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

In the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, voters received a robocall purportedly from Joe Biden. Authorities have now determined the call was likely A.I.-generated. In the era of A.I., how can voters tell what’s real and what’s not? And will the general election be thrown into chaos by artificial intelligence-created disinformation? Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer at Wired covering politics and technologyIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Paige Osburn and Anna Phillips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much of our lives—our tastes, preferences and choices—have been fed to us through an interlocking, impersonal network of algorithms? Guest: Kyle Chayka, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture.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 episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a cyberattack knocked the British Library out of commission in October of last year, a nation's researchers, scholars, students, and bookworms were left high and dry. Months later, the library is starting to come back online in limited capacity, but the attack has laid bare just how fragile our digital systems are. Guest: Sam Knight, staff writer at the New YorkerIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covered in cameras, full of microphones, and always eager to use location data, our vehicles are “smartphones on wheels”—and privacy nightmares.Guest: Kashmir Hill, technology and privacy reporter for the New York Times.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 episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shortly after take off from Portland, OR, the plug exit on a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet blew out – causing an uncontrolled decompression of the plane. Now, accident investigators are hard at work, trying to determine what happened in what's the latest catastrophe for the respected commercial airplane provider.Guest: Jon Ostrower, Editor-in-chief of The Air CurrentIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the Cybertruck says about safety, regulation, and the degree to which Tesla is beholden to the whims of Elon Musk. Guest: Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla MotorsIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If A.I. and chatbots are the next wave of innovation, then the New York Times and other media organizations are determined to get paid this time.  Guest: Megan Morrone, technology editor for the Axios AI+ newsletterIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast discusses the biases and dangers of current AI systems, highlighting the need for regulation and prioritizing public good. It explores issues such as data bias, exclusivity in AI technology, the surveillance business model, and the importance of data privacy. The potential for policy ratings in AI regulation and the need for counter pressure from activists is also highlighted. Listeners can learn how to navigate AI headlines and understand its implications without being computer scientists.

While the What Next: TBD team spends some time with their families during the holidays, we revisit some of 2023’s biggest, strangest, and best stories. Regularly scheduled programming resumes in January.Pedestrian deaths in America have been rising for the last decade, while dropping in Europe and Japan. What makes the U.S. so dangerous for pedestrians?Guest: Jessie Singer, author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price. Originally aired July 16th, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the What Next: TBD team spends some time with their families during the holidays, we revisit some of 2023’s biggest, strangest, and best stories. Regularly scheduled programming resumes in January.Twitter’s “blue check” verification went from something you applied for, to something you could pay for, to something you had to pay for…to something that many celebrities wouldn’t even accept for free. Master of horror Stephen King told us he wouldn’t pay for a blue check, but he’s not going to fight it either—he just doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Does anyone at Twitter understand?Guests: Alex Heath, deputy editor of The VergeJon Favreau, co-founder of Crooked Media, speechwriter for President Barack ObamaStephen King, authorOriginally aired April 28th, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices