Ft Tech Tonic

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.

Jeremy Conrad, co-founder of hardware incubator and VC fund Lemnos Labs, talks to the FT's Tim Bradshaw about the way economies of scale in the self-driving car industry could bolster the field of robotics.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, talks about what he learnt from the Alpha Go experience and the complex problems his artificial intelligence company has been working on since it was acquired by Google in 2014.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lili Cheng and her team at Microsoft's FUSE Labs are at the forefront of research on social interaction with artificial intelligence. She joins the FT's Richard Waters to discuss the evolution of chatbot technology, what the company learnt from its experience with Tay, and the personalisation we can expect from the virtual assistants and chat apps of the future.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Helen Margetts, head of the Oxford Internet Institute, talks to the FT's Madhumita Murgia about fake news, echo chambers, big data and why we need more research to be able to combat the "pathologies" of the internet.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rutger Bregman tells John Thornhill there is evidence to show that we can end poverty by handing out cash to those who need it. The idea of a universal basic income is one whose time has come, he says, and it is finding support in unexpected places like Silicon Valley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Uber investor and adviser Bradley Tusk talks to the FT's Leslie Hook about the highs and lows of the ride-sharing company's rapid expansion, and how companies in the sharing economy can manage regulatory hurdles.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneur Tom Ilube talks about his work with scientists to deploy their research in the battle against cybercrime, tech advances and education in Africa and why companies need to take cyber security more seriously.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Duolingo cofounder and chief executive Luis von Ahn talks to the FT's Tim Bradshaw about creating the snackable language learning app that now serves more than 150m global users, and how the company's model can be translated into other digital education tools.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Madhumita Murgia speaks to Kathryn Parsons about her work in promoting digital literacy through the company she co-founded, Decoded, which aims to teach people to code in a day.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Frédéric Mazzella tells the story of BlaBlaCar, the ride-sharing company he founded, which now operates in over 20 countries, and talks about the rise of tech entrepreneurship in France.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What will displaced professionals and workers do when intelligent machines take their jobs? Will poets, thinkers and musicians become sought-after occupations? Or will people slump into a world of virtual reality entertainment? Tim Bradshaw discusses possible outcomes with tech investors Kai-Fu Lee and Joi Ito.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, was one of the first researchers to sound the alarm bell on the risks of developing artificial intelligence. He joins the FT's Richard Waters to discuss the state of AI, and how machines should be developed to avoid these risks.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about government surveillance in the US after the Snowden revelations, and how it could all change under a Trump administration.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mike Cagney, chief executive and founder of online lender SoFi, talks to the FT's Tom Braithwaite about building a fintech company from refinancing student loans; the high-income millennials the service targets; and why they use tools like job search and member networking events to retain customers.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kevin Mandia, chief executive of cyber security firm FireEye, joins the FT's Hannah Kuchler to discuss how Russian hackers changed the rules of engagement of cyber espionage. Mr Mandia and his company, Mandiant, came to prominence in 2013 when it released a report implicating China in cyber spying. The company was later sold to FireEye for $1bn. This interview was recorded in early December 2016.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.