Ft Tech Tonic

Robin Lovell-Badge, developmental biologist and geneticist, talks to FT science columnist Anjana Ahuja about the gene-edited babies controversy in China and about the potential for new gene-editing techniques to transform the treatment of diseases like cancer and muscular dystrophy.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neuroscientist, entrepreneur and artificial intelligence guru about her work in trying to make technology work for the benefit of humans  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The former Amazon executive tells John Thornhill how he applied the lessons he’d learnt at the US technology company to help transform Italians’ experience of dealing with government.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to the academic and author Rachel Botsman about the evolution of trust in the digital age and the way technology has undermined our faith in institutions  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nigel Toon, founder and chief executive of Graphcore, talks to John Thornhill about the chip technology his company is developing and its potential to speed the advance of machine learning.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to Maja Pantic, Professor of Affective and Behavioural Computing at Imperial College in London, about her work testing the boundaries of human robot interaction.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based Slack tells John Thornhill how his fascination for technology that facilitates human interaction came about.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Physicist Zdenka Kuncic tells FT science editor Clive Cookson about the difference between software-based and hardware-based approaches to artificial intelligence and her work to develop autonomous intelligent systems for potential use in space and in medical devices  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sociologist Jonathan Lusthaus spent seven years talking to cyber criminals.  He tells Hannah Kuchler what he discovered about the extent of their involvement with organised crime and what he thinks it would take to persuade them to put their talents to better use. His book: Industry of Anonymity: Inside the Business of Cybercrime, was published by Harvard University Press.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Duke University Health System, tells Shannon Bond about his research into potential technological solutions to neurological and mental health disorders.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Investor Alice Newcombe-Ellis tells John Thornhill about her strategy for discovering and investing in the next generation of disruptive technology companies  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Zia Chishti's latest business venture Afiniti uses artificial intelligence to match customers and employees, but he tells John Thornhill he sees the technology as evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, and offers his thoughts on the dos and don'ts of investing in AI.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hannah Kuchler talks to American social scientist and cyber security expert Andrea Little Limbago about the worrying lack of agreement among governments on how best to promote the beneficial aspects of the internet.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to the New York Times journalist about his latest book: The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Web Foundation president and CEO Adrian Lovett talks to John Thornhill about open data, net neutrality and widening global internet access.Web Foundation website  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Clive Cookson talks to astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell about her decision to give away her $3m Breakthrough Prize in physics and about what she sees as the most exciting new areas of future research.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The former Google employee turned campaigner has made it his mission to alert society about the dangers of using computer algorithms to capture our attention. He tells John Thornhill why he co-founded the Centre for Humane Technology and what it does.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jamie Susskind, author of Future Politics, Verity Harding of Google DeepMind, and Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of CognitionX, discuss liberty and morality in the AI era in a panel debate recorded at the FT’s recent FT Weekend Festival in London.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneur and academic Irene Ng talks to John Thornhill about the Hub of all Things - a microserver that allows people to own and control their own data.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Drew Houston, co-founder of the business software company, tells John Thornhill how he caught the entrepreneurial bug and what's next for Dropbox.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.