To most of its 150 million American consumers, TikTok is a fun app. To some creators, TikTok is a job and their platform. But to members of the US government, TikTok is a national security risk. As the fight over TikTok’s future comes to Capitol Hill this week, what’s next for the embattled social media platform?Guest: Emily Baker-White, senior writer, tech reporter at ForbesHost: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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

Using just what you’ve posted to social media, generative A.I. can create a “puppet version” of your voice—one that’s close enough to scam your family into paying thousands in, say, bail money. And imitating public officials to create “deep fakes” who say whatever they’re told is even easier. Guest: Pranshu Verma, tech reporter for the Washington Post.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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 economy is doing well almost every but in tech, where headlines about layoffs have been replaced with news about Silicon Valley Bank’s demise. The collapse of “the central artery for the tech industry” looks like the end of an era. Where do venture capitalists, start-ups—and the industry writ large—go now?Guest: Priya Anand, reporter at Bloomberg covering venture capital and start-ups.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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 and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The online dating world can be brutal and repetitive—just the kind of thing you might want to automate. But, in one tech writer’s experience, artificial intelligence isn’t ready to make real connections—at least, not without a lot of help.Guest: Heather Tal Murphy, covers business and technology at SlateHost: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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

Just weeks before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a Nebraska woman and her daughter were charged with performing an illegal abortion, thanks to information that law enforcement uncovered by going through their Facebook accounts. Guest: Johana Bhuiyan, senior reporter on tech and surveillance for The GuardianHost: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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 diabetes medication Ozempic has exploded in popularity, particularly amongst those in Hollywood looking to lose a few extra pounds. But a silver bullet for weight loss leads to a number of questions: Is “buying weight loss” via injection somehow worse than diet and exercise? Are so many people buying and using this drug that people who need it for its intended purpose are missing out? What happened to body positivity? Guest: Matthew Schneier, feature writer for New York Magazine.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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

It was reported this week that the U.S. Department of Energy now believes, “with low confidence,” that the COVID-19 virus came from a lab. But is there enough evidence for the “lab leak theory” to convince those who believe the virus emerged from animals in a wet market?Guest: Angela Rasmussen, virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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

New understandings of how our brains develop are changing how the law considers who is mature and who isn’t. But If our brains are still developing, when can the law treat us like adults? Guest: Jane C. Hu, independent science journalist.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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

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 PeckIf 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 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 InsiderJohn Collins, Lizzie’s husband.Host: Lizzie O’LearyIf 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