Religious thinking is shaping the future of technology: AI is talked about as a godlike force and tech leaders promise us digital salvation. Greg Epstein argues that we need to see tech as our era's most influential religion - can he help us understand where this is all headed?

Sewell Setzer’s mom, Megan, is suing Character.ai for the role it played in her son’s death. The outcome could force the company–and potentially the entire AI industry–to change its ways. Today on the show, one of Megan’s lawyers, Meetali Jain, breaks down how the case could lead to systemic change.

Megan Garcia lost her son Sewell to suicide after he was abused and manipulated by AI chatbots for months. Now, she’s suing the company that made those chatbots. On today’s episode of Your Undivided Attention: journalist Laurie Segall’s interview with Megan for her new show Dear Tomorrow.

AI has unleashed a flood of synthetic media onto the web, making it more difficult than ever to tell what’s real. So Oren Etzioni made a free, non-partisan, non-profit tool to detect AI-generated content. Oren talks to Tristan about the fight to restore a sense of reality online.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari says that we are at a critical turning point. One in which AI’s ability to generate cultural artifacts threatens humanity’s role as the shapers of history. History will still go on, but will it be the story of people or, as he calls them, ‘alien AI agents’?

Computer scientist Gary Marcus has been called AI’s loudest critic, and he predicts AI’s exponential curve will soon flatten out. He also thinks we’re unprepared to handle the AI we already have. In this episode, Gary discusses his AI skepticism and what we need to do to get this rollout right.

As companies race to roll out more capable AI models–with little regard for safety–the downstream risks become harder to counter. On Your Undivided Attention this week, our policy director Casey Mock outlines a new legal framework to incentivize better AI through liability law.

[This episode originally aired on August 17, 2023] AI is harming our relationships, warns acclaimed psychotherapist Esther Perel. What would it look like for technology to strengthen our social bonds, rather than depriving us of the nuance that allows us to connect?

Today, the tech industry is the second-biggest lobbying power in Washington, DC, but that wasn’t true as recently as ten years ago. How did we get to this moment? And where could we be going next? On this episode of Your Undivided Attention, Tristan and Daniel sit down with historian Margaret O’Mara and journalist Brody Mullins to discuss how Silicon Valley has changed the nature of American lobbying.

It’s been a year and half since Tristan and Aza laid out their vision and concerns for the future of artificial intelligence in The AI Dilemma. In this episode, the guys discuss what’s happened since then and where we could be headed next.

AI has been a powerful accelerant for biological research, rapidly opening up new frontiers in medicine and public health. But that progress can also make it easier for bad actors to manufacture new biological threats. In this episode, Tristan and Daniel sit down with biologist Kevin Esvelt to discuss why AI has been such a boon for biologists and how we can safeguard society against the threats that AIxBio poses.

Will AI ever start to think by itself? If it did, how would we know, and what would it mean? In this episode, Professor of Neuroscience Anil Seth and Aza discuss the science, ethics, and incentives of artificial consciousness.

In response to the growing global refugee crisis, governments are employing novel AI and surveillance technologies to slow the influx of migrants. But will this rollout stop at the border? Tristan and Aza sit down with immigration lawyer Petra Molnar to discuss how borderlands have become a proving ground for high-risk AI technology.

Whistleblower William Saunders quit over systemic issues at OpenAI. Now he’s put his name to an open letter that proposes 4 principles to protect the right of industry insiders to warn the public about AI risks. On Your Undivided Attention this week, Tristan and Aza sit down with Saunders to discuss.

Today’s battlefields have become laboratories for the use of AI weaponry and drones. From Ukraine to Gaza, weapons systems with increasing levels of autonomy are being used to kill people and destroy infrastructure. So what does this mean for the future of warfare? Author and former Pentagon policymaker Paul Scharre joins the show to discuss.

Tech companies say that AI will lead to massive economic productivity gains. But as we know from the first digital revolution, that’s not what happened. Can we do better this time around?

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 led to today’s teenage mental health crisis can be turned around – with specific, achievable actions we all can take starting today.

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.

Is there a vision of our future where AI can help our democracies thrive, rather than just survive? With election season underway, Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang returns to the podcast to discuss how to create a resilient democracy in the age of AI.

Was it political progress, or 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 untangles the explosive hearing, and what might come next.

Ninety-six percent of deep-faked images and videos are sexually explicit and non-consensual. Legal scholar Mary Anne Franks and journalist Laurie Segall discuss the AI-enabled rise in deep fake porn, and what we can do about it.

What can tales of mythology and magic teach us about the AI race? Mythologist Josh Schrei explains how looking at foundational cultural stories could guide ethical tech development.

2024 will be the biggest election year in world history. In this episode, two experts give us a situation report on how AI will increase the risks to our elections and our democracies.

You asked, we answered. This has been a big year in the world of tech. There are still so many questions in our minds, and we know you have a lot of questions too. So we created this episode for you to ask us anything!