Joanna Stern is not a robot, but she lived with them

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. My guest today is longtime friend of the show Joanna Stern. You all know Joanna: she is the former senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a former Decoder guest host, one of my cofounders here at The Verge, and also just one of my very closest friends. I mention that because Joanna just left that lofty perch at The Journal to start her own media company called New Things.

She’s starting with her new book about AI, called I Am Not a Robot, which is out this week on May 12th. You’ll hear us reference the fact that she and I have been talking about her big move to go independent for ages now — it’s something she’s wanted to do and wrestled with for years, and she has a long list of interesting reasons about why now is the time. She’s also structured her new venture in partnership with NBC to keep her in front of a big mainstream audience.

Technical Details

Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. You can sign up here. It was important that I prove to Joanna that I actually read her book, which is really quite good.

She spent a full year allowing AI into every part of her life and has more of a sense of where this technology actually is than pretty much anyone because of it. As you’ll hear Joanna explain, many of the most hyped AI-powered gadgets — especially the humanoid robots — are definitely not ready, and they might not be for a very long time.   But you’ll also hear Joanna say she’s a lot more bullish on certain types of AI after her experience writing her book.

She thinks wearable AI might really get us to a killer app — one that might justify all the extreme tradeoffs we’re making to continue developing the technology at the pace the tech industry wants to. She’s also using AI to help get her new media company off the ground. So I asked her about that, too, and what she’s learning now that she’s left the world of traditional media and put a heavier emphasis on the YouTube algorithm.

Industry Implications

This is a really fun one — it is about as close to the actual conversation Joanna and I have at our regular dinners as it gets. Okay: Joanna Stern, author of the new book I Am Not a Robot and founder of New Things.   This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Joanna Stern, you’re the founder and chief everything officer of the new tech news venture New Things. You’re also a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, but most importantly, you’re a cofounder of The Verge and also just one of my closest friends. Welcome back to Decoder.

It is so nice to be here on Decoder and not subbing in for you. It’s true that you were also a guest host of this show for a while. This is the most conflicted episode of Decoder I think we’ve ever done, but I’m excited for it.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.