Computer Says Maybe

Latest Episodes:

How to Scare a Fascist w/ Naomi Klein Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Naomi Klein has spent her career studying political movements — and she thinks progressives are doing better than we think. Because the fascists are scared.

More like this: To be Seen and not Watched w/ Tawana Petty

In her forthcoming book, End Times Fascism, Klein and co-author Astra Taylor take stock of the history of fascism and the collective power that has been brought to bear to fight it. This time is different. Tech titans accumulated tremendous power and wealth, and are firmly on the side of the fascists. And our information environment is flooded and disoriented. While that might portend a dark outcome, Klein has a different diagnosis. Fascist powers seem angrier and more aggressive than ever; but Klein thinks this is a sign that we are winning.

Further reading & resources:

The Rise of End Times Fascism by Astra Taylor & Naomi Klein
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
More about Naomi & Astra’s upcoming book End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World.
In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing by Kathryn Jezzer-Morton, The Cut, Jan 2026
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis
Walter Benjamin’s Concept of History
UN expert says world has given Israel ‘licence to torture Palestinians’ — Al Jazeera quoting Francesca Albanese, March 2026
How The 'Free Helicopter Rides' Meme Went Viral — The Progressive Magazine, September 2023
Safe or Just Surveilled?: Tawana Petty on the Fight Against Facial Recognition Surveillance — Logic(s) Magazine 2020

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Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Fantasy Factory: One Filmmaker's Fight Against AI w/ Valerie Veatch Mar 27, 2026

Show notes

The way artists make art matters. And some artists, like filmmaker Valerie Veatch, are exploring what role AI has in the craft of filmmaking.

More like this: Fantasy Factory: AI Supervillains w/ Anat Shenker-Osorio

Valerie Veatch is the director of Ghost in the Machine, a new film that explores the depths of the Silicon Valley fantasies around AI, and platforms all the people that challenge these fantasies. With this film, Valerie is working to change the culture of AI: it is not inevitable, in many way it’s not even possible, and therefore we have a right to refuse to engage with it. Valerie discusses why she made the film, what she learned, and what impact she’s hoping it will have.

Ghost in the Machine will be available for rentals and screenings beginning March 27, via Kinema! Pre-sales are now available at open now (go to Kinema and slelect the "Watch" tab). Proceeds will go towards the production of the film. The film will also be available on PBS in fall 2026.

Further reading & resources:

Trailer for Ghost in the Machine
Resisting AI by Dan McQuillan
On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots by Emily Bender et al
The TESCREAL Bundle by Timnit Gebru and Emile P. Torres
Kinema — where you can watch Ghost in the Machine

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Short: Grand Theft Grammarly w/ Julia Angwin & Peter Romer-Friedman Mar 25, 2026

Show notes

Grammarly launched a feature that no one wanted and now they’re getting sued. They used the names of writers, journalists, and editors to pretend that AI versions of those people were making writing suggestions via the application. None of these ‘expert reviewers’ had any idea. Grammarly pissed off the wrong journalist.

And now Julia Angwin is suing them.

More like this: The Toxic Relationship Between AI & Journalism w/ Nic Dawes

In this episode Julia (and her lawyer Peter) discuss what happened with Grammarly, why she’s suing, and how neither of them can believe that this tool made it through their legal team and into the public realm.

Please email info@prf-law.com for more info, or if you would like your name to be searched in the list of experts that Grammarly used for their tool.

Further reading & resources:

Julia’s op ed in the New York Times
Pre-order Julia’s new book On Courage: How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
Check out The Markup, founded by Julia
Grammarly pulls AI author-impersonation tool after backlash — BBC 12th March 2026
Shishir Mehrotra’s (CEO of Grammarly) apology on LinkedIn
Grammarly Is Offering ‘Expert’ AI Reviews From Your Favorite Authors—Dead or Alive — Wired 4th March 2026
Grammarly is using our identities without permission — The Verge 6th March 2026
Grammarly turned me into an AI editor against my will and I hate it — Casey Newton, Platformer 9th March 2026
Details of the case, from PRF Law, Julia’s representative firm

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Fantasy Factory: AI Supervillains w/ Anat Shenker-Osorio Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

The left has a messaging problem. Silicon Valley elites are literally making up impossible fantasies and their narratives are winning out. Why?

