Rethinking Tech

SWAT teams aren’t just operating behind closed doors anymore. Dubai is hosting the world’s largest elite tactical competition, bringing together over 100 teams from 48 countries in a televised showdown of military-grade skill, prize money, and global bragging rights. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpack what happens when national security meets entertainment — and when el...

Facial recognition isn’t just on your phone anymore — it’s going wearable. Meta is pushing AI-powered identification into stylish smart glasses, raising urgent questions about privacy, surveillance, and consent in public spaces. After Harvard students went viral for hacking smart glasses to instantly identify strangers on campus, similar capabilities are now moving toward mainstream deployment. In...

Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw — one of the fastest-growing consumer AI agent platforms — is joining OpenAI. This isn’t just another talent acquisition. It’s a strategic shift in the AI agents race. OpenClaw exploded because it let users deploy powerful AI agents locally and plug into models like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. It lowered the barrier to entry. It made agents usable. And it qu...

MrBeast just bought a fintech app. Yes — that MrBeast. Jimmy Donaldson, one of the largest creators in the world, has acquired Step, a Gen Z-focused banking app. And he’s not stopping there. His company is reportedly exploring a mobile virtual network as well. This isn’t just another influencer brand deal. This is attention moving into finance. In this episode, we examine what happens when one of...

The Super Bowl didn’t just sell products this year. It sold narratives. From AI ads dominating the broadcast to Bad Bunny’s halftime performance igniting a geopolitical debate, Super Bowl 2026 became less about football — and more about identity, monetization, and cultural power. This wasn’t just a sporting event. It was a live experiment in how tech companies shape public trust, how platforms amp...

AI is “coming for your job.” We’ve heard that before. But this time, markets reacted. India’s benchmark IT index dropped roughly 6% following the release of Anthropic’s Claude coworker plugin — a tool designed to automate the exact kind of repetitive, high-volume knowledge work that built India’s outsourcing model. Is this hype? Or is this the beginning of a structural shift? In this episode, we e...

U.S. TikTok users are reporting that they can’t search certain political terms — including “Epstein” — following changes to TikTok’s U.S. ownership structure. Coincidence? Algorithm update? Or something more structural? After ByteDance split U.S. users from global operations and a U.S.-based investor consortium took majority ownership of the American entity, questions are emerging about algorithmi...

Betting markets are evolving fast — and they’re no longer just about sports or the Oscars. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket now allow users to wager millions on elections, geopolitical turmoil, military actions, and global instability. Some call it a “friendly wager.” But when 87% of accounts incur losses — and when real-world military events can trigger six-figure payoffs — the stakes look ve...

The European Commission has preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA), citing addictive design and transparency failures. But here’s the uncomfortable question: Where exactly is the line between “addictive design” and simply… good design? In this episode, we unpack what the EU is really targeting — from dark patterns and infinite scroll to algorithmic personalization —...

Silicon Valley is changing the game—and the rules of tech exits will never be the same. From Elon Musk folding XAI into SpaceX to Anthropic’s multi-billion-dollar deals, this episode breaks down how startups are using clever licensing and acqui-hire strategies to stay ahead—and avoid regulatory scrutiny. In this episode, we cover: Elon Musk’s $1.25T XAI + SpaceX deal explained How AI startups use...

An eight-year-old used AI to create an explicit deepfake of a primary school teacher. The teacher resigned. And almost nothing else happened. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpack a disturbing case from London that exposes how unprepared schools, parents, platforms, and governments are for AI’s impact on children, consent, and safety. This isn’t a story about futuristic ri...

Big Tech built the digital world governments run on. Now France is trying to unplug from it. In a quiet but consequential move, France has launched Visio — a state-mandated video-conferencing platform designed to replace Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx across government services by 2027. It’s not about software. It’s about sovereignty. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpac...

After nearly two decades of stalled negotiations, India and the European Union have finalized what leaders are calling one of the most consequential free trade agreements in decades — spanning nearly 2 billion people and a quarter of the global economy. But this deal isn’t happening in a vacuum. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpack why the EU is accelerating trade ties wi...

AI agents just got their own social platform — and humans aren’t invited to participate. Moltbook exploded across the internet this week as a “social network for AI agents,” where bots talk to bots while humans can only watch. What followed was predictable: viral screenshots, talk of AI religions, manifesto posts declaring humans obsolete — and a wave of panic that burned just as fast as it spread...

Tesla is quietly telling the market something uncomfortable: the future of the company isn’t cars. As Chinese EV makers like BYD overtake Tesla in unit sales, Elon Musk is shifting focus — away from mass-market vehicles and toward autonomous driving, robo-taxis, humanoid robots, and AI-powered machines. At the same time, Musk is folding his companies closer together, merging XAI into SpaceX in a t...

Canada just tested the limits of its closest alliance — and the U.S. responded with pressure. After signaling hesitation on its F-35 fighter jet purchase, Canada was publicly warned that U.S. jets could enter Canadian airspace under existing defense arrangements. Officially, this is about security. Unofficially, it’s about leverage, dependence, and who really controls sovereignty inside modern all...

Big Tech says it’s bringing internet access to Africa. But this isn’t just about connectivity — it’s about who controls the pipes, the data, and the future of the world’s fastest-growing population . In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpack why Amazon has just joined Starlink, Google, and Meta in the race to wire Africa — and why the stakes go far beyond broadband. Africa rem...

Davos likes to brand itself as “dialogue.” But Davos 2026 revealed something else: a world where power is fragmenting, tech is rewriting geopolitics in real time, and trust is the scarce resource. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda break down what Davos actually signaled this year — across tech, geopolitics, and ethics — and why the headlines (AI) can’t be separated from the s...

Apple has spent years branding itself as the privacy-first, closed-ecosystem alternative to Big Tech. That story just changed. In this episode of Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda unpack Apple’s multi-year deal to power the next generation of Siri and Apple Intelligence with Google’s Gemini models and cloud infrastructure — a move that quietly redraws the lines of platform power in AI. This isn...

DOGE is back in the headlines — again — and this time it’s for something far more serious than cost-cutting or efficiency claims. Recent investigations reveal that operatives tied to DOGE improperly accessed and shared highly sensitive U.S. Social Security data. Hundreds of records may be affected. Who accessed the data, where it was stored, and who now has it remain unclear. What’s most troubling...

TikTok’s U.S. separation was supposed to resolve national security concerns. Instead, it introduced something new — and far more personal. Under its updated U.S. privacy policy, TikTok now collects precise location data , tracks AI interactions , and expands how user data can be used for advertising, partnerships, and platform optimization. For most users, the change arrived quietly — another priv...

Smart doorbells were sold as safety. Convenience. Peace of mind. But what happens when footage from your front door becomes part of a much larger surveillance system? Reports suggest that data collected from Ring cameras is being routed—directly or indirectly—into law-enforcement networks used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement . And for many users, that was never part of the deal. This e...

Canada has made a move that’s rattling Western allies: opening its market to Chinese electric vehicles after years of alignment with U.S.-led restrictions. The decision signals a thaw in Canada–China relations — and raises a bigger question: is this the start of a wider fracture in the Western front on China? What this episode covers In this week’s Rethinking Tech , Aparna and Harinda break down C...

OpenAI is introducing ads inside ChatGPT — a move that signals a major shift not just for the company, but for the entire AI industry. After months of dismissing the idea, ads are now being rolled out to free users and lower-cost tiers, raising questions about financial pressure, competition, and whether generative AI has reached a breaking point. With Google closing the gap and investors increasi...

China wants to build a massive new embassy in London — and the reaction has been intense. The proposed site, the former Royal Mint near the City of London, has become the center of public protests, security debates, and competing narratives about espionage, diplomacy, and power. What this episode examines China previously purchased the Royal Mint site, but the deal stalled pending government appro...