In this episode Elizabeth chats with Étienne Brown who is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa. From recommending algorithms to AI chatbots, Étienne has spent the last ten years exploring how the fight over attention is reshaping democratic discourse and why he thinks AI products should face safety review before release. They dig into the ethics of who controls AI and talk about the risks of a few private companies holding power over the information we consume. Additional Resources:Read The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu as a companion read. Check out Elizabeth’s report on The Political Uses of AI in Canada. For more context about the conspiracy-belief study on how dialogue with an AI chatbot reduces conspiracy beliefs read, Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AIÉtienne mentions Elizabeth's past work: The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media Check out Étienne Brown’s op-ed, La Silicon Valey a besoin d’un organisme de réglementation indépendant  on regulating AI like the pharmaceutical industry.ContributorsHost: Elizabeth DuboisResearch Lead: Areej El-Sharif & Sarah Pledge-DicksonTranscript: Areej El-SharifAudio Editing: Sarah Pledge-DicksonTranslation: Julianne Bernier RobertPublishing and Promotion: Aaron BrissonProducer: Sarah Pledge-DicksonCheck out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.