The promise of an “internet for niche communities” and “the empowered independent creator” has been taking a beating as the web has become less open and increasingly dominated by a few platforms and players. But does it have to be that way? Guest: Jack Conte , CEO and cofounder of Patreon. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the ...
May 22, 2026•34 min
Under fire for what critics say is inadequate protection of its young user base, Roblox nevertheless remains incredibly popular. Are the company’s new ballyhooed protections up for the task of keeping kids safe? Or is that asking the wrong question entirely? Guests: Cecilia D'Anastasio , video game reporter for Bloomberg. Mary Harris, host of the other What Next Stella Harris, daughter of Mary. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next fa...
May 17, 2026•34 min
Between artificial intelligence, the Iran War, and the future of Taiwan, there’s a lot for the United States and China to hash out—not least of which being the pecking order. Guest: Josh Chin , senior global correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at sla...
May 15, 2026•22 min
Everyone would probably hate A.I. less if we could just see some upside to it. But despite all the investment—into the companies, into infrastructure like data centers, so much into marketing—it’s widely known: artificial intelligence sucks. Guest: Nilay Patel, co-founder and editor in chief of The Verge. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “T...
May 10, 2026•32 min
The not-always-beloved-but-indisputably-useful Spirit Airlines has given up the ghost. What does this mean for the airline industry and your summer travel plans? Guest: Will Guisbond , senior reporter for The Air Current. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get ac...
May 08, 2026•21 min
In the early 2020s, Microsoft committed to buying 75 million tons of carbon removal—somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of the entire carbon removal market. But the company just announced it was putting that ambition on pause.. Guest: Robinson Meyer, founding executive editor of Heatmap News . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at ...
May 03, 2026•23 min
This week marks the beginning of the jury trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. There are massive implications for the A.I. industry here, but at the end of the day, the question might just boil down to - who do people dislike more? Guest: Gerrit De Vynck, tech reporter at the Washington Post Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at...
May 01, 2026•24 min
The era of ads following you around the internet via cookies might be coming to an end. What’s replacing it? Guest: Sara Fisher, Axios' media correspondent , and media analyst at CNN. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast prod...
Apr 26, 2026•23 min
Is artificial intelligence a blessing to all humanity, or a demon sent to lead us astray from God’s path? MAGA is choosing between two extremes. Guest: Kiera Butler , national correspondent for Mother Jones. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever ...
Apr 24, 2026•26 min
This very online administration is facing push back from Iran in their own home territory: the world of insipid memes, A.I. videos, and online mockery. Guest: Ali Breland , staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you ...
Apr 19, 2026•27 min
Back in the depths of the pandemic, what was an actor to do? Ben McKenzie started looking into cryptocurrency—and his research yielded both a book and a new documentary. The works are both non-fiction, which is more than McKenzie can say for crypto. Guest: Ben McKenzie, actor, director of the documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money , and co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-f...
Apr 17, 2026•35 min
If you had as much trouble getting along with other humans as Sam Altman does, you too might be eager to issue in the artificial intelligence revolution. Guest: Andrew Marantz , staff writer for the New Yorker. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherev...
Apr 12, 2026•31 min
As OpenAI prepares for its IPO, the company decided to…pay millions of dollars for a tech talk show? Is this just what rich tech guys like Sam Altman are like now? Guest: Mike Isaac , tech reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get ac...
Apr 10, 2026•21 min
One of artificial intelligence’s most hyped “abilities” is how it writes computer code. So much so that seemingly anyone can do it. So we figured… why not us? Guests: Greg Lavalee, Slate’s Chief Technology Officer. Clive Thompson, contributing writer for the New York Times Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show p...
Apr 05, 2026•31 min
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, private credit or “shadow banking” grew as an alternative to the regulations and shared risk that institutional banks operate within. What happens if a crisis hits the trillions of dollars that are outside of those guardrails? We may be about to find out. Guest: Tracy Alloway , co-host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate pod...
Apr 03, 2026•30 min
Artificial intelligence is working its way into every aspect of our lives, including law and immigration enforcement, and the industry is spending millions of dollars to ensure it can continue to do so unregulated. But as evidence of bias appears in this nascent tech, this congresswoman wants to ensure we’re not just recreating our historical biases and problems all over again—which is to say, she wants guardrails. Guest: Summer Lee , U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th district. Want mo...
