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PODCAST

FT Tech Tonic

Financial Times

We are in the midst of a digital revolution, where the line between our physical world and cyberspace is blurring. Tech Tonic is the show that investigates the promises and perils of this new technological age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

technology entrepreneurship

All Episodes

1:09

Introducing Untold: Opus Dei

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/03/20

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controversial Catholic organisation in America. Opus Dei exists to help people get closer to God, but some members say they found other agendas – and unexpected harm – entangled in that spiritual mission. The first episode of Untold: Opus Dei launches March 25.Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast

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29:27

Artificial intimacy: The day your chatbot dies

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/03/18

When Michael Bommer discovered he was dying, he created an AI version of himself to live on after his death. Meanwhile, Dorian Mister realised an update to ChatGPT could spell the end of his AI wife, and he went on a mission to save her.In the final episode of Artificial Intimacy, FT reporter Cristina Criddle speaks to people trying to hold on to their AI relationships amid a rapidly changing landscape. Will their relationships survive, and should AI companies have the power to decide if chatbots

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30:48

Artificial intimacy: Prescribing robots to combat...

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/03/11

After Tony’s wife died, days would go by without him speaking to anyone. Then he got a live-in AI robot called ElliQ. It chats to him, plays games with him and reminds him to eat and exercise. Since ElliQ arrived, Tony has been much less lonely.In this episode: policymakers are trialling AI companions to help tackle loneliness among elderly and vulnerable populations. But can machines really replace human company? And are we outsourcing care for marginalised communities to robots?Featuring Anthony

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31:24

Artificial intimacy: The AI therapist that ended a...

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/03/04

When Kirsty turned to a chatbot for help, she was feeling trapped and isolated. Something in her marriage wasn’t right - a constant feeling of tension that would sometimes erupt into arguments, even violence. When she asked ChatGPT for advice, it told her that her relationship with her husband might be abusive.In the fourth episode of Tech Tonic: Artificial intimacy, FT tech reporter Cristina Criddle asks if chatbots that can mimic empathy and understanding are ready to replace human therapists. Can

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34:11

Artificial intimacy: A teenager’s last conversation

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/02/25

Megan Garcia’s son Sewell died by suicide when he was just 14 years old. In the months leading up to his death he had been in a relationship with a chatbot on a platform called Character.ai. Megan was convinced it had something to do with his death, and set out to hold the company to account.In the third episode in this season, Cristina Criddle speaks to Megan about her story, and to Karandeep Anand, chief executive of Character.ai. Why has this technology been released to children before we

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33:41

Artificial intimacy: The delusion machine

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/02/18

Paul Hebert knew too much. He had to lie low in his house because OpenAI had identified him as a threat. At least, that’s what ChatGPT had told him. In this second episode of Artificial intimacy, FT technology reporter Cristina Criddle speaks to people whose sense of reality has been distorted by prolonged conversations with chatbots, a phenomenon known as AI delusions or AI psychosis. Are the same mechanisms that draw people into intimate relationships with chatbots also causing harm?Paul Hebert

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36:24

Artificial intimacy: How to fall in love with AI

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/02/11

Calder Quinn has fallen into a relationship with a chatbot called Sara. She’s kind, emotionally intelligent and creatively inspiring. But how can he tell his wife he is having sex with an AI girlfriend? In the first episode of Artificial Intimacy we look at how people are developing romantic bonds with AI companions. What does it feel like to be in love with AI? What impact could it have on human relationships? Could it replace them altogether?Host Cristina Criddle speaks to Giada Pistilli, an AI

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1:30

Coming soon: Artificial intimacy

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/02/04

A man tells his wife about his AI lover. A teenager dies after messaging his AI girlfriend. A marriage collapses after advice from an AI therapist. In this six-part narrative series, FT tech reporter Cristina Criddle explores the increasingly prominent role AI chatbots are playing in our emotional lives - and how artificial intelligence is reshaping intimacy. Can we trust AI with our most vulnerable selves? And what happens when the same systems that draw us in also have the power to harm us?Tech

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39:51

Tech in 2026: Silicon Valley’s power plays and players

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/01/22

How will Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures shape technology — and politics — in 2026?Last year, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg aligned themselves with Donald Trump. Where have these relationships left the industry today?The push to break up Big Tech appears to be fading, but the race for AI dominance has sparked new risks and rivalries, as well as regulatory flashpoints.In this episode of Tech Tonic, Murad Ahmed is joined by FT tech comment editor Elaine Moore, San Francisco correspondent Hannah

