POLITICO Tech

By POLITICO

Tech News

What's POLITICO Tech about?

The POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and microchips, we explore how today’s technology is shaping our world — and driving the policy decisions, global rivalries and industries that will matter tomorrow.

4.5

255 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Confessions of Congress's f...

09.22.2023

Former Rep. David Cicilline formed an unlikely alliance with Republican Ken Buck in a failed bid to break up big tech companies. Though he has since left Congress, Cicilline’s distrust of the industry hasn’t diminished. On POLITICO Tech, he reflects ...

POLITICO Tech episodes:

09.22.2023 Confessions of Congress's former tech crusader Former Rep. David Cicilline formed an unlikely alliance with Republican Ken Buck in a failed bid to break up big tech companies. Though he has since left Congress, Cicilline’s distrust of the industry hasn’t diminished. On POLITICO Tech, he reflects ...
09.21.2023 The Hugging Face case for open AI Clem Delangue says open-source AI was vital to starting his company, Hugging Face. Now, he finds himself defending open AI models as Washington considers new regulations. On POLITICO Tech, Delangue explains why he views open-source AI as not only safe, ...
09.20.2023 Inside U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Silicon Valley-sized ambitions U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has a goal to make the U.K. become a tech hub on par with San Francisco. And he sees the country’s bench of artificial intelligence companies and researchers as key to helping it get there. Host ...
09.19.2023 The EU's tech rules are here. But how strict will enforcers be? The European Union has been ahead of most of the world when it comes to regulating the tech industry - but writing the rules is not the same as enforcing them. POLITICO’s Clothilde Goujard joins Steven Overly to discuss what’s ...
09.18.2023 How to confront the 'AI dilemma' Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin have been pushing for changes to social media companies' business models for years. Now, they're doing the same with AI. On POLITICO Tech, the co-founders of the Center for Humane Technology tell Steven Overly why ...
09.15.2023 How tech fits into Rep. Mike Gallagher’s China wargames What would war with China be like? Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) has put that question to defense and finance experts. Now, he says it would be “useful” to game out that scenario with tech companies as well. On today’s POLITICO ...
09.14.2023 AI can now create art and write books. Copyright law is trying to keep up. The number of creators seeking legal protections for AI-generated work is rising — and that’s vexing copyright officials. Exactly how much human creativity must art and literature contain under the law? On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly takes that question ...
09.13.2023 What Microsoft’s Brad Smith wants from Schumer on AI Microsoft President Brad Smith is among the tech leaders joining the Senate's big AI forum today. On POLITICO Tech, Smith tells Steven Overly what new AI rules Microsoft is calling on Congress to impose -- and why he thinks others ...
09.12.2023 Google’s legal saga is only just beginning The largest tech antitrust case in nearly 25 years begins today as the Justice Department takes on Google over the dominance of its search business. POLITICO’s Josh Sisco joins today’s episode to tell Steven Overly what to expect from the ...
09.11.2023 The House is back — what's on its tech agenda? On today's episode, POLITICO reporters Rebecca Kern and Brendan Bordelon join Steven Overly to break down what to expect from the House this fall on AI, quantum computing, online safety, TikTok and more.
09.08.2023 Labor unions see an upside to AI — under the right conditions Workers are increasingly anxious about how companies use artificial intelligence -- just look at the actors and writers striking in Hollywood. But the labor movement isn’t actually against the emerging technology. On POLITICO Tech, the AFL-CIO’s Amanda Ballantyne tells Steven ...
09.07.2023 Rep. Ted Lieu on what he wants to see from Congress AI regulation Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Ca) is one of the few members of Congress with a background in computer science. But lawmakers don’t need tech expertise to regulate AI, he tells Steven Overly.
09.06.2023 This tech exec has a plan to rein in AI Mustafa Suleyman, the chief executive of Inflection AI and a co-founder of Google DeepMind, argues there are 10 steps that governments and companies should take to mitigate the most destructive threats posed by artificial intelligence.
09.05.2023 The Senate's back — here's what's on its tech agenda There will be a lot of chatter about artificial intelligence in the Senate this fall. But will that lead to any action? On today's episode, POLITICO reporters Rebecca Kern and Brendan Bordelon join Steven Overly to break down what to ...
08.25.2023 'I thought somebody had shown me an alien' - Comedy writer Simon Rich warns there’s a secret side of AI Simon Rich did not believe artificial intelligence could ever take his job as a screenwriter, humorist and novelist. Then, a friend at OpenAI showed him an AI model that stunned him — one that was more creative and more problematic ...
