Shows / Crashed
Crashed
In the Crashed podcast, the tech podcast about everything else, hosts Alex Hudson (@alexhuds) and Chris Stokel-Walker (@stokel) delve into the complexities of technology and its implications on politics, business and wider society. It’s smart, it’s nerdy and it’s two journalists trying to make sense of a complex tech landscape in the UK.
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Episodes
- Crashed
Could an early General Election be coming?
Investigative journalist Lydia Morrish of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism joins presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker to discuss the millions…
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Green energy is cheaper so why drill for gas?
We tried to make a positive-news-only episode of Crashed and ended up talking about climate change, drilling in the North Sea, the collapse of societal norms…
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Should we let AI kill people?
Nobel Peace Prize winner Beatrice Fihn helped pioneer efforts to achieve a treaty-based ban on nuclear weapons. She's now turned her attention to the use of AI…
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The farlands of TikTok 'where predators meet'
***Trigger warning: difficult discussions about sexual predators and child abuse take place in this episode.*** The TikTok farlands are what media studies…
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Everyone should own their own chatbot agent
In this episode, Alex Hudson and Chris explore the chaotic intersection of AI, military technology, and the future of media and society, sharing insights from…
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50 things you should know about AI
Crashed is celebrating its 50th episode, which is silly. Also silly is choosing to celebrate it by trying to fit 50 things you need to know about AI in a…
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Q&A special: AI's relation to the nuclear bomb, the solution to spam email and one impossible question
In this special Q&A episode, presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker explore the complex and often alarming intersections of AI, government influence…
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The weaponised selfie and image-based abuse
Chayn founder and CEO Hera Hussain joins Alex Hudson and guest presenter Dr Carolina Are to discuss the complex issues surrounding image-based abuse, consent…
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The influencers won. Now what? (a Taylor Lorenz's Power User v Crashed collab)
In this episode, Alex Hudson and Taylor Lorenz explore the evolving landscape of influence, AI, and digital regulation, discussing the impact of technology on…
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Getting paid to train AI to replace you
In this episode, Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker explore the latest developments in AI, social media trends, and the future of warfare, delving into the…
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The death of the computer keyboard
In this episode, Bloomberg columnist Dave Lee joins hosts Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker to discuss if the computer keyboard is on its last legs. Only…
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Quantum technology will change everything
Quantum is about to change the world, so we’re told. It will make computers exponentially faster. It will challenge the cryptographic foundations that underpin…
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Is Andy Burnham really the TikTok prime minister?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss "The UK’s first TikTok prime minister", and if Andy Burnham really is channelling New York Mayor Zohran…
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Lampposts could be spying on you... really!
A lampost with facial-recognition capability has been announced. Why? We don't know. But we'll try and find out. In this episode, presenters Alex Hudson and…
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The death of British science, innovation and technology (department)
In a week of a new prime minister, an OpenAI agentic “hack” and France banning social media for under-15s, presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker have…
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The Meta narrative: Instagram, shadowbanning, Meta Glasses, and AI redundancies
Meta is having a moment, laying off 10% of its staff with the help, it's alleged, of AI while maintaining a 40% profit margin. In this episode, we explore the…
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What does Burnhamism mean in practice? And is the answer just AI everything?
The next prime minister is probably Andy Burnham. And this means Burnhamism, Manchesterism and devolution are all hot topics. But what does that mean for…
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Does AI need a “kill switch”?
Sarah Breeden, the Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability, has talked about the potential need ot a “kill switch” for markets because…
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The week the world asked the Internet for ID
Britain is changing prime minister again, which would be funny if the policy consequences were not so bleak. So this week on Crashed, Alex Hudson and Chris…
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Social media ban could mean more state surveillance
In this episode, presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker delve into the complexities of social media regulation, government policies on youth online…
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Royal Mail can't even deliver parcels to the Post Office
Royal Mail can't even deliver mail to Post Offices... and there's literally no way to speak to a Parcelforce customer service operator directly, no matter how…
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Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar gamble and the extended reality (XR) of it all
This episode explores the recent experiences at South by Southwest (SXSW) London, the state of XR and AI markets, and the implications of upcoming IPOs in the…
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Shadow banning on social is real (and so is the AI Pope)
This episode explores the complex issues of shadow banning, content moderation, and the influence of AI and religion on digital society. Featuring Dr. Carolina…
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HS2: How difficult is it to build a £100bn railway?
Britain’s next-generation high-speed rail network (HS2) was going to lay 530km of track, offer speeds of up to 225mph, cost around £33bn, and launch in 2026…
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Shein takes on Temu in fast fashion showdown
Shein, the fast-fashion brand accused by many of stealing designs and ignoring copyright, accuses fast-fashion brand Temu of stealing designs and ignoring…
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Surveillance state expands as police roll out AI facial recognition
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker explore the rise of surveillance technology, particularly by police, with investigative journalist Mark Wilding…
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Who wins in a fight between Elon Musk and Sam Altman?
The trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has reached the courtroom. Well-known philanthropist Musk claims that OpenAI, which was set up as a charity, has…
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Pollsters recording AI respondents rather than humans
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker explore the emerging role of AI in polling and market research, examining its accuracy, ethical considerations…
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Has Spotify killed the musical star?
