Forbes Talks

SambaNova CEO and Cofounder Rodrigo Liang sat down with Forbes to discuss the fundamental differences between traditional GPUs and data flow chips for AI inference. He also talks about the transition from human-centric AI use to the rise of autonomous agentic workflows and the necessity for low-latency hardware to support these complex, serial agent interactions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two years ago, Replit CEO Amjad Masad invited Paul Graham, the legendary cofounder of the startup incubator Y Combinator, to his home office near Palo Alto, California, to give Graham a sneak peek of Replit’s new and novel product: an AI agent that could write its own code. It was the first time Graham had seen what would become known as vibe coding. “The name hadn’t even been invented,” Graham recalls. As the agent got to work building apps, Graham, a lifelong computer programmer, instinctively looked at the code. Masad scolded him, saying there was no need, arguing that the source code would only be an unimportant byproduct, and programming would now be done in English — a radical change for software engineers. “It was mind-bending,” Graham, one of Replit’s earliest investors, tells Forbes. “He’s bald with that beard, and I think he was actually wearing a black turtleneck. I felt like he was a Bond villain: ‘Hahaha! Don’t look at that code!’” Now vibe coding, of course, is everywhere, and Replit is looking to take it a step further. On Wednesday, the startup announced its new agent, simply called Agent 4, which aims to deliver a new type of interface for vibe coding. Like last time, Masad demoed the new agent to Graham at his home office in early March. After the meeting, Graham gushed about the product on X. “Amjad showed me Replit's latest stuff,” he posted. “They're about to redefine vibe coding in a way that will seem obvious in retrospect. A lot of the biggest ideas have that quality.” By Richard Nieva, Senior Writer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sinead Gorey is redefining the contemporary fashion space one drop at a time. In this interview with Alex York, the London-based designer breaks down how she went from a working-class background in Bromley to showing at London Fashion Week and styling icons like Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga. 00:00 - The ASOS Deal That Launched Sinead Gorey 03:21 - Growing Up in London 06:33 - The Anti-Fast Fashion Consumer & D2C Drop Models 11:18 - Why Wholesale Is Failing Independent Brands 14:16 - Organic Marketing & Styling Lady Gaga 23:38 - Independent Labels vs. Legacy Luxury Houses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does a star of global hits like The Vampire Diaries and H2O: Just Add Water transition from playing iconic supernatural characters to becoming a full-time creator with a social media following built on vulnerability and authenticity? On this episode of the Forbes Top Creator Show, host Steven Bertoni sits down with actress turned entrepreneur Claire Holt to deconstruct her "reverse trajectory": moving from the rigid schedules of traditional Hollywood to reclaiming autonomy as a powerhouse digital creator. Claire opens up about the terrifying but life-changing decision to stop hiding behind the characters she played and share her personal experiences online, and how a post with 40,000+ comments fundamentally shifted her relationship with her audience, transforming 13 million casual fans into a deeply connected community that acts as the primary engine for her business. Beyond content creation, Claire reveals the mechanics behind her new fashion brand, Saint Sirène, co-founded with Madeline Simmer. She explains why she refused outside capital to solve the elusive "perfect white tee" problem, and how she manages a high-velocity schedule that often starts with a 3:30 AM run. Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1 0:19 From Australian Mermaid to Hollywood 3:19 The Power of Supernatural Fandoms 6:19 Using Twitter to Book Acting Gigs 11:43 Quitting Hollywood for Motherhood & Freedom 13:28 The Reality of Being Completely Exposed Online 22:49 The Post That Changed Everything 25:19 The 3:30 AM Routine & AI Scheduling 31:47 Crowdsourcing the Perfect White T-Shirt 38:38 Bootstrapping Saint Sirène 40:47 Why Creators Are the New Hollywood Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Troy Bonde and his cofounder, Winston Alfieri, are taking aim at America’s estimated $2.5 billion (sales) pasta sauce market. Their brand, Los Angeles–based Sauz, has attracted younger shoppers with creative combos like miso-garlic and hot honey marinara—flavors far from traditional red-sauce Italian-American cuisine. “We try to identify flavor trends across categories that are familiar enough that we don’t necessarily have to go educate consumers on,” says Bonde, Sauz’s CEO. The pair has raised nearly $22 million from VCs and is on track to make $15 million in revenue by the end of 2025. Bonde and Alfieri initially partnered during the pandemic making a hand sanitizer dispenser that doubled as a thermometer. To conserve cash, they lived on pasta. Soon, they grew tired of limited flavor options and, as Covid faded, pivoted from sanitizer to sauce. Today, their jars are sold in 8,000 retail locations such as Whole Foods, Sprouts and Target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nothing to wear? Check out Alta, Jenny Wang’s AI-powered stylist and shopping app. Upload photos of items you own (or recent shopping receipts) to create a digital closet. The New York–based startup will then list outfit suggestions or—and this is where Wang hopes to make money—recommend new stuff to buy based on the weather, season and occasion. “Fashion is so interesting from a data perspective,” says Wang, a Harvard-trained engineer. “Alta is both utilitarian in that it helps