The Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed 75 years ago to protect Europe and North America against Russian aggression a mission that is once again top priority, as NATO supports Ukraines battle against President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the NATO summit and anniversary celebration in D.C. this week, Kara sits down with US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith to talk about the war and Ukraines prospective membership in NATO, why the alliance is increasingly looking for partners in Asia and...
Jul 08, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trumps historic felony conviction, a SCOTUS ruling in favor of presidential immunity, and a dumpster fire Biden vs. Trump debate: Those are just a few of the things that have happened on the American democracy front since Kara spoke to historian Heather Cox Richardson in January. In a special Independence Day episode, Kara and Heather replay that conversation, including history lessons from her book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, and then rejoin at the end. They discuss what...
Jul 04, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hands with six fingers, mouths with dozens of teeth, hairlines and limbs out of whack: Weve all seen eye-roll worthy generative AI images. But despite the prevalence of these easy to spot fakes, photography and video media companies like Getty Images are already feeling the impact of AI and trying to integrate the technology without compromising their core business. Kara speaks with Getty CEO Craig Peters about why he can promise users of the Getty AI Generator uncapped indemnity, whether he thi...
Jul 01, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast The 2024 race is ON and the gloves are coming off: President Biden and former President Donald Trump will go head-to-head tonight, in the first debate of this campaign season [Thursday, 9 pm ET on CNN]. The two are basically tied in the polls, so both candidates are vying for independent voters in a handful of swing states to secure the Oval. Kara hosts a panel of political junkies (Stephanie Ruhle, host of MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle; Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief at the neocon...
Jun 27, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Actor and Director Griffin Dunne grew up surrounded by Hollywood fame and celebrity his father was a TV producer, his aunt the renowned writer Joan Didion, his sister a blossoming actress and the late Carrie Fisher his best friend and onetime roommate. But the Dunne family became famous for tragedy when Griffins 22-year-old sister Dominique was murdered by her boyfriend. Dunnes father, Dominick, chronicled the tumult of the murder trial for Vanity Fair, while privately struggling as a closeted h...
Jun 24, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Late spring/early summer is always a busy time for the Supreme Court, but this year, its not just the controversialdecisions that are making news. The justices themselves have been in headlines for all the wrong reasons. Kara and an expert panel discuss the ethical lapses, refusals the recuse, and of course, the cases themselves including the big one, over Trumps claim to complete and total immunity. The panelists are: Judge Nancy Gertner (retired), a lecturer at Harvard Law School and former US...
Jun 20, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus is most famous for her comedic TV characters Elaine Benes inSeinfeldandVeepsSelina Meyer. But in recent years, Louis-Dreyfus has been showing her dramatic chops, including in her latest film Tuesday, in which she takes on grief, denial and death. She's also been winning awards as the host of her podcastWiser Than Me. Kara and Julia discuss how in-depth conversations with iconic older women have radicalized her, her concerns about the commercialization of art films and w...
Jun 17, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara takes the stage with Laurene Powell Jobs at Sixth & I in Washington D.C. to talk about Karas recent memoir, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story. In this bonus episode of On, Powell Jobs interviews Swisher about her life as a tech reporter, the incredible influence of tech CEOs, the need for regulation, AI and the best devices of all time. This episode was originally taped on February 29, 2024 and has been edited for clarity and length. You can find the full version of their conversation here: http...
Jun 14, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara interviews Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, and one of the most powerful people in tech. Murati has helped the company skyrocket to the forefront of the generative AI boom, and Apples recent announcement that it will soon put ChatGPT in its iPhones, iPads and laptops will only help increase their reach. But OpenAI's rapid ascent has included its fair share of growing pains. There was the blip, as company insiders refer to the brief ousting of Sam Altman as CEO. (Murati becam...
Jun 13, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Abortion will be a key issue in the election this fall and it's also the focus of two Supreme Court rulings expected later this month.This week, Kara speaks with Cecile Richards, activist and former President of Planned Parenthood, about the fight for reproductive rights in the post-Roe era, where abortion fits into the electoral landscape, the potential outcomes of the two SCOTUS rulings, and how technology is enhancing access to abortion. On a more personal note, Cecile also talks about her re...
