Logo
    Search

    Podcast Summary

    • Understanding the systemic issue behind social media's impact on realityThe Social Dilemma documentary reveals how social media platforms manipulate attention, leading to increased irritability, anxiety, polarization, and conflict. It's not about blame, but about understanding the systemic issue and working together to tackle it.

      Learning from the discussion about the new Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma" is that the film exposes how social media platforms have been warping our perception of reality, leading to increased irritability, anxiety, polarization, and conflict. The documentary features insights from tech insiders who built these systems, and it reveals how these platforms have been manipulating our attention, making us believe that we're in a constant state of outrage and conflict, when in fact, it's the system that's creating this divisiveness. A friend who watched the film shared that she used to believe that the problem was "us versus them," but after watching, she realized that it's not about blame, but about understanding the systemic issue and working together to tackle it. For technologists, this film covers important issues that matter to the industry and society as a whole.

    • Engage in important conversations about tech's impact on societyAfter watching 'The Social Dilemma', share the film, host screenings, and explore topics like recommendation systems, social media's role in democracy, and digital authoritarianism to create more humane technology and policies.

      That the documentary "The Social Dilemma" serves as a catalyst for important conversations about the impact of technology on our lives and society. After watching the film, viewers are encouraged to engage with others and take action. This could include sharing the film with friends and family, hosting screenings, especially for those in the tech industry or policy-making roles, and delving deeper into the themes of the film through podcasts and further research. Topics to explore include the influence of recommendation systems on user behavior, the role of social media in democratic institutions, and strategies for combating digital authoritarianism. By engaging in these conversations and taking action, we can work towards creating more humane technology and policies.

    • A call to action to create a better digital futureThe Social Dilemma documentary highlights the negative impact of technology on our lives and society, and it's a call to action for us to make changes for a better digital future. Start by watching the documentary on Netflix or visiting humanetech.com/podcast for more resources.

      We have the power to make a difference in our digital world. The documentary "The Social Dilemma" highlights the impact of technology on our lives and society, and it's a call to action. We've seen the negative effects of these technologies before, but it's not too late to make changes. The process may be slow, but the consequences are real, and our democracy depends on it. By becoming informed and taking action, we can create a better digital future. You can start by watching the documentary on Netflix or visiting humanetech.com/podcast for more resources. This film provides an opportunity for meaningful change, so let's not miss it. Let's use this window to make a difference, one step at a time. Together, we can create a digital world that benefits everyone.

    Recent Episodes from Your Undivided Attention

    How to Think About AI Consciousness With Anil Seth

    How to Think About AI Consciousness With Anil Seth

    Will AI ever start to think by itself? If it did, how would we know, and what would it mean?

    In this episode, Dr. Anil Seth and Aza discuss the science, ethics, and incentives of artificial consciousness. Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

    A free, plain text version of the Shelley’s classic of gothic literature.

    OpenAI’s GPT4o Demo

    A video from OpenAI demonstrating GPT4o’s remarkable ability to mimic human sentience.

    You Can Have the Blue Pill or the Red Pill, and We’re Out of Blue Pills

    The NYT op-ed from last year by Tristan, Aza, and Yuval Noah Harari outlining the AI dilemma. 

    What It’s Like to Be a Bat

    Thomas Nagel’s essay on the nature of consciousness.

    Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?

    Philosopher Nick Bostrom’s essay on the simulation hypothesis.

    Anthropic’s Golden Gate Claude

    A blog post about Anthropic’s recent discovery of millions of distinct concepts within their LLM, a major development in the field of AI interpretability.

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    Esther Perel on Artificial Intimacy

    Talking With Animals... Using AI

    Synthetic Humanity: AI & What’s At Stake

    Why Are Migrants Becoming AI Test Subjects? With Petra Molnar

    Why Are Migrants Becoming AI Test Subjects? With Petra Molnar

    Climate change, political instability, hunger. These are just some of the forces behind an unprecedented refugee crisis that’s expected to include over a billion people by 2050. In response to this growing crisis, wealthy governments like the US and the EU are employing novel AI and surveillance technologies to slow the influx of migrants at their borders. But will this rollout stop at the border?

    In this episode, Tristan and Aza sit down with Petra Molnar to discuss how borders have become a proving ground for the sharpest edges of technology, and especially AI. Petra is an immigration lawyer and co-creator of the Migration and Technology Monitor. Her new book is “The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA

    The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    Petra’s newly published book on the rollout of high risk tech at the border.

    Bots at the Gate

    A report co-authored by Petra about Canada’s use of AI technology in their immigration process.

