The U.S. and UK will negotiate “a new economic deal with advanced technology at its core,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday at the White House. The details of the arrangement remain an open question, but President Donald Trump added it could get done quickly. On POLITICO Tech, London-based trade and technology deputy editor Joseph Bambridge joins host Steven Overly to talk about potential sticking points. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 28, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ann Lewis has seen the government waste a lot of money on bad technology. As director of Technology Transformation Services under President Joe Biden, her office was tasked with revamping and updating government technology. Lewis says there’s a version of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that could have been bipartisan (and less controversial). On POLITICO Tech, Lewis tells host Steven Overly how she thinks Musk should do things differently. NEW Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Feb 27, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Big Tech is hoping President Donald Trump will lighten up on antitrust enforcement after four years of heavy scrutiny under the Biden administration. But so far, there are few signs of a change. In fact, recent policy announcements from the Federal Trade Commission suggest internet and social media platforms will remain under the microscope. On POLITICO Tech, Cato Institute senior fellow Jennifer Huddleston joins host Steven Overly to discuss tension among Republicans over antitrust and dissect ...
Feb 26, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The most striking outcome of this weekend’s German election wasn’t the actual winner. It’s that one in five voters backed the far-right party, Alternative for Germany. Elon Musk heavily promoted the AfD in the lead up to Election Day, and the party leaned on AI-generated content to amplify its nationalist message. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly chats with reporter Emily Schultheis in Berlin about Musk’s influence and what the results mean for transatlantic relations. Learn more about your ...
Feb 25, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since taking office last month, President Donald Trump has been driving the tech agenda in Washington. Now, Congress is slowly starting to get back in the game. But the politics around Big Tech are shifting — and some once-vocal critics are softening up. On POLITICO Tech, reporter Anthony Adragna gives host Steven Overly the download on what’s happening on Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 24, 2025•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elon Musk’s army of government reformers are making sweeping cuts across federal agencies, and the changes often start with getting ahold of the data. That has raised questions and legal complaints about whether the Department of Government Efficiency is mishandling all the sensitive data it’s now accessing. POLITICO reporter Adam Wren wanted to find out whether the data could be funneled into Musk’s businesses. On POLITICO Tech, he tells host Steven Overly what he found. Learn more about your a...
Feb 21, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast When it comes to online political culture, few personalities are as influential as Joe Rogan, host of the popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast. And if you tune into the show these days, Rogan is a breathless defender of Elon Musk and his controversial role reshaping government. POLITICO’s Calder McHugh reports that’s driving away some of Rogan’s long-time listeners — the fans who made him so impactful in the last election. On POLITICO Tech, McHugh joins host Steven Overly to explain Rogan’s pred...
Feb 20, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Senate confirmed Howard Lutnick as the next commerce secretary, meaning the former Wall Street CEO will soon be shaping President Donald Trump’s second-term tech agenda. During Trump’s first stint in the White House, Satya Thallam was a senior counselor in the Office of Management and Budget. And he’s now shaping tech policy through roles at Americans for Responsible Innovation and the Foundation for American Innovation. On POLITICO Tech, Thallam joins host Steven Overly to dish on what he e...
Feb 19, 2025•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump’s nominees are trudging through the Senate confirmation process, including Gail Slater, his pick to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Slater is a well-known entity in Washington tech circles. But she could soon have a pivotal role in shaping Trump’s antitrust response to tech’s market power — a sore spot for the industry’s big players. On POLITICO Tech, reporter Mohar Chatterjee joins host Steven Overly to break down Slater’s antitrust approach. Learn more ...
Feb 18, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vice President JD Vance laid out an “America First” vision for artificial intelligence at the AI Action Summit in Paris earlier this week. He told world leaders and tech executives that the Trump administration will focus on building AI, not “handwringing” over safety. And he warned Europe and China not to stand in the way of U.S. tech dominance. Alondra Nelson, a professor who co-authored President Joe Biden’s AI Bill of Rights, attended Vance’s big speech. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly ...
