As AI models become more powerful, their appetite for energy is soaring — creating a high-stakes tension between technological progress and sustainability. 

In this episode, Lucia Tian, Google’s Head of Clean Energy & Decarbonization Technologies, helps us navigate the race to secure the carbon-free power that will fuel the next generation of intelligence.

We explore Google’s innovative approach to this challenge, from pioneering partnerships in advanced geothermal and next-gen nuclear, to using AI itself to stabilize and optimize the grid. Lucia paints a vivid picture of how these breakthroughs can accelerate a net-zero future while keeping the world’s most demanding computing systems online.

It’s a look at the energy system behind the AI revolution, and the people working to make it both powerful and sustainable.

While educators continue to debate AI’s role in the classroom, one nonprofit is showing just how powerful this technology can be in the hands of young women around the world. 

Tara Chklovski, CEO of Technovation, shares her journey from growing up in India to leading a global movement that has empowered girls in more than 100 countries to build AI-enhanced apps that solve real problems in their communities.

We also meet Aarvi Khandelwal, a 12-year-old innovator who created a natural-disaster preparedness app after experiencing extreme weather in North Carolina. Together, their stories reveal a future of coding — and AI creation — that is inclusive, imaginative, and deeply human.

Watch our complimentary documentary in which we see Technovation’s mission playing out across the globe, and journey to North Carolina to learn more about Aarvi’s passion for technology.

Warehouses have long been “black boxes” where inventory disappears and logistics break down. But autonomous robots are finally illuminating the shadows. 

Oana Jinga, co-founder of Dexory, tells us how her company’s towering robots map warehouses in real time, transforming supply chain visibility and decision-making.

We travel to a Google data center in the Netherlands to see these machines working to help manage the constant flow of critical parts and supplies. It’s a firsthand look at how AI-powered robotics are physically reshaping the movement of goods we depend on every day — and redefining the future of logistics from the ground up.

Watch our complimentary documentary in which Oana takes us inside Dexory’s UK headquarters to see the company’s dazzling robots and powerful software in action.

Behind the scenes of the intelligence revolution, data centers are working nonstop to turn ambitious, world-changing AI ideas into real solutions. 

In this episode, Google’s Partha Ranganathan — one of the architects of modern data center design — takes us inside the infrastructure breakthroughs that power everything from scientific milestones like AlphaFold to everyday tools like Gemini.

We trace how data centers evolved from basic storage warehouses into ultra-efficient computational engines that now sit at the center of scientific discovery, economic growth, and daily life. And Partha pushes back against the idea that data centers are simply “energy guzzlers,” making a compelling case for why performance and sustainability are increasingly intertwined.

Manufacturing has traditionally been defined by rigid assembly lines. But Alphabet’s moonshot spinoff Intrinsic is demonstrating how factories built around flexible, intelligent robotics can rewrite that playbook and democratize advanced manufacturing for everyone.

In this episode, CEO Wendy Tan White explains how Intrinsic’s software makes industrial robots far more accessible, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to adopt automation once reserved for giant manufacturers. The result: faster customization, greater efficiency, and new opportunities for workers.

Wendy shows how these technologies aren’t just improving productivity — they’re upskilling employees, opening doors to safer and more creative roles, and transforming factories into dynamic environments built for the next generation of innovation.

The collision of AI and artistry has ignited intense debate about the future of creative work, the value of originality, and what it means to make something truly human. 

In this episode, Mira Lane, Google’s VP of Technology and Society, joins musician and filmmaker Will Hatcher (aka King Willonious) — the creator of what many consider the world’s first AI-generated hit song — to explore this rapidly evolving landscape.

They unpack how tools like Google’s Music Sandbox and the film creation platform Flow are reshaping creative workflows. Hatcher shares how his “studio in a backpack” helps him level the playing field, making the case that AI doesn’t replace imagination — it expands it.

Together, they sketch a hopeful vision of a future where technology becomes a catalyst for bold, boundary-pushing new art.

Watch our complimentary documentary in which King Willonious invites us into his rich world of constant creativity in New York City, and shows us how he uses AI to bring projects to life in real-time.

Traditional drug discovery is a gamble where 90% of trials fail. But Recursion CEO Chris Gibson is using AI to shift the odds in humanity's favor. 

In this episode, Gibson explains how his Salt Lake City-based company combines massive wet-lab experiments with one of the world's most powerful supercomputers to create a "Google Maps" of human biology. 

We explore how this hybrid approach is decoding complex biological relationships to dramatically shrink the timelines and cost of bringing new medicines to market. And Chris offers us a glimpse into a future where life-saving treatments are mapped out by algorithms before they even touch a patient.

Watch our complementary documentary in which we go inside Recursion’s Salt Lake City headquarters to see how the company is using cloud computing and high-tech robotics to change the trajectory of drug discovery.

AI’s meteoric rise can feel unprecedented, but it follows a familiar story. Just as the steam engine and electric motor rewired entire economies in the 1800s, today’s AI boom is setting off another society-wide transformation.

In this episode, MIT professor and author Andrew McAfee draws the throughline from those earlier industrial revolutions to the one unfolding now. He explains how past breakthroughs reshaped manufacturing, reorganized work, and unleashed massive gains in productivity — and why those patterns offer a roadmap for navigating what he calls the “Second Machine Age.”

McAfee shows us why the real impact of this AI revolution is still ahead of us, and what history reveals about what comes next.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping every corner of the global economy — and none of it is possible without the invisible infrastructure powering it: data centers.

In Season 5 of Where the Internet Lives, host Stephanie Wong returns to guide listeners through the places, people, and breakthroughs defining this new era. 

From drug discovery and food security to manufacturing and creative expression, AI is accelerating innovation at a pace the world has never seen.

Subscribe to Where the Internet Lives on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get your shows. 

And this season, we’ll have more film documentaries to complement our audio stories on YouTube. The new season drops in January. We can’t wait to welcome you back.

Plastics production has doubled in the last two decades, clogging up our oceans and showing up in our organs. The massive growth in plastics production is also increasing CO2 output and driving up fossil fuel demand. 

Meanwhile, only 8% of plastic actually gets recycled, challenging our trust in the waste management system.

But a new set of tools driven by AI, robotics, and material science are helping recycle plastics, steel, textiles, and just about everything else. And a new generation of entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers are devoting themselves to launching those tools.

In this episode, we examine technology advances that are helping recyclers convert hard-to-recycle waste into a valuable feedstock – and what it means for building a circular economy with a singular goal of radically reducing global waste.

Guests:

• Kate Brandt, chief sustainability officer at Google
• Astro Teller, captain of moonshots, at X, the moonshot factory
• Rey Banatao, project lead at X, the moonshot factory
• Julia Mangin, head of sustainability, Recology
• Emma Lingle, project manager at X, the moonshot factory 

Watch our complementary documentary about how scientists and entrepreneurs at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, are inventing tools driven by AI, robotics, and material science to recycle plastics, steel, textiles, and just about everything else. It's all part of their vision to build a circular economy that will radically reduce global waste.