Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation and a leading voice on AI and privacy, joins Scott Galloway to examine the growing tension between artificial intelligence and personal freedom.
They discuss how Signal actually works, why most messaging apps aren’t as private as they claim, and whether AI agents embedded in operating systems pose new security risks.
Algebra of Happiness: a hack for dads.
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This is Hayden Field, senior AI reporter at The Verge — and your Thursday episode guest host. I have another couple of shows for you while Nilay is out on parental leave, and we’re going to be spending more time diving into some of the unforeseen consequences of the generative AI boom.
Today, I’m talking with Heidy Khlaaf, who is chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, about the tech industry’s shift toward AI military applications. I wanted to know what’s motivated this shift, and why Heidy thinks leading AI firms are being far too cavalier about deploying generative AI in high-risk scenarios.
Links:
OpenAI is softening its stance on military use | The Verge
OpenAI awarded $200 million US defense contract | The Verge
OpenAI is partnering with defense tech company Anduril | The Verge
Anthropic launches new Claude service for military and intelligence use | The Verge
Anthropic, Palantir, Amazon team up on defense AI | Axios
Google scraps promise not to develop AI weapons | The Verge
Microsoft employees occupy headquarters in protest of Israel contracts | The Verge
Microsoft’s employee protests have reached a boiling point | The Verge
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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If you've been hearing about Trump's AI Action Plan and wondering who it actually benefits, you're not alone.
On today's episode of Equity, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Amba Kak and Dr. Sarah Myers West from the AI Now Institute, a think tank focused on the social implications of AI and the consolidation of power in tech industry. Their recent report, dubbed Artificial Power, lays out the political economy driving today's AI frenzy and what’s at stake for everyone else.
Artificial Power pushes back on what AI Now calls the "too big to fail" myth, arguing that AI companies are pouring billions into massive compute infrastructure and foundational models, often with government support, despite shaky business models and limited public accountability.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
AI’s growing consolidation and how it mirrors Big Tech’s power dynamics.
Why Silicon Valley is cheering on Trump's AI agenda, and the challenges of regulating AI.
The disconnect between AGI hype and current, real-world harms.
What a democratic, just, and accountable AI future could look like.
Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned.
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
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Meredith Whittaker is the president of the Signal Foundation and serves on its board of directors. She is also the co-founder of NYU’s AI Now Institute. Whittaker got her start at Google, where she worked for 13 years until resigning in 2019 after she helped organize the Google Walkouts. She speaks with Oz about learning on the job, championing data privacy and being awarded the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize for “her commitment to the development of AI technology oriented towards the common good.”
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What do cybersecurity experts, journalists in foreign conflicts, indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Drake have in common? They all use the Signal messaging app. Signal’s protocol has been the gold standard in end-to-end encryption, used by Whatsapp, Google and more, for more than a decade. But it’s been under fire from both authoritarian governments and well-meaning democracies who see the privacy locks as a threat. Since 2022, former Google rabble-rouser and AI Now Institute co-founder Meredith Whittaker has been president of the Signal Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the app. Kara talks with Meredith about her fight to protect text privacy, the consolidation of power and money in AI and how nonprofits can survive in a world built on the surveillance economy.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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Meredith Whittaker is the President of Signal and chief advisor to the AI Now Institute. She joins Big Technology Podcast for a lively discussion about the state of Google, whether AI is for real or a marketing gimmick, whether the online advertising business model is ethically broken, and the state of the Signal messaging app. Stay tuned for the second half, where we discuss the mysterious nature of Telegram. And enjoy the cool-headed arguments throughout.
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Scott’s back on Twitter, and Elon says the platform could be cash-flow positive this quarter - coincidence? Kara and Scott discuss growing calls for Senator Feinstein to resign, a delay in the Dominion v. Fox News trial, and impressive JPMorgan Chase earnings. Also, a tech consultant has been arrested for the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. And U.S. National Security is in disarray over Discord after an Air National Guardsman allegedly leaked classified documents on the platform. Then, we’re joined by Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research Lab and Professor at USC Annenberg, Kate Crawford to talk everything AI.
You can find Kate on Twitter at @katecrawford, and can buy “Atlas of AI” here.
We’re nominated for a Webby! Vote for us here.
Send us your questions! Call 855-51-PIVOT or go to nymag.com/pivot.
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Today we're sharing an episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel featuring an interview with Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal.
Signal is the popular messaging app that offers encrypted communication. You might recognize Meredith’s name from 2018 when she was an AI researcher at Google and one of the organizers of the Google walkout. Now she’s at Signal, which is a little different than the usual tech company: it’s operated by a nonprofit foundation and prides itself on collecting as little data as possible.
Listen to more of Decoder with Nilay Patel anywhere you get your podcasts.
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Meredith Whittaker is the president of Signal, the popular messaging app that offers encrypted communication. You might recognize Meredith’s name from 2018 when she was an AI researcher at Google and one of the organizers of the Google walkout. Now she’s at Signal, which is a little different than the usual tech company: it’s operated by a nonprofit foundation and prides itself on collecting as little data as possible.