Feb 13, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve talked a lot lately about tech leaders cozying up to President Donald Trump. Well, Democrats are now fighting to reclaim their place as the party of Silicon Valley elites. Or at least, trying to stop more rich tech dudes from drifting to the right. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly talks with national political reporter Elena Schneider about House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries trying to woo Silicon Valley donors, and how hard the party still needs to work to win over skeptics. Learn...
Feb 12, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Samantha Radocchia, known more widely as Sam Rad, is an anthropologist and tech entrepreneur who thinks a lot about the future, and has advised organizations like the United Nations and Federal Reserve on how to prepare for it. Society is moving toward a decentralized “operating system,” she says, one that will scramble existing institutions of power. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly talks with Sam Rad about her new book “Radical Next,” and the role she sees for tech and government in the “p...
Feb 11, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency pursue sweeping cuts across federal agencies, the Trump administration is also scaling back efforts to confront election disinformation. Several officials in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a political target of Republicans since the 2020 election, were recently put on leave. On POLITICO Tech, cybersecurity reporter Maggie Miller joins host Steven Overly to detail the quiet cuts and why others at the agency are worrie...
Feb 10, 2025•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast World leaders and tech luminaries will be flocking to Paris in the days ahead for the AI Action Summit. These global gatherings started over a year ago, but since then, the international AI agenda has shifted dramatically. The focus on mitigating the technology’s risks is now all about rolling it out fast. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly talks to AI pioneer and professor Yoshua Bengio about the state of the AI safety debate, and why he’s urging leaders not to give up on it. Learn more about...
Feb 07, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump may have hit pause on tariffs against Mexico and Canada, but his trade penalties on China are still in place. That includes a 10 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports, including consumer electronics and other tech products. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly talks to Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, about the implications for tech companies and online retailers in both the U.S. and China. Learn more about your ad choices....
Feb 06, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elon Musk is moving fast to dismantle and downsize federal agencies. But his Department of Government Efficiency is drawing scrutiny from privacy and cybersecurity advocates, not to mention Democrats, who fear its employees may be mishandling government data. On POLITICO Tech, Alan Butler, president and executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, breaks down his concerns about DOGE and whether it could be breaking privacy laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...
Feb 05, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast DeepSeek has stoked fresh concerns in Washington about America’s standing in the AI race. But the real policy action is happening in the states, where legislatures are moving faster than Congress to regulate. Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley investment firm with ties to the Trump administration, is now warning against a medley of AI laws — and wants the federal government to preempt states when it comes to regulating the technology’s development. On POLITICO Tech, the firm’s head of AI po...
Feb 04, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Everytown for Gun Safety is deploying artificial intelligence in the divisive debate over gun control. And its newly launched chatbot, “Ask Everytown,” will answer questions about gun violence prevention. But research shows AI not only has the power to inform people, but to persuade them — even people with entrenched political views. On POLITICO Tech, Everytown’s senior vice president of law and policy, Nick Suplina, joins host Steven Overly to discuss the advocacy group’s AI ambitions. Learn mo...
Feb 03, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In order to satisfy AI's big energy demands, President Donald Trump wants data centers to connect directly to power plants. But his plan could face problems because of a wonky federal energy regulatory agency: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. On POLITICO Tech, guest host Nirmal Mulaikal and POLITICO energy reporter Catherine Morehouse discuss why Trump could have trouble getting regulators on board with his plan and what’s at stake in the global AI race. Catherine Morehouse is an energy...
Jan 31, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump is expected to begin his global trade war as soon as Saturday, and the tech industry will surely find itself in the crossfire. His promise to slap new tariffs on China, in particular, could leave some tech companies vulnerable to retaliation from Beijing. On POLITICO Tech, longtime journalist and POLITICO contributor Bob Davis joins host Steven Overly to discuss how U.S.-China tech competition will be a defining dynamic in Trump’s coming trade war. Learn more about your ad...
