Can Europe save the world from the AI apocalypse?
When it comes to the future of AI, we – like seemingly everyone else – have way more questions than answers. Could European legislation do anything to protect us from job losses and “rogue” models? Can the chatbots created on this continent compete with those being developed by the US and China? What would it mean to win (or lose) the “AI race”? And most importantly: how doomed are we?
We put those questions and more to Aleksandra Przegalińska, a Polish AI researcher and philosopher and a fellow at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. Aleksandra is one of the most engaging and entertaining voices we know on this topic, and we walked away from this conversation feeling… dare we say… hopeful? We hope you’ll feel the same.
For most of a decade, small donations from listeners like you have made it possible for us to continue making this fully independent weekly podcast. You can help us ring in our 10-year anniversary next year – and support another decade of non-boring news – by joining us over on Patreon or by donating via our website.
Did you know we have a weekly newsletter, Good Week Bad Week? It often draws on the super fun themes (tech sovereignty, humanity’s demise, etc etc) you heard about in today’s podcast. Sign up here!
RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE:
Aleksandra on Instagram
“AI Optimism Globally Widespread Despite Uneven Use” – Gallup, 22 September 2026
Aleksandra on Microsoft–Gallup’s AI adoption survey
“Arthur Mensch, CEO of French start-up Mistral AI: 'AI is software. It can be controlled'” – Le Monde, 24 September 2026
“Data Centre Silence” – Lighthouse Reports, 30 September 2026
CO-HOSTS
Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
PRODUCERS
Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak
MIXING AND MASTERING
Wojciech Oleksiak
SENIOR PRODUCER
Katy Lee
MUSIC
Jim Barne, Mariska Martina and Blue Dot Sessions
INTERN
Inês Ruivo
-
COMING SOON
Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month (many currencies are available).
You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.
This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.
Thumbnail photo of Sally taken by Guy Peterson.