    Technological Testing Grounds

    A report authored by Petra about the use of experimental technology in EU border enforcement.

    Startup Pitched Tasing Migrants from Drones, Video Reveals

    An article from The Intercept, containing the demo for Brinc’s taser drone pilot program.

    The UNHCR

    Information about the global refugee crisis from the UN.

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    War is a Laboratory for AI with Paul Scharre

    No One is Immune to AI Harms with Dr. Joy Buolamwini

    Can We Govern AI? With Marietje Schaake

    CLARIFICATION:

    The iBorderCtrl project referenced in this episode was a pilot project that was discontinued in 2019

    Former OpenAI Engineer William Saunders on Silence, Safety, and the Right to Warn

    Former OpenAI Engineer William Saunders on Silence, Safety, and the Right to Warn

    This week, a group of current and former employees from Open AI and Google Deepmind penned an open letter accusing the industry’s leading companies of prioritizing profits over safety. This comes after a spate of high profile departures from OpenAI, including co-founder Ilya Sutskever and senior researcher Jan Leike, as well as reports that OpenAI has gone to great lengths to silence would-be whistleblowers. 

    The writers of the open letter argue that researchers have a “right to warn” the public about AI risks and laid out a series of principles that would protect that right. In this episode, we sit down with one of those writers: William Saunders, who left his job as a research engineer at OpenAI in February. William is now breaking the silence on what he saw at OpenAI that compelled him to leave the company and to put his name to this letter. 

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

    The Right to Warn Open Letter 

    My Perspective On "A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence": A follow-up from William about the letter

     Leaked OpenAI documents reveal aggressive tactics toward former employees: An investigation by Vox into OpenAI’s policy of non-disparagement.

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    1. A First Step Toward AI Regulation with Tom Wheeler 
    2. Spotlight on AI: What Would It Take For This to Go Well? 
    3. Big Food, Big Tech and Big AI with Michael Moss 
    4. Can We Govern AI? with Marietje Schaake

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

    War is a Laboratory for AI with Paul Scharre

    War is a Laboratory for AI with Paul Scharre

    Right now, militaries around the globe are investing heavily in the use of AI weapons and drones.  From Ukraine to Gaza, weapons systems with increasing levels of autonomy are being used to kill people and destroy infrastructure and the development of fully autonomous weapons shows little signs of slowing down. What does this mean for the future of warfare? What safeguards can we put up around these systems? And is this runaway trend toward autonomous warfare inevitable or will nations come together and choose a different path? In this episode, Tristan and Daniel sit down with Paul Scharre to try to answer some of these questions. Paul is a former Army Ranger, the author of two books on autonomous weapons and he helped the Department of Defense write a lot of its policy on the use of AI in weaponry. 

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA

    Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Paul’s book on the future of AI in war, which came out in 2023.

    Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War: Paul’s 2018 book documenting and predicting the rise of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons as part of modern warfare.

    The Perilous Coming Age of AI Warfare: How to Limit the Threat of Autonomous Warfare: Paul’s article in Foreign Affairs based on his recent trip to the battlefield in Ukraine.

    The night the world almost almost ended: A BBC documentary about Stanislav Petrov’s decision not to start nuclear war.

    AlphaDogfight Trials Final Event: The full simulated dogfight between an AI and human pilot. The AI pilot swept, 5-0.

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    1. The AI ‘Race’: China vs. the US with Jeffrey Ding and Karen Hao
    2. Can We Govern AI? with Marietje Schaake
    3. Big Food, Big Tech and Big AI with Michael Moss
    4. The Invisible Cyber-War with Nicole Perlroth

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

    AI and Jobs: How to Make AI Work With Us, Not Against Us With Daron Acemoglu

    AI and Jobs: How to Make AI Work With Us, Not Against Us With Daron Acemoglu

    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?

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA

    Power and Progress by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson Professor Acemoglu co-authored a bold reinterpretation of economics and history that will fundamentally change how you see the world

    Can we Have Pro-Worker AI? Professor Acemoglu co-authored this paper about redirecting AI development onto the human-complementary path

    Rethinking Capitalism: In Conversation with Daron Acemoglu The Wheeler Institute for Business and Development hosted Professor Acemoglu to examine how technology affects the distribution and growth of resources while being shaped by economic and social incentives

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    1. The Three Rules of Humane Tech
    2. The Tech We Need for 21st Century Democracy
    3. Can We Govern AI?
    4. An Alternative to Silicon Valley Unicorns

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

    Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis

    Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis

    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.

    This episode was recorded live at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club.  

