Parmy Olson, AI expert: Who controls the future?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“These companies don't really care what governments do. Their priority is their shareholders, their own existence and the next quarter of growth. There is the possibility that governments can regulate them, but they just don't. They don't regulate them properly. The most they get are multi-billion dollar fines, which sounds like a lot, but actually in the grand scheme of things it's pocket change. It is a parking ticket for these companies.” Misha Glenny speaks to technology writer Parmy Olson about artifical intelligence, power and politics.
As AI rapidly reshapes economies and societies, Parmy has been tracking the growing power of the companies driving this technological revolution.
With tech giants now valued in the trillions, she also questions whether governments are equipped to regulate them effectively, or if their influence has already outpaced political control. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Google boss Sundar Pichai and Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Misha Glenny Producers: Lucy Shepperd and Osman Iqbal Editor: Damon Rose and Justine Lang Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Parmy Olson Credit: Kim Farinha)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Hello, I'm Misha Glennie, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:11.8 | the best conversations coming out of the BBC with people who are shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:20.3 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:25.0 | You have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:28.5 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:31.2 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:35.3 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:39.9 | For this interview, I speak to AI expert and writer Parmi Olson |
| 0:44.5 | about the battle for supremacy at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution |
| 0:49.4 | and how this fast-developing technology is going to change our world. |
| 0:54.9 | She challenges the claim by tech leaders that AI is a democratizing force, |
| 1:00.4 | putting powerful capabilities in the hands of people. |
| 1:03.9 | Instead, she believes it can reinforce inequality, |
| 1:07.3 | with giant technology firms now valued in the trillions of dollars. |
| 1:12.5 | Such as their financial status, she says, it's now increasingly difficult for governments |
| 1:17.7 | to regulate them effectively. |
| 1:20.0 | These companies don't really, they don't care what governments do. |
| 1:23.4 | Like, their priority is their shareholders and is their own existence and their own, you know, the next quarter of growth. |
| 1:32.2 | And I know there is the possibility that governments can regulate them, but they just don't. |
| 1:37.2 | They don't regulate them properly. |
| 1:39.0 | The most they get are, you know, multi-billion dollar fines, which sounds like a lot. |
... |
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