08.24.2023 California on a collision course over autonomous vehicles California has become the epicenter of a political fight over the future of self-driving cars. Tensions between labor unions and industry groups over the technology are running high in San Francisco and Sacramento. On POLITICO Tech, Steven Overly talks with ...
08.23.2023 Education’s AI future has schools shook Generative AI programs like ChatGPT have rocked schools across the country and given rise to a new wave of cheating scandals. But as teachers return to the classroom, some see reason to embrace the technology as a new learning tool. ...
08.22.2023 What Google wants from Washington on AI Google’s Kent Walker was among the tech executives who signed last month’s White House AI safety pledge. On POLITICO Tech, he tells Steven Overly why he wants to see it become a global model, and why some of AI’s legal ...
08.21.2023 One tech's bold idea: AI is the new atomic energy. Nationalize it. Charles Jennings ran software companies for decades. The last one developed AI-powered facial recognition technology. But now he argues the most sophisticated artificial intelligence systems are too powerful to be left in private hands. On today’s POLITICO Tech, Jennings tells ...
08.18.2023 Meet the anti-hate group agitating Elon Musk and Jim Jordan The Center for Countering Digital Hate tracks hate speech and harmful content across social media platforms like TikTok and X. And in recent weeks, the tiny organization has drawn heat from Elon Musk and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan for ...
08.17.2023 Washington asked for hackers’ help. What happens now? DC went all out for a major hacking convention this week. On today’s POLITICO Tech, Steven Overly and Mohar Chatterjee discuss the unconventional but necessary alliance between the federal government and the hacking community, and what to expect next.
08.16.2023 This Republican fought tech market power and lost. He hasn't given up. Republican Congressman Ken Buck pushed for legislation to challenge the market dominance of companies like Google and Amazon. Many of those bills fell short. On today's POLITICO Tech, Buck tells Steven Overly how he is “laying the groundwork” for a ...
08.15.2023 Inside Trudeau’s standoff with Big Tech Canada’s Liberal government picked a fight with two U.S. tech giants by passing legislation forcing Meta and Google to pay news publishers for content. But the battle hasn’t gone quite as expected. Steven Overly talks with Politico Canada reporter Kyle ...
08.14.2023 Affirmative action critics come for the tech industry The Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action has prompted conservatives to target corporate diversity programs. On their list are the biggest companies in tech, an industry that has long struggled to hire a diverse workforce. On today's POLITICO Tech, Steven ...
08.11.2023 The hackers backed by the White House A major gathering of “white hat” hackers will attack popular AI systems this weekend in an attempt to uncover security flaws. The so-called “red-teaming” exercise has attracted the support of the White House amid questions about the security of these ...
08.10.2023 Why 2024 will be the deepfake election The 2024 campaign cycle is expected to unleash a torrent of AI-generated “deepfake” videos and images capable of deceiving voters. The Federal Election Commission is scheduled to vote today on a petition, initiated by advocacy group Public Citizen, that calls ...
08.09.2023 Meet the Commerce official about to dole out billions on microchips Biden authorized $52 billion to rebuild the U.S. semiconductor industry one year ago today. Mike Schmidt is the guy charged with doling out the money. As director of the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Program Office, he manages the national security and ...
08.08.2023 The EU diplomat wooing and warning Silicon Valley Gerard de Graaf opened the European Union’s first San Francisco office nearly a year ago, making him the bloc’s de facto ambassador to the U.S. tech industry. His position is part cop, part counselor, part hype man. De Graaf speaks ...
08.07.2023 Inside the tech 'embassies' of Silicon Valley First came Denmark. Then the U.K. and, more recently, the EU. A growing list of governments are setting up de facto embassies in Silicon Valley, largely to develop closer relationships with tech companies. POLITICO’s Steven Overly and Brendan Bordelon break ...
08.04.2023 Justine Bateman says the AI apocalypse is coming for Hollywood On Friday, writers and studios are slated to hold the first talks they will have had in three months. Steven Overly talks with filmmaker Justine Bateman, who predicts expects artificial intelligence will be the harbinger of the end of movies ...
08.03.2023 One GOP senator's case against a big AI bill Republican Todd Young is one of four senators charting the chamber’s path forward on artificial intelligence — a path he doesn’t expect will lead to sweeping AI legislation. In this episode, Steven Overly talks with Young about his vision for ...
08.02.2023 Biden's microchip man says goodbye Ronnie Chatterji — one of President Biden's key players on microchips — is leaving the White House this week, Politico exclusively reports. Chatterji joined the Commerce Department during the height of the supply chain crisis and quickly focused his attention ...
08.01.2023 Introducing POLITICO Tech! Starting Wednesday, the POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and microchips, we explore how today’s technology is shaping our world — ...
