6
  • Exclusive: Pentagon threatens to cut off Anthropic in AI safeguards dispute
  • Google's Pixel 10a Launches on March 5 for $499
  • Google's AI drug discovery spinoff Isomorphic Labs claims major leap beyond AlphaFold 3
  • Gemini 3 Deep Think: AI model update designed for science
  • Radio host David Greene says Google's NotebookLM tool stole his voice
  • A new way to express yourself: Gemini can now create music
  • Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood
  • GPT-5 outperforms federal judges 100% to 52% in legal reasoning experiment
  • An AI project is creating videos to go with Supreme Court justices' real words
  • I used Claude to negotiate $163,000 off a hospital bill. In a complex healthcare system, AI is giving patients power.
  • Sony Tech Can Identify Original Music in AI-Generated Songs
  • AI Pioneer Fei-Fei Li's Startup World Labs Raises $1 Billion
  • Yann v. Yoshua on directed systems
  • Dr. Oz pushes AI avatars as a fix for rural health care. Not so fast, critics say
  • An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me
  • An Ars Technica Reporter Blamed A.I. Tools for Fabricating Quotes in a Bizarre A.I. Story
  • Plain Dealer using AI to write reporters' stories
  • Mediahuis trials use of AI agents to carry out 'first-line' news reporting
  • DJI's first robovac is an autonomous cleaning drone you can't trust
  • Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs
  • ai;dr
  • I hate my AI pet with every fiber of my being
  • Thanks a lot, AI: Hard drives are sold out for the year, says WD
  • Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School
  • peon-ping — Stop babysitting your terminal
  • Hugo Barra makes a to-do agent
  • Raspberry Pi soars 40% as CEO buys stock, AI chatter builds

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Emily Forlini

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From the team at TWiT, Intelligent Machines (Video) dives into the seismic shift unfolding right now. The first part of this century was defined by networks connecting people; the coming era will be defined by the intelligence embedded within the objects and systems around us. This isn't just about speculative fiction-it's about the algorithms in your car, the logic in your home appliances, and the evolving minds within our phones and robots. Each episode of this podcast unpacks a piece of that complex reality, examining both the profound potential and the tangible risks of this transformation. We're moving beyond simple gadget reviews to explore the deeper societal, ethical, and personal implications of living alongside thinking machines. The conversation is grounded in the present, looking at real-world applications and the engineers, philosophers, and policymakers shaping our automated future. Tune in for clear-eyed analysis and thoughtful discussion that aims to demystify the technology, helping you grasp not only what these systems do, but how they will redefine work, creativity, privacy, and human agency itself. Join us as we navigate the most significant technological revolution in generations, seeking to understand what we're building before it reshapes everything.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 10

Intelligent Machines (Video)
Podcast Episodes
IM 867: The Ketchup Effect - The Lines Are Too Damn Long [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Game designer and Atlantic writer Ian Bogost joins to argue that the true joy of technology is not frictionlessness, but the small sensory pleasures and constraints that keep us tethered to real life. Discover how AI cou…
IM 866: I'm Bonkers for Yonkers - Is Coding Dead? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:28:30
When renowned photographer Craig Mod coded his own AI-powered Twitter, the lines between art, tech, and community blur in surprising ways. This episode explores what happens when creative minds take AI into their own han…
IM 865: Mythic - Too Dangerous to Release? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:26:36
A secretive AI called Mythos is already finding zero-day exploits that humans missed for decades, but Anthropic claims it is too risky for public release. Hear what leading security experts think could happen if this tec…
IM 864: And Artemis Too - Journalism In The Age Of AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:25:03
What happens when a thriving newsletter-turned-AI lab lets artificial intelligence shape writing, editing, and even entire products? Find out how Every is challenging the boundaries between tech and culture and why even…
IM 863: Fire and Ash - Hot Takes on Tech Trials [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:44:09
Tech journalist Marshall Kirkpatrick joins the panel to showcase a new AI-powered tool that doesn't just summarize articles—it thinks like a journalist, flagging what's truly new and revealing the patterns that matter. I…
IM 862: Ménage à Claude - AI, Human Agency, and Economic Value [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:00:43
Who gets to define what intelligence means in the age of AI, and why are tech companies so keen to shift blame onto their creations? This episode digs into moral outsourcing, agency, and the urgent need for independent o…
IM 860: You Gotta Get Computer - Claude Surges to No. 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:08:24
A principled stand by an underdog AI company ignites a mass migration of users, shakes up Silicon Valley talent wars, and leaves even the tech giants recalculating their moves. Hear how one weekend suddenly redrew the li…
IM 859: What's Behind the Fox? - Tech's Gilded Age [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:05:22
What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter mo…