Best Hosts Cory Hays Podcasts (2025)

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Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West 39:54

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2h ago39:54

39:54

OpenAI just secured a bizarre financial deal with Nvidia — but the math is not mathing. Is the AI sector an actual market, or a series of high-profile announcements of circular relationships between a tiny number of companies? More like this: Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now Alix sat down with Sarah Myers-West to go through the particulars of t…

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Gotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget Read 50:11

5d ago50:11

50:11

Multi-level marketing schemes have built an empire by enticing people with promises of self-realisation and economic freedom. The cost is simple: exploit and be exploited. More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman This is part two of Gotcha! Our series on scams, how they work, and how technology is super-charging them. This …

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Gotcha! The Crypto Grift w/ Mark Hays 55:33

12d ago55:33

55:33

Hey you! Do you want some free internet money? If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is! More like this: Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now This is Gotcha! A four-part series on scams, how they work, and how technology is supercharging them. We start with Mark Hays from Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), and get into one of the…

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Gotcha! 1:28

12d ago1:28

1:28

Gotcha! is a four-part series on scams, how they work, and how technology is supercharging them — running through to October 10. In the series we look at: Crypto: Mark Hays on how a thing touting financial freedom ended up being a kind of fin-cult, rife with scamming Multi-Level Marketing : Bridget Read on the history of the biggest and most succes…

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Nodestar: Turning Networks into Knowledge w/ Andrew Trask 43:15

19d ago43:15

43:15

What if you could listen to multiple people at once, and actually understand them? More like this: **The Age of Noise w/ Eryk Salvaggio** In our final instalment (for now!) of Nodestar, Andrew Trask shares his vision for a world where we can assembly understanding from data everywhere. But not in a way that requires corporate control of our world. …

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Nodestar: Building Blacksky w/ Rudy Fraser 41:46

26d ago41:46

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Social media isn’t really social anymore. But that might be changing. Rudy Fraser over at Blacksky Algorithms has built something new. He has built the infrastructure to provide a safe online space for the black community, and in the process challenges the ideas of hierarchical, centralised networks. His work — even outside the very cool developmen…

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Nodestar: The Eternal September w/ Mike Masnick 52:43

1M ago52:43

52:43

How did the internet become three companies in a trenchcoat? It wasn’t always that way! It used to be fun, and weird, and full of opportunity. To set the scene for the series, we spoke to a stalwart advocate of decentratilsation, Mike Masnick. More like this: Big Tech’s Bogus Vision for the Future w/ Paris Marx This is part one of Nodestar, a three…

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Short: UK Groups Sue To Block Data Center Expansion 13:56

1M ago13:56

13:56

Foxglove and Global Action Plan have just sued the UK government over their YOLO hyperscale data center plans. More like this: Net0++: Data Centre Sprawl Local government rejected the data center. But Starmer’s administration overruled them. They want to force the development of a water-guzzling, energy draining data center on a local community who…

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Big Tech’s Bogus Vision for the Future w/ Paris Marx 41:12

1M ago41:12

41:12

What’s the deal with Silicon Valley selling imagined futures and never delivering on them. What are the consequences of an industry all-in on AI? What if we thought more deeply than just ‘more compute’? More like this: Big Dirty Data Centres with Boxi Wu and Jenna Ruddock This week, Paris Marx (host of Tech Won’t Save Us) joined Alix to chat about …

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Consciously Uncoupling from Silicon Valley w/ Cori Crider 53:45

2M ago53:45

53:45

How do we yank power out of tech oligarch hands without handing it over to someone else? More like this: Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje Schaake Cori Crider is a fearless litigator turned market-shaping advocate. She started litigating during many years at leading human rights organisation Reprieve, and then moved on to co-founding F…

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After the FAccT: Labour and Misrepresentation 50:54

