SHIFT

Songwriter and music producer Harvey Mason Jr. has worked with some of the biggest stars of our time, from artists like Beyonce and Elton John, to Whitney Houston and Justin Bieber. In his current role as CEO of the Recording Academy he helps drive the conversation about AI in the music industry - like deciding what qualifies for the Grammys.We Meet:  Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.Credits:SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Do you think it's harder or easier to be a teenager now than in the past? The Pew Research Center has been studying this question and found that however a parent or teen answers, technology is likely to be cited as the reason.We Meet: Jeff Gottfried, Associate Director of Research at Pew Research CenterCredits:SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Meet a founder questioning the wisdom of the Turing Test as he works to address the loneliness epidemic among the elderly, in the latest installment of our oral history project.We Meet: Intuition Robotics Founder Dor Skuler, maker of the ElliQ digital companionCredits:SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

In this encore edition of our oral history project we meet a man trying to solve AI’s black box problem with symbolic AI, a subfield that communicates how decisions are made.We Meet:Casper Wilstrup, the Founder & CEO of AbzuCredits:SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

We learn why lawyers who help people seeking to legally expose corruption in the government and at private companies have decided to focus on big tech, in the latest installment of our oral history project.We Meet:Whistleblower Aid CEO Libby LiuCredits:The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Hearing has a profound impact on a person’s emotional, mental and cognitive well-being and there’s also a long, rich history of cutting edge tech being used in devices that are meant to help us hear better.And yet, it’s not something we talk much about.We Meet:Stefan Launer, Sonova's Senior Vice President Science & TechnologyCredits:The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

In the latest installment of our oral history project, we meet a scientist who’s been supporting  deep investigative journalism projects for more than a decade. This collaboration between Neo4j and journalists helped to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Panama Papers - an investigation of one of the biggest ever global corruption scandals that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.We Meet:Neo4j Chief Scientist Dr. Jim WebberCredits:The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

We hop into the backseat of a police car and learn how officers in Rwanda have adopted and deployed AI on the streets of its capital city, Kigali.We Meet:Chief Inspector of Police Paul Ryamugwiza, director of traffic and road enforcement systems for Rwanda National PoliceCredits:The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Potentially a quarter billion children worldwide lack access to an education. Advances in education tech and AI programs for learning can help students who have access to tools and internet. This episode, we bring you a conversation with members of the International Rescue Committee, an aid group developing tailored learning experiences for children in crisis. It was taped before a live audience at Web Summit, Europe’s largest tech conference, in Lisbon, Portugal.  This episode originally ran on November 29, 2023.We Meet:Atish Gonsalves, Global Lead for Research & Innovation in Education, International Rescue Committee (IRC)Morena Baccarin, Actor, IRC AmbassadorSara Wayne Callies, Actor, IRC AmbassadorCredits:SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

We meet Dr. Fei-Fei Li In the latest installment of our oral history project. She's a Chinese-American computer scientist and the creator of ImageNet - the dataset that made rapid advances possible in this field of AI that helps computers take meaningful information from things like photos and videos.We Meet: Stanford University's Fei-Fei Li, author of "The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI"Credits:This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.