Tech Won't Save Us

We All Suffer from OpenAI’s Pursuit of Scale w/ Karen Hao [Replay]

Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillance capitalism. Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and the author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI [https://bookshop.org/a/18331/9780593657508]. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus]. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. This episode originally aired in June 2025. Also mentioned in this episode: * Karen was the first journalist [https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/17/844721/ai-openai-moonshot-elon-musk-sam-altman-greg-brockman-messy-secretive-reality/] to profile OpenAI. * Karen has reported on the environmental impacts [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/ai-water-climate-microsoft/677602/] and human costs [https://www.wsj.com/tech/chatgpt-openai-content-abusive-sexually-explicit-harassment-kenya-workers-on-human-workers-cf191483?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_3] of AI. * The New York Times reported on why we're unlikely to get artificial general intelligence [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/technology/what-is-agi.html] anytime soon.

How Spotify Remade the Music Industry w/ Liz Pelly [Replay]

Paris Marx is joined by Liz Pelly to discuss how Spotify changes how we listen to music and the broader impacts it has on the wider music industry. This episode previously aired in February 2025. Liz Pelly is a music journalist and the author of Mood Machine. [https://bookshop.org/a/18331/9781668083505] Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus]. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Production for this episode was originally by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: * Shout-out to the book The People’s Platform [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/212898/the-peoples-platform-by-astra-taylor/9780307360342] by Astra Taylor * You can read an excerpt [https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machine-liz-pelly-spotify-musicians/] of Liz’s book in Harper’s. * The CEO of Suno AI said people “don’t enjoy [https://futurism.com/suno-ai-ceo-making-music]” making music. * The Edmonton Public Library [https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/sing-it-edmonton-library-releases-free-album-for-children-by-local-artists/] was mentioned for spearheading some cool projects featuring local musicians - combat capitalism by supporting the cool projects operating out of your own local library! * Hoopla [https://www.hoopladigital.com] works with local libraries to share music (and Libby [https://libbyapp.com/interview/welcome#doYouHaveACard] partners with libraries to share audiobooks)

The Year in Tech w/ Jathan Sadowski & Brian Merchant

Paris Marx is joined by Jathan Sadowski and Brian Merchant to reflect on the year in tech, discuss the worst people in Silicon Valley, and share what they’ll be keeping an eye on in 2026. Jathan Sadowski is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite [https://bookshop.org/a/18331/9780520398078], co-host of This Machine Kills, and a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Brian Merchant [https://brianmerchant.org/] is the author of Blood in the Machine [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/] and writes a newsletter [https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/] of the same name. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus]. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Also mentioned in this episode: * Visit Francesca Bria’s useful Authoritarian Stack [https://authoritarian-stack.info] * Trump signs an executive order [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmddnge9yro] to keep states from implementing their own AI legislation * The Trump administration is gutting the Department of Education [https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/18/trump-administration-sets-out-massive-education-department-restructuring-plan-00656464], climate science programs [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-administration-moves-to-dismantle-national-climate-research-lab-in-colorado], and public health [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/17/trump-science-war-public-health-experts] * Disney and OpenAI [https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/disney-openai-1b-deal-star-wars-marvel-9.7011798] have reached a billion dollar deal * Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium [https://www.pcmag.com/news/sen-bernie-sanders-heres-why-we-need-to-halt-ai-data-center-construction] on AI data centre construction

How Effective is Australia’s Social Media Age Limit? w/ Cam Wilson

Paris Marx is joined by Cam Wilson to discuss the new social media age limit in Australia, including how successful the rollout has been so far and the missed opportunities of taking a more nuanced regulatory approach. Cam Wilson is an associate editor at Crikey [https://www.crikey.com.au/author/cam-wilson/] and writes The Sizzle [https://thesizzle.com.au] newsletter. He’s a co-author of Conspiracy Nation [https://publishing.hardiegrant.com/en-au/books/conspiracy-nation-by-cam-wilson/9781761153570]: Exposing the Dangerous World of Australian Conspiracy Theories. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus]. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Also mentioned in this episode: * Cam wrote about his experience reporting on the social media age limit debate [https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/10/cam-wilson-teen-social-media-ban/] and the removal of the exemption framework [https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/07/24/teen-social-media-ban-change-secret-deal/]. * Paris wrote about his thoughts on social media age limits and the need for much more comprehensive regulations [https://disconnect.blog/social-media-causes-more-harm-than-good/] on social media. * 64% of US teens are using chatbots [https://gizmodo.com/64-of-teens-say-they-use-ai-chatbots-as-mental-health-concerns-mount-2000697981] daily. * Submit questions to Paris for an upcoming mailbag episode at mailbag@techwontsave.us [mailbag@techwontsave.us] * Patreon supporters can join the year-end livestream this Friday, Dec 19 at 6PM ET

Europe’s Subservience to the United States w/ Ben Wray

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss the Europe’s capitulation to pressure from the United States on Nexperia, as well as on digital protections and labor rights that could have big implications for the future of work. Ben Wray is a researcher specializing in the platform economy. He writes the Gig Economy Project newsletter [https://braveneweurope.com/gig-economy-project] and his most recent report for the ETUC is called Uberisation [https://www.etuc.org/sites/default/files/publication/file/2025-12/Strategic%20Foresight_Uberisation%20-%20Trade%20Union%20Manual_ETUC.pdf]. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus]. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Today’s sponsors are ExpressVPN and ⁠Aura Frames. Get four months free by visiting ExpressVPN.com/TWSU [https://expressvpn.com/twsu]. Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at ⁠https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS⁠ [https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS]. Promo Code PARIS Also mentioned in this episode: * Ben wrote about the brief attempt by the Dutch to nationalize Nexperia [https://jacobin.com/2025/11/netherlands-china-nexperia-us-trade]. * In leaked documents [https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/10/uber-investigation-global-expansion-00044914] from 2012-2017 Uber executives recognize their own illegal activity and refer to themselves as ‘pirates’. * Spain recently ordered Meta [https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/meta-spain-ami-news-advertising-gdpr-eu-data] to pay €479m fine for breaching EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)