Social Media In Wartime + Betting on the Future + A.I. Passes the Smell Test
Social Media In Wartime + Betting on the Future + A.I. Passes the Smell Test  
Podcast: Hard Fork
Published On: Fri Oct 13 2023
Description: As the Israel-Hamas war broke out, misinformation and fake imagery surged on X, the platform formerly known at Twitter. Can Meta’s Threads fill the real-time news hole that X created? Should it?Then, Kevin debriefs us on his reporting on Manifold Markets, where Silicon Valley Rationalists bet on the likelihoods of different events.Plus: The company digitizing smell.Today’s Guest:Alex Wiltschko is the founder of Osmo, a company trying to digitize smell.Additional Reading:Casey Newton on how the war in Israel may change Threads.Some tech insiders believe betting can change the world.The company Osmo put out a research paper showing that an A.I. model it had created was performing better than the “average human panelist” in predicting odor. We want to hear from you. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.