Burning Platforms

The Burning Platforms panel kick around the carcass of this week when the White House went to war with AI, bosses found new ways to snoop on workers, and the market was moved by a bit of fan fiction.

Per Capita’s Peter Lewis joins Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and The Sizzle’s Cam Wilson try to make sense of the madness.

And some reading to get you warmed up:

Casey Newton - What is OpenAI going to do when the truth comes out?
HTI - ‘Surveillance Creep’ 
Citrini - The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis 
Dan Kagan-Kans - The Left is missing Out on AI 
Brian Merchant - ‘Actually the Left is Winning the AI Debate'

On this week's episode of Burning Platforms, the team look at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi with first-hand accounts from UTS’s Human Technology Institute co-director and regular panelist Digital Rights Chair Lizzie O’Shea.

They join Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis to also discuss:

Mark Zuckerberg’s day in court

World-leading workplace laws in NSW

and the SASSopcolypse.

Join us in discussing the issues raised in this episode join us in the Democracy Sandpit: https://civility.bettermode.io/welcome

Visit www.percapita.org.au for more on of the Centre of the Public Square's research and events.

Per Capita's podcasts are produced on Wurundjeri land.

Governments may campaign in poetry and govern in prose, but what about the engineering that keeps our democracy flowing? The pioneer of public innovation and Professor of Collective Intelligence at University College London, Sir Geoff Mulgan, believes it’s time to get the boring bits right.

 

Regular panellists Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis also discuss:

Anthropic CEO Dario Ameida’s summer essay - https://darioamodei.com/essay/the-adolescence-of-technology

Should universities accept Big Tech dollars - https://www.science.org/content/article/nearly-third-social-media-research-has-undisclosed-ties-industry-preprint-claims

and South Korea’s new AI Basic Act - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/29/south-korea-world-first-ai-regulation-laws.

 

If you want to hear more from Sir Geoff he will be speaking in Sydney on Feburary 25 https://anzsog.edu.au/events-connection/events/what-next-for-public-innovation-with-geoff-mulgan

 

Visit www.percapita.org.au for more on our research and events.

Per Capita's podcasts are recorded and produced on Wurundjeri land.

Burning Platforms is BACK for 2026. The panels returns this week to unpack the existential risks AI presents with the Good Ancestors CEO, Greg Sadler. Spoiler: it's not just AGI.
 
With our regular panellists Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis, the panel also discuss:

Grok’s wild (and gross) summer

ChatGTP’s foray into health

and Bandcamp’s AI pledge

 
Check our Good Ancestors: https://www.goodancestors.org.au/
 

Join us in discussing the issues raised in this episode join us in the Democracy Sandpit: https://civility.bettermode.io/welcome 

Help the Centre of the Public Square fund its research into AI and responsible technology - donate to Per Capita today: https://percapita.org.au/donate/

As 2025 crashes out we survey the highs and lows of the year in tech with long-time platform burner Human Technology Institute co-director Ed Santow.

Regular panellists Digital Rights Watch Chair Lizzie O’Shea, Health Engine CEO Dan Stinton and Per Capita’s Peter Lewis discuss:

the Government’s AI Plan

the Social Media Ban

and what to read over summer

Join us in discussing the issues raised in this episode join us in the Democracy Sandpit: https://civility.bettermode.io/welcome 

Help the Centre of the Public Square fund its research into AI and responsible technology - donate to Per Capita today: https://percapita.org.au/donate/