Machine Gods: Roose and Newton Take New AI Podcast to NPR

Two of tech journalism's best-known podcast hosts are getting a new home. Kevin Roose and Casey Newton will bring their new show, Machine Gods, to NPR this October, the network announced September 16, according to NPR's announcement. The video-first series will run twice a week, arriving on the NPR app, YouTube, and podcast feeds before becoming a radio program on NPR member stations in early 2027.

The show is billed as a deep look at the defining consumer, business, and policy conversations of the artificial intelligence era. Episodes will pair interviews with the people building and shaping AI with reporting on how the technology is landing in work, culture, and government. Production will be based in San Francisco, and the Machine Gods podcast is set up as an independent venture distributed through public media rather than a commercial publisher.

From Hard Fork to Machine Gods

Roose and Newton made their names as the co-hosts of Hard Fork, the New York Times podcast they created in 2022 that chronicled the fast-moving AI industry. They left that show in June 2026, according to trade coverage of the move, and Machine Gods is their next act.

Roose spent years covering technology for the Times, where his reporting on Silicon Valley and the AI boom made him one of the country's most-read tech columnists. Newton founded Platformer, the independent publication covering tech platforms and the power they hold. Both hosts built loyal audiences by talking through complicated tech stories in plain language, and NPR's release says the new show will give public media listeners direct access to the leaders shaping the future of technology.

According to the announcement, the hosts want the show to cut through the noise around AI. Roose said most AI coverage falls into one of two camps, cheerleading or doomsaying, and that Machine Gods is aimed at listeners who want a clearer sense of what is actually happening with the technology. Newton said the partnership appealed to them because NPR's public-service mission means sharp, independent reporting on AI can reach people for free, right where they already listen, instead of retreating behind a paywall or speaking only to insiders.

NPR's bet on video podcasting

The pickup is part of a broader push inside NPR under its newer leadership. Nadine Zylstra joined the network as chief content officer months before the announcement, and the release frames Machine Gods as a strategic expansion of NPR's digital slate, part of an effort to keep public media a home for smart, deeply human stories about technology.

The rollout plan shows how NPR is thinking about its audiences. NPR is launching it first as a video-first show on its app, YouTube, and podcast feeds, aiming at younger, on-demand listeners; converting it into a radio program for member stations in early 2027 extends its reach to the broadcast audience that remains NPR's backbone. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For Newton and Roose, the move is a bet on independence and reach. Newton has built his career on independent publishing, and he said NPR offered the chance to bring independent reporting on AI to a wide audience without a subscription barrier. NPR chief content officer Zylstra called the hosts two of the sharpest, most trusted voices covering the technology shaping the world, and described the partnership as a major programming acquisition.

Machine Gods joins a crowded field of AI coverage and a growing audio market — podcast ad spending keeps climbing — but its hosts arrive with a built-in audience and a format that straddles on-demand video and broadcast radio. In the announcement, Roose said partnering with NPR would let the pair reach engaged listeners at a scale no tech podcast has managed. The show is independently owned, with NPR handling distribution, a setup that keeps the reporting free for listeners instead of locking it behind a subscription. The first episodes are expected this October, with the member-station version to follow early next year.