Tech'ed Up

Head of Public Affairs for DeepMind, Dorothy Chou, is in Washington from London and joins Niki in the Tech’ed Up Studio to talk about the massive impact AI is already having on science, work, and the future of our economy. They cover the hard questions we all should be asking as this tech develops at breakneck speed, discuss the role of government in shaping this emerging tech, and highlight the importance of wrangling all kinds of people to shape the data and norms that underpin AI.

“There needs to be a real renegotiation of what all of our roles are in this process as technology makes it into society. And I think that the dialogue between scientists and policymakers, it's never been more important.” -Dorothy Chou

• Listen to the DeepMind Podcast
• Read “Chat GPT is a Blurry JPEG of the Web”
• Learn more about The Obsidian Collection
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Cybersecurity veteran and VP of Global Security at IBM Consulting, Debbie Taylor Moore, joins Niki in the studio for an eye-opening discussion on the future of cybersecurity threats, the need for cyber literacy, and practical advice on how to protect yourself, your data, and your home online in the event of a critical breach or outage.

"On the flip side, the bad guys or threat actors can use it [AI] for propagating disinformation, for propagating bots, malware, denial of service attacks, at much greater scale and speed, and with much greater efficiency." -Debbie Taylor Moore

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• Watch Debbie’s CES Panel
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Block Party CEO & Founder, Tracy Chou, joins Niki remotely to talk about what her team is doing to make the internet a safer place and why she’s passionate about their mission. Her app puts control back in the hands of social media users using block lists, lock-out filters, and other tips and tricks to combat trolls. The conversation covers why the social media giants aren’t incentivized to do this work themselves, what action is needed for third-party app innovation to thrive, and what, as users (and people) our options are - and should be.

"…it [API access] is actually a win-win-win where the platforms don't have to invest their product and engineering resources in building out the surface area of safety product. And it's some stuff that would never make sense for them to build." -Tracy Chou

○ Follow Tracy on LinkedIn
○ Learn more about Block Party
○ Follow Block Party on Twitter
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Bloomberg reporter Emily Birnbaum visits Niki in the Tech’ed Up studio for a rollicking conversation about online speech and the U.S. Supreme Court’s forthcoming opinion on Gonzalez v. Google. This conversation covers the Justices’ overall vibes, the limitations of Section 230, Niki’s observations from inside the courtroom, and Emily’s assessment of the stakes for tech companies. 

…it's interesting because it's, like, Google's power and influence actually did affect who was able to argue for the plaintiffs in this case." -Emily Birnbaum

• Follow Emily on Twitter
• Gen Z dating habits? (The Hill) 
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Denise Zheng, Managing Director for Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the CEO at Accenture, joins Niki in the studio to highlight ways the metaverse is already being put to work in business.  She goes beyond the jargon of XR, AI, and web3 and explains what the metaverse is and why she thinks right now is a pivotal moment in the development of a tech that is sure to shape our future.  

"We need to design the metaverse so that it's human-centric, right? But from a privacy, security, and safety standpoint, we found that consumers care about that the most. And that means, I think, companies need to lean forward, they need to lean further forward than they have in the past…" -Denise Zheng

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Former Congressman and presidential candidate, John Delaney, joins Niki in the studio to discuss bipartisanship, practical policymaking, and answering the call to serve.  From investing in de-carbonization projects to crafting AI policy, from banning gas stoves to TikTok, they cover it all in this wide-ranging conversation.

"I think technological improvement, by any measure, has improved the condition of humanity across time, full stop. And it's doing that as we speak today. There's no question about it." -Rep. John Delaney

• Follow former Rep. Delaney on Twitter
• Learn more about Forbright Bank
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Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) joins Niki from Capitol Hill to take a deep dive into tech issues facing the 118th Congress. Specifically, Sen. Warner lays out the national security risks the United States faces from the Chinese Communist Party’s involvement in one of America’s favorite apps: TikTok. This conversation includes a look back at last year’s passage of the CHIPs Act and a look forward to his potential bipartisan social media legislation.

"…look at what the kids in China are getting on their equivalent TikTok accounts versus what our kids are seeing.  That shows the power of the algorithms in terms of how they can drive certain content." -Senator Mark Warner

• Follow Senator Warner on Twitter
• Learn more about the CHIPS Act
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Taped live from the main stage at the CES conference in Las Vegas, CEO of Crypto Council for Innovation Sheila Warren and Niki chat about all things crypto. After the crypto earthquake of FTX and the beginning of another crypto winter, what aftershocks does the industry face? Sheila shares why she’s still a true believer in the blockchain.

"It [blockchain technology] is an architecture. It is an infrastructure. What we do with it is gonna be up to all of us, but preserving it and ensuring it remains as open, as decentralized as possible, I think that is very much critical. " -Sheila Warren

• Follow Sheila Warren on LinkedIn
• Learn more about CCI
• Check out CES
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Security start-up Prescient's VP of Cyber, Stefanie Drysdale,  joins Niki in the studio to talk insider threats, whistleblowers, and bug bounties.  She gives a pulse check on developments inside and outside the security business, including her fears for the future of the cyber industry if we lose focus on who the bad guys are.

"I always tell people that if you touch technology, that you are somewhat responsible for being a cyber expert, at least to a degree." -Stefanie Drysdale

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• Watch Prescient’s weekly cyber update on YouTube
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CEO of MG Equity Consulting and New America Fellow, Malcom Glenn, joins Niki in the studio to talk about the role businesses can play in promoting mental health and equity for employees. They touch on some popular misconceptions about Gen Z, why “quiet-quitting” is a misnomer, and the business case for doing right by people.Malcom shares some insights from his days at Uber and Niki explains why she’ll always be a Googler at heart. 

"Sometimes, doing things for certain communities actually helps everyone in your business…" -Malcom Glenn

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• Check out MG Equity Consulting 
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