Coming soon: Will AI ever make any money?

Coming soon: Will AI ever make any money?

Author: Financial Times February 7, 2025 Duration: 0:46

Generative AI is impressive, but can it be profitable? Since the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, Silicon Valley investors and tech giants have poured billions into developing generative AI models and tools. But when will it start generating returns? The FT’s artificial intelligence editor Madhumita Murgia investigates efforts to develop a ‘killer app’ for AI, the use of AI in the workplace, and asks if some of the most highly valued AI companies in Silicon Valley are getting it all wrong.


Free to read:


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This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Madhumita Murgia, and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. Edwin Lane is the senior producer and Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner, Samantha Giovinco and Joe Salcedo, with original music from 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
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…
The quantum revolution: Live at Founders Forum [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:47
A bonus episode to go with our Quantum Revolution season. The FT’s John Thornhill and Madhumita Murgia host a panel of experts at the Founders Forum conference, discussing the promise of quantum computing and the state o…
Introducing: The Russian Banker [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:44
Who is Sergei Leontiev? To the US asylum system, he’s an exiled Russian banker who was persecuted by the state and forced to flee. To Russia, he’s said to be responsible for massive fraud. On The Russian Banker, a new se…
Peak social media: The future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:17
In the final episode of this Tech Tonic season, FT correspondents weigh in on the trends that will determine the future of social media. From Meta’s Threads to artificial intelligence, we ask how platforms will look and…
Peak social media: Building better platforms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:00
Can we get rid of the bad bits of social media and keep the good? Is it possible to create a more positive social media experience than the one we get from the platforms that dominate the landscape today? In this episode…
Peak social media: The power of influencers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:42
Social media today is less about making friends and more about following popular content creators. While those creators are starting to hold some power over the platforms themselves, they’re also looking to become less r…
Peak social media: The debate over young users’ mental health [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:13
There’s a growing feeling that social media is bad for us: bad for society and bad for our wellbeing. That trend has culminated in a new wave of legislation in the United States aiming to address social media’s impact on…
Peak social media: The ads machine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:05
Mark Zuckerberg used advertising to turn Facebook into the first global social media giant, boasting 3bn users around the world. But today there are questions about the business model that has powered it for the past 15…