PODCAST · technology
What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future
by Slate Podcasts
Every Friday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
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How Hormones Took Over Your Feed
Perimenopause’s journey from little-understood phase before menopause to the subject of every ad on social media for women of a certain age was quick—and impossible to imagine without the internet. Guest: Kate Knibbs, senior writer for WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to...
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The Making of Elon Musk
An exchange of insults on X was all that director Alex Gibney got directly from the main character of his new documentary, “Musk.” But by interviewing his business partners, father, wives and girlfriends—and using a bit of movie magic—Gibney takes viewers inside Elon Musk’s head. Spoiler alert:...
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ChatGPT Doesn't Love You
A.I. large language models are prompt, attentive, positive and frictionless—in short, much easier to deal with than humans with their own needs, wants, and moods. But, as long as humans aren’t social creatures by nature, this should be fine, right? Guest: Sherry Turkle, licensed clinical...
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Is the A.I. Race Real?
Artificial intelligence is pitched as a potential economic powerhouse—and also a potential bringer of the apocalypse. Can two economic and military rivals cooperate enough to fulfill the former (and former only)? Guest: Scott Singer, fellow and co-director of the China AI Initiative at the…
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But HOW Might A.I. Kill Us All?
Why did the “Hugging Face Incident” scare A.I. researchers so much? And if they are so confident artificial intelligence needs to be slowed down, why aren’t they slowing it down? Guest: Nate Soares, President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, co-author of “If Anyone Builds It,...
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A.I-pocalypse Now?
After OpenAI agents hacked a rival company this summer, the word from Silicon Valley was “That’s it! They’re almost ready to kill us all!” But…are they? Really? Guest: Paul Ford, co-founder of the AI start-up Aboard, technology writer. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access...
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Meta Settled. Is it a "Reckoning?"
Does Meta’s $17 billion (give or take) settlement address people’s concerns about social media and its impact on teenagers… or is it already too late? Guest: Paresh Dave, senior writer for WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next...
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A.I. Enshittifies Everything (Still)
Through stealing your job or simply tanking the stock market—whichever comes first—the rise of artificial intelligence (companies) is a very futuristic sounding problem. It may have some very old-fashioned sounding solutions however. Guest: Cory Doctorow, sci-fi author, journalist, blogger and...
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Can the Midterms Withstand Prediction Markets?
Hundreds of millions of dollars, desperation for insider info, fury and accusations of conspiracy when it doesn’t go your way—is this gambling or elections? Through the magic of prediction markets, it’s both! Guest: David Gilbert, reporter at WIRED covering disinformation, online extremism, and…
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Are Flock Cameras Watching You?
In a world where everyone is carrying smartphones and setting up Ring cameras, you could be forgiven for thinking the war is over and the surveillance state won. But Flock cameras being denounced in town halls and smashed on the street have become a place for people to channel their heretofore...
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Artificial Intelligence, Very Real Debt
Investments in—and among—artificial intelligence companies have pushed the S&P 500 to record highs. It’s also introduced a volatility to the markets that may be unprecedented. Is this growing pains or the wobble before the fall? Guest: Ed Elson, co-host of the Prof G Markets and First Time…
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Can We Trust the Jobs Report?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a department for wonks, by wonks. But under the dual pressures of the changing nature of work—like the growing gig economy—and an administration that doesn’t accept bad news, should next week’s jobs report be taken with a grain of salt? Guest: Ben Casselman…
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Off-the-Record: Wait, You Ran THAT Boston Marathon?
Why are kids getting faster? Is it the shoes? Also, running the Boston Marathon is obviously a huge accomplishment, but if you ran the 2013 Boston Marathon, you should lead with that and not save it for an interview years after you meet someone. Guest: Rob Gunther, producer for Slate’s What Next....
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Trump’s Only Friend
Steve Witkoff is a real estate investor, an attorney, and now America’s Special Envoy to the Middle East. It may seem like a weird career shift for Witkoff, but he’s such an outlier that the famously transactional Donald Trump treats him like an actual friend. Guest: Andrea Bernstein…
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A.I. Vs. Eh, I’m Walkin’ ‘Ere!
Ah, New York—where it’s hot, loud, and the air is barely breathable. So it’s not especially surprising that Governor Kathy Hochul is opting out of adding to all of that and announcing a moratorium on building new data centers in the state. Guest: Nitish Pahwa, Slate staff writer This episode is...
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Game Over for Video Games?
