Episode notes
On this week’s Galaxy Brain episode, Charlie Warzel is joined by New York Times technology reporter Tiffany Hsu to discuss the rise of AI influencers—synthetic avatars, often indistinguishable from real people, that are flooding social-media feeds to sell supplements and promote brands. Hsu unpacks her reporting on the combination of forces converging around it, including the wellness industry, a historically fertile ground for scammers. The pair discuss how the volume of synthetic content online is producing a new kind of epistemic exhaustion: a fatigue so deep that many people have simply…
Galaxy Brain
by The Atlantic · English · Tech & Science
The internet has warped public life: Politicians behave like influencers, the economy resembles a casino, and people can no longer agree upon a consensus reality. New conspiracy theories, memes, and main characters seem to pop up every day. A constant war is on for your attention, and it’s easy…
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E26 · 1 May 2026 · 51 min
Did a Human Write This?
What happens when the majority of content on the internet tips over into AI slop? On this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel talks to Max Spero, the co-founder of Pangram, an AI-detection company. They discuss how AI-detection tools work and how effective they can be at identifying what’s made by humans and what comes from a chatbot. They explore the cultural concerns around authenticity in the large language model era, and whether detection can keep up as models improve. The pair discuss how the speed of AI development and synthetic content threatens to degrade the quality of human…
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E25 · 24 Apr 2026 · 43 min
How Short-Form Clips Took Over the Internet
In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel talks with business writer Ed Elson about the rise of the “clip economy”—the idea that short video clips pulled from podcasts, livestreams, and other long-form content have become the dominant unit of online media, not just a promotional tool. Elson explains how figures like Andrew Tate pioneered armies of paid clippers to flood social platforms with content and how the viewership numbers on clips often perform better than the original shows. Warzel and Elson discuss what this means for legacy media organizations, as well as the broader…
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E24 · 17 Apr 2026 · 58 min
Breaking Free From Alex Jones
In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel speaks with Josh Owens, a videographer and the author of a memoir about his years working for Infowars, the media company of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Owens traces his journey from a film-school student who stumbled onto Jones’s radio show to an insider who spent four years filming, editing, and traveling for the organization. Owens describes how Jones’s conspiracy machine works, as well as how his own moral compass was scrambled by Jones’s manipulative management. The conversation explores radicalization, the conspiratorial media…
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E22 · 3 Apr 2026 · 51 min
Is AI Going to Turn Us All Into Middle Managers?
How is AI changing the way we work? This week on Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel is joined by Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale, two experts in management and leadership training. They discuss how chatbots and AI agents are winding their way through the workforce, offering a firsthand view of how companies are (and aren’t) adopting AI tools. The conversation covers the gap between AI hype and what’s actually happening in offices. It also touches on how overreliance on AI tools may be making bosses worse at their jobs, and how work may be one of the last bastions of sustained social connection…
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E21 · 27 Mar 2026 · 56 min
What Is Twitter’s Legacy, 20 Years Later?
What is Twitter’s legacy? In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel traces how Twitter, now called X, evolved from a status-update tool to one of the most culturally and politically influential—and contentious—platforms of the modern internet. Charlie is joined by early Twitter executive Jason Goldman. They explore how Twitter’s core features—many invented by users—reshaped media and politics while also enabling new forms of harassment, misinformation, and attention hijacking. Goldman reflects candidly on the company’s key inflection points—from early free-speech-maximalist decisions…
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E20 · 20 Mar 2026 · 38 min
How AI Is Reshaping the Battlefield
Just how are powerful AI models being used in warfare overseas? In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel sits down with Wired senior writer Will Knight to discuss the rise of autonomous weapons. From the origins of Project Maven to the recent falling-out between Anthropic and the U.S. Department of Defense, they trace what’s happening as artificial intelligence moves from summarizing documents to informing decisions on the battlefield. How do these weapons work? What are the safeguards? Who decides what values get baked into these models? As autonomous systems become harder to avoid,…
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9 Oct 2026 · 51 minNew
Is Crypto Dead? Or More Influential Than Ever?
The hype over cryptocurrency may have faded since the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, but beneath the surface, a lot of real money is involved, including the millions being funneled into the American political system. The actor turned documentarian Ben McKenzie joins “Galaxy Brain” host Charlie Warzel to talk about the current state of cryptocurrency, why he became interested in investigating it, and how the crypto craze influenced some people’s enthusiasm, or lack thereof, about AI. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to…
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2 Oct 2026 · 1 hr
An Argument Against AI Doom
The flood of reports about AI agents escaping and hacking websites can feel scary. But is this actually just a matter of needing better security to match the evolving technology? Zack Korman, the CEO of Embroidery, thinks so. He works in cybersecurity and argues that “rogue” AI agents are less frightening and complicated than they may seem. “Galaxy Brain” host Charlie Warzel talks to Korman about how companies and institutions should up their cyber defenses, why the so-called AI doomers are frustrating him. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy…
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25 Sep 2026 · 55 min
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Meta has been selling millions of its camera-equipped glasses, making all of us fodder for content creation—when we’re on the street, at the store, and in our workplaces. Host Charlie Warzel talks with Verge reporter Mia Sato about how regular people are being impacted as these glasses increase in use, the backlash to Flock cameras, and what happens in a world where we’re always being recorded. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating…
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18 Sep 2026 · 35 min
Lina Khan on the AI-Safety Panic
As “rogue” AI agents hack systems and leaders warn of catastrophe, who should be held responsible? The former FTC Commissioner Lina Khan argues that the United States already has a lot of the regulatory tools needed. In this live episode from The Atlantic Festival, the “Galaxy Brain” host Charlie Warzel talks with Khan about why the AI-alarmism conversation feels a little off, how money affects politics and regulation, and some of the ways she would be dealing with AI if she were still the head of the FTC. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy…
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