What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the...
Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
26
The U.S. vs Meta
The U.S. alleges Meta has a social media monopoly. Meta claims that in 2025, that's simply not true.
20 min
27
TikTok: Somehow Also Affected by the Tariffs
Like everything else, TikTok finds itself subject to changing winds of one President Trump.
18 min
28
Trump Tariffs Hit Mushroom Kingdom
How Nintendo tried to save their console princess.
20 min
29
Why Wall Street Can’t Quit Elon
Your 401k loves him too.
29 min
30
Where DOGE Is Taking Us
What happens when you run the government like how Elon Musk runs a business?
24 min
31
This Is Your Brain On Ketamine
And Silicon Valley's too.
22 min
32
We Made a Memecoin
Because—how hard could it be?
27 min
33
Bezos 2.0
How the Amazon founder went from Trump critic to Trump donor.
25 min
34
Trump's War on Scientific Research
Cutting NIH grants–even temporarily–could have repercussions for years to come.
26 min
35
How Trump Is Trying to Kill Press Freedom
Inside the movement targeting free speech.
26 min
36
Will Tesla Survive Elon Musk?
From “Eco-Friendly” to “Swastiscar”
23 min
37
Zuckerberg and the Post-Factcheck Era
Does Meta know what they’ve done?
26 min
38
From 4Chan to Charlottesville to DOGE
How the far-right internet conquered American politics.
27 min
39
Cracking the Egg Crisis
An eggsplanation.
18 min
40
The DOGE Resistance
Lawsuits, protests and Elon Musk's Achilles Heel
24 min
41
$Trump
Crypto poured money into the campaign, now the first family is cashing in.
21 min
42
Elon's Endgame
He's slashing the federal workforce. He's gutting programs he doesn't like. But at the end of the day, what does he want?
30 min
43
Can You Pay Attention, Please?
Chris Hayes discusses his new book that calls attention “the world’s most endangered resource.”
23 min
44
Is Elon Actually Trying to Buy OpenAI?
Elon Musk's bid to purchase OpenAI is both an attempt to control the future of A.I. and a massive troll.
20 min
45
Why Trump’s Data Purge is a Digital Book Burning
Erasing wokeness, one dataset and line of code at a time.
23 min
46
Bonus: The Discourse | Why is Elon Musk Cheatin...
Not to game shame anyone, but doesn’t he have better things to do?
6 min
47
Is Elon Musk Unstoppable?
Inside the DOGE assault on the federal government.
23 min
48
The DeepSeek Panic
How one app brought the US-China A.I. war out into the open.
22 min
49
RFK Jr. Is a Feature, Not a Bug
The vaccine skeptic’s nomination reveals the Trump 2.0 approach to public health.
23 min
50
The A.I. Will See You Now
Doctors are increasingly using artificial intelligence to help with appointments. But do the risks outweigh the benefits?
20 min