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PODCAST

MIT Technology Review Narrated

MIT Technology Review

Welcome to MIT Technology Review Narrated, the home for the very best of our journalism in audio. Each week we will share one of our most ambitious stories, from print and online, narrated for us by real voice actors. Expect big themes, thought-provoking topics, and sharp analysis, all backed by our trusted reporting.

technology tech news

All Episodes

27:52

AI finds its voice

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2021/04/28

Synthetic voice technologies are increasingly passing as human. But today’s voice assistants are still a far cry from the hyper-intelligent thinking machines we’ve been musing about for decades. In this episode, we explore how machines learn to communicate—and what it means for the humans on the other end of the conversation. We meet: Susan C. Bennett, voice of Siri Cade Metz, The New York Times Charlotte Jee, MIT Technology Review Credits This episode was produced by Jennifer Strong, Emma

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18:36

What’s AI doing in your wallet?

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2021/04/14

Tech giants are moving into our wallets—bringing AI and big questions with them. Our entire financial system is built on trust. We can exchange otherwise worthless paper bills for fresh groceries, or swipe a piece of plastic for new clothes. But this trust—typically in a central government-backed bank—is changing. As our financial lives are rapidly digitized, the resulting data turns into fodder for AI. Companies like Apple, Facebook and Google see it as an opportunity to disrupt the entire

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22:12

The AI of the beholder

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2021/03/31

Computers are ranking the way people look—and the results are influencing the things we do, the posts we see, and the way we think. Ideas about what constitutes “beauty” are complex, subjective, and by no means limited to physical appearances. Elusive though it is, everyone wants more of it. That means big business and increasingly, people harnessing algorithms to create their ideal selves in the digital and, sometimes, physical worlds. In this episode, we explore the popularity of beauty filters,

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3:25

We're back with a new season!

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2021/03/24

Host Jennifer Strong and MIT Technology Review’s editors explore what it means to entrust AI with our most sensitive decisions.

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28:05

Attention Shoppers: You’re Being Tracked

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/12/19

Cameras in stores aren’t anything new—but these days there are AI brains behind the electric eyes. In some stores, sophisticated systems are tracking customers in almost every imaginable way, from recognizing their faces to gauging their age, their mood, and virtually gussying them up with makeup. The systems rarely ask for people’s permission, and for the most part they don’t have to. In our season 1 finale, we look at the explosion of AI and face recognition technologies in retail spaces, and what

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21:12

Timnit Gebru Tells Her Story

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/12/16

Two weeks after her forced exit, the AI ethics researcher reflects on her time at Google, how to increase corporate accountability, and the state of the AI field. We meet: Dr. Timnit Gebru Find more reporting: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/16/1014634/google-ai-ethics-lead-timnit-gebru-tells-story/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/04/1013294/google-ai-ethics-research-paper-forced-out-timnit-gebru/ Google's email to employees:

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21:04

Your Face Could Be Your Ticket

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/12/09

Face mapping and other tracking systems are changing the sports experience in the stands and on the court. In part-three of this latest series on facial recognition, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review jump on the court to unpack just how much things are changing. We meet: Donnie Scott, senior vice president of public security, IDEMIA Michael D'Auria, vice president of business development, Second Spectrum Jason Gay, sports columnist, The Wall Street Journal Rachel Goodger,

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23:25

No Face... No Service

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/12/02

Facial recognition technology is being deployed in housing projects, homeless shelters, schools, even across entire cities—usually without much fanfare or discussion. To some, this represents a critical technology for helping vulnerable communities gain access to social services. For others, it’s a flagrant invasion of privacy and human dignity. In this episode, we speak to the advocates, technologists, and dissidents dealing with the messy consequences that come when a technology that can identify

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17:13

When the Camera Turns on Police

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/11/18

Moves have been made to restrict the use of facial recognition across the globe. In part one of this series on face ID, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore the unexpected ways the technology is being used, including how the technology is being turned on police. We meet: Christopher Howell, data scientist and protester. Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Tate Ryan-Mosley and Emma Cillekens, and Karen Hao. We’re edited by Michael Reilly

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24:23

Encore: What Happens in Vegas… Is Captured on Camera

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/11/04

The use of facial recognition by police has come under a lot of scrutiny. In part three of our four-part series on face ID, host Jennifer Strong takes you to Sin City, which actually has one of America’s most buttoned-up policies on when cops can capture your likeness. She also finds out why celebrities like Woody Harrelson are playing a starring role in conversations about this technology. This episode was originally published August 12, 2020. We meet: Albert Fox Cahn, Surveillance Technology