Mar 29, 2026•31 min
What YouTube and Meta’s loss in the “social media addiction trial” could mean for your feed. Guest: Ryan Mac , business and technology reporter for the New York Times. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan C...
Mar 27, 2026•24 min
Why Palantir cofounder and CEO Alex Karp views working with Western militaries not just as a business opportunity, but as a higher calling. Guest: Jacob Silverman , journalist and author of “ Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley .” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up no...
Mar 22, 2026•28 min
Hank Green recently pulled a “reverse OpenAI” - he took his education platform Complexly and made it a nonprofit. In a world where outrage, A.I. slop and “brain rot” are all heavily incentivized by platforms, Hank explains why he’d rather make content that leans into the complexity of our world. Guest: Hank Green , YouTuber, half of Vlogbrothers, host of Crash Course and SciShow and founder of VidCon and Complexly . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to ...
Mar 20, 2026•31 min
A half dozen state attorneys general have sued the online gaming platform Roblox after multiple investigations found child predators on the site and more than 20 people were arrested for abducting or abusing children they had met via Roblox. Guest: Mike Hilgers , Nebraska Attorney General. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the ...
Mar 15, 2026•33 min
Drone warfare has evolved immensely since Ukraine. The use of artificial intelligence in combat has evolved just since Venezuela. Guest: Steven Feldstein, political scientist and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at...
Mar 13, 2026•26 min
How does Paramount, an old-guard studio and media institution, buying Warner Bros., another of the same, change the landscape in Hollywood, on cable, and in news? Guest: Julia Alexander , media correspondent for Puck News. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get a...
Mar 08, 2026•26 min
When you’re sending troops to war, it seems like there are more important things to consider than how it will impact the stock market. However, it doesn’t seem coincidental that this administration waited until the markets closed on a Friday to launch its attacks on Iran. Guest: Justin Wolfers , professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Sla...
Mar 06, 2026•34 min
How much would it change your life and approach to health if you had instant access to your quantified biometrics? RFK Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services have bet the difference would be huge, and loosened regulation on them—leaving TBD no choice but to strap in and give ‘em a try. Guests: Nadira Goffe , Slate staff writer. Mario Aguliar , health tech correspondent for Stat News Dr. Sandeep Kishore , associate professor at the University of California San Francisco Dr. Jordana C...
Mar 01, 2026•23 min
The Pentagon wants Anthropic to hand over its A.I. with no strings attached. Anthropic doesn’t want its products used to surveil Americans or create autonomous machines of war. Naturally, the Pentagon is mad - so mad, they’re threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act against them. But who has more leverage here? Guest: Sheera Frenkel, reporter for the New York Times Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favo...
Feb 27, 2026•25 min
You might not think you need artificial intelligence added to your shopping experience. Store employees might not see the point either. So why is it there anyway? Guest: Mia Sato , reporter at The Verge who covers tech companies, platforms, and users. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at sl...
Feb 22, 2026•21 min
Tech companies proudly touting that the imminent artificial intelligence revolution are pushing the stock market to ever higher heights, even as workers wonder what their role will be in this brave new world. But outside of the big A.I. players, the rest of the market seems to be wondering the same thing. Guest: Emily Peck, co-host of Slate Money and national correspondent at Axios. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all...
Feb 20, 2026•25 min
Data centers are a hot issue - tech companies say they need them, but communities don’t want to be anywhere near them. Senator Van Hollen stops by the show to share his plan to address the rising costs of energy for consumers that data centers create, as well as his thoughts on ICE and the future of the Democratic Party. Guest: Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slat...
Feb 13, 2026•25 min
Markiplier has been entertaining millions of fans on YouTube for over a decade. But his new movie Iron Lung - which he self-financed, directed, wrote and acted in - was a smash at the box office, not on his YouTube channel. Is it proof that he’s more than a YouTuber? Or is it proof that Hollywood is thinking about the platform and its creators all wrong? Guest: Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier, YouTuber , filmmaker and director of “Iron Lung.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to acc...
Feb 10, 2026•29 min
Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime. Guest: Andy Greenberg , senior writer for WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking...
Feb 08, 2026•31 min
