logo
episode-header-image
Apr 6
53m 58s

DOGE and the United States of AI

Tech Policy Press
About this episode

Across the United States and in some cities abroad yesterday, protestors took to the streets to resist the policies of US President Donald Trump. Dubbed the "Hands Off" protests, over 1,400 events took place, including in New York City, where protestors called for billionaire Elon Musk to be ousted from his role in government and for an end to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has gutted government agencies and programs and sought to install artificial intelligence systems to purportedly identify wasteful spending and reduce the federal workforce.

In this conversation, Justin Hendrix is joined by four individuals who are following DOGE closely. The conversation touches on the broader context and history of attempts to use technology to streamline and improve government services, the apparent ideology behind DOGE and its conception of AI, and what the future may look like after DOGE. Guests include:

  • Eryk Salvaggio, a visiting professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Tech Policy Press;
  • Rebecca Williams, a senior strategist in the Privacy and Data Governance Unit at ACLU;
  • Emily Tavoulareas, who teaches and conducts research at Georgetown's McCourt School for Public Policy and is leading a project to document the founding of the US Digital Service; and
  • Matthew Kirschenbaum, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of English at the University of Maryland.

Up next
Jul 6
Protecting Privacy and Dissent in an Age of Authoritarianism and AI
Helen Nissenbaum, a philosopher, is a professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department at Cornell University. She is director of the Digital Life Initiative at Cornell Tech, which was launched in 2017 to explore societal perspectives surrounding the development ... Show More
45m 57s
Jul 6
Considering the Human Rights Impacts of LLM Content Moderation
At Tech Policy Press we’ve been tracking the emerging application of generative AI systems in content moderation. Recently, the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) released a comprehensive report titled Algorithmic Gatekeepers: The Human Rights Impacts of LLM Content Mo ... Show More
41m 46s
Jun 29
Interrogating Tech Power and Democratic Crisis
If you’ve been reading Tech Policy Press closely over the last three weeks, you may have come across one or more posts from collaboration with Data & Society called “Ideologies of Control: A Series on Tech Power and Democratic Crisis.” The articles in the series examine how power ... Show More
35m 51s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
AI in Universities and the Workplace | UC Irvine's Tom Andriola | Artificial Intelligence Podcast
In this episode of the AI For All Podcast, Tom Andriola, Vice Chancellor and Chief Digital Officer at UC Irvine, joins Ryan Chacon and Neil Sahota, to discuss the impact of AI in universities and the workplace. The conversation covers how AI tools can transform education and busi ... Show More
34m 41s
Nov 2024
Petra Molnar, "The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (New Press, 2024)
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it was training “robot dogs” to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against migrants. Four-legged machines equipped with cameras and sensors would join a network of drones and automated surveillance towers—nicknamed the “ ... Show More
28m 38s
Nov 2024
What Trump 2.0 Means for Tech + A.I. Made Me Basic + HatGPT!
As of this week, we have a new president-elect. We discuss how the incoming administration’s approach to technology will affect Elon Musk, a TikTok ban, Big Tech’s antitrust challenges and the speed of A.I. progress. Then, Kashmir Hill, a technology reporter for The Times, joins ... Show More
1h 5m
Mar 2025
Trump's confusing crusade against Big Tech
Starlink is in the White House, Siri is still bad, Pebble is back, up is down, everything is chaos. In this episode, Nilay and David start the show by running through some big gadget news, from a Siri-related shakeup at Apple to the new Google Pixel 9A. After that, The Verge's La ... Show More
1h 54m
Feb 2025
Elon Musk's computer coup
Nilay, David, and Richard Lawler take on a big week in confusing news stories. First, they talk through the latest from Elon Musk's DOGE, which is running rampant through government computer systems with little pushback. Then they explain the latest on the US government's tariff ... Show More
1h 36m
Feb 2025
Inside USAID as Elon Musk and DOGE Ripped It Apart
President Donald Trump wants the world's richest man, Elon Musk, to shrink the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency. And one of DOGE's first targets? USAID, the agency that focuses on foreign assistance. We talk to a USAID worker who is out of work t ... Show More
25m 59s
Jan 2025
Mistral Plans IPO, CIA Chatbot Emulates World Leaders, and The Stargate Initiative
We're experimenting and would love to hear from you!In this episode of Discover Daily, we begin with a look at Mistral AI's bold move toward an IPO. The French AI startup, valued at $6 billion, announces plans to expand globally while maintaining its independence, markin ... Show More
7m 9s
Nov 2024
How AI is changing national security w/ Kathleen Fisher
We’ve had conversations about AI’s online influence on politics, from deepfakes to misinformation. But AI can also have profound effects on hardware – especially when it comes to national security and military capabilities like weapons and stealth technologies. Kathleen Fisher is ... Show More
55m 1s
Feb 2025
What does DeepSeek AI mean for energy?
It’s a historic moment in energy, with a leap forward in AI technology coming as the Trump administration sets a new direction for the US. The Energy Gang break down what it all means. When they make The Energy Transition – The Movie, the week of 27th January 2025 will be a pivot ... Show More
1h 3m
Feb 2025
The high stakes for AI Alexa
AI will fix everything, right? In this episode, friend of The Verge (and Waveform co-host) David Imel joins Nilay and David to talk all about Alexa Plus, and the AI-powered voice assistant Amazon thinks can do everything from turn on your lights to order your friend an Uber. The ... Show More
1h 56m