Computer Says Maybe

The US is in a race to ‘beat China’ at AI. Or is it? What if I told you that powerful actors in the US have built the story of an all-or-nothing race to get what they want?More like this: Computer Says Kill: A License for Unlimited War w/ Amos TohIn part four of Computer Says Kill we are joined by Lis Siegel who shares the history. We start with a document produced by China in 2017, and arrive at today when the Chinese bogeyman is being used to drive money, political influence and supply chain control to a few US tech giants. Listen in for some insight into how we got here.Further reading & resources:Examining AI Safety as a Global Public Good: Implications, Challenges, and Research Priorities — Lis Siegel et al, March 2025Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in China, internal documents show — AP News, September 2025A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat — Taylor Lorenz, Wired, May 2026Slogan Politics by Jinghan ZengBreakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan WangFinal Report from the National Security Commission for AI — 2021Yellow Techno-Peril: The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ and anti-Chinese racial rhetoric in the US–China AI arms race — Kerry McInerney 2024Bernie Sanders urges international cooperation to halt AI’s ‘runaway train’ — The Guardian, April 2026**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

RightsCon has just been cancelled by the Zambian government with no word to the organizers, five days before it was set to begin.RightsCon is the biggest annual global gathering of the digital rights community. Every year thousands of people come together to figure out how to make the internet safer and freer for everyone. When they can't connect, we all lose.Alix shares a few theories about why Zambia pulled the plug (geopolitics, trade deals, and "values"). She also talks through her views on what it could mean that safe global spaces for this work are collapsing, and why you should care even if you've never heard of RightsCon.If you were planning on attending RightsCon we're so sorry. If you're in Zambian civil society fighting for space to engage on these issues, please know there is a global community that has your back.Further reading & resources:World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled — 404 Media, April 29**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Military spending on AI is a triple black box: How is AI being used in the military? Who is winning these contracts and what are they worth? And what is the military’s end-game here?More like this: How a Calculator Company Reshaped Modern Warfare w/ Jeff SternAmos Toh will help us answer these questions in part three of Computer Says Kill. We will cover how military spending has changed over the last couple of decades: there has been a clear shift from the straightforward buying up of jets, to the over-reliance on licensed software. Amos also shares what hasn’t changed, which is: yes, the government still spend a hell of a lot of money on military tech.Further reading & resources:The Business of Military AI — Amos Toh, Emile Ayoub, March 2026Read Amos and Emile’s explainer on the military’s use of AIPentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud — Axios, Feb 13Department of War's Artificial Intelligence-First Agenda: A New Era for Defense Contractors — Holland & Knight, Feb 2026The Double Black Box by Ashely DeeksAI at war: Five things to know about Project Maven — Euractiv, April 2026Safety Co-Option and Compromised National Security: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Weakened AI Risk Thresholds — Heidy Khlaaf, Sarah Myers West, April 2025**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Precision weapons are meant to make warfare more exact. But what happens when the executive branch uses precision as an excuse to make more war and target with less and less accountability for accuracy?More like this: Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt MahmoudiIn part two of Computer Says Kill, Jeff Stern shares how a calculator company transformed modern warfare by making more precise weapons. After the Second World War, the US military wanted to be able to wage more war and target with more accuracy. At first it was about saving American troops. Over time it became a permission structure for more executive control over lethal force.What does this history tell us about the role of precision and accountability in war?Further reading & resources:Get The Warhead by Jeff Stern nowMore on Weldon Word and the development of precise weaponry during the Vietnam warOperation Desert Storm: 25 years on — CNN 2019Right to strike when your boss sells AI to the military? — Cori Crider, The Register Lecture, 2019 **Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

How does a country wage war using LLMs? Oh and WHY?More like this: AI in Gaza: Live from Mexico CityIn Computer Says Kill Ep #1 we are joined by Matt Mahmoudi. The US Department of War is leaning heavily on AI technologies to attack Iran. Matt explains how the use of LLMs to identify ‘legitimate targets’ is collapsing the chain of decisions that lead to lethal force. We discuss what this means at a time when fascist governments are eager to demonstrate their strength on the global stage. From Israel field-testing AI weapons in Gaza, to the US using AI tools in horrifying new ways to perpetuate ever worse war crimes, we start to connect the dots between the technology, the people powering it, and the human costs.Further reading & resources:Automated Apartheid — Amnesty International 2023How Israel uses facial-recognition systems in Gaza and beyond — Matt’s interview in The Guardian about the reportCrimes of Dispassion: Autonomous Weapons and the Moral Challenge of Systematic Killing — Elke Schwartz, 2023Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? — By Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz, The New York Times, April 2026“Big Brother” in Jerusalem’s Old City — Who Profits Research CentreWhat is Israel's secretive cyber warfare unit 8200? — Reuters 2024Genocide as Colonial Erasure — Francesca Albanese, October 2024Buy Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence, edited by Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, and Coline SchupferBuy The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Anthony Loewesnsteincan we add Francesa Albanese reportMatt’s research (Automated Apartheid, and anything else on warfare to link to?)Palestine Laboratory**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

This is Computer Says Kill, a new series on series focused on tracing the people, decisions, and systems that have recklessly ushered AI into the business of war.What we’re watching play out— from AI military chatbots to tech companies in bed with authoritarian governments— isn’t a new story. It's the latest chapter in a much older relationship between technology, military power, institutional systems, and capital— one that has always moved faster than accountability, and always found a way to make the next thing feel inevitable. We're not convinced this is inevitable. But we think it’s time to understand to understand exactly how we got here.The first episode in the series launches Friday, April 17th.Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