More like this: The Stories we Tell Ourselves About AI

This week in our second episode leading to the AI Doc, we are joined by Anat Shenker-Osorio, a progressive campaign strategist who hosts the Words To Win By podcast. Anat tries to focus on the positives: if you don’t think people should join the AI party, throw a better party. She gives us some quick lessons on messaging: how to paint tech CEOs as actual villains, how to flip the script and convince AI men that actually, it’s okay to die — and how to avoid what Anat refers to as ‘Mar-a-lago face’

Further reading & resources:

Listen to Anat’s podcast Words to Win by
Pre-Suasion and Influence by Robert Cialdini
Messaging This Moment — a critical handbook for progressive comms

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Fantasy Factory: AGI is Scientifically Impossible w/ Adam Becker Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

Next time someone tells you that we can build data centres in space, show them this podcast episode — because it is literally impossible.

More like this: AI Safety’s Spiral of Urgency w/ Shazeda Ahmed

Or better yet, recommend that they buy More Everything Forever, Adam Becker’s latest book exploring all the fantasies and promises of coming out of Silicon Valley. This episode is the first in our Fantasy Factory series, where we explore how and why tech evangelists manufacture consent about AI’s boom, doom, and inevitability.

The futures that AI men want for us — e.g. a disembodied immortal life in AI utopia — are all scientifically impossible. Even the worse mass-extinction event on Earth would be more pleasant than trying to live on Mars. Yes, space is very cold, but it doesn’t mean we should put data centres out there! Adam explains where these narratives are coming from, who they benefit, and why they exist outside the laws of physics.

Further reading & resources:

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Livestream: The People’s Policy: Holding Big Tech Accountable Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

How does an oppressed workforce organise against Big Tech employers with even bigger lobbying muscle?

More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Boss Men w/ David Seligman

This week’s episode is a recording of our livestream from Monday: a litigator, regulator, and activist share their work and perspectives on coordinating bottom-up fights against Big Tech power, worker suppression, and unfair consumer practices. Speakers are:

David Seligman, Executive Director of Towards Justice and Democratic candidate for Colorado Attorney General
Alvaro Bedoya, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission and founding director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University Law Center
Elliott “El’Bo” Awatt, Driver Organizer with Colorado Independent Drivers United

Further reading & resources:

Alvaro Bedoya on how he became a populist
Drivers for Lyft and Uber are building a national movement — Colorado Newsline 2024
Uber Claims Transparency Law Complicates Rides and Takes Away Driver Perks – but Does It? — Westword, February 2025
An AMA on Reddit with David Seligman

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Computer Says Maybe is produced by Georgia Iacovou, Kushal Dev, Marion Wellington, Sarah Myles, Van Newman, and Zoe Trout

Lingo Bingo at the India AI Summit w/ Naomi Klein, Timnit Gebru, Nikhil Dey, and Chinasa Okolo Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

This is the last of our series AI Lingo Bingo Series! We dig into four more co-opted concepts with four more all stars.

More like this: Last week’s episode with Meredith Whittaker, Audrey Tang, Abeba Birhane, and Usha Ramanathan

This week we’ll hear from Naomi Klein, who will discuss how ‘AI for Climate’ is very much not a thing; Nikhil Dey who shares all the ways powerful actors cosplay at having ‘accountability’; Timnit Gebru who explains that ‘frugal AI’ is something being made novel by the hype & scale of big tech business models; and finally Chinasa Okolo who will help us better understand the complexities of ‘multilateralism’.

