POLITICO Tech

A Michigan company called Hemlock Semiconductor got the red carpet treatment from President Joe Biden back in 2022. As Biden stood outside the White House, he pledged the  CHIPS and Science Act would support Hemlock and other suppliers. But things haven’t fully panned out that way for Hemlock. Other companies similarly argue that Biden’s landmark CHIPS and Science Act should provide more money for microchip suppliers -- otherwise, it risks falling short on his national security goals, ultimately complicating his re-election effort. Host Steven Overly talks with reporter Christine Mui about the tensions over chips money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Matze is the former CEO of Parler. You might recall, that’s the social media app that became a favorite for far-right personalities spreading conspiracies during the 2020 election. And he was fired in the wake of the Jan. 6th insurrection, an attack he said at the time was not Parler’s fault. Now, John is trying for a second act with a new app that’s part social media, part news aggregator. On POLITICO Tech, John tells host Steven Overly what he learned from his handling of the last election and how exactly he plans to do things differently this time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech companies worldwide have laid off nearly 35,000 workers so far this year, adding to the worst stretch of job cuts the industry has seen in decades. In the U.S., cities dependent on the tech sector like Seattle and San Francisco are among the hardest hit. On POLITICO Tech, University of Washington professor Jeff Shulman joins host Steven Overly to explore the economic and political impact of tech’s big layoffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden officially joined TikTok this week --  a surprise that may have delighted no one more than TikTok itself. The video sharing app has been sharply criticized in Washington over supposed ties to China, and the Biden campaign’s decision to sign up marks a political win. But how should Biden actually use the platform? On POLITICO Tech, reporters Hailey Fuchs and Rachel Janfaza help us take a scroll through Biden’s TikTok. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.K.’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Bim Afolami, is making a swing through the U.S. and Canada this week, pitching his home country as a hub for crypto and fintech. Afolami sat down with POLITICO Tech ahead of meetings in Washington to discuss transatlantic crypto regulation, and told host Steven Overly that he doesn’t expect the U.K. and U.S. to see eye-to-eye on rules. In fact, he expects to compete over them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A series of recent headlines about politicians using AI-generated deepfakes of themselves got us thinking the gray areas in how artificial intelligence can be used on the campaign trail. In Indonesia, the front runner for president is a military general using an AI-generated cartoon as his campaign image. And in Pakistan, the former prime minister used an AI-generated video to declare victory — from prison. On the show today, Katie Harbath, who spent a decade on Facebook’s public policy team managing elections and is now the chief global affairs officer at Duco Experts, talks with Steven Overly about the rise in candidates deep faking themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Patent Office guidelines allow AI-made inventions to qualify for patents, highlighting the role of human creation. Discussions on attributing inventorship in an AI-driven world, patent eligibility for AI innovations, and legal intricacies in AI patenting. Exploring implications of AI on inventorship, inventive processes, and policy decisions within the patent system.

The Senate’s bipartisan border deal met a  rapid demise this week, But tucked inside the proposal was hundreds of millions of dollars for new technology along the U.S. southern border. Border security technology is increasingly sophisticated, and also increasingly contentious. On POLITICO Tech, Theresa Cardinal Brown from the Bipartisan Policy Center delves into the state of border technology and its partisan politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yoshua Bengio, one of the 'godfathers of AI', discusses his professional pivot towards preventing AI from destroying humanity. He emphasizes the need for a proactive strategy to tackle the risks associated with AI. Bengio advocates for collective efforts in making AI smarter and safer, stressing potential catastrophic outcomes if these challenges are not addressed. They also discuss the role of government in regulating AI systems and the dangers of reinforcement learning in their training.

More newsrooms are embracing generative artificial intelligence, even as it raises troubling questions about journalism’s future. On POLITICO Tech, the Knight Foundation’s Marc Lavallee tells host Steven Overly how bots are likely disrupt the news business and what that means for news consumers like you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices