The Large Language Models are powered by stolen data but there are new and innovative ways to make the thieves pay. Professor Toby Walsh explains the tech-driven resistance to Big AI from data poisoning to responsible cloud computing. With panellists Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Editor of the Sizzle Cam Wilson, and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis we also discuss: Qantas’ big data hack Victoria’s foray into AI policing and how Velvet Sunset’s fake music is bringing tears to Peter’s eyes To ...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 71
"I thought old people got scammed. And actually young people are at greater risk because they have more confidence in dealing [with things] online." This week on Burning Platforms, the team learns how the financial scam industry has become an enthusiastic early adapter of AI and how the banks are working around the clock to ensure they aren’t the ones liable for the ensuing harm. With our regular panelists Digital Rights Watch Chair, Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton, Per Capita’s Pet...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 70
"What could things have become? You could imagine if the baton had been passed from the Obama administration to a Clinton administration... an American public much more ready... for the turns in AI that we are facing now." On this week's Burning Platforms, our panel spends some quality time with the architect of the Biden Administration’s AI executive order, Dr Alondra Nelson. With regular panelists Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton, and Per Capita’s Peter L...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 69
Burning Platforms struggles to make sense of white genocide, design unicorns and the all-seeing Apple Eye. E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant joins regular panellists Digital Rights Watch founder Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis for our regular dive into the world of tech and politics. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burning Platforms podcast: https://the-town-crier-2.ghost....
May 28, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 68
Good things come in threes and this week’s Burning Platforms looks at the inspiration behind the new Pope’s decision to name himself Leo, the critical changes to the Labor Government’s front bench and Mark Zuckerberg maximum number of friends. Regular panellists Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis and joined by Professor Dan Angus from QUT’S Digital Research Centre.
May 14, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 67
With a federal election within days, Burning Platforms looks at the lack of discussion about tech and whether that is a good or bad thing. With Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Per Capita’s Peter Lewis and special guests, Editor of The Sizzle, Cam Wilson and Dr Rys Farthing from Reset Australia. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burning Platforms podcast: https://the-town-crier-2.ghost.io/ Support our guests by c...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 66
As the world teeters on the brink of whatever comes after globalisation we dive deep into the way AI is transforming film-making with the director of the iconic Australian film Kenny, Clay Jacobson. Our regular panel of Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis also discuss: The theory that the Trump Tariffs were cooked up by a chatbot The growing chance that the FTC anti-trust case against Meta is history; and The backlash against Chat ...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 65
On this week's episode of Burning Platforms, the gang looks at global efforts to force Big Tech to pay their share of tax with special guest Dr Mark Zirnsak from the Tax Justice Network. With our regular panelists Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burning Platforms podcast: https://the-town-crier-2.ghost.io/...
Mar 24, 2025•57 min•Ep. 64
This week on Burning Platforms, we dive deep into a new initiative to understand the role of Trust in the relationship between society and technology with special guest, Professor Terry Flew. With regular panelists Per Capita’s Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine Dan Stinton, we'll also look at: Data Centre Diplomacy will Google’s AI search eat itself? and Digg’s reboot Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the ...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 63
Burning Platforms is back for 2025. With the tech overlords in the ascendant, particularly following the US election, we take stock of the impending inferno with our regular panel Per Capita’s Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine Dan Stinton, and special guest, fresh from the Paris AI Summit, Professor Nick Davis from UTS’ Human Technology Institute. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burnin...
Mar 03, 2025•51 min•Ep. 62
In our final episode of 2024 we unpack the recent Senate Report into the Adoption of AI in Australia with Committee Chair Senator Tony Sheldon. We also look at: Woolworth's industrial dispute over workplace surveillance Why Meta is building a deep sea cable to India How TikTok was gamed to deliver an election boil over in Romania With regular panellists Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, HealthEngine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita's Peter Lewis. Visit the Centre of the Public Square for m...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 61
Burning Platforms dives deep into the common ground between national security and individual privacy with cybersecurity expert Miah Hammond-Errey, host of the Technology and Security podcast. Also this week: * Bunnings wrapped over facial recognition * Trump’s crypto bonanza * and could the Social Media Ban have a silver lining? Panelists: * Digital Rights Watch chair, Lizzie O’Shea, * Health Engine CEO, Dan Stinton * and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis Visit the Centre of the Public Square for more on...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 60
The upcoming US Presidential elections will shape - and be shaped by - the Web3 community. We talk with Mark Monfort from the Aus De-Fi Association on what the moment means. He joins our panel of Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton, digital rights advocate Kate Bower and Peter Lewis from Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Also this week: * The new front on chat-bot accountability * Is Emotional Intelligence the next killer app? * and has AI doomer-ism turned the corner? Listen to Burning Platfo...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 59
As researchers are locked out of digital platforms, we contemplate a new era of control and secrecy, with responsible tech academic Gina Neff. She joins our panel of Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie OShea, Choice’s digital campaign lead Rafi Alam and Peter Lewis from Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Also this week: The Social Media Summit takeaways The eyes inside our cars And the Nobel Prize’s AI extravaganza Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the ...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 58
Open AI's Sam Altman has launched a new product line with a new business model and a new philosophy. But do they all line up? Lee Schofield from ‘Future is Now’ with our regular panelists Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton. We also cover · The fallout from 7-Eleven’s privacy breach · Misinformation and disinformation laws · And Mark Zuckerberg’s new Metaverse glasses. Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Don't for...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 57
Listen to our live virtual town hall briefing to discuss the Federal Government’s much anticipated plans for privacy reform and the launch o the Privacy Now campaign - https://privacynow.org.au/ . With: Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind Human Technology Institute director Ed Santow Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public ...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 56
What can Only Fans teach us about the internet? Social media academic Emily van der Nagel takes us through her research with content creators and consumers to reveal the logic behind a very different platform. She joins our regular panel of Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Centre of the Public Square convenor Peter Lewis. Also this week: The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Musicians count the cost of AI; and What next for the News Media Bargaining Co...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 55
In this week's episode if Burning Platforms, the panel dives into the product liability of companion apps with consumer law academia, Jeannie Peterson. Also this week, they touch on: * the UK riots and platform responsibility * Musk’s X-rated presidential dalliance * and the People’s bid for TiKTok Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per Capita ’s Centre of the Public Square. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier , the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burning P...
