MIT Technology Review Narrated

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Welcome to Curious Coincidence Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

This is a detective story that’s unsolved. Hosted by investigative reporter Antonio Regalado, Curious Coincidence dives into the mysterious origins of Covid-19 by examining the genome of the virus, the labs doing sensitive research on dangerous pathogens, and questions of whether a lab accident may have touched off a global pandemic.

A five-part investigation from MIT Technology Review.

Welcome to The Extortion Economy Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

This week we're sharing another tech show we made that we think you're going to love. It's called The Extortion Economy and it's a five-part series about the ransomware epidemic produced with ProPublica.

See you soon with a whole new season of In Machines We Trust!!

A new-age iteration of the old-age extortion problem. A ransomware vigilante, a piracy (as in actual boats) expert, a school administrator, and a kidnapping victim share their experiences. This is part one.

We Meet:

Fabian Wosar, CTO, Emsisoft

Doug Russell, Director of Technology, Haverhill Public Schools

Lisa Forte, Co-founder, Red Goat Cyber Security

Credits:

This series is hosted by Meg Marco and produced by Emma Cillekens, Tate Ryan-Mosley and Anthony Green. It’s inspired by reporting from Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden from ProPublica. We're edited by Bobbie Johnson, Michael Reilly, Mat Honan and Robin Fields. Our mix engineer is Erick Gomez with help from Rebekah Wineman. Our theme music is by Jacob Gorski. Art is from Lisa Larson-Walker and Eric Mongeon. Emma Cillekens is our voice coach. The executive producers of The Extortion Economy podcast are Meg Marco and Jennifer Strong.

Sounds From:

Video: Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount testifies at the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Source: CNBC Television, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcYePKjI_mc

Video: Roving Report Italy, Source: AP, http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/8b08bfc68a0b203d238aa8e0c4316e61

Video: CBS Evening News 1989-12-14, Source: CBS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHsbZEX5pQw

In Machines We Trust: The AI of the beholder (Encore) Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

Computers are ranking the way people look—and the results are influencing the things we do, the posts we see, and the way we think.

Ideas about what constitutes “beauty” are complex, subjective, and by no means limited to physical appearances. Elusive though it is, everyone wants more of it. That means big business and increasingly, people harnessing algorithms to create their ideal selves in the digital and, sometimes, physical worlds. In this episode, we explore the popularity of beauty filters, and sit down with someone who’s convinced his software will show you just how to nip and tuck your way to a better life.

We meet:

Shafee Hassan, Qoves Studio founder

Lauren Rhue, Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the Robert H. Smith School of Business

Credits:

This episode was reported by Tate Ryan-Mosley, and produced by Jennifer Strong, Emma Cillekens, Karen Hao and Anthony Green. We’re edited by Michael Reilly and Bobbie Johnson.

In Machines We Trust: What’s behind a smile (Encore) Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

Researchers have spent years trying to crack the mystery of how we express our feelings. Pioneers in the field of emotion detection will tell you the problem is far from solved. But that hasn’t stopped a growing number of companies from claiming their algorithms have cracked the puzzle. In part one of a two-part series on emotion AI, Jennifer Strong and the team at MIT Technology Review explore what emotion AI is, where it is, and what it means.

We meet:

Rana El Kaliouby, Affectiva
Lisa Feldman Barrett, Northeastern University
Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review

Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong and Karen Hao, with Tate Ryan-Mosley and Emma Cillekens. We had help from Benji Rosen. We’re edited by Michael Reilly and our theme music is by Jacob Gorski.

In Machines We Trust: Attention shoppers, you’re being tracked (Update) Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

Cameras in stores aren’t anything new—but these days there are AI brains behind the electric eyes. In some stores, sophisticated systems are tracking customers in almost every imaginable way, from recognizing their faces to gauging their age, their mood, and virtually gussying them up with makeup. The systems rarely ask for people’s permission, and for the most part they don’t have to. In our season 1 finale, we look at the explosion of AI and face recognition technologies in retail spaces, and what it means for the future of shopping.

