What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

Microsoft has been testing out their new artificial intelligence on their long-ridiculed search engine Bing. The results? A chatbot that lies brazenly and confidently, and has a penchant for manipulation. What are the risks and rewards of letting bots loose on the world? Guest: Drew Harwell , Washington Post tech reporter covering artificial intelligence  Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, p...

The tech-laden, luxury bassinet “Snoo” has been presented as preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, helping babies sleep longer, and a totally reasonable way to spend $1,700. Is any of that true? Guest: Kate Taylor , senior features correspondent for Business Insider John Collins, Lizzie’s husband. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus...

Come to think of it, a giant balloon seems like a pretty conspicuous way to spy on another country. So what was that Chinese spy balloon doing above the U.S.—and what have American planes been shooting down since? Guest: Shane Harris , Washington Post reporter covering intelligence and national security.  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate...

It’s hard to put a number on it but judging from the number of videos emerging online, there are more and more contraband cell phones finding their way into the hands of people in prison, who use them to record TikTok dances, take online courses, and alert the outside world to what’s happening on the inside. Guest: Keri Blakinger , criminal justice reporter at the Los Angeles Times, author of Corr...

TikTok was banned on government agency devices in December; several schools and universities have banned it on their devices and wifi networks, and the governor of Texas unveiled a plan to ban it in the state. Can “Project Texas” stem the anti-TikTok tide? And would banning the app actually achieve…anything? Guest: Louise Matsakis , reporter for Semafor covering tech and China Host: Lizzie O’Leary...

JP Morgan Chase is getting an education on FAFSA and financial aid–which would’ve been helpful before they acquired a now, quite dubious seeming start-up. Guest: Ron Lieber , New York Times journalist, author of the “Your Money” column. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus e...

Last fall it seemed like everyone got sick—not just with COVID, but from a slew of respiratory diseases, from the mild to the severe. Researchers are trying to untangle how our immune systems have changed in the COVID era, and if we’re paying back an “immunity debt” or are victims of “immunity theft.”  Guest: Tim Requarth , contributing writer to Slate.  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show...

The proliferation of chatbots and A.I.-generated art has consumers and tech companies alike convinced that artificial intelligence is ready to be integrated into consumer electronics, products, homes, and across industry. In fact, it’s already in progress. What’s the worst that can happen? Guest: Will Oremus , technology reporter for the Washington Post Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show,...

The U.S. Department of Justice announced this week that it is suing Google over its ad technology. What do they contend Google has been doing? And does this mean Alphabet is headed for a Bell Telecom-style bust-up? Guest: Leah Nylen , reporter covering antitrust for Bloomberg News Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefit...

It can feel very personal to have your Facebook or Instagram page hacked—they’re your pictures and your friends after all. But Meta, the social media parent company, handles hacks with anything but a personal touch.  Guest: Kirstin Grind , investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members g...

The idea that COVID-19 vaccines are linked to sudden deaths among young people has no scientific support, but the theory nevertheless has a lot of traction on social media.  How can public health officials educate the public—especially on subject like vaccines, where their effectiveness renders them effectively invisible?  Guest: Katelyn Jetelina , epidemiologist and data scientist Host: Lizzie O’...

Elon Musk was promising an “epic” Q4 at Tesla last year. But 2022 ended closer to what might be considered an “epic fail,” with the stock price down 65 percent. In an uncertain economic environment like this one, how much blame goes to Musk for unloading $40 billion worth of stock and focusing on his shiny new social media network? Or are these just growing pains that every company goes through as...

You might think of noncompete agreements as mostly limited to highly skilled, highly paid tech workers to protect trade secrets. But one-third of workers bound by noncompetes make $13/hour or less: fast-food workers, security guards, and the like. Noncompete clauses not only give employers leverage over their employees—both during and after their employment—but studies have shown the agreements ar...

Roughly 95 percent of advanced semiconductor chip manufacturing happens in Taiwan, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain shocks and national security threats. Is the Biden administration’s $280 billion bill, signed in August last year, enough to boost domestic chip manufacturing? Guest: Don Clark , freelance reporter specializing on chips and enterprise tech. Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy th...

Over the holidays, thousands of passengers were left stranded or delayed when Southwest Airline’s outdated re-booking software broke down. Who can be held accountable, and why don’t airlines invest more in their own infrastructure?  Guest: Heather Tal Murphy , business and technology reporter for Slate. Host: Mary C. Curtis If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate P...

At the beginning of World War II, the greatest threat to the American war effort wasn’t the Nazis or the Japanese—it was runaway inflation. The man in charge of stopping it was the country’s “price czar,” Leon Henderson. In 1942, he controlled how much coffee ordinary people could drink and how many tires they could buy. Those rules made him a nationwide villain. But would they save the country? O...

The Food and Drug Administration gave an important thumbs up to lab-grown chicken, which means we could start seeing it in stores as soon as next year. While billions of dollars have been spent developing lab-grown meat, important questions remain: Is the production of it actually greener than raising livestock? Can it be made affordably? Is it healthy? And will anyone eat it? Guest: Chloe Sorvino...

Even in a crazy year for crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried’s story is undeniably the most bananas. And even in the context of the implosion of FTX, getting arrested has got to make this week his worst yet. What charges does SBF face? Guest: Stacy-Marie Ishmael , managing editor on crypto for Bloomberg News Host: Lizzie O’Leary Sponsored by Saks.com. Check out the Holiday Gift Guide on  saks.com Need to se...

Self-driving cars and robotaxis are starting to appear on the streets of San Francisco. While we have a whole regulatory system in place for drivers, who’s making sure these new cars are safe? Guest: David Zipper , Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Sla...

Artificial intelligence is growing in leaps and bounds, and everywhere from Big Tech companies like Google to small teams like OpenAI are developing more and more convincing chatbots. Is the world ready for convincing, talking computers?  Guest: Alex Kantrowitz , host of the Big Technology podcast. Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus membe...

The Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are both staffed with accomplished progressives who are proving more aggressive than their predecessors in either the Trump or Obama eras. But can Big Tech be tamed? Guest: Leah Nylen , reporter for Bloomberg News  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members...

Dating back to the Arab Spring, Twitter’s potential for real-time organizing has been a selling point. But trying to find information on China’s “Zero COVID” protests reveals just how vulnerable the now-understaffed platform is to manipulation. Guest: Joseph Menn , cybersecurity reporter for the Washington Post .  Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Pl...

The option to “buy now and pay later” over installments exploded over the past two years, thanks to people being flush with stimulus cash and shopping online during the pandemic. But is this new, underregulated industry a useful line of credit or another path into debt? Guest: Paulina Cachero , personal finance reporter for Bloomberg . Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider s...

After decades as America’s booming industry, tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off in November alone. Is the venture-capital, low-interest-rate wind leaving the sails temporary or is this the end of the hunt for “the next big thing?” Guest: Timothy B. Lee , reporter for Full Stack Economics covering labor markets, technology, and housing. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show,...

At this year’s annual UN conference on climate change, they are discussing “climate reparations,” wherein the rich countries that grew their wealth burning fossil fuels pay money to poorer and more vulnerable countries. It sounds sensible, but is the UN capable of administering something like this? And how much money are we talking here? Guest: Vijay Vaitheeswaran , global energy and climate innov...