Your Undivided Attention

In this episode, Aza Raskin and fellow CHT co-founder Randy Fernando walk through CHT's Seven Principles of Humane Technology. For each one, they bring in real-world examples from the podcast and beyond to clearly illustrate how these principles (and their absence) show up in the world.

Transcribed - Published: 4 June 2026

The critical infrastructure of our world is digital. So what happens when an AI company creates a skeleton key for the internet? In this episode, we speak with cybersecurity experts to explore the significance and stakes of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos — and what it means for all of us.

Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2026

"AI will cure cancer" is the promise driving the race to superintelligence. But what if it's a false promise being used to justify an unfettered race for profit? That's what Dr. Emilia Javorsky argues on this week's episode. She makes the case that AI can revolutionize medicine, but not in the way we're being sold.

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2026

Davidad is a leading AI alignment researcher who's taken on a strange role: therapist to AI systems. He probes them, analyzing their answers to understand what's going on inside. His findings are unconventional, sometimes controversial — and worth grappling with as AI reshapes our world.

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2026

Tristan and Aza recently joined Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Podcast to discuss the anti-human future we’re headed toward with AI — and what we need to do to get on a better path.

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2026

In this episode, Camille Carlton and Pete Furlong from CHT’s policy team explore the concrete steps we can take today to get off the default path and forge a better AI future.

Transcribed - Published: 2 April 2026

Meta and Google have been found liable for addictive design and failing to protect children and Aza took the stand as a witness. Is this the Big Tobacco moment for social media? Tristan and Aza discuss the verdicts, what the companies knew and when, and why the critical phase is still to come.

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2026

"The AI Doc" hits theaters March 27. We talk with the Oscar-winning team behind the film about navigating AI's overwhelming complexity and making it accessible to all. At CHT, we believe clarity creates agency. This film delivers that clarity. Go see it — and don't go alone.

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2026

AI is already transforming education faster than schools can keep up. Rebecca Winthrop of Brookings' Center for Universal Education joins us to share findings from their new report and the concrete steps parents, teachers, and administrators can take right now.

Transcribed - Published: 5 March 2026

Tristan Harris and Daniel Barcay offer a backstage recap of what it was like to be at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting this year as the world’s power brokers woke up to the risks of uncontrolled AI, followed by a panel discussion between Tristan and Professor Yoshua Bengio and moderated by Kenneth Cukier of The Economist, about how the race to build uncontrolled AI has real-world consequences for us all.

Transcribed - Published: 19 February 2026

Aza joins Reid Hoffman & Aria Finger on the "Possible" podcasts to debate an AI pause, how software optimization controls our lives, and why we need aligned collective intelligence—not just aligned AI. This is a critical conversation with tech leaders about steering technology toward better outcomes.

Transcribed - Published: 5 February 2026

"AI psychosis" has made headlines, but the risks to our mental health and relationships go beyond the really noisy cases. What we are seeing is the emergence of an attachment economy exploiting our deepest psychological vulnerabilities at scale and for profit. In this episode, Dr. Zak Stein explores how AI chatbots systematically hack human attachment in ways we've never seen before.

Transcribed - Published: 21 January 2026

Game theory makes the world feel cold and strategic: if I don't race to win, they will. But this logic isn't inevitable — it's invented. Professor S.M. Amadae on the game theory dilemma, how it colonized everything from nukes to AI, and how we escape by reclaiming trust.

Transcribed - Published: 8 January 2026

Are the US and China racing toward the same AI future? Experts Selina Xu and Matt Sheehan explore what China actually wants from AI, challenge common misconceptions, and explore whether cooperation is possible. To avoid catastrophe, we first need to understand what race we're really in.

Transcribed - Published: 18 December 2025

AI is reshaping work, creating uncertainty about careers and job security. Economists Molly Kinder and Ethan Mollick cut through the hype to examine what's actually happening in the labor market and explore whether AI will enrich our work or destabilize it.

Transcribed - Published: 4 December 2025

This week, we’re bringing you Tristan’s conversation with Tobias Rose-Stockwell on his podcast “Into the Machine.”  Tobias is a designer, writer, and technologist and the author of the book “The Outrage Machine.”

Transcribed - Published: 13 November 2025

Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin imagine what a world with humane technology might look like—one where we recognized the harms of social media early and worked to fix them. This alternative history serves to show that there are narrow pathways to a better future, if we have the imagination and the courage to make them a reality.

