Author: Slate Podcasts

For all the promise of the technology, one use-case for artificial intelligence reared its ugly head last week: non-consensual pornographic images. As millions of users saw abusive A.I. generated images of Taylor Swift proliferate across X, the pitfalls of this technology became clear. 

Guest: Emanuel Maiberg, journalist and co-founder of 404 Media

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Vince McMahon is walking away from professional wrestling, again. The WWE looks to continue without the man that built it into an institution—and shrouded it in scandal. 

Guest: Dave Scherer, founder of the pro-wrestling news site, PWinsider.com.

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One of Donald Trump’s codefendants in the Georgia election subversion and racketeering case has filed a motion to dismiss his case due to an improper relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and a prosecutor she has hired to work on the case. How can Willis address the allegations and what does it mean for the case? 

Guest: Ankush Khardori, attorney and former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther with help from Kathryn Fink.

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With the execution of Kenneth Smith, Alabama became the first state to carry out the death penalty with nitrogen gas. According to Smith’s spiritual advisor, who witnessed the execution, this is not a “humane” future for capital punishment 

Guest: Rev. Jeff Hood, pastor, theologian and activist living and working in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the Convener of Clergy United Against the Death Penalty

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther with help from Kathryn Fink.

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Support for a “two-state solution” has been declining among both Israelis and Palestinians for years. If it’s time to give up on that plan, what’s the alternative? 

Guest: Dov Waxman, professor of political science and the director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.

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Are we still paying off our pandemic-induced “immunity debt,” or is there another reason that it feels like we’re all sniffling and coughing and just feeling sick?

Guest: Keren Landman, senior health reporter at Vox

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In the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, voters received a robocall purportedly from Joe Biden. Authorities have now determined the call was likely A.I.-generated. 

In the era of A.I., how can voters tell what’s real and what’s not? And will the general election be thrown into chaos by artificial intelligence-created disinformation? 

Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer at Wired covering politics and technology

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Paige Osburn and Anna Phillips.

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