Are prediction markets gambling? Robinhood's Vlad Tenev is betting not
Today, I’m talking with Vlad Tenev, the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, which started as a way to open up stock trading. But the company’s ambitions have grown over time – and they’re getting bigger. Just a day before Vlad and I talked, Robinhood announced it would soon be offering bank accounts and wealth management services, which would really allow Robinhood to be involved with your money at every possible level.
So I was very interested to sit down with Vlad and really hash out where Robinhood is going, and why he’s so adamant that certain big ideas, like prediction markets based around everything from sports games to presidential elections, are going to play a pivotal role in the future of finance.
Links:
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on markets for everything | Hard Fork
Robinhood is launching bank accounts | Verge
Kalshi sues Nevada and New Jersey regulators | Esports Insider
Kalshi CEO: ‘State law doesn’t really apply’ to us | TechCrunch
Robinhood debuts a sports gambling hub | Verge
The SEC has ended its investigation into Robinhood crypto | Verge
Robinhood admits it’s just a gambling app | Verge
Massachusetts regulator subpoenas Robinhood over sports betting | CNN
Verge Transcript
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
1:19:01
Why DOGE is killing the agency that stops banks from ripping you off
Rohit Chopra was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head until the end of January, when President Donald Trump fired him and Elon Musk’s DOGE began trying to dismantle the agency. The CFPB has been pretty popular since it was founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers, so shutting it down has kicked off a bunch of controversies — not least of which was whether Trump and Musk even had the power to do it.
This all led me to ask several times who made the decision to fire him, who is currently responsible for the various policies of our government, and whether any of those things add up to a clear plan. Some of the most powerful executives in the world answer questions like this on Decoder all the time. But Rohit just didn’t know — and that should probably be as worrying as anything.
Links:
Trump fires CFPB director Rohit Chopra | Associated Press
Trump orders CFPB to stop work, closes building | Associated Press
CFPB workers reinstated after court order but still can’t work | The Verge
Trump admin to appeal order blocking CFPB shutdown | Bloomberg Law
A shady tech bootcamp may be sneaking back online | The Verge
CFPB won’t enforce long-awaited payday lending rule | Bloomberg Law
CFPB seeks to vacate redlining settlement, refund lender | Banking Dive
CFPB signals it will drop rule regulating BNPL like credit cards | PYMTS
CFPB drops fraud lawsuit against banks, Zelle | CNBC
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
52:25
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines on AI agents replacing our jobs
Today, I’m talking with Daniel Dines, the co-founder and once again the CEO of UiPath, a software company that specializes in something called robotic process automation. We’ve been featuring a lot of what I like to call full-circle Decoder guests on the show lately, and Daniel is a perfect example.
He was first on the show in 2022, and UiPath has had a lot of changes since then, including a short stint with a different CEO. Daniel is now back at the helm, and the timing is important: the company needs to shift, fast, to a world of agentic AI, which is radically changing the RPA business. We got into all that and more in this episode. It’s a fun one.
Links:
UiPath’s Daniel Dines thinks automation can fight the great resignation | Decoder
Daniel Dines: Why Agents Do Not Mean RPA is Fucked | Harry Stebbings
UiPath to re-appoint Daniel Dines as CEO | UiPath
UiPath shares tank 30% after company announces CEO shakeup | CNBC
UiPath to lay off 10% of workforce in companywide restructuring | CNBC
UiPath looks for a path to growth with Peak agentic AI acquisition | TechCrunch
How RPA vendors aim to remain relevant in a world of AI agents | TechCrunch
UiPath finds firmer footing with pivot to general automation, AI | TechCrunch
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/643562
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
1:10:38
What AI anime memes tell us about the future of art and humanity
Today, we’re diving head first into the AI art debate, which to be honest, is an absolute mess. If you’ve been on the internet this past week, you’ve seen the Studio Ghibli memes. These images are everywhere — and they’ve widened an already pretty stark rift between AI boosters and critics.
Brian Merchant, author of the newsletter and book Blood in the Machine, wrote one of the best analyses of the Ghibli trend last week. So I invited him onto the show not only to discuss this particular situation, but also to help me dissect the ongoing AI art debate more broadly.
Links:
OpenAI's Studio Ghibli meme factory is an insult to art itself | Brian Merchant
Seattle engineer’s Ghibli-style image goes viral | Seattle Times
OpenAI just raised another $40 billion round from SoftBank | Verge
ChatGPT “added one million users in the last hour.” | Verge
ChatGPT’s Ghibli filter is political now, but it always was | Verge
OpenAI, Google ask the government to let them train on content they don’t own | Verge
Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction | Max Read
OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem | Vergecast
AI slop is a brute force attack on the algorithms that control reality | 404 Media
The New Aesthetics of Fascism | New Socialist
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
59:54
How Unity CEO Matt Bromberg stopped the ‘war’ against its customers
Unity is one of those hidden in plain sight companies we love here on Decoder, and CEO Matt Bromberg is in many ways the perfect Decoder guest. He's been on the job less than a year and took over in a moment of crisis. He describes the company as being "at war with its customers" before he joined, and he's not wrong.
The game industry right now is also contracting overall — studios are closing, and some big bets on things like the metaverse and live service games haven’t paid off. So we talked about all that, and where Matt sees growth ahead: Unity isn’t just a game engine provider, but the platform for everything from running those big live services and the monetization on top of them.
Links:
Unity’s struggles continue with fresh wave of layoffs | The Verge
Unity attempts to turn things around with latest game engine release | The Verge
Unity has eliminated its controversial runtime fee | The Verge
‘We want to be a fundamentally different and better company’ | IGN
John Riccitiello is out at Unity, effective immediately | The Verge
Unity is laying off 25% of its staff | The Verge
Unity cancels town hall over reported death threats | The Verge
Unity has changed its pricing model and developers are pissed off | The Verge
Toyota chooses Unity for next-generation interface | Unity
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.
France