AI giants are battling not just in code, but in politics, with behind-the-scenes lobbying, strategic naming, and rumors of blockbuster deals at the heart of this week's wildest tech stories. Get the inside scoop on who's pulling the strings.

• Apparently The Real Reason Anthropic's Models Are Offline: A Six-Year-Old Trump Grudge
• Trump says he no longer views Anthropic as a national security threat after G7 meeting with CEO
• Exclusive | Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says
• Elon Musk's Next Move May Be a Mega-Merger of SpaceX and Tesla
• Anthropic's latest feud with the Trump admin may actually help it, sales data suggests
• Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving for OpenAI
• Google's Secret Warrant Fight Over DOJ Pipe Bomb Probe Revealed
• The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16
• Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits
• Waymo recalls nearly 4,000 robotaxis to stop them driving into highway construction zones
• Snap Launches $2,195 Specs, Declaring Glasses the Next Computer
• Fox wants to take over your TV — and the tech inside it
• Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans
• Nothing cancels this year's CMF phone due to RAM prices
• The AI IPO boom is different
• Joshua Baer, Capital Factory Founder, Dies in Laredo Plane Crash - RuntimeWire
• Ubisoft's co-founder Claude Guillemot dies in plane crash

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson, Owen Thomas, and Doc Rock

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• shopify.com/twit
• Simply CX
• ethos.com/twit
• box.com/AI
• zscaler.com/security

The US government abruptly forced Anthropic to pull its most advanced AI model offline after fears it was simply too powerful to be safe. Hear the real story behind the sudden shutdown that rocked the tech world—and what it reveals about the uneasy alliance between Washington and Silicon Valley.

• Anthropic's Fable 5 AI model release sparks cybersecurity and jailbreak concerns
• White House pressures Anthropic to withdraw Fable amid security fears
• Debate over government intervention, model regulation, and Anthropic's IPO timing
• SpaceX IPO rockets to record-breaking $1.77 trillion valuation
• Apple unveils revamped Siri and Apple Intelligence at WWDC
• Apple's new child safety and parental controls in iOS
• OpenAI and Anthropic plot IPOs, face economic realities of AI industry
• Supply chain attacks hit Arch Linux packages, security risks highlighted
• Spotify battles surge of fake podcasts promoting illegal drugs
• German court rules Google AI overviews legally liable for inaccuracies
• FCC pursues crackdown on anonymous burner phones, raising privacy alarms
• North Korean hackers' massive infiltration of US tech sector exposed
• iFixit teardown reveals Trump Phone is just a rebadged HTC U24 Pro
• Smartphone and internet access linked to declining US birth rates
• Skydance-Paramount merger approved as Warner Bros seeks next mega deal
• Roku seeks buyer, raising questions about future streaming platforms

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Christina Warren, Harry McCracken, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• meter.com/twit
• threatlocker.com/twit
• bitwarden.com/twit
• NetSuite.AI/TWIT
• cachefly.com/twit

An astronomical amount of money is being poured into AI and data centers as tech giants fight for dominance, but is this fueling the next big tech bubble or just the price of staying in the game? Get the panel's opinions on wild IPO valuations, global power grabs, Build 2026, NVIDIA GTC Taipei, and even successful YouTuber movies!

• SpaceX IPO to Be Largest Ever at $135 Share Price
• Utah residents sue officials over Kevin O'Leary data center plan
• When AI builds itself
• NVIDIA announces RTX Spark as 'the most efficient PC chip ever built'
• Major Homebuilder To Test Placing Mini Data Centers in Suburban Backyards
• Microsoft Build 2026: The 7 biggest announcements
• What to Expect at Apple's WWDC 2026: iOS 27, New Siri and AI
• Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones
• Trump Signs Executive Order Seeking Oversight of A.I. Models
• Trump: U.S. stake in AI giants "could be a beautiful thing"
• Cable lobby warns of chaos if FCC doesn't relax ban on foreign routers
• Google ordered to put clearer links in AI search and let UK publishers opt out
• AT&T and Verizon lose Supreme Court case over fines for selling location data
• YouTubers Win the Box Office, Goodbye Gatekeepers, The YouTube Bar
• YouTube overtakes Netflix in average daily viewing around the world

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Joey de Villa, Jeff Jarvis, and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• expressvpn.com/twit
• ZipRecruiter.com/twit
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• Melissa.com/twit
• helixsleep.com/twit