AI music generators - platforms that use artificial intelligence to create new, original music from scratch - can make songs that are almost indistinguishable from human creations. For some musicians, they’re the next frontier in music-making technology. But for others, they represent a grave threat, flooding the world with low-grade AI music, stealing the jobs of working musicians, and even spelling the end of the creative process as we know it. Is this just technophobia, or is music facing AI annihilation?

In a new two-part series, the FT’s pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney explores the emerging world of AI music, and the impact it could have on the industry.

Tech Tonic is presented by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. The producers are Lulu Smyth and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Edwin Lane is the senior producer, Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Thiel is unlike any other Trump tech bro. As well as a wildly successful investor, he’s seen as a thinker - the philosopher king of Silicon Valley. Thiel’s acolytes in the tech world and Washington include vice-president JD Vance but his relationship with the Trump camp is complicated. And there are still questions about what, if anything, he wants with the president.

In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, Murad Ahmed speaks to FT columnist Gillian Tett about Thiel’s political philosophy, and to Tabby Kinder, the FT’s West Coast financial editor, about his influence in Silicon Valley.

Free to read:

How Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley funded the sudden rise of JD Vance

A time for truth and reconciliation (written by Peter Thiel)

How a little-known French literary critic became a bellwether for the US right

Palantir’s ‘revolving door’ with government spurs huge growth

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Sam Giovinco. Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music, Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has undergone a transformation, both physical and political. The skinny teenager who founded Facebook in his dorm room is now a muscular jiu-jitsu enthusiast who’s called US President Donald Trump a “badass” and wants to see more “masculine energy” in the workplace.

Is this all an act? Is Zuckerberg doing whatever it takes to ingratiate himself with the Trump administration and ensure that Meta emerges a winner in the AI race? Or has “Maga Mark” been the real Mark Zuckerberg all along?

Murad Ahmed speaks to Hannah Murphy, the FT’s technology correspondent in San Francisco, and to Katie Harbath, a former Facebook executive under Zuckerberg and now CEO of Anchor Change.

Free to read:

How Mark Zuckerberg unleashed his inner brawler

How Joel Kaplan became Mark Zuckerberg’s most trusted political fixer

OpenAI says Meta is trying to poach staff with $100mn sign-on offers

Tech titans stand with Donald Trump to kill off activism in Silicon Valley

This season of Tech Tonic is presented by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Odinn Ingibergsson, Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music, Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.