2M ago50:54

50:54

Did you miss FAccT? We interviewed some of our favourite session organisers! More like this: Part One of our FAccT roundup: Materiality and Militarisation. Georgia, Soizic, and Hanna from The Maybe team just went to FAccT. Georgia and Soizic interviewed a bunch of amazing researchers, practitioners, and artists to give you a taste of what the confe…

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Short: Musk: Reanimating Apartheid w/ Nic Dawes 14:20

2M ago14:20

14:20

In May, Grok couldn’t stop talking about white genocide. This injection of right-wing South African politics triggered a conversation with a Musk contemporary, Nic Dawes. In this short Nic shares his perspective on how post-apartheid white communities have dealt with apartheid’s end. And how Musk is basically seeking out an information environment …

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After the FAccT: Materiality and Militarisation 1:04:20

2M ago1:04:20

1:04:20

Georgia, Soizic, and Hanna from The Maybe team just went to FAccT. Georgia and Soizic interviewed a bunch of amazing researchers, practitioners, and artists to give you a taste of what the conference was like if you didn’t get to go. Alix missed it too — you’ll learn along with her! In part one we explore the depth of AI’s hidden material impacts, …

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Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now 38:08

3M ago38:08

38:08

AI Now have just released their 2025 AI Landscape report — Artificial Power. Alix sat down with two of it’s authors, Amba Kak and Sarah Myers-West for a light unpacking of the themes within. This report isn’t a boring survey of what AI Now have been doing this year; it’s a comprehensive view of the state of AI, and the concentrated powers that prop…

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Is Computer Science Made for Dudes? w/ Felienne Hermans 54:41

3M ago54:41

54:41

Felienne Hermans calls herself an ‘involuntary ethnographer of computer science’. She studies the culture behind programming, and challenges the dominant idea that learning to program has to be painful. Alix and Felienne chat about the history of programming and how it went from multidisciplinary and inclusive, to masochistic and exclusive. They al…

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The Elephant in the Algorithm: Live from ZEG Fest in Tbilisi 46:15

3M ago46:15

46:15

Smart people focused on technology politics issues get it. We trade high level helpful concepts like surveillance capitalism, automated inequality, and enshittification. And even as some of these ideas are making it more mainstream, normies aren’t getting the message. We need stories for that. But how? How do we take the technical jargon and high-l…

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Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje Schaake 37:56

3M ago37:56

37:56

There has been an intentional and systematic narrative push that tells governments they are not good enough to provide their own public infrastructure or regulate tech companies that provide it for them. Shocking: these narratives stem from large tech companies, and this represents what Marietje Schaake refers to as a Tech Coup — which is the title…

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AI in Gaza: Live from Mexico City 1:00:02

4M ago1:00:02

1:00:02

This episode contains some descriptions of torture methods, automated human targeting by machines, and psychological warfare throughout Last week Alix hosted a live show in Mexico City right after REAL ML. Four panellists discussed a huge important topic, which has been wrongfully deemed as taboo by other conferences: the use of AI and other techno…

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Logging Off w/ Adele Walton 43:57

4M ago43:57

43:57

Adele Walton’s new book *Logging Off: The Human Cost of our Digital World* is out NOW — for this week’s episode Alix sat down with her to discuss the book, and what pushed her to write it. Adele shares her experiences of using social media from age ten, and growing up only ever feeling ‘understood’ by her followers. And now, the constant ‘how can I…

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Short: Sam Altman’s World w/ Billy Perrigo 20:53

4M ago20:53

20:53

Sam Altman is doing another big infrastructure push with World (previously Worldcoin) — the universal human verification system. We had journalist Billy Perrigo on to chat what’s what with World. Is Sam Altman just providing a solution to a problem that he himself caused with OpenAI? Do we really need human verification, or is this just a way to si…

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The Collective Intelligence Project w/ Divya Siddarth and Zarinah Agnew 54:31

