Big Technology’s Alex Kantrowitz on Taking a Risk, Earning Trust, and Making AI Legible

Alex Kantrowitz has built Big Technology into a go‑to source for people who truly need to understand AI. Through his newsletter, podcast, and live events, he focuses less on hype cycles and more on easy to digest conversations with the people building and deploying this technology.

In our conversation, he shared how that philosophy shows up in the choices he makes. From walking away from the “safe” newsroom path to focusing coverage on plain‑English explanations that help leaders act, not just spectate.

Betting on the “risky” path

While Alex didn’t set out to be one of the most trusted independent voices in AI, his life changed when COVID hit, and a well-planned book launch went sideways. That moment forced a choice: keep optimizing for safety inside big newsrooms, or build a platform he controlled.

Before Big Technology, he had followed the traditional path: mainstream outlets, big mastheads, and a book that was primed to take off. The stage was set. His book, Always Day One, was set to publish on April 8, 2020, with TV spots and appearances lined up, and then the world shut down and the tour was cancelled.

That moment triggered a familiar pattern. He had already quit a sales job to freelance his way into journalism and moved across the country to cover big tech more closely. Big Technology was another version of that same instinct. Alex pictured his future, wrote himself a letter, and resigned from his job the next week.

Slow growth as a strategic asset

From day one, Alex assumed Big Technology would grow “brick by brick, listener by listener, reader by reader,” not via viral spikes. That mindset cuts against a culture that equates success with explosive quarter‑over‑quarter results.

In the early years, his audience grew steadily, but not at a rate that would necessarily impress a boardroom. Many people would have read that as failure and retreated slowly back into a world that felt safe.

Then generative AI crossed into the mainstream. Because he had been investing in AI coverage early and built a strong audience base, 2023 became the year the curve bent. When the category exploded, his platform was already there, with an audience that looked to him for interpretation, not just headlines.

For business leaders, the lesson is familiar. Disciplined, “unimpressive” growth can often be the price of pre‑positioning for a market shift.

A mission built on clarity, not hype

With Big Technology, Alex’s mission is to cover the biggest AI developments without overcomplicating them. His goal is for the audience to walk away able to explain the core issue in plain English.

That doesn’t mean making the story smaller. It means translating what labs and builders are doing into business terms: how capabilities change products and markets and who is likely to gain or lose power as a result.

Alex is not just chronicling what is happening, but trying to influence how AI evolves by asking sharp questions and pushing back on weak assumptions in public. For executives trying to navigate a rapidly changing market, this kind of clarity is a real advantage.

From masthead to “Alex’s take”

Working in big newsrooms taught Alex the strengths and limits of institutional media. You contribute to a brand, you benefit from its reach, and you operate inside its priorities and voice.

Big Technology inverts that. The brand is tied to his name. His audience is not saying, “I read it in X publication.” They are saying, “I want Alex’s read on this.” That direct relationship changes how he reports and how sources engage. And as an avid listener, myself, these interviews feel less transactional and more like a conversation between two insiders with interesting points of view. 

For comms leaders, that shift matters. If your media strategy is still built around mastheads alone, you are missing where a lot of trust and influence exists today.

The next front-page AI stories

When I asked Alex which storylines are under-covered today, but will be front-page stories in a year or two, he pointed to where he thinks the real competitive battle in AI is heading

Foundation models are on a path toward commoditization. The more interesting action is moving up the stack, into the application layer. Companies building on top of OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are racing to lock in differentiated positions before capabilities feel interchangeable. At the same time, the model providers themselves are building applications, from general “super apps” to vertical, industry‑specific tools that in some cases will encroach on their customers’ markets.

For CEOs, this is not an abstract ecosystem story. It affects vendor concentration risk, partnership strategy, and whether you are comfortable building on a platform that might one day compete directly with you.

Time off as a performance tool

Running a lean media business in a 24/7 news cycle could easily become all‑consuming. Alex manages that in two concrete ways.

At home, his life is anchored by his wife, a nurse. This limits how much AI chatter happens after hours. He also takes a meaningful block of time off every August, long enough to step away from daily production. He credits those breaks with some of his best strategic calls, including bringing recurring voices, like Ranjan Roy, onto the Big Technology podcast every Friday.

It is a useful reminder for executives who feel like they cannot step back. Quality time off leaves room for deep thinking and fresh ideas.

Giving brands a real stage with Big Technology’s Brand Spotlight series

Alex and I also discussed an issue many AI company founders and executives feel: the struggle to stand out in a conversation dominated by a handful of names. To address this, he launched Brand Spotlights on his YouTube channel.

It’s a place for AI leaders who don’t have the brand recognition of OpenAI or Anthropic  to introduce themselves to one of the most plugged-in AI audiences in the world. The conversations go beyond product demos. It is a place where founders and CEOs can share what they are building, how they see the market, what customers are actually asking for, and where they think the market is headed next.

Where independent media goes from here

Looking ahead five years, Alex sees independent journalists taking a growing share of influence in tech and AI coverage, as legacy media strains under economic and structural pressure. That competition is healthy. It creates more places where audiences can go for context and more ways for companies to engage with voices their buyers already trust.

For brands trying to break through, that has clear implications. Distribution is no longer just about where your story appears. It’s about who tells it, how clearly they can explain why it matters, and whether the people you are trying to reach already believe that voice is worth their time.

To keep up with Alex’s latest reporting and interviews with the world’s biggest AI leaders, follow him on X @Kantrowitz and subscribe to the Big Technology newsletter and podcast.