Ben Smith
person on 6 shows · 4 statements across 1 episodes · said 10 times in 6 episodes since 2017
How I Built This 5 
TBPN 2 
American Optimist 1 
Lenny's Podcast 1 
Big Technology 1 
More or Less
On the record as a speaker too: Ben Smith across every show, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year, every show
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 5TBPN 2Lenny's Podcast 1American Optimist 1Big Technology 1
2026 2 mentions in 1 episode
2024 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2023 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2017 3 mentions in 1 episode
every mention on every show, scene by scene, with the transcript →
4 statements about Ben Smith, every show
Ben Smith: Silicon Valley wrongly thinks journalists are obsessed with clicks
“This is actually like a common Silicon Valley misconception that we are like obsessed with clicks as opposed to interested in information.”
Ben Smith: Semafor staff must build their own AI tools, not developers
“I'm not letting them ask Our developers to help them build AI tools. Like you can really in Google app script without knowing anything about, I mean, you can really like vibe code yourself some nice tools”
Ben Smith: AI products built in four hours are completely indefensible businesses
“Also, right, I thought for two seconds, oh yeah, we should charge this as a product. And it's like, well, actually, if I built this in four hours, that's like not defensible. That is the least defensible thing in the world.”
Ben Smith: Original reporting is safe from AI, but writing is vulnerable
“In journalism, there's sort of, at one end is gathering facts that are not on the internet, and putting them on the internet, and then there's a lot of other things, writing and producing in the middle, and at the other end is connecting with, is a human being…”