4M ago54:31

54:31

Most of the time we interview people who say No to AI. In this interview, Georgia and Alix talk to two people who look at AI and ask How and For What. And lots of other questions too. Divya Siddarth and Zarinah Agnew from the Collective Intelligence Project share CIP’s work using AI systems to explore more consultative democratic governance, how to…

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Net0++: Data Center Sprawl | NEW Research from The Maybe 54:09

4M ago54:09

54:09

We’re excited to finally share our report on data center expansion and resistance around the world. It’s been a labor of love, but also showcases the amazing work of many organisations, activists, and journalists around the world that are working to create space for meaningful consultation about hugely consequential decisions. Download it here. In …

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Net 0++: AI Thirst in a Water-Scarce World w/ Julie McCarthy 53:29

5M ago53:29

53:29

Last year, Elon Musk’s xAI built a data centre in Memphis in 19 days — and the local government only found out about it on the 20th day. How? Julie McCarthy and her team at NatureFinance have just released a report about the nature-related impacts of data center development globally. There are some pretty dire statistics in there: 55% of data cente…

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Short: Open AI for...Countries? w/ Marietje Schaake 13:52

5M ago13:52

13:52

This is another Computer Says Maybe short, this time with Marietje Schaake (author of The Tech Coup), to discuss OpenAI’s recent announcement: they want to partner with governments all around the world to build ‘democratic AI rails’ — sounds bad! Computer Says Maybe Shorts bring in experts to give their ten-minute take on recent news. If there’s ev…

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Short: What Just Happened to 23andMe? w/ Jenny Reardon 14:58

5M ago14:58

14:58

Personalised genotyping company 23andMe just went bankrupt — what’s gonna happen to all that genetic data? We brought back genomics professor Jenny Reardon to discuss the crushing void that was 23andMe’s business model — and that many companies like it have failed before. This is a Computer Says Maybe Short, where we bring in an expert to give thei…

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Terra Nullius: Who Owns the Skies? w/ Julia Powles 52:48

5M ago52:48

52:48

This is our second Terra Nullius episode. As a reminder this means ‘Nobody’s Land’ — an infamous legal fiction from the age of Empire. In this episode we ask: who owns the skies? We get into it with law professor Julia Powles, who shares her research and perspective on the accelerating prospect of drone delivery companies taking over the skies. Wha…

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Terra Nullius: Who Owns Outer Space? w/ Heather Allansdottir 48:57

5M ago48:57

48:57

This is our first in a series called Terra Nullius. Huh? It’s Latin for ‘Nobody’s Land’. We will be exploring how rules are made for contested territory. If a land belongs to no one, does that mean it’s just up for grabs? This week we’re starting with outer space, speaking with an expert in space law, Heather Allansdottir. But why should we care ab…

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How to (Actually) Keep Kids Safe Online w/ Kate Sim 48:29

5M ago48:29

48:29

Child safety is a fuzzy catch-all concept for our broader social anxieties that seems to be everywhere in our conversations about the internet. But child safety isn’t a new concept, and the way our politics focuses on the spectacle isn’t new either. To help us unpack this is Kate Sim, who has over a decade of experience in sexual violence preventio…

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Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman 46:08

6M ago46:08

46:08

This week Alix interviewed David Seligman, Executive Director of Towards Justice, to tell us more about how big tech companies act brazenly as legal bullies to extract wealth and power from the working class in the US. He makes a compelling case for the urgent need to re-orient our thinking about political power and organise against it. We talk abo…

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AI Can’t Fix This: Live in London 1:15:58

6M ago1:15:58

1:15:58

Last week Alix was in London to talk UK politics and broligarchy with four amazing guests: Martha Dark from Foxglove gave us the history and implications of the NHS/Palantir partnership of horror Matt Mahmoudi outlined the UK’s push to amp up facial recognition surveillance and to outlaw protests (seems good) Seyi Akiwowo shared a retrospective of …

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Technology Nationalism in India w/ Divij Joshi 50:24

6M ago50:24

50:24

Amidst the scrambling of geopolitics, there is increasing conversation and momentum for the concept of tech sovereignty. It basically means that countries should build their own technology rather than rely on Silicon Valley. India Stack! Euro Stack! Everyone wants a stack. In this episode we explore India’s work over the last 20 years to build ‘dig…

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AI Assistant or AI Boss? w/ Data & Society 43:01

6M ago43:01

43:01

Two years ago, we were told that ‘prompt engineer’ would be a real job — well, it’s not. Is generative AI actually going to replace and transform human labour, or is this just another shallow marketing narrative? This week Alix speaks with Aiha Nguyen and Alexandra Mateescu, who recently authored Generative AI and Labor: Power, Hype, and Value at W…

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Regulating Privacy in an AI Era w/ Carly Kind 1:00:47

6M ago1:00:47

1:00:47

This week Alix is speaking with her long-time friend and collaborator Carly Kind, who is now the privacy commissioner of Australia. Here’s something you may be embarrassed to ask: what does a privacy commissioner even do? We got you… Alix and Carly will discuss how privacy regs bump up against current trends in AI, how to incentivise compliance, an…

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Dogwhistles: Networked Transphobia Online 52:41

7M ago52:41

52:41

This week producer Georgia joins Alix to discuss something huge that we’ve yet to go deep on: the prevalence of trans misogyny online. This episode is jam-packed with four amazing guests to guide us through this rough terrain: Shivani Dave is a journalist and commentator who uses social media for their career and income. They share their experience…

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VCs Are World Eaters w/ Catherine Bracy 47:30

7M ago47:30

47:30

This week Alix interviewed Catherine Bracy on her book World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalising the Economy. Support Catherine’s work and buy it NOW. Venture capital wasn’t always how it is today. But now it’s a driver of inequality, political and economic instability, and insufferable personalities. How did we get here and what might com…

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Power Over Precision w/ Jenny Reardon 1:02:43

7M ago1:02:43

1:02:43

Alix’s conversation this week is with Jenny Reardon, who shares with us the history of genomics — and the absolutely mind-melting parallels it has with the trajectory of the AI industry. Jenny describes genomics as the industrialisation of genetics; it’s not just about understanding the genetic properties of humans, but mapping out every last inch …

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The Taiwan Bottleneck w/ Brian Chen 37:10

7M ago37:10

37:10

Do you ever wonder how semiconductors (AKA chips) get made? Or why most of them are made in Taiwan? Or what this means for geopolitics? Luckily, this is a podcast for nerds like you. Alix was joined this week by Brian Chen from Data & Society, who systematically explains the process of advanced chip manufacture, how its thoroughly entangled in US e…

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AI Safety’s Spiral of Urgency w/ Shazeda Ahmed 55:55

8M ago55:55

55:55

Are you tired of hearing the phrase ‘AI Safety’ and rolling your eyes? Do you also sometimes think… okay but what is technically wrong with advocating for ‘safer’ AI systems? Do you also wish we could have more nuanced conversations about China and AI? In this episode Shazeda Ahmed goes deep on the field of AI Safety, explaining that it is a commun…

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Live Show: Paris Post-Mortem 46:39

8M ago46:39

46:39

Kapow! We just did our first ever LIVE SHOW. We barely had time to let the mics cool down before a bunch of you requested to have the recording on our pod feed so here we are. ICYMI: this is a recording from the live show that we did in Paris, right after the AI Action Summit. Alix sat down to have a candid conversation about the summit, and pontif…

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Defying Datafication w/ Dr Abeba Birhane (PLUS: Paris AI Action Summit) 1:03:46

8M ago1:03:46

1:03:46

The Paris AI Action Summit is just around the corner! If you’re not going to be there, and you wish you were — we got you. We are streaming next week’s podcast LIVE from Paris on YouTube — register here🎙️ On Tuesday, February 11th, at 6:30pm Paris time / 12:30pm EST, we’ll be recording our first-ever LIVE podcast episode. After two days at the Fren…

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DEI Season Finale: Part Two 44:51

8M ago44:51

44:51

This week Alix continues her conversation with Hanna McCloskey and Rubie Clarke from Fearless Futures and we take a whistle-stop tour of the past 5 years. We start in 2020 with the disingenuous but huge embrace of DEI work by tech companies, to 2025 when those same companies are part of massive movements actively campaigning against it. The pair sh…

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DEI Season Finale: Part One 46:51

8M ago46:51

46:51

DEI is a nebulous field — if you’re not in it, it can be hard to know which tactics and methods are reasonable and effective… and which are a total waste of time. Or worse: which are actively harmful. In this two-parter Alix is joined by Hanna McCloskey and Rubie Clarke from Fearless Futures. In this episode they share what DEI is and crucially, wh…

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DEI: the final season + Alex Kotran on the Future of Education 53:25

9M ago53:25

53:25

We have a special episode for you this week: we brought in Hanna Mccloskey and Rubie Clarke from Fearless Futures to talk about the recent announcement from Mark Zuckerberg which signalled, very strongly, that he doesn’t care about marginalised groups on his platforms — or within the company itself. We hear from Rubie and Hanna in the first half of…

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To be Seen and not Watched w/ Tawana Petty 45:39

9M ago45:39

45:39

Welcome back! Let us know what you think of the show and what you want to see more of in 2025 by writing in here, or rambling into a microphone here. In this episode Alix is joined by Tawana Petty, who shares her experiences coming up as a political community activist in Detroit. Tawana studied the history of radical black movements under Grace Lee…

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Our learnings from 2024 48:52

9M ago48:52

48:52

We’re wrapped for the year, and will be back on the 10th of Jan. In the meantime, listen to Alix, Prathm, and Georgia discuss their biggest learnings from the pod this year from some of their favourite episodes. **We want to hear from YOU about the podcast — what do you want to hear more of in 2025? Share your ideas with us here: https://tally.so/r…

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A $20bn Search Engine w/ Michelle Meagher 45:48

10M ago45:48

45:48

Google has finally been judged to be a monopoly by a federal court — while this was strikingly obvious already, what does this judgement mean? Is this too little too late? This week Alix and Prathm were joined by Michelle Meagher, an antitrust lawyer who shared a brief history of how antitrust started as a tool for governments to stop the consolida…

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The Age of Noise w/ Eryk Salvaggio 47:55

10M ago47:55

47:55

What happens if you ask a generative AI image model to show you what Picasso’s work would have looked like if he lived in Japan in the 16th century? Would it produce something totally new, or just mash together stereotypical aesthetics from Picasso’s work, and 16th century Japan? This week, Alix interviewed Eryk Salvaggio, who shares his ideas arou…

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The Happy Few: Open Source AI (part two) 53:28

10M ago53:28

53:28

In part two of our episode on open source AI, we delve deeper into we can use openness and participation for sustainable AI governance. It’s clear that everyone agrees that things like the proliferation of harmful content is a huge risk — but what we cannot seem to agree on is how to eliminate this risk. Alix is joined again by Mark Surman, and thi…

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The Happy Few: Open Source AI (part one) 58:06

10M ago58:06

58:06

In the context of AI, what do we mean when we say ‘open source’? An AI model is not something you can straightforwardly open up like a piece of software; there are huge technical and social considerations to be made. Is it risky to open-source highly capable foundation models? What guardrails do we need to think about when it comes to the prolifera…

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Algorithmically cutting benefits w/ Kevin De Liban 50:13

11M ago50:13

50:13

This week Alix was joined by Kevin De Liban, who just launched Techntonic Justice, an organisation designed to support and fight for those harmed by AI systems. In this episode Kevin describes his experiences litigating on behalf of people in Arkansas who found their in-home care hours cut aggressively by an algorithm administered by the state. Thi…