Ft Tech Tonic

Artificial intelligence is an important tool, but human beings have to be creative to understand how best to make use of it, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov tells John Thornhill  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Army veteran and cyber security expert Rick Howard talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about the current state of cyber security, what we have learned from recent large-scale attacks known as WannaCry and NotPetya and what companies can do to try to guard against the next attack.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Phil Libin, former chief executive of Evernote, tells John Thornhill why he thinks artificial intelligence will soon be part of the fabric of all our lives and about his plan to create a global AI incubator  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elisabeth Mason, founding director of the Stanford Poverty & Technology Lab, talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about solving problems such as education inequality and job retraining the Silicon Valley way.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Internet pioneer Martha Lane Fox talks to John Thornhill about her work in trying to ensure that the technology lives up to its early ideals and serves the interests of people rather than big companies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Mark Palatucci talks to John Thornhill about the consumer robot revolution and his efforts to help create empathy between humans and their robot toys  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Microsoft researcher and Data & Society president danah boyd talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about the effect of everyday technology, such as Facebook, on society and culture.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Francesca Bria tells John Thornhill how she is helping citizens in Barcelona design their digital future, moving from an economy fuelled by advertising and surveillance and towards transparency and a new social pact on the ownership of data.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former Google data scientist, about what our internet searches reveal about who we really are.Listen to Tech Tonic on iTunes or Stitcher.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Scientist and former Facebook and Google executive Mary Lou Jepsen talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about her latest startup, Openwater, where she and a team of researchers are working to develop a ski helmet-sized imaging device that will one day read minds.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tech Tonic returns for a second series, starting next week. Our first guest is a former Google and Facebook executive who is working on a wearable diagnostic product that can read your mind. We’ll also be hearing how search engine data can be used to map our innermost thoughts, and we’ll be talking to experts in artificial intelligence, cyber security, robotics and much more. So look out for Tech Tonic, season 2, starting on Wednesday 11th October. You can subscribe on all the usual podcast platforms.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Miesnieks, creator of one of the first augmented reality apps and co-founder of startup 6D, tells the FT's Tim Bradshaw about the technological advances that make AR possible, and what needs to happen if it is to fulfill its promise.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The author of "The Attention Merchants" talks to John Thornhill about his concerns about the way some web apps are eating into our time  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jensen Huang, chief executive of graphics chipmaker Nvidia, tells the FT's Tim Bradshaw how the graphics processing unit, or GPU, the company pioneered in the 1990s is being used in everything from virtual reality to machine learning to autonomous cars, drawing investor attention.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy Johnson, chief executive of Andela, talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about how his company recruits and trains software engineers from several African countries and then places them with the top tech companies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Despite billions being spent on research, even our best deep learning neural networks look pitiful when compared to the intricate design of the brain of a bumble bee or even an ant, Peter Bentley tells John Thornhill.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Leanne Kemp's company Everledger uses blockchain technology to track the provenance of assets, from diamonds to fine wines. She talks to John Thornhill about the technology's potential to combat fraud.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer, talks to the FT's Leslie Hook about the company's ambitious plan to start testing an aerial taxi service as soon as 2020.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mehul Patel, chief executive of Hired, talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about hiring trends in Silicon Valley and other technology hubs in the US, and what some companies are doing in response to President Donald Trump's executive action on immigration and the H-1B visa.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stripe's John Collison speaks to the FT's Leslie Hook about what he and his co-founder brother have planned for the $9bn online payments company, why Silicon Valley is still their preferred place to have their headquarters and what it is like to be one of the Valley's youngest billionaire entrepreneurs.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.