Transcribed - Published: 6 November 2025

The AI race has hit breakneck speed. Autonomous agents are starting to disrupt the workforce. People are forming bonds with chatbots— with tragic consequences. All while tech leaders promise utopia. You had questions. We dove deep to answer them in our annual Ask Us Anything.

Transcribed - Published: 23 October 2025

In 1987, 198 countries came together in Montreal to draft an agreement to save the world from the ozone hole. It was an unprecedented moment of global coordination amid a catastrophic crisis. How did it happen? And what can it teach us about the crisis of uncontrollable AI? Listen to find out.

Transcribed - Published: 11 September 2025

16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life with the help of ChatGPT. Now his parents are suing OpenAI and Sam Altman. CHT Policy Director Camille Carlton explores the incentives and design behind AI systems leading to tragic outcomes like this and the policy that’s needed to shift those incentives.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2025

Sci-fi warned us about rogue AI systems that deceive, cheat, even coerce humans when threatened with shutdown or replacement. Yet we’re building AI today that does all of these things and we don't know how to stop it. This episode discusses evidence of this trend and possible solutions.

Transcribed - Published: 14 August 2025

Imagine a world where the most persuasive voices, the wealthiest elites, the most influential creators aren’t human—they’re AI. This is the world we’re racing to right now and without new laws, the courts are playing a critical role in what that world looks like. This episode explores that dynamic and what we can do about it.

Transcribed - Published: 31 July 2025

Daniel Kokotajlo left OpenAI to warn about the dangerous direction of AI development. His new report, AI 2027, forecasts humanity losing control to misaligned superintelligence within years. On the show this week, we explore these risks, the incentives driving them, and how we might still change course.

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2025

Tech leaders promise AI will bring unprecedented abundance. But what happens to human dignity when our labor becomes obsolete? In this episode, Michael Sandel explores why AI-driven prosperity could leave society hollow — and the lessons we can learn from the recent past.

Transcribed - Published: 26 June 2025

AI development is racing ahead without guardrails, creating an unstable dynamic that could end in dystopia or chaos. Sam Hammond joins to explore how we can find the narrow path between these extremes—before it's too late.

Transcribed - Published: 12 June 2025

We’ve long connected through our machines—now we’re connecting to them. On this episode, Daniel Barcay, MIT’s Sherry Turkle, and Hinge’s Justin McLeod discuss AI’s growing role in love, therapy, and connection. And what the rules of engagement should be.

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2025

AI companion chatbots feel human but they're not. They're platforms designed to maximize engagement, risking artificial intimacy and addictive intelligence. MIT’s Pattie Maes & Pat Pataranutaporn join the show to discuss better paths forward.

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2025

What does it mean to ‘feel the AGI?’ In this episode, Aza and Randy unpack why debates on intelligence distract us from urgently needed conversations about governance, incentives, and readiness—before the AGI wave crashes ashore.

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2025

AI has upended school as we know it. In this episode, Daniel and Tristan talk with Maryanne Wolf and Rebecca Winthrop about how tech has broken the old model of education—and how we might build something better.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

AI could unlock vast technological potential—if we do it right. Rob Bilott, who fought chemical giants over toxic PFAS, shares a cautionary tale: how the harms of new tech can go unchecked, and why we must align innovation with safety before it’s too late.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2025

From Big Tobacco to Big Tech, powerful industries have perfected the art of manufacturing doubt about their harms. In this episode, historian Naomi Oreskes reveals the playbook corporations have used throughout history to weaponize uncertainty, fund fake experts, and shift blame to individuals—and what it all means for AI.

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2025

Forty years ago, Neil Postman warned that “we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death.” He was writing about TV, but his insights feel eerily prophetic in our age of smartphones, social media, and AI. In this episode, we explore Postman’s ideas and what they can teach us.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

DeepSeek's breakthrough in AI sent markets reeling. But behind the headlines lies a crucial shift: AI that can actually reason and think. As labs race toward self-improving AI, the real question isn't how fast we can go, but how to steer this power for the benefit of us all.

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2025

When engineers design AI systems, they don't just give them rules - they give them values. But what do those systems do when those values clash with what humans ask them to do? Sometimes, they lie. AI researcher Ryan Greenblatt comes on the show to explore why.

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2025

The broken status quo of tech may feel immovable, but Srdja Popovic knows something about challenging power. A leader of the Serbian resistance, he's spent his life studying how to transform entrenched systems. In this episode, he shares insights that can help address our challenges with tech.

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2025

2024 was a critical year in both AI and social media. Things moved so fast it was hard to keep up. So our hosts reached into their mailbag to answer some of your most burning questions.

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2024

Religious thinking is shaping the future of technology: AI is talked about as a godlike force and tech leaders promise us digital salvation. Greg Epstein argues that we need to see tech as our era's most influential religion - can he help us understand where this is all headed?

Transcribed - Published: 21 November 2024

Sewell Setzer’s mom, Megan, is suing Character.ai for the role it played in her son’s death. The outcome could force the company–and potentially the entire AI industry–to change its ways. Today on the show, one of Megan’s lawyers, Meetali Jain, breaks down how the case could lead to systemic change.

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2024

Megan Garcia lost her son Sewell to suicide after he was abused and manipulated by AI chatbots for months. Now, she’s suing the company that made those chatbots. On today’s episode of Your Undivided Attention: journalist Laurie Segall’s interview with Megan for her new show Dear Tomorrow.

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2024

AI has unleashed a flood of synthetic media onto the web, making it more difficult than ever to tell what’s real. So Oren Etzioni made a free, non-partisan, non-profit tool to detect AI-generated content. Oren talks to Tristan about the fight to restore a sense of reality online.

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2024

Historian Yuval Noah Harari says that we are at a critical turning point. One in which AI’s ability to generate cultural artifacts threatens humanity’s role as the shapers of history. History will still go on, but will it be the story of people or, as he calls them, ‘alien AI agents’?

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2024

Computer scientist Gary Marcus has been called AI’s loudest critic, and he predicts AI’s exponential curve will soon flatten out. He also thinks we’re unprepared to handle the AI we already have. In this episode, Gary discusses his AI skepticism and what we need to do to get this rollout right.

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2024

As companies race to roll out more capable AI models–with little regard for safety–the downstream risks become harder to counter. On Your Undivided Attention this week, our policy director Casey Mock outlines a new legal framework to incentivize better AI through liability law.

Transcribed - Published: 13 September 2024

[This episode originally aired on August 17, 2023] AI is harming our relationships, warns acclaimed psychotherapist Esther Perel. What would it look like for technology to strengthen our social bonds, rather than depriving us of the nuance that allows us to connect?

Transcribed - Published: 6 September 2024

Today, the tech industry is the second-biggest lobbying power in Washington, DC, but that wasn’t true as recently as ten years ago. How did we get to this moment? And where could we be going next? On this episode of Your Undivided Attention, Tristan and Daniel sit down with historian Margaret O’Mara and journalist Brody Mullins to discuss how Silicon Valley has changed the nature of American lobbying.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2024

It’s been a year and half since Tristan and Aza laid out their vision and concerns for the future of artificial intelligence in The AI Dilemma. In this episode, the guys discuss what’s happened since then and where we could be headed next.

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2024

AI has been a powerful accelerant for biological research, rapidly opening up new frontiers in medicine and public health. But that progress can also make it easier for bad actors to manufacture new biological threats. In this episode, Tristan and Daniel sit down with biologist Kevin Esvelt to discuss why AI has been such a boon for biologists and how we can safeguard society against the threats that AIxBio poses.

Transcribed - Published: 18 July 2024

Will AI ever start to think by itself? If it did, how would we know, and what would it mean? In this episode, Professor of Neuroscience Anil Seth and Aza discuss the science, ethics, and incentives of artificial consciousness.

Transcribed - Published: 4 July 2024

In response to the growing global refugee crisis, governments are employing novel AI and surveillance technologies to slow the influx of migrants. But will this rollout stop at the border? Tristan and Aza sit down with immigration lawyer Petra Molnar to discuss how borderlands have become a proving ground for high-risk AI technology.

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2024

Whistleblower William Saunders quit over systemic issues at OpenAI. Now he’s put his name to an open letter that proposes 4 principles to protect the right of industry insiders to warn the public about AI risks. On Your Undivided Attention this week, Tristan and Aza sit down with Saunders to discuss.

Transcribed - Published: 7 June 2024