Tech 24 explores how digital technology is changing everyday life, from artificial intelligence to data protection. It asks what society stands to gain and lose as the digital age advances, and who is making the key decisions behind these changes. Each episode examines the forces shaping the online world and why they matter to users. The show airs Sundays at 3:09pm Paris time.
Épisodes
US voters reject AI data centres: Could the backlash spread to France?
In Tuesday's US midterm elections, voters weighed in on more than 40 local measures on data centres, and sided against them in all but one. With Democrats taking control of Congress in January and new governors in Texas and Georgia calling for moratoriums, the AI building boom faces its toughest political test yet.
Data centres on the ballot: Could AI infrastructure shape the US midterms?
US voters from Ohio to Illinois will decide on dozens of local measures on Tuesday, as opposition to the giant buildings powering artificial intelligence cuts across party lines. FRANCE 24's Charlotte Lam tell us more in Tech 24.
Who capped Starlink in Ukraine? Musk, Trump and Rubio give three different answers
Ukraine says speed limits on Starlink are still hampering military efforts to fight off Russian drones, days after a surprise network slowdown that Kyiv called deliberate and Washington denied ordering. We take a closer look in Tech 24.
Why I quit the movement shaping AI
Artificial intelligence insiders are quitting their jobs, saying the technology could mean the end of humanity. Pope Leo, on his recent visit to France, warned of a "paradise of machines". And The New York Times reported this week that one of AI firm Anthropic's co-founders spent months lobbying religious thinkers on the possibility that AI could be conscious.
Behind the scenes of Céline Dion's high-tech comeback
You'll no doubt have seen the coverage of singer Céline Dion's return from illness and her Paris residency. But here's a different angle: the audio technology keeping her stage quiet, and the artificial intelligence isolating her voice from the noise of a 30,000-seat stadium.
AI-pocalypse? Tech leaders, politicians clash over development slowdown
Insider warnings, hacking scares during tests and a US-China race have split the industry and Washington.
Driverless taxi services are rolling out fast across the world
From Austin to London, the current robotaxi boom is raising hard questions about safety and jobs. We take a closer look in this edition of Tech 24.
Why Anthropic won't mind Alibaba's Claude ban
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has ordered staff to stop using Anthropic's Claude Code after the US coding tool was found to be flagging users’ connecting from China. But Anthropic is already trying to stop Chinese firms from using Claude at all and accuses Alibaba of running large "distillation" campaigns against it, saying that the Chinese giant created around 25,000 fake accounts to train its own m
What France gets wrong about air conditioning
Is this the heatwave that finally changes French minds on air conditioning? Not for Environment Minister Monique Barbut. She said she was "horrified" by the idea of it becoming widespread. The rest of the world looked on perplexed as France suffered a brutal week, particularly for schools, hospitals and care homes. Long suspicious of it, French people are slowly adopting A/C, but it remains politi
Love, loneliness and robots: AI prompts new questions around human connection
VivaTech turned 10 this year and Europe's biggest tech showcase has never been louder, shinier or more crowded. But walking the show floors, FRANCE 24 tech reporters Charlotte Lam and Peter O'Brien were drawn to one topic in particular: not about productivity or performance, but about companionship and how the booming AI market is filling that void. Is it a cure or a curse?
Tech 24 takes to the skies as VivaTech takes over the Champs-Élysées
France's biggest geek get-together started with a bang this year. For its 10th anniversary, the VivaTech trade show took to the Champs-Élysées, billing the installation as "Europe's largest open-air technology experience".
Washington, Brussels stake their claims on AI as trillion-dollar IPO wave begins
With SpaceX set to become the first AI-era giant to go public on Friday June 12, governments on both sides of the Atlantic are racing to define their relationship with the industry. Washington is in talks with OpenAI about a government equity stake, while Brussels has unveiled a new tech sovereignty package. In this week's Tech 24, we lay out the two very different visions of how to shape artifici
A 'second brain' on your face: Testing the AI glasses built by Meta's hackers
They first made headlines by bolting facial recognition onto Meta's Ray-Bans to show how easily the technology could identify strangers in the street. Now AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio have a product of their own: Mira, a $650 pair of AI glasses, with no camera this time, that quietly transcribes and summarises everything so you can turn your life into a searchable database.
Are Google and SpaceX plotting space-based data centres?
Tech giants are increasingly looking beyond Earth to solve one of AI's biggest growing pains: where to put all the computers.
Iran 'slopaganda': We tried recreating viral Lego-style AI videos
After Donald Trump announced a pause to the US operation in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's online propaganda machine was quick to declare victory. Explosive Media, one of the groups behind Lego-style videos mocking Trump, proclaimed it "TACO Tuesday", ie that the US president had "chickened out". Meanwhile, Minecraft, the Minions and Simpsons-style characters are joining the legions of copycats. FRA
Musk vs. Altman: Battle of the tech bros underway in California courthouse
It's being called the most consequential courtroom drama Silicon Valley has ever produced. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is squaring off against Sam Altman, the man who put artificial intelligence in everyone's pocket, in a federal courthouse in Oakland, California.
AI is already getting boring
It could end white-collar work. It could end poverty. It could end humanity. From AI's boosters and doomsters alike, bumptious predictions abound. But in workplaces, the technology, like so many before it, is becoming mundane. Are things really different this time? We take a closer look in this special edition of Tech 24.
Should kids be banned from social media? The world is deciding
From the announcement of a new EU age-verification app to a video summit of European leaders and legal threats in Australia, governments moved quickly this week on a debate years in the making. FRANCE 24's Charlotte Lam has more in Tech 24.
Why Anthropic's new AI model is too powerful to release
One of the world's leading AI companies has built a model so powerful that it refuses to fully release it publicly just yet, prompting urgent talks with everyone from Wall Street CEOs to financial regulators in the UK.
The law is coming for social media, with the science still uncertain
The law is finally catching up with social media. This week, a California jury found Meta and Google liable for addicting a child to their platforms. On Tuesday, the French Senate will vote to ban under-15s from social media, with other countries making similar plans. Is humanity saved? Or are things more complicated than that?
Is this the beginning of the end for the Metaverse?
Five years and more than $80 billion later, Mark Zuckerberg's virtual reality dream seems to be being dismantled, and replaced with equally ambitious AI projects. We take a closer look in this edition of Tech 24.
#QuitGPT: Can an AI boycott really change big tech?
It started quietly, with a handful of posts on tech forums and Reddit explaining why and how you should uninstall and unsubscribe from ChatGPT. Now the campaign #QuitGPT has more than 4 million participants worldwide, and the numbers are still climbing. FRANCE 24 tech journalist Charlotte Lam tells us more.
Trump announces AI chatbot ban while Pentagon uses it to prepare Iran attacks
In the hours leading up to the US attack on Iran, Donald Trump announced that technology company Anthropic would be banned from all work with the federal government. At the same time, Anthropic's artificial intelligence chatbot Claude was reportedly being used by the Pentagon to prepare the attack. FRANCE 24 tech journalist Charlotte Lam gives us her analysis.
Trump's Claude ban: The first salvo in a long battle over who controls AI
A struggle to control artificial intelligence is playing out just as the United States increasingly deploys the technology in conflicts from Venezuela to Iran.
