The Toxic Relationship Between AI & Journalism w/ Nic Dawes
What happens when AI models try to fill the gaping hole in the media landscape where journalists should be?More like this: Reanimating Apartheid w/ Nic DawesThis week Alix is joined by Nic Dawes, who until very recently ran the non-profit newsroom The City. In this conversation we explore journalism’s new found toxic relationship with AI and big tech: can journalists meaningfully use AI in their work? If a model summarises a few documents, does that add a new layer of efficiency, or inadvertently oversimplify? And what can we learn from big tech positioning itself as a helpful friend to journalism during the Search era?Beyond the just accurate relaying of facts, journalistic organisations also represent an entire backlog of valuable training data for AI companies. If you don’t have the same resources as the NYT, suing for copyright infringement isn’t an option — so what then? Nic says we have to break out of the false binary of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them!’Further reading & resources:Judge allows ‘New York Times’ copyright case against OpenAI to go forward — NPRGenerative AI and news report 2025: How people think about AI’s role in journalism and society — Reuters InstituteAn example of The City’s investigative reporting: private equity firms buying up property in the Bronx — 2022The Intimacy Dividend — Shuwei FangSam Altman on Twitter announcing that they’ve improved ChatGPT to be mindful of the mental health effects — “We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but…”**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**
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Unlearning in the AI Era w/ Nabiha Syed at Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation wants to chart a new path in the AI era. But what is its role now and how can it help reshape the impacts and opportunities of technology for… everyone?More like this: Defying Datafication w/ Abeba BirhaneAlix sat down with Nabiha Syed to chat through her first year as the new leader of Mozilla Foundation. How does she think about strategy in this moment? What role does she want the foundation to play? And crucially, how is she stewarding a community of human-centered technology builders in a time of hyper-scale and unchecked speculation?As Nabiha says, “restraint is a design principle too”.Plug: We’ll be at MozFest this year broadcasting live and connecting with all kinds of folks. If you’re feeling the FOMO, be on the look out for episodes we produce about our time there.Further reading & resources:Watch this episode on YouTubeImaginative Intelligences — a programme of artist assemblies run by Mozilla FoundationNothing Personal — a new counterculture editorial platform from the Mozilla FoundationMore about MozfestNabiha on the Computer Says Maybe live show at the 2025 AI Action SummitNabiha Syed remakes Mozilla Foundation in the era of Trump and AI — The RegisterNabiha on why she joined MF as executive director — MF Blog**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**
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You Seem Lonely. Have a Robot w/ Stevie Chancellor
Loneliness and mental health illnesses are rising in the US, while access to care dwindles — so a lot of people are turning to chatbots. Do chatbots work for therapy?More like this: The Collective Intelligence Project w/ Divya Siddarth and Zarinah AgnewWhy are individuals are confiding in chatbots over qualified human therapists? Stevie Chancellor explains why an LLM can’t replace a therapeutic relationship — but often there’s just no other choice. Turns out the chatbots designed specifically for therapy are even worse than general models like ChatGPT; Stevie shares her ideas on how LLMs could potentially be used — safely — for therapeutic support. This is really helpful primer on how to evaluate chatbots for specific, human-replacing tasks.Further reading & resources:Stevie’s paper on whether replacing therapists with LLMs is even possible (it’s not)See the research on GithubPeople are Losing Their Loved Ones to AI-Fuelled Spiritual Fantasies — Rolling Stone (May 2025)Silicon Valley VC Geoff Lewis becomes convinced that ChatGPT is telling him government secrets from the futureLoneliness considered a public health epidemic according to the APAFTC orders online therapy company BetterHelp to pay damages of $7.8mDelta plans to use AI in ticket pricing draws fire from US lawmakers — Reuters July 2025**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**
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Local Laws for Global Technologies w/ Hillary Ronen
What’s it like working as a local representative when you live next door to Silicon Valley?More like this: Chasing Away Sidewalk Labs w/ Bianca WylieWhen Hilary Ronen was on the board of supervisors for San Francisco, she had to make lots of decisions about technology. She felt unprepared. Now she sees local policymakers on the frontlines of a battle of resources and governance in an AI era, and is working to upskill them to make better decisions for their constituents. No degree in computer science required.Further reading & resources:Local Leadership in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and the Tech Oligarchy by Hillary RonenMore on Hillary’s work as a Supervisor for SFHillary Ronen on progressives, messaging, hard choices, and justice — interview in 48Hills from January 2025More about Local ProgressConfronting Preemption — a short briefing by Local ProgressWhat Happens When State and Local Laws Conflict — article on state-level preemption by State Court Report**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**
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Gotcha! Enshittification w/ Cory Doctorow
Welcome to the final boss of scams in the age of technology: Enshittification More like this: Nodestar: The Eternal September w/ Mike MasnickThis is our final episode of Gotcha! — our series on scams, how they work, and how technology both amplifies and obscures them. For this final instalment we have Cory Doctorow on to chat about his new book Enshittification.Is platformisation essentially just an industrial level scam? We will deep-dive the enshittification playbook to understand how companies lock users into decaying platforms, and get away with it. Cory shares ideas on what we can do differently to turn tide. Listen to learn what a ‘chickenised reverse centaur’ is…Further reading & resources:Buy Enshittifcation now from Verso Books!Picks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowOn The Media series on EnshittificationPluralistic — Daily Links and essays by Cory DoctorowConservatism Considered as a Movement of Bitter Rubes — Cory on why conservatism creates a friendly environment for scamsHow I Got Scammed — Cory on his personal experiences of being scammedAll of Cory’s booksAll (Antitrust) Politics Are Local — the entry to Pluralistic that Cory wrote on the day of recording
Technology is changing fast. And it's changing our world even faster. Host Alix Dunn interviews visionaries, researchers, and technologists working in the public interest to help you keep up. Step outside the hype and explore the possibilities, problems, and politics of technology. We publish weekly.
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