Hillary Clinton Discusses Facebook, Artificial Intelligence And More

“Every time Mark Zuckerberg talks to me, it ends in disaster and tears for Mark Zuckerberg,” Swisher says. “I’m not hiding anybody’s data,” Clinton jokes, “so I’m in good shape.” That's how the recent episode of Recode Decode starts, as superstar technology journalist and co-founder of Recode Kara Swisher sits down with Hillary Clinton. 

As they continue talking, the former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate doesn't hold back on her criticism of social media giants, saying they "have to be held accountable" with regulation, "so that they would have to recognise that what's happening now is far beyond anything Mark Zuckerberg thought about in his dorm in Harvard." Unsurprisingly, Clinton is wary of Facebook's slow response to foreign election meddling, and she also refers to the company's failure to end hate speech in Myanmar.

Clinton also expresses her concern about artificial intelligence. "The AI that I am fearful of is not just the robots that might decide to turn around and kill you one day (...) I care about the coercive control that governments will have over our lives, and everybody should care about that," she says. As an example, she mentions China's growing surveillance state, powered by facial recognition and artificial intelligence.

Overall, the podcast goes way beyond tech. The conversation also covers the recent series of pipe bombs sent to Trump's critics, the 2018 midterms, 2020 presidential election, U.S.-Saudi relations, the #MeToo movement, Pizzagate, Christine Blasey-Ford and more, thus demonstrating Swisher's excellent versatility as a journalist and Clinton's seasoned political skills. Not everything's tip-top though: Clinton does try to dodge some of the harder questions, such as those concerning Monika Lewinsky, and, at least in my opinion, Swisher doesn't really press her. Still, whether you like Clinton (and Swisher) or not, hearing those two strong, "nasty women" talk is definitely worth your time.