FT Tech Tonic

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, technology investor and global health philanthropist, discusses AI’s darker future. He explores cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, bioweapons potentially worse than Covid, and why governments must regulate frontier models. Gates also considers mass white-collar job displacement, AI’s promise for healthcare and farming, and how taxation and philanthropy could tackle rising inequality.

Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s former digital affairs minister and civic-tech pioneer, joins Matthew Rycroft, former UK diplomat and civil servant. They explore how online deliberation helped Taiwan navigate Uber regulation and deepfake scams, whether Britain could build a long-term national strategy, and how AI might support citizens without becoming an authoritarian tool.

Alain de Botton, philosopher, author and founder of The School of Life, explores whether AI can improve our emotional lives. He discusses unconscious patterns in attraction, recurring conflicts between couples, and AI’s potential to offer perspective during relationship crises. They also consider therapy, privacy, self-knowledge and whether machines could help us become happier and better at love.

Sarah O’Connor, Financial Times columnist and author of We Are Not Machines, explores AI’s real impact on work. Czech translators confront the loss of creative freedom, while Swedish miners use autonomous vehicles from underground control rooms. They discuss unions, trust, surveillance, worker power, and why care work and end-of-life support should not be handed wholesale to machines.

Ophelia Brown, founder of early-stage tech investor Blossom Capital, and Richard Kramer, founder of Arete Research and former Goldman Sachs analyst, debate whether AI’s investment surge is a revolution or a valuation bubble. They explore soaring IPO expectations, orbital data centers, autonomous agents, copyright and governance risks, and the power, water and infrastructure demands behind AI’s rapid expansion.

Josh Gabert-Doyon, FT audio producer and on-the-ground reporter who attended the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. First-hand reporting from the event and interviews about athletes using performance-enhancing drugs and banned gear. Short takes on pro-science claims, backlash from sporting bodies, and the blurry line between innovation and cheating. Discussion of super suits, supershoes and who stands to gain or be left behind.

Darren McGee, associate professor and author on gambling’s capture of sport, and Ben Crossing, CEO of Hawkeye and pioneer of tracking tech. They cover VAR shifting referee power. They explain Hawkeye’s origins, tracking data, personalised broadcast experiments and how granular feeds enable in-play and micro betting. The conversation probes biometrics, data-driven vocabularies and who profits from sports data.

Larissa Horton, CEO of Sumer Sports, builds AI and mobile video tools to help high-school athletes get seen. Steve Haake, sports engineering professor, explains how equipment, rules and history shape records. They discuss AI-driven recruiting, performance tech from shoes to recovery devices, and the balance between innovation and fairness in sport.

A look at how technology is reshaping competition, from AI scouting to automated refereeing. The conversation revisits past tech controversies like the 'super suit' era in swimming. Listeners hear debates about whether innovation improves sport or undermines its spirit.

Cristina Criddle, FT tech journalist on AI and Silicon Valley, and Hannah Murphy, San Francisco tech reporter with deep Meta coverage, explore Zuckerberg’s massive AI pivot. They discuss Meta’s shift from the metaverse to frontier models. They talk hiring sprees, Alex Wang’s leadership and culture changes. They also cover personal superintelligence ambitions, privacy and monetisation challenges.