What better way than movies to help us process the world. Brian Merchant shares how our collective anxieties turn into cultural products.More like this: One Filmmaker’s Fight Against AI w/ Valerie VeatchBrian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, joins us this week to discuss his favorite unsettling, horror and thriller picks that bring our fears about AI and tech to life on screen.Alix and Brian talk Terminator, Pluribus, and how even comedies about technology have a spectre of violence that helps us understand everything form labour exploitation to alienation to machine autonomy. All of this contributes to the role that film plays in helping us make sense of societal and technological change.Click here to vote for us for the Webbys!Further reading & resources:The best books, film, and TV about AI in 2025 — Brian Merchant, Dec 2025The Complete Guide to Luddite Horror Films — Brain Merchant, Oct 2024The Chair Company (TV show)Pluribus (TV show)The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas PynchonExhalation and *The Lifecycle of Software Objects* by Ted ChiangThe Most Aggressively Anti-AI Film of the ChatGPT Era — Brian Merchant on ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’, March 2026The Comeback (TV series staring Lisa Kudrow)Mrs Davis (TV series about a nun on a mission to destroy AI)Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Naomi Klein has spent her career studying political movements — and she thinks progressives are doing better than we think. Because the fascists are scared.More like this: To be Seen and not Watched w/ Tawana PettyIn her forthcoming book, End Times Fascism, Klein and co-author Astra Taylor take stock of the history of fascism and the collective power that has been brought to bear to fight it. This time is different. Tech titans accumulated tremendous power and wealth, and are firmly on the side of the fascists. And our information environment is flooded and disoriented. While that might portend a dark outcome, Klein has a different diagnosis. Fascist powers seem angrier and more aggressive than ever; but Klein thinks this is a sign that we are winning.Further reading & resources:The Rise of End Times Fascism by Astra Taylor & Naomi KleinOn Tyranny by Timothy SnyderMore about Naomi & Astra’s upcoming book End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World.In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing by Kathryn Jezzer-Morton, The Cut, Jan 2026Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis VaroufakisWalter Benjamin’s Concept of HistoryUN expert says world has given Israel ‘licence to torture Palestinians’ — Al Jazeera quoting Francesca Albanese, March 2026How The 'Free Helicopter Rides' Meme Went Viral — The Progressive Magazine, September 2023Safe or Just Surveilled?: Tawana Petty on the Fight Against Facial Recognition Surveillance — Logic(s) Magazine 2020**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

The way artists make art matters. And some artists, like filmmaker Valerie Veatch, are exploring what role AI has in the craft of filmmaking.More like this: Fantasy Factory: AI Supervillains w/ Anat Shenker-OsorioValerie Veatch is the director of Ghost in the Machine, a new film that explores the depths of the Silicon Valley fantasies around AI, and platforms all the people that challenge these fantasies. With this film, Valerie is working to change the culture of AI: it is not inevitable, in many way it’s not even possible, and therefore we have a right to refuse to engage with it. Valerie discusses why she made the film, what she learned, and what impact she’s hoping it will have.Ghost in the Machine will be available for rentals and screenings beginning March 27, via Kinema! Pre-sales are now available at open now (go to Kinema and slelect the "Watch" tab). Proceeds will go towards the production of the film. The film will also be available on PBS in fall 2026.Further reading & resources:Trailer for Ghost in the MachineResisting AI by Dan McQuillanOn the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots by Emily Bender et alThe TESCREAL Bundle by Timnit Gebru and Emile P. TorresKinema — where you can watch Ghost in the Machine**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Grammarly launched a feature that no one wanted and now they’re getting sued. They used the names of writers, journalists, and editors to pretend that AI versions of those people were making writing suggestions via the application. None of these ‘expert reviewers’ had any idea. Grammarly pissed off the wrong journalist.And now Julia Angwin is suing them.More like this: The Toxic Relationship Between AI & Journalism w/ Nic DawesIn this episode Julia (and her lawyer Peter) discuss what happened with Grammarly, why she’s suing, and how neither of them can believe that this tool made it through their legal team and into the public realm.Please email [email protected] for more info, or if you would like your name to be searched in the list of experts that Grammarly used for their tool.Further reading & resources:Julia’s op ed in the New York TimesPre-order Julia’s new book On Courage: How to be a Dissident in an Age of FearCheck out The Markup, founded by JuliaGrammarly pulls AI author-impersonation tool after backlash — BBC 12th March 2026Shishir Mehrotra’s (CEO of Grammarly) apology on LinkedInGrammarly Is Offering ‘Expert’ AI Reviews From Your Favorite Authors—Dead or Alive — Wired 4th March 2026Grammarly is using our identities without permission — The Verge 6th March 2026Grammarly turned me into an AI editor against my will and I hate it — Casey Newton, Platformer 9th March 2026Details of the case, from PRF Law, Julia’s representative firm**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

The left has a messaging problem. Silicon Valley elites are literally making up impossible fantasies and their narratives are winning out. Why?More like this: The Stories we Tell Ourselves About AIThis week in our second episode leading to the AI Doc, we are joined by Anat Shenker-Osorio, a progressive campaign strategist who hosts the Words To Win By podcast. Anat tries to focus on the positives: if you don’t think people should join the AI party, throw a better party. She gives us some quick lessons on messaging: how to paint tech CEOs as actual villains, how to flip the script and convince AI men that actually, it’s okay to die — and how to avoid what Anat refers to as ‘Mar-a-lago face’Further reading & resources:Listen to Anat’s podcast Words to Win byPre-Suasion and Influence by Robert CialdiniMessaging This Moment — a critical handbook for progressive comms **Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Next time someone tells you that we can build data centres in space, show them this podcast episode — because it is literally impossible.More like this: AI Safety’s Spiral of Urgency w/ Shazeda AhmedOr better yet, recommend that they buy More Everything Forever, Adam Becker’s latest book exploring all the fantasies and promises of coming out of Silicon Valley. This episode is the first in our Fantasy Factory series, where we explore how and why tech evangelists manufacture consent about AI’s boom, doom, and inevitability.The futures that AI men want for us — e.g. a disembodied immortal life in AI utopia — are all scientifically impossible. Even the worse mass-extinction event on Earth would be more pleasant than trying to live on Mars. Yes, space is very cold, but it doesn’t mean we should put data centres out there! Adam explains where these narratives are coming from, who they benefit, and why they exist outside the laws of physics.Further reading & resources:More about Adam BeckerBuy More Everything ForeverFor All Mankind (TV series)Our video on the Iran war**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

How does an oppressed workforce organise against Big Tech employers with even bigger lobbying muscle?More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Boss Men w/ David SeligmanThis week’s episode is a recording of our livestream from Monday: a litigator, regulator, and activist share their work and perspectives on coordinating bottom-up fights against Big Tech power, worker suppression, and unfair consumer practices. Speakers are:David Seligman, Executive Director of Towards Justice and Democratic candidate for Colorado Attorney GeneralAlvaro Bedoya, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission and founding director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University Law CenterElliott “El’Bo” Awatt, Driver Organizer with Colorado Independent Drivers UnitedFurther reading & resources:Alvaro Bedoya on how he became a populistDrivers for Lyft and Uber are building a national movement — Colorado Newsline 2024Uber Claims Transparency Law Complicates Rides and Takes Away Driver Perks – but Does It? — Westword, February 2025An AMA on Reddit with David Seligman**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