12.16.2022 The person behind the keyboard Want a personal insight into some of the world's most notorious cybercriminals through a neutral party? We interviewed a malware librarian to find out how the geopolitics surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war actually played out in the cybercriminal underground and the ...
12.15.2022 The slippery slope towards digital surveillance We examine the civil liberties implications of monitoring all cryptocurrency transactions. We look at the data privacy costs of reigning in the dark web. And we do it all with Marta Belcher, special counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ...
12.14.2022 How Europeans police the darknet This episode, we're setting our gaze on the other side of the Atlantic. Laurens Cerulus, our Politico colleague in Brussels, joins us to talk about how European diplomacy has evolved to take on the cross-borders challenge of investigating and prosecuting ...
12.13.2022 The secret weapon for fighting cybercrime: Congress There are numerous agencies in the federal government involved in investigating and taking down cybercriminals. But Congress passes regulations that can improve that fight. We talk to Congressman Jim Himes (D-Ct.), chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security, International ...
12.12.2022 The darknet prosecution puzzle We kick off the second week of this limited series by taking you behind the scenes on the inter-departmental and inter-continental effort to successfully prosecute darknet cybercrimes. Across federal agencies, we find that a few digitally savvy investigators and prosecutors ...
12.09.2022 The prime target for cybercrime Now at the halfway point of the series, we talk to a former military cyber-intelligence officer about the feedback loop between the defense community and the private sector and unpack the domestic threats posed by nation-state actors in the cybercriminal ...
12.08.2022 The intelligence blindspot Funded by the Secret Service, the National Computer Forensics Institute is tasked with training law enforcement officers across the country in the tools they need to combat crime in an increasingly digital world. In this episode of our series on ...
12.07.2022 A law enforcement window into the dark web In the third episode of our series on darknet marketplaces, we’ll meet investigators who spent their careers examining these dark corners of the internet with a magnifying glass. We learn how to follow the money with the woman who pioneered ...
12.06.2022 The who's who of darknet forums In the second episode of our series on darknet marketplaces, we look at the personalities that helped build popular darknet forums and learn about the communication technologies and cryptocurrencies their members rely on. We also dig into how the geopolitics ...
12.05.2022 The darkest parts of the internet: Introducing POLITICO Tech Welcome to POLITICO Tech. We’re kicking off with a limited series exploring darknet marketplaces, some of the least regulated parts of the world wide web. As malware and cybercrime attacks become increasingly frequent, regulators and law enforcement agencies work different ...
07.15.2022 Indiana abortion shines light on post-Roe chaos The account of a 10-year-old Ohio girl seeking an abortion in Indiana has garnered international attention amid the fall of Roe v. Wade. Indiana's Attorney General is threatening criminal charges against the doctor who performed the abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein ...
07.14.2022 The 'small, lonely girls club' of former aides fighting Trump As the January 6 hearings progress, a cadre of young, female, former Trump aides have created an informal network to support each other. Meridith McGraw reports.
07.13.2022 FDA weighs first-ever OTC birth control pill The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a first-of-its-kind application from HRA Pharma for Opill. If green-lit by the agency, Opill would become the first daily, hormonal birth control pill sold without a prescription. The submission of the application follows ...
07.12.2022 What, exactly, is Biden getting from his Middle East trip? The Biden administration argues that the president's upcoming visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia are of great strategic importance. But possible images of him glad-handing with the Saudi crown prince threatens to be the defining moment. Alex Ward reports.
07.11.2022 Did Minnesota accidentally legalize weed? Kinda, sorta, it’s complicated. Earlier this month, a Minnesota law took effect that allows adults to purchase edibles or beverages with up to 5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC per serving. But some key state lawmakers were confused when they realized they had made those ...
07.08.2022 Boris Johnson’s downfall was his own making Boris Johnson resigned Thursday after fighting all week to hang on to his post as the U.K.'s Prime Minister, surviving lashings in the press, investigations and a narrow confidence vote last month. Even as the walls closed in around him, ...
07.07.2022 Battered FDA hopes new advisers will solve PR problems Stung by messaging missteps over the coronavirus crisis, baby formula shortage and abortion access, the Food and Drug Administration is planning to hire Vin Gupta and other senior-level advisers to shore up the agency’s communications. Adam Cancryn reports.

