The Guardian launches podcast exploring collision between AI and us
Black Box is a new six-part podcast series from The Guardian that looks at humanity’s collision with AI.
Hosted by Michael Safi, each episode follows a new story. In Norway, a young woman’s boyfriend forgets who she is, overnight. In Detroit, a shop is robbed, and a man is arrested but he says he was never there. In a small town in Spain, disturbing deep fake images of young girls have been circulating and no one knows who is behind them.
The series will feature the people who created the technology, the people falling in love with it and those using it to improve lives, as well as destroy them.
Michael Safi, Guardian journalist and podcast host said: “We started this series aiming to explore the way intelligent machines were already making an impact in the world. But as we started reporting, our team kept finding ourselves drawn to the people whose lives were becoming intertwined with AI.
“We realised: this was not just a series about an extraordinary advance in technology, it was about what it means to be human in an age where machines are gaining the power to comfort us, cure diseases, fight wars and automate our work (except making podcasts!).
“Black Box is a snapshot of the first moments when everything started to change.”
Nicole Jackson, head of audio, Guardian News & Media added: “Black Box is a brilliant deep dive into the complex world of AI.
“Using narrative storytelling, the team have found extraordinary stories to illustrate the ways in which this new intelligence is going to change everything – for the better and for the worse.
“From meeting scientists who are behind what could be the most impactful invention of this century to hunting down Russian coders who are using AI to wreak havoc around the world, the question the podcast continually probes is: as we give more and more power to AI, what will it mean for all of our lives?”
Episode zero of Black Box, the prologue is available for listening from today, 29 February. The prologue introduces the series and shares the story of a socially isolated woman who has used AI to help her find a companion.
New episodes will be released every Monday and Thursday over the coming weeks, with the first one titled ‘The connectionists’ available from Monday 4 March, wherever you get your podcasts.