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The Rip Current with Jacob Ward
Jacob Ward
35 episodes
2 days ago
The Rip Current covers the big, invisible forces carrying us out to sea, from tech to politics to greed to beauty to culture to human weirdness. The currents are strong, but with a little practice we can learn to spot them from the beach, and get across them safely. Veteran journalist Jacob Ward has covered technology, science and business for NBC News, CNN, PBS, and Al Jazeera. He's written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, and is the former Editor in Chief of Popular Science magazine.
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All content for The Rip Current with Jacob Ward is the property of Jacob Ward and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
The Rip Current covers the big, invisible forces carrying us out to sea, from tech to politics to greed to beauty to culture to human weirdness. The currents are strong, but with a little practice we can learn to spot them from the beach, and get across them safely. Veteran journalist Jacob Ward has covered technology, science and business for NBC News, CNN, PBS, and Al Jazeera. He's written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, and is the former Editor in Chief of Popular Science magazine.
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AI Money Is Reshaping Global Power: Buffett Buys Big, Thiel Bails, Robots Faceplant, and Saudi Arabia Arrives
The Rip Current with Jacob Ward
7 minutes 55 seconds
3 days ago
AI Money Is Reshaping Global Power: Buffett Buys Big, Thiel Bails, Robots Faceplant, and Saudi Arabia Arrives

Today’s “Map” tracks the forces shaping tech, money, and global power on Monday, November 17th.


We start with a rare move: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway quietly taking a $4.9B stake in Alphabet — one of the most surprising bets of his career, and a clear signal about where long-term AI value is concentrating.


Meanwhile, Peter Thiel just sold his entire stake in Nvidia (~$100M). For a man who’s made a career out of contrarian timing, this exit raises the question: what does he see (or not see) in AI’s hardware boom?


I also recap a discussion I moderated with consular officials and regulators from across Asia, where the loudest concern wasn’t about safety or innovation — it was about AI’s failure to work in languages other than English. Meta is now pushing its new Omnilingual ASR model, supporting 1,600+ languages, to become a global “voice layer.” Whether it actually works is an open question.


And then there’s Moscow’s big humanoid robot debut — where the machine walked onstage looking drunk, staggered around, and face-planted so hard its panels came off. It’s funny, but it’s also a reality check: the dream of a general-purpose home robot is still nowhere near ready.


Finally, we look ahead: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is visiting the White House with a massive investment and technology package — including AI access and a civilian nuclear deal — at the exact moment AI energy demand is exploding past U.S. grid capacity.


The throughline:

AI money — not AI models — is steering the world right now. A third of U.S. GDP growth last year came from AI infrastructure spending, and this week’s Nvidia earnings call will reveal where the next wave is headed.


If you want more breakdowns like this every weekday, you can subscribe at TheRipCurrent.com.

The Rip Current with Jacob Ward
The Rip Current covers the big, invisible forces carrying us out to sea, from tech to politics to greed to beauty to culture to human weirdness. The currents are strong, but with a little practice we can learn to spot them from the beach, and get across them safely. Veteran journalist Jacob Ward has covered technology, science and business for NBC News, CNN, PBS, and Al Jazeera. He's written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, and is the former Editor in Chief of Popular Science magazine.