This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the contemporary attention economy, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started “KING BASEBALL, monarch of the American sport world, is sick,” […]
Department of Homeland Security agents “made misrepresentations” to gain access to a Columbia University residential building and detained a student early Thursday morning, according to a statement issued by the school. “Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person,'” […]
Google is bringing a more powerful version of its Nano Banana AI image model to free users. Nano Banana 2 (also known as Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) is rolling out today across the Gemini app and other Google AI platforms, making knowledge and rendering features that were previously exclusive to Nano Banana Pro available for […]
Adobe is launching a new Firefly tool that helps video editors to focus on storytelling by creating a first cut to refine and build around. The Quick Cut feature is launching in beta today for Firefly’s video editor, allowing users to automatically assemble clips together based on text prompts and simple creator inputs. “Quick Cut […]
Major League Baseball wants more of a footprint on TikTok. Just in time for spring training, the two companies announced Tuesday they were partnering to expand baseball content on TikTok, including creating an MLB hub in the app and, of course, bringing in more influencers. Baseball is coming back after a season that was especially […]
As 2025 drew to a close, Instagram head Adam Mosseri ended the year by doom-posting about AI. “Authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible,” Mosseri lamented. “Everything that made creators matter – the ability to be real, to connect, to have a voice that couldn’t be faked – is now accessible to anyone with the right tools.” […]
Today, I’m talking with Hank Green, a longtime friend of Decoder and the cofounder and now former owner of Complexly, an online education company he started with his brother John in 2012. I say former owner because Hank and John have just converted Complexly into a nonprofit and given up their ownership of the company […]
A set of bellwether cases alleging that social media platforms harmed teens’ safety and mental health is going to trial this year, putting executives like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the stand to answer questions about what they’ve done or not done to protect kids. Unlike many earlier legal challenges against social media companies, these […]
After cramming AI into every inch of its smartphones, appliances, and other devices, Samsung is now increasingly slapping it across social media. Several videos posted to the company’s YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok accounts in recent weeks were made or edited using generative AI tools, including its latest teaser for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. The […]
Two hours before one of the most important live events in Netflix’s history, LA’s sprawling CBS Radford Studio Center is abuzz with the strangest combination of things. As I walk through one cavernous soundstage on a Tuesday afternoon, I hear multiple people warming up their voices to sing. I pass a man carefully waving a […]