This is the last of our series AI Lingo Bingo Series! We dig into four more co-opted concepts with four more all stars.More like this: Last week’s episode with Meredith Whittaker, Audrey Tang, Abeba Birhane, and Usha RamanathanThis week we’ll hear from Naomi Klein, who will discuss how ‘AI for Climate’ is very much not a thing; Nikhil Dey who shares all the ways powerful actors cosplay at having ‘accountability’; Timnit Gebru who explains that ‘frugal AI’ is something being made novel by the hype & scale of big tech business models; and finally Chinasa Okolo who will help us better understand the complexities of ‘multilateralism’.Further reading & resources:More on Nikhil Dey — social activist and a founding member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)More on Timnit Gebru — founder of the DAIR instituteMore on Naomi Klein — author and professor of climate justice at the University of British ColumbiaMore on Chinasa Okolo — founder of Technecultura, a research institute focussing on AI governance for global majority countriesThe Guardian’s profile on Nikhil — June 2013More about MKSS involvement in the Campaign for the Right to Information in IndiaThe Screen New Deal — by Naomi Klein, The Intercept, 2020More on the cancellation of the Northern Gateway PipelineGhana NLPWatch this week’s interviews in full on YoutubeRSVP to **The People's Policy: Holding Big Tech Accountable [Livestreamed Conversation + Q&A]** — happening on March 2nd 5:30pm MT**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Anthropic’s Claude was used in the military operation to kidnap president Maduro earlier this year. Why? Unclear. Was this legal? Absolutely not.More like this: AI In Gaza: Live from Mexico CitySurprise, surprise: the DoD feels that they should able to use AI models however they want, as long as its lawful — but… was this lawful? They are now threatening to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk. What does this all mean?For this short, Alix was joined by Amos Toh, senior counsel at the Brennan Centre for Justice, to help us understand why the US defence department and an AI company are arguing about how best to us AI models for dehumanising and unjust military purposes.Further reading & resources:Pentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud — Axios, Feb 13Anthropic on shaky ground with Pentagon amid feud after Maduro raid — The Hill, Feb 19US used Anthropic's Claude during the Venezuela raid, WSJ reports — Reuters, Feb 16Pentagon Used Anthropic’s Claude in Maduro Venezuela Raid — WSJ, Feb 15Amos’s Bluesky thread sharing more thoughts on the storyComputer Says Maybe Shorts bring in experts to give their ten-minute take on recent news. If there’s ever a news story you think we should bring in expertise on for the show, please email [email protected] Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

It’s our second week of playing AI lingo bingo. The summit in India is underway and the air is thick with vague terms that fail to describe the big problems.More like this: Lingo Bingo at the India AI Summit w/ Karen Hao, Joan Kinyua, Chenai Chair, and Rafael GrohmannWith us this week to discuss co-opted terms is Meredith Whittaker on how ‘open source’ cannot meaninfully be applied to AI systems; Audrey Tang on ‘democratisation’, something which is both helped and harmed by AI; Abeba Birhane on everyone’s favourite slogan ‘AI for Good’; and Usha Ramanathan to discuss ‘AI and development’ in the context of the Aadhaar project in India.Further reading & resources:More on Usha Ramanathan — legal researcher and human rights activistMore on Abeba Birhane — principle investigator at the AI Accountability Lab at Trinity College DublinMore on Meredith Whittaker — President of SignalMore on Audrey Tang — Taiwan’s first Digital MinisterDistributional AGI Safety — by Nenad Tomašev et alWatch this week’s interviews in full on Youtube**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou | Post Production by Sarah Myles

The AI Impact Summit in India is just a couple of days away and we are ready to drown in vague terms that kinda describe AI, and definitely obscure power. Let’s talk about how to reframe those terms…More like this: The Vaporstate: All Hail Scale at the AI India SummitWe’ve partnered with the AI Now Institute and Aapti Institute to conduct twelve interviews based around the biggest and baddest terms we feel have been co-opted by global summits such as this one. This week we have Karen Hao discussing what it means to be ‘data rich’; Rafael Grohmann on the word ‘sovereignty’ and how it has a hundred definitions; Joan Kinyua on ‘human capital’, a key part of any AI development supply chain; and Chenai Chair, who will discuss ‘linguistic diversity’ — what it is, and what it isn’t.These are just the best parts of the interviews — if you want to go deep and see each of these interviews in full, head to our Youtube channel now.Further reading & resources:More about Rafael Grohmann — Assistant Professor of Media Studies with focus on Critical Platform and Data Studies at the University of TorontoMore about Karen Hao — investigative journalist and author of Empire of AIMore about Chenai Chair — director of the Masakhane African Languages HubMore about Joan Kinyua — president of the Data Labellers AssociationMore on the Due Diligence ActMore about the amendment to the Business Laws Act 2024What does the notion of “sovereignty” mean when referring to the digital? — Stephane Couture and Sophie ToupinBuy The Oracle for Transfeminist Technologies by Sasha Costanza-Chock, Joana Varon, and Clara JulianoWatch this week’s interviews in full on Youtube (link to playlist of interviews)**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

In The Vaporstate, we have traveled to Brazil, India, and the UK. But what does this look like as a global movement of nations and companies evangelising technology as the key to solving all problems, everywhere?More like this: Paris Post-Mortem (live)For our final instalment of The Vaporstate, Alix is joined by Astha Kapoor and Amba Kak to reflect on the series, and discuss the upcoming AI Action Summit in India. This is the first time this summit is being hosted by a global majority country — will this create new opportunities for civil society to have a say, or is this just yet another chance for tech companies to whisper magic AI spells into the ear of government?The end of The Vaporstate series marks the beginning of another series, made in partnership with AI Now and Aapti Institute: in the run up to the AI Summit, we want to rethink the terms that have been co-opted by government and industry. Terms like ‘sovereignty’, ‘AI for good’, and ‘human capital’. We interviewed twelve experts who unpack how these terms are framed in global summits like this one — watch this space for conversations with Naomi Klein, Meredith Whitaker, and Karen Hao, to name a few.Further reading & resources:Mark Carney’s speech at Davos January 2026Watch the first batch of interviews discussing co-opted terms used in and around the upcoming summit**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou 

