TechStuff

Adam Clark Estes is a senior technology correspondent at Vox and the author of the User Friendly newsletter. Estes sits down with Oz to discuss Amazon’s expanding use of palm scanners and what that might mean for the future of healthcare and our biometric data. They also dive into Estes’ months-long experiment of trying about a dozen health trackers and whether or not it was worth it. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

What’s inside AI’s black box? This week in the News Roundup, Oz unpacks the uncomfortable truth that even the people building today’s AI models often can’t explain how they work — or why they behave the way they do. But that hasn’t stopped tech companies from pushing colleges and universities to embrace chatbots. On TechSupport, 404 Media’s Jason Koebler explains the strange world of airport body scans and the future of the TSA. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

When the Biden administration announced the CHIPS and Science Act back in 2022, it was seen as a pivotal move to boost the US semiconductor industry and maintain America’s leadership in AI development. But the legislation was just one piece of a broader, multi-year strategy to counter China’s AI ambitions — and leading the way was Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor and longtime foreign policy figure. Sullivan sits down with Oz to discuss why he turned his attention to tech policy, how the Biden administration used export controls and global alliances to curb China’s technological rise, and hear his reflections on the country’s – and tech’s – role in conflicts abroad. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Did search just get worse? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah discuss how AI is reshaping search engines — for better or worse — and uncover a surprising downside of vibe coding. On TechSupport, journalist and kill switch host Dexter Thomas unpacks the murky early days of Nintendo and the unlikely figure who transformed it into the family-friendly empire we know today. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Ben Lamm is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences. That's the genetic engineering company making headlines for its bold mission – bringing extinct species back to life. From dire wolf pups to woolly mice, Colossal’s breakthroughs have sparked awe and controversy. Lamm sits down with Oz to unpack the science behind de-extinction, the ethical questions it raises, and what it could mean for the future of conservation. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.