With the 2023 general election just days away, we have one last episode around tech and politics, this time looking at the fear that concerted and bad-faith social media campaigns are eroding the very fabric of democracy.
We're joined by Ximena Smith from the public interest thinktank Brainbox Institute, who digs into whether the outcome of democratic elections is really being swung by social media and all its algorithms.
We also dig into some of the latest news, including the National party's space policy, agritech robots, and how artificial intelligence fails to live up to its promise.
Subscribe on iHeart Radio or wherever you get podcasts.
Reading list:
Mentioned in the episode
- Signals from outer space: National's aerospace policy - BusinessDesk
- Robot farm vehicles to start rolling off Tauranga production line - BusinessDesk
- NZ agtech company creates weed-hunting robot - BusinessDesk
- Big Tech Struggles to Turn AI Hype Into Profits - Wall Street Journal
- Content regulation and disinformation in New Zealand - Brainbox Institute
From around the web
- The magical (and contested) road ahead for government AI - The Mandarin (article collection)
- New research on Facebook shows the algorithm isn’t entirely to blame for political polarization - CNBC
- How much power will new data centres use? - RNZ
- Productivity — it turns out it’s rocket science - Otago Daily Times
- Afraid of AI? The startups selling it want you to be - LA Times
- What if the robots were very nice while they took over the world? - Wired
