This week, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms. We discuss why it capitulated and what it means for the entire social media industry. Then, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan returns to offer his thoughts on why banning data centers won’t slow down A.I. progress. And finally, it’s all hats on deck for the final HatGPT. Guests: * Arvind Narayanan, [https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/] professor of computer science at Princeton, and co-author of the “A.I. as Normal Technology” [https://www.normaltech.ai/] newsletter. Additional Reading: * Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/technology/meta-settlement-social-media-addiction-lawsuit.html] * Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make Sure His Competitors Share His Pain [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/technology/meta-settlement-mark-zuckerberg-youtube-tiktok.html] * Arvind Narayanan’s Post About A.I. Data Centers [https://x.com/random_walker/status/2091906235670925377] * Apple Vision Pro in Surgery: A New Paper [https://asymco.com/2026/08/04/apple-vision-pro-in-surgery-a-new-paper/] * Rockstar Finally Breaks Its Silence Over The GTA 6 Leaks, Calls Them ‘Heartbreaking’ [https://kotaku.com/rockstar-gta-6-leaks-grand-theft-auto-cyberleek-official-statement-2000728341] * Amazon Delivery Drone Dumps Texas Woman’s Parcel Straight Into Her Swimming Pool [https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/amazon-delivery-drone-dumps-texas-womans-parcel-straight-into-her-swimming-pool-viral-video-surfaces-the-same-week-the-company-announces-500-city-prime-air-expansion] * What if Your Texts Traveled as Slowly as a Carrier Pigeon? [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/technology/carrier-pigeon-app-texting-technology.html] * A.I. Agents Are Turning Founders Into Insomniacs [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-agents-startup-work-culture-fa10494d] * What is a ‘Meat Proxy’? The New Term For Coworkers Who Blindly Share A.I. Output [https://www.businessinsider.com/meat-proxy-tech-new-term-ai-2026-8] * Chinese Robot Tiangong Clocks Sub-9 second 100 Metres in Beijing [https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinese-robot-tiangong-clocks-sub-9-second-100-metres-beijing-2026-08-25/] * Inside OpenAI’s Reboot [https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/openai-sam-altman-interview/] 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.