Rethink examines emerging issues in politics, society, economics, technology and the UK's place in the world, and how we might approach them differently. We look at the latest thinking and research and discuss new ideas that might make the world a better place.

In this episode, we consider the changing relationship between the public and big tech companies.

Big technology companies have given us incredible social media and online services, that came with a price - our data. They used it to target advertising and to learn about our likes and dislikes, and the vast majority of us couldn't have cared less about giving up this information.

But Artificial Intelligence products have changed the game, from chatbots that can hold human-like conversations, to Generative AI that can write prose or create a picture from a simple text prompt.

And these unthinking machines require endless amounts of data to train them.

Some companies have been quietly changing their terms and conditions to access our social media and messages for AI training. Privacy regulators in the UK have called a halt to this so far, but US consumers don't have that protection.

Developers have also been scraping the internet, gathering both free and copyrighted material, and leading to legal actions in both the USA, the EU and the UK.

Copyright holders are concerned about a lack of payment or licencing deals, and also that AI imitates their content, putting them out of work. The Government has now launched a consultation to try to balance up the needs of AI and the creative industries.

But with some companies refusing to pay for content, creators have a new tool at their disposal - a program that makes stolen pictures poisonous to AI.

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Ben Zhao, Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at University of Chicago Jack Stilgoe, Professor in science and technology studies at University College London, where he researches the governance of emerging technologies Justine Roberts, CEO and founder of Mumsnet. Cerys Wyn Davies, Partner at Pinscent Masons solicitors, specialising in IP and Copyright. Neil Ross, Associate director of policy for Tech UK

The UK has many world-leading museums that inspire wonder and fascination in their visitors. Many were originally created to display artefacts from empire or house the collections of their wealthy Victorian founders but recent decades have seen museums finding innovative ways to challenge what a modern museum can be. However, in tough economic times many museums are facing serious challenges. The sector is having to make the case for why museums should receive public money when there’s a lot less to go around. They are also facing criticism about who visits them, who curates them, and what objects they collect and display. What are museums for? Who are they for? And how can they teach us about our past whilst remaining relevant and exciting for today’s visitors?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Viv Jones Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Sara Wajid, co-CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust Tony Butler, Director of Derby Museums Trust Stephen Bush, columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times

At the last General Election Britain’s traditional parties of left and right, Labour and the Conservatives, collectively amassed their lowest vote share ever - well under 60%. Three out of seven Brits voted for Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party or one of Britain’s many regional or nationalist parties. Does this result suggest that British politics is now too complicated to be understood by the labels left and right?

In Europe, some new parties like the German Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance have been labelled both far left and far right. Many similar parties seem to be having success by suggesting that they’re throwing off old political labels and offering something radically new in their place.

Studies say voters struggle to place policies along a left/right spectrum, and many don’t define themselves along left/right lines. So how can we have a shared political sphere if we can’t agree on terms? Are our political labels of left and right outdated? Are they due a rethink?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Viv Jones Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Sara Hobolt, Sutherland Chair of European Institutions at the London School of Economics and Political Science Claire Ainsley, Director of the Project on Center-Left Renewal at the Progressive Policy Institute. and previously the Executive Director of Policy to Sir Keir Starmer Giles Dilnot, Editor of Conservative Home and previously special advisor to James Cleverly at the Foreign Office and Home Office

Rethink considers how we might take a different approach to issues that affect all of us, asking some of the brightest minds what we could do to make the world a better place.

This week, we're rethinking energy. The massive rise in the price of wholesale gas in 2022, and the subsequent rise in our household energy bills highlighted the need for the UK to have a secure, reliable and cheap energy supply.

So what choices do we have? UK fossil fuel reserves are dwindling, but we have offshore wind, and sunshine in the south. Renewable power is also cheaper than fossil fuels. In the first three months of 2024, the UK's wind, solar and other forms of renewable power generated just over half of our energy and by the end of September, coal had been phased out completely.

