Decoder with Nilay Patel

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.

Business
Technology
101
Disney just fought off a shareholder revolt — b...
Disney’s latest boardroom bout with an activist investor reveals much deeper issues with the streaming industry and, more broadly, the state of entertainment itself.
39 min
102
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston wants you to embrace A...
There is no ‘go back to 2019 button’
61 min
103
The rise and fall of Vice Media
How the high-flying media company flush with hundreds of millions in investor capital collapsed into a smaller, sadder version of itself.
39 min
104
Why Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is the intern...
Free speech, war zones, and what Aristotle has to do with internet infrastructure
75 min
105
Why Nintendo sued a Switch emulator out of exis...
Nintendo brought a lawsuit against the makers of the Yuzu emulator for copyright infringement, and the aftermath has upended the video game emulation community.
39 min
106
Mailchimp CEO Rania Succar on culture, acquisit...
Mailchimp, now owned by Intuit, lost its co-founder and CEO in 2022. Here's how new CEO Rania Succar is pushing forward.
62 min
107
Can you patent a pizza?
Our friends over at Gastropod detailed a fascinating IP dispute in the ‘90s over the ownership of stuffed crust pizza — and how the legal system does, and doesn’t, protect certain ideas.
49 min
108
Federation is the future of social media, says ...
The head of Threads and Mastodon competitor Bluesky on why she thinks decentralization is the future of social media.
67 min
109
How Europe’s Digital Markets Act is reshaping B...
The EU’s big, sweeping tech law went into effect. Here’s how it’s affecting Apple, Google, and more.
29 min
110
Figma CEO Dylan Field is optimistic about the f...
The leader of design toolmaker Figma on life after the Adobe deal and what comes next in a live interview from SXSW.
51 min
111
Why Google Search feels like it’s gotten worse
Google Search feels worse now than ever before, and the reasons why have far-reaching effects on the current state and future of the web.
36 min
112
How to save culture from the algorithms, with F...
The author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture discusses how we might be able to cultivate our own tastes once more.
64 min
113
Why people are falling in love with AI chatbots
The rise of generative AI is transforming how humans use dating apps and even spurring people to form meaningful relationships with AI chatbots.
37 min
114
Guest host Hank Green makes Nilay Patel explain...
Science educator and YouTuber Hank Green takes over Decoder to turn the tables on Nilay and interview him on building The Verge and the future of the web.
59 min
115
AI deepfakes are cheap, easy, and coming for th...
Generative AI makes fake audio, images, and video easier to create than ever before. Are policymakers and platforms ready?
38 min
116
Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini on how anime...
The head of the fast-growing streaming service discusses the Funimation merger and shutdown, and where he sees growth in anime.
66 min
117
Is the Apple Vision Pro All That?
This episode of On with Kara Swisher features Nilay, WSJ’s Joanna Stern, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman discussing Apple’s new headset and what it means for the future.
61 min
118
How AI copyright lawsuits could make the whole ...
The New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI is part of a broader, industry-shaking copyright challenge that could define the future of AI.
37 min
119
DOJ’s Jonathan Kanter says the antitrust fight ...
The assistant attorney general says “the resonance these issues have is something that I've never witnessed in my lifetime.”
30 min
120
Why EV adoption in the US has hit a roadblock
The Verge Transportation Editor Andy Hawkins is on the show to help make sense of what’s going on with the EV market.
38 min
121
Platformer’s Casey Newton on surviving the grea...
The founder and editor of the successful tech newsletter talks about leaving Substack and where he’s seeing successful business models in media.
65 min
122
Why Sen. Brian Schatz thinks child safety bills...
The Democratic senator from Hawaii on regulating social media: ‘An algorithm doesn’t have a First Amendment right.’
66 min
123
Rep. Ro Khanna on what it will take for Congres...
The Democratic congressman from California, whose district includes Apple and Nvidia, discusses the future of tech regulation and the 2024 election.
50 min
124
How Adobe is managing the AI copyright dilemma,...
Plus, why Adobe walked away from the Figma deal
82 min
125
How Donald Trump and Elon Musk killed Twitter, ...
Understanding the story of Twitter through the lens of its two most prominent power users, who changed, and then broke, the platform for good.
39 min