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24:30

Live: Twitter's CTO on Misinformation

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/10/29

In the second of two exclusive interviews, Technology Review’s Editor-in-Chief Gideon Lichfield sat down with Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s Chief Technology officer to discuss the rise of misinformation on the social media platform. Agrawal discusses some of the measures the company has taken to fight back, while admitting Twitter is trying to thread a needle of mitigating harm caused by false content without becoming an arbiter of truth. This conversation is from the EmTech MIT virtual conference and

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18:37

Live: Facebook's CTO on Misinformation

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/10/29

Misinformation and social media have become inseparable from one another; as platforms like Twitter and Facebook have grown to globe-spanning size, so too has the threat posed by the spread of false content. In the midst of a volatile election season in the US and a raging global pandemic, the power of information to alter opinions and save lives (or endanger them) is on full display. In the first of two exclusive interviews with two of the tech world’s most powerful people, Technology Review’s

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8:15

What is AI? We Made This to Help.

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/10/21

Defining what is, or isn’t artificial intelligence can be tricky (or tough). So much so, even the experts get it wrong sometimes. That’s why MIT Technology Review’s Senior AI Reporter Karen Hao created a flowchart to explain it all. In this bonus content our Host Jennifer Strong and her team reimagine Hao’s reporting, gamifying it into an audio postcard of sorts. If you would like to see the original reporting

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23:53

AI Reads Human Emotions. Should It?

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/10/07

AI can read your emotional response to advertising and your facial expressions in a job interview. But if it can already do all this, what happens next? In part two of a series on emotion AI, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore the implications of how it’s used and where it’s heading in the future. We meet: Shruti Sharma, VSCO Gabi Zijderveld, Affectiva Tim VanGoethem, Harman Rohit Prasad, Amazon Meredith Whittaker, NYU's AI Now Institute Credits: This episode was

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26:17

What’s Behind a Smile

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/09/23

Researchers have spent years trying to crack the mystery of how we express our feelings. Pioneers in the field of emotion detection will tell you the problem is far from solved. But that hasn’t stopped a growing number of companies from claiming their algorithms have cracked the puzzle. In part one of a two-part series on emotion AI, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore what emotion AI is, where it is, and what it means. We meet: Rana El Kaliouby, Affectiva Lisa Feldman

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23:04

AI in the Driver’s Seat

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/09/09

Automated driving is advancing all the time, but there’s still a critical missing ingredient: trust. Host Jennifer Strong meets engineers building a new language of communication between automated vehicles and their human occupants, a crucial missing piece in the push toward a driverless future. We meet: Dr. Richard Corey and Dr. Nicholas Giudice, founders of the VEMI Lab at the University of Maine Ryan Powell, UX Design & Research at Waymo. Rashed Haq, VP of Robotics at Cruise Credits: This

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21:22

Down and Dirty with Covid Genes

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/08/26

What weird bugs did you pick up last time you rode a subway train? A global network of scientists mapping the DNA of urban microbes and using AI to look for patterns pivots to tracking covid-19. Join host Jennifer Strong as she rides along on a subway-swabbing mission and talks to scientists racing to find an existing drug that might treat the disease. We meet: Weill Cornell Medicine's Christopher Mason and David Danko BenevolentAI CEO Baroness Joanna Shields Credits: This episode was reported

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18:26

When an Algorithm Gets It Wrong

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/08/12

What happens when an algorithm gets it wrong? In the first of a four-part series on face recognition, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore the arrest of a man who was falsely accused of a crime using facial recognition. The episode also starts to unpack the complexities of this technology and introduce some thorny questions about its use. We meet: Robert and Melissa Williams Peter Fussey, University of Essex Hamid Khan, Stop LAPD Spying Coalition Credits: This episode

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20:04

Land of a Billion Faces

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/08/12

Clearview AI has built one of the most comprehensive databases of people’s faces in the world. Your picture is probably in there (our host Jennifer Strong’s was). In the second of a four-part series on facial recognition, we meet the CEO of the controversial company who tells us our future is filled with face recognition—regardless of whether it's regulated or not. We meet: Hoan Ton-That, Clearview AI Alexa Daniels-Shpall, Police Executive Research Forum Credits: This episode was reported and

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22:59

What Happens in Vegas… Is Captured on Camera

MIT Technology Review Narrated ·

2020/08/12

The use of facial recognition by police has come under a lot of scrutiny. In part-three of our series, host Jennifer Strong takes you to Sin City, which actually has one of America’s most buttoned-up policies on when cops can capture your likeness. She also finds out why celebrities like Woody Harrelson are playing a starring role in conversations about this technology. We meet: Albert Fox Cahn, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Phil Mayor, ACLU Michigan Captain Dori Koren, Las Vegas

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162 results

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