Jonathan Taplin

Podcast #28: Jonathan Taplin on Internet Aggregators

Jonathan Taplin, former music and film professional, tells first-hand what the new rentier economy of Internet aggregators like Google and Facebook has done to the creative arts, journalism, and democracy.

Michael Zimmerman

Podcast #24: Michael Zimmerman Gets Philosophical on Tech

In a wide-ranging conversation, philosopher Michael Zimmerman contextualizes our technological journey within the history of Western thought.

Black Box

When Developers Can’t Explain Their AI, Laws No Longer Apply

The hows and whys of the decisions of machine-learning algorithms are increasingly opaque, even to their programmers. That makes laws and norms increasingly difficult to apply.

Chatbot

Is Democracy Threatened by Chatbots?

Chatbots are becoming more sophisticated both in their ability to process language and gauge emotion. As social media increasingly influences our news and beliefs, this could be a big problem.

Mouths

New Digital Fakery May Make Truth Even More Elusive

Software now in development makes it easy to fabricate audio and video of real people, literally putting words in their mouths.

2016, The Year in Review

A look back at the biggest technology-related stories of 2016.