Black Box
By The Guardian
At some point in the past few years, humanity collided with a new kind of intelligence. And things are getting strange. People are being accused of crimes by algorithms; falling in love with digital beings; pioneering new ways to fight old diseases; turning to machines for comfort in their worst moments, and using artificial intelligence to commit – and hide from – terrible crimes. The Guardian’s Michael Safi investigates the story of a technology so complex that its own creators have no idea what it is thinking, and captures a snapshot of the era when people first made contact with AI • Black Box has been selected as one of Apple Podcasts Favourites of 2024
Latest episode
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Episode 6 – Shut it down?
For decades, Eliezer Yudkowsky has been trying to warn the world about the dangers of AI. And now people are finally listening to him. But is it too late? -
Episode 5 – The white mask
In January 2020, Robert Williams was arrested by Detroit police for a crime he had not committed. The officers were acting on a tip not from a witness or informant. In fact, not from a person at all -
Episode four – Bing and I
Two stories about the way AI could – in fact, already is – making the world better. In Montana, when Lee Johnson discovered his wife, Yokie, had cancer, he turned to AI – and was surprised by the answers he got. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts Prof Regin… -
Episode three – Repocalypse now
When Eugenia Kuyda created Replika, the AI companion app, she had no idea how popular it would become. The results were powerful … but so was the backlash -
Episode two – The hunt for ClothOff: the deepfake porn app
For the past six months, Guardian journalist Michael Safi has been trying to find out who is behind an AI company that creates deepfakes. Deepfakes that are causing havoc around the world, with police and lawmakers baffled about how to deal with them… -
Episode one – The connectionists
This is the story of Geoffrey Hinton, a man who set out to understand the brain and ended up working with a group of researchers who invented a technology so powerful that even they don’t truly understand how it works -
Prologue: the collision
The beginning of a new series that explores seven stories and the thread that ties them together: artificial intelligence. In this prologue, Hannah (not her real name) has met Noah who has changed her life for the better. So why does she have concern… -
Black Box: a new podcast series about AI and us – trailer
Something strange is happening: a collision between people and artificial intelligence. Discover more in this new narrative series from the Guardian’s podcast team
