Best Courtney & Sasha Podcasts (2024)

1
Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis 1:05:17

15d ago1:05:17

1:05:17

Suicides. Self harm. Depression and anxiety. The toll of a social media-addicted, phone-based childhood has never been more stark. It can be easy for teens, parents and schools to feel like they’re trapped by it all. But in this conversation with Tristan Harris, author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the case that the conditions that l…

1
Chips Are the Future of AI. They’re Also Incredibly Vulnerable. With Chris Miller 45:16

28d ago45:16

45:16

Beneath the race to train and release more powerful AI models lies another race: a race by companies and nation-states to secure the hardware to make sure they win AI supremacy. Correction: The latest available Nvidia chip is the Hopper H100 GPU, which has 80 billion transistors. Since the first commercially available chip had four transistors, the…

1
Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang 34:38

2M ago34:38

34:38

What does a functioning democracy look like in the age of artificial intelligence? Could AI even be used to help a democracy flourish? Just in time for election season, Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang returns to the podcast to discuss healthy information ecosystems, resilience to cyberattacks, how to “prebunk” deepfakes, and more. …

1
U.S. Senators Grilled Social Media CEOs. Will Anything Change? 25:06

2M ago25:06

25:06

Was it political progress, or just political theater? The recent Senate hearing with social media CEOs led to astonishing moments — including Mark Zuckerberg’s public apology to families who lost children following social media abuse. Our panel of experts, including Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, untangles the explosive hearing, and offers …

1
Taylor Swift is Not Alone: The Deepfake Nightmare Sweeping the Internet 42:59

3M ago42:59

42:59

Over the past year, a tsunami of apps that digitally strip the clothes off real people has hit the market. Now anyone can create fake non-consensual sexual images in just a few clicks. With cases proliferating in high schools, guest presenter Laurie Segall talks to legal scholar Mary Anne Franks about the AI-enabled rise in deep fake porn and what …

1
Can Myth Teach Us Anything About the Race to Build Artificial General Intelligence? With Josh Schrei 35:50

3M ago35:50

35:50

We usually talk about tech in terms of economics or policy, but the casual language tech leaders often use to describe AI — summoning an inanimate force with the powers of code — sounds more... magical. So, what can myth and magic teach us about the AI race? Josh Schrei, mythologist and host of The Emerald podcast, says that foundational cultural t…

1
How Will AI Affect the 2024 Elections? with Renee DiResta and Carl Miller 47:15

4M ago47:15

47:15

2024 will be the biggest election year in world history. Forty countries will hold national elections, with over two billion voters heading to the polls. In this episode of Your Undivided Attention, two experts give us a situation report on how AI will increase the risks to our elections and our democracies. Correction: Tristan says two billion peo…

1
2023 Ask Us Anything 35:07

5M ago35:07

35:07

You asked, we answered. This has been a big year in the world of tech, with the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence, acceleration of neurotechnology, and continued ethical missteps of social media. Looking back on 2023, there are still so many questions on our minds, and we know you have a lot of questions too. So we created this episode…

1
The Promise and Peril of Open Source AI with Elizabeth Seger and Jeffrey Ladish 38:44

5M ago38:44

38:44

As AI development races forward, a fierce debate has emerged over open source AI models. So what does it mean to open-source AI? Are we opening Pandora’s box of catastrophic risks? Or is open-sourcing AI the only way we can democratize its benefits and dilute the power of big tech? Correction: When discussing the large language model Bloom, Elizabe…

1
A First Step Toward AI Regulation with Tom Wheeler 35:24

6M ago35:24

35:24

On Monday, Oct. 30, President Biden released a sweeping executive order that addresses many risks of artificial intelligence. Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, shares his insights on the order with Tristan and Aza and discusses what’s next in the push toward AI regulation. Clarification: When quoting Thomas Jeff…

1
No One is Immune to AI Harms with Dr. Joy Buolamwini 47:46

6M ago47:46

47:46

In this interview, Dr. Joy Buolamwini argues that algorithmic bias in AI systems poses risks to marginalized people. She challenges the assumptions of tech leaders who advocate for AI “alignment” and explains why some tech companies are hypocritical when it comes to addressing bias. Dr. Joy Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice Leagu…

