Season 7
4: Lend Me Your Voice
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Big tech’s power over language, means power over people. Bridget Todd talks to AI community leaders paving the way for open voice tech in their own languages and dialects.
In this episode: AI builders and researchers in the US, Kenya and New Zealand who say the languages computers learn to recognize today will be the ones that survive tomorrow — as long as communities and local startups can defend their data rights from big AI companies..
Halcyon Lawrence was a researcher of information design at Towson University in Maryland (via Trinidad and Tobago) who did everything Alexa told her to for a year.*
Keoni Mahelona is a leader of Indigenous data rights and chief technology officer of Te Hiku Media, a Māori community media network with 21 local radio stations in New Zealand.
Kathleen Siminyu is an AI grassroots community leader in Kenya and a machine learning fellow with Mozilla’s Common Voice working on Kiswahili voice projects.
IRL: Online Life is Real Life is an original podcast from Mozilla, the non-profit behind Firefox. In Season 7, host Bridget Todd talks to AI builders that put people ahead of profit.
*Sadly, following the recording of this episode, Dr. Halcyon Lawrence passed away. We are glad to have met her and pay tribute to her legacy as a researcher and educator. Thank you, Halcyon.
Episode transcript-
Why does it so often feel like we’re part of a mass AI experiment? What is the responsible way to test new technologies? Bridget Todd explores what it means to live with unproven AI systems that impact millions of people as they roll out across public life.
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They’re the essential workers of AI — yet mostly invisible and exploited. Does it have to be this way? Bridget Todd talks to data workers and entrepreneurs calling for change.
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Are today’s large language models too hot to handle? Bridget Todd digs into the risks and rewards of opening up the tech that makes ChatGPT talk.
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This season, Bridget Todd meets people who are balancing the upsides of AI with the downsides coming into view worldwide. The first of five biweekly episodes launches on October 10!
Season 6
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Life, death and data. AI’s capacity to support research on human health is well documented. But so are the harms of biased datasets and misdiagnoses. How can AI developers build healthier systems? We take a look at a new dataset for Black skin health, a Covid chatbot in Rwanda, AI diagnostics in rural India, and elusive privacy in mental health apps.
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How can platforms stop disinformation that spreads like wildfire during elections? A record number of elections are taking place around the world in 2022. Voters’ social media feeds will be flooded with political, AI driven disinformation campaigns. Grassroots organizations are tackling the problem head on, aggressively tracking disinformation and hate speech and fighting AI with AI.
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From above the clouds, our world is surveilled and datafied. Power over that data means power over what stories get told about people and places: whose needs are counted, whose needs are erased. How can people reclaim power over their own maps and stories using AI?
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Gig workers around the world report directly to algorithms in precarious jobs created by secretive corporations. We take you to the streets of Quito, Ecuador where delivery workers are protesting against artificial intelligence, and we hear solutions from people in several countries on how to audit the algorithms and reclaim rights.
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Where should tech builders draw the line on AI for military or surveillance? Just because it can be built, doesn't mean it should be. At what point do we blow the whistle, call out the boss, and tell the world? Find out what it's like to sound the alarm from inside a big tech company.
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Meet IRL's new host, Bridget Todd, who is on a journey to meet people around the world who are making AI more trustworthy, in real life.
Season 5
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Meet the people who have found a way to build profitable tech businesses while also respecting your privacy.
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What if you could, by law, say “no” to the sale of your personal data? Get the latest on internet privacy regulation.
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If 5G is going to change the world, who will get to live in it? Explore the future of mobile internet in Firefox's IRL podcast.
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Walkouts, protests, and picket lines are becoming more common among tech workers. Explore their reasons for resistance in the IRL podcast.
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Explore the surprising environmental impact of the internet.
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Host Manoush Zomorodi explores how ad targeting and misinformation online could impact democracy at large.
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Find out what to look out for in privacy policies — and examine what privacy means to you — in Firefox's IRL podcast.
Season 4
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IRL host Manoush Zomorodi explores gender diversity and inclusion in tech.
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Explore the premise, the promise, and the pitfalls of decentralization — the antidote to Big Tech.
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Explore the surveillance economy, the companies that participate in it, and its impact on you.
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Meet the people responsible for cleaning your social media feed in Mozilla’s IRL podcast.
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Join Manoush Zomorodi as she explores how the internet has changed reading. And, how we're changing alongside it.
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Tackle your password problem once and for all in this episode of Mozilla's IRL podcast.
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Explore the hidden privacy costs of online shopping. Your data may be the most valuable thing for sale.
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Meet IRL’s new host, Manoush Zomorodi, who will examine the potential of ethical tech with listeners around the globe.
Season 3
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Examine how the internet is changing our minds, our votes, and our democracies – all over the world.
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Today’s teens are the first humans who have spent their entire lives online. Find out what it's like growing up in the age of screens.
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Veronica Belmont and Franchesca Ramsey meet the people working to make the web — and world — friendlier places.
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Veronica Belmont and Peter Rojas explore how the Internet is building and confusing our relationships.
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There’s a new currency in town (and no, we’re not talking about Bitcoin). We’re talking about attention.
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One of the most successful recruitment tools the U.S. Army ever made was… a video game? Find out how gaming elements in tech have infiltrated our online and offline lives.
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Explore the tradeoffs you make online everyday, and learn why on earth your email inbox is filling up with privacy policies.
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Get a sneak peak at what Veronica Belmont will cover in Season 3 of IRL, because online life is real life.
Season 2
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How to stop the spread of disinformation online.
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How technology can create, and can break, our filter bubbles.
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When bad code spreads disinformation and bias, it’s never something that “the algorithm did.” It’s something people did.
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On the Internet no one knows you’re a dog, as the old joke goes. But does anonymity truly exist on the web anymore?
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From Snapchat filters to Apple’s Face ID, biometric technology plays a growing role in our everyday lives. What do we actually give up when we upload our face to these apps?
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Recent reports estimate that over 50% of teens are addicted to their smartphones. Veronica Belmont investigates the impact of growing up online.
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Most website visitors aren’t human. They’re bots. Here’s how to spot them.
Season 1
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The battle for the open Internet isn’t over. In the days leading up to the FCC’s vote, we investigate what’s next for net neutrality.
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On the Internet, everything happens so much. Veronica Belmont explores the latest developments in digital activism, cybersecurity and troll clapbacks.
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Recent events in Charlottesville, VA have revealed the role the Internet plays in IRL threats and violence. Should tech companies regulate who says what on the Internet?
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What is life like without fast Internet, and how does life change once a person has it? Veronica Belmont talks to people about joining the digital economy.
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Surveillance. Turns out, we’ve invited it into our homes through digital assistants, connected toys and baby monitors.
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Trolls are in every corner of the Web, but people are fighting back in new ways. Baked goods included.
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This episode of IRL focuses on our internet insecurity. Meet the unsung heroes fighting to keep us safe.
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The Internet is at a crossroads. Mozilla’s IRL podcast dives into the current net neutrality debate.
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There is no such thing as a free lunch. Mozilla’s IRL podcast dives into the price of “free” online series.
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Introducing IRL