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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
41:08

The oil industry is betting big on plastics. Here's what that means for the future

Journalist Beth Gardiner says the fossil fuel industry is increasingly reliant upon plastic products. Her book is Plastic Inc.: The Secret History and Shocking Future of Big Oil's Biggest Be

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
43:33

America's first AI-fueled war is unfolding right now in Iran. This is how we got here

Bloomberg journalist Katrina Manson discusses the Pentagon's secretive campaign to build America's AI warfare capabilities and the obsessive Marine colonel behind it. Her new book is Project Maven.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
53:00

Michael Pollan says AI may 'think' — but it will never be conscious

Michael Pollan. His new book, titled "A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness," is about different ways neurobiologists and engineers are trying to figure out the source of consciousness and whether AI can ever achieve it. Pollan also writes about how Zen Buddhists, writers and philosophers approach the idea of self and consciousness.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

Do the people building the AI chatbot Claude understand what they've created?

Anthropic is one of the world's most powerful AI firms. New Yorker writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus explains how they're trying to make chatbot Claude more ethical, and the implications of AI's widening use.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
42:36

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro says 'I'd rather die' than use generative AI

Del Toro's Frankenstein, which reimagines Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel, has been nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Originally broadcast Oct. 23, 2025.

Interview
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Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
52:30

Inside the Trump administration's effort to reverse climate change policies

President Trump calls global warming "a hoax." As the U.S. faces more severe storms and extreme weather events, the New York Times' David Gelles describes what this means for climate change policy.

Interview
Exclusively on
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
43:25

'Everything I knew burned down around me': A journalist looks back on LA's fires

journalist Jacob Soboroff about his new book, "Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires And America's New Age Of Disaster." It's a firsthand account of the deadly wildfires one year ago this month in Los Angeles. Soboroff's book explores what those fires tell us about climate risk, policy failures and the growing era of extreme disasters in the U.S.

Interview
42:45

'AI Valley' author worries there's 'so much power in the hands of few people'

Gary Rivlin is here to help us understand all these issues and developments. Rivlin has worked for The New York Times among other publications and published 10 previous books. In 2017, he shared a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Panama Papers. His new book is "AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, And The Trillion-Dollar Race To Cash In On Artificial Intelligence."

Interview

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