Coming soon: Peak social media

Coming soon: Peak social media

Author: Financial Times June 23, 2023 Duration: 0:57

Social media platforms have defined our experience of the internet for nearly two decades. But as host Elaine Moore, deputy editor of the FT’s Lex column, outlines in this new six-part season of Tech Tonic, there are signs of trouble. User growth at some of the biggest platforms is slowing down, privacy changes are making it harder to make money and data scandals and disinformation mean platforms have lost some of the trust of their users. Meanwhile, younger users call Instagram cringeworthy and say Facebook is for boomers, TikTok has been threatened with bans and new apps such as Clubhouse fall out of fashion as quickly as they arrive. So what does the future hold for social media? New episodes land every Tuesday, starting June 27.


Presented by Elaine Moore. Produced by Edwin Lane and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.


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From the Financial Times, FT Tech Tonic steps beyond the breathless headlines and gadget launches to explore how technology is fundamentally reshaping our lives, economies, and social structures. This isn't just a series about the latest app; it's a deep, considered examination of the forces driving the digital age and their often unintended consequences. Each episode grapples with the complex interplay between innovation and its real-world impact, drawing on the FT's global reporting expertise to provide clarity and context. You'll hear conversations that dissect the power dynamics in Silicon Valley, investigate the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence, and explore how entrepreneurship is being redefined across different cultures. The podcast digs into the substance behind the hype, asking whether emerging technologies truly deliver on their promise to improve society or if they introduce new perils we are only beginning to understand. By weaving together threads from technology, business, and culture, the discussions offer a nuanced perspective that challenges simplistic narratives. Tune in for thoughtful analysis that connects the dots between boardroom strategies, algorithmic biases, and the everyday experiences that define our increasingly connected world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

FT Tech Tonic
Podcast Episodes
Superintelligent AI: Conscious Machines [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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As the race to human-level AI accelerates, researchers are increasingly confronted with the question of what it would mean to develop conscious AI. Will sentience emerge naturally from powerfully intelligent artificial s…
Superintelligent AI: Transhumanism etc. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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What are the ideas driving the pursuit of human-level AI? In the penultimate episode of this Tech Tonic series, hosts Madhumita Murgia and John Thornhill look at some of the futuristic objectives that are at the centre o…
Superintelligent AI: can chatbots think? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Superintelligent AI: The Utopians [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:48
If even AI companies are fretting about the existential threat that human-level AI poses, why are they building these machines in the first place? And as they press ahead, a debate is raging about how we regulate this em…
Superintelligent AI: The Doomers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:47
In the first episode of a new, five-part series of Tech Tonic, FT journalists Madhumita Murgia and John Thornhill ask how close we are to building human-level artificial intelligence and whether ‘superintelligent’ AI pos…
Coming soon: Superintelligent AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:10
In a new series of Tech Tonic, FT journalists Madhumita Murgia and John Thornhill look at the concerns around the rise of artificial intelligence. Will superintelligent AI bring existential risk, or a new renaissance? Wo…
Can AI help us speak to animals? Part two [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:50
A hardware revolution in recording devices and a software revolution in artificial intelligence has convinced some scientists that humans will eventually be able to ‘translate’ animal and even plant sounds into human lan…
Can AI help us speak to animals? Part one [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:12
A hardware revolution in recording devices and a software revolution in artificial intelligence is enabling researchers to listen in to all kinds of conversations outside the human hearing range, a field known as bioacou…
Can AI help us speak to animals? Karen Bakker interview [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:42
The Canadian scientist and author Karen Bakker, who died unexpectedly in August this year, was a leading voice in the bioacoustic research community. Her 2022 book, The Sounds of Life, explained how it might one day be p…
Coming soon: Can AI help us speak to animals? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09
Some scientists believe that rapid advances in artificial intelligence may also hold the key to decoding animal sounds, allowing us to ‘translate’ them into human language. In a new season of Tech Tonic, FT innovation ed…