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PODCAST

Explain to Shane

Technology has become increasingly important to policy debates, but these debates won’t be productive without an understanding of how the technology in question works. AEI Visiting Fellow Shane Tews interviews tech industry experts to explain how the apps, services, and structures of today"s information technology systems work, and how they shape our social and economic life.

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All Episodes

23:28

What Has Been Done to Address Online Lag? (with Jason...

Explain to Shane ·

2024/03/13

While the internet has improved monumentally since its early days of bandwidth restrictions and dial-up, customers are more demanding of the network and have little patience for latency on any of their devices. What causes these interruptions to our usually consistent high-speed streams? Latency, or lag.On today’s episode of Explain to Shane, Comcast's Vice President for Technology Policy, Products, and Standards, Jason Livingood, dives into what is being done to solve this challenge. Jason has

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21:13

What Do the EU’s Tech Regulations Mean for the US?...

Explain to Shane ·

2024/02/29

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is an ambitious attempt to constrain the immense power of Big Tech. But in an interconnected world, regulations made in Europe ripple out to the US and beyond. What do stricter rules in Europe mean for the US’s tech sector? How will new regulations impact American data protection? Will the DMA hurt innovation?Today, I am joined by James Lewis. James is the Senior Vice President, Pritzker Chair, and director of the Center for Strategic and International

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31:33

Inside the Challenge against Phone Spam (with Dave...

Explain to Shane ·

2024/02/14

Unwanted calls and messages have become a major nuisance in the digital age. Regulators have scrambled to address rising complaints about these unwanted intrusions, but the persistence of fraudulent communications has undermined consumer faith in our telecommunications infrastructure. Why do these issues persist? And in today’s complex digital landscape, how are regulators and policymakers working to balance privacy, consumer trust, and fraud prevention?Today’s guest, Dave Stewart, works to address

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28:49

Making Sense of Music Streaming

Explain to Shane ·

2024/01/31

When Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify in 2014, she shone a spotlight on an issue that persists in the music industry today: artist must jump through major hoops to be compensated for their music that is played across multiple platforms. Nine years later, the economics are still challenging for artists to receive payment for their work. Artists earn some royalties from streaming services and receive no compensation when their music is played on traditional AM or FM radio due to old

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38:23

Beyond Bitcoin (with Yuval Rooz)

Explain to Shane ·

2024/01/18

Cryptocurrency is transforming finance before our eyes, using technology to put control over money and transactions back into the hands of users. With the potential to enable faster, cheaper, and more transparent transfers, cryptocurrency infrastructure lays the foundation for new avenues of innovation - from self-executing smart contracts to greater privacy and financial digitization. However, for many outside the industry, cryptocurrency remains veiled in confusion. Today’s guest, Yuval Rooz, is

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33:47

Candidates, Bots, and Ballots: How AI is Rewriting...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/11/20

Generative AI poses new challenges for political campaigning and our democracy as we head towards the 2024 presidential election. While this technology could streamline political messaging, there is greater fear that it could enable widespread manipulation and distortion of the democratic process. Heading into a contentious election, how can we assess and mitigate harms from AI-generated disinformation? How will the use of generative AI be different than prior “cheap fake” attempts? How should

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26:34

Quantum: Computing’s Next Innovation Wave (with Alan...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/11/06

Quantum computing has the potential to radically advance ourability to solve complex problems, transforming entire industries from drugdiscovery to cybersecurity. But, how does quantum computing really work? What problems can it helppeople and businesses solve? And how does it play into the US’s larger nationalstrategic goals?Our guest today is deeply entrenched in the development of quantumedge computing, which allows quantum computer deployment closer to where thedata is generated and processed

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31:03

The Paperless Revolution with Scott Wyatt

Explain to Shane ·

2023/10/24

Paperwork and manual forms are still the norm for most industries today, but this outdated process is begging for a digital overhaul. Emerging software solutions can fully digitize documents and forms using advanced source code technology, providing pathways to ease information flows. Can this technology revolutionize the way businesses and governments tackle administrative tasks? How can the digital transformation of traditionally paper-based processes enhance consumers' experiences across

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31:47

Securing Your Digital Life in an Age of Hacks (with...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/10/02

As we adopt technology at every level of our lives, these technological advancements can also open the door to more cyber risks. The increasing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks are a threat to government agencies, private companies, and individual users alike. Given the interconnectedness of our digital economy, how can public users and companies take steps to protect themselves from cybercriminals? What steps can we take to guard our data from criminals? And can we identify

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35:51

Privacy, Data, National Security and the Principals...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/09/18

Recent developments in transatlantic data sharing agreements serve as a baseline for the importance of cooperation between countries in the digital age. From the new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (TDPF) to the cybersecurity proposals before the United Nation, there are both areas of agreement and concern.To walk through some of the recent global protocols, Shane spoke with Sujit Raman about his expertise in data protection, national security, and negotiating legal agreements on behalf of the

