The debut episode of The Information’s video podcast suffered a serious setback this week after an interview with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to be paused because the podcasters couldn’t get the interviewee’s audio to work.
The Information, which routinely publishes scoops involving the tech industry, launched TITV this week—an Amazon-sponsored live video program that the outlet describes as “first in tech news and analysis from the people that break and shape the story.”
A key part of the first episode of TITV was a scheduled interview between Zuck and The Information’s editor-in-chief, Jessica Lessin. Unfortunately, when Zuckerberg appeared for the interview, the program’s audio went dead. Zuck and Lessin could be seen smiling and talking to one another, but not a solitary word reached listeners’ ears. Eventually, after 2-3 awkward minutes, the podcast’s host, Akash Pasricha, had to enter the fray. “I don’t think we have sound,” Pasricha said, continuing: “We’re gonna call the show there.”
It’s an unfortunate and unceremonious start for the show, which has been teed up as The Information’s answer to the influential daily tech news show TBPN. Considering the fact that a subscription to The Information will run you $40 per month, one would think they could afford some AV support.
That said, what Zuckerberg would have really offered conversationally is questionable, since most of the interviews involving him are not particularly interesting beyond the occasional unintentional hilarity. In an interview last year, he offered one bit of levity when he offered an anecdote about shutting down his daughter’s dreams of being the next Taylor Swift. He’s also well known for a very old interview that mostly involved him sweating profusely.
It makes sense that Zuckerberg would be making public appearances now, as Meta has been quite busy lately. The company is ramping up its AI operations in an effort to better compete with the other major players in the AI space. In addition to launching a new “superintelligence lab” dedicated to advancing the company’s automation ambitions, Zuckerberg also recently announced plans to build several multi-gigawatt data centers, which will power the lab. The company also appears to be considering changing its approach and pursuing closed-source programs, as opposed to its open-source LLama programs.
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