What does US tech billionaire Larry Ellison get when he gives the Tony Blair Institute hundreds of millions of dollars?More like this: The Vaporstate: ID in IndiaIn our third installment of The Vaporstate, we are joined by two journalists from Lighthouse Reports, who tell all about their investigation into the questionable relationship between Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the Tony Blair Institute, and the current Labour government. What is the Tony Blair Institute and why did Ellison give them millions of dollars? What does any of this have to do with national IDs and NHS data? And if you’re a government official somewhere around the world, and TBI comes knocking to sell you an AI future what you should do…?Further reading & resources:Britain must treat tech giants like nation states — The Times, 2024Backlight — Lighthouse’s monthly podcastBlair and the Billionaire — Lighthouse Reports 2025Inside The Tony Blair Institute — Lighthouse journalists Peter Geoghegan and May Bulman are interviewed by The New StatesmanDo you have a story that you think is missing from public discourse? Here’s how to get in touch with LighthouseQuestions Alix proposed for the Sundance panel — as mentioned in the intro.**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou 

What happens when the very way you prove who you are is stolen by someone else? And what happens when a country stands up to Meta and builds their own.More like this: The Vaporstate: ID in IndiaFor episode two of The Vaporstate, Alix is joined by Rafael Zanatta and Luã Cruz. Rafa walks us through the incredible story of how his mom’s digital ID was stolen and a clever bank teller stopped someone from halfway across the country from stealing her savings. Luã ****shares the geopolitical battles that prevented a Meta takeover of Brazilian peer-to-peer payment and the roll out of a frictionless financial transaction system called PIX.Further reading & resources:Brazil Has The World’s Most Accessed Citizen Services Platform — Forbes, March 2024More about Data Privacy BrazilThe Tyranny of Convenience by Tim Wu — New York Times, 2018Works by South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul HanLula pushing back against Trump’s tariffs — AP, September 2025More about The Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Our first exploration of The Vaporstate takes us to India, home of Aadhaar: a mammoth digitisation project that charts a path from technical solution for public service delivery, through mission creep and popular opposition, to a knotty but inescapable part of Indian existence today.More like this: Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje SchaakeJoining Alix for part one of The Vaporstate is Mila Samdub, Astha Kapoor, and Usha Ramanathan. Together they discuss the conception of Aadhaar, India’s key piece of digital public infrastructure, and how it morphed from a simple digital ID to something that unifies payments, phone plans, and biometrics.Further reading & resources:More about Usha Ramanathan — legendary lawyer and activist who has been pushing back on the Aadhaar programme for over a decadeMore about Astha Kapoor — co-founder of the Aapti InstituteMore about Mila Samdub — designer, writer, and CyberBRICS Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society, FGV RioComputer-vision research powers surveillance technology — by Abeba Birhane et al, Nature JournalAadhaar 2.0 workshopWalmart Takes Ownership of PhonePe from Flipkart — The Times of India, 2022Walmart invests $200 million in Indian mobile payments giant PhonePe — TechCrunch, 2023Google launches India mobile payments app Tez — BBC, 2017Identity Verification Standards in Welfare Programs: Experimental Evidence from India — Karthik Muralidharan et al, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021Aadhaar: Costs of Digital Red Tape — Reetika Khera & Amod Moharil, Economic & Political Weekly, 2024Overload, Creep, Excess – An Internet from India — Nafis Hasan et al, Institute of Network Cultures, 2022Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India's 12 Digit Revolution — Shankkar Aiyar, Westland, 2017**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

This is The Vaporstate, a new series on the worldwide government bonanza of enthusiastic digitisation: Digital IDs, digital payment systems, massive data exchange platforms. What are the every-day impacts of these digitisation projects, and why now?The Vaporstate is a deep exploration of digital public infrastructure: we will hear from the journalists, civil society groups, and lawyers from around the world who are watching these projects develop, and how this digital scaffolding shapes our lives.Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Infinite AI slop means we are moving away from our the age of information into what Eryk Salvaggio calls ‘the age of noise’.More like this: Straight to Video: From Rodney King to Sora w/ Sam GregoryWe’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy!What happens if you ask a generative AI image model to show you what Picasso’s work would have looked like if he lived in Japan in the 16th century? Would it produce something totally new, or just mash together stereotypical aesthetics from Picasso’s work, and 16th century Japan? Can generative AI really create anything new if it can only draw from existing imagery?Further reading:What I Read About AI in 2025 — by Eryk SalvaggioVisit Eryk’s WebsiteCybernetic Forests — Eryk’s newsletter on tech and culturePost Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Welcome to the final boss of scams in the age of technology: EnshittificationMore like this: Nodestar: The Eternal September w/ Mike MasnickWe’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy!Is platformisation essentially just an industrial level scam? We will deep-dive the enshittification playbook to understand how companies lock users into decaying platforms, and get away with it. Cory shares ideas on what we can do differently to turn tide. Listen to learn what a ‘chickenised reverse centaur’ is…Further reading & resources:Buy Enshittifcation now from Verso Books!Picks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowOn The Media series on EnshittificationPluralistic — Daily Links and essays by Cory DoctorowConservatism Considered as a Movement of Bitter Rubes — Cory on why conservatism creates a friendly environment for scamsHow I Got Scammed — Cory on his personal experiences of being scammedAll of Cory’s booksAll (Antitrust) Politics Are Local — the entry to Pluralistic that Cory wrote on the day of recording**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Litigator David Seligman describes how big tech companies act brazenly as legal bullies to extract wealth and power from the working class in the US.More like this: The Human in the Loop: The AI Supply ChainWe’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy!Alix and David talk about legal devices such as forced arbitration and monopolistic practices like algorithmic price fixing and wage suppression — and the cases that David’s team are bringing to fight these practicesFurther reading & resourcesSeligman for Attorney General ColoradoTowards Justice California drivers lawsuitEichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banal State of Evil by Hannah ArendtThe Dual State by Ernst FraenkelProhibiting Surveillance Prices and Wages by Towards JusticeGill VS Uber — class action led by Towards Justice**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Reporting on the tech industry proves a huge challenge due to how opaque it all is — Empire of AI author Karen Hao talks us through her investigative methods in a conversation from November 2024.More like this: Net 0++ AI Thirst in a Water-Scarce World w/ Julie McCarthyWe’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy!AI companies are flagrantly obstructive when it comes to sharing information about their infrastructure — this makes reporting on the climate injustices of AI really hard. Karen shares the tactics that these companies use, and the challenges that she has faced in her investigative reporting.Further reading:Buy Empire of AI by Karen HaoMicrosoft’s Hypocrisy on AI by Karen HaoAI is Taking Water from the Desert by Karen HaoPost Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

