OpenAI acquires IT podcast TBPN: Directly shaping public opinion? [Global AI Briefing]

[Financial News] OpenAI has acquired TBPN, a well-known U.S. IT podcast. OpenAI described the move as a strategy to deepen public understanding of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). However, controversy is expected, as an AI company is now directly securing a channel for shaping public opinion. In particular, combined with recent disputes over military AI cooperation, concerns are growing about the expanding influence of Big Tech.

According to a report by The Information on the 2nd (local time), Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s chief executive officer for business, announced in an internal memo that the company had acquired the podcast TBPN. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TBPN is a live IT-focused podcast launched in October 2024 by well-known Silicon Valley investors John Coogan and Jordi Hays. The show has gained popularity by featuring prominent founders, investors and executives from the tech industry, who discuss market trends and help shape opinion directly. TBPN is estimated to have generated about 5 million dollars (roughly 7.5 billion won) in advertising revenue last year.
Simo stated, "As the company that will introduce AGI to the world, OpenAI also has a responsibility to create spaces for honest and constructive conversations about the changes AI will bring." With this, she signaled OpenAI’s intention to play a direct role in shaping public opinion on AI.

Iran, which is at war with the United States, is reported to have attacked a cloud data center of Amazon Web Services (AWS) located in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is said to be the first such strike since Tehran warned it would retaliate against U.S. Big Tech companies.
On the 2nd (local time), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced in a statement that it had attacked Amazon’s cloud-computing center in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In a separate statement, it also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Oracle data center in Dubai.

The government of the Kingdom of Bahrain said it had extinguished a fire at a corporate facility that came under Iranian attack, without specifying which company was targeted.
Earlier, the IRGC had warned that it would carry out retaliatory attacks, claiming that "U.S. IT and AI companies played a key role in designing and tracking targets in terrorist operations." It also released a list of 18 U.S. Big Tech firms, including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Palantir Technologies, Nvidia, IBM, Oracle and Tesla.
Major international outlets such as the Financial Times (FT) have analyzed that the rise of AI data centers and cloud-computing facilities in the Middle East as Iranian targets is linked to the direct use of AI technology in the U.S.–Iran war. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is reportedly using the Maven Smart System, built by Palantir Technologies, to carry out concentrated strikes on targets inside Iran.
cafe9@fnnews.com Lee Gu-soon Reporter