# Joanna Stern on the New Siri, OpenAI’s Weird Gadget, and Life After the Wall Street Journal

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/joanna-stern-on-the-new-siri-openai-s-weird-gadget-and-life-after-the-wall-street-journal
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/joanna-stern-on-the-new-siri-openai-s-weird-gadget-and-life-after-the-wall-street-journal.md
Podcast: [Channels with Peter Kafka](https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706)
Published: 2026-08-12T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP9874591028.mp3
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP9874591028.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2910

## Resource

Joanna Stern spent more than a decade explaining technology to Wall Street Journal readers. Now she’s doing it on her own — with a new media company, New Things, and a new book, I Am Not a Robot, about spending a year outsourcing as much of her life as possible to AI. Joanna and I talk about what AI turned out to be surprisingly good at, why robots still can’t fold your laundry, and why she thinks the new Siri is a very big deal. We also try to figure out why OpenAI and Jony Ive think we need a new screenless gadget — and whether anyone actually wants to spend less time looking at screens. Then: What happens when a star journalist leaves a giant media company and has to build a business herself? Joanna tells me how much work goes into the ambitious YouTube videos she’s making, whether they actually pay for themselves, and whether she wants New Things to stay the Joanna Stern show or become something bigger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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## Transcript

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