Gilfoyle
Fictional character
9
MENTIONS
9
EPISODES
9
PODCASTS
Search complete. 9 mentions across 9 episodes found for "Gilfoyle".
Oct 22, 2026
Jody HamiltonPANELIST
proximity is the wealth.
Bob CescaHOST
Gilfoyle was just the one who got caught.
Jody HamiltonPANELIST
Exactly.
Jody HamiltonPANELIST
Yes.
Tad FallowsGUEST
And you know, I think for a lot of people, probably myself included, one of the hesitations here is the more useful the task, the higher the stakes are for getting it wrong.
Tad FallowsGUEST
So you know, again, if it could take care of, as you said, like all my shopping, but now I'm giving it my credit card, and what if it goes rogue, you know? It reminded me, I think we were talking about this earlier, you know, the Silicon Valley incredibly prescient show where fifteen years ago Gilfoyle built some AI agent and he said, you know, "Get me the cheapest price on hamburger," and it delivered 2,000 pounds of meat.
Tad FallowsGUEST
And he's like, "Crap, I messed up the reward function on that one." And so how do you think about that balance of I wanna give it enough to actually be helpful to me, but not so much that I'm giving the toddler scissors?
Chris HutchinsHOST
You know, someone gave an example of, you know, they were trying to get in touch with someone, and this was in the talk and, and like it sent emails every minute to this person trying to get in touch with this founder of this company.
Mark AgeeHOST
Why can't I think of a fucking guy?
Trey CrowderHOST
Gilfoyle.
Trey CrowderHOST
Yeah.
Mark AgeeHOST
of helping Iran launder money.
Barbara MorganHOST
You may know Martin Starr from his roles as Bill Haverchuck on Freaks and Geeks, Roman DeBeers on Party Down, Bodhi on Tulsa King, and from his work in the films Knocked Up, Adventureland, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Barbara MorganHOST
In Silicon Valley, Starr plays Bertram Gilfoyle, a sardonic Canadian Satanist and founding member of Pied Piper.
Barbara MorganHOST
I sat down with Martin Starr and Alec Berg to talk all about their process diving into the competitive, slightly ridiculous world of tech on Silicon Valley.
Barbara MorganHOST
But before we dive in, we recommend you follow On Story wherever you get your podcasts, especially if you're an aspiring screenwriter looking for guidance from seasoned professionals.
Cameron WaltersHOST
Yeah.
Michael NovGUEST
Well, y-you remember the, the episode with Gilfoyle resolving the bugs and saying his AI decided to delete the entire module-
Cameron WaltersHOST
Yeah.
Cameron WaltersHOST
Yeah
AJ HoffmanHOST
[laughs] Keep writing it down.
Rob ThompsonHOST
It's called the Gilfoyle problem.
AJ HoffmanHOST
Well, yeah.
AJ HoffmanHOST
All right.
speaker_39NARRATOR
It's the modern alchemy, turning followers into gold with nothing but a few well-timed news clips and a sprinkle of charisma.
speaker_36NARRATOR
Gilfoyle urges donor to wire cash, calls it honey please.
speaker_36NARRATOR
When political fundraising turns into a bad romance novel, you know the plot's as thin as her promises of diplomatic access.
speaker_40NARRATOR
Christian YouTuber claims heaven trip lasted eighteen days, met Jesus, testosterone was discussed.
Adam MeyersGUEST
But, you know, I don't know if you ever saw Silicon Valley.
Adam MeyersGUEST
There's a great scene where this guy Gilfoyle has this AI and he calls it Son of Anton.
Adam MeyersGUEST
And the CEO comes in and he's like, you know, your AI deleted all of our code.
Adam MeyersGUEST
And he goes, interesting.
Jason HinerHOST
Uh-huh.
Adam MeyersGUEST
Uh, I'm picturing, like, Gilfoyle and, and, and the CEO having the argument, and he's like, "You, your, your AI deleted all of our source code." And he's like, "Well, I told the AI to get rid of all the software bugs."
Jason HinerHOST
[laughs]
Adam MeyersGUEST
And it reasoned that the best way to do that was to delete-