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China Challenges Nvidia's Hold on Artificial Intelligence Chips Nov 21, 2017

Show notes

In July, China’s government issued a sweeping new strategy with a striking aim: draw level with the US in artificial intelligence technology within three years, and become the world leader by 2030. A call for research projects from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology posted online last month fills in some detail on the government’s plans. And it puts Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia, the leading supplier of silicon for machine-learning projects, in the cross hairs.

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The Movement to Protect Dreamers Is Still Divided on the Details Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

Wednesday morning, Todd Schulte stood before a podium, dressed in a grey suit and orange tie, to talk about the urgent need for legislation that protects undocumented people who came to the United States as children, also known as Dreamers.

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The FCC Says Local Media is Thriving. That's Not So Clear. Nov 17, 2017

Show notes

With a few exceptions, it's against federal regulations for your local television station to buy your local newspaper. Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on a proposal to change those rules. Since 1975, the commission has generally barred organizations from owning both a newspaper and a full-power radio or television station in the same market to protect what it calls "viewpoint diversity.

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Meet the Woman Making Uber's Self-Driving Cars Smarter, Cheaper Nov 16, 2017

Show notes

Next month in San Francisco, Uber will stand trial in federal court for allegedly cheating in the race to commercialize self-driving cars. Google parent Alphabet accuses Uber of stealing designs for sensors called lidars that give a vehicle a 3-D view of its surroundings, an “unjust enrichment” it says will take $1.8 billion to heal. Meanwhile in Toronto, Uber has a growing artificial-intelligence lab led by a woman who’s spent years trying to make lidar technology less important.

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Ray Kurzweil on Turing Tests, Brain Extenders, and AI Ethics Nov 15, 2017

Show notes

Inventor and author Ray Kurzweil, who currently runs a group at Google writing automatic responses to your emails in cooperation with the Gmail team, recently talked with WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson at the Council on Foreign Relations. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation. Nicholas Thompson: Let’s begin with you explaining the law of accelerating returns, which is one of the fundamental ideas underpinning your writing and your work.

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Expect Bigger Risks from Democrats After Blockbuster Virginia Results Nov 14, 2017

Show notes

As Democratic wins started piling up on election night in Virginia, you probably saw the names of a few key winners circulating in social media and the press. But while the victories of Virginia governor-elect Ralph Northam, and Danica Roem, the first transgender person to ever be elected to a state legislature, rightly resonated, one key to understanding Tuesday's significance could come from a Democrat who lost: Veronica Coleman.

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Facebook Posts Aren’t Going to Help the Rohingya Refugees Nov 13, 2017

Show notes

“Never in my life have I seen so many frightened people, huddled together, in such a small space,” my friend posted on Facebook in October. A resident at a local hospital, she is working unpaid hours at Ukhia, responding to the arrival of over half a million persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh since late August.

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Cryptocurrency Mania Fuels Hype and Fear at Venture Firms Nov 10, 2017

Show notes

Bart Stephens has found himself in high demand lately. After four years of investing in cryptocurrency and preaching its gospel, his venture-capital peers are finally listening. During a recent briefing at a storied Silicon Valley venture-capital firm, the young analysts in the room nodded along to his words in excitement, Stephens says. But not everyone was sold. In the middle of his presentation, a gray-haired senior partner stood up, yelled “PONZI SCHEME!” and stormed out.

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Win or Lose, the Virginia Election Will Boost Data-Driven Progressives Nov 09, 2017

Show notes

Catherine Vaughan doesn't let herself get excited on election night anymore. She learned that lesson the hard way a year ago, over too many glasses of whiskey at a Cleveland bar, where she and the rest of Hillary Clinton's Ohio field team were supposed to be celebrating. Instead, they were mourning. Now, as CEO of the progressive startup Flippable, which she co-founded to raise funding for Democratic state house races, Vaughan faces yet another test of a year's worth of work.

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How Uber's 'Invisible' Workforce Could Affect Your Taxes Nov 08, 2017

Show notes

The “gig economy” is hardly new, but there’s still a yawning gap between the attention it receives and our understanding of how it is---or isn’t---altering the nature of work in America. It may be a Bay Area joke that everyone is either working in the valley or for Task Rabbit, and Uber may be the world’s most valuable startup, but there may be dozens of Apple executives who are personally worth more than Ikea paid to acquire TaskRabbit.

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