The term ‘smart city’ paints a picture of a tech-enabled oasis—powered by sensors of all kinds. But we’re starting to recognize what all these tools might mean for privacy. In this episode, we meet a researcher studying how this is being applied in Iran and visit one of the nation’s top smart cities, to learn how its efforts there have evolved over time. We Meet: University of Oxford and Article19 Human Rights Researcher Mahsa Alimardani City of Las Vegas Chief Innovation Officer Michael...

The best definitions of AI are vague, largely lack consensus and represent a huge challenge for lawmakers and legal scholars looking to regulate it. But back to back breakthroughs and rapid adoption of generative AI tools are making it feel a lot more real to everybody else. We examine how it’s possible that alone might be enough to push conversations about ethics further into focus. We Meet: MIT Technology Review Senior AI Reporter Melissa Heikkilä Mozilla President Mark Surman IBM Chief...

This episode we meet people building next generation tools for creativity who are thinking about how these AI models should be trained and deployed in order to be both useful and fair to artists. We hear from: Artist Holly Herndon Adobe CTO Digital Media Ely Greenfield Soundful CEO Diaa El...

We're so excited this episode has been selected as a New York Festivals finalist! Please enjoy this encore edition and we'll see you back next week! Digital twins of humans capture the physical look and expressions of real humans. Increasingly these replicas are showing up in the entertainment industry and beyond and it gives rise to some interesting opportunities as well as thorny questions.  We speak to: Greg Cross, CEO and co-founder of Soul Machines Credits: This episode was produced...

I Was There When is an oral history project that’s part of the In Machines We Trust podcast. It features stories of how breakthroughs and watershed moments in artificial intelligence and computing happened, as told by the people who witnessed them. In this episode we meet Marc Raibert, the founder and chairman of Boston Dynamics. CREDITS: This project was produced by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Mat Honan and mixed by Garret Lang, with original music...

Computers are ranking the way people look—and the results are influencing the things we do, the posts we see, and the way we think. Ideas about what constitutes “beauty” are complex, subjective, and by no means limited to physical appearances. Elusive though it is, everyone wants more of it. That means big business and increasingly, people harnessing algorithms to create their ideal selves in the digital and, sometimes, physical worlds. In this episode, we explore the popularity of beauty...

How we test and train fighter pilots—both real and artificial—is undergoing a series of rapid changes. Some themes are quite familiar. In order for these systems to be useful we need to trust them, but figuring out just how, when and why remains a massive challenge. In this second of a two-part series, we look at how AI is being used to teach human pilots to perform some of the most dangerous and difficult maneuvers in aerial combat, and we experience synthetic dogfighting first hand.  We...

A boy wrote about his suicide attempt. He didn’t realize his school's software was watching. While schools commonly use AI to sift through students' digital lives and flag keywords that may be considered concerning, critics ask at what cost to privacy. We Meet: Jeff Patterson, CEO of Gaggle Mark Keierleber, investigative reporter at The 74 Teeth Logsdon-Wallace, student Elizabeth Laird, director of Equity in Civic Technology at Center for Democracy & Technology Sounds From: "Your Heart...

Late last year the US Department of Defense successfully ran a dozen flight tests in which AI agents piloted an experimental fighter jet. We explore the program that got it there and what this milestone means. We Meet: Chase Kohler, Edwards Air Force Base Sue Halpern, The New Yorker Paul Scharre, Center for a New American Security Additional sources and sound: DARPA's AlphaDogfight Trials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzdhIA2S35w The Rise of A.I. Fighter Pilots: Artificial intelligence...

A look at how artificial intelligence is starting to be used to support the elderly. We Meet: Dor Skuler, Intuition Robotics Greg Olsen, New York State Office for the Aging Marie Defrancesco Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong and Anthony Green with help from Emma Cillekens. We’re edited by Mat Honan and mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from Garret Lang, and Jacob Gorski. Art by Stephanie Arnett.

We asked ChatGPT to summarize this episode and this is what it wrote: "In the episode, the host discussed the increasing use of AI language models like ChatGPT in newsrooms. The host explained that ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, is being used to automate tasks such as data analysis and writing, freeing up time for journalists to focus on more in-depth reporting. The host interviewed experts in the field who highlighted the benefits of using AI technology in newsrooms,...

We're joined on stage by two startup founders working to bring automation to smaller scale farms. A live conversation from Lisbon, Portugal taped at one of the world's largest tech conferences, Web Summit. We meet: Praveen Penmetsa, CEO of Monarch Tractor Barry Lunn, CEO of Provizio AI  Credits: This episode was recorded and produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens and Anthony Green. We’re edited by Mat Honan and mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from Garret Lang...

A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook? This episode we go behind the scenes of an investigation that uncovered how sensitive photos taken by an AI powered vacuum were leaked and landed on the internet.  Reporting: A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook? Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook We Meet: Eileen Guo, MIT Technology Review Albert Fox Cahn, Surveillance Technology...

