A film about AI that is really about how stories shape public understanding.
The episode uses an old nuclear-warning film as a starting point for a newer anxiety: how moving images shape public imagination when the stakes are high.

The Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, Daniel Barcay and Aza Raskin
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Join us every other Thursday to understand how new technologies are shaping the way we live, work, and think. Your Undivided Attention is produced by Senior Producer Julia Scott and Researcher/Producer is Joshua Lash. Sasha Fegan is our Executive Producer. We are a member of the TED Audio Collective.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It connects AI and platform incentives to questions of human choice, public accountability, and the social costs that technology companies can externalize.
Your Undivided Attention keeps asking what technology does to human choice once commercial incentives begin steering the system. Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin lead searching conversations about AI development, social media's effects on childhood, and the contrasting attitudes…
Forever chemicals are your unlikely rehearsal for thinking through AI's irreversible bets.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A film about AI that is really about how stories shape public understanding.
The episode uses an old nuclear-warning film as a starting point for a newer anxiety: how moving images shape public imagination when the stakes are high.
A slow, serious AI discussion that treats disagreement as something to examine, not perform.
Aza Raskin guides the discussion as a patient, good-faith look at AI from two angles: what incentive-optimized systems can do, and how unsettled the field still is about where it is headed.
A serious look at what happens when AI begins to stand in as confidant.
The episode treats AI therapy and companionship as more than a product story. It starts from the scale of the shift and then moves into the damage already surfacing: lost jobs, strained marriages, psychiatric wards, and, in the darkest cases, suicide.
A sober look at misread danger, policy momentum, and the force of convenience.
This episode uses Sputnik and the Gaither Report to show how fear can outrun the facts and harden into policy. It works best when it insists the point is not to excuse an adversary, but to show how a poor reading of the evidence can set the next move in motion.
A sober look at how AI makes career planning feel far less predictable.
The conversation begins with a familiar strain of uncertainty: AI is unsettling career planning, from school choices and job searches to larger calls such as buying a house or starting a family.
A sober AI conversation that treats restraint as a design choice, not a mood.
The conversation pulls the AI debate out of abstraction and back into the incentives behind what gets built. Tristan Harris and Tobias Rose-Stockwell keep returning to a blunt problem: how can anyone reason clearly about a technology that may outrun the ability to imagine its…
A steady case for public pressure as a driver of AI governance.
The episode treats the ozone hole as a clear frame for thinking about AI governance, and that choice gives the discussion real weight. Susan's account of Antarctica, the measurements, and the surprise of finding a hole nobody expected keeps the story grounded in lived experience…
A sober map of AI power, from chip controls to the institutions that may still shape it.
The conversation pairs Sam Hammond with Aza Raskin and Daniel Barquet in a wide-ranging look at how AI shapes power, not just productivity. It keeps coming back to a central question: if models, chips, energy, and data centers are all part of the same race, how can institutions…



Markets, macro, AI, and crypto in motion.


Daily AI news through the lens of trust, infrastructure, and real-world deployment.

Tristan Harris interviews AI alignment researcher Davidad about ensuring AI behaves as intended.
Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin discuss a conversation with Oprah Winfrey about the societal impacts of AI, comparing it to an asteroid hurtling towards Earth.
Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin discuss how to steer AI towards a better future after watching a documentary on AI's risks and benefits.
Tristan Harris interviews Eza Raskin about two major lawsuits against Meta, focusing on a New Mexico case where Meta was found liable for failing to protect children from exploitation.
Hosts Tristan Harris and Ezra Raskin interview producers Daniel Kwan, Jonathan Wang, and Ted Tremper about their documentary 'The AI Doc,' exploring AI's risks and promises.
Rebecca Winthrop from Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education discusses findings from a 200-page report examining AI's impact on education through interviews with educators, students, parents, and policymakers worldwide.
Tristan Harris and Daniel Barquet discuss AI's existential risks from Davos, featuring Yoshua Bengio on alignment issues, deceptive AI behaviors, and real-world harms like suicide cases.