    Correction: Tristan mentions that 40 Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit against Meta for allegedly fostering addiction among children and teens through their products. However, the actual number is 42 Attorneys General who are taking legal action against Meta.

    Clarification: Jonathan refers to the Wait Until 8th pledge. By signing the pledge, a parent  promises not to give their child a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade. The pledge becomes active once at least ten other families from their child’s grade pledge the same.

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

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

    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 Hopper actually has 20 billion times that number. Nvidia recently announced the Blackwell, which boasts 208 billion transistors - but it won’t ship until later this year.

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

    Chip War: The Fight For the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller

    To make sense of the current state of politics, economics, and technology, we must first understand the vital role played by chips

    Gordon Moore Biography & Facts

    Gordon Moore, the Intel co-founder behind Moore's Law, passed away in March of 2023

    AI’s most popular chipmaker Nvidia is trying to use AI to design chips faster

    Nvidia's GPUs are in high demand - and the company is using AI to accelerate chip production

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang

    How Will AI Affect the 2024 Elections? with Renee DiResta and Carl Miller

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

    Protecting Our Freedom of Thought with Nita Farahany

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

     

     

    Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang

    Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang

    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. 

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

    Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page

    This academic paper addresses tough questions for Americans: Who governs? Who really rules? 

    Recursive Public

    Recursive Public is an experiment in identifying areas of consensus and disagreement among the international AI community, policymakers, and the general public on key questions of governance

    A Strong Democracy is a Digital Democracy

    Audrey Tang’s 2019 op-ed for The New York Times

    The Frontiers of Digital Democracy

    Nathan Gardels interviews Audrey Tang in Noema

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES 

    Digital Democracy is Within Reach with Audrey Tang

    The Tech We Need for 21st Century Democracy with Divya Siddarth

    How Will AI Affect the 2024 Elections? with Renee DiResta and Carl Miller

    The AI Dilemma

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

    U.S. Senators Grilled Social Media CEOs. Will Anything Change?

    U.S. Senators Grilled Social Media CEOs. Will Anything Change?

    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 a look ahead, as well. How will this hearing impact protocol within these social media companies? How will it impact legislation? In short: will anything change?

    Clarification: Julie says that shortly after the hearing, Meta’s stock price had the biggest increase of any company in the stock market’s history. It was the biggest one-day gain by any company in Wall Street history.

    Correction: Frances says it takes Snap three or four minutes to take down exploitative content. In Snap's most recent transparency report, they list six minutes as the median turnaround time to remove exploitative content.

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

    Get Media Savvy

    Founded by Julie Scelfo, Get Media Savvy is a non-profit initiative working to establish a healthy media environment for kids and families

    The Power of One by Frances Haugen

    The inside story of France’s quest to bring transparency and accountability to Big Tech

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

    Real Social Media Solutions, Now with Frances Haugen

    A Conversation with Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen

    Are the Kids Alright?

    Social Media Victims Lawyer Up with Laura Marquez-Garrett

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

     

     

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

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

    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 we can do about it. 

    Correction: Laurie refers to the app 'Clothes Off.' It’s actually named Clothoff. There are many clothes remover apps in this category.

    RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

    Revenge Porn: The Cyberwar Against Women

    In a five-part digital series, Laurie Segall uncovers a disturbing internet trend: the rise of revenge porn

    The Cult of the Constitution

    In this provocative book, Mary Anne Franks examines the thin line between constitutional fidelity and constitutional fundamentalism

    Fake Explicit Taylor Swift Images Swamp Social Media

    Calls to protect women and crack down on the platforms and technology that spread such images have been reignited

    RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES 

    No One is Immune to AI Harms

    Esther Perel on Artificial Intimacy

    Social Media Victims Lawyer Up

    The AI Dilemma

    Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

    Related Episodes

    Behind the Curtain on The Social Dilemma — with Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Larissa Rhodes

    Behind the Curtain on The Social Dilemma — with Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Larissa Rhodes

    How do you make a film that impacts more than 100 million people in 190 countries in 30 languages?

    This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're going behind the curtain on The Social Dilemma — the Netflix documentary about the dark consequences of the social media business model, which featured the Center for Humane Technology. On the heels of the film's 1-year anniversary and winning of 2 Emmy Awards, we're talking with Exposure Labs' Director Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Producer Larissa Rhodes. What moved Jeff and Larissa to shift their focus from climate change to social media? How did the film transform countless lives, including ours and possibly yours? What might we do differently if we were producing the film today? 

    Join us as we explore the reverberations of The Social Dilemma — which we're still feeling the effects of over one year later.