Is AI headed for a breaking point?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Artificial intelligence is moving fast - from chatbots to autonomous systems and physical machines. As investment surges, so do concerns about job losses, surveillance, warfare and whether the boom can last. We take a look at where AI is headed in 2026 and the growing resistance against unchecked technological power.
In this episode:
- Brian Merchant (@bcmerchant), Writer, Blood in the Machine
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker and Chloe K. Li, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Fatima Shafiq, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.
Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Andrew Greiner is lead of audience engagement.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, what AI promises and what it threatens in 2026. |
| 0:16.0 | I've talked to enough people to know that it's already causing a lot of pain and loss, |
| 0:20.0 | and it has me worried again for those more human elements of society. |
| 0:25.5 | From smarter tools to a growing resistance movement and questions about whether the boom can last, |
| 0:31.6 | what's next for AI? |
| 0:35.6 | I'm Malika Bilal, and this is The Take. |
| 0:46.7 | Hey everyone, as you're watching Today Show, remember to leave us a comment telling us what you think about this episode. |
| 0:53.4 | What AI trends are you watching for |
| 0:55.7 | in 2026? And might they make your life better or worse? If you're listening to this episode |
| 1:02.2 | on a podcast app, leave us a review, telling us where you're listening from and give us a rating |
| 1:07.0 | while you're there. Five stars helps other people discover the show. Thanks. |
| 1:15.4 | I'm Brian Merchant. I'm a tech journalist and author, and I write the newsletter, Blood in the |
| 1:22.8 | Machine. Well, Brian, welcome to the take. It is really good to have you. You have been tracking this industry as a technology journalist for a while now. So before we get into predictions for 2026, I'm curious about your own use of AI. What kind of artificial intelligence have you found yourself using over the past couple weeks, let's say, whether willingly or against your will? |
| 1:50.6 | Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, as far as my own personal AI diet, you might say, when I use it in my own life willingly, that one's pretty easy. I tend to not. Why did I think you were |
| 2:03.1 | going to say that? Yeah. Well, look, I would if I genuinely found something that I thought was |
| 2:10.5 | both useful and ethical. And as of right now, at least for a working journalist, I haven't found |
| 2:16.6 | a whole lot of uses that need to stick around |
| 2:19.2 | or that are worth using when I know about some of these impacts. So look, I spend a lot of time with |
| 2:25.1 | AI. I use the latest chat GPT models. I've used Claude. I've used Deepseek. I've used them all |
| 2:32.0 | because I need to know, right? I'm a tech journalist. But as far as my day-to-day, beyond kicking the tires and seeing the nature of these systems, no, I don't use AI on a day-to-day basis. |
| 2:45.6 | Okay, so then let's get into what we might see this coming year. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Al Jazeera, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Al Jazeera and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.