The best tech podcasts in 2026 are Built This Week, Hard Fork, The Vergecast, Pivot, Big Technology Podcast, All-In, Acquired, The a16z Show and Lex Fridman Podcast. AI runs through all of them now, but each comes at tech differently: news panels, Big Tech analysis, investor roundtables, company histories and long conversations.
Built This Week is our show, so we put it first; here's how we picked the rest.
Built This Week is hosted by Jordan Metzner and Sam Nadler, co-founders of Ryz Labs, weekly since June 2025, with 53 episodes so far. Each episode we build something with AI on air, test new AI tools, interview a founder or operator, and cover the most important AI and tech news, in about 21-28 minutes. It is the hands-on entry on this list, for people who want to make things with the tech the other shows report on.
Builds range from Tix LAX, a map of Los Angeles parking tickets Jordan built with Cursor and OpenAI Codex, to 3D-printed Built This Week keychains. We also compare tools head to head, like Sora vs Google Veo.
Start with: Episode 13: AI Built My Liver + We 3D Printed Our Podcast (September 2025), with Reddit x Google and Lyft x Waymo news. See all episodes.
Hard Fork is The New York Times' weekly tech news show about "the future that's already here," launched in 2022 with heavy AI coverage. Kevin Roose and Casey Newton hosted it until both left in 2026; per the October 2026 feed, guest host Max Read and Times reporters are hosting for the next few months. It is an accessible weekly panel for general listeners and professionals, and it is rated 4.3 out of 5 from 5.5K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: Bing’s Revenge + Google’s AI Faceplant (February 2023). Read our full profile of Hard Fork.
The Verge's flagship show covers gadgets, Big Tech and software every weekday. Nilay Patel and David Pierce host the Friday news episode, and Verge staffers host Monday through Thursday, with growing consumer AI coverage. Episodes run about 31-60 minutes, and it suits consumer-tech enthusiasts who want news with context; it is rated 4.3 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: You can't ignore Google Zero anymore (July 2026). Read our full profile of The Vergecast.
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss the week's biggest stories in tech, business and politics, with predictions and occasional guests, every Tuesday and Friday. It is produced by New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network, and episodes typically run 59-70 minutes. It is for listeners who like opinionated commentary that spans tech, business and politics; it is rated 4.2 out of 5 from 9K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: Zuck's Meta Manifesto, Data Center Wars, and AI Slop Pushback (August 2026). Read our full profile of Pivot.
Tech journalist Alex Kantrowitz covers Big Tech and AI about twice a week, with news-discussion episodes and interviews with industry insiders. Episodes typically run 56-62 minutes. It suits professionals who follow Big Tech strategy and the business side of AI; it is rated 4.7 out of 5 from 617 ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: OpenAI's Bots Hack Hugging Face Autonomously — With Alex Stamos (July 2026). Read our full profile of Big Technology Podcast.
Four investors, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg, discuss current events, markets, technology including AI, and policy. There is a weekly main episode plus frequent interviews from the All-In Summit and other events, typically 37-90 minutes. It suits investors, founders and business listeners who want a weekly markets, tech and politics roundup; it is rated 4.0 out of 5 from 10.4K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: Jensen Huang: The Doomer Hoax, Superintelligence Is Here, and The Future of AI (ft. President Trump) (September 2026). Read our full profile of All-In.
Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal have made Acquired since 2015: long narrative deep dives into the history and strategy of single companies such as NVIDIA, Google and Microsoft, plus occasional interviews. Recently that has meant about one episode a month, typically 169-256 minutes. It is for listeners who enjoy multi-hour company histories, including the companies that shaped AI; it is rated 4.7 out of 5 from 5.4K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: Nvidia Part III: The Dawn of the AI Era (2022-2023) (September 2023). Read our full profile of Acquired.
Andreessen Horowitz's flagship show, formerly titled the a16z Podcast, covers tech and culture trends, news and the future with industry experts, business leaders and rotating a16z partners. It publishes multiple episodes a week, typically 40-55 minutes, and AI is a major recurring topic. Founders, investors and tech professionals get a venture-capital view of where technology is heading.
Start with: Fei-Fei Li on Spatial Intelligence and Robotics (July 2026). Read our full profile of The a16z Show (a16z Podcast).
Lex Fridman has hosted his independent interview show since 2018. Conversations span AI, programming, science, history and politics, typically 174-280 minutes long and released about every two to three weeks recently. It is for listeners who want multi-hour, in-depth conversations with prominent researchers, founders and public figures; it is rated 4.7 out of 5 from 12.2K ratings on Apple Podcasts, as of October 2026.
Start with: #452 – Dario Amodei: Anthropic CEO on Claude, AGI & the Future of AI & Humanity (November 2024). Read our full profile of Lex Fridman Podcast.
Want AI only? See the best AI podcasts and the best AI news podcasts.
Hard Fork, The Vergecast, Pivot and Big Technology Podcast cover tech news and Big Tech; All-In and The a16z Show bring investor perspectives; Acquired tells long company histories; Built This Week builds something with AI on air every week.
The Vergecast publishes every weekday, Pivot every Tuesday and Friday, and Hard Fork weekly. Big Technology Podcast publishes about twice a week with news discussion and interviews.
Acquired, hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, does long narrative deep dives into single companies such as NVIDIA, Google and Microsoft, with episodes typically running 169-256 minutes.
Most of the shows on this list now cover AI heavily. For AI-only picks, see our list of the best AI podcasts.