Aug 18, 2024•58 min•Ep. 54
Forget intelligent machines waging war on humans, the real threat could be the amount of energy and water data processing centres are sucking up in the service of AI. Gordon Noble from UTS’s Institute of Sustainable Futures has been crunching the numbers and it makes for alarming reading. He joins our regular panel of Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Centre of the Public Square convenor Peter Lewis. Also this week: Has the US Supreme Court just granted ...
Aug 05, 2024•59 min•Ep. 53
On this week’s Burning Platforms, Peter Lewis launches the “Civility Manifesto” live at the July John Cain Lunch. Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier, the official newsletter of the Centre for the Public Square and Burning Platforms podcast: https://the-town-crier-2.ghost.io/
Jul 22, 2024•58 min•Ep. 52
On this week’s Burning Platforms, we talk with author Tracey Spicer about the biases and contradictions at the heart of Artificial Intelligence. Our panel of Essential’s Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton also ask: * who really runs Australian tech policy? * what does the collapse of US privacy reform mean? * and why is Dan perplexed about Perplexity? Join host Peter Lewis next week at the July John Cain lunch, where he will discuss ‘Rebuildin...
Jul 09, 2024•58 min•Ep. 51
This week on Burning Platforms, our regular panel of Essential's Peter Lewis and Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea share a special extended interview with Taiwan’s inaugural Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang and Radical xChange founder Glen Weyl about their new collaborative book, ‘Plurality.’ Listen to Burning Platforms on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to subscribe to The Town Crier for more tech news from the Centre of the Public Square. Burning Platforms is an initiative of Pe...
Jun 24, 2024•57 min•Ep. 50
This week on Burning Platforms, our regular panel of Essential's Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, and HealthEngine CEO Dan Stinton, are joined by Professor Nicholas Davis from UTS’s Human Technology Institute as they dive deep into new research on how worker power could be the key to harnessing AI to deliver real productivity. Also discussed on this week's Burning Platforms: What does Apple’s deal with open AI mean? Is Google capturing more of you than you realise? Can Aust...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 49
On this week’s Burning Platforms, host Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton are joined by media and tech commentator Ricky Sutton to dive deep into his analysis of Google’s growing dominance and how it might be its own Achilles Heel. Plus they also ponder whether: Can Scarlett Johansson save the internet? Should we impose age limits on social media? And if should Australia have sovereign AI capability? Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per C...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Is AI robbing writers of their ideas and what can we do about it? Australian Writers Guild CEO Claire Pullen joins the regular panelists Essential’s Peter Lewis, Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton for our fortnightly dive into political tech. They also discuss: Whether Google really cares about our privacy? Can an AI deliver talking points better than a politician? Is the internet already dead? Burning Platforms is an initiative of Per Capita’s Centre of t...
May 13, 2024•57 min•Season 2Ep. 46
This week’s Burning Platforms looks at Australia’s face-off with Elon Musk and the role live-streaming has in building media accountability. Also covered: Google’s sacking of workers who protested the companies deployment of its tech stack in Israel and a new wearable that promises to remember everything you say. With special guest, author Tim Dunlop and regular panelists Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton. Hosted by Essential Media’s Peter Lewis. Burning ...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Burning Platforms dives deep into the role humans play in managing large platforms and small communities with academic and convenor of the upcoming All Things in Moderation conference Venessa Paech. Our panel also discusses: Who is really incognito on Google? Who should deal with the downstream risks of Open AI’s new Voice Engine? And are we Witnessing AI’s first acts of genocide? With Peter Lewis from Essential, Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’SHea and Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton. Burning...
Apr 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Welcome back to Burning Platforms – a podcast about the politics of technology - from our new home at Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. Burning Platforms takes a deep dive into AI-generated mind reading with Michael Blumenstein, Deputy Dean at UTS’s’ Faculty of Engineering and IT. Plus: Is Trump’s "Truth Social" the Ultimate Deal? Are new EU Competition Laws a Big Tech game-changer? And should ‘Post and Boast’ Laws be Toast? Burning Platforms is brought to you by the Centre of the Public...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Welcome back to Burning Platforms – a podcast about the politics of technology - from our new home at Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. This week, Peter, Lizzie, and Dan dive deep into Meta's threat to pull news from Australia and what it will mean to journalism and whether the compromise required to create the News Media Bargaining Code will become the seeds of its destruction. Also: * Is banning TikTok the next global border war? * Are self-driving cars jumping the tech shark? * Is a f...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Welcome back to Burning Platforms – a podcast about the politics of technology - from our new home at Per Capita’s Centre of the Public Square. For our first episode for 2024, Peter, Lizzie, and Dan will discuss the federal governments new doxxing laws, Open AI's latest product, Sora, and question whether LinkedIn is the "last platform standing". We're also joined by Deep Dive/Guest: Nick Suzor, Law Professor at QUT Digital Media Research Centre and member of Meta’s Oversight Board, to chat abou...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 41