you decide what to wear and buy, but it’s also just aspirational.” Amid the sea of AI-powered closet startups, Alta is backed by both venture and fashion heavyweights, including Menlo Ventures, which led the company’s $11 million seed round in June, LVMH-backed Algaé Ventures and Michelle Obama’s stylist, Meredith Koop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine a Tesla for watercraft. Jonathan Lord and cofounders Ben Sorkin and Daylin Frantin started building electric boating company Flux Marine in 2018 after years of research at Princeton University. Seven years later, the pair have raised more than $30 million in funding to develop EVs for the sea. “Since age 14, I spent many days out on the water. I had the opportunity to see a beautiful environment—except for the noise and the smell of these gas engines,” Lord says. Flux Marine operates out of Bristol, Rhode Island, and builds high-performance electric outboard motors (up to 150 horsepower) and battery systems for small boats. Flux largely works with existing manufacturers to power new builds—boats with Flux engines cost around $120,000. But it also offers some “repowers,” in which they’ll swap out old engines to make existing boats more climate-friendly. “The electric revolution is happening,” Lord says. “We’re really just at the beginning.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow The Enterprise Zone Louis Carr, the President of Black Entertainment Television (BET), sits down with Forbes senior writer Jabari Young on The Enterprise Zone at Nasdaq MarketSite. With more than 30 years at BET, Carr shares his vision for the network as it enters a new chapter with Paramount Skydance. He talks about bringing back a popular awards show, explains the decision to cancel 106 & Sports, and opens up about his Chicago roots, real estate investments, and what he looks for in up-and-coming media executives. Read the full story on Forbes: Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1 Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Forbes Newsroom On "Forbes Newsroom," former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), a chair of "Our Republican Legacy," discussed President Donald Trump issuing a threat that a "whole civilization will die" hours before announcing the U.S. and Iran agreed to a temporary ceasefire, plus his thoughts on lawmakers vacationing during this uncertain time. Stay Connected Forbes Breaking News on X: https://x.com/ForbesTVNews Forbes Breaking News on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@forbestvnews More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Forbes Newsroom President Donald Trump announced the U.S. and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday night, less than two hours before his self-imposed deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or "a whole civilization will die." Just one day later, Iran on Wednesday accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire agreement and reportedly announced it closed the Strait of Hormuz. The White House said that what Iran is saying publicly about the closure is different what they are telling the Trump administration privately. Clayton Allen, the head of Eurasia Group's U.S. practice, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the "fragile" state of the ceasefire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forbes Reporter Phoebe Liu sat down to discuss the escalating legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ahead of their upcoming April trial. Liu also discusses the allegations of anti-competitive behavior and the financial pressures facing leading AI firms as they navigate rapid innovation, massive capital requirements, and intense competition for market dominance in the emerging artificial general intelligence sector. 00:00 Origins Of The Altman And Musk Partnership 01:47 OpenAI's Transition From Nonprofit To For Profit 03:10 The Upcoming Trial 05:08 Allegations Of Anti Competitive Behavior And Opposition Research 08:12 Financial Motives Versus The Public Good 10:47 Outlook For AI IPOs And Market Valuations InJanuary, OpenAI’s CEO of applications Fidji Simo defended OpenAI’s spaghetti-at-the-wall product approach—ads, shopping, health, a social network, browser, physical devices, video generation and an App Store-like marketplace—as variations on the same theme. “AI is going to transform everything,” Simo told Forbes at the time. “And so we don’t really think of these as completely separate bets.” But just two months later, OpenAI reversed course on its flashiest initiative yet: its once-viral, beloved-by-some Sora video model and app, and a “landmark” licensing deal with Disney that was set to include a $1 billion equity investment. The retreat points to a strategic shift toward more financial discipline within the company. Facing pressure to build products that actually make money ahead of a potential upcoming IPO — and with rival Anthropic gaining steam — OpenAI has been shedding so-called “side quests” left and right. With $13 billion in 2025 revenue but still deeply unprofitable, the company is now refocusing on areas where demand is already proven: coding and enterprise productivity tools. Every startup pivots if things aren’t working. “We will make some good decisions and some missteps, but we will take feedback and try to fix the missteps very quickly,” CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post about Sora in October. But OpenAI’s reversals have felt like whiplash. And with many other projects and deals announced but not yet realized — like an AI hardware product designed by famed Apple designer Jony Ive, whose company OpenAI acquired for more than $6 billion in (mostly unvested) stock, or a secretive social network based on people’s biometrics — it’s not clear which of Altman’s many promises will turn into reality. Here