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

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.

Episodes

Airlines Are Selling Your Data to the Government

June 22, 2025 • 29 mins
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 the data was from… why?  Guest: Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media and the co-host of the 404 Media Podcast.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your fav...
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We Deport. You Laugh?

June 20, 2025 • 33 mins
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 ignore… which is exactly what the administration wants.  Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter at 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 ...
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Summer Travel Tips To Not Get Detained

June 15, 2025 • 30 mins
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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New DOGE, New Tricks

June 13, 2025 • 30 mins
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 Po...
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The Future of the Internet Hinges on Gail Slater

June 8, 2025 • 31 mins
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:  Nancy Scola, reporter and contributing writer at POLITICO.  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 Podcast...
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Is Palantir Building a Data Big Brother?

June 6, 2025 • 32 mins
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 Palantir. The thing is, a lot of those silos are there by design, and removing them could be a nightmare for privacy advocates.  Guest: Sheera Frenkel, tech reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Sla...
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So Long, Elon

June 1, 2025 • 32 mins
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 for the New York Times covering X and other technology companies. 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 P...
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The Drone Wars

May 30, 2025 • 28 mins
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 Epstein, senior defense reporter for Business Insider. 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 b...
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Crypto's Big Win

May 25, 2025 • 32 mins
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 t...
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Inside OpenAI's Empire

May 23, 2025 • 41 mins
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.  Guest: Karen Hao, reporter and author of “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite S...
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You’ve Been Deepfaked

May 18, 2025 • 31 mins
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 Slat...
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The Newarkification of Flying

May 16, 2025 • 33 mins
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 unique. Will Congress and the Trump administration be the ones to fix it?  Guest: Will Guisbond, staff reporter covering air traffic control for The Air Current Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening...
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Online and Pregnant

May 11, 2025 • 37 mins
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 eugenics. Guest: Amanda Hess, critic at the New York Times and author of the book “Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family...
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Chatbots All The Way Down

May 9, 2025 • 29 mins
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 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. Po...
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How Elon Wields Power

May 4, 2025 • 37 mins
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 reporter and author of “Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk.” 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 ...
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Marc Andreessen’s New Deal

May 2, 2025 • 28 mins
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 Silicon Valley. 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...
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Death of the Weather Forecast?

April 27, 2025 • 29 mins
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 weather less? Guest: Daniel Swain, weather and climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next f...
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The Immigration Data Dragnet

April 25, 2025 • 31 mins
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, WIRED reporter covering platforms and power. 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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The Baby Monitor Trap

April 20, 2025 • 31 mins
If setting up a baby monitor in the room with your sleeping kids doesn’t allow you to pop out and enjoy the cruise ship, what are they actually good for? Guest: Stephanie Murray, writer for The Atlantic, the newsletter Family Stuff, who wrote “You’re on Vacation. You Leave Your Kid in Your Hotel Room With a Baby Monitor. What Could Go Wrong?” for Slate. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening ...
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The U.S. vs Meta

April 18, 2025 • 27 mins
This week, the FTC and Meta began a trial to determine if—by adding Instagram and WhatsApp to its portfolio with Facebook over a decade ago—the company became a monopoly in social media. If Meta loses, it could be forced to split up, losing Instagram—and its substantial ad revenue. Guest: Paresh Dave, senior writer at WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family...
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