Shane Smith Has Questions

By VICE News & Studio71Society & Culture

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Shane Smith Has Questions episodes

June 11 "Our Weapon Is AI" | Shane Smith & Andrew Callaghan Interview Iran's Viral Meme Warriors
Shane Smith and Andrew Callaghan sit down with the anonymous creator behind Explosive Media, the Iranian team whose AI-generated LEGO videos became one of the most viewed and controversial media phenomena of the recent Iran-Israel conflict. With a team of fewer than ten people, their videos reached hundreds of millions of viewers and sparked debate about propaganda, AI, meme culture, and the future of information warfareIn this rare interview, the creators explain why they chose LEGO animation to depict war, how a team of fewer than ten people reached hundreds of millions of viewers, and why they believe modern conflicts are increasingly fought through algorithms, social media, and information warfare rather than traditional media alone.
The conversation explores propaganda, AI-generated content, meme culture, Jean Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality, President Trump's social media strategy, and the future of political storytelling in an age where billions of people experience world events through their phones.
The group also responds to questions about their relationship with the Iranian government, whether their work should be considered propaganda, and why they describe themselves as "guerrilla soldiers in the propaganda war.”
As AI tools become more powerful and media becomes increasingly decentralized, this conversation offers a glimpse into what the future of information warfare may look like.
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15 min
June 04The AI Dilemma: War, Jobs, Power & Humanity | w/ Aza Raskin
What happens when artificial intelligence becomes more powerful than the institutions meant to govern it?
Shane Smith sits down with Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, creator of Infinite Scroll, and one of the leading voices on AI ethics, for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of AI, warfare, work, politics, and humanity itself. This conversation is a starting point, not a conclusion. Explore additional perspectives, research, and open questions about the future of AI in our Adobe Acrobat PDF Space: https://adobe.ly/SSHQ

Fresh off a trip with the U.S. Army, Shane shares what he saw: autonomous vehicles, AI-enabled systems, and drones that felt like the beginning of a new era of warfare. Together, he and Aza explore the biggest questions facing society as AI rapidly advances.
They discuss:
Autonomous weapons and the future of war

Why AI has become a global arms race

The race between the U.S. and China

Whether governments understand what's coming

AI's impact on jobs and the economy

Social media, Infinite Scroll, and digital addiction

The future of regulation and governance

Earth Species Project and using AI to understand animal communication

Dark matter, intelligence, and human perception
Is AI humanity's greatest tool—or our greatest challenge?

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1 hr 18 min
May 28Autonomous Warfare Has Arrived | African Lion 2026 Exclusive with Gen. Anderson & Lt. Gasparri
How is AI changing modern warfare? And are we already entering the age of autonomous war?
Shane Smith and VICE News travel to Morocco for African Lion 2026 — one of the largest military exercises in the world — to get an inside look at the technologies rapidly transforming the battlefield.
From AI-assisted targeting systems and autonomous combat vehicles to suicide drones, robotics, quantum computing, and next-generation military communications, Shane embeds with U.S. AFRICOM and the young soldiers building the future of warfare in real time.
In this episode of Shane Smith Has Questions, Shane speaks with General Davin R.M. Anderson, Commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and 1st Lt. Vincent Gasparri, Innovation Team Lead 173rd Airborne Brigade, who leads a new generation of military innovators developing drone systems inspired by lessons from Ukraine, Iran, and modern asymmetric warfare.
The conversations explore:
AI on the battlefield

Autonomous weapons systems

Drone warfare and counter-drone tech

Robotics and future combat

Quantum computing and encryption

The ethics of AI warfare

Terror threats in Africa

How Ukraine changed military strategy

The future of the U.S. military
As wars become increasingly automated, Shane asks the question everyone is thinking:
Are we prepared for a future where AI helps run wars?

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55 min
May 21Iran Speaks Out: Inside Tehran’s Response to Trump, Israel & War | Shane Smith Has Questions
As tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran continue to escalate, Shane Smith travels to Tehran for a rare interview with Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry.Esmail Baghaei has been in the news today, confirming that Iran is examining the U.S. response to Iran’s latest peace proposal, delivered through Pakistan. As a potential deal to end hostilities hangs in the balance, we gave the Iranian government representative the opportunity to respond directly to accusations about its nuclear program, President Trump’s claims that Iran is “begging” for a deal, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, sanctions, regional escalation, and the growing fear of a wider war in the Middle East.
The spokesperson argues that Iran has been unfairly targeted by the U.S. and Israel for decades, blames the U.S. and Israel for escalating the conflict, and warns that continued military pressure could destabilize the entire region.
Shane pushes back throughout the interview, asking why Iran continues pursuing nuclear energy despite mounting international pressure, whether peace is realistically possible, and what the Iranian government believes Americans fundamentally misunderstand about Iran.Topics include:
Iran’s response to Trump and U.S. military pressure

Israel’s role in the conflict

The Strait of Hormuz and global energy fears

Nuclear weapons accusations

Sanctions and frozen Iranian assets

Regional escalation and Gulf states

The collapse of diplomacy after the JCPOA

Why Iran says it does not want war
Recorded in Tehran.