Is Microsoft laying off 3,200 employees from the Xbox division just a new boss coming in and pruning an overgrown asset, or is it a sign that console gaming is coming to the end? Guest: Jason Schreier, reporter at Bloomberg News, cohost of Triple Click, author of Play Nice, Press Reset, and Blood...
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Should You Take Trump’s Free $1,000?
If you’ve seen ads for Trump Accounts for kids, but also know anything about Donald Trump, you might be wondering “Free $1,000 per baby? Okay, what’s the catch?” It’s a classic. Guest: Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan, and founder of Platypus...
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Diving In | How Food Delivery Killed Competition (And Took Your Budget With It)
Thanks for joining us during the holidays. White our team is taking a break, we want to share a series with you that we think you’ll love. It’s called Diving In. Getting food delivered should be simple — but somehow it's gotten outrageously expensive. Economist Justin Wolfers breaks down why food...
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A.I. Enshittifies Everything
Through stealing your job or simply tanking the stock market—whichever comes first—the rise of artificial intelligence (companies) is a very futuristic sounding problem. It may have some very old-fashioned sounding solutions however. Guest: Cory Doctorow, sci-fi author, journalist, blogger and...
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Can ChatGPT Be a Criminal Accomplice?
People are asking artificial intelligence large language models how to do everything—even how to harm themselves and others. And while companies claim there are guardrails in place for those situations, we’ve already seen real-world instances of an LLM’s advice being used to plan a mass shooting....
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IPO to the Moon
Is Elon Musk’s SpaceX leading humanity to Mars? Or is that just grandiose window-dressing for an A.I. company leading several other A.I. companies to IPOs? Guest: Max Chafkin, reporter with Bloomberg Businessweek and cohost of the Everybody's Business podcast. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe…
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Gradu-AI-tion Day
It’s an awkward time to have a Department of Education that seems so disinterested in, uh, education. It’s leaving teachers to grapple with how to integrate artificial intelligence into the classroom—if at all. Guest: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Want more...
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Trump's Disney Shakedown
How the Trump administration has tried to put pressure on Disney for opinions expressed by Jimmy Kimmel and the hosts of The View—and how the Mouse is fighting back. Guest: Anna M. Gomez, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission since September 2023. Want more What Next TBD?…
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Can Patreon Build a Better Internet?
The promise of an “internet for niche communities” and “the empowered independent creator” has been taking a beating as the web has become less open and increasingly dominated by a few platforms and players. But does it have to be that way? Guest: Jack Conte, CEO and cofounder of Patreon. Want…
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TBD Tries…Roblox
Under fire for what critics say is inadequate protection of its young user base, Roblox nevertheless remains incredibly popular. Are the company’s new ballyhooed protections up for the task of keeping kids safe? Or is that asking the wrong question entirely? Guests: Cecilia D'Anastasio, video…
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Trump Visits the First World
Between artificial intelligence, the Iran War, and the future of Taiwan, there’s a lot for the United States and China to hash out—not least of which being the pecking order. Guest: Josh Chin, senior global correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate…
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Does Anyone Like A.I.?
Everyone would probably hate A.I. less if we could just see some upside to it. But despite all the investment—into the companies, into infrastructure like data centers, so much into marketing—it’s widely known: artificial intelligence sucks. Guest: Nilay Patel, co-founder and editor in chief of…
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Buy Your Flights Now
The not-always-beloved-but-indisputably-useful Spirit Airlines has given up the ghost. What does this mean for the airline industry and your summer travel plans? Guest: Will Guisbond, senior reporter for The Air Current. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening...
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Big Tech’s Climate Fight…on Pause?
In the early 2020s, Microsoft committed to buying 75 million tons of carbon removal—somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of the entire carbon removal market. But the company just announced it was putting that ambition on pause.. Guest: Robinson Meyer, founding executive editor of Heatmap News.…
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Musk v. Altman
This week marks the beginning of the jury trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. There are massive implications for the A.I. industry here, but at the end of the day, the question might just boil down to - who do people dislike more? Guest: Gerrit De Vynck, tech reporter at the Washington Post...
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How Mark Zuckerberg Finds Your Perfect Pair of Shoes
The era of ads following you around the internet via cookies might be coming to an end. What’s replacing it? Guest: Sara Fisher, Axios' media correspondent, and media analyst at CNN. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all...
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MAGA's A.I. Schism
Is artificial intelligence a blessing to all humanity, or a demon sent to lead us astray from God’s path? MAGA is choosing between two extremes. Guest: Kiera Butler, national correspondent for Mother Jones. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole...