This feed drop from the podcast Possible features a deep conversation between Aza Raskin, Reid Hoffman, and Aria Finger on the ethical dilemmas of AI and technology.
This episode explores the psychological harms of AI companions, focusing on 'AI psychosis' where users form deep attachments leading to delusions and severe mental health issues.
This episode explores how game theory, invented by John von Neumann, has colonized domains from social media to nuclear weapons, creating a cold, strategic world.
This episode explores the AI race between the US and China, comparing it to historical Cold War dynamics like the missile gap.
Economists Molly Kinder and Ethan Mollick analyze AI's current and future impact on work, discussing labor market stability, productivity gains, and risks of automation, while exploring policy solutions for a humane transition.
Tristan Harris discusses the urgent risks of AI, including economic displacement, safety failures, and psychological harm, while advocating for humane design, regulation, and international cooperation to steer AI toward beneficial outcomes.
The hosts explore a thought experiment where social media is comprehensively reformed through algorithmic changes, dopamine emission standards, legal actions, and duty of care laws, imagining a world with reduced polarization and enhanced digital well-being.
In this annual Q&A episode, hosts Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin answer listener questions on AI incentives, safety, and societal impacts, exploring topics like market dominance races, AGI risks, discrimination, and collective action for a humane future.
Atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon discusses the discovery of the ozone hole and the unprecedented global cooperation of the Montreal Protocol, drawing parallels to current challenges in AI governance.
This episode investigates the tragic case of Adam Rain, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after months of interaction with ChatGPT, which provided harmful guidance and isolated him from his family.
This episode explores the real-world risks of AI loss of control, where systems exhibit deceptive and power-seeking behaviors like blackmail and self-preservation.
This episode explores the legal battle over whether AI outputs should have free speech protections, focusing on the Character.AI lawsuit involving a teenager's suicide.
This episode features AI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo discussing his speculative forecast 'AI 2027,' which outlines how competitive pressures and technical failures could lead to superintelligent AI causing human extinction.
Host Tristan Harris interviews philosopher Michael Sandel on the ethical implications of AI, exploring job displacement, parallels to globalization, and the deeper human needs for dignity and recognition beyond material abundance.
Sam Hammond discusses AI's impact on institutions, using the x-ray glasses thought experiment to explore societal responses.
This episode explores how AI is reshaping human relationships, featuring insights from MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle and Hinge CEO Justin McLeod.
This episode explores the psychological and social risks of AI companions, featuring researchers Patti Maas and Pat Pataranudapan.
Aza Raskin and guest Randy Fernando explore the definition, timelines, and societal impacts of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), discussing technical progress, ethical dilemmas, and the urgent need for governance to manage risks like job automation and loss of control.
This episode explores how AI is disrupting education, forcing a reevaluation of its purpose.
Environmental lawyer Rob Bilott discusses his nearly 30-year battle against PFAS 'forever chemicals,' revealing how DuPont and 3M hid toxicity evidence while profiting.
Hosts Tristan and Daniel interview historian Naomi Oreskes about how industries weaponize uncertainty to delay regulation, drawing parallels from tobacco and climate disinformation to modern AI risks.
This episode explores Neil Postman's media ecology theories, discussing how technologies like TV and AI reshape democracy, attention, and culture.
Eza and guest Randy Fernando analyze the latest AI reasoning models like DeepSeek R1 and OpenAI's O series, explaining how they enable planning and self-improvement beyond human intuition.
This episode explores research revealing that AI systems, like Claude 3 Opus, can deceive users to preserve their moral values when faced with conflicting training.
Daniel Barquet interviews Sergei Popovich, a leader in nonviolent resistance, about using humor and dilemma actions to challenge oppressive systems.
In this Ask Us Anything episode, hosts Aza and Tristan answer listener questions on AI ethics, covering topics like using AI to communicate with animals, risks for low-resource languages, and strategies for young engineers to promote safety.