are all the products and deals that OpenAI announced which haven’t lived up to the hype, whether it’s because they’re dead, delayed or still to be determined. Read the full story on Forbes: BY Phoebe Liu https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2026/03/31/openai-graveyard-deals-and-products-havent-happened-openai/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The number of Americans eligible for Social Security has been rising, but the number of workers at Social Security Administration is down 20% over the last decade. Meanwhile, delays in the processing of social security survivor benefits can produce real hardship for retirees, with the median retired widow or widower relying on Social Security for 75% of their total income. Kelly Phillips Erb, a Forbes senior writer and tax attorney, experienced this firsthand: When her father died in October, it took the help of a congressman to ensure her mother received the social security survivor benefits she was owed. Erb spoke to ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath about her experience. Last October, my mother walked into the family room of her rural North Carolina house and found my dad, her husband of nearly 60 years, sitting motionless in the recliner. In the days that followed, as our family processed our shock and grief, we had to deal with some very practical issues, including money. As retirees, my parents had relied largely on their individual Social Security checks and his small pension to pay the bills. We assumed that, following my dad’s death, she could continue to draw income from those two sources. Plus, my mom had me—an estate and tax lawyer and journalist who has advised dozens of families and written extensively about Social Security—to help make sure the transition went smoothly. Doris and Wayne Phillips, the author's parents, as newlyweds in 1968. Instead, it took five months, numerous phone calls, letters and faxes and help from my mom’s Congressman, to get all of the Social Security she was owed. Along the way, we got contradictory answers from the Social Security Administration (SSA) on the phone and conflicting letters in the mail, including one advising my mom to call a toll-free number that was disconnected. We also saw Social Security payments appear and disappear from her bank account and began to fear that her health coverage might lapse too, since she was paying her Medicare premiums (as the majority of seniors do) through deductions from her Social Security check. Sadly, our experience was not all that unusual. Even as the number of Americans eligible for Social Security has been rising, the SSA has shed thousands of employees. After President Donald Trump set billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency loose on the federal workforce in January 2025, more than 7,200 positions were eliminated. Additional cuts have left the agency with just 52,045 workers as of January, down almost 20% over the last decade. (See chart.) With automation, some functions still run smoothly. An SSA spokesman pointed to agency stats showing Americans are completing a growing number of transactions through online my Social Security accounts. But problems pile up when interaction with a human agent is required, as it is for survivor benefits. Delays in the processing of survivor benefits can produce real hardship, considering the median retired widow or widower relies on Social Security for 75% of their total income. Compounding the problem: One thing the SSA does automatically (and quickly) is cut off benefits after notice of a death is received, usually from the funeral director. Eligibility is all-or-nothing for a month and benefits are paid in arrears. Courtesy the Phillips familySo if a retiree dies on October 22, as my father did, SSA will typically pay the already-in-progress October benefit in mid-November, and then withdraw the money from the decedent’s account, even if it’s a joint account shared with a widow struggling to pay funeral expenses on top of normal bills. Read the full story on Forbes: BY Kelly Phillips Erb https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2026/04/04/social-security-benefits-after-death-of-spouse/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Forbes Newsroom On "Forbes Newsroom," Emerson Senior Director Matt Taglia discussed NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's standing after 100 days in office. Stay Connected Forbes Breaking News on X: https://x.com/ForbesTVNews Forbes Breaking News on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@forbestvnews More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Forbes Newsroom Matthew Martin, a senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, discussed the effect of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire on global markets, the price of oil, and international trade. Stay Connected Forbes Breaking News on X: https://x.com/ForbesTVNews Forbes Breaking News on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@forbestvnews More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow Forbes Newsroom President Donald Trump announced the U.S. and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday night, less than two hours before his self-imposed deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or "a whole civilization will die." Just one day later, Iran on Wednesday accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire agreement and reportedly announced it closed the Strait of Hormuz. The White House said that what Iran is saying publicly about the closure is different what they are telling the Trump administration privately. Clayton Allen, the head of Eurasia Group's U.S. practice, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the "fragile" state of the ceasefire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices