16 episodes
Technically Optimistic Emerson Collective
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- Technology
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4.9 • 36 Ratings
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Data is the most valuable resource on our planet, and the data economy impacts everything from mental health to human rights. On Season 2 of Technically Optimistic, host Raffi Krikorian engages engineers, activists, professors, and more to ask big questions about our data-driven era. How and why is our data being collected? How is it affecting our daily lives, our decision-making, our political systems? Perhaps most importantly, what does the future of data look like, and what can we do to help shape it? This season of Technically Optimistic is all about your data, and how you can gain back some control.
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How your behavior became the world's biggest resource
How has our data become the world’s most valuable resource? What privacy tradeoffs are we making when we engage with personalized apps, recommendations, and always-connected smart devices? Is our personal data being used to make things better, or to make tech giants even more powerful? And what do “cookies” have to do with all this?
Host Raffi Krikorian chats with experts about data’s role in AI, “big data” and the data economy, surveillance capitalism, and much more. Guests include AI researcher Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute; data scientist Chris Wiggins, co-author of How Data Happened; media scholar, tech writer, and internet activist Ethan Zuckerman; engineer and inventor of the cookie Lou Montulli; and Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain.
To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast
For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com
Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/raffi
Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com
Follow on social media @emersoncollective and @emcollectivepodcasts
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To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
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Season Two is all about your data
The second season of Technically Optimistic is all about your data. Who’s taking it? What are they doing with it? And how can you gain back some control?
Join host Raffi Krikorian, CTO of Emerson Collective, down this road. It’s going to lead to some predictable places — like AI and social media — but also to stories about health care, political campaigning, and criminal justice reform.
Subscribe now! New episodes are coming soon.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
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Unpacking Biden's AI plan
On Monday, October 30th, Biden signed a landmark executive order on artificial intelligence safety and security. It was timed strategically, released the same week as VP Harris gave a speech at a UK AI summit. And, in the absence of any Congressional action, Biden’s document represents the most comprehensive and official policy of the United States on AI at the moment.
So, what’s in the executive order? Host Raffi Krikorian speaks with journalist Courtney Rozen, who covers the White House and tech policy for Bloomberg, and Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University computer science professor who co-wrote the influential Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights in 2022.
Sign up for the Technically Optimistic newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com
To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic
For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com
Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian
Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.
Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com.
Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Justin Hendrix on AI policy and democracy
As AI rapidly advances, how do we balance speed and safety? Justin Hendrix is the CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit media and community venture covering the intersection of technology and democracy. Through his reporting and research, he’s got a lot to say about the global developments in AI regulation, including the AI Act in the EU, emerging efforts in the US, and the implications for the future of US-China relations.
On September 8th, Hendrix sat down with host Raffi Krikorian for a live Fellows Friday virtual event hosted by Emerson Collective. This episode is an edited recording of that event.
Sign up for the Technically Optimistic newsletter: technicallyoptimistic.substack.com
To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic
For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com
Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian
Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.
Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com.
Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Timnit Gebru is asking different questions about AI
Timnit Gebru is a co-author of one of the most influential research papers on AI from this decade, which coined the term “stochastic parrots” to describe large language models. Following her very public departure from Google in 2020, Gebru founded the Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute, an organization that describes itself as doing independent, community-rooted work, free from the pervasive influence of Big Tech. She’s now DAIR’s executive director. And recently, she was selected as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI — like several other guests you hear from in season one of this show.
Gebru sat down with host Raffi Krikorian for a wide-ranging and deep conversation about AI, touching on things like the obfuscation around its capabilities, what Big Tech hopes we don’t pay attention to, and the importance of imagining alternative possible futures.
To learn more about Technically Optimistic: emersoncollective.com/technicallyoptimistic
For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com
Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian
Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.
Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com.
Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Kyunghyun Cho on language, culture, and AI
In episode 6 of our first season on AI, we heard from Kyunghyun Cho, a professor of computer science and data science at New York University, about how artificial intelligence research in academia so often resembles corporate product development.
But in his initial talk with host Raffi Krikorian, Kyunghyun had a lot of other interesting things to say — for instance, about how AI models affect marginalized languages, on whether generative AI could produce something of cultural significance, and about the connection between AI “hallucinations” and creativity.
Here's Kyunghyun’s blog post on AI and compression (which references this piece in the New Yorker by Ted Chiang); and here’s more info on the “AI and Marginalized Languages” panel at the 2023 ICML.
To learn more about Technically Optimistic and to read the transcript for this episode: emersoncollective.com/technically-optimistic-podcast
For more on Emerson Collective: emersoncollective.com
Learn more about our host, Raffi Krikorian: emersoncollective.com/persons/raffi-krikorian
Technically Optimistic is produced by Emerson Collective with music by Mattie Safer.
Email us with questions and feedback at technicallyoptimistic@emersoncollective.com.
Subscribe to Emerson Collective’s newsletter: emersoncollective.com
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Customer Reviews
Refreshingly Positive
This was a great episode on AI! Informative, optimistic, and clear. Definitely looking forward to the other episodes and learning more!
Excellent new podcast
This podcast is a very clear and interesting overview of AI with great info about its history, the opportunities and challenges, and why it is so game changing.
Breath of fresh digital air….
Technically Optimistic is like a ray of sunshine in the tech world. Raffi Krikorian's passion for innovation and his ability to showcase the positive side of technology are truly commendable. This podcast is a must for anyone who wants to stay informed while maintaining a positive outlook!
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