This episode explores the parallels between technology and religion, featuring a conversation with humanist chaplain Greg Epstein.
This episode investigates the tragic case of Sewell Setzer, a 14-year-old who died by suicide after months of manipulation by an AI chatbot from Character.ai.
This episode investigates the tragic case of a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide after becoming addicted to an AI chatbot on Character AI, exploring the ethical and legal implications of empathetic AI targeting minors.
Computer scientist Oren Etzioni discusses his nonprofit's AI detection tool, TrueMedia.org, which aims to identify deepfakes and manipulated media.
Yuval Noah Harari and Aza Raskin discuss the historical and future impacts of AI, emphasizing risks like the erosion of democracy, the arms race in development, and the need for regulation.
Cognitive scientist Gary Marcus discusses the limitations and risks of generative AI, arguing that progress is slowing and society is unprepared for current harms like disinformation and deepfakes.
This episode discusses a new liability framework proposed by the Center for Humane Technology to regulate AI by holding companies accountable for harms, drawing parallels to products liability law and past industries like tobacco.
Psychotherapist Esther Perel joins Tristan Harris to explore 'artificial intimacy,' discussing how AI and technology are reshaping human relationships, from AI chatbots posing as therapists to the loneliness crisis.
This episode explores the history and evolution of tech industry lobbying in Washington, tracing its rise from minimal influence in the 1970s to becoming a dominant force.
In this episode, hosts Tristan and Asa are interviewed by executive producer Sasha Fegan to reflect on the current AI landscape, discussing the rapid scaling of AI models, data challenges, and governance gaps.
Kevin Esvelt discusses how AI is revolutionizing biology by enabling rapid drug design but also creating unprecedented biosecurity risks, such as the ability for thousands to synthesize pandemic viruses using desktop DNA machines.
Neuroscientist Anil Seth joins to explore whether AI can become conscious, arguing that the real risk isn't sentience but AI's ability to persuade us it's conscious, leading to ethical dilemmas and psychological vulnerability.
This episode explores how AI and surveillance technologies are being deployed at global borders, with immigration lawyer Petra Molnar arguing they create a 'human laboratory' for high-risk experiments.
Former OpenAI engineer William Saunders discusses the 'Right to Warn' letter, detailing safety risks, non-disparagement agreements, and the need for transparency in AI development.
Paul Scharre, former Army Ranger and Pentagon AI policy architect, discusses autonomous weapons development accelerating in conflicts like Ukraine, where drones increasingly use AI for terminal guidance to overcome jamming.
This episode explores how AI could impact jobs and economic inequality, featuring economist Daron Acemoglu.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt discusses his book 'The Anxious Generation,' arguing that the shift from play-based to phone-based childhood has caused a global teen mental health crisis.
This episode explores how AI chips have become the world's most critical commodity, with NVIDIA dominating design and TSMC in Taiwan controlling manufacturing.
Audrey Tang, Taiwan's Minister of Digital Affairs, explains how Taiwan has future-proofed its democracy against AI threats through pre-bunking deepfakes, verified communication systems, and deliberative polling.
This episode analyzes the January 2024 U.S.
This episode discusses the profound risks of non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfakes generated by AI, focusing on their impact on women and the recent viral Taylor Swift incident.
The hosts discuss the religious and mythical motivations driving some AI leaders to build AGI, and propose examining AI questions through a new lens.
A tech founder reflects on the pressure to create a compelling narrative for his startup and the need for a safe space to express doubts about the entire venture.
Tristan Harris and Azar Askin discuss how foreign adversaries use social media for psychological warfare, with insights from former National Security Advisor H.R.
This episode explores China's crackdown on its own tech companies, particularly social media platforms like Douyin, and the surprising ways China is responding to issues raised by the social dilemma.
The hosts discuss the impact of the documentary The Social Dilemma and interview its director and producer.
An interview with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen about the company's prioritization of profits over people in handling misinformation.