We meet:

RetailNext CTO Arun Nair,

L'Oreal's Technology Incubator Global VP Guive Balooch,

Modiface CEO Parham Aarabi

Biometrics pioneer and Chairman of ID4Africa Joseph Atick

Credits:

This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green, Tate Ryan-Mosley, Emma Cillekens and Karen Hao. We’re edited by Michael Reilly. Our theme music is by Jacob Gorski.

In Machines We Trust: How AI is giving a woman back her voice Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Voice technology is one of the biggest trends in the healthcare space. We look at how it might help care providers and patients, from a woman who is losing her speech, to documenting healthcare records for doctors. But how do you teach AI to learn to communicate more like a human, and will it lead to more efficient machines?

We Meet:

Kenneth Harper, VP & GM, Healthcare Virtual Assistants and Ambient Clinical Intelligence at Nuance
Bob MacDonald, Technical Program Manager, Project Euphonia, Google
Julie Cattiau, Project Manager, Project Euphonia, Google
Andrea Peet, Project Euphonia user
David Peet, Attorney, husband of Andrea Peet
Hod Lipson, Professor of Innovation in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Co-Director, Maker Space Facility, Columbia University.

Sounds:

The Exam of the Future Has Arrived - via Youtube

Credits:

This episode was reported and produced by Anthony Green with help from Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Michael Reilly. Our mix engineer is Garret Lang and our theme music is by Jacob Gorski.

In Machines We Trust: What is AI? We made this to help. Nov 24, 2021

Show notes

Defining what is, or isn’t artificial intelligence can be tricky (or tough). So much so, even the experts get it wrong sometimes. That’s why MIT Technology Review’s Senior AI Editor Karen Hao created a flowchart to explain it all. In this bonus content our host and her team reimagined Hao’s reporting, gamifying it into a radio play.

If you would like to see the original reporting visit:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/11/10/139137/is-this-ai-we-drew-you-a-flowchart-to-work-it-out/

Credits: This episode was reported by Karen Hao. It was adapted for audio and produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. The voices you hear are Emma Cillekens, as well as Eric Mongeon and Kyle Thomas Hemingway. (If you like our show art they made it!) We’re edited by Michael Reilly and Niall Firth.

In Machines We Trust: I Was There When... Facebook put profit over safety Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, we meet Sophie Zhang—a former data scientist at Facebook. Before she was fired, she had become consumed by the task of finding and taking down fake accounts that were being used to sway elections globally.

I Was There When is a new oral history project from the In Machines We Trust podcast. It features stories of how breakthroughs and watershed moments in artificial intelligence and computing happened, as told by the people who witnessed them.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens, and edited by Niall Firth and Mat Honan. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with theme music by Jacob Gorski.

In Machines We Trust: How pricing algorithms learn to collude Oct 27, 2021

Show notes

Algorithms now determine how much things cost. It’s called dynamic pricing and it adjusts according to current market conditions in order to increase profits. The rise of ecommerce has propelled pricing algorithms into an everyday occurrence—whether you’re shopping on Amazon, booking a flight, hotel or ordering an Uber.

We Meet:

Lisa Wilkins, UX designer
Gabe Smith, chief evangelist, Pricefx
Aylin Caliskan, assistant professor, University of Washington
Joseph Harrington, professor of business, economics and public policy, University of Pennsylvania
Maxime Cohen, Scale AI Chair professor, McGill University

Credits:

This episode was reported by Anthony Green and produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. We’re edited by Mat Honan and our mix engineer is Garret Lang, with sound design and music by Jacob Gorski.

In Machines We Trust: I Was There When... Face recognition was commercialized Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

I Was There When is an oral history project that's part of the In Machines We Trust podcast. It features stories of how breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and computing happened, as told by the people who witnessed them.

In this first installment we meet Joseph Atick who helped create the first commercially viable facial recognition system.

Do you have a story to tell for this series? Do you want to nominate someone who does? We want to hear from you! Please reach out to us at podcasts@technologyreview.com.

CREDITS: This episode was produced by Jennifer Strong, Anthony Green and Emma Cillekens with help from Lindsay Muscato. It’s edited by Michael Reilly and Mat Honan, and mixed by Garret Lang, with sound design and music by Jacob Gorski.

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