But there is still a long way to go before the UK is self-sufficient.

It can take as long as 15 years to connect a renewable power plant to the National Grid. A nuclear power station hasn't been completed in the UK for nearly 30 years Do we have enough power storage for cloudy or windless days? And industry and homes are still reliant on gas.

So how to we need to rethink energy to keep the lights on, charge our many devices and power our electric vehicles in the future? And if we get it right, what will be the rewards for everyone?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Aoife Foley, Professor & Chair in Net Zero Infrastructure at the University of Manchester. Emma Pinchbeck, Chief Executive, the Climate Change Committee. Sam Richards, a former special advisor on energy to Boris Johnson, and now the Chief Executive of campaign group Britain Remade. Andrew Crossland, Associate Professor in practice at the Durham Energy Institute.

The care system in Britain is creaking at the seams. People who need care aren't receiving it - or if they do it's untenably expensive. There aren’t enough staff for care homes, and unpaid family carers often burn out looking after their loved ones without support.

Successive governments have recognised it’s a problem, but they haven’t been able to fix it. Rachel Reeves is just the latest in a long line of chancellors to back away from care reform.

How can we reform the care system so it works better for everyone involved? And crucially - how can we pay for it?

In this edition of Rethink we look at some of the big ideas that could revolutionise social care in this country.

We look at the arguments for a National Care Service to match the National Health Service. We hear about new technological fixes, from robots in care homes to smaller scale initiatives to help with medication or paperwork. Or maybe we all need to think about the whole system differently - and all care for each other a little more.

Contributors: Sir Andrew Dilnot, head of the 2011 government review on Funding of Care & Support Kathryn Smith, chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence Ben Cooper from the Fabian Society, co-author of their report Support Guaranteed: The Roadmap to a National Care Service Hilary Cottam, designer, social activist and author of Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us and Revolutionise the Welfare State

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Lucy Burns Editor: Clare Fordham

Rethink looks at the issues of our time, and considers how we might approach them differently. Scrutinising the latest thinking and research, we look at what this might mean for policy and society.

In this episode: the cost of living has been high, but all too often, we also pay a premium. It's because of dynamic pricing, drip pricing and now personalised pricing.

Dynamic pricing is why, after queuing for hours, Oasis fans were offered tickets that were considerably more expensive than the ones advertised. It's also why do you can be offered different prices each time you try and book an airline ticket, or a hotel online.

Big data means that companies can figure out exactly what you are willing to pay online and can shift the price you face to match that.

AI data-gathering software is causing cartel-like behaviour amongst competitors, who can draw similar conclusions about their market, and set similar prices.

The depth of information available to companies means that they know the price a market will bear, rather than how much customers can afford and regardless of interest rates set by central banks.

Regulators are playing catch-up, but what other strategies could be used to combat anti-competitive pricing led by algorithms? And what needs to change to ensure buyers can work out if they're getting a fair deal?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: David Dayen, writer and journalist, and the executive editor of The American Prospect magazine. Tom Smith, partner at Geradin, and former Legal Director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University. Martyn James, consumer rights campaigner and journalist.

Rethink looks again at the issues of our time, and considers how we might approach them differently. Scrutinising the latest thinking and research, we look at what this might mean for policy and society.

In this episode, we’re looking at one of the most divisive issues of our time – immigration – and in particular, how we can change the discourse around migration.

Polling from the British Social Attitudes survey suggests that the UK is now more divided on immigration, by age, education, and political party, than at any time since 2011. But polling also indicates that there are large areas of agreement between people who are pro-immigration and others who are immigration-sceptic.

A majority of people think net immigration is too high.

A majority also believe that Ukrainian refugees, Afghans who helped UK forces, Hong Kong Chinese, doctors, nurses and care workers should be allowed to come to the UK.

And most people agree that crossing the channel in small boats is not a good idea.