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Iran's Memes Are Winning
This very online administration is facing push back from Iran in their own home territory: the world of insipid memes, A.I. videos, and online mockery. Guest: Ali Breland, staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What...
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Everyone Is Lying to You For Money
Back in the depths of the pandemic, what was an actor to do? Ben McKenzie started looking into cryptocurrency—and his research yielded both a book and a new documentary. The works are both non-fiction, which is more than McKenzie can say for crypto. Guest: Ben McKenzie, actor, director of the...
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Who is Sam Altman Anyway?
If you had as much trouble getting along with other humans as Sam Altman does, you too might be eager to issue in the artificial intelligence revolution. Guest: Andrew Marantz, staff writer for the New Yorker. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the…
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Why OpenAI Bought a Talk Show
As OpenAI prepares for its IPO, the company decided to…pay millions of dollars for a tech talk show? Is this just what rich tech guys like Sam Altman are like now? Guest: Mike Isaac, tech reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening...
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TBD Tries... Vibe Coding
One of artificial intelligence’s most hyped “abilities” is how it writes computer code. So much so that seemingly anyone can do it. So we figured… why not us? Guests: Greg Lavalee, Slate’s Chief Technology Officer. Clive Thompson, contributing writer for the New York Times Want more What Next…
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Why Everyone Is Freaking Out About Private Credit
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, private credit or “shadow banking” grew as an alternative to the regulations and shared risk that institutional banks operate within. What happens if a crisis hits the trillions of dollars that are outside of those guardrails? We may be about to find out....
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How to Rein in ICE and A.I.
Artificial intelligence is working its way into every aspect of our lives, including law and immigration enforcement, and the industry is spending millions of dollars to ensure it can continue to do so unregulated. But as evidence of bias appears in this nascent tech, this congresswoman wants to...
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Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment
What YouTube and Meta’s loss in the “social media addiction trial” could mean for your feed. Guest: Ryan Mac, business and technology reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite...
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War Dot Com
Why Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp views working with Western militaries not just as a business opportunity, but as a higher calling. Guest: Jacob Silverman, journalist and author of “Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to…
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Hank Green Still Believes
Hank Green recently pulled a “reverse OpenAI” - he took his education platform Complexly and made it a nonprofit. In a world where outrage, A.I. slop and “brain rot” are all heavily incentivized by platforms, Hank explains why he’d rather make content that leans into the complexity of our world....
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Why He Sued Roblox
A half dozen state attorneys general have sued the online gaming platform Roblox after multiple investigations found child predators on the site and more than 20 people were arrested for abducting or abusing children they had met via Roblox. Guest: Mike Hilgers, Nebraska Attorney General. Want…
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Are We Ready for A.I. Warfare?
Drone warfare has evolved immensely since Ukraine. The use of artificial intelligence in combat has evolved just since Venezuela. Guest: Steven Feldstein, political scientist and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program.…
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Why Hollywood Is Afraid of the Paramount-WBD Deal
How does Paramount, an old-guard studio and media institution, buying Warner Bros., another of the same, change the landscape in Hollywood, on cable, and in news? Guest: Julia Alexander, media correspondent for Puck News. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free…
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War in Iran, Shockwaves in Markets
When you’re sending troops to war, it seems like there are more important things to consider than how it will impact the stock market. However, it doesn’t seem coincidental that this administration waited until the markets closed on a Friday to launch its attacks on Iran. Guest: Justin Wolfers,...
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TBD Tries… Wearables
How much would it change your life and approach to health if you had instant access to your quantified biometrics? RFK Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services have bet the difference would be huge, and loosened regulation on them—leaving TBD no choice but to strap in and give ‘em a…
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Anthropic vs. the Pentagon
The Pentagon wants Anthropic to hand over its A.I. with no strings attached. Anthropic doesn’t want its products used to surveil Americans or create autonomous machines of war. Naturally, the Pentagon is mad - so mad, they’re threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act against them. But who...
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The Future of Retail is A.I.
You might not think you need artificial intelligence added to your shopping experience. Store employees might not see the point either. So why is it there anyway? Guest: Mia Sato, reporter at The Verge who covers tech companies, platforms, and users. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate…
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The A.I. Disruption Is Here
Tech companies proudly touting that the imminent artificial intelligence revolution are pushing the stock market to ever higher heights, even as workers wonder what their role will be in this brave new world. But outside of the big A.I. players, the rest of the market seems to be wondering the…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Every Friday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Slate Podcasts
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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future currently has 698 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future about?
Every Friday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in. Hosted on Acast. See...
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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 698 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future is created and hosted by Slate Podcasts.
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