The AI giant recently announced that it would discontinue its Sora image generator and postpone the planned ChatGPT “adult mode” indefinitely.
Alex Valdes of Bellevue, Washington, has been pumping content into the Internet for some time, including MSNBC.com, MSN, Bing, MoneyTalksNews, Tipico and more. He admits to being somewhat fascinated by the Cambridge cafe webcam in the roaring 90s.
OpenAI has apparently spent the last few weeks trying to refocus on using AI for business instead of what executives have dubbed “side quests,” abandoning its AI video generator and his plans for a adult themed chatbot. So this week, of course, the company announced that it was getting into the media business.
OpenAI announced the acquisition of Technology Business Programming Network, better known as TBPN, which broadcasts a three-hour weekday show that covers the biggest topics – and features the biggest names – in the technology industry.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in 2025 against OpenAI, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.)
OpenAI said it added TBPN to “help create space for real, constructive conversation about the changes AI creates,” Fidji Simo, CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, wrote in a message to employees shared by OpenAI. Simo said the company also wanted to take advantage of TBPN’s marketing prowess. “They have a strong sense of where the industry is going, their ideas on communications and marketing really impressed me,” Simo said.
TBPN launched in October 2024 and has been compared to ESPN in the way it covers technology: two guys sitting at a big desk with news, analysis, commentary and jokes on topics like AI, crypto, startups and the defense industry. The show’s two hosts and co-founders, Jordi Hays and John Coogan, have welcomed some of the biggest names in tech to the studio: OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, to name a few.
The show airs live from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PT Monday through Friday on YouTube and X from the Ultradome, a studio located on a Hollywood movie lot. The show has 70,000 viewers per day and is expected to generate more than $30 million in revenue this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Hays, co-host of TBPN, acknowledged in a statement that the show had been “critical” of the AI industry.
“After getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out to me the most was their openness to feedback and commitment to doing things right,” Hays said. “Moving from commentary to actually impacting how this technology is distributed and understood globally is extremely important to us.”
In the age of rapid media consolidation, the question arises: Can TBPN continue to say what it really thinks, even if it ruffles OpenAI’s feathers? In his statement, Simo said OpenAI wanted the show to maintain its “editorial independence.”
“TBPN will continue to manage its programming, choose its guests and make its own editorial decisions,” she said. “It’s a fundamental part of their credibility, and it’s something we’re explicitly protecting under this agreement.”
Altman, founder of OpenAI, echoed this sentiment with a post on X. also calling TBPN “his favorite tech show.”
“We want them to continue this and do what they do so well,” Altman posted. “I don’t expect them to be any easier on us, I’m sure I’ll do my part to make that happen with occasional stupid decisions.”
The acquisition sparked criticism and concern on social media, as people questioned whether TBPN could actually maintain its editorial independence.
“Journalists who do responsible journalism are being mowed down by mass layoffs and are now almost extinct – while the targets of their responsible reporting give hundreds of millions of dollars to pundits,” David Sirota, longtime columnist and founder of investigative media outlet The Lever, told X. “Which stage of media dystopia is this?”
TBPN will report to Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s director of global affairs, who joined the company in October 2024 and is the company’s lead strategist in working with government officials. Decades ago, he worked in President Bill Clinton’s White House – helping manage the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations – and as press secretary for Vice President Al Gore. Lehane also established a pro-crypto super PAC called Fairshake that helped defeat anti-crypto candidates in the 2024 election and helped Airbnb fight housing regulations.
