We talk with Tom Williams about his upcoming book Degrees of Freedom: on Robotics and Social Justice. In the episode we discuss robotics ethics, liberty, and the history of robot racism.

In this conversation, we talk with Tomasz Hollanek discusses the concept of digital immortality, exploring its implications in the context of grief, technology, and ethics. He highlights the paradox of seeking to escape our material existence through digital means while acknowledging the material impact of technology. The discussion delves into the emergence of grief bots, the ethical considerations surrounding data donation, and the regulatory landscape for AI technologies. Hollanek emphasizes the importance of consent and the potential risks associated with these technologies, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children.

In this conversation, Casey Fiesler discusses the recent cancellation of her NSF grant focused on AI education, exploring the implications for students and the broader academic community. The discussion delves into the challenges of securing funding for research, the ideological battles surrounding misinformation, and the impact of government policies on AI education.

In this episode, we dive into the ethical, social, and political stakes of data in the age of AI with two leading voices in the field: Mary Gray, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and co-author of Ghost Work, and Morgan Klaus Scheuerman, postdoctoral researcher and expert on sociotechnical systems and fairness in AI.

In this episode, we sit down with linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna — two of the most incisive critics of mainstream AI discourse — to discuss their explosive new book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. Together, they unravel how Silicon Valley has spun powerful myths about “superintelligence,” “alignment,” and “autonomous systems” to distract from real, present-day harms.