OpenAI has acquired the popular technology industry talk show TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network). This is the AI giant’s first acquisition of a media company. This show reports to Chris Lehane, chief political operative at OpenAI.
Hosted by former tech founders John Coogan and Geordie Hayes, TBPN is a three-hour daily live show on YouTube and X that focuses on technology, business, AI and defense.
The show has become a cult favorite in Silicon Valley, where industry heavyweights can speak up and take questions from insiders. The show has a reputation for being something of a sports center for the tech industry. It’s where top tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, Marc Benioff, and Sam Altman come to slice, react, and sometimes make their own news on the day’s news.
TBPN will remain its own brand and OpenAI will help it expand. I didn’t necessarily need help on that front. According to the Wall Street Journal, TBPN has grown into an empire that has raised more than $30 million this year.
OpenAI already has its own podcast for long-form conversations with the people building the technology within the company.
Outside of the show, OpenAI plans to leverage its founder’s “incredible communication skills and marketing instincts,” according to OpenAI’s head of AGI deployment, Fiji Simo, who said TBPN will “bring AI to the world in a way that allows people to fully understand the impact this technology has on their daily lives.”
Simo went further, pointing out that TBPN’s superior capabilities are needed for specialized companies like OpenAI, where “standard communication strategies simply don’t apply.”
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She said TBPN will have editorial independence and will “continue to run our programming, select our guests and make our own editorial decisions.”
Still, this acquisition may give them pause. After all, OpenAI is a valuable AI lab on the verge of an IPO and has acquired a hot talk show that frequently discusses the company and its competitors. And once the deal closes, TBPN will operate under OpenAI’s strategy team and report to Chris Lehane, the man who invented the term “right-wing mega-conspiracy” as a tool to deflect media scrutiny of President Clinton.
Described as a master of the “political dark arts,” Lehane is also the man behind the crypto industry super PAC Fairshake, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to bring anti-crypto candidates to their knees in the 2024 election. He joined OpenAI in the same year and has since been in President Trump’s ear, whispering sweeping and controversial policy recommendations, including blocking national regulation of AI and loosening environmental regulations that could slow data center construction.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said in a social media post that TBPN is his favorite tech show, seems to believe the acquisition won’t change TBPN’s commentary or even criticism of the company.
“I don’t expect them to go any easier on us. I’m confident they will do their part to make that possible, even if they make some stupid decisions at times,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, TBPN sees the acquisition as a way to do more than just commentary.
“We have been critical of the industry from time to time, but after getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out most was their openness to feedback and commitment to getting this right,” Hayes said in a statement. “It is very important for us to move from commentary to real-world impact on how this technology is distributed and understood globally.”
Do you have tips or documentation for the AI industry? Contact Rebecca Bellan confidentially from a non-work device at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com or Signal: rebeccabellan.491.
