Ed Zitron walks you through how career manager Adam Mosseri pushed out Instagram's original founders, turning it into an ultra-profitable app that barely works, and how Sam Altman, the so-called hero of the AI boom, is a lobbyist dressed as a technologist best-known for being an absent, self-obsessed demagogue.

Ed Zitron walks you through how career manager Adam Mosseri pushed out Instagram's original founders, turning it into an ultra-profitable app that barely works, and how Sam Altman, the so-called hero of the AI boom, is a lobbyist dressed as a technologist best-known for being an absent, self-obsessed demagogue.

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 
Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build.



Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build.
 
Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

The Cult of Failing Upwards

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2aaf82b9-7c17-4a7e-b632-b162017d2816/transcript

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about Anthropic’s $413 billion in non-cancellable compute commitments, and how its future depends on the impossible task of borrowing $50 billion to $100 billion a year from a bond market that’s already strained by endless AI data center debt.

Link to details on contracts: https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com/post/3mwoc3p2b2s2m
Newsletter: Dead Money: https://www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/

Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about Anthropic&rsquo;s $413 billion in non-cancellable compute commitments, and how its future depends on the impossible task of borrowing $50 billion to $100 billion a year from a bond market that&rsquo;s already strained by endless AI data center debt.
Link to details on contracts: https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com/post/3mwoc3p2b2s2m Newsletter: Dead Money: https://www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: Anthropic's $413bn Burden

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9335d3ac-ad55-4cb6-b11e-b4d6014b7fe9/transcript

In this week's Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks through Anthropic’s 2025 financials, covering how it spent $2.75 to make a dollar, and how it was, at least last year, a worse business than OpenAI.

Dead Money: https://www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/
Anthropic story from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/anthropics-ipo-prospectus-shows-sweeping-ai-vision-surging-costs-2026-09-28/ 

Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week's Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks through Anthropic&rsquo;s 2025 financials, covering how it spent $2.75 to make a dollar, and how it was, at least last year, a worse business than OpenAI. Dead Money: https://www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/ Anthropic story from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/anthropics-ipo-prospectus-shows-sweeping-ai-vision-surging-costs-2026-09-28/ 
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: Anthropic Lost $8bn In 2025, Was A Worse Business Than OpenAI

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1d7c394d-7f25-4574-af17-b4d4016cc8c4/transcript

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about how $200bn to $300bn of AI GPUs are sitting in warehouses, how hyperscalers like Microsoft are overstating their AI capacity, and why the AI data center overbuild is magntiudes worse than the Dot Com era fiber buildout. 

Where’re All The AI Chips? https://www.wheresyoured.at/wherere-all-the-ai-chips/
Dario quote: https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/dario-amodei-2#:~:text=Basically%20I%E2%80%99m%20saying,that%20much%20compute 

Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron talks about how $200bn to $300bn of AI GPUs are sitting in warehouses, how hyperscalers like Microsoft are overstating their AI capacity, and why the AI data center overbuild is magntiudes worse than the Dot Com era fiber buildout.&nbsp;
Where&rsquo;re All The AI Chips? https://www.wheresyoured.at/wherere-all-the-ai-chips/ Dario quote: https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/dario-amodei-2#:~:text=Basically%20I%E2%80%99m%20saying,that%20much%20compute&nbsp;
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: The AI Data Center Overbuild

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b94f6d2d-846a-4530-a12a-b4cf016a86d0/transcript

The Cult of Failing Upwards

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