A replay of our conversation with Kate Sim, on the state of child safety online.More like this: Dogwhistles: Networked Transphobia OnlineWe’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy!Child safety is a fuzzy catch-all concept for our broader social anxieties that seems to be everywhere in our conversations about the internet. But child safety isn’t a new concept, and the way our politics focuses on the spectacle isn’t new either.To help us unpack this is Kate Sim, who has over a decade of experience in sexual violence prevention and response and is currently the Director of the Children’s Online Safety and Privacy Research (COSPR) program at the University of Western Australia’s Tech & Policy Lab. We discuss the growth of ‘child safety’ regulation around the world, and how it often conflates multiple topics: age-gating adult content, explicit attempts to harm children, national security, and even ‘family values’.Further reading & resources:On COSPRs forthcoming paper on the CSAM detection ecosystem. Here is a fact sheet with ecosystem map based on it: https://bit.ly/cospr-collateralOn CSAM bottleneck problem: https://doi.org/10.25740/pr592kc5483IBCK episode on the Anxious Generation: https://pod.link/1651876897/episode/47a8aa95c83be96b044dcb3f4e43d158Child psychology expert Candace Odgers debunking Jonathan Haidt’s claims in real-time here: https://tyde.virginia.edu/event/haidt-odgers/)A primer on client-side scanning and CSAM from Mitali Thakor: https://mit-serc.pubpub.org/pub/701yvdbh/release/2On effective CSA prevention and scalability: https://www.prevention.global/resources/read-full-scalability-report**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Before we break for the year we wanted to reflect on what the podcast brought us in 2025, and what we want to see for 2026This week Alix is joined by two members of The Maybe team: Prathm Juneja and Georgia Iacovou. We discuss our favourite episodes from the year while making it clear we love all episodes equally. And also this is not your standard clip show. We ask ourselves what we learned, why it was important to us, and what we are hungry for in 2026.Featured episodes:Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje SchaakeNodestar: Building Blacksky w/ Rudy FraserRegulating Privacy in an AI Era w/ Carly KindTo be Seen and Not Watched w/ Tawana PettyThe Taiwan Bottleneck w/ Brian ChenGotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget ReadAlso mentioned in this episode: AI in Gaza Live from Mexico City**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

The Onion CEO Ben Collins has successfully turned political satire into a sustainable business. He explains why humorous messaging is important to understand times like these — and why he’s dead serious about buying Infowars.Head to our feed for more conversations from MozFest with Abeba Birhane, Audrey Tang, and Luisa Franco Machado.Further reading & resources:Read The Onion, America’s finest news source, if you don’t already…The Onion to buy Infowars**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Audrey Tang has some big ideas on how we can use collective needs to shape AI systems — and avoid a future where human life is seen as an obstacle to paper clip production. She also shares what might be the first actual good use-case for AI agents…Further reading & resources:6-Pack of Care — a research project by Audrey Tang and Caroline Green as part of the Institute for Ethics in AIMore about Kami — the Japanese local spirits Audrey mentions throughout the conversationThe Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

