Tech Policy

Who’s responsible when technology causes harm? We look at how the world is dealing with problems like fake news and misinformation, AI bias, Big Tech’s power, genetic discrimination, privacy intrusions, mass surveillance, and more.

Tech Policy

WhatsApp is limiting message forwarding to combat coronavirus misinformation

From today, messages identified as “highly forwarded” can be forwarded only to a single person instead of five.

WhatsApp's icon on a screen

Tech Policy

The official jobless numbers are horrifying. The real situation is even worse.

The record unemployment numbers only hint at the crisis facing many with no work.

crowd gathered outside of bank during Great Depression

Tech Policy

What the hell is going on with coronavirus testing in the US?

The country is woefully behind where it should be, and that’s going to make it much harder to track and curtail the coronavirus’s spread.

Covid-19 testing

Tech Policy

Would you volunteer to get the coronavirus? Someone may have a job for you.

It won’t be pleasant, but it could help prove quickly if a Covid-19 vaccine works.

volunteer for a medical trial

Tech Policy

Coronavirus is forcing a trade-off between privacy and public health

The crisis has governments and companies scrambling to decide when it’s appropriate to lift data privacy protections and AI ethics guidelines.

Two people wearing masks walk on the streets of Italy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Latest from Tech Policy

A single mother holding her baby.

Artificial Intelligence

AI can’t predict how a child’s life will turn out even with a ton of data

Hundreds of researchers attempted to predict children’s and families’ outcomes, using 15 years of data. None were able to do so with meaningful accuracy.

by Karen Hao
2020-04-02T12:52:27-04:00

Radio Corona top card

Tech Policy

What comes after the Covid-19 tsunami subsides

Media executive and tech trend watcher Azeem Azhar takes a long-term view of the pandemic and its global ripple effects

2020-03-19T15:07:34-04:00

Radio Corona title card

Tech Policy

What the US can do to bolster its pandemic resilience

Biotech entrepreneur and former CDC advisor James Heywood speaks to us about how he thinks about preparedness in the age of coronavirus.

2020-03-18T13:13:00-04:00

House of Commons

Tech Policy

A bloody battle or a long war? The ethical dilemma of tackling coronavirus

Francois Balloux, a computational epidemiologist who worked on an influential new coronavirus model, on the trade-offs that have to be made.

by Will Douglas Heaven
2020-03-18T07:31:00-04:00

photograph of a single car on an highway

Tech Policy

We’re not going back to normal

Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever.

by Gideon Lichfield
2020-03-17T09:35:00-04:00

rolls of toilet paper in a grid

Tech Policy

Here’s how social media can combat the coronavirus ‘infodemic’

With millions on lockdown, Facebook and Twitter are major sources of Covid-19 news. They’re also where misinformation thrives. How can platforms step up?

by Joan Donovan
2020-03-17T05:00:00-04:00

Tech Policy

Worst-case coronavirus scenario: 214 million Americans infected, 1.7 million dead

The worst-case figures are what would happen if no action is taken to slow the virus, which spreads person to person.

by Antonio Regalado
2020-03-13T10:30:00-04:00

singapore during coronavirus

Tech Policy

Singapore is the model for how to handle the coronavirus

The key features: quick action, extensive testing, and relentless tracking.

by Spencer Wells
2020-03-12T15:11:00-04:00

Tech Policy

Covid-19 is now officially a pandemic

by Antonio Regalado
2020-03-11T13:35:10-04:00

Tech Policy

The end of high-tech war

In an excerpt from his new book, The Dragons and the Snakes, a leading military strategist explains how the West is losing its technological edge over guerrilla insurgencies.

by David Kilcullen
2020-03-11T10:10:56-04:00

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