The Fable Ban's Unintended Consequences + AI's New Economics — With Aaron Levie
6/22/202631 min
Aaron Levie is the co-founder and CEO of Box. Levie joins Big Technology Podcast live from the Big Technology AI Summit to discuss the government-mandated recall of Anthropic's Fable and Mythos models and what it reveals about where AI regulation is heading. Tune in to hear Levie argue that the recall — far from a conspiracy to kneecap the frontier labs — may be the closest thing yet to the "AI pause" critics have demanded, why he thinks the government is now effectively in the model-approval business, and how that shift could hand China the long-term economic edge. We also cover whether "token maxing" was ever real, why the application layer may capture more value than anyone expected, the open-weight models closing in on the frontier, and a quick lightning round on Siri, the "permanent underclass" meme, and SpaceX. Hit play for one of the sharpest, funniest reads on the AI moment you'll find anywhere, only on Big Technology.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night's stay anywhere? Anywhere. What about fancy places like the Canopée in Paris? Yeah. Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad in Tulum? Hilton Honors, baby. Ooh, what about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties? When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay. Hilton. For the stay Aaron Levie is the CEO of Box.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:30
He's one of the most insightful and fun voices on the future of this technology. He actually was the fourth guest ever on Big Technology podcast, and the guest the only other time we did a live podcast together. So with that, I am thrilled to welcome Aaron Levie. Please join me in welcoming him. [audience applauds] Aaron, great to see you.
Aaron Levie· Guest0:53
Good to see you. Thank you.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host0:54
Let, let's dive right into it. I'm gonna start... You know, again, since you're not at one of the labs, let's start to talk about the biggest con- most controversial moment now, uh, which is the Anthropic Fable situation. Um, let me put to you what I call the Jassy mystery. [laughs] So what we know about- I'm sure he likes that name. Well, he didn't show up, so we can talk about it in his absence.
Aaron Levie· Guest1:15
[laughs] Okay, okay, okay.
Alex Kantrowitz· Host1:16
Uh, so what we know about the Fable ban or the export controls on Anthropic- Yeah ... is that Amazon found a vulnerability- Mm-hmm ... in the software, and Andy Jassy maybe made a call to Dario, definitely made