1
Mustafa Suleyman Says We Need to Contain AI. How Do We Do It? 32:04

7M ago32:04

32:04

This is going to be the most productive decade in the history of our species, says Mustafa Suleyman, author of “The Coming Wave,” CEO of Inflection AI, and founder of Google’s DeepMind. But in order to truly reap the benefits of AI, we need to learn how to contain it. Paradoxically, part of that will mean collectively saying no to certain forms of …

1
Inside the First AI Insight Forum in Washington 26:48

7M ago26:48

26:48

Last week, Senator Chuck Schumer brought together Congress and many of the biggest names in AI for the first closed-door AI Insight Forum in Washington, D.C. Tristan and Aza were invited speakers at the event, along with Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, and other leaders. In this update on Your Undivided Attention, Tristan and Aza recount how …

1
Spotlight on AI: What Would It Take For This to Go Well? 43:46

8M ago43:46

43:46

Where do the top Silicon Valley AI researchers really think AI is headed? Do they have a plan if things go wrong? In this episode, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin reflect on the last several months of highlighting AI risk, and share their insider takes on a high-level workshop run by CHT in Silicon Valley. NOTE: Tristan refers to journalist Maria Res…

1
The AI ‘Race’: China vs. the US with Jeffrey Ding and Karen Hao 45:45

8M ago45:45

45:45

In the debate over slowing down AI, we often hear the same argument against regulation. “What about China? We can’t let China get ahead.” To dig into the nuances of this argument, Tristan and Aza speak with academic researcher Jeffrey Ding and journalist Karen Hao, who take us through what’s really happening in Chinese AI development. They address …

1
Esther Perel on Artificial Intimacy 44:07

8M ago44:07

44:07

For all the talk about AI, we rarely hear about how it will change our relationships. As we swipe to find love and consult chatbot therapists, acclaimed psychotherapist and relationship expert Esther Perel warns that there’s another harmful “AI” on the rise — Artificial Intimacy — and how it is depriving us of real connection. Tristan and Esther di…

1
Protecting Our Freedom of Thought with Nita Farahany 44:07

9M ago44:07

44:07

We are on the cusp of an explosion of cheap, consumer-ready neurotechnology - from earbuds that gather our behavioral data, to sensors that can read our dreams. And it’s all going to be supercharged by AI. This technology is moving from niche to mainstream - and it has the same potential to become exponential. Legal scholar Nita Farahany talks us t…

1
Social Media Victims Lawyer Up with Laura Marquez-Garrett 34:54

9M ago34:54

34:54

Social media was humanity’s ‘first contact’ moment with AI. If we’re going to create laws that are strong enough to prevent AI from destroying our societies, we could benefit from taking a look at the major lawsuits against social media platforms that are playing out in our courts right now. In our last episode, we took a close look at Big Food and…

1
Big Food, Big Tech and Big AI with Michael Moss 34:43

10M ago34:43

34:43

In the next two episodes of Your Undivided Attention, we take a close look at two respective industries: big food and social media, which represent dangerous “races to the bottom” and have big parallels with AI. And we are asking: what can our past mistakes and missed opportunities teach us about how we should approach AI harms? In this first episo…

1
What Can Technologists Learn from Sesame Street? With Dr. Rosemarie Truglio 29:36

10M ago29:36

29:36

What happens when creators consider what lifelong human development looks like in terms of the tools we make? And what philosophies from Sesame Street can inform how to steward the power of AI and social media to influence minds in thoughtful, humane directions? When the first episode of Sesame Street aired on PBS in 1969, it was unlike anything th…

1
Spotlight: How Zombie Values Infect Society 22:56

11M ago22:56

22:56

You’re likely familiar with the modern zombie trope: a zombie bites someone you care about and they’re transformed into a creature who wants your brain. Zombies are the perfect metaphor to explain something Tristan and Aza have been thinking about lately that they call zombie values. In this Spotlight episode of Your Undivided Attention, we talk th…

1
Feed Drop: AI Doomsday with Kara Swisher 55:34

11M ago55:34

55:34

There’s really no one better than veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher at challenging people to articulate their thinking. Tristan Harrris recently sat down with her for a wide ranging interview on AI risk. She even pressed Tristan on whether he is a doomsday prepper. It was so great, we wanted to share it with you here. The interview was originall…

1
The Tech We Need for 21st Century Democracy with Divya Siddarth 38:39

11M ago38:39

38:39

Democracy in action has looked the same for generations. Constituents might go to a library or school every one or two years and cast their vote for people who don't actually represent everything that they care about. Our technology is rapidly increasing in sophistication, yet our forms of democracy have largely remained unchanged. What would an up…

