Josh Tyrangiel: AI, What is it Good For? Absolutely Something (Say It Again)

About this episode

John Heilemann interviews Josh Tyrangiel about the implications of AI and his new book on its positive uses.

John welcomes former Bloomberg Businessweek editor and current Atlantic staff writer Josh Tyrangiel to discuss his new book, “AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter.” Tyrangiel, who until recently wrote a column on AI for The Washington Post, weighs in on the verdict against Elon Musk in his $150 billion lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI; why the wannabe kings of the AI industry are less interesting than the question of what—today and in the future—AI is actually good for; and why, despite enraging both the left and parts of the military establishment, Palantir isn’t so bad, after all. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: John Heilemann

Guest: Josh Tyrangiel

Topics covered

• AI
• technology
• ethics
• business
• politics
• media

Keywords

• AI for Good
• Josh Tyrangiel
• Elon Musk
• Sam Altman
• OpenAI
• Palantir
• technology ethics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, OpenAI, Palantir

More episodes of Impolitic with John Heilemann

• Pablo Torre: How the Knicks Saved Their Season (and Sports Itself) by Reversing the Trump Curse · June 12, 2026 · 1h 28m
• Jonathan Weber: Booms, Bubbles, Busts & Doom Loops in the City by the Bay · June 8, 2026 · 1h 25m
• Andrew Weissmann: Lies, Damned Lies & Lying Liars (Todd Blanche Edition) · June 5, 2026 · 1h 34m
• Chris Murphy: Everything Is Broken · June 1, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Jonathan Martin: Crooked Ken v. Tofu Talarico · May 29, 2026 · 1h 21m
• James Traub: When the Bough Breaks · May 26, 2026 · 1h 26m