
SHIFT
Hosted by Jennifer Strong, SHIFT is a weekly podcast taking a closer look at the far-reaching impact of automation on our daily lives.From policy to process, we seek to understand how lives are changing alongside rapid breakthroughs in frontier technologies and artificial intelligence. Join us as we navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by this reshaped reality.
Latest episodes

Jul 3, 2024 • 14min
Political Campaigns Can See What You Watch on TV
Smart TVs that track what people watch and how they watch it give political campaigns a new trove of data to exploit, with little transparency on how it’s happening.We meet: Investigative Reporter Maggie Severns speaking about her article:https://www.notus.org/2024-election/streaming-tv-campaign-adsCredits:This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens, and it was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Jun 26, 2024 • 18min
Live: Commercializing Our Space Age Future
A live conversation about the state of the space industry with serial space entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian, a co-founder of Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines, Quantum Space, and more, from the mainstage at Collision Conference in Toronto, Canada.We meet: Dr. Kamal "Kam" GhaffarianCredits:This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens, and it was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Jun 19, 2024 • 16min
Oral History: Minimizing the Risk of Mid-Air Collisions
How do we minimize the risk of mid-air collisions between aircraft? And how does that change in the era of artificial intelligence and things like drone swarms?Claire Tomlin works on questions like these, and her work is now the basis of a new field of AI in which a system automatically learns operational and control objectives from data, while maintaining things like flight safety.We Meet: University of California Berkeley’s Claire Tomlin, 2024 IEEE Mildred Dresselhaus Medal recipient recognized “for foundational work in the design and verification of cyber-physical systems with applications to safety in autonomous systems”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.

Jun 12, 2024 • 16min
Teachers Use AI to Grade Papers. Who Grades the AI?
A growing number of school kids are getting their writing assignments back with grades and feedback that were given by AI software.Teachers say these AI tools can help them grade papers faster but who’s grading the AI tools? We Meet: CalMatters Tech Reporter Khari Johnsonhttps://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/06/teachers-ai-grading/ 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.

Jun 5, 2024 • 17min
Building a Poison Pill for Generative AI
A team of computer scientists at the University of Chicago has built tools that let artists poison the training data embedded in their work, and fight back against those who scrape the internet to build generative AI models. We Meet: Nightshade Creator Ben Zhao, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at the University of ChicagoCredits: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.

May 29, 2024 • 21min
Oral History: Journey to Quantum Advantage
For some types of problems quantum computers can work exponentially faster than other types of supercomputers, but significant challenges remain to building useful quantum machines. We hear from one of the key players in the field and learn about his efforts to do so in the latest installment of our oral history project.We Meet: Google Quantum AI Lab Founder Hartmut Neven 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.

May 22, 2024 • 31min
Live: AI's Role in Public Health
A live conversation about the potential promises and pitfalls of AI in public health, hosted by Boston University's School of Public Health.We meet: Dr. David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, with secondary appointments at the Kennedy School of Government and the School of Public HealthDr. Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Chair in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, former Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden and Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Greg Singleton, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at the US Department of Health and Human Services Credits:This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens, and it was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

May 15, 2024 • 26min
Oral History: Discovering Drugs with Generative AI
A look at how generative AI is being used in the drug discovery process in this latest installment of our oral history project.
We Meet:
Insilico Medicine Founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov
Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens, and it was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

May 8, 2024 • 25min
Feature: 'AI and the Holy Grail of Conservation' from Click Here
Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project has been trying to get real-time monitoring of the Central African Republic’s forest elephants for years. FruitPunch AI and a roster of other AI researchers are closer than ever to making that a reality.
This week’s show is a special feature episode from our friends at the Click Here Podcast. We’ll be back with a new episode of SHIFT next week. Thanks for listening!

May 1, 2024 • 13min
Oral History: (Ai)ding Cybercrime
A look at how AI is helping and hurting cybersecurity in this latest installment of our oral history project.
We Meet:
Palo Alto Networks Chief Product Officer Lee Klarich
Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens, and it was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.