Older episodes

POLITICO Tech

What's POLITICO Tech about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

POLITICO Tech episodes:

Confessions of Congress's former tech crusader

The Hugging Face case for open AI

Inside U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Silicon Valley-sized ambitions

The EU's tech rules are here. But how strict will enforcers be?

How to confront the 'AI dilemma'

How tech fits into Rep. Mike Gallagher’s China wargames

AI can now create art and write books. Copyright law is trying to keep up.

What Microsoft’s Brad Smith wants from Schumer on AI

Google’s legal saga is only just beginning

The House is back — what's on its tech agenda?

Labor unions see an upside to AI — under the right conditions

Rep. Ted Lieu on what he wants to see from Congress AI regulation

This tech exec has a plan to rein in AI

The Senate's back — here's what's on its tech agenda

'I thought somebody had shown me an alien' - Comedy writer Simon Rich warns there’s a secret side of AI

California on a collision course over autonomous vehicles

Education’s AI future has schools shook

What Google wants from Washington on AI

One tech's bold idea: AI is the new atomic energy. Nationalize it.

Meet the anti-hate group agitating Elon Musk and Jim Jordan

Washington asked for hackers’ help. What happens now?

This Republican fought tech market power and lost. He hasn't given up.

Inside Trudeau’s standoff with Big Tech

Affirmative action critics come for the tech industry

The hackers backed by the White House

Why 2024 will be the deepfake election

Meet the Commerce official about to dole out billions on microchips

The EU diplomat wooing and warning Silicon Valley

Inside the tech 'embassies' of Silicon Valley

Justine Bateman says the AI apocalypse is coming for Hollywood

One GOP senator's case against a big AI bill

Biden's microchip man says goodbye

Introducing POLITICO Tech!

The person behind the keyboard

The slippery slope towards digital surveillance

How Europeans police the darknet

The secret weapon for fighting cybercrime: Congress

The darknet prosecution puzzle

The prime target for cybercrime

The intelligence blindspot

A law enforcement window into the dark web

The who's who of darknet forums

The darkest parts of the internet: Introducing POLITICO Tech

Indiana abortion shines light on post-Roe chaos

The 'small, lonely girls club' of former aides fighting Trump

FDA weighs first-ever OTC birth control pill

What, exactly, is Biden getting from his Middle East trip?

Did Minnesota accidentally legalize weed? Kinda, sorta, it’s complicated.

Boris Johnson’s downfall was his own making

Battered FDA hopes new advisers will solve PR problems