Economist Podcasts

Is artificial intelligence becoming uncontrollably powerful? Our correspondent analyses whether a pause to breakneck development is possible or feasible. We have entered the new age of the orator. And why cheese is getting more popular in India.

Guests and host:
Alex Hern, AI writer
Tom Wainwright, culture correspondent
Tom Sasse, South Asia bureau chief
Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
Human extinction, AI, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei
Oral culture, literacy, James Marriott, Walter Ong
Cheese, India, kalimpong

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Though a growing share of the British population is anxious about Islam, they have no reason to be. Islamism, a fringe ideology that believes government and society should be guided by Islamic principles, is the real concern. America cracks down on multinationals’ efforts to shift profits overseas. And why corporate training videos are virtually useless.

Guests and host:

Sonny Loughran, Britain correspondent
Shera Avi-Yonah, US business correspondent
Andrew Palmer, “Boss Class” host and Bartleby columnist
Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:

Islamism, Britain, Islamophobia
IRS, corporate tax, Coca-Cola
Corporate training videos

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After years of stalemate, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis are taking territory, including on a Red Sea strait. We ask what has changed, and how the shift fits into the wider regional conflict. As America’s midterm elections approach, we examine the fragmentation of the coalition that put Donald Trump back in office. And we ask how much nepotism matters in Hollywood today.

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For 15 years, the British media dismissed Tommy Robinson as a far-right extremist. We kept him off our televisions, and out of our newspapers.

Today his rallies attract tens of thousands of followers and he has the ear of the world’s richest man.

Shire Folk is the story of how some of the most powerful people in America came to see Britain—and Islam—through the eyes of a fringe football hooligan.

Topics covered:

Radical Islam
Gangs
English Defence League

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OpenAI’s claim to have solved one of the great problems in mathematics has itself created problems. We ask why the breakthrough has shaken the field. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11 we examine the vast counterterrorism machinery that followed in America, and nascent efforts to pare those powers back. And remembering Guo Lanying, a Chinese singer who championed traditional opera.

Watch extended clips from Insider here.
Guests and host:
Sam Wikeley, science correspondent
Sam Beal, Washington correspondent
Ann Wroe, obituaries editor
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
mathematics, AI, Millennium Prize Problems
9/11 anniversary, counterterrorism law
Guo Lanying, Chinese opera

Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist.
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