What Next: TBD

A weekly podcast about tech, power, and the future.

Illustration depicting a female with a microphone

Listen longer

Slate Plus members get ad-free versions of all Slate podcasts, plus extra segments, bonus episodes, and more. Try it free today.

Join Slate Plus
Advertisement

About the Show

Every Friday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.

Host

  • Lizzie O’Leary is the host of What Next: TBD, Slate’s show about technology, power, and the future. Previously, she created and hosted Marketplace Weekend. She has reported for CNN, Bloomberg News, and the New York Times Magazine, among others. She is also a contributing writer at the Atlantic.

Oversight Board to Facebook: Nice Try

The social network hoped its “Supreme Court” would decide Trump’s fate on the platform. The Oversight Board didn’t take the bait.

Tim Apple vs. Mark Facebook

Two of the most powerful tech companies in the world have very different ideas about how the internet should work.

What’s Causing the Tesla Crashes?

Two men died after their car plowed into a tree. Police say no one was at the wheel.

Seduced by Substack

Is leaving a stable job to peddle a newsletter based on your personal brand crazy or the future?

The Rise of the Therapy Apps

The pandemic opened up a window to transform mental health care as we know it. Is that a good thing?

The Fight Over Vaccine Passports

Standardizing vaccine credentials won’t be an easy task.

The AstraZeneca Saga

By all accounts, Oxford and AstraZeneca made a good vaccine. So why has the path to approval been so painful?

Hate, Lies, and AI

Artificial Intelligence transformed technology across Facebook. But it’s not being employed to fix the company’s biggest problem.

Does Google Actually Want to Hire Black Engineers?

The tech giant’s partnerships with HBCUs are still coming up short.

The Failing Lifeline for Low-Income Americans

A Reagan-era program designed to provide phone access for the poor has hardly changed in 40 years.

Australia’s Kinda-Sorta Win Over Big Tech

A new type of legislation could change the way governments and big tech do business.

Why Texas Went Dark

The state is no stranger to extreme weather. But not like this.

How Clubhouse Cracked China’s Firewall

Two weeks of extraordinary conversations led to an inevitable result.

India Turns Off the Internet

India ranks second in the world in mobile internet subscribers. It ranks first in shutdowns.

Inside the Subreddit That Blew Up GameStop

How an irreverent band of Reddit investors cost Wall Street millions.

Why the Vaccine Websites Suck

The states’ struggles with digital delivery started long before 2020.

Where the Far Right Is Meeting Now

Extreme groups have been banned from mainstream social media platforms. Is that a good thing?

Deplatforming the President

With just 12 days left in his term, the social media giants have relieved the president of his megaphone.

Was This Google Ethicist Fired for Doing Her Job?

A leader in the field of ethical A.I. was abruptly let go by the search giant.

Everybody Sues Facebook

This isn’t the first antitrust suit against a big tech company, but it is the most ambitious.