Jun 10, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara sits down to talk with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The social media-savvy congresswoman from the Bronx is a member of the bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, and she recently introduced a bill to combat nonconsensual deepfake pornography. Kara and AOC discuss the bill, and her opposition to the TikTok ban, along with her take on the overall tech landscape. They also dive into her recent back-and-forth with Marjorie Taylor Greene, her relationship with the Left, Tr...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Broad City co-creator Ilana Glazers new friendship flick Babes is a no-holds-barred comedy about pregnancy, parenthood and the losses that come with adulthood. Kara talks with Ilana about why womens bodies are considered raunchy, whether YouTube is still a good launch pad for breakout comedians, and how she is rallying Gen Z and Millennial voters to microdose democracy through her political non-profit Generator Collective. Plus: why, as a Jewish American, shes calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Qu...
Jun 03, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast When it comes to political comedy, Bill Maher is practically an institution hes been hosting a late-night political talk show since 1993 (with a brief hiatus in 2002-03, after Politically Incorrect wascanceled following a 9/11 comment). And now the host of Real Time with Bill Maher has a new book out: What This Comedian Said Will Shock You. Kara sat with Bill in his den of iniquity to discuss his childhood, politics, the war in Gaza, and, of course, cancel culture. Questions? Comments? Email us ...
May 30, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, were sharing Karas recent appearance on Possible, a podcast hosted by Aria Finger and Reid Hoffman from Wonder Media Network. Well be back with a new episode of On with Kara Swisher on Thursday, May 30th. You can follow the Possible podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 27, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tesla is bleeding execs, and it appears to be reaching a crisis point; over at Twitter/X, new reporting shows that Elon uses the platform to cozy up to right-wing leaders around the world and then presses them to enact policies that benefit to his companies; and while SpaceX continues to dominate in space, serious questions remain about the Pentagons reliance on the mercurial industrialist with a seeming soft spot for Putin and Xi. So its time to gather three of the best reporters covering Musk ...
May 23, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has been reporting on protests, wars and conflicts for more than 40 years, and hes used his platform to highlight human rights issues at home and abroad. But despite being a proponent of "ethical journalism", he flinches at being called an activist. Kara talks to Nick about the swashbuckling adventures detailed in his new memoir, Chasing Hope: A Reporters Life, his take on the situation in Gaza and the student protests against the war, and why hes more h...
May 20, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Ignatius, a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post and the author of twelve novels, is also a noted expert on Middle East politics, one of the preeminent national security writers in the country, and perhaps, most importantly the person who first assigned Kara Swisher to cover tech news. Kara talks to her old boss about his new spy thriller, The Phantom Orbit, the upcoming presidential election, the war in Gaza, and the war in Ukraine. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedi...
May 16, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast To savvy tech consumers, Walt Mossberg and Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, need no introduction. Before he retired in 2017, Walt was the undisputed dean of tech reviewers. As Senator Maria Cantwell, a recent guest and former tech executive put it, all our product reviews lived or died by Walt Mossberg. MKBHD began reviewing tech products on YouTube, as a high schooler, and he now has more than 18 million subscribers to his channel. He has become this generations Walt Mossberg, and as Jimmy Donaldso...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Anne Lamott has penned novels, but is most famous for her confessional memoirs about sobriety, raising her son as a single mother (Operating Instructions), being a liberal Christian and writing (Bird By Bird). Kara and Anne talk about her 20th book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love, why she thinks love is like Wi-Fi, how she dealt with nearly being canceled over a tweet, how to practice radical self-acceptance, and finding forgiveness even for Donald Trump. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@vo...
May 09, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Thirty-one years after founding Chipotle, Steve Ells is back with what he hopes will be another fast-casual dining revolution: the highly-automated, plant-based food chain, Kernel. Ells says that streamlining and automation will allow him to pay workers well above minimum wage and give them more benefits all while reducing labor costs. But dont call it a robot restaurant! Kara and Ells discuss the mechanics and philosophy underpinning Kernels concept and the downstream effects of integrating tec...
