On June 2, 2026, Casey Newton hosted the inaugural Platformer LIVE event in San Francisco, featuring a live conversation with AI companion developer Replika.
Beyond his new independent event series, Newton has also been bringing his sharp questioning to live podcast recordings. On a special live episode of Hard Fork, he sat down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to challenge the tech giant on the growing public friction surrounding artificial intelligence.
Newton didn't pull punches, directly asking Satya Nadella about the souring public sentiment: "We have to ask a question about the AI backlash that we're seeing around the country. Graduation speakers are getting booed. AI is polling terribly. Uh, lots of people upset about data centers. What role does Microsoft have in that image or helping to solve that? And how do you think the industry can find a path forward that involves, I don't know, m-being a little more popular?"
As Casey Newton continues to scale his editorial brand across live stages and audio formats, his confrontational yet pragmatic style is setting the tone for how tech journalists hold major platform executives accountable during this turbulent AI transition.