Book Group · Listening List
AI Listening List for the Book Group
About 10 hours of podcasts on how AI came about, how it works, and what the data centre boom and the 2026 election mean. Runtimes vary, so check each episode's length and trim or add to hit about 10 hours.
Part 1
How We Got Here: the history
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Where What If Becomes What's Next · Carnegie Mellon · S1 Ep 14 Mind to Machine Part 1: A Brief History of AI From ancient myths to modern AI. Part 2 is a good follow-up.Listen
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This American Life · Ep 803 "Greetings, People of Earth," Act One: "First Contact" What it felt like when these chatbots first arrived. Act One is about 30 minutes of the hour-long episode. June 2023Listen
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Hard Fork · New York Times The Bing Who Loved Me The famous early chatbot moment that got everyone talking. February 17, 2023Listen
Part 2
The Bigger Story
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How We Got Here with Nathaniel Whittemore · Ep 1 How Tech Lost America How tech went from America's most trusted industry to a source of worry, and how that set up the data centre fight. October 26, 2026Listen
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How We Got Here · Ep 2 · Optional How We Made the Wrong Things Cheap Broader economic background.Listen
Part 3 · Current events
Data Centres and the 2026 Election
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Intelligent Machines · TWiT · #895 Unsustainably High Jeff Jarvis and Paris Martineau on the anti-data-centre backlash in the elections. November 4, 2026Listen
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NPR · Machine Gods The Purple Tsunami Against Data Centers AI in the midterm ads, spending, and ballot fights. November 6, 2026Listen
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The Vergecast Big Tech lost big in the 2026 election The results and what they mean for tech companies. November 6, 2026Listen
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TechCrunch How backlash and red tape continue to slow data centers post-Blue Wave Local opposition, permits, and the scramble for electricity. November 11, 2026Listen
Part 4
Optional Extras
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Intelligent Machines · TWiT · #896 Culling the Herd Leo Laporte and co. on running AI at home. November 11, 2026Listen
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Marketplace Tech Data centers lost in the midterms A short, plain-English recap of the data centre votes on the ballot and how Big Tech's election spending fell flat. November 6, 2026Listen
Prefer reading?
If the Group Wants a Book Instead
- Empire of AI by Karen Hao: OpenAI and the data centre side of the story.
- The Thinking Machine by Stephen Witt: the Nvidia story and the chips behind AI.
For the meeting
Discussion Questions
- What surprised you most about how AI came to be?
- Who should pay the costs of data centres: power, water, land?
- Did the election change how you think about AI?
- How do you use AI in your own life, if at all?