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Tech Won't Save Us

Tech Won't Save Us

By: Paris Marx
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 Silicon Valley wants to shape our future, but why should we let it? Every Thursday, Paris Marx is joined by a new guest to critically examine the tech industry, its big promises, and the people behind them. Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. It’s not your usual tech podcast.© 2025 Tech Won't Save Us Art Literary History & Criticism Politics & Government
Episodes
  • We All Suffer from OpenAI’s Pursuit of Scale w/ Karen Hao [Replay]

    We All Suffer from OpenAI’s Pursuit of Scale w/ Karen Hao [Replay]
    Jan 8 2026
    Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillance capitalism. Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and the author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. This episode originally aired in June 2025. Also mentioned in this episode: Karen was the first journalist to profile OpenAI. Karen has reported on the environmental impacts and human costs of AI. The New York Times reported on why we're unlikely to get artificial general intelligence anytime soon.
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    54 mins
  • How Spotify Remade the Music Industry w/ Liz Pelly [Replay]

    How Spotify Remade the Music Industry w/ Liz Pelly [Replay]
    Jan 1 2026
    Paris Marx is joined by Liz Pelly to discuss how Spotify changes how we listen to music and the broader impacts it has on the wider music industry. This episode previously aired in February 2025. Liz Pelly is a music journalist and the author of Mood Machine. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Production for this episode was originally by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Shout-out to the book The People’s Platform by Astra Taylor You can read an excerpt of Liz’s book in Harper’s. The CEO of Suno AI said people “don’t enjoy” making music. The Edmonton Public Library was mentioned for spearheading some cool projects featuring local musicians - combat capitalism by supporting the cool projects operating out of your own local library! Hoopla works with local libraries to share music (and Libby partners with libraries to share audiobooks)
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • The Year in Tech w/ Jathan Sadowski & Brian Merchant

    The Year in Tech w/ Jathan Sadowski & Brian Merchant
    Dec 24 2025
    Paris Marx is joined by Jathan Sadowski and Brian Merchant to reflect on the year in tech, discuss the worst people in Silicon Valley, and share what they’ll be keeping an eye on in 2026. Jathan Sadowski is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite, co-host of This Machine Kills, and a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Brian Merchant is the author of Blood in the Machine and writes a newsletter of the same name. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Also mentioned in this episode: Visit Francesca Bria’s useful Authoritarian Stack Trump signs an executive order to keep states from implementing their own AI legislation The Trump administration is gutting the Department of Education, climate science programs, and public health Disney and OpenAI have reached a billion dollar deal Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on AI data centre construction
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    1 hr and 28 mins
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