The UK has not created a new music genre in a decade, DJ/producer Lo-Wu tells Crashed. As AI now accounts for around 40% of music uploads, what happened to…
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Bitcoin's secrets unveiled, space junk discarded, and the world's oldest tortoise duped
Crashed, the tech podcast about everything else, discusses how the creator of Bitcoin, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, has been unveiled as British…
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Will journalists survive AI? (featuring Sophia Smith Galer)
Welcome to Crashed, the tech podcast about everything else. Today, that means the myth of journalism collapsing, the myth of politicians being anywhere near…
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Instagram and YouTube do damage teenagers' mental health
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker dissect the many court cases facing Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp owners Meta and Google-owned YouTube. What does…
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The AI 'jobpocalypse' is coming... as is the AI apocalypse between the US and China
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker are joined by journalist Ellen Scott to talk about the so-called “jobpocalypse” caused by AI and how the…
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Taylor Lorenz makes the positive case for social media
Is social media a good thing or a bad thing? Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker and guest tech journalist Taylor Lorenz get into the details of…
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"Tierification" means things are getting worse, more expensive, or both... and it starts with airport lounges
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker interview financial psychology expert and journalist Hanna Horvath about the ‘tierification of everything”…
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How did the right wing win the internet?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker are joined by academic Dr. Robert Topinka to discuss why the Right is so much better at the internet than the…
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What's wrong with the internet? Can somebody fix it?
Everything online feels a little bit off. Whether it’s deepfakes, the great meme-reset, or analogue communities posting about it on Instagram, presenters Alex…
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The end of doomscrolling? the end of Airbnb? And the end of free WiFi?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker try to work out how addictive social media (and doomscrolling) really is, try to understand how Airbnb bookings…
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The UK’s first AI "Tech Town", Germany's 24 years of censorship, and one million satellites in space?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker try to understand why Barnsley has been picked as the UK’s first Tech Town (spoiler: it’s a Reform target seat…
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Is AI Kool-Aid and FOMO driving UK tech policy?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker interview data politics and social justice academic Dr Elinor Carmi, of City St George’s, about the government…
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AI could mean "the eyes of the state... on you at all times" according to the home secretary
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss how Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has sparked a media storm over her views on the surveillance state…
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AI girlfriends to fix loneliness, AI content to fix journalism, and AI influencers to fix politics
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker investigate how AI is transforming our relationships, from best friends to husbands and wives and even…
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Elon Musk plays with fire, politicians play in sandboxes, and nobody's playing at CES
Crashed is the tech podcast about everything else, Today, hosts Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss whether the controversy around Grok (Groktroversy…
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What happens in 2026? From LinkedIn's death to quantum meh and flying cars, we have it all
Welcome to Crashed, the podcast about how tech is at the centre of everything, whether that be economics, politics, philosophy, ethics, community, law…
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It's Christmas! A sincere thank you and the best bits
Welcome to Crashed, the podcast about how tech is at the centre of everything, whether that be economics, politics, philosophy, ethics, community, law…
- Crashed
Is every politician being paid by an AI firm now?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss whether a MAGA whisperer will become US ambassador for the sake of a tech deal, our reflections on…
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Will social media kill democracy or will democracy kill social media?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker decide whether Australia banning social media for children under 16 is a good or bad thing, whether “fascion”…
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Pop music gets AI treatment, crypto bros gets comeuppance, and who pays for ransomware attacks
What happens when all music is automated? When all our currency is on the blockchain? When all the tech companies own everything? Presenters Alex Hudson and…
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A quantum Budget problem , the “digital erasure of queer communities”, and who wins the AI chip race?
Chancellor Rachel Reeves only mentioned AI once and didn’t mention quantum at all in the Budget. Why? Wasn’t quantum meant to be a shining light for British…
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Is Nvidia too big to fail? Could cookie banners cost billions? And is fast fashion finally getting slow regulation?
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker try to work out whether Nvidia being bigger than the entire British economy is a good thing (spoiler: it isn't)…
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Britain's Trump-like Project 2029 could define next General Election, the ChatGPT vote? And how this all relates, somehow to Mr Blobby
Crashed: the technology podcast about the ethics, the policy, the politics, the business of tech. In this episode, hosts Alex Hudson and Chris Stoker Walker…
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The EU's €300 billion bet, all the unicorns keep leaving, and the secret climate revolution
All the unicorns keep moving to America, and the EU is willing to spend €300 billion to try to stop that from happening. Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris…
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The AI cold war, NVIDIA hits $5 trillion, and the LinkedInification of everything
Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker try to work out what Microsoft taking a multi-billion-dollar cut in its OpenAI stake means in practice; whether…
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The bubble of AI slop gets even sloppier
In this conversation, presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss the AI bubble, AI slop, and the supposed demise of human contact. Harvard PhD…
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4chan and the one person at Ofcom with a sense of humour
In the inaugural episode of the Crashed podcast, hosts Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker delve into the complexities of tech journalism, the implications of…