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Between the midterm elections and the ouster of Jensen Huang from Nvidia, the future of artificial intelligence—including how it will be regulated and who gets to participate—has been flipped upside down.

Guest: Robbie Whelan, tech reporter for the Wall Street Journal

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
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This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what the next two years will look like for Trump, his new chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Congress, the ripple effects of Jensen Huang's resignation from Nvidia on the U.S.-China AI race with guest Matt Sheehan, and how Defense Secretary Hegseth survived an impeachment vote.

Listeners: We want your questions! We're doing an AMA episode this month. Email your burning questions to gabfest@slate.com

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Adam Liptak for The New York Times: Judge Richard A. Posner Has Died. His Influence in Law Was Beyond Compare.; Larissa MacFarquhar for The New Yorker: The Bench Burner

John: Henry Larson for NPR: World's fastest ocean liner is sunk to break another record: largest artificial reef; CNN: A photo tour of the SS United States

David: David Plotz on LinkedIn: David is Leaving City Cast

Listener chatter from Suley Hussain in Denver, Colorado: Blue Ridge Parkway Association: Experience the Blue Ridge Parkway: “America’s Favorite Drive”; National Park Service: Blue Ridge Parkway; Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation: History & Timeline

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss the story of a new charter school in the Bronx that aims to support both students and working parents with expansive operating hours, the potential impacts of this open-weekends model, and what the need for such solutions says about our society.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best. This new book argues that the most successful people don’t just grind harder; they reshape their circumstances to make success feel automatic.
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto

You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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Whether Democratic leadership wants it or not, “corruption” was a top priority for voters. And judging from how the Trump administration has been acting, it seems like they—like the voters—expect Democrats to try to do something about it.

Guest: Liz Oyer, former US Pardon Attorney, and host of the podcast Is This Really Legal?

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang is one of the most important people in the A.I. boom and, therefore, of the economy as a whole. So when he has an extramarital affair with someone U.S. intelligence suspects of being a Chinese operative, it’s not exactly a “My family and I appreciate privacy at this time,” sort of situation.

Guest: Elizabeth Lopatto, senior writer at The Verge.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The “blue tsunami” of the midterms swept Democrats into power in places they haven’t won in decades and decades. What will it take for the Dems to hold what they’ve won?

Guests:
Clare Malone and Galen Druke, co-hosts of the podcast “Still Counting.”
Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics writer and author of The Surge newsletter.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.