Jan 30, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Three tech executives stood beside President Donald Trump at the White House last week and pledged to spend $500 billion to build AI data centers. Two of them are household names in the U.S. The third isn’t as well known: Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank. But Son has long been a global power player in tech and, when it comes to Trump, a shrewd political player as well. On POLITICO Tech, journalist Lionel Barber, who wrote a biography about Son called “Gambling Man,” joins host Ste...
Jan 29, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the weekend, Silicon Valley had a collective freakout. A Chinese company called DeepSeek released a new artificial intelligence model on par with American rivals, and appeared to do so at a fraction of the cost. For Washington and Wall Street, it’s a major wake up call that China’s AI ambitions haven’t been stifled. On POLITICO Tech, Center for a New American Security fellow Bill Drexel joins host Steven Overly to break down the significance of DeepSeek — starting with whether it’s a sign t...
Jan 28, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump’s first week in office was a fire hose of tech policy news, from executive orders to AI initiatives. To help break down Trump’s tech agenda so far, POLITICO Tech host Steven Overly called up former Congressman Will Hurd. The Texas Republican was at the forefront of tech and cyber issues in Congress, and he’s now the chief strategy officer at a defense tech firm. Though Hurd wasn’t supportive of Trump’s return — and even ran against him — he explains why he sees a lot of co...
Jan 27, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast A lot has been written about billionaire Elon Musk and his business empire. But his wealth and influence is now greater than ever as he entered the White House this week with President Donald Trump. POLITICO senior staff writer Michael Kruse set out to understand Musk through 199 of his own quotes, words that offer insight into his upbringing, his career and his outlook. On POLITICO Tech, Kruse joins host Steven Overly to lay out what he learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
Jan 24, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump brought the leaders of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to the White House this week, and announced they will spend $500 billion to build AI data centers. But Trump’s photo-op moment was quickly dissed online… by his Silicon Valley confidante, Elon Musk. On POLITICO Tech, E&E News energy technology editor Christa Marshall joins host Steven Overly to discuss the new AI initiative, called Stargate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 23, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Donald Trump kicked off his return to the White House with a spate of executive orders aimed at the tech sector — and marked a new era for tech in Washington. But the industry’s big show at the inauguration doesn’t mean the next four years will be easy. On POLITICO Tech, the president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Rob Atkinson, joins host Steven Overly to discuss Trump’s initial actions and why the industry should still have its guard up. Learn more about you...
Jan 22, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Washington, seating charts are not left to chance. And yesterday’s inauguration sent a message that Big Tech not only has a seat at President Donald Trump’s table — but a really good one. And that industry leaders are more than happy to have it. Digital Future Daily author Derek Robertson joins host Steven Overly to discuss Trump’s brand of digital populism, and why his campaign rhetoric and embrace of wealthy technocrats may not be as incongruent as it seems. Learn more about your ad choices...
Jan 21, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump officially becomes president today and he’s pledged to save TikTok upon taking office. The app is now technically banned in the U.S., though after much turmoil this weekend, users can still log into their accounts. Trump said he not only wants to delay the ban, but work out a deal that would make the U.S. a partial owner in TikTok. On POLITICO Tech, law professor and former DOJ attorney Alan Rozenshtein returns to break down what could happen next in this saga. Learn more about your...
Jan 20, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Inauguration festivities get underway in Washington this weekend — and tech executives will be making a splash. They’re hosting lavish balls and intimate receptions, and sitting behind President-elect Donald Trump as he gets sworn into office on Monday. On POLITICO Tech, host Steven Overly and POLITICO White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns delve into Silicon Valley’s brazen efforts to court the incoming administration, and whether the party can last as Trump gets back to governing. Learn more abo...
Jan 17, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his new book, “It Takes Chutzpah,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) reflects on his 44-year career in Washington, including a pivotal law he co-authored that gave rise to the modern internet. And as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, Wyden says he’s still mustering chutzpah. On POLITICO Tech, Wyden joins host Steven Overly to discuss the incoming administration’s plans for sweeping tariffs, Elon Musk’s growing influence and Silicon Valley’s alignment with Trump. Learn more about ...
Jan 16, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