You can’t build a digital rights movement if you don’t know what you’re fighting for. Luisa says that we’re in a crisis of imagination, and that participation — the non-performative kind — is one big way out of this.Further reading & resources:Learn more about EquilabsFollow Luisa on Instagram — sorry, email is too ‘analog’Check out her Linktree**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Earlier this year Abeba Birhane was asked to give a keynote at the AI for Good Summit for the UN — and at the eleventh hour they attempted to censor any mention of genocide in Palestine, and their Big Tech sponsors. She was invited to give her full uncensored talk at Mozfest.Further reading & resources:Abeba’s blog post on the UN censoring her talk on AIMore about AbebaMore about The AI Accountability Lab**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Mozilla Festival 2025. Barcelona. Three days in a bonanza of interesting people, ideas, and technology politics. These were our highlights!More like this: FAccT 2025 episodes one and twoThis is an extra special episode packed full of conversations and on-site impressions of the biggest Mozfest we’ve had in years. This year Alix moderated three panels, ran an AMA, and even hosted a game show — and somehow also had time to record all of this, for your pleasure.Included in this episode is:A preview of Exposing and Reshaping the Global Footprint of Data Centers, with independent journalist Pablo Jiménez Arandia, Tessa Pang (impact editor for Lighthouse Reports), and Paz Peña (Mozilla Fellow, and founder of the Latin American Institute of Terraforming.)A conversation with Hana Memon, developer at Gen Z for ChangeA conversation with creative technologist Malik Afegbua, on his project The Elder SeriesNabiha Syed and Helen Turvey will also reflect on how this Mozfest went, and what they hope to see for the future of the festival in the coming years**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Everything is happening so fast. And a lot of it’s bad. What can research and science organizations do when issues are complex, fast-moving, and super important?More like this: Independent Researchers in a Platform Era w/ Brandi GuerkinkBuilding knowledge is more important than ever in times like these. This week, we have three guests. Megan Price from the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) shares how statistics and data science can be used to get justice. Janet Haven and Charlton McIlwan from Data & Society explore the role that research institutions can offer to bridge research knowledge and policy prescription.Further reading & resources:HRDAG’s involvement in the trial of José Efraín Ríon MonttA profile of Guatemala and timeline of its conflict — BBC (last updated in 2024)To Protect and Serve? — a study on predictive policing by William Isaac and Kristian LumAn article about the above study — The AppealHRDAG’s stand against tyrannyMore on Understanding AI — Data & Society’s event series with the New York Public LibraryAbout Janet Haven, Executive Director of Data & SocietyAbout Charlton McIlwan, board president of Data & SocietyBias in Computer Systems by Helen NissenbaumCenter for Critical Race and Digital StudiesIf you want to hear more about the history of D&S, the full conversation is up on Youtube (add link when we have).**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Imagine doing tech research… but from outside the tech industry? What an idea…More like this: Nodestar: Turning Networks into Knowledge w/ Andrew TraskSo much of tech research happens within the tech industry itself, because it requires data access, funding, and compute. But what the tech industry has in resources, it lacks in independence, scruples, and a public interest imperative. Alix is joined by Brandi Guerkink from The Coalition of Independent Tech Research to discuss her work at a time where platforms have never been so opaque, and funding has never been so sparseFurther Reading & Resources:More about Brandi and The CoalitionUnderstanding Engagement with U.S. (Mis)Information News Sources on Facebook by Laura Edelson & Dan McCoyMore on Laura EdelsonMore on Dan McCoyJim Jordan bringing in Nigel Farage from the UK to legitimise his attacks on EU tech regulations — PoliticoTed Cruz on preventing jawboning & government censorship of social media — BloombergJudge dismisses ‘vapid’ Elon Musk lawsuit against group that cataloged racist content on X — The GuardianSee the CCDH’s blog post on getting the case thrown outPlatforms are blocking independent researchers from investigating deepfakes by Ariella SteinhornDisclosure: This guest is a PR client of our consultancy team. As always, the conversation reflects our genuine interest in their work and ideas.**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Governments around the world are using predictive systems to manage engagement with even the most vulnerable. Results are mixed.More like this: Algorithmically Cutting Benefits w/ Kevin De LibanLuckily people like Soizic Pénicaud are working to prevent the modern welfare state from becoming a web of punishment of the most marginalised. Soizic has worked on algorithmic transparency both in and outside of a government context, and this week will share her journey from working on incrementally improving these systems (boring, ineffective, hard) — to escaping the slow pace of government and looking at the bigger picture of algorithmic governance, and how it can build better public benefit in France (fun, transformative, and a good challenge).Soizic is working to shift political debates about opaque decision-making algorithms to focus on what they’re really about: the marginalised communities who’s lives are most effected by these systems.Further reading & resources:The Observatory of Public Algorithms and their InventoryThe ongoing court case against the French welfare agency's risk-scoring algorithmMore about SoizicMore on the Transparency of Public Algorithms roadmap from Etalab — the task force Soizic was part ofLa Quadrature du NetFrance’s Digital Inquisition — co-authored by Soizic in collaboration with Lighthouse Reports, 2023AI prototypes for UK welfare system dropped as officials lament ‘false starts’ — The Guardian Jan 2025Learning from Cancelled Systems by Data Justice LabThe Fall of an Algorithm: Characterizing the Dynamics Toward Abandonment — by Nari Johnson et al, featured in FAccT 2024**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we host live shows and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Seeing is believing. Right? But what happens when we lose trust in the reproductive media put in front of us?More like this: The Toxic Relationship Between AI and Journalism w/ Nic DawesWe talked to a global expert and leading voice on this issue for the past 20 years, Sam Gregory to get his take. We started way back in 1992 when Rodney King was assaulted by 4 police officers in Los Angeles. Police brutality was (and is) commonplace, but something different happened in this case. Someone used a camcorder and caught it on video. It changed our understanding about the role video could play in accountability. And in the past 30 years, we’ve gone from seeking video as evidence and advocacy, to AI slop threatening to seismically reshape our shared realities.Now apps like Sora provide impersonation-as-entertainment. How did we get here?Further reading & resources:More on the riots following Rodney King’s murder — NPRMore about Sam and WitnessObscuraCam — a privacy-preserving camera app from WITNESS and The Guardian ProjectC2PA: the Coalition for Content Provenance and AuthenticityDeepfakes Rapid Response Force by WITNESSSubscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!Post Production by Sarah Myles

What happens when AI models try to fill the gaping hole in the media landscape where journalists should be?More like this: Reanimating Apartheid w/ Nic DawesThis week Alix is joined by Nic Dawes, who until very recently ran the non-profit newsroom The City. In this conversation we explore journalism’s new found toxic relationship with AI and big tech: can journalists meaningfully use AI in their work? If a model summarises a few documents, does that add a new layer of efficiency, or inadvertently oversimplify? And what can we learn from big tech positioning itself as a helpful friend to journalism during the Search era?Beyond the just accurate relaying of facts, journalistic organisations also represent an entire backlog of valuable training data for AI companies. If you don’t have the same resources as the NYT, suing for copyright infringement isn’t an option — so what then? Nic says we have to break out of the false binary of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them!’Further reading & resources:Judge allows ‘New York Times’ copyright case against OpenAI to go forward — NPRGenerative AI and news report 2025: How people think about AI’s role in journalism and society — Reuters InstituteAn example of The City’s investigative reporting: private equity firms buying up property in the Bronx — 2022The Intimacy Dividend — Shuwei FangSam Altman on Twitter announcing that they’ve improved ChatGPT to be mindful of the mental health effects — “We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but…”**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Mozilla Foundation wants to chart a new path in the AI era. But what is its role now and how can it help reshape the impacts and opportunities of technology for… everyone?More like this: Defying Datafication w/ Abeba BirhaneAlix sat down with Nabiha Syed to chat through her first year as the new leader of Mozilla Foundation. How does she think about strategy in this moment? What role does she want the foundation to play? And crucially, how is she stewarding a community of human-centered technology builders in a time of hyper-scale and unchecked speculation?As Nabiha says, “restraint is a design principle too”.Plug: We’ll be at MozFest this year broadcasting live and connecting with all kinds of folks. If you’re feeling the FOMO, be on the look out for episodes we produce about our time there.Further reading & resources:Watch this episode on YouTubeImaginative Intelligences — a programme of artist assemblies run by Mozilla FoundationNothing Personal — a new counterculture editorial platform from the Mozilla FoundationMore about MozfestNabiha on the Computer Says Maybe live show at the 2025 AI Action SummitNabiha Syed remakes Mozilla Foundation in the era of Trump and AI — The RegisterNabiha on why she joined MF as executive director — MF Blog**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Loneliness and mental health illnesses are rising in the US, while access to care dwindles — so a lot of people are turning to chatbots. Do chatbots work for therapy?More like this: The Collective Intelligence Project w/ Divya Siddarth and Zarinah AgnewWhy are individuals are confiding in chatbots over qualified human therapists? Stevie Chancellor explains why an LLM can’t replace a therapeutic relationship — but often there’s just no other choice. Turns out the chatbots designed specifically for therapy are even worse than general models like ChatGPT; Stevie shares her ideas on how LLMs could potentially be used — safely — for therapeutic support. This is really helpful primer on how to evaluate chatbots for specific, human-replacing tasks.Further reading & resources:Stevie’s paper on whether replacing therapists with LLMs is even possible (it’s not)See the research on GithubPeople are Losing Their Loved Ones to AI-Fuelled Spiritual Fantasies — Rolling Stone (May 2025)Silicon Valley VC Geoff Lewis becomes convinced that ChatGPT is telling him government secrets from the futureLoneliness considered a public health epidemic according to the APAFTC orders online therapy company BetterHelp to pay damages of $7.8mDelta plans to use AI in ticket pricing draws fire from US lawmakers — Reuters July 2025**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