Further reading & resources:

More on Nikhil Dey — social activist and a founding member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
More on Timnit Gebru — founder of the DAIR institute
More on Naomi Klein — author and professor of climate justice at the University of British Columbia
More on Chinasa Okolo — founder of Technecultura, a research institute focussing on AI governance for global majority countries
The Guardian’s profile on Nikhil — June 2013
More about MKSS involvement in the Campaign for the Right to Information in India
The Screen New Deal — by Naomi Klein, The Intercept, 2020
More on the cancellation of the Northern Gateway Pipeline
Ghana NLP
Watch this week’s interviews in full on Youtube
RSVP to **The People's Policy: Holding Big Tech Accountable [Livestreamed Conversation + Q&A]** — happening on March 2nd 5:30pm MT

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Is Claude Out of the War Business? w/ Amos Toh Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

Anthropic’s Claude was used in the military operation to kidnap president Maduro earlier this year. Why? Unclear. Was this legal? Absolutely not.

More like this: AI In Gaza: Live from Mexico City

Surprise, surprise: the DoD feels that they should able to use AI models however they want, as long as its lawful — but… was this lawful? They are now threatening to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk. What does this all mean?

For this short, Alix was joined by Amos Toh, senior counsel at the Brennan Centre for Justice, to help us understand why the US defence department and an AI company are arguing about how best to us AI models for dehumanising and unjust military purposes.

Further reading & resources:

Pentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud — Axios, Feb 13
Anthropic on shaky ground with Pentagon amid feud after Maduro raid — The Hill, Feb 19
US used Anthropic's Claude during the Venezuela raid, WSJ reports — Reuters, Feb 16
Pentagon Used Anthropic’s Claude in Maduro Venezuela Raid — WSJ, Feb 15
Amos’s Bluesky thread sharing more thoughts on the story

Computer Says Maybe Shorts bring in experts to give their ten-minute take on recent news. If there’s ever a news story you think we should bring in expertise on for the show, please email pod@themaybe.org

Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

Lingo Bingo at the India AI Summit w/ Meredith Whittaker, Audrey Tang, Abeba Birhane, and Usha Ramanathan Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

It’s our second week of playing AI lingo bingo. The summit in India is underway and the air is thick with vague terms that fail to describe the big problems.

More like this: Lingo Bingo at the India AI Summit w/ Karen Hao, Joan Kinyua, Chenai Chair, and Rafael Grohmann

With us this week to discuss co-opted terms is Meredith Whittaker on how ‘open source’ cannot meaninfully be applied to AI systems; Audrey Tang on ‘democratisation’, something which is both helped and harmed by AI; Abeba Birhane on everyone’s favourite slogan ‘AI for Good’; and Usha Ramanathan to discuss ‘AI and development’ in the context of the Aadhaar project in India.

Further reading & resources:

More on Usha Ramanathan — legal researcher and human rights activist
More on Abeba Birhane — principle investigator at the AI Accountability Lab at Trinity College Dublin
More on Meredith Whittaker — President of Signal
More on Audrey Tang — Taiwan’s first Digital Minister
Distributional AGI Safety — by Nenad Tomašev et al
Watch this week’s interviews in full on Youtube

**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**

Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou | Post Production by Sarah Myles

Lingo Bingo at the India AI Summit w/ Karen Hao, Joan Kinyua, Chenai Chair, and Rafael Grohmann Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

The AI Impact Summit in India is just a couple of days away and we are ready to drown in vague terms that kinda describe AI, and definitely obscure power. Let’s talk about how to reframe those terms…

More like this: The Vaporstate: All Hail Scale at the AI India Summit

We’ve partnered with the AI Now Institute and Aapti Institute to conduct twelve interviews based around the biggest and baddest terms we feel have been co-opted by global summits such as this one. This week we have Karen Hao discussing what it means to be ‘data rich’; Rafael Grohmann on the word ‘sovereignty’ and how it has a hundred definitions; Joan Kinyua on ‘human capital’, a key part of any AI development supply chain; and Chenai Chair, who will discuss ‘linguistic diversity’ — what it is, and what it isn’t.

These are just the best parts of the interviews — if you want to go deep and see each of these interviews in full, head to our Youtube channel now.

Further reading & resources: