Episodes
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Nvidia has rapidly become one of the world’s most valuable companies,
propelled by the global rush to develop artificial intelligence. But the
company’s success was not actually all that sudden — and it’s not
guaranteed to last. On POLITICO Tech, market analyst Dylan Patel of
SemiAnalysis joins host Steven Overly to break down Nvidia’s humble
start and the potential challenges ahead, from competition to
regulation. -
Los Angeles will soon ban cell phones and social media in schools,
becoming the latest school district to crack down on tech in the
classroom. California at large could be next. On POLITICO Tech, Stanford
professor and former schoolteacher Antero Garcia joins host Steven
Overly to explain why he thinks such bans are bad policy — and bound to
fail. -
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Children’s advocates often compare social media to cigarettes, arguing
platforms like YouTube and TikTok are addictive and harmful. That’s led
to an increasing number of states passing laws aimed at curtailing their
influence on young users. On Thursday, New York became the latest. But
signing the law doesn’t actually make it a done deal. POLITICO tech
reporter Rebecca Kern joins host Steven Overly to break down the latest.
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Artificial intelligence consumes a lot of energy. Exactly how much is
hard to say, because AI companies keep much of that information hidden –
a practice that some policymakers and activists are trying to change. On
today's episode of Politico Tech, Steven Overly called up Jesse Dodge to
better understand the energy and climate cost behind generative AI.
Dodge is a senior research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI in
Seattle, who not only develops large language models, he also studies
their electricity usage and CO2 emissions. -
Elon Musk sparked much debate with a post on X saying the U.S. “should
eliminate electronic voting machines.” But is that even possible? Pamela
Smith, the president and CEO of election integrity nonprofit Verified
Voting, says it isn’t. Technology now permeates our elections far more
than people realize, she says — though paper still matters, too. Smith
joins POLITICO Tech to explain.
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A small but growing number of tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists
and crypto enthusiasts are throwing their 2024 support behind former
President Donald Trump over President Joe Biden. And Rep. Ro Khanna
(D-Calif.), a progressive who represents a swath of Silicon Valley,
warns Democrats shouldn’t take the liberal stronghold for granted. On
POLITICO Tech, Khanna tells host Steven Overly why the Democratic
defectors have him worried and how Biden should borrow from former
President Barack Obama’s pro-tech playbook. -
Steve Ballmer has made his fortune as the former CEO of Microsoft and
owner of the LA Clippers. But his nonprofit USAFacts is trying to make
government data more consumable, a mission driven by the belief that
numbers are the antidote to political disinformation and partisan
policymaking. On POLITICO Tech, Ballmer talks with host Steven Overly
about his latest effort to convince politicians to follow the facts, as
well as artificial intelligence, the election and why he's not donating
to campaigns. -
POLITICO Tech went to Toronto for the U.S.-Canada Summit, hosted by BMO
Financial Group and Eurasia Group. Host Steven Overly moderated a
discussion on how the neighbors are competing and cooperating when it
comes to artificial intelligence, with Cohere COO Martin Kon, OpenAI
vice president of government affairs Anna Makanju, IBM chief privacy and
trust officer Christina Montgomery and Radical Ventures co-founder and
managing partner Jordan Jacobs. On the show today, key takeaways from
that conversation. -
Host Steven Overly is in Canada this week for The US-Canada Summit,
hosted by BMO Financial Group and Eurasia Group — and it got him
thinking about another Canadian who's been on the podcast before:
Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio. Bengio has been dubbed one of
the “godfathers of AI,” although he’s not exactly thrilled about the
title. Still, Bengio devoted most of his professional life to making AI
smarter. But now, he wants to prevent AI from destroying humanity. On
POLITICO Tech, Bengio tells host Steven Overly about his professional
pivot and what policy changes he’s pushing for around the world. -
After the EU elections over the weekend, the continent’s politics seems
to be shifting. So what does that mean for tech? Host Steven Overly
talked with Politico EU tech reporter Clothilde Goujard to break down
the results and decode what to watch for next. -
Former President Donald Trump is in his second week on TikTok, and
already soaring past President Joe Biden in both followers and views.
But that doesn't necessarily mean he's having more influence. Or that
other Republicans will rush to join TikTok, a platform many have called
a national security threat. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly called
up Republican digital strategist Eric Wilson to make sense of it all. -
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey says climate tech is all opportunity, no
hype. That’s why she wants to pour $1 billion into the sector over the
next decade, along with as much federal money as she can get from
President Joe Biden’s climate legislation. On POLITICO Tech, Healey
joins host Steven Overly after speaking at The ClimaTech Conference this
week to defend her bet on climate tech and explain why she fears former
President Donald Trump could undermine it all. -
What do Scarlett Johansson, Bette Midler and Johnny Carson have in
common? All three have been at the center of controversies over the
impersonation of famous people — and tested the limits of what U.S. will
allow. On POLITICO Tech, George Mason University Law School professor
Sandra Aistars breaks down the legal precedent on celebrity
impersonation, and what that means in an AI world. -
Disinformation and conspiracies that run rampant online, and the
business models that fund them, have created a world in which people no
longer agree on a shared set of facts. That was the impetus behind, “The
Death of Truth,” a new book written by NewsGuard co-CEO Steven Brill. On
POLITICO Tech, Brill tells host Steven Overly how he thinks the truth
can be saved. -
India’s election finally came to a close last night. But the long
campaign brought out some of the most novel and bizarre examples yet of
generative artificial intelligence in politics, from personalized
robocalls to deepfakes of deceased politicians. On POLITICO Tech, host
Steven Overly talks to Oxford University scholar Amogh Dhar Sharma about
India’s unique political culture and whether it offers a lesson for
future elections. -
European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová has been on the road
talking about disinformation and foreign interference ahead of the
European Union elections later this week. And that “Democracy Tour” took
Jourová to California last week for meetings with tech CEOs about their
role in the fight. On today’s POLITICO Tech, Jourová explains what she
learned during her Silicon Valley visit and whether she’s feeling
confident as voters head to the polls. -
Garry Tan, the CEO of startup accelerator YCombinator, has made waves in
San Francisco politics, helping to oust the city’s most liberal
politicians in favor of more centrist Democrats. Now, the
tech-entrepreneur-turned-political-changemaker is turning his attention
to Washington. On today's Politico Tech, host Steven Overly talks with
Tan about exactly what he wants out of Washington. -
Schools across the country are grappling with a new kind of harassment:
generative artificial intelligence being used to create sexually
explicit images and videos of students and teachers. States have passed
a patchwork of laws to deal with the issue, but so far federal lawmakers
have yet to act. On POLITICO Tech, reporter Dana Nickel and host Steven
Overly break down the uneven legal landscape and discuss the victims who
suffer as a result. -
Artificial intelligence can do more than shape the future; it could also
rewrite the past. AI-generated images and videos are now finding their
way into documentary films, and the recently formed Archival Producers
Alliance wants to set some ground rules. On POLITICO Tech, archival
producers Rachel Antell and Stephanie Jenkins join host Steven Overly to
discuss their concerns with AI muddying the historical record. -
Congress allocated $39 billion to subsidize microchip manufacturing,
part of President Joe Biden pledge to revive a dormant U.S. industry.
Then, a backroom deal led to a chunk of that money being funneled into a
furtive government program —- one quietly backed by national security
agencies and a major technology company. On POLITICO Tech, reporter
Christine Mui tells us all about “Secure Enclave.” - Show more