Understood: Artificial Intimacy

CBC•www.cbc.ca

What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot? From people who’ve married their bots or who grieve their loved ones with the help of AI, host Victoria Hetherington (author of The Friend Machine) dives into the stories of the people who have invited these digital avatars into their hearts, minds, and even beds. And asks what do we gain and what do we stand to lose? Our intimacy, our resilience, even our grasp on reality?

This latest season of Understood looks at who made the decisions that allowed chatbots to move way beyond digital assistants and into the most intimate parts of our lives.

Four episodes, releasing weekly starting Tuesday, May 19.

Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet — we explore the stories that define our digital age with hosts and characters embedded in the heart of the action.

Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried.

Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry.

Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power.

Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar.

Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose.

Season 6 - The Making of Elon Musk: exploring the little known side of the polarizing billionaire

Season 7: Deepfake Porn Empire: the porn was fake. The fallout was real.

Last refreshed: June 27th, 2026 at 12:41 PM

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Modi's India: Season 3 of Understood

How did one man rise from poverty to the peak of political power and secure the adoration of nearly one billion people? And how did he overcome accusations — that he denies — of complicity in religious violence and alleged international assassination plots? In the latest season of Understood, Mumbai-based journalist Salimah Shivji examines the remarkable rise, and incredible power that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acquired. And as his country embarks on a massive election, Shivji asks...

Apr 24, 2024•2 min

The Pornhub Empire Episode 4: Cleanup crew

New name, new owners, new rules. Can Pornhub rebuild its reputation and remain one of the world’s biggest porn sites? Or will the company be disrupted out of business by a new crop of online porn entrepreneurs? This is episode 4 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole. Full transcript here .

Apr 01, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 4

The Pornhub Empire Episode 3: Pornhub’s disgrace

The episode details the harrowing experience of "Jane," coerced into a film that went viral on Pornhub, revealing the platform's dangerous partnership with the "Girls Do Porn" sex trafficking operation. It explores how Pornhub's anonymous upload system enabled non-consensual content and child sexual abuse material, despite warnings from industry insiders. A New York Times exposé triggered public outrage, credit card company boycotts, and finally forced Pornhub to implement major verification and content policies, albeit too late for many victims like Jane who continue to face trauma and legal battles.

Mar 25, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 3

The Pornhub Empire Episode 2: Pornhub goes mainstream

Not only did Pornhub become a massive moneymaker, it also helped push porn into the spotlight by using data, clever PR, and the power of celebrity. How did Pornhub make itself a household name? This is episode 2 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole. Full transcript here .

Mar 18, 2024•24 min•Season 2Ep. 2

The Pornhub Empire Episode 1: Free porn for everyone

How did a handful of competitive foosball players in Montreal create the world’s largest online porn site? And what do a picturesque Dutch cabin, thousands of pornographic VHS tapes, and the subprime mortgage crisis have to do with it? This is episode 1 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole. Full transcript here .

Mar 11, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 1

Introducing: The Pornhub Empire

Pornhub — that site you only access on your browser’s incognito mode? It gets way more views than Netflix. But because of the sheepishness and stigma around porn, it’s treated as if it’s fringe, instead of what it really is: one of Canada’s largest cultural exports. In The Pornhub Empire: Understood, hear the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry — only to have its reputation obliterated in a massive scandal — and where it stands today. The Pornhub Empire is...

Feb 22, 2024•2 min

Bonus: Click Here from Recorded Future News

A former American IRS investigator responsible for some of the earliest dark market takedowns has been in Nigerian custody since February. Neither Nigerian nor the US authorities seem to be distinguishing Tigran Gambaryan from Binance, the company where he works. The Click Here podcast from Recorded Future News is a bi-weekly tech news podcast and this episode features Jacob Silverman, the host of The Naked Emperor: Understood to help dive into this story. More episodes of Click Here are availab...

Feb 21, 2024•28 min

The Naked Emperor BONUS | Guilty: The fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

A jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts, from conspiracy to fraud, following the collapse of his crypto exchange last year. Speaking with Front Burner host Daemon Fairless, Jacob Silverman walks us through Bankman-Fried’s trial and explains what the verdict means for FTX customers and the cryptocurrency industry.

Nov 06, 2023•27 min

The Naked Emperor BONUS: The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried

Today we bring you a bonus episode of The Naked Emperor. As Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial kicks off in New York, host Jacob Silverman is back to bring you up to speed on the latest. What’s happened at the courthouse in the lead-up to the trial? And what’s expected in the weeks to come? Joining Jacob is Zeke Faux, an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, and the author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.”

Oct 02, 2023•26 min

The Naked Emperor BONUS: Binance and its CEO sued in major crypto case

Jacob Silverman sits down on CBC's Front Burner podcast to discuss how the biggest crypto exchange in the world is being sued by an American regulator accusing Binance and its billionaire founder of breaking a string of laws and misusing investor funds. Changpeng Zhao and his company say they will fight back "vigorously."

Jun 08, 2023•24 min

The Naked Emperor Episode 4: It Takes a Village

Sam Bankman-Fried couldn’t have marketed FTX to the masses on his own. He had help – from the institutional investors who brought in the big bucks, to the celebrity endorsers who told the public that FTX was “a safe and easy way to get into crypto.” One FTX brand ambassador was Kevin O’Leary, from the reality show Shark Tank. Host Jacob Silverman questions O’Leary about his due diligence before accepting the multimillion dollar endorsement deal. We also hear from everyday investors and hopeful b...

Apr 03, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 4

The Naked Emperor Episode 3: Busted

In the weeks after FTX filed for bankruptcy Sam stuck to his story: he did not commit fraud. FTX’s post-collapse CEO claimed the company had been a managerial and financial disaster, writing that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.” In response to his cratering public image, Sam Bankman-Fried talked. A lot. He exhibited an almost reckless desire to tell his side of things, insisting he could explain – ...

Mar 27, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 3

The Naked Emperor Episode 2: The Beginning of the End

We return to the beginning of Sam Bankman-Fried’s lucrative foray into crypto and ask: how did it all fall apart? Sam Bankman-Fried rose to the top of the crypto world with help from his friends. Gary Wang was a former fellow math-camper and brilliant programmer; Caroline Ellison was a former colleague at an elite Wall Street firm and an avid LARPer on the side. While still in their twenties, they were entrusted with billions of dollars of customer and investor funds. But in retrospect there wer...

Mar 20, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 2

The Naked Emperor Episode 1: The Hype

Sam Bankman-Fried wasn't like other crypto moguls: he drove a Toyota Corolla, he was an advocate for government regulation, he said he would give billions away to charity. That is, until he lost it all in what has been called “one of history’s greatest-ever destructions of wealth.” Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, had an empire. His cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, and hedge fund, Alameda Research, together were worth billions. Celebrities sang his praises, and politicians took his donations. Then, it a...

Mar 13, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1

The Naked Emperor Trailer – Season 1 of Understood

In The Naked Emperor journalist Jacob Silverman explains how Sam Bankman-Fried built and destroyed FTX, a multi-billion dollar crypto currency empire. Who helped? Who was hurt? And will anything change following one of the most stunning financial collapses in modern history? The Naked Emperor is season 1 of Understood from the CBC. All episodes are available now.

Feb 22, 2023•4 min

← Prev

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android