What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

Slate Podcasts

Slate's Tech Show

  • 22 minutes 31 seconds
    How Mark Zuckerberg Finds Your Perfect Pair of Shoes

    The era of ads following you around the internet via cookies might be coming to an end. What’s replacing it?


    Guest: Sara Fisher, Axios' media correspondent, and media analyst at CNN.


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    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 25 minutes 41 seconds
    MAGA's A.I. Schism

    Is artificial intelligence a blessing to all humanity, or a demon sent to lead us astray from God’s path? MAGA is choosing between two extremes.


    Guest: Kiera Butler, national correspondent for Mother Jones.


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 26 minutes 37 seconds
    Iran's Memes Are Winning

    This very online administration is facing push back from Iran in their own home territory: the world of insipid memes, A.I. videos, and online mockery.


    Guest: Ali Breland, staff writer for the Atlantic.


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    19 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 34 minutes 45 seconds
    Everyone Is Lying to You For Money

    Back in the depths of the pandemic, what was an actor to do? Ben McKenzie started looking into cryptocurrency—and his research yielded both a book and a new documentary. The works are both non-fiction, which is more than McKenzie can say for crypto.


    Guest: Ben McKenzie, actor, director of the documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, and co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 31 minutes 25 seconds
    Who is Sam Altman Anyway?

    If you had as much trouble getting along with other humans as Sam Altman does, you too might be eager to issue in the artificial intelligence revolution.


    Guest: Andrew Marantz, staff writer for the New Yorker. 

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    12 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 20 minutes 47 seconds
    Why OpenAI Bought a Talk Show

    As OpenAI prepares for its IPO, the company decided to…pay millions of dollars for a tech talk show? Is this just what rich tech guys like Sam Altman are like now? 


    Guest: Mike Isaac, tech reporter for the New York Times.

    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    10 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 31 minutes 16 seconds
    TBD Tries... Vibe Coding

    One of artificial intelligence’s most hyped “abilities” is how it writes computer code. So much so that seemingly anyone can do it. So we figured… why not us? 


    Guests: 

    Greg Lavalee, Slate’s Chief Technology Officer.

    Clive Thompson, contributing writer for the New York Times


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 29 minutes 49 seconds
    Why Everyone Is Freaking Out About Private Credit

    In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, private credit or “shadow banking” grew as an alternative to the regulations and shared risk that institutional banks operate within. What happens if a crisis hits the trillions of dollars that are outside of those guardrails? We may be about to find out. 


    Guest: Tracy Alloway, co-host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast.


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    3 April 2026, 7:00 am
  • 30 minutes 42 seconds
    How to Rein in ICE and A.I.

    Artificial intelligence is working its way into every aspect of our lives, including law and immigration enforcement, and the industry is spending millions of dollars to ensure it can continue to do so unregulated. But as evidence of bias appears in this nascent tech, this congresswoman wants to ensure we’re not just recreating our historical biases and problems all over again—which is to say, she wants guardrails. 


    Guest: Summer Lee, U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th district.


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 23 minutes 31 seconds
    Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment

    What YouTube and Meta’s loss in the “social media addiction trial” could mean for your feed.


    Guest: Ryan Mac, business and technology reporter for the New York Times.


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    27 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 27 minutes 39 seconds
    War Dot Com

    Why Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp views working with Western militaries not just as a business opportunity, but as a higher calling.


    Guest: Jacob Silverman, journalist and author of “Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.”


    Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.


    Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort.



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 March 2026, 7:00 am
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