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29:05

Can We Future-Proof AI? (with Rob Reich)

Explain to Shane ·

2023/09/06

The explosion of large language models (LLMs) into the public sphere in 2023 here in Washington has raised many questions on how much artificial intelligence (AI) should be under the direct scrutiny of the government. Should we proceed with as much caution as Europe? Will AI as we know it today become misaligned with our interests? AI should lead us towards the next economic boom, but will the involvement of the government hasten or inhibit that?To sift through some of these deeper policy questions,

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32:55

Uncertainty & Technology: The Adaptability Imperative...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/08/22

In this live episode of Explain to Shane, Shane wraps up her discussion with AEI Senior Fellow Brent Orrell on generative artificial intelligence tools and automation’s relationship to in-demand skills in the labor market. The two scholars get at the heart of how we should view automation and the imperative that it places on our institutions—and ourselves. The crowd—the 2023 AEI Summer Honors Program student cohort—also has a chance to ask questions since they will soon be embarking on their own

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35:27

Uncertainty & Technology: The Adaptability Imperative...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/08/09

In this live episode of Explain to Shane, Shane joins AEI Senior Fellow Brent Orrell on the stage to discuss how the latest advancements in automation through large language models (LLMs) are accelerating discussions around what skills are the most valuable in the labor market. The crowd has a vested interest in their insights—the 2023 AEI Summer Honors Program student cohort—but their conversation is enlightening for the broader tech policy crowd too. In Part I of this two-part episode, Shane and

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25:44

From Serving to the Server: How Sandboxx Is Changing...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/07/11

In this episode of Explain to Shane, Shane walks through Sandboxx, the digital platform designed by veterans and service members to help connect the military community with secure tools. Sandboxx’s co-founder and CEO, Sam Meek explains how this groundbreaking platform, inspired by Sam's experiences in the US Marine Corps, is enabling a support system for the military community that uses today’s technology. The app has emerged as a critical resource for most of the active military and has sent over

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32:56

Unpacking Misconceptions in Tech Antitrust (with...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/06/27

The recent neo-Brandeisian tack in antitrust policy has kicked up a lot of dust, obscuring much of the evidence that pokes holes in a more aggressive Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under Lina Khan. Is big really bad, though, when it comes to technology antitrust policy? Join us in this episode of Explain to Shane as we explore this pressing question and more with our guest, Daniel Francis.Daniel is a faculty member at NYU School of Law and a leading legal expert in antitrust policy given his

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29:32

From Pixels to Prosperity: Navigating Legal Frontiers...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/06/13

It is clear that African nations are gearing up for a major leap forward in economic growth thanks to recent technological innovations in artificial intelligence and enhanced availability of technology tools to individuals. The African Development Bank anticipates an average of 4 percent real GDP growth in 2023 and 2024. How are legal frameworks keeping pace with that growth, especially regarding disruptive technology?In this episode of Explain to Shane, Shane interviews Susan "Guya" Obunga Otieno,

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36:33

The Promise and Peril of AI in the Music Industry...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/05/30

This year has witnessed some extremely impressive breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence models, with OpenAI releasing GPT-4, Google with its Bard LLM, and many more competitors. But what might be less well-known is that there’s a whole class of music-making AI software rising, and it’s creating everything from symphonies to viral rap collaborations between Drake and the Weeknd. Some impressive, and some outright bad, the music industry is preparing to have another “Napster moment.”

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30:02

The Importance of Spectrum Harmonization (with Roger...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/05/16

Throughout the Biden administration and this Congress, spectrum has been a priority for nearly everyone else in the world—except for us. We’re currently 378 megahertz behind other countries on mid-band spectrum, a vital resource for 5G communications quality. Spectrum isn’t anything we can see or touch, yet it’s all around us. However it is perhaps the most important infrastructure for our modern age as more and more tech communicates wirelessly. It is also a finite resource, which makes changes to

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19:51

A Network of Networks: Modularity in Internet...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/05/02

Two of the long-tail fears surrounding the future of the internet are the danger of creating either an internet controlled by the hands of the few and powerful at a global scale or what’s known as the “splinternet”—the cabining off of nation-states’ networks from the mainstream due to censorship, technological change, or commercial fragmentation. Susan Ness sees something that lies between those poles. As a former FCC commissioner, Ness has extensive insight into the national and international

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37:42

One World, Two Webs: Can We Make A More Secure...

Explain to Shane ·

2023/04/18

Unauthorized network access was the most common cause of third-party cyber attacks in 2022. This includes ransomware and phishing attacks that created internal network compromises that were responsible for 40 percent of third-party cybersecurity breaches. Are we really heading toward a more secure internet? Protection from cybersecurity scams needs more security by design and an ability to give more tools to consumers for better privacy and security control.To get at the heart of some of these

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