Did Jensen Make the AI Boom, or Did the AI Boom Make Jensen?

Sam Lessin (0:00)

Breaking news, huge Wall Street Journal headline, Nvidia is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang.

Jessica Lessin (0:04)

Alex Huang, who the government has been suspecting of spy activity. She oversees companies that are basically getting high-end Nvidia chips into the hands of Chinese customers who are barred from those chips due to export controls.

Sam Lessin (0:18)

It's Lord of War, it's arms dealing with GPUs.

Brit Morin (0:21)

You see Jensen running the most powerful company in the world, then Alice Huang, same last name, Chinese spy, comes into the scene. Oh no, he's having an affair and all the secrets are out. Oh no, he's having an affair with Kimberly Powell too. Oh no, there's more affairs that are going to become uncovered because if there's two, there's definitely three. Then things go to shit. Jensen's out. Okay, but then what happens?

Jessica Lessin (1:07)

Why hello, friends. Welcome to More or Less.

We missed you guys.

Dave Morin (1:12)

Too many interviews, sorry, dear Lessiners.

Jessica Lessin (1:15)

I think we delivered some good interviews, though. I enjoyed, bang.

Dave Morin (1:18)

Yeah, it's true. I've gotten some nice feedback. Appreciate all the text messages. I love getting text messages from you.

Brit Morin (1:25)

Sam ran a marathon.

Sam Lessin (1:27)

I want the listeners to note, since we're all on Back Together, that neither Dave nor I have Chinese wives.

Brit Morin (1:35)

You mean Chinese models. You do have Chinese models, just not Chinese wives.

Sam Lessin (1:39)

I mean, I think my wife could be a model, but not a Chinese one.

Brit Morin (1:42)

She's an American model.

Dave Morin (1:43)

I have a model, but she's not Chinese.

Brit Morin (1:45)

I like to think of myself as an open-weight model.

Dave Morin (1:48)

Open-weight model.

Brit Morin (1:49)

Yeah. Weight fluctuates.

Jessica Lessin (1:51)

You can tune the weight.

Brit Morin (1:53)

I'm a peptide-infused open-weight model over here.

Jessica Lessin (1:56)

Well, no, we're all here. And you know, I'm so sorry we have nothing to talk about this week. Just kidding. It's the Armageddon of technology news.

Dave Morin (2:07)

Oh, God.

Jessica Lessin (2:08)

And I'm here for it.

Dave Morin (2:09)

So much drama.

Brit Morin (2:11)

Should we have brought popcorn to the recording is my question.

Sam Lessin (2:14)

I have protein.

Jessica Lessin (2:16)

We should tell listeners we're taping this on a Wednesday because that is how fast the news cycle.

Sam Lessin (2:21)

Because nothing can happen.

Dave Morin (2:22)

You never know. Yeah, you guys were wildly off on the macro last week.

Jessica Lessin (2:29)

We were on for the day, then we were wildly off for the next day, but we've been right since. So, yes, and that did cross my mind, Dave, and I wish I had framed that differently. Okay, so we're taping this on Wednesday.

Dave Morin (2:41)

Isn't that the story of everybody's life in 2026, though? It's like you can only be on for a day at a time.

Jessica Lessin (2:48)

We're on for a day of a time.

Sam Lessin (2:50)

We should just record a lot of podcasts and then just release them on the day we're right.

Jessica Lessin (2:54)

That's pretty funny. It's like AI, Claude, take my soundbites and drop them in the opportune moments.

Dave Morin (3:01)

That's pretty good.

Jessica Lessin (3:02)

Okay, but this is what we're going to talk. We are going to talk in video. This is a massively important and interesting and unknown story, I will say.

Sam Lessin (3:10)

And People Magazine is just so fun.

Dave Morin (3:12)

Why is it unknown?

Sam Lessin (3:13)

Because how many spies has he slept with?

Brit Morin (3:16)

There's a new scandal to the scandal, Dave. There's an executive now as well.

Dave Morin (3:21)

I've been in meetings doing interviews all day. I don't know. You guys tell me what's going on.

Sam Lessin (3:25)

Guys, I don't know much about affairs, but you tend to not only have one.

Brit Morin (3:29)

Really? What's the data on that?

Jessica Lessin (3:30)

Okay, so let's make sure we're all up on the news cycle. Yeah, okay. I figured The Times would be on this story that we are also on. The Times has done great work on this story.

Dave Morin (3:40)

The Times has done great work, finally.

Brit Morin (3:44)

It's a rare admittance.

Jessica Lessin (3:45)

Dave, I am sensing you need some facts on Nvidia. So I'm going to give you some facts, okay?

Dave Morin (3:51)

We, the listeners, need facts.

Jessica Lessin (3:52)

I'm fine with that because there's a lot going on. I started the Anthropic Roadshow video, guys. We should make a fake Roadshow video. I'm very into this format.