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Imagine an AI model built on everything you know, how you communicate, how you reason, how you write, trained to act and respond like you so thoroughly that it can attend meetings, answer questions, and handle tasks on your behalf while you do something else entirely. This reality isn't as far away as you might think. Mark Zuckerberg is already making one. Plus, Apple has a new CEO. What does the handover mean for the future of Apple? And, Meta has installed tracking software to harvest their employee's computer activity to train AI. What protections do workers have against it? GUESTS: Georgia Dixon -- Managing Editor at Whistleout Singapore. Chris Berg -- Professor of Economics at RMIT. ------------ This episode was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal people. ------------ Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Anthropic claims its latest AI model, Claude Mythos, is “too dangerous” to release given its exceptional cyber hacking capabilities. Is it all a PR stunt, or is this a genuine threat?  Plus, the FBI extracted messages from the secure messaging app Signal after exploiting a loophole involving iPhone notification databases. So how secure is Signal? And how might the loophole be closed?  Meanwhile, several major global news sites are blocking the Wayback Machine, an initiative of the Internet Archive. What threat does it pose to these sites? And what will it cost us to lose this information preservation?  GUESTS:  Justin Hendry -- technology and business reporter and editor of Innovation Aus.  Fergus Halliday -- technology & gaming journalist at reviews.org Australia ------------ This episode was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal people. ------------ Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this special episode, what's happening in Australia's space industry? Between Australia's first lunar rover, and putting plants on the moon (this year!), we'll take a peek behind the curtain. Space technology is having a moment right now. NASA’s Artemis mission is the first time humans have launched themselves into space since 1972. The 2026 Australian of the Year, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, is an astronaut. So, what does our local space industry look like right now? And where is it headed? GUESTS: Professor Andy Koronios -- Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Australasian Space Innovation Institute. Dr Lauren Fell -- outreach and marketing specialist at Lunar Outpost Oceania, co-lead of the ELO2 industry consortium building Roo-ver. She's also a director at Lunaria One, who is putting plants on the moon. ------------ This episode was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal people. ------------ Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

The world's biggest tech companies are scoping Australia out as a data centre hub. As they see it, we have an abundance of space, electricity and water. But do we actually have enough? About 270 data centres have already been built in Australia, and there are a whole lot more on the way. The amount of electricity and water these massive buildings are projected to consume is staggering. We'll walk through the numbers this episode, and who is likely to end up footing the bill. The MIT Technology Review article Bronwyn referenced during the episode is here. GUESTS: Petra Stock, climate and environment reporter for The Guardian Australia. Bronwyn Cumbo, lecturer at University of Technology Sydney and transdisiciplinary social researcher. Her Conversation article is here. ------------ This episode was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal people. ------------ Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Find all the episodes of Download This Show on the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

John Livingstone is the Head of Digital Policy at UNICEF Australia. He's been talking directly to students about how the Australian social media ban is affecting young people, and whether it's making their lives better. This is Rae's full conversation with John. You can hear a broader analysis of the social media ban in our recent episode. ---------- This is the first edition of our 'on the down-low' series -- longer standalone interviews with interesting people in the tech world. ----------