Will AI destroy us... or save us?

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Like it or not, artificial intelligence is deeply rooted in our lives. Its invisible architecture stretches everywhere from dating apps to medical care. In this new world, what remains uniquely human? On today's episode, we explore the tension between our love of AI and our fear of it — and try to decode the humans behind the machines. This episode originally published in March of 2023.

Guests:

George Zarkadakis, author of In Our Own Image: Will Artificial Intelligence Save or Destroy Us?

Francis Collins, physician-geneticist who led the Human Genome Project

Stephanie Dick, assistant professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University

Meredith Broussard, data journalism professor at New York University, and author of More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender and Ability Bias in Tech

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
0:09.0	I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
0:15.0	This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.
0:19.0	Goodbye.
0:23.4	It's a life.
0:24.3	It's a life.
0:25.7	It's a life.
0:36.2	Most of us, when we hear the term AI, we think about Hollywood.
0:37.5	Why do you cry?
0:39.2	You mean people?
0:39.7	Yeah.
0:40.7	I don't know.
0:42.3	We just cry.
0:44.2	We think about the Terminator.
0:46.7	We think about ex machina.
0:48.6	Did you program her to flirt with me?
0:50.3	If I did, would that be cheating?
0:51.1	Wouldn't it?
0:52.9	We think about Star Trek.
0:55.7	Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
0:58.4	Or maybe Star Wars.
1:04.4	Hollywood is so deeply embedded in our brains.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.