1
Spotlight: AI Myths and Misconceptions 26:48

12M ago26:48

26:48

A few episodes back, we presented Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin’s talk The AI Dilemma. People inside the companies that are building generative artificial intelligence came to us with their concerns about the rapid pace of deployment and the problems that are emerging as a result. We felt called to lay out the catastrophic risks that AI poses to so…

1
Talking With Animals… Using AI 24:01

12M ago24:01

24:01

Despite our serious concerns about the pace of deployment of generative artificial intelligence, we are not anti-AI. There are uses that can help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. Your Undivided Attention co-host Aza Raskin is also co-founder of Earth Species Project, a nonprofit dedicated to using AI to decode non-human commu…

1
Can We Govern AI? 39:47

1y ago39:47

39:47

When it comes to AI, what kind of regulations might we need to address this rapidly developing new class of technologies? What makes regulating AI and runaway tech in general different from regulating airplanes, pharmaceuticals, or food? And how can we ensure that issues like national security don't become a justification for sacrificing civil righ…

1
Spotlight: The Three Rules of Humane Tech 22:17

1y ago22:17

22:17

In our previous episode, we shared a presentation Tristan and Aza recently delivered to a group of influential technologists about the race happening in AI. In that talk, they introduced the Three Rules of Humane Technology. In this Spotlight episode, we’re taking a moment to explore these three rules more deeply in order to clarify what it means t…

1
The AI Dilemma 42:25

1y ago42:25

42:25

You may have heard about the arrival of GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest large language model (LLM) release. GPT-4 surpasses its predecessor in terms of reliability, creativity, and ability to process intricate instructions. It can handle more nuanced prompts compared to previous releases, and is multimodal, meaning it was trained on both images and text. We…

1
TikTok’s Transparency Problem 37:13

1y ago37:13

37:13

A few months ago on Your Undivided Attention, we released a Spotlight episode on TikTok's national security risks. Since then, we've learned more about the dangers of the China-owned company: We've seen evidence of TikTok spying on US journalists, and proof of hidden state media accounts to influence the US elections. We’ve seen Congress ban TikTok…

1
Synthetic Humanity: AI & What’s At Stake 46:25

1y ago46:25

46:25

It may seem like the rise of artificial intelligence, and increasingly powerful large language models you may have heard of, is moving really fast… and it IS. But what’s coming next is when we enter synthetic relationships with AI that could come to feel just as real and important as our human relationships... And perhaps even more so. In this epis…

1
The Race to Cooperation 34:57

1y ago34:57

34:57

It’s easy to tell ourselves we’re living in the world we want – one where Darwinian evolution drives competing technology platforms and capitalism pushes nations to maximize GDP regardless of externalities like carbon emissions. It can feel like evolution and competition are all there is. If that’s a complete description of what’s driving the world…

1
Ask Us Anything: You Asked, We Answered 42:51

1+ y ago42:51

42:51

Welcome to our first-ever Ask Us Anything episode. Recently we put out a call for questions… and, wow, did you come through! We got more than 100 responses from listeners to this podcast from all over the world. It was really fun going through them all, and really difficult to choose which ones to answer here. But we heard you, and we’ll carry your…

1
Quick Spoopdate! 6:16

1+ y ago6:16

6:16

Hi Spoopingtons! Sorry for the delay in updating you on what's going on (oop). Enjoy a brief check-in from Courtney about where we've been and what's coming next (all good news, we promise)! Happy holidays, and we hope to be speaking to you in the new year!By Courtney & Sasha

1
Can Psychedelic Therapy Reset Our Social Media Brains? 42:51

1+ y ago42:51

42:51

When you look at the world, it can feel like we're in a precarious moment. If you’ve listened to past episodes, you know we call this the meta-crisis — an era of overlapping and interconnected crises like climate change, polarization, and the rise of decentralized technologies like synthetic biology. It can feel like we’re on a path to destroy ours…

1
Real Social Media Solutions, Now — with Frances Haugen 26:54

1+ y ago26:54

26:54

When it comes to social media risk, there is reason to hope for consensus. Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris recently helped launch a new initiative called the Council for Responsible Social Media (CRSM) in Washington, D.C. It’s a coalition between religious leaders, public health experts, national security leaders, and former …

