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Generative AI Is Not Inevitable

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna on the dangers of generative AI.

Paris Marx

May 22, 2025

People attend Computex 2025 at Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei on May 20, 2025.(I-Hwa Cheng / AFP via Getty Images)

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Generative AI is Not Inevitable w/ Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna | Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna to discuss some of the harms caused by generative AI, address the industry's ploys to keep the public invested while companies flounder under the weight of unmet promises, and what folks can do to push back.

Emily M. Bender is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Washington. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Institute. They are the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.

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On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, I am joined by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna to discuss some of the harms caused by generative AI, address the industry’s ploys to keep the public invested while companies flounder under the weight of unmet promises, and what folks can do to push back.

Emily M. Bender is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Washington. Alex Hanna is director of research at the Distributed AI Institute. They are the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

How Mass Layoffs Changed Working in Tech w/ Clarissa Redwine & JS Tan / Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

Not long ago, tech jobs were sought after for their security, benefits, wages, and the progressive values promoted by Silicon Valley companies. But now workers are barely hanging on. Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan join Paris Marx to discuss the state of worker organizing in the tech industry, including how it’s changed since the mid-2010s and where it needs to go from here.

Clarissa Redwine is a tech worker and labor activist. JS Tan is a PhD candidate at MIT and writes the Value Added newsletter. They are the authors of Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World's Most Powerful Industry.

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Paris MarxParis Marx is the author of Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires. He hosts the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast and writes the Disconnect newsletter.


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