KQED's Forum

Millions of people are having deeply personal conversations with AI chatbots, but how safe are these interactions? We’re joined by two technology reporters who have been investigating troubling cases, including a California teenager whose months-long chats with ChatGPT took a tragic turn and a vulnerable man who was convinced by one of Meta’s AI female personas to “meet” in person. We look at how these tools can manipulate – or be manipulated – to cause harm, and what we’re learning about the psychological impact of AI companions.

Guests:

Kashmir Hill, features writer covering technology and privacy for the New York Times; author of "Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It"

Jeff Horwitz, reporter covering tech, Reuter's Enterprise Team

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Political economist, educator, author, and former labor secretary, Robert Reich, has spent decades examining inequality as a way to make sense of the world. His career has focused on economic justice, the impacts of globalization and our shifting economy. We’ll talk with Reich, who recently retired from teaching at UC Berkeley, about the lessons he’s learned and taught, the influence of corporate power in America, and the ways in which wealth, poverty, and the widening income gap threaten our very democracy.

Guests:

Robert Reich, formerly the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley; he has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton

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California’s long-delayed high speed rail project is finally ready to start laying tracks in the Central Valley next year. But the Trump administration has called it a “rail to nowhere,” pointing to construction delays and a budget that’s ballooned by $100 billion. The federal government has clawed back $4 million in grant funding – a move Governor Newsom says is illegal and that California plans to fight in court. With federal money tied up in the lawsuit, state lawmakers are pooling funds and pushing public-private partnerships to keep construction on track. We’ll get the latest on this slow-moving project from two transportation journalists. And we want to hear from you: What questions do you have about the future of California’s high speed rail?

Guests:

Colleen Shalby, staff writer covering transportation and mobility, The Los Angeles Times

Ralph Vartabedian, independent journalist who has written about California's high-speed rail for over a decade

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After decades spent representing the East Bay in Congress, Barbara Lee was inaugurated as Oakland’s new mayor three months ago. She’s now at the helm of a city with a lot of local pride and boasting rights, but also with brutal financial challenges, a politics battered by scandal and recall, and a citizenry eager for progress on crime, homelessness and other urban woes. Barbara Lee joins us to talk about what she’s been learning in her first months in office and how it’s shaping her plans for the city. And we hear from you: What do you want to ask your new mayor, and what do you want her to know about your Oakland?

Guests:

Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland

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When political advisor Chloe Dalton found an injured newborn hare near her home in the countryside, she decided to nurse it back to health. The two quickly formed a bond of quiet companionship. We talk to Dalton about what the hare taught her about trust, attention, preparing for loss and the ordinary magic of engaging closely with the natural world. Her new memoir is “Raising Hare.” What has a relationship with a wild animal taught you?

Guests:

Chloe Dalton, political advisor and author, "Raising Hare"

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What does it mean to be an “auntie”? Studies have shown that aunties — whether they are a family member, a chosen maternal figure or a parent’s friend — play a crucial support role in a child’s upbringing. But the work doesn’t end at the family unit. Aunties are often the ones showing up and acting as powerful forces of social change. We’ll talk with artists, scholars and community organizers about the underrated power of aunties, and the ways in which they actively redefine the nuclear family unit and our systems of care.

Guests:

Kristina Wong, comedian and performance artist; Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama; her kids' book "Auntie Kristina's Guide to Asian American Activism" comes out Spring 2026 from Beaming Books

Jocelyn Jackson, chef and community organizer; founder, JustUs Kitchen; co-founder, People's Kitchen Collective; executive producer, Life is Living Festival; former chef-in-residence, Museum of African Diaspora

Kareem Khubchandani, educator, scholar and performer; associate professor of theater, dance and performance studies, Tufts University

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Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California has aspired to be a national haven for abortion rights. But the reality is more complicated. Catholic hospitals in the state are refusing emergency care for miscarriages, major retailers have refused to stock abortion medications and federal lawsuits are targeting California doctors and pharmacies. We listen back to our conversation about the cases reshaping reproductive healthcare and their potential impacts on both Californians and the nation.

Guests:

Mary Ziegler, professor, UC Davis School of Law

Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter, The 19th

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The fast-evolving retail landscape has zapped the life out of once bustling shopping centers throughout the Bay Area. And yet, many of the region’s legacy malls are still thriving. While San Francisco Centre, the former home of high-end department stores downtown, is now mostly empty, a revamped Stonestown in San Francisco’s west side is full of shoppers. Tenants such as indoor arcades, escape rooms and niche food vendors are drawing crowds to once desolate malls. We talk about where Bay Area shoppers are still going and how brick and mortar shopping is changing.

Guests:

Heather Knight, San Francisco bureau chief, The New York Times

Michael Berne, president, MJB Consulting

Kirthi Kalyanam, marketing department chair, director of the Retail Management Institute, Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business

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The Republican spending bill signed into law by President Trump last month slashes an estimated $150 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California over the next 10 years. Nearly 40% percent of Californians rely on Medi-Cal for health coverage, and now millions are expected to fall off the rolls. That’s leaving medical providers bracing for impacts, especially in places already struggling to serve all who need care. We talk to heads of clinics in the Central Valley, Shasta County and Los Angeles to hear how they’re coping.

Guests:

Mitesh Popat, chief executive officer, Venice Family Clinic

David Quackenbush, president and chief executive officer, Golden Valley Health Centers

Jo Campbell, chief executive officer, Hill Country Community Clinic

Miranda Dietz, interim director, Health Care Program, UC Berkeley Labor Center

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Voters in the Sunset district of San Francisco are casting ballots on whether to recall their supervisor Joel Engardio. Engardio, a vocal champion of the city’s previous recalls of three school board members and former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, has angered residents in his district over his support of Proposition K, which closed the oceanfront’s Great Highway. The 2-mile stretch of land opened as Sunset Dunes Park, but whether that park is wanted, is still under debate with some saying it impacts local businesses and daily commutes. We talk about San Francisco’s recall fever and the balancing act required by officials representing the needs of their districts, and the desires of the city.

Guests:

Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local

Jason McDaniel, associate professor of political science, San Francisco State University

Sydney Johnson, reporter, KQED

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