What’s it like working as a local representative when you live next door to Silicon Valley?More like this: Chasing Away Sidewalk Labs w/ Bianca WylieWhen Hilary Ronen was on the board of supervisors for San Francisco, she had to make lots of decisions about technology. She felt unprepared. Now she sees local policymakers on the frontlines of a battle of resources and governance in an AI era, and is working to upskill them to make better decisions for their constituents. No degree in computer science required.Further reading & resources:Local Leadership in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and the Tech Oligarchy by Hillary RonenMore on Hillary’s work as a Supervisor for SFHillary Ronen on progressives, messaging, hard choices, and justice — interview in 48Hills from January 2025More about Local ProgressConfronting Preemption — a short briefing by Local ProgressWhat Happens When State and Local Laws Conflict — article on state-level preemption by State Court Report**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Welcome to the final boss of scams in the age of technology: Enshittification More like this: Nodestar: The Eternal September w/ Mike MasnickThis is our final episode of Gotcha! — our series on scams, how they work, and how technology both amplifies and obscures them. For this final instalment we have Cory Doctorow on to chat about his new book Enshittification.Is platformisation essentially just an industrial level scam? We will deep-dive the enshittification playbook to understand how companies lock users into decaying platforms, and get away with it. Cory shares ideas on what we can do differently to turn tide. Listen to learn what a ‘chickenised reverse centaur’ is…Further reading & resources:Buy Enshittifcation now from Verso Books!Picks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowOn The Media series on EnshittificationPluralistic — Daily Links and essays by Cory DoctorowConservatism Considered as a Movement of Bitter Rubes — Cory on why conservatism creates a friendly environment for scamsHow I Got Scammed — Cory on his personal experiences of being scammedAll of Cory’s booksAll (Antitrust) Politics Are Local — the entry to Pluralistic that Cory wrote on the day of recording

Thought we were at peak scam? Well, ScamGPT just entered the chat.More like this: Gotcha! The Crypto Grift w/ Mark HaysThis is part three of Gotcha! — our series on scams, how they work, and how technology is supercharging them. This week Lana Swartz and Alice Marwick join Alix to discuss their primer on how generative AI is automating fraud.We dig into the very human, very dark world of the scam industry, where the scammers are often being exploited in highly sophisticated human trafficking operations — and are now using generative AI to scale up and speed up.We talk about how you probably aren’t going to get a deepfake call from a family member to demand a ransom, but the threats are still evolving in ways that are scary and until now largely unregulated. And as ever even though the problems are made worse by technology, we explore the limitations of technology and laws to stem the tide.Further reading & resources:Read the primer here!More about Lana SwartzMore about Alice MarwickNew Money by Lana SwartzScam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds by Mark Bo, Ivan Franceschini, and Ling LiRevealed: the huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked peopleAl Jazeera True Crime Report on scamming farms in South East AsiaScam Empire project by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

This just in with data centers: Energy grids are strained, water is scarce, utility costs are through the roof — ah well, let them eat compute, I guess!More like this: AI Thirst in a Water-Scarce World w/ Julie McCarthyIt was just climate week in NYC and we did a live show on data centers with four amazing guests from around the US…Thank you to the Luminate Foundation for sponsoring this live show and for all of our NY-based friends, and network from around the world that made it to Brooklyn for a magical evening. You can also watch the live recording on Youtube.KeShaun Pearson (Memphis Community Against Pollution) will break down how Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer is polluting the air of historically Black neighborhoods in Memphis, and how organizers are fighting back against yet another chapter of corporate extraction in their communities.KD Minor (Alliance for Affordable Energy) will demystify the energy impacts of data centers in Louisiana and share organizing strategies to mobilize community opposition to Big Tech and Big Oil infrastructure.Marisol (No Desert Data Center) will talk about their grassroots coalition’s recent win in Tucson to stop Amazon’s Project Blue data center proposal, which threatened the city’s scarce water supply, and how they’re organizing for future protections.Amba Kak (AI Now Institute) will talk us through the bigger picture: what’s behind Big Tech’s AI data center expansion, who stands to benefit from this boom, and what we sacrifice in return.Further reading & resources:Amazon Web Services is company behind Tucson’s Project Blue, according to 2023 county memo — from LuminariaTuscon to create new policies around NDAs following the councils regret around not knowing more about Project Blue — from LuminariaHow Marana, also in the Tuscon area, employed an ordinance to regulate water usage after learning about data center interest in the area.xAI has requested an additional 150MGW of power for Colossus in Memphis, bring it to a total of 300MGWTime reports on increase in nitrogen dioxide pollution around Memphis due to xAI turbinesKeshaun and Justin Pearson on Democracy Now discussing xAI’s human rights violationsMeta’s Mega Data Center Could Strain Louisiana’s Grid — and Entergy Isn’t Prepared — report by the Alliance for Affordable Energy'A Black Hole of Energy Use': Meta's Massive AI Data Center Is Stressing Out a Louisiana Community — 404 Media**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

