Tech billionaires increasingly have access to the levers of power inside government, while they tighten their control over the channels we rely on to push back against that power and hold it to account.

This week, Elliot and Matt explore how Silicon Valley’s self-styled disruptors became part of the governing class - from Peter Thiel’s network inside the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE, to the unnamed algorithms who are the new editors-in-chief of our politics and culture.

What happens when the people inside government also control the public square? And if politicians can be voted out but platform owners cannot, who will push back against Big Tech's big build of their very own private state?

Chapters ➡

00:00 Introduction to the influence of big tech on society
02:29 Historical parallels: religion and power in governance
04:09 Private Wealth and Political Power
06:08 Peter Thiel's Political Network
09:39 DOGE and the Conflict of Interest
11:43 Silicon Valley's Broken Promise
17:52 Algorithms Replace Editors
21:55 How Algorithms Shape the Information Diet
23:28 Profit, Monopoly and Democratic Power
26:43 Why Platform Power Can't Be Voted Out
28:05 Media Literacy and Alternatives

Watch and subscribe to the channel now, as well as our Substack, and on your favourite podcasting channels at: https://worthknowingpod.com

Australia has spent decades digging things up, selling them overseas and buying the finished product back.

Are we about to do the same with AI? Supplying the minerals, land, energy, water and hosting servers while foreign companies own the intelligence?

Without a vision, and unless we start building, Australia risks becoming a subservient vassal state in the new AI economy.

In this episode, Elliot and Matt ask who really owns Australia’s AI future.

And one recent 76-hour glimpse of what happens when access is switched off shows just how much might be at stake.

Chapters ➡

00:00 Introduction to Australia's AI and Innovation Identity
02:02 The 'Lazy Nation' Economy: Land, Property, and Mining
03:55 Data Centers and the Future of Australia's Economy
06:01 Sovereign Risk and Dependency on Foreign AI Models
07:30 Ownership of AI Data and Infrastructure Challenges
09:40 Historical Patterns of Tech Industry Domination
11:13 Policy and Strategy Gaps in Australia's AI Future
13:14 The Role of Government and Sovereign Capability
15:07 Building Local Capability and Sovereign Ownership
16:51 Taxation, Revenue, and Economic Impact
18:56 The AI Bubble and Investment Opportunities
20:41 Hosting AI on Local Servers vs Cloud Solutions
21:12 Security, Privacy, and Open Source AI Models
21:56 The Potential for an AI Economic Reckoning
22:47 Historical Tech Bubbles and Future Opportunities
23:48 The Need for Strategic Investment and Capability Building
24:53 Australia's Industrial Age Mindset and Future Vision
25:36 Building a Community and National AI Strategy
26:33 The Urgency of Innovation and Sovereign Capability
27:39 Conclusion and Call to Action for Australia's AI Future

Watch and subscribe to the channel now, as well as our Substack, and on your favourite podcasting channels at: https://worthknowingpod.com

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is often served up as the neat solution to AI job disruption. Lose work, receive a payment, and everything will be OK.

In this episode, Elliot and Matt come at that promise from different positions. Elliot makes the optimistic case for the freedom UBI could unlock. Whereas Matt is more sceptical... especially of those who treat it as a silver bullet.

They explore the targeting problem and what a flat payment means for workers facing vastly different income losses. Then there is the big question: who pays, and how do we ensure the companies capturing the productivity gains contribute?

Chapters ➡

00:17 Introduction to Universal Basic Income
03:04 Historical Context and Examples of UBI
05:43 Concerns and Critiques of UBI
08:12 The Role of Technology and AI in UBI
10:49 Funding UBI and Economic Implications
13:40 The Future of Work and UBI
14:29 Conclusion and Final Thoughts on UBI

Watch and subscribe to the channel now as well as our substack and on your favourite podcasting channels at: https://worthknowingpod.com

What happens if AI transforms work faster than Australia can adapt?

In the first episode of Worth Knowing, Matt and Elliot explore what AI job disruption could mean for Australian workers, and why the unemployment rate may not tell us the full story.

The Caldera Institute’s AI Work Cliff modelling stress-tests a scenario in which 20 per cent of Australia’s AI-exposed workforce experiences job loss, reduced hours or income downgrading. The result: 1.08 million workers affected and $48.9 billion in household income at risk each year.

Most may remain “technically employed”, even as their incomes fall. Australia could enter a hollow boom: productivity, investment and GDP keep rising while the wage base supporting households quietly erodes underneath them.

AI will create opportunities as well as disruption, but the warning signals are lighting up the board. What should workers do now? And how do we make the transition planned and intentional?

Chapters ➡

00:00 Highlight Teaser
00:30 Introduction
00:45 The Impact of AI on Jobs
11:21 Understanding AI Job Disruption
17:22 Industry's Role in AI Transition
19:57 Navigating the Future of Work
23:14 The Upside of Disruption
24:37 Wrap Up

Watch and subscribe to the channel now as well as our substack and on your favourite podcasting channels at worthknowingpod.com

Coming soon: Worth Knowing is a weekly podcast about the forces shaping politics, power and technology, and how they affect you.

Created by co-hosts Matt Kendall and Elliot Costello, Worth Knowing is an antidote to the polarised media landscape of grifters, bots, sock-puppets, rage baiters and a never-ending firehose of rapid-fire disinformation, hot takes and angertainment.

Each episode slows down and calms your info metabolism by taking one complex issue, looking at it from different angles and asking what is really happening, who is shaping the story, how it could affect your life and where it may be heading.

We take the big abstract issues that are having an impact and make them real and meaningful for you.

Watch and subscribe to the channel now, as well as our Substack, and on your favourite podcasting channels at worthknowingpod.com