May 06, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast In her latest play, Sally & Tom, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks tackles what is, arguably, one of the most complicated and personal chapters in American history: the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who gave birth to at least six of his children. Kara and Parks discuss the play in the context of her past work, as well as our nation's trend of revising history to sand down its rough edges, and why wrestling with our nations past is a ...
May 02, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Kara first met Senator Maria Cantwell in the 90s, she was a tech executive at an early player in the streaming media industry called RealNetworks. Now, the Democrat from Washington is the chair of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, and she recently released a draft of the American Privacy Rights Act. For the first time in a long time, it looks like a tech privacy bill might have a decent shot at actually becoming law. Senator Cantwell joins the podcast to discuss her bill, her approach...
Apr 29, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kara discusses the pacing threat that is China from TikTok to cyberattacks to semiconductors and Taiwan with two cybersecurity experts: Dimitri Alperovitch, co-founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike and author of the new book World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century, and Chris Krebs, Chief Intelligence Officer at SentinelOne and former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under President Trump (until he was fired in a tweet for ba...
Apr 25, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Despite a recent uptick, President Bidens approval rating and his poll numbers against Donald Trump are far from stellar. And with inflation remaining stubbornly high and gas prices moving up, Biden and his party seem eager to focus voters on abortion rights and Republicans in Arizona and Florida have given him plenty of material to work with. To understand how the abortion issue might play out in November and how the Dobbs decision is already affecting millions of people across the country, eve...
Apr 22, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is Gen Zs mental health in decline because their phone-based childhood has flooded them with anxiety and ruined their sleep? Or is there a more complex mix of factors at play? Jonathan Haidt makes his case for the former explanation in his latest book, The Anxious Generation. While many people intuitively agree with his argument that phones and social media are ruining kids, some researchers are accusing Haidt of coming up with a grand overarching theory that isnt supported by the data. Kara bri...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yahoo, the one-time "oracle of the internet", has had many iterations in its 30 year history - and private equity is betting that Yahoo CEO and digital media veteran Jim Lanzone can bring back its relevance. Kara has been covering Yahoo since its inception and has known Lanzone - who has had leadership stints at Ask.com, CBS and Tinder - almost as long. They discuss Jim's vision for the new Yahoo, whats going on with search, how hes integrating AI, and whether there could be another Yahoo merger...
Apr 15, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Flood the zonewith shit.Its a zinger and a strategic imperative, from the oh-so-eloquent Steve Bannon, being expertly executed by Donald Trump and the MAGA-fied GOP. To help us make sense of what our information morass means for the 2024 election, were joined by three political disinformation experts: Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation researcher, the former executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, and the author of "How To Lose the Informat...
Apr 11, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are a lot of Trump/Hitler comparisons being thrown around these days. So we went to the source, as chronicled by historian Timothy Ryback in his new book Takeover: Hitlers Final Rise to Power. Ryback zooms in on the final six months before Adolf Hitler dissolved the government of the Weimar Republic, revealing that Nazi Germany was not inevitable. Kara and Ryback discuss the Berlin power players that misjudged Hitlers bankrupt party, and the (not just rhetorical) similarities between the a...
Apr 08, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joan Nathan, the doyenne of Jewish-American food and a pillar of the DC dinner party scene, joins us to talk about her memoir, My Life in Recipes. Nathan has written a dozen cookbooks, but this is her most personal, drawing on family recipes from the old country that go back centuries. She and Kara discuss everything from Golda Meirs terrible matzo balls, to the limits of gastro-diplomacy, the so-called Hummus Wars, and the war in Gaza. Please note that while this discussion touches on chef Jose...
Apr 04, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Geraldine DeRuiter a.k.a. The Everywhereist joins Kara to talk about her new book If You Cant Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury. They talk about some of the authors viral moments and the backlash she experienced after calling out two famed Italian chefs, the inherent sexism in the food industry (from dining rooms to professional kitchens), and how societal stigmas around beauty and our bodies have distorted our relationship to food. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxme...
Apr 01, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