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25 min
May 14UFO Disclosure Has Started w/ Jeremy Corbell on Sleeping Dog
After the latest U.S. government release of UAP/UFO files, filmmaker and investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell returns to Shane Smith Has Questions for a deep dive into what may be the biggest disclosure moment yet.
Jeremy and Shane Smith break down the new government “data dump,” the whistleblowers testifying under oath, military footage from Syria and the famous Tic Tac encounters, alleged reverse-engineering programs, non-human intelligence claims, and why Corbell believes this is only the beginning.
They also discuss:
Corbell’s new documentary Sleeping Dog

The Pentagon’s latest UAP releases

The 46 videos Congress allegedly requested

The Syria 2021 footage

David Fravor and the Tic Tac incident

Government secrecy and “the military industrial complex”

Fear surrounding whistleblowers

Whether real disclosure is finally happening
“This is the biggest story in human history.” — Shane Smith
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1 hr 11 min
May 07Don’t Let Iran Become Another Afghanistan w/ Former Inspector General John Sopko
What happens when America never learns the lessons of its longest wars?
Former Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko joins Shane Smith for a brutally honest conversation about Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, corruption, contractors, the military-industrial complex, and the trillion-dollar cycle of endless war.
After overseeing more than 700 investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, Sopko explains how America spent trillions, empowered corruption, radicalized populations, and repeated the same mistakes over and over again — while contractors, bureaucracies, and political interests kept the machine running.
The conversation dives into:
The real legacy of Afghanistan

Why “nation building” failed

How war spending fuels the contractor economy

Why Iran could become another endless conflict

The “Iron Triangle” between Congress, the Pentagon, and defense contractors

Ukraine, Gaza, AI warfare, and drones

Why America struggles to stop wars once they begin

The dangerous consequences of weak oversight and bad advisors
Sopko also warns that future wars will look nothing like Iraq or Afghanistan — and says the U.S. government is dangerously unprepared for the realities of drone warfare and artificial intelligence.
This is one of the clearest insider accounts yet of how modern wars actually work — and who benefits from them.

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1 hr 2 min
April 16 A Different Kind of Democrat on Fixing Government ft. Matt Mahan | Shane Smith Has Questions
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan joins Shane Smith for a raw conversation about why California feels broken and what it would actually take to fix it.

They discuss the reality behind homelessness, why housing is so expensive, and how bureaucracy and bad incentives have made it nearly impossible to build. Mahan explains how corporate power, regulation, and political complacency have created a system that continually becomes more expensive without delivering better results.

Mahan lays out why he believes California is at an inflection point and what a more pragmatic, results-driven approach could look like if anyone is willing to take it on.

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44 min
March 26 The System Is Rigged And Everyone Knows It ft. Scott Galloway | Shane Smith Has Questions
Scott Galloway sits down with Shane Smith to talk through why the system feels off right now and why more people are starting to notice. They get into how wealth keeps concentrating at the top, why the middle class isn’t growing the way it used to, and how big tech and corporate power quietly shape the rules.
Galloway lays out why capitalism only works when the middle class is strong and what happens when it isn’t. The conversation moves through monopolies, tax policy, and the incentives driving both business and politics, all pointing to the same question: what actually changes this trajectory?
They also touch on global instability, market fragility, and how close we might be to a real economic reset. It’s a blunt look at where things stand and what could come next if nothing shifts.

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1 hr 11 min
March 19 Iran, Oil, and the Crisis Coming Next ft. Ian Bremmer | Shane Smith Has Questions
Ian Bremmer, one of the most connected geopolitical minds on the planet, sits down to explain the Iran crisis in brutally honest terms: why regime change was a fantasy, how Iran is somehow making more money since the war started, and why the real pain at the pump, at the grocery store, in your portfolio hasn't even hit yet. This isn't cable news spin. This is the unfiltered truth from someone who actually talks to world leaders.
From Venezuela to Greenland to Lebanon to Cuba. Bremmer maps out a world unraveling in real time, where drone swarms are rewriting the rules of war, disinformation is making reality optional, and one miscalculation in the Strait of Hormuz could tip the global economy into freefall. If you've been watching the headlines and feeling like something massive is being missed you're right. Watch this.

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55 min
March 12 Oil, War, and Global Power ft. Amos Hochstein | Shane Smith Has Questions
The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, and energy expert Amos Hochstein is calling this the single greatest energy crisis in global history bigger than the 1973 OPEC embargo. With roughly 10 million barrels of oil per day missing from global markets, prices have surged from $60 to nearly $100 a barrel, gas is climbing toward $4 a gallon, and major producers like Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar have already slashed production. According to Hochstein, if the Strait remains closed for just 10 more days, the economic damage could become permanent and very difficult to reverse.
The ripple effects are already being felt everywhere food prices, shipping, airline tickets, and everyday goods are all taking a hit. Meanwhile, Republican senators are privately warning the White House that if this continues, they risk losing both the House and the Senate. Hochstein breaks down the best case, worst case, and most likely scenario for how this war ends and what it means for everyday Americans already feeling the squeeze at the pump and the grocery store.
The conversation also goes beyond oil, connecting the dots between energy, AI, and the new geopolitical battleground. The real competition isn't just over oil fields and shipping lanes anymore it's over data centers, chips, and who controls the future of artificial intelligence. With China closing the gap fast, the stakes for America's global dominance have never been higher.
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1 hr

About Shane Smith Has Questions

From the publisher's feed

Shane Smith Has Questions is a dynamic, apolitical podcast hosted by Shane Smith dedicated to getting to the bottom of prominent instances of misinformation and disinformation while revealing the fascinating fundamental truths (if there are any?) of the most interesting and convoluted social and political issues of our time.