So if a majority of people agree on these issues, how have we become so tribal? Why have politicians of all flavours failed us over the decades? How can get them to be more honest about the trade-offs that come with every immigration decision that's made - and how can we change the political discourse?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Sunder Katwala, Director, British Future Alan Manning, Professor of Economics at the LSE and former chair of the Migration Advisory Committee Dr Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory in Oxford, and a current advisor to the Migration Advisory Committee Robert Colvile, Director, the Centre for Policy Studies

Rethink considers how we might take a different approach to the issues of our time, asking some of the brightest minds what we could do to make the world a better place.

This week: billionaires. They are some of the wealthiest people who have ever lived - a tiny group with a large influence on politics, society and the lives of millions.

The gap between the super rich and everyone else is huge. According to Credit Suisse, just fourteen billionaires own fourteen percent of the world’s entire wealth.

Should we cap the wealth of the super rich? Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns has developed the concept of "limitarianism". This would limit an individual's wealth to 10 million dollars, pounds or euros - or whatever the local currency is - with anything beyond that point confiscated by governments.

So is this theft?

Socialism gone mad?

A good idea?

Or something that governments must do?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Lucy Burns Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Ingrid Robeyns, professor of Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University and author of "Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth"

Liam Byrne, Labour MP and author of the book "The Inequality of Wealth" Sam Dumitriu, author and head of policy at campaign group Britain Remade Helen Miller, Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and head of their tax sector

One person, one vote - we're all equal in the voting booth, right?

But it hasn't always been this way, and just who can vote has changed many times since the Second World War.

Until 1951, business owners and some university graduates were allowed multiple votes. 18 year olds could vote for the first time in the 1970 general election, and In 2024 British expats who had lived outside the UK for longer than 15 years were given the vote.

There are anomalies too. Irish and Commonwealth citizens who have just arrived in the UK can vote as long as they're registered, but an EU citizen who's lived here for 20 years cannot, unless they become a British citizen.

And when it comes to the results, smaller parties say the First Past the Post system leaves them with few seats that don't reflect their level of support.

So is there a better way? Quadratic voting, which allows people to vote multiple times could be the answer. Ben Ansell speaks to one of its inventors, and asks, "is it time to rethink voting?"

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors Glen Weyl, Microsoft Research Rosie Campbell Professor of Politics at King's College London Dr Hannah White the CEO of the Institute for Government Rob Ford Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester

Rethink examines emerging issues in politics, society, economics, technology and the UK's place in the world, and considers how we might approach them differently. We look at the latest thinking and research and discuss new ideas that might make the world a better place.

In this episode, we look at "Enshittification", or to put it more politely - the problem of internet platform decay.

Facebook used to be about posts from your friends, but its feed now also includes groups, adverts, reels, and threads posts. Trying to work out if the Amazon product you want is any good can be tricky, because sellers can pay for their product to appear higher in your list of results. Search engines are not immune; German researchers have found that Google, Bing and Duck Duck Go are prone to spam marketing, making it more difficult to find what you want.

There's no ill-intent behind this: platform decay is a side-effect of the way these businesses work. So what can governments and individuals do, to try to get a better internet for everyone?

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Cory Doctorow, visiting Professor of Computer Science at the Open University, and co-founder of the UK Open Rights group. Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at the University of Cambridge, Marie Le Conte, political journalist and author of the book escape - about the rise and demise of the internet Dr Cristina Caffarra, competition economist and former anti-trust consultant.

What type of leadership does the world need to tackle global warming? Amol Rajan discusses whether people with power are doing enough to solve the climate crisis. Are politicians just too focused on the ballot box to take long term decisions? What about the role of celebrities and business leaders?

Graihagh Jackson, presenter of the BBC podcast ‘The Climate Question’ is with Amol alongside guests Lord Deben, Greg Jackson, Monika Langthaler and Professor Daniel Schrag.

Producers Nick Holland and Marianna Brain Sound design Graham Puddifoot Editor Lizzi Watson Production coordinators Sophie Hill, Helena Warwick-Cross and Siobhan Reed