OpenAI just secured a bizarre financial deal with Nvidia — but the math is not mathing. Is the AI sector an actual market, or a series of high-profile announcements of circular relationships between a tiny number of companies?More like this: Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI NowAlix sat down with Sarah Myers-West to go through the particulars of this deal, and other similar deals that are propping up AI’s industry of vapour. This is not your traditional bubble that’s about to burst — there is no bubble, it’s just that The New Normal is to pour debt into an industry that cannot promise any returns…Further reading & resources:More on the Nvidia OpenAI deal — CNBCAnalysts refer to deal as ‘vendor financing’ — Insider MonkeySpending on AI is at Epic Levels. Will it Ever Pay Off? — WSJOpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle spending $500bn on data centre expansion in Abilene — ReutersHow Larry Ellison used the AI boom and the Tony Blair Institute to bolster his wealthOracle funding Open AI data centers with heaps of debt and will have to borrow at least $25bn a year — The Register**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Multi-level marketing schemes have built an empire by enticing people with promises of self-realisation and economic freedom. The cost is simple: exploit and be exploited.More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David SeligmanThis is part two of Gotcha! Our series on scams, how they work, and how technology is super-charging them. This week Bridget Read came to Alix with a very exciting business opportunity. Bridget authored Little Bosses Everywhere — a book on the history of MLM.We explore how door-to-door sales in the mid 20th century US took on the business model of a ponzi scheme, and transformed the sweaty salesman into an entrepreneurial recruiter with a downline.MLM originators were part of a coordinated plan to challenge the new deal in lieu of radical free enterprise, where the only thing holding you back is yourself, and the economy consists solely of consumers selling to each other in a market of speculation. The secret is, no one is selling a product — they’re selling a way of life.Further reading & resources:Buy Bridget’s book: Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped AmericaFamily Values by Melinda CooperThe Missing Crypto Queen: a podcast by BBC Sounds, about a large scale crypto scam, where there wasn’t even any cryptoLuLaRoe — the pyramid scheme that tricked American mums into selling cheap clothes to their friends and family with the promise of financial independence.My Experience of Being in a Pyramid Scheme (Amway) — a personal account by Darren Mudd on LinkedInWatch our recent live show at NYC Climate WeekSubscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!

Hey you! Do you want some free internet money? If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is!More like this: Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI NowThis is Gotcha! A four-part series on scams, how they work, and how technology is supercharging them. We start with Mark Hays from Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), and get into one of the biggest tech-fuelled financial scams out there: cryptocurrencies.Like many things that require mass-buy in, crypto started with an ideology (libertarianism, people hating on Wall Street post 2008). But where does that leave us now? What has crypto morphed into since then, and how does it deceive both consumers and regulators into thinking it’s something that it’s not?Further reading & resources:Seeing Like a State by James C. ScottCapital Without Borders by Brooke HarringtonThe Politics of Bitcoin by David GolumbiaLearn more about Americans for Financial ReformCheck out Web3 Is Going Great by Molly WhiteLine Goes Up by Folding Ideas — an excellent survey of all the tactics and rug-pulls during the height of the NFT boomThe Missing Crypto Queen: a podcast by BBC Sounds, about a large scale crypto scam, where there wasn’t even any crypto**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Gotcha! is a four-part series on scams, how they work, and how technology is supercharging them — running through to October 10.In the series we look at:Crypto: Mark Hays on how a thing touting financial freedom ended up being a kind of fin-cult, rife with scammingMulti-Level Marketing : Bridget Read on the history of the biggest and most successful type of scam that still plagues us todayGenerative AI: Data & Society’s primer on how generative AI is juicing the scam industrial complexEnshittification: Cory Doctorow on his upcoming book, and how the process of Enchittification represents user-hostile practices that scam people into paying more, and ecosystem lock-in

What if you could listen to multiple people at once, and actually understand them?More like this: **The Age of Noise w/ Eryk Salvaggio**In our final instalment (for now!) of Nodestar, Andrew Trask shares his vision for a world where we can assembly understanding from data everywhere. But not in a way that requires corporate control of our world.If broadcasting is the act of talking to multiple people at once — what about broad listening? Where you listen to multiple sources of information, and actually learn something, without trampling over the control that individuals have over who sees what, when.Andrew says that broad listening is difficult to achieve because of three huge problems: information overload, privacy, and veracity — and we are outsourcing these problems to central authorities, who abuse their power in deciding how to relay information to the public. What is Andrew doing at OpenMined to remedy this? Building protocols that decentralise access to training data for model development, obviously.Further Reading & ResourcesThe Computer as a Communication Device by JCR Licklider and Robert W Taylor, 1968World Brain by HG WellsLearn more about OpenMinedWe’re gonna be streaming LIVE at Climate Week — subscribe to our Youtube**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Social media isn’t really social anymore. But that might be changing. Rudy Fraser over at Blacksky Algorithms has built something new. He has built the infrastructure to provide a safe online space for the black community, and in the process challenges the ideas of hierarchical, centralised networks. His work — even outside the very cool development of Blacksky — is an amazing, concrete example of how the abstract ambitions of decentralisation can provide real value for people, and sets us up for a new kind of tech politics.More like this: How to (actually) Keep Kids Safe Online w/ Kate SimThis is part two of Nodestar, our three-part series on decentralisation. Blacksky is a community built using the AT Protocol by Rudy Fraser. Rudy built this both out of a creative drive to make something new using protocol thinking, and out of frustration over a lack of safe community spaces for black folks where they could be themselves, and not have to experience anti-black racism or misogynoir as a price of entry.Rudy and Alix discuss curation as moderation, the future of community stewardship, freeing ourselves from centralised content decision-making, how technology might connect with mutual aid, and the beauty of what he refers to as ‘dotted-line communities’.Further reading:Blacksky AlgorithmsBlacksky the app — if you want an alternative to BlueskyMore about Rudy FraserOpen Collective — a fiscal host for communities and non-profitsPaper Tree — community food bankThe Implicit Feudalism of Online Communities by Nathan SchneiderFlashes — a 3rd party Bluesky app for viewing photosThe Tyranny of Struturelessness by JoreenRudy is a technologist, community organizer, and founder of Blacksky Algorithms, where he builds decentralized social media infrastructure that prioritizes community-driven safety, data ownership, and interoperability. As a Fellow at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, he advances research and development on technology that empowers marginalized communities, particularly Black users