Some Catholics no doubt took offense, but no one was seriously harmed by the Pope-in-a-puffer-jacket meme. Far more sinister deepfakes are on the rise, however, with scammers now frequently using widely available technology to bilk the unwary, and political campaigns marshaling AI to sow lies about their opponents. Perhaps the greatest threat is not the deepfakes themselves but that their mere existence can cause us to question the veracity of nearly everything we see and hear online and in the media. So, how concerned should we be about the proliferation of fake media? And what, if anything, is being done to staunch the bleeding? UC Berkeley Professor Hany Farid, a pioneer in the field of digital forensics, joins Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph live onstage to discuss what the growing onslaught of mis- and disinformation portends for our society and what we can do to manage it.

Further reading:

• Watch the full live conversation with Hany Farid on YouTube
• Find out more about California Live! events

This episode was produced by Coby McDonald. Special thanks to Hany Farid, Pat Joseph, and Nat Alcantara. Art by Michiko Toki and original music by Mogli Maureal. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.

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Just over a decade ago, Berkeley computer science professor Stuart Russell, recently named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, warned a lecture audience that achieving artificial general intelligence “would be the biggest event in human history . . . and perhaps the last event in human history.” Since then, the development of superintelligent AI has only accelerated—infiltrating nearly every part of society. So, what does the future hold? Stuart joins Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph live onstage to discuss the perils and promise of the AI revolution.

Further reading:

• Watch the full live conversation with Stuart Russell on YouTube

This episode was produced by Coby McDonald.

Special thanks to Stuart Russell, Pat Joseph, and Nat Alcantara. Art by Michiko Toki and original music by Mogli Maureal. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Support the show

There’s a paradox in robotics that says: what’s easy for humans is hard for robots, and vice versa. Complex calculations, for instance, are the domain of machines. Simple motor tasks like picking up an object, on the other hand, can stump a robot. That’s where our guest comes in. Jeff Mahler has spent his career working on improving the capabilities of robotic object manipulation. After completing his postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley, Mahler went on to co-found Ambi Robotics with Stephen McKinley, David Gealy, Matt Matl, and Professor Ken Goldberg, building AI-powered robots for warehouse operations. He talks to us about the state of robot assistants and how soon—if ever—we might expect a full robot revolution.

Further reading:

• TechCrunch article on the launch of Ambi Stack
• UC Berkeley News article on Berkeley’s latest breakthroughs in robot learning
• WIRED article covering Amazon’s new tactile-sensing warehouse robot, Vulcan.
• Mahler et al.’s 2019 Science Robotics paper, which introduces Dex-Net 4.0
• Watch Dex-Net 2.0 picking up objects
• Episode transcript

This episode was written and hosted by Nathalia Alcantara and produced by Coby McDonald.

Art by Michiko Toki and original music by Mogli Maureal. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Support the show