The Interface – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In 2016, diplomats reported a strange burst of sound — followed by months of debilitating symptoms. “Havana Syndrome” sparked questions and conspiracy theories across the web about a possible unseen weapon. Now, new reports from Norway describe a scientist experiencing similar effects after testing a microwave device. Host Nicky Woolf asks: if such technology exists, who owns it and what are they doing with it next?

Also on The Interface this week: At the landmark trial in LA, social media companies like WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube are defending their platforms against the accusation that they are addictive to young people; we ask what the fallout from the trial will be and what legal clause, Section 230, that dates from 1934 really means in the social media age. Plus, host Karen Hao has spent the week rubbing shoulders with the great and the good from the AI companies at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, but what really goes on the shadowy meeting rooms around the fringe?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks week-by-week the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team - email us at theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production.

Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Do you trust the answers that AI chat bots like Chat GPT, Claude and Grok tell you? This week, The Interface put entirely fictitious information on the internet, to see if the AI chat bots would show any kind of caution in reporting it as the truth. They did not. Our example was about a made-up hot dog eating championship, but what if other operators out there are steering the AI towards more sinister, but equally untrue, information about health, politics or unregulated products? We ask what checks are, and should be, in place.

Also on The Interface this week: Are data centres eating your hometown? Governments around the world are prioritising planning applications from big tech firms to build the data centres required to power the AI rollout but what is that doing to the local areas where they are being built? And Elon Musk has applied to launched up to a million satellites into space to expand his Starlink internet empire, we ask should one man have the power to switch the internet on and off around the world.

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Tom Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks week-by-week the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team - email us at theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production.

Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Ring’s new AI “lost dog” feature promises to reunite missing pets with their owners using doorbell camera footage. But could this same technology be used to build a far more sinister surveillance network? Our hosts take a closer look at Search Party, announced in an ad during this year’s Super Bowl, and explore why this seemingly feel-good function is sparking privacy concerns.

Also on The Interface this week: Why does the TikTok takeover in the US affect you, even if you've never touched the app? And how did one ad campaign at the Super Bowl reveal the fierce rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Tom Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks week-by-week the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

The Interface is a BBC Studios production.

Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Want to know how your world is changing, and what it will be like to live in a future being built for you right now? Don’t be distracted by politics - it’s tech driving that change.

Karen Hao, Nicky Woolf and Tom Germain - three of the sharpest voices in tech - dive into the stories behind the headlines: AI breakthroughs, big-tech power, digital culture, cybersecurity, misinformation - and discover what's happening in the most bizarre corners of the internet.

Every week, the trio unpack the tech stories that matter: whether they shake governments, reshape industries, or quietly alter how we live, work and connect.

Informed, curious and clear-eyed, The Interface is your guide to understanding one of the defining stories of our time.

Launching Thursday 12 February on BBC Sounds in the UK - and wherever you get your podcasts.

The Interface is a BBC Studios Production. Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

As Washington moved toward a joint US and Israeli response to Iran, a parallel fight over military access to frontier AI broke into the open. Anthropic, maker of Claude, refused a Pentagon demand for “unrestricted” use of its models, citing red lines on domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth then labelled the firm a “supply chain risk,” a designation intended to bar defence contractors from using Anthropic’s tools. Within hours, OpenAI announced a deployment deal with the Pentagon, then hurried to revise and clarify its safeguards after a backlash.

The consumer response was immediate. Users posted cancellations under “Cancel ChatGPT,” third‑party trackers reported a sharp spike in uninstalls, and Anthropic’s Claude climbed the app charts.

We ask why the military wants large‑scale AI, what it is already using it for, and what this showdown reveals about democratic oversight, privacy and accountability when state demand meets platform power.

Also this week: are prediction sites, where anyone can bet on future events, being abused by users with inside knowledge — and are these platforms now shaping events rather than merely forecasting them?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks week-by-week the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team - email us at theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production.

Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

When we play a game or fill in a form, are we training robots without knowing it - and would we consent if asked?

Remember Pokémon Go? The company behind it is repurposing the 30 billion images players captured to help robots navigate the real world. It’s the tip of a bigger trend: turning play into data collection. From CAPTCHAs to viral stunts like the Mannequin Challenge, our seemingly harmless online challenges are being quietly funnelled into AI training sets. It’s clever, but it raises awkward questions about consent, transparency, and who profits when our leisure becomes free labour for automation.

Also this week: the meme‑ification of war: games companies, anime producers and pop culture stars bristle at alleged use of their IP in pro‑war White House memes, we look at how politicians are using memes to lessen the severity of the war in Iran - and their role in a new kind of political campaigning. And the personality of AI: Alexa’s new “adult” mode isn’t sexy; it’s sassy. How tech firms craft voice, gender and tone for assistants - what feels inclusive, what feels exploitative, and what feels just downright weird?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks, week by week, the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter — whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team: theinterface@bbc.com The Interface is a BBC Studios production. Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

What happens when the tools built to protect children risk exposing everyone else, and who should decide which parts of the internet are “safe” enough to access without showing ID?

As lawmakers in the US push forward with the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a much bigger battle over the future shape of the internet is coming into view. At the heart of the debate is age verification, a measure designed to protect children from pornography and harmful content, but one that could force all of us to prove who we are every time we go online. Digital‑rights advocates warn that tying government‑issued ID to everyday browsing could usher in unprecedented levels of state and corporate surveillance, fundamentally altering how the internet works and how we behave on it. 