But messaging apps are a complicated business. Governments around the world really dislike encrypted messaging and often push companies to put in backdoors for surveillance and law enforcement because criminals use encrypted messaging for all sorts of deeply evil things. But there’s no half step to breaking encryption, so companies like Signal often find themselves in the difficult position of refusing to help governments. You might recall that Apple has often refused to help the government break into iPhones, for example. I wanted to know how that tradeoff plays out at Signal’s much smaller and more idealistic scale.
This is a good one, with lots of Decoder themes in the mix. We have to start doing checklists or something. Okay, Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal. Here we go.
Links:
The battle inside Signal
Yes, even Signal is doing stories now
Here’s why Apple’s new child safety features are so controversial
Signal is ‘starting to phase out SMS support’ from its Android app
A very brief history of every Google messaging app
RCS: What it is and why you might want it
Let’s chat about RCS
WhatsApp is now entirely end-to-end encrypted
Moxie Marlinspike has stepped down as CEO of Signal
Meredith Whittaker Tweet
Transcript:
https://www.theverge.com/e/23173757
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Jackson Bierfeldt.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.
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In this special edition of the podcast, we're joined by Shalini Kantayya, the director of Coded Bias, and Deb Raji and Meredith Broussard, who both contributed to the film.
In this panel discussion, Sam and our guests explored the societal implications of the biases embedded within AI algorithms. The conversation discussed examples of AI systems with disparate impact across industries and communities, what can be done to mitigate this disparity, and opportunities to get involved.
Our panelists Shalini, Meredith, and Deb each share insight into their experience working on and researching bias in AI systems and the oppressive and dehumanizing impact they can have on people in the real world.
The complete show notes for this film can be found at twimlai.com/go/431
When I interviewed Tristan Harris about The Social Dilemma earlier this month, my mentions filled with people saying, "You should speak to the people who were critical of the social web long before the film.” One name, Meredith Whittaker, stood out. An A.I. researcher and former big tech employee, Whittaker helped lead Google’s walkout in 2018 amid a season of activism inside the company.
On this edition of the Big Technology Podcast, we spoke not only about her views on the film, but of the future of workplace activism inside tech companies in a moment where some are questioning if it belongs at all.
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Today we’re taking a break from our CVPR coverage to bring you this interview with Deb Raji, a Technology Fellow at the AI Now Institute.
Recently there have been quite a few major news stories in the AI community, including the self-imposed moratorium on facial recognition tech from Amazon, IBM and Microsoft. In our conversation with Deb, we dig into these stories, discussing the origins of Deb’s work on the Gender Shades project, the harms of facial recognition, and much more.
In this special episode of Recode Decode, Kara Swisher checks in with some of the organizers of the Google walkout, who came on her show in November 2018 after leading a 20,000-worker protest. Later in the show, Kara's executive producer Erica Anderson (herself one of the organizers who has since left Google) talks with some of the people who were inspired by the 2018 walkouts to continue fighting for the workers of Google and other tech companies.
Featuring:
Stephanie Parker (@sparker2), policy specialist at Google and co-organizer of 2018 Google walkout
Meredith Whittaker (@mer__edith), co-director of AI Now Institute and co-organizer of 2018 Google walkout
Claire Stapleton, co-organizer of 2018 Google walkout
Nicole Moore, part-time Lyft driver and organizing committee member of Rideshare Drivers United
Ben Gwin, contractor at HCL working on Google Shopping, union leader
Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary), Recode reporter
Hosts:
Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large
Erica Anderson (@EricaAmerica), executive producer of Recode Decode and co-organizer of 2018 Google walkout
More to explore:
Subscribe for free to Reset, Recode's new podcast that explores why — and how — tech is changing everything.
If you haven't already, make sure to listen to Kara's original podcast with the walkout organizers from November 2018.
About Recode by Vox:
Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.
Follow Us:
Newsletter: Recode Daily
Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom
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AI Now Institute founders Meredith Whittaker and Kate Crawford talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about artificial intelligence in this live interview recorded at the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC.
In this episode: What is the AI Now Institute?; how "dirty data" can lead to faulty AI conclusions; how machine learning works; the “whack-a-mole” problem of biased search results; the politics of AI; diversity in computer science; what systems should not be run by humans?; Amazon's résumé-scanning AI failure; how the industry is trying to regulate itself and “ethics theater”; which federal agency should monitor AI in the US?; China’s creepy “social credit score”; the ways facial recognition and other invasions of privacy are creeping into the US, too; the Google walkout and protecting whistleblowers inside tech companies; and why Elon Musk is wrong about AI’s dangers.
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Six of the organizers of the Nov. 1 Google walkouts — Erica Anderson, Claire Stapleton, Meredith Whittaker, Stephanie Parker, Cecelia O'Neil-Hart and Amr Gaber — talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the worldwide protests came together and why Google's response has been inadequate. In this episode: (02:20) How the protests started; (07:13) The divide between tech rhetoric and tech reality; (10:24) How the organizers formulated their demands; (14:05) The rights of contractors at Google; (22:04) Why Googlers were ready to walk out; (29:31) Google's response and the organizers' reactions; (42:13) The post-walkout town hall meeting; (46:50) The privileges of being a tech worker; (50:25) What needs to happen next; (1:02:41) Are the walkout organizers hopeful? Fan of the show? It helps to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.
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