1
Spotlight — Humane Technology on '60 Minutes' 12:05

1+ y ago12:05

12:05

The weekly American news show 60 Minutes invited Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris back recently to discuss political polarization and the anger and incivility that gets elevated on social media as a matter of corporate profit. We're releasing a special episode of Your Undivided Attention this week to dig further into some of t…

1
Spotlight — Elon, Twitter and the Gladiator Arena 17:36

1+ y ago17:36

17:36

Since it’s looking more and more like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, will probably soon have ownership of Twitter, we wanted to do a special episode about what this could mean for Twitter users and our global digital democracy as a whole. Twitter is a very complicated place. It is routinely blocked by governments who fear its power to organize…

1
They Don’t Represent Us — with Larry Lessig 39:37

1+ y ago39:37

39:37

We often talk about the need to protect American democracy. But perhaps those of us in the United States don't currently live in a democracy. As research shows, there's pretty much no correlation between the percentage of the population that supports a policy and its likelihood of being enacted. The strongest determinant of whether a policy gets en…

1
Stepping Into the Metaverse — with Dr. Courtney Cogburn and Prof. Jeremy Bailenson 59:35

1+ y ago59:35

59:35

The next frontier of the internet is the metaverse. That's why Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his company from Facebook to Meta, and just sold $10 billion in corporate bonds to raise money for metaverse-related projects. How might we learn from our experience with social media, and anticipate the harms of the metaverse before they arise? What …

1
Fighting With Mirages of Each Other — with Adam Mastroianni 39:43

1+ y ago39:43

39:43

Have you ever lost a friend to misperception? Have you lost a friend or a family member to the idea that your views got so different, that it was time to end the relationship — perhaps by unfriending each other on Facebook? As it turns out, we often think our ideological differences are far greater than they actually are. Which means: we’re losing …

1
Spotlight — Addressing the TikTok Threat 23:57

1+ y ago23:57

23:57

Imagine it's the Cold War. Imagine that the Soviet Union puts itself in a position to influence the television programming of the entire Western world — more than a billion viewers. While this might sound like science fiction, it’s representative of the world we're living in, with TikTok being influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok, the …

1
Spotlight — How might a long-term stock market transform tech? 38:37

1+ y ago38:37

38:37

At Center for Humane Technology, we often talk about multipolar traps — which arise when individuals have an incentive to act in ways that are beneficial to them in the short term, but detrimental to the group in the long term. Think of social media companies that compete for our attention, so that when TikTok introduces an even-more addictive feat…

1
The Invisible Cyber-War 58:21

1+ y ago58:21

58:21

When you hear the word cyber-attack, what comes to mind? Someone hacking into your email, or stealing your Facebook password? As it turns out, our most critical infrastructure can be hacked. Our banks, water treatment facilities, and nuclear power plants can be deactivated and even controlled simply by finding bugs in the software used to operate t…

1
Spoop Half Hour: Palazzos on Palazzos 41:14

2y ago41:14

41:14

In this enthralling minisode, we talk what flavor baby Sasha is having, some toe-based horror, snacks, and spooky things about Venice, Italy. Plus a listener story about a scary thing a child said and a chewed up hammock. CW/TW: Some mild body horror/toe mentions from about 10 minutes until 14:45. -- SUPPORT SOME QUALITY SCHOOL STUFF with this fund…

1
An Alternative to Silicon Valley Unicorns 51:26

2y ago51:26

51:26

Why isn't Twitter doing more to get bots off their platform? Why isn’t Uber taking better care of its drivers? What if...they can't? Venture-capital backed companies like Twitter and Uber are held accountable to maximizing returns to investors. If and when they become public companies, they become accountable to maximizing returns to shareholders. …

1
Rats, Bats, and Sacred Chicken 59:14

2y ago59:14

59:14

Oh man, it's an episode on omens this week! Explore ways in which omens impacted the ancient world, including predicting Alexander the Great's death, the Roman Senate consulting the Sibyllinee Books, and more. Then listen to tales of more recent omens about rats, bats, and whistling at night. Plus listener stories about spooky baby nonsense and sup…

1
Spotlight — Conversations With People Who Hate Me with Dylan Marron 31:25

2y ago31:25

31:25

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we’re doing something different: we’re airing an episode of another podcast that’s also part of the TED Audio Collective. Backing up for a moment: we recently aired an episode with Dylan Marron — creator and host of the podcast, Conversations With People Who Hate Me. On his show, Dylan calls up the people behi…

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