Also this week: as Meta said subcontracted workers might sometimes review content, including films and images, captured by its AI smart glasses for the purpose of improving the "experience", we ask, who can see what you can see, and do you want them seeing it? And we untangle the mystery of the unlikely resurgence of wired headphones - from security concerns to cultural nostalgia. And, crucially, we ask which sound best, wired or bluetooth?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks week-by-week the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team - email us at theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production.

Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

"Am I really real?"

Tom runs a simple test, involving his dear Aunt Eleanor, with far‑reaching consequences: can a real human prove they’re not a machine? The experiment was sparked by two viral moments; Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to show he was alive after a suspected fake image, and a too‑perfect “MAGA dream girl” who convinced millions she was real. We explore the “liar’s dividend”, where the flood of AI‑made images and videos lets anyone dismiss inconvenient truths as fakes. And if “seeing is believing” no longer holds, what should replace it?

Also this week:

Tech and the brain; what is a brain implant (a brain‑computer interface), and what can it actually do today? China has cleared a device called NEO for wider use beyond clinical trials, a huge milestone. We set that against Elon Musk’s Neuralink, decades of research, and new advances decoding speech and complex thoughts for people with paralysis or neurodegenerative illness. It’s life‑changing medicine - but what if funding dries up and implants no longer work? Would you want a chip in your head that someone else controls? We explore the benefits and risks — and why mass‑market “mind tech” is still a long way off.

AI’s supply chain under fire; how the war in Iran exposes the fragility of artificial intelligence. The Strait of Hormuz matters for more than oil: training models and running data centres are energy‑hungry and rely on liquefied natural gas and global supply line. A ceasefire won’t rebuild damaged infrastructure quickly, and many AI companies are already laden with debt. With trillions bet on AI, could AI failures sink the wider economy quicker than an oil crisis?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks, week by week, the unfolding story of how technology is shaping all of our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the tech stories that matter — whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes drop every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team: theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production. Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Tim Cook resigns: what does a new Apple boss mean for your smartphone?

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down later this year, with John Ternus — a long‑time hardware leader — named as his successor. We look past the boardroom drama and asks what this means for the thing most of us hold all day: your phone. Apple’s design choices set the tone for the entire industry; when Apple shifts, everyone else tends to follow. And if the next era is led by a hardware engineer, does that point to a different kind of iPhone future — in how it looks, behaves, and what Apple chooses to prioritise (or drop)?

Also this week:

Geese — psyop or marketing?

A band called Geese seemed to come out of nowhere - and now they’re playing Coachella. But alongside their rise, a bigger question has caught fire: how much of what we think is “organic” online is actually engineered? A WIRED report digs into “trend simulation”: networks of accounts, seeded clips and manufactured discourse designed to push an artist up the algorithmic ladder. None of this is entirely new - the music industry has always shaped what we hear - but the machinery is now quieter, faster, and harder to spot. And that changes the emotional core of fandom: when something breaks through, we don’t just ask “is this good?” — we ask “did I choose this… or was it chosen for me?”

Maine becomes the first state to ban data centres

Maine lawmakers have approved what’s being described as the first statewide pause on large data centres - driven by fears over electricity demand, rising bills, water use and environmental strain. This isn’t just a Maine story. Across the US, analysts are already warning that a huge chunk of planned data‑centre capacity for 2026 is being delayed or cancelled - not only because of local pushback, but because power, transformers and other basic electrical kit are becoming the bottleneck.

At the same time, cracks are showing in the AI boom’s confidence game: OpenAI has shut down its standalone Sora video app, citing a wind‑down timeline, after reports that the economics and compute costs didn’t add up. And in one of the most surreal signs of the hype cycle, Allbirds has announced it’s selling off its shoe business and rebranding as an “AI compute infrastructure” company.

So Karen asks the question beneath the headlines: are we looking at normal growing pains — or early signs that the AI bubble is hitting real limits: energy, hardware, planning, and public consent?

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks, week by week, how technology is shaping all our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the stories that matter — whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team: theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production. Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Claude Mythos: is this a real risk or the AI industry’s latest fear campaign?

Anthropic’s unreleased model, Claude Mythos, is being talked about in the headlines as the next genuinely dangerous leap in AI - powerful enough, the company says, that it can’t be safely released to the public. But we at The Interface think we should take this self created panic with big serving of caution. The AI industry has learned that “too dangerous” can be a safety claim but also a major a publicity strategy: warn loudly, drip‑feed details, then proceed anyway. Until we know more about what Mythos can actually do, and how those claims are being independently verified, aren't we just in familiar territory: another episode of a self-publicising sector acting like the boy who cried wolf?

Also this week: we take on one of the most repeated bits of modern wellbeing advice, the idea that your phone’s blue light is wrecking your sleep. The evidence is messier than the panic, and the bigger culprit may be the lighting habits of modern life, and what we’re doing on our phones, rather than the colour of the glow itself. And, Amazon is ending support for older Kindle models, a move that leaves some owners unable to download new books and raises awkward questions about built in obsolescence and what “ownership” means when your device still works but the platform decides it’s done.

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and our world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Nicky Woolf, each episode unpacks, week by week, how technology is shaping all our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the stories that matter — whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.

New episodes every Thursday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”).

To get in touch with the team: theinterface@bbc.com

The Interface is a BBC Studios production. Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Executive Editor: Philip Sellars