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.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 28 minutes
- Episodes
- 601
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
The FTC’s Merger Shakedown
Under a normal administration, a merger between two large advertising firms might attract the government’s interest for anti-monopoly reasons. Under this one, the Federal Trade Commission is creating…
00:24:31 |
Sun 29 Jun 2025
The Other Iran-Israel War
In addition to the three-dimensional war of bombs and missiles, Iran and Israel—and the US—are squaring off in a cyber battle. With everything from water infrastructure to banking connected to the in…
00:24:29 |
Fri 27 Jun 2025
Airlines Are Selling Your Data to the Government
ARC, the data broker owned by the country’s major airlines, has been selling domestic flight data in the US to Customs and Border Protection. But in the contract, they told CBP not to reveal where th…
00:26:13 |
Sun 22 Jun 2025
We Deport. You Laugh?
The Trump administration's anti-immigration campaign has become defined by distasteful memes that gleefully portray the mass deportations being carried out across the country. It’s impossible to igno…
00:30:03 |
Fri 20 Jun 2025
Summer Travel Tips To Not Get Detained
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 Ev…
00:27:34 |
Sun 15 Jun 2025
New DOGE, New Tricks
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 chaoti…
00:27:47 |
Fri 13 Jun 2025
The Future of the Internet Hinges on Gail Slater
Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater inherited the government’s antitrust case against Google and is eager to follow it through—but likely not for the same reasons as her predecessors.
Guest: Na…
00:28:52 |
Sun 08 Jun 2025
Is Palantir Building a Data Big Brother?
One of the goals of DOGE was to get rid of the “silos” that keep government agencies from sharing freely amongst themselves efficiently and instead organize data using tools offered by companies like…
00:29:45 |
Fri 06 Jun 2025
So Long, Elon
His time in Washington was brief, but we’ll be picking up the pieces for a long time. What Elon’s exit signals for the future of DOGE, and Musk’s political career.
Guest: Kate Conger, reporter fo…
00:29:20 |
Sun 01 Jun 2025
The Drone Wars
The war between Ukraine and Russia is being fought increasingly via drone —and NATO and US military leadership is training troops for future conflicts that will pit man against machine.
Guest: Jake …
00:25:40 |
Fri 30 May 2025
Crypto's Big Win
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 Wa…
00:29:31 |
Sun 25 May 2025
Inside OpenAI's Empire
OpenAI started as a non-profit dedicated to building safe A.I. Now, they’re obsessed with building artificial general intelligence by any means necessary - even if they don’t quite know what that is.…
00:38:00 |
Fri 23 May 2025
You’ve Been Deepfaked
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 wo…
00:28:07 |
Sun 18 May 2025
The Newarkification of Flying
Aging equipment and chronically understaffed air traffic control have made flying in and out of Newark’s Liberty International Airport a delay-snarled mess. And the problems there aren’t entirely uni…
00:30:12 |
Fri 16 May 2025
Online and Pregnant
The intimate and extremely personal experience of bringing a child into this world? There’s an app for that…and forums…and so much advice…that contradicts other advice…and a surprising amount of euge…
00:34:09 |
Sun 11 May 2025
Chatbots All The Way Down
Why artificial intelligence isn’t waiting for consumer demand.
Guest: Gerrit De Vynck, tech reporter for The Washington Post.
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free list…
00:26:07 |
Fri 09 May 2025
How Elon Wields Power
What is it about the way that Elon Musk wields power that led 65 percent of Americans to agree he has too much influence on the federal government?
Guest: Faiz Siddiqui, Washington Post tech repor…
00:34:24 |
Sun 04 May 2025
Marc Andreessen’s New Deal
What drove Marc Andreessen’s transformation into a political actor, and what is he looking for from having Washington in his thrall?
Guest: Zoe Schiffer, WIRED journalist covering business and Silic…
00:25:42 |
Fri 02 May 2025
Death of the Weather Forecast?
The Trump administration has already begun cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the U.S. National Weather Service. What’s the advantage to understanding the wea…
00:26:41 |
Sun 27 Apr 2025
The Immigration Data Dragnet
One of DOGE’s goals is to get government data out of “silos” and make it more easily shared across departments. But there are good reasons for some data to be kept apart.
Guest: Vittoria Elliot, WI…
00:28:47 |
Fri 25 Apr 2025
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