Tech's new place for talking points

Hi everyone. Tech CEOs have a growing set of ways to sidestep traditional media. But first...Three things you need to know today:• Apple pla [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( [by Ellen Huet]( Hi everyone. Tech CEOs have a growing set of ways to sidestep traditional media. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Apple plans to release [new iPads in May]( • Microsoft is creating tools to stop users [from tricking chatbots]( • Italian mobile app developer Bending Spoons ended [pursuit of Vimeo]( Don’t press If you’re a tech chief executive officer looking for a way to reach the public, you might skip right past journalists and news outlets and instead consider Lex Fridman. [Fridman](, a prolific podcaster, films interviews with headlining names in tech, science and business, often asking open-ended and laid-back questions. Videos of his conversations on YouTube, which can stretch three or four hours, feature him with a deadpan air and his signature black suit and tie. This month, [he interviewed](OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who had also appeared on the show in 2023. Fridman’s guests include Elon Musk (four interviews), Mark Zuckerberg (three, including one in the metaverse), Bill Ackman, Marc Andreessen and Kanye West. Think [Joe Rogan](bbg://people/profile/21759811) for the tech set. (He has also interviewed Joe Rogan twice.) The tech industry has in recent years sought more ways to “go direct” — that is, to get talking points out into the world without having to deal with traditional media, which some view as adversarial and unfairly critical. In that frame of mind, the ideal interlocutor is someone who offers a platform — and maybe even is a tech industry insider — and isn’t a journalist. The options are expanding: In addition to Fridman, podcasters like [Dwarkesh Patel]( also give tech leaders the chance to explain themselves in long, meandering conversations. Even Bill Gates has an interview podcast now. (Altman was one of his first guests.) Tech’s attempts to make its own industry-friendly media empires have sometimes fizzled out. In 2021, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz launched media site Future.com, hoping to offer an “optimistic lens on technology and the future.” That effort only lasted about a year before [drying up](. But shows like Fridman’s and Patel’s are rising. The appeal to a tech communications team is clear. Why risk putting an executive in front of an incisive journalist when there’s a gentler route? Part of Fridman’s draw is that he lets the interviewee talk a lot. It’s cooperative, not combative, and likely helps him land guests, but it also does his audience a disservice. Fridman didn’t respond to messages asking for comment about his podcast. In his recent [interview]( with Altman, he asked a crucial question about OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who was involved with the ultimately unsuccessful effort to oust Altman last year. Fridman asked, “What did Ilya see?” But Altman skipped right past it and answered an earlier question instead. Fridman didn’t mention it again. The tone was chummy. Fridman also asked Altman about Sutskever’s current involvement in the company, but framed it as a joke: “Is he being held hostage in a secret nuclear facility?” Altman, smiling, replied, “No.” At other points, Fridman called Musk a “friend” twice and called OpenAI’s new Sora video product “amazing” and said its model GPT-4 was “also amazing.” Expect more of this in the future. Some PR pros are even making “go direct” their main strategy. [Lulu Cheng Meservey](bbg://people/profile/22796940), who once led communications for Substack and Activision, posted a [manifesto]( recently about her new PR firm’s focus on avoiding the usual path. “For too long, founders have yielded control over their narratives to media and middlemen,” she wrote. “Go direct or go home.” —[Ellen Huet](mailto:ehuet4@bloomberg.net) The big story Amazon plans to spend almost $150 billion in the coming [15 years on data centers.]( The leader in the business of renting out computing power and storage is trying to maintain its grip as No. 1 in the face of greater demand from artificial intelligence workloads and competition from Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. One to watch [Watch Bloomberg’s Kurt Wagner speak with Ed Ludlow on Bloomberg Technology about X’s test of a feature letting users create “adult-content” communities.]( Get fully charged Canadian schools are suing Meta, ByteDance and Snap over [children’s social media addiction.]( Yandex aims to complete the first stage of a $5.2 billion deal to sell its [Russian business by May.]( The Dutch government will invest $2.7 billion for infrastructure and education [projects in Eindhoven.]( Lenders to broadcaster Sinclair signed a cooperation pact that [went into effect Wednesday night.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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