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
Data Centers on the Ballot
A.I. companies are leading the data-center boom. Voters seem less enthused.
21 min
2
Why Tesla Is Paying Elon a Trillion Bucks
Post-DOGE, Musk’s empire is looking a little shaky, if still extremely lucrative for the man himself.
27 min
3
The Nick Fuentes Problem
What’s the difference between being a party with Nazis and being in a Nazi party?
21 min
4
Why Trump Keeps Pardoning Crypto Criminals
There’s nothing cryptic about the president’s motivation.
27 min
5
Inside the Goonerverse
A very specific (NSFW) online world.
26 min
6
Did The Trump Administration Censor Speech?
Anti-ICE posts and apps flourished online. The Trump administration had them taken down.
28 min
7
The AWS Outage is Only the Beginning
Why a mesh of cloud services and undersea cables make for a very delicate web.
28 min
8
Why Bands Are Leaving Spotify
Xiu Xiu explains their decision to leave the streaming platform following Daniel Ek's investments in defense tech.
17 min
9
Inside the MAGA Content Mill
How to make a city full of inflatable frog suits look like it needs the National Guard.
23 min
10
A.I. for Cops
Silicon Valley wants your police department to use artificial intelligence. Do you?
24 min
11
The People Suing ICE
21 min
12
Saudi Arabia Gets into EA’s Games
What state investment in the video game company means for the industry.
20 min
13
Who Owns TikTok Now?
25 min
14
Trapped in a Tesla
Teslas are trapping passengers inside after crashes. Regulators are starting to notice.
24 min
15
How Trump Got Obsessed with Autism
Thanks to RFK Jr., Trump can capitalize on an issue he’s cared about for decades.
28 min
16
Is A.I. Taking Your Job?
For young workers, it might be time to worry.
27 min
17
The Discourse | TikTok Ban: The Final Loop?
4 min
18
A Very Online Shooter
The memes that came before, and the memes that were made after.
32 min
19
Her Daughter Killed Herself. Then She Saw the C...
Should A.I. have warned someone?
31 min
20
You Can't Escape the Charlie Kirk Video
Content moderation is dead, algorithms are designed to serve you horrific videos - is this the future of life online?
32 min
21
End of an Electric Avenue
Are Americans ready and willing to pay full-price for an electric vehicle?
20 min
22
Is the A.I. Bubble Bursting?
An “A.I. hater” makes the case.
31 min
23
A24 Meets A.I.
Risk alienating your “auteurs”—or risk being left behind?
22 min
24
The Great Celebrity Spotify Playlist Hack
What the “Panama Playlists” revealed, other than JD Vance’s taste.
23 min
25
Trump Vs. Cancer Research
Wait, it’s ‘Vs. Cancer,’ right? No? Wow.
26 min