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PODCAST

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

technology tech news,

All Episodes

24:46

The Right’s Minneapolis Outrage Machine

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2026/01/23

The administration’s justification for their actions in Minneapolis owe a lot to the right-wing influencers—and they seem happy to keep this vicious cycle rolling onto California next.Guest: Will Sommer, journalist for the Bulwark.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to

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35:03

How and Why to Vaccinate Now

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2026/01/16

Where do you turn for vaccination advice for your kids—or yourself—when the government’s own recommendations can’t be trusted anymore?Guest: Dr. Lauren Hughes, board-certified pediatrician, science communicator, and author of “The Public Hughesletter.”Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at

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33:48

How Grok Filled X With Deepfake Porn

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2026/01/11

To kick off the new year, users on X have been asking Grok to nudify people - and kids - at an astonishing rate. And X leadership is egging them on.Guest: Jason Koebler, founder of 404 Media and host of the 404 Media PodcastWant more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get

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24:28

Whole Shopping List

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/12/14

Whole Foods based its brand on a certain standard of quality—but there are some things that shoppers nevertheless want. Amazon believes it has found a way to keep the shelves looking like Whole Foods, while getting you the Tide PODS and Cheez-Its you deeply desire.Guest: Peyton Bigora, staff reporter for Grocery Dive Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by

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30:53

Why Trump Keeps Pardoning Crypto Criminals

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/11/02

President Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance who had been convicted for violating anti-money laundering laws, after months of Zhao boosting Trump’s own crypto company. The crypto industry has really nailed the path to Trump’s heart: it was something Joe Biden didn’t like, and it feeds directly to the president’s bottom line. Guest: Alex Kirshner, contributing writer at Slate. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next

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21:02

Why Bands Are Leaving Spotify

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/10/19

Paying a fraction of a penny per stream and diminishing the value of music were bad enough for Xiu Xiu, but when Spotify owner Daniel Ek announced an investment in a German defense contractor, they decided it was time to take the music back.Guest: Jamie Stewart, musician in the band Xiu Xiu. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at

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28:40

Who Owns TikTok Now?

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/10/03

TikTok exploded to popularity not by giving users what they asked for—but by figuring out what users really were interested in, and serving that. What happens to this algorithm if Bytedance cedes control of it to the U.S.? Guest: Emily Baker White, senior writer at Forbes and the author of Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe

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26:45

Trump Dips into NVIDIA’s Chips

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/08/15

Jensen Huang, cofounder of NVIDIA, finds himself president of a $4 trillion company, at the forefront of A.I. technology, and, consequently, something of an international diplomat, as he charms President Trump and negotiates to sell his powerful chips to China. Guest: Amrith Ramkumar, reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Washington covering tech and crypto policy. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite

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28:57

What Happened After Meta Fired Its Fact-Checkers

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/08/08

In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was moving from employing professional fact-checkers to letting its users fact-check each other. If you’ve heard that it’s going perfectly, then you, too, have been exposed to misinformation.Guest: Geoffrey Fowler, tech columnist with the Washington Post Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try

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24:04

Summer Travel Tips To Not Get Detained

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/06/15

A guide to keeping your phone, and your digital life, safe when you’re crossing the border.Guest: Lily Hay Newman, senior writer for WIRED covering information security. Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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24:17

New DOGE, New Tricks

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/06/13

Elon Musk has ridden off into the sunset acrimoniously (maybe), but the Department of Government Efficiency is just getting started. Will DOGE continue wildly cutting or is something even more chaotic coming next? Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer at WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up

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32:31

Crypto's Big Win

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/05/25

The crypto industry poured tons of money into the last election cycle. Is the GENIUS Act, which has bipartisan support, their big payoff?Guest: Hilary Allen, professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get

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31:07

You’ve Been Deepfaked

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/05/18

What do you do when your likeness has been turned into A.I.-generated pornography?—it’s a problem people are already facing. But legislation moving through Congress may cause more problems than it would solve.Guests: Joanne Chew, actress and visual artist based in LA. Samantha Cole, cofounder of 404 media and author of “How Sex Changed the Internet and How the Internet Changed Sex.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and

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24:37

You’ve Been Deepfaked

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/05/18

What do you do when your likeness has been turned into A.I.-generated pornography?—it’s a problem people are already facing. But legislation moving through Congress may cause more problems than it would solve.Guests:Joanne Chew, actress and visual artist based in LA.Samantha Cole, cofounder of 404 media and author of “How Sex Changed the Internet and How the Internet Changed Sex.”Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your

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28:35

This Is Your Brain On Ketamine

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/03/30

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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22:05

This Is Your Brain On Ketamine

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/03/30

Ketamine has gone from a recreational psychedelic to an approved treatment, and it has caught on in Silicon Valley in a big way. Are the long-term effects of using ketamine—recreationally or therapeutically—sufficiently known? Are we witnessing them right now?Guest: Shayla Love, staff writer for the Atlantic.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking

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32:21

Bezos 2.0

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/03/23

During his first term, President Trump and Jeff Bezos openly sparred with each other. During this second administration, though, it seems like Bezos is trying to endear himself - and his companies - to the White House. So what changed?Guest: Dana Mattioli, reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power. Special thanks to David Maraniss. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access

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25:24

Cracking the Egg Crisis

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/03/02

Everyone’s talking about the price of eggs—so why are they so expensive? And when can we expect—if ever—the price to come back down?Guests: Dr. Jada Thompson, associate professor at the University of Arkansas Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever

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30:07

Can You Pay Attention, Please?

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/02/16

The infinite scroll has no purpose other than keeping your attention. But that doesn’t mean it’s value-neutral.Guest: Chris Hayes, MSNBC news anchor and author of “The Siren's Call: How Attention Became The World's Most Endangered Resource.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at

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6:59

Bonus: The Discourse | Why is Elon Musk Cheating at...

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future ·

2025/02/07

Elon Musk is supposed to be running several companies and a new government department—so why is he also spending money to pretend to be good at video games?Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter for the Washington Post. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next TBD—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show

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699 results

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