IRL: Online Life is Real Life
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IRL: Online Life is Real Life
How does artificial intelligence change when people — not profit — truly come first? Join IRL’s host Bridget Todd, as she meets people around the world building responsible alternatives to the tech that’s changing how we work, communicate, and even listen to music.
Recent Episodes
60 episodes
Techish: The Tech Swindler
Today, we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at Techish, a podcast by two tech founders and investors talking about all things tech, pop cult...
Decoding the Planet: From Whales to Whistleblowers
AI may be able to talk to animals, but at what cost to the planet. Who is making those decisions, and why it matters. From decoding whale language to...
The Invisible Neighbor
AI lives in my city, and probably yours too. What does it mean for our neighborhoods, the people in them, and where data lives? Host Bridget Todd loo...
Our Heads in the Cloud
There are some good reasons to let AI into our brains. But how much do we know about the privacy of brain data? Host Bridget Todd explores how AI is i...
We Found Love in an AI Place
Will my new AI boyfriend be a green flag? Bridget Todd explores how encounters of love and sex are secretly shaped by data and algorithms.
Love...
We're Back! IRL Season 8: AI and Us
Bridget Todd is on a journey to find out how AI affects us on a personal level. From her love life to her city, to the privacy of her memories, Bridge...
Mozilla’s IRL podcast is a Shorty Awards finalist - we need your help to win!
We’re excited to share that Mozilla's IRL podcast is a Shorty Awards finalist in the Science and Technology Podcast category! If you enjoy IRL you can...
The Art of AI
From Hollywood to Hip Hop, artists are negotiating new boundaries of consent for use of AI in the creative industries. Bridget Todd speaks to artists...
Lend Me Your Voice
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 la...
Crash Test Dummies
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...
The Humans in the Machine
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 entrepre...
With AIs Wide Open
Are today’s large language models too hot to handle? Bridget Todd digs into the risks and rewards of open sourcing the tech that makes ChatGPT talk.
We’re Back! IRL Season 7: People Over Profit
This season, IRL host Bridget Todd meets people who are balancing the upsides of artificial intelligence with the downsides that are coming into view...
The AI Medicine Cabinet
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....
The Truth is Out There
Murky political groups are exploiting social media systems to spread disinformation. With important elections taking place around the world this year,...
AI from Above
An aerial picture can tell a thousand stories. But who gets to tell them? From above the clouds, our world is surveilled and datafied. Those who contr...
When an Algorithm is Your Boss
Gig workers around the world report directly to algorithms in precarious jobs created by secretive corporations. We take you to the streets of Quito,...
The Tech We Won’t Build
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...
Introducing IRL Season 6: AI in Real Life
AI is everywhere now. It’s part of healthcare, social media, maps, and even killer robots. But who has power over AI? And who is shifting that power?...
Privacy or Profit - Why Not Both?
Every day, our data hits the market when we sign online. It’s for sale, and we’re left to wonder if tech companies will ever choose to protect our pri...
Making Privacy Law
The word “regulation" gets tossed around a lot. And it’s often aimed at the internet’s Big Tech companies. Some worry that the size of these companies...
The 5G Privilege
‘5G’ is a new buzzword floating around every corner of the internet. But what exactly is this hyped-up cellular network, often referred to as the next...
The Tech Worker Resistance
There's a movement building within tech. Workers are demanding higher standards from their companies — and because of their unique skills and talent,...
The Internet's Carbon Footprint
Manoush Zomorodi explores the surprising environmental impact of the internet in this episode of IRL. Because while it’s easy to think of the internet...
Democracy and the Internet
Part of celebrating democracy is questioning what influences it. In this episode of IRL, we look at how the internet influences us, our votes, and our...
The "Privacy Policy" Policy
Privacy policies: most apps and websites have them, buried away somewhere. These legal documents explain how the company collects, uses, and shares yo...
“The Weird Kids at the Big Tech Party” from ZigZag
Season 4 of ZigZag is about examining the current culture of business and work, figuring out what needs to change, and experimenting with new ways to...
What if Women Built the Internet?
All the things we love on the internet — from websites that give us information to services that connect us — are made stronger when their creators co...
Decentralize It
Some people believe that decentralization is the inevitable future of the web. They believe that internet users will start to demand more privacy and...
The Surveillance Economy
In her new book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Harvard Business School’s Shoshana Zuboff argues that tech companies — like Google and Facebook —...
The Human Costs of Content Moderation
What, if anything, should be banned from online media? And who should review violent and explicit content, in order to decide if it’s okay for the pub...
TL;DR
TL;DR: We have access to more things to read than ever before. Too much, in fact. Our reading habits have shifted. We skim a lot. We look for full sto...
Your Password is the Worst
Look, we agree with you: passwords are the worst. But you know what else is the worst? Someone hacking your account, or big security breaches that exp...
Checking Out Online Shopping
When you shop, your data may be the most valuable thing for sale. This isn’t just true online — your data follows you into brick and mortar stores now...
Introducing Season 4 of IRL - Online Life is Real Life
Can ‘ethical tech’ be a thing? We think so. Season 4 of Mozilla’s IRL podcast will explore all the ways tech can have a more positive influence on peo...
What to Expect When You're Electing
The 2016 U.S. presidential election blew up our ideas about influence campaigns in the age of screens. Two years later, Veronica Belmont and Baratunde...
Kids These Days
Today’s teens are the first humans who have spent their entire lives online. Join Veronica Belmont and Manoush Zomorodi as they explore what kids are...
Bullying and Bonding Online
It’s a problem when tribalism divides us, online or in real life. Join Veronica Belmont and Franchesca Ramsey as they meet the people working to make...
Virtual Connections
:'-) Ever wonder why emoticons exist? They popped up in the 1980s to make online connections feel a little less digital and a little more personal :D....
Paid Attention
There’s a new currency in town (and no, we’re not talking about Bitcoin). We’re talking about attention. In this episode of IRL, Veronica Belmont and...