October 2025 Favourite Podcasts
These are the podcasts I enjoyed listening to during the month of October 2025.
Makram Soua
11/7/2025
The landscape of online content is undergoing a seismic shift, with generative AI introducing both unprecedented productivity and a pervasive flood of machine-generated text. Host Alex Kantrowitz welcomes a pivotal figure in the world of online publishing: Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium to discuss the future of writing in the age of AI.
This is a candid, data-driven episode that dissects what kind of writing holds value as artificial intelligence scales to become an omnipresent force in our digital lives. As the steward of a major creator platform, Stubblebine shares crucial, real-world data, including a breakdown of referral quality from sources like ChatGPT versus traditional Google Search.
Stubblebine offers an essential, on-the-ground perspective on how the tech industry’s most disruptive force is reshaping the written word. A central focus of the discussion is the fight for quality. The conversation also explores broader implications, covering creator payouts, Cloudflare's role in AI content blocking, and the future evolution of Medium's writing tools.
Published October 29, 2025
How AI is Changing Writing
For decades, venture capital has been the engine of innovation, fueling the rise of countless world-changing technologies. But what happens when that engine begins to consume the world it was meant to empower?
Host Leigh Beadon welcomes back author and longtime tech critic Catherine Bracy to move past the hype to examine the fundamental, often-perverse incentives driving today's venture capital industry. Bracy argues that the model’s focus on astronomical returns and "winner-take-all" markets has distorted the landscape of technological innovation for the worse. The discussion explores how this financial structure is actively shaping—and often damaging—the economy, dictating which ideas get funded and which problems are deemed worthy of a solution.
Tune in for a deep, challenging look at how the quest for exponential growth is impacting the future of technology and society. And take the opportunity to listen to Catherine Bracy diving into the core themes of her new book, World Eaters: How Venture Capital Is Cannibalizing The Economy.
Published October 28, 2025
Venture Capital Is Eating The World
The integration of powerful generative AI tools into daily life has presented an existential crisis to educational institutions: how does one maintain academic integrity when AI can complete virtually any assignment at a passing grade?
In this crucial two-part series on the AI and You Podcast, host Peter Scott dives into the heart of the matter with special guest Alyson King, a Professor of Political Science at Ontario Tech University and the editor of the new book, Artificial Intelligence, Pedagogy and Academic Integrity. King’s research offers a deep understanding of student experiences and the evolving nature of cheating in the digital age.
This conversation moves beyond the panic to explore practical and philosophical solutions. The discussion covers everything from the difficulty of accurately flagging AI-generated work to strategies for AI-proofing assignments and the challenge of motivating students when immediate digital shortcuts are available. They also tackle the vital question of whether AI poses an inherent threat to the development of critical thinking skills.
If you are a student, educator, or anyone interested in the future of learning, this comprehensive discussion is an essential guide to navigating the ethical and practical challenges of AI in education.
Published October 27, 2025
Conversation with Alyson King, Researcher in Academic Integrity
Published October 20, 2025
For years, Instagram has publicly committed to implementing new safety measures designed to protect its youngest users. But how effective are these tools in practice, and what hidden dangers still lurk for minors on the platform?
In this essential episode of The Tech Policy Press Podcast, the host delves into these critical questions with two authors of a comprehensive new report, "Teen Accounts, Broken Promises: How Instagram is Failing to Protect Minors." The guests are:
Laura Edelson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University and co-director of Cybersecurity for Democracy.
Arturo Béjar, a former director of 'Protect and Care' at Facebook and now a prominent safety whistleblower and advocate.
Drawing on their extensive review of teen accounts and safety features, Edelson and Béjar expose the past shortcomings and current failures of the platform's protective architecture. The discussion not only highlights the flaws in Instagram's record but also outlines the crucial questions that lawmakers and regulators must start asking. If you are concerned about digital safety and the gap between corporate promises and real-world results, this episode offers a sobering assessment and clear recommendations for change.
Published October 19, 2025
Evaluating Instagram's Promises to Protect Teens
The concept of a truly "open internet" — interoperable, decentralized, and free from corporate gatekeepers — is increasingly feeling like a relic of the past. In this critical episode of The Tech Policy Press Podcast, we confront the sobering reality that the core idea of an open web has been systematically hollowed out.
Host Justin Hendrix speaks with Mallory Knodel, Executive Director of the Social Web Foundation, and Burcu Kilic, a Senior Fellow at Canada's CIGI, to dissect how we arrived here. Drawing on their article, "Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests," they argue that decades of lax trade policy, weak regulatory enforcement (even with measures like GDPR), and mass corporate consolidation have led to a dangerous dependence on a handful of powerful tech firms.
The conversation traces the problem back to the US's "hands-off" approach in the 1990s and warns that the current AI moment risks repeating those exact mistakes. To push back against this centralized future, the experts call for coordinated, democratic alternatives: stronger antitrust action, investment in public digital infrastructure, and a grassroots effort to rebuild genuinely open and civic-minded technology systems.
Published October 12, 2025
The Open Internet is Dead. What Comes Next?
In this episode, John Mearsheimer takes listeners on a comprehensive "World Tour," offering his unvarnished analysis of the most volatile regions and pressing geopolitical conflicts shaping the global order today.
The conversation begins with a deep dive into the Middle East, where Mearsheimer dissects the objectives of major regional players and the nature of American involvement. It then shifts eastward to East Asia, examining the contentious relationship between the US and China, the fundamental nature of the so-called "China threat," and the strategic concept of "offshore balancing." Finally, Mearsheimer turns his attention to Eastern Europe to evaluate the current state of play in the Ukraine conflict and the role of NATO.
Beyond regional conflicts, this episode tackles the philosophical core of his work, exploring the complex, often-debated relationship between realism and morality in international affairs. This is a must-listen for anyone seeking a clear-eyed, theoretically grounded perspective on power dynamics and security in a multipolar world.
Published October 10, 2025
John Mearsheimer: A World Tour
China’s deepening engagement in the Middle East is one of the most critical geopolitical stories of the 21st century. Yet, too often, this complex relationship is viewed solely through the narrow lens of U.S.-China rivalry.
In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, host Bonny Lin welcomes leading experts Dr. Mohammed Alsudairi and Dr. Andrea Ghiselli to discuss their new book, Narratives of Sino-Middle Eastern Futures. The conversation fundamentally challenges prevailing narratives by shifting the focus to how regional actors themselves interpret and shape their ties with Beijing.
Drawing on extensive Arabic and Chinese-language sources, the authors present compelling case studies of Saudi Arabia and Syria, demonstrating that regional perceptions of China diverge sharply based on national capabilities and existing alignment with the United States. The discussion illuminates why both Chinese and regional leaders favor pragmatic engagement and mutually agreed-upon restraint, consciously limiting Beijing's security role in the volatile area.
The experts also examine China's delicate diplomacy with Iran and its notably muted response to conflicts like the Iran-Israel tensions. Tune in for a nuanced, non-Western-centric analysis that argues the future of Sino-Middle Eastern relations is one of cautious continuity, driven by self-interest rather than superpower competition.
