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Podcast: Making outrage addictive

Podcast: Making outrage addictive

Social media has become a part of our daily lives, as we scroll endlessly through curated feeds. But it’s clear that these platforms are having a negative impact on our lives and our society in ways we never imagined.

Platforms that were once a way to connect people have become a place where disinformation flows freely, controversy and division turns a profit, and people are pushed into echo chambers where everyone believes the same things and get fed disinformation that amps up their views.


In episode 39, Weston unpacks social media’s psychological and cultural ramifications, but also its impact on our democracy and politics — looking at where we can go from here and discussing the need for increased transparency and accountability.

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As nonprofits increasingly use AI to determine access to food, housing, and healthcare assistance, concerns over transparency, accountability, and algorithmic bias are growing. Explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping America's social safety net and why policymakers are being urged to act.

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Why Nonprofits Are Becoming America's Unofficial AI Welfare State

America's safety net has new administrators. They are not government agencies. They are nonprofits and are making decisions using algorithms.

Nationally, civil society organizations are using AI to determine who receives food assistance, emergency shelter, and medical referrals. In an era of federal and state budget cuts and struggles with the latest administrative databases that support necessary operations, nonprofits have gradually stepped into these roles. An unofficial AI welfare state is emerging, operating beyond the boundaries of official ones.

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Person using tablet for health reasons.

AI isn't just for doctors. Consumer AI could improve patient outcomes, reduce medical errors, and reshape U.S. healthcare through smarter public policy.

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Federal Action Could Unlock AI’s Power for Millions of Patients

When it comes to medicine, Washington, D.C., is not anti-AI. In a string of recent legislative announcements, the White House has made AI innovation a national priority. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is exploring strategies to accelerate AI in clinical care. And the FDA has already authorized more than 1,500 AI-enabled medical devices.

But these efforts, similar to the approach taken by the private sector, have focused solely on advancing AI for clinicians, hospitals, and health systems.

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AI Chatbots for Kids Should Act Like Tools, Not Friends

Close-up of AI chatbot on mobile

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AI Chatbots for Kids Should Act Like Tools, Not Friends

During the rise of the Internet, as the World Wide Web moved from government and academic settings to family homes, parents worried about the exposure of their children to predators in online chatrooms. A generation later, as social media became central to young people’s lives, the dangers of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to children’s mental health moved to the forefront of the national conversation.

Now, as lawmakers and parents continue to grapple with how to keep children safe on social media, there’s a new danger already taking shape: AI-powered chatbots that simulate friendship, emotional intimacy, and care with children who may not be able to tell the difference.

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America's New and Dangerous Gilded Age

A NASA logo is displayed at the entrance to the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building on May 30, 2026, in Washington, DC.

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America's New and Dangerous Gilded Age

As part of a collaboration between The Fulcrum's NextGen initiative and Made By Us, The Fulcrum is publishing Letters to America, a series created through the Youth250 project that invites Gen Z to reflect on the nation’s past, present, and future as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.

On June 4, 1876, on the eve of our Nation’s centennial, the Transcontinental Express completed its inaugural voyage across America’s newly constructed coast-to-coast railroad, traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific in just 83 hours. This milestone marked the end of the Railroad Race and the beginning of the Gilded Age, epitomized by its rail barons and drastic wealth disparity.

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