The Atlantic
@TheAtlantic·924K subscribers·2K videos
AI Was Never About Helping You | Cory Doctorow
Posted
June 19, 2026
Views
98,210
Likes
4,196
Comments
558
Engagement
4.84%
June 19, 2026
98,210
4,196
558
4.84%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
44:14Now PlayingCory Doctorow has a refrain: “The most important thing about a gadget isn’t what it does; it’s who it does it for and what it does it to.” In this episode of “Galaxy Brain,” he sits down with Charlie Warzel to talk about the AI boom, making the case that the hype, vision, and dreams of endless growth are unsustainable. Doctorow expands on his viral “enshittification” thesis: a critique of AI based around power and whether we are using AI tools or being used by them.
This episode of "Galaxy Brain" was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Hadley Robinson is our senior supervising producer. Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.
Subscribe to the “Galaxy Brain” newsletter
Subscribe to the “Galaxy Brain” podcast on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to the “Galaxy Brain” podcast on Spotify
Follow The Atlantic on Instagram
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzerwinning journalism, from cleareyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
