Substack’s CEO on AI slop, free speech, and taking on YouTube
From Sources with Alex Heath by Alex Heath
May 22, 2026 · 1h 15m
About this episode
Chris Best, CEO of Substack, discusses AI, free speech, and the future of media in a live interview.
Alex and Ellis sit down with Chris Best, CEO of Substack, for a live interview at the ACCESS launch party at Notion HQ in San Francisco. They get into Substack's growth, the future of media, and the ongoing debate around free speech and moderation. They also press him on the Substack creator exodus narrative, break news about the platform's upcoming AI features, and discuss what happens to independent media when AI rewrites the internet. Follow ACCESS on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accesspodcast/ Follow Alex: https://sources.news/ https://x.com/alexeheath/ Follow Ellis: https://meaning.company/ https://x.com/hamburger ACCESS is produced in partnership with the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People in this episode
Hosts: Alex, Ellis
Guest: Chris Best
Topics covered
- AI
- free speech
- media
- Substack
- YouTube
- moderation
Keywords
- Substack
- AI features
- free speech
- media growth
- YouTube
- moderation
- independent media
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Substack, Notion, ACCESS, Vox Media
Places: San Francisco
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