This week, between the president’s negotiations in China and a potential executive order, we discuss why the Trump administration seems to be changing its tune on A.I. safety. Then, Nikesh Arora, chief executive of Palo Alto Networks, the largest cybersecurity company in the world, gives us a firsthand account of where we stand in the race to secure the internet. And finally, we run through some of the wildest headlines of the week in a round of Hot Mess Express. Guest: * Nikesh Arora [https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/about-us/management], chief executive and chairman of Palo Alto Networks. Additional Reading: * White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html] * Chief Executives to Accompany Trump to China [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/us/politics/trump-china-musk-cook.html] * Is Anthropic’s New A.I. Really That Scary? It Depends Whom You Ask. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/technology/anthropic-claude-mythos.html] * Venmo Finally Takes Privacy Seriously [https://www.theverge.com/tech/927503/venmo-app-redesign-privacy-posts] * Amazon Staff Use A.I. Tool for Unnecessary Tasks to Inflate Usage Scores [https://www.ft.com/content/8ee0d3ef-9548-422d-8ff1-ebd48ad4b2ca?syn-25a6b1a6=1&] * Graduates Boo Commencement Speech About A.I. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/style/ucf-commencement-ai-booed-gloria-caulfield.html] * Dua Lipa Files $15 Million Suit Against Samsung for Using Her Face to Sell TVs [https://variety.com/2026/music/news/dua-lipa-sues-samsung-sell-tvs-1236742471/] * EBay Rejects GameStop’s $55 Billion Takeover Bid [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/business/ebay-gamestop-takeover.html] * Shein, Temu Trade Blows as UK Trial Spotlights Supply Chains [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-11/shein-temu-trade-blows-as-uk-trial-spotlights-supply-chains] * People Are Seriously Pissed That Grindr Outed Them With Its Latest Madonna Advert [https://www.queerty.com/people-are-seriously-pissed-that-grindr-outed-them-with-its-latest-madonna-advert-20260511/] * Sam Altman Testifies That Elon Musk Wanted Control of OpenAI [https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/12/technology/openai-trial-sam-altman-elon-musk] We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/hardfork] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.