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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.

technology tech news

All Episodes

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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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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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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30:03

Is Elon Musk Unstoppable?

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

2025/02/07

You can’t doubt the enthusiasm of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. You can question the legality of some of their early moves. 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 now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast

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28:57

The DeepSeek Panic

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

2025/02/02

The artificial intelligence industry was thrown for a loop when the Chinese start-up DeepSeek rolled out a product that was more energy efficient, cheaper to produce, and open source. Where did DeepSeek come from, and are Silicon Valley and Washington right to be panicking? Guest: Zeyi Yang, 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

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6:28

Bonus: The Discourse | The Bro-ligarchs Take Washington

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

2025/01/24

Choice seats for Donald Trump’s second inauguration were filled with tech founders and CEOs, signaling their importance to this presidential term. Then Elon Musk sent another signal of his own… Guest: Nitish Pahwa, staff writer for business and tech at Slate. 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

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25:46

As Fires Approached LA, Angelenos Turned to Watch Duty

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

2025/01/19

Looking for up-to-the-minute updates on where the fires are, LA residents have been turning to the app Watch Duty, rather than getting updates directly from the local or state government, or even local media.Guests: David Merritt, cofounder and CTO of Watch Duty Alyssa Jeong Perry, LA-based producer for Slate. 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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30:58

The Cost of Suicide Prevention Software

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

2024/12/29

Between a third and half of American schoolchildren have a form of “mental health monitoring” software on their school devices, which scans for and flags certain keywords. While intuitively appealing, is it worth the false positives, privacy issues, and compromised trust? Guest: Ellen Barry, mental health reporter for the New York Times. 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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27:17

2024 In Review: Would You Buy Poop On the Internet?

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

2024/12/27

“Fecal microbial transplants” treat someone’s unhealthy gut with poop from someone else’s healthy gut, and proponents of FMT claim it can help treat everything from IBS to autism. But if your doctor isn’t ready to fill you up with someone else’s poop, the internet will happily oblige. Guest: Luke Winkie, Slate staff writer who published “The Poop Broker.” 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

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464 results

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