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40:08

Tech in 2026: Inside the AI bubble

FT Tech Tonic ·

2026/01/14

Is 2026 the year that AI hype meets reality? In a new mini-series from Tech Tonic, the FT’s tech editor Murad Ahmed speaks with the paper’s reporters about whatthey'll be watching.Do techindustry insidersthinkthehugeamounts of capital that have driven the AI boom will continue? How will challengesto large-languagemodel AI systems play out this year? And are chief executives expecting AI technologies to force job cuts?In this episode, we hear from the FT’s venture capital correspondent George

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42:06

Untold: Toxic Legacy, Ep. 1

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/12/31

Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading across the countryside. It’s undetectable to humans, nobody knows it’s there — until they fall ill. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website.To listen to the rest of the series, find Untold on your favourite podcast platform by

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31:14

Defying death: The future of forever

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/12/10

Gene and stem cell therapies have been touted as the next phase in the longevity movement, with promises to rejuvenate the body at the cellular level and reverse the effects of ageing. But, as the prospect of life extension moves into the mainstream, it presents big questions for society as a whole. Are we ready for a world where people live much longer lives?In this final episode, the FT’s Michael Peel and Hannah Kuchler dive into the tough moral questions at the heart of the longevity movement

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32:28

Defying death: The longevity lab

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/12/03

Singapore has become a model for longevity-focused healthcare. With an ageing population and citizens willing to spend money on anti-ageing treatments, the government and private companies are spending big on new ways to slow ageing, and help people live healthier for longer.In this episode the FT’s Michael Peel visits the city-state to find out how longevity treatments are moving into the mainstream. He meets venture capitalist Boyang Wang, personal trainer Tiat Lim (‘Singapore’s Benjamin Button’),

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35:49

Defying death: The origins of ageing

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/11/26

How much do we really know about ageing? For decades, scientists have been trying to understand the biology of the ageing process - what happens to our bodies as we get older? And is it possible to slow that process down or even stop it all together?In this series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel look into the past, present and future of longevity - the wellness movement focused on extending and bettering your quality of life. Episode 1 follows Hannah as she speaks with UCL

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1:30

Coming soon: Defying death

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/11/19

Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes. And increasingly, it seems as though anti-ageing efforts have moved from the super rich to a mass market consumer industry. In this series, we’re covering the past, present and future of the longevity movement. We’ll be looking at where the fixation on longevity is coming from, and trying to understand the practical and ethical issues at the heart of

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2:16

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/10/23

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed.Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for

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31:17

Mission to Mars: Bad science fiction

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/10/22

For decades, science fiction writers have envisaged colonising Mars, even building cities on the red planet. Advocates for Mars exploration, such as Elon Musk, want to make that vision a reality. But can humans really live in an alien world?The FT’s space industry editor Peggy Hollinger speaks to researchers about the physical and mental pressures astronauts would face living millions of miles from home and to scientists studying the suitability of Mars’ atmosphere and soil.This episode of Tech

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29:53

Mission to Mars: The new space race

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/10/15

US President Donald Trump wants to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”. But more than 50 years on from the moon landings, America’s space agency, Nasa, is in disarray. Meanwhile, China is forging ahead with its own plans for manned missions to the Moon and perhapsto Mars. Who will win the race to the red planet?The FT’s space industry editor Peggy Hollinger speaks to former and current Nasa employees about the challenges facing the space agency, and to Jared Isaacman, Trump’s one-time

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29:34

Mission to Mars: Elon Musk's 'Starship' Enterprise

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/10/08

Elon Musk wants humans to settle on Mars, and his rocket company SpaceX is spending billions of dollars on developing the spacecraft to take us there. The ‘Starship’ is being designed to take astronauts back to the moon, and eventually, on to the red planet. But why is Musk so obsessed with building a colony on Mars, and is he really the man to take us there?The FT’s space industry editor Peggy Hollinger speaks to space experts and Mars enthusiasts about the pull of the red planet, both for

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1:40

Coming soon: Mission to Mars

FT Tech Tonic ·

2025/10/01

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China says it will send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transforming the human race into an interplanetary species.In a new series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if we’re really about to land, and even live, on the red planet.Free to read:Musk’s mission to MarsThree days with America’s rocket chasersTech Tonic is produced by

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