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.
1
The FTC’s Merger Shakedown
The agency is trying to stop “censorship” on social platforms by keeping private companies from spending their ad dollars as they see fit.
21 min
2
The Other Iran-Israel War
Cyberattacks are much less explosive, but just as dangerous.
20 min
3
Airlines Are Selling Your Data to the Government
And they don’t want you to know.
22 min
4
We Deport. You Laugh?
Why the White House is memeing its mass deportations.
26 min
5
Summer Travel Tips To Not Get Detained
A guide for digital safety.
24 min
6
New DOGE, New Tricks
Elon may be gone, but Big Balls is staying on.
24 min
7
The Future of the Internet Hinges on Gail Slater
You may be asking, “Who?”
25 min
8
Is Palantir Building a Data Big Brother?
Palantir is laying the groundwork for a central government data system - one that sounds an awful lot like a surveillance state.
26 min
9
So Long, Elon
He came, he sawed, he conq—well, he left.
25 min
10
The Drone Wars
Russia and Ukraine are locked in an arms race that will change war forever.
22 min
11
Crypto's Big Win
Even if you've never touched crypto, you could be burned by the GENIUS Act.
26 min
12
Inside OpenAI's Empire
How the company convinced everyone that AGI is inevitable—and that they need to be the ones who control it.
34 min
13
You’ve Been Deepfaked
How AI generated revenge porn is spreading across the internet.
24 min
14
The Newarkification of Flying
Can we avoid an air travel future that is nasty, brutish, and severely delayed?
26 min
15
Online and Pregnant
A conversation with NYT's critic Amanda Hess about her new book.
30 min
16
Chatbots All The Way Down
Why AI companies are giving you the tech you want, but maybe not the tech you need.
22 min
17
How Elon Wields Power
You can’t run the country like a company. Musk is learning that the hard way.
30 min
18
Marc Andreessen’s New Deal
How the Silicon Valley kingmaker became a Washington mover and shaker.
22 min
19
Death of the Weather Forecast?
Climate and weather aren’t the same thing, but the Trump administration would have you understand neither one.
23 min
20
The Immigration Data Dragnet
25 min
21
The Baby Monitor Trap
How a device designed to give parents some space demands that they pay more attention than ever.
25 min
22
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
23
TikTok: Somehow Also Affected by the Tariffs
Like everything else, TikTok finds itself subject to changing winds of one President Trump.
18 min
24
Trump Tariffs Hit Mushroom Kingdom
How Nintendo tried to save their console princess.
20 min
25
Why Wall Street Can’t Quit Elon
Your 401k loves him too.
29 min