Children’s advocates often compare social media to cigarettes, arguing platforms like YouTube and TikTok are addictive and harmful. That’s led to an increasing number of states passing laws aimed at curtailing their influence on young users. On Thursday, New York became the latest. But signing the law doesn’t actually make it a done deal. POLITICO tech reporter Rebecca Kern joins host Steven Overly to break down the latest.

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Artificial intelligence consumes a lot of energy. Exactly how much is hard to say, because AI companies keep much of that information hidden – a practice that some policymakers and activists are trying to change. On today's episode of Politico Tech, Steven Overly called up Jesse Dodge to better understand the energy and climate cost behind generative AI. Dodge is a senior research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI in Seattle, who not only develops large language models, he also studies their electricity usage and CO2 emissions.

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Elon Musk sparked much debate with a post on X saying the U.S. “should eliminate electronic voting machines.” But is that even possible? Pamela Smith, the president and CEO of election integrity nonprofit Verified Voting, says it isn’t. Technology now permeates our elections far more than people realize, she says — though paper still matters, too. Smith joins POLITICO Tech to explain.

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A small but growing number of tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and crypto enthusiasts are throwing their 2024 support behind former President Donald Trump over President Joe Biden. And Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a progressive who represents a swath of Silicon Valley, warns Democrats shouldn’t take the liberal stronghold for granted. On POLITICO Tech, Khanna tells host Steven Overly why the Democratic defectors have him worried and how Biden should borrow from former President Barack Obama’s pro-tech playbook.

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Steve Ballmer has made his fortune as the former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the LA Clippers. But his nonprofit USAFacts is trying to make government data more consumable, a mission driven by the belief that numbers are the antidote to political disinformation and partisan policymaking. On POLITICO Tech, Ballmer talks with host Steven Overly about his latest effort to convince politicians to follow the facts, as well as artificial intelligence, the election and why he's not donating to campaigns.

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POLITICO Tech went to Toronto for the U.S.-Canada Summit, hosted by BMO Financial Group and Eurasia Group. Host Steven Overly moderated a discussion on how the neighbors are competing and cooperating when it comes to artificial intelligence, with Cohere COO Martin Kon, OpenAI vice president of government affairs Anna Makanju, IBM chief privacy and trust officer Christina Montgomery and Radical Ventures co-founder and managing partner Jordan Jacobs. On the show today, key takeaways from that conversation.

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Host Steven Overly is in Canada this week for The US-Canada Summit, hosted by BMO Financial Group and Eurasia Group — and it got him thinking about another Canadian who's been on the podcast before: Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio. Bengio has been dubbed one of the “godfathers of AI,” although he’s not exactly thrilled about the title. Still, Bengio devoted most of his professional life to making AI smarter. But now, he wants to prevent AI from destroying humanity. On POLITICO Tech, Bengio tells host Steven Overly about his professional pivot and what policy changes he’s pushing for around the world.

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After the EU elections over the weekend, the continent’s politics seems to be shifting. So what does that mean for tech? Host Steven Overly talked with Politico EU tech reporter Clothilde Goujard to break down the results and decode what to watch for next.

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Former President Donald Trump is in his second week on TikTok, and already soaring past President Joe Biden in both followers and views. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's having more influence. Or that other Republicans will rush to join TikTok, a platform many have called a national security threat. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly called up Republican digital strategist Eric Wilson to make sense of it all.

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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey says climate tech is all opportunity, no hype. That’s why she wants to pour $1 billion into the sector over the next decade, along with as much federal money as she can get from President Joe Biden’s climate legislation. On POLITICO Tech, Healey joins host Steven Overly after speaking at The ClimaTech Conference this week to defend her bet on climate tech and explain why she fears former President Donald Trump could undermine it all.

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