Our reporting about farming, AI and satellites turned into three episodes of this podcast, which you can find linked here in the show notes, and as part of this reporting we also toured a satellite factory in downtown San Francisco, called Planet Labs. This week we bring you along for one of our audio postcards to hear how these satellites are built and tested. We meet:  Jacob Stern, director of test engineering at Planet Labs Credits: This episode was produced by Jennifer Strong with help...

A panel of luminaries join us live on stage at MIT Technology Review’s flagship conference, EmTech MIT, and discuss the path forward for AI research. We Meet: Will Douglas Heaven, Senior Editor of AI at MIT Technology Review Ashley Llorens, Vice President & Managing Director at Microsoft Research Raia Hadsell, Senior Director of Research and Robotics at DeepMind Yann LeCun, NYU Professor, VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta Credits: This episode was recorded in front of a live audience...

From chess to Jeopardy to e-sports, AI is increasingly beating humans at their own games. But that was never the ultimate goal. In this episode we dig into the symbiotic relationship between games and AI. We meet the big players in the space, and we take a trip to an arcade. We Meet:  Julian Togelius Will Douglas-Heaven David Silver  David Fahri  We Talked To:  Julian Togelius Will Douglas-Heaven Karen Hao David Silver  David Fahri  Natasha Regan Sounds From: Jeopardy 2011-02:The...

AI is used in farming in some ways you might not expect, like for tracking the health of crops—from space. We travel from test farms to labs in the second installment of our series on agriculture, AI, and satellites.  We Meet: Joseph Liefer, senior product manager of autonomy at John Deere Julian Sanchez, director of emerging technology at John Deere Shely Aranov, CEO of InnerPlant Rod Kumimoto, CSO of InnerPlant Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Emma...

AI is used in agriculture to precisely target weeds and optimize irrigation practices. It’s also being used in ways you might not expect, like for tracking the health of cow pastures—from space. We travel from test farms to orchards in the first of a two-part series on agriculture, AI, and satellites.  We Meet:  Greg Brickner, Veterinarian and grazing specialist at Organic Valley Geoff Klein, irrigation manager of Bullseye Farms John Bourne, SVP Ceres Imaging Deanna Kovar, VP of Production...

We’re in the middle of another major disruption in retail—one that’s been accelerated by the pandemic, and looks to take the convenience of e-commerce and apply it to physical environments. In this episode, we examine how AI is at the center of this transition. We meet: Prakhar Mehrotra, VP, Machine Learning, Walmart Global Tech Jordan Fisher, Chief Executive Officer, Standard AI Terrence Griffin, Quality Control Specialist, Standard AI Suresh Kumar, Global Chief Technology Officer and CDO,...

Face mapping and other tracking systems are changing the sports experience in the stands and on the court. In part-three of this latest series on facial recognition, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review jump on the court to unpack just how much things are changing. This episode was originally published December 8, 2020. We meet:  Donnie Scott, senior vice president of public security, IDEMIA Michael D'Auria, vice president of business development, Second Spectrum Jason Gay,...

Algorithms now determine how much things cost. It’s called dynamic pricing and it adjusts according to current market conditions in order to increase profits. The rise of ecommerce has propelled pricing algorithms into an everyday occurrence—whether you’re shopping on Amazon, booking a flight, hotel or ordering an Uber.  We Meet:  Lisa Wilkins, UX designer  Gabe Smith, chief evangelist, Pricefx Aylin Caliskan, assistant professor, University of Washington Joseph Harrington, professor of...

In the past, hiring decisions were made by people. Today, some key decisions that lead to whether someone gets a job or not are made by algorithms. The use of AI-based job interviews has increased since the pandemic. As demand increases, so too do questions about whether these algorithms make fair and unbiased hiring decisions, or find the most qualified applicant. In this second episode of a four-part series on AI in hiring, we meet some of the big players making this technology including...

Shortages of everything from seeds to fertilizer might accelerate the adoption of technologies that can help supplies go further in war-torn Ukraine. We meet:  Roman Tarasevich, Farmer, Ukraine Morten Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, OneSoil Inbal Reshef, Program Director, NASA Harvest Olekssi Misiura, Head of Research and Development, IMC Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Emma Cillekens and Anthony Green. It was edited by Mat Honan and contains original...

The International Space Station hosts scores of experiments that can’t be done on Earth. But it’s also showing its age—with repairs and safety concerns becoming increasingly common as it draws nearer to its end of life. In this episode, we bring you a conversation with Astronaut Michael López-Alegría about the path forward for research in low Earth orbit, from MIT Technology Review’s flagship conference, EmTech MIT. CREDITS: This episode was created by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green and Emma...

A look at how AI and other tech is being used to help predict, detect, and pinpoint the location of wildfires in the second of a two-part series. We Meet: Tricia Small, Television Producer, Small Fox Films George Whitesides, Space Executive Brittany Zajic, Disaster Response, Planet Labs Dave Winnacker, Fire Chief, Moraga-Orinda Fire District Arvind Satyam, Chief Commercial Officer, Pano Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens. It...