Tech Life
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Tech Life
Tech Life discovers and explains the ways technology is changing our lives, wherever we are in the world. We meet the people with bright ideas for rethinking the way we work, learn and play, and get hands-on with the products they dream up. We hold tech giants to account for their huge power to affe...
Recent Episodes
372 episodes
What if AI doesn’t speak your language?
English is the most widely-used language online. Internet material helps to train AI tools. So where does that leave people whose native language bare...
Unlocking tech breakthroughs
ARIA is the UK's research and development funding agency that's built to unlock new scientific and technological developments. We speak to ARIA's new...
Can AI tackle aviation’s climate problem?
Cloudy lines in the sky, caused by aircraft engines, are called contrails. They're harmful to the environment. Now a project is underway, using AI, to...
School deepfake ransoms
For many schools, it’s normal to post pictures of their own pupils online, either celebrating events or for marketing. But these photos could also be...
The future of flying?
The transition from petrol to electric cars is well underway. But why are most aircraft in the skies still burning jet fuel? We look at new developmen...
Understanding AI Agents
AI agents carry out tasks autonomously on behalf of users. But what are they capable of, and what do we need to know about them? With AI agents in the...
Smell the future
The nose of a dog is incredibly sensitive. And odour contains information. With the help of AI, electronic 'noses' are being used to sniff out complex...
Meet the humanoid robots performing surgery
Humanoid robots have successfully performed surgery in an operating theatre for the first time. They were remotely controlled by surgeons. An expert i...
Too young to scroll?
What is a good age to give a child a smartphone? A community in Ireland might have the answer. In Greystones there's a voluntary agreement to wait unt...
What happens when health information is shadow banned?
We look at an issue known as shadow banning. What is it? How does it work? And could it be affecting health education messages for women and young gir...
Viva technology!
Shiona McCallum visits a huge technology show in Paris. There, she finds some of the latest kit that could be in your home or workplace before too lon...
ChatGPT prompt generates disturbing images
A group of cybersecurity researchers found a prompt which gets past ChatGPT’s guardrails and causes it to generate some disturbing images. We unpack w...
Tackling lithium battery fires on planes
When we fly we love to take our gadgets with us. But the lithium batteries that power them can catch fire. We find out about a new campaign urging us...
Microsoft's big quantum bet
Microsoft unveils a new quantum chip. It's a big moment for the company, as its quantum programme has faced criticism. Is the tech giant's strategy fi...
Teaching in the AI world
We speak to Google about the introduction of artificial intelligence into classroom learning, and what they think this will mean for teachers and pupi...
Myth or Mythos - is the AI cyber threat real?
From fears that a powerful new AI could supercharge hacking, to the ransomware gangs holding our data hostage, we talk to a former FBI expert about th...
The AI pothole hunter
Drivers and cyclists know the dangers of potholes and broken road signs. A Swedish company is fitting vehicles with cameras, and using AI to spot pote...
Could this tech help millions of us sleep better?
An anti-snoring device is being trialled as a potential solution to sleep apnoea, a condition which affects millions and can have wide-ranging consequ...
The workers in the engine room of big tech
We look at revelations about outsourced tech workers in Kenya, and try to find out why more than a thousand of them have been made redundant.
Al...
A hologram to remember: Pam and Bill’s love story
Pam Cronrath tells her deeply personal story of creating a lifelike speaking hologram of her husband, Bill, after he passed away. Pam wanted to honour...
Sharing the road with driverless cars
Chris Vallance finds out about research to help self-driving cars communicate with other road users. Hear what happened when he came into contact with...
The problem with AI
Can we trust AI? Its answers are not always correct. And it only knows what it's been trained on, so some of its responses can contain bias. Tech expe...
Putting polluters in court
Climate change is making devastating extreme weather more common. Tech Life's Yasmin Morgan-Griffiths explores the science that could help communities...
Recommending: 13 Minutes Presents Artemis II
Humans are returning to the Moon - hear all about it on the BBC’s space podcast. 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is following Nasa’s mission to loop a...
How will AI help my doctor?
We discuss how AI could help health professionals work better, detect diseases earlier and even change the way people around the world look after them...
Screen time ‘rewiring our brains’
We dig through the evidence on the effect of screen time on babies and young children, with the help of some parents and experts. And after hearing ou...
I pretend to be OnlyFans models online
Behind some OnlyFans models making money from chatting to paying subscribers is the unseen human labour people who pretend to be the models and chat o...
Quantum computers are coming - do we need ethical guidelines?
Quantum computing promises revolutionary new discoveries. But tech revolutions can be messy. Is now the time to start thinking about how we ethically...
Hearing my voice again totally blew my mind
AI tech is giving people their lost voices back. We chat to Yvonne Johnson, who has motor neurone disease. She's lost much of her ability to speak. Bu...
Engaging chatbots
We chat to NVIDIA about AI chat and how to make it sound more human. Explore making and breaking an emotional connection with AI. And new tech is help...
Would you wear smart glasses?
Is this the year when smart glasses become mainstream? Whether you need spectacles for your vision, or wear sunglasses, tech firms are hoping you'll b...
Driverless cars in the fast lane
Autonomous taxis are already part of everyday life in some cities. What will it be like when self-driving car tech gets up to full speed ? And we find...
China's AI progress
The launch of China's DeepSeek AI tool a year ago sent shockwaves through US markets and Silicon Valley. But now Chinese AI tech is being used by more...
What's new in health tech ?
We all want to stay fit and healthy. But how can technology help ? Shiona McCallum discusses new health tech on display at the world's biggest consume...
When will a robot do my laundry?
How close are we to humanoid robots in the home? A flurry of new robots, designed to look like us, have been revealed recently, with many in Silicon V...
What to expect from tech in 2026
For our first episode of 2026, Tech Life looks forward to the rest of the year, and beyond. What are the latest consumer gadgets on display at a huge...
Tech Life's look back at 2025
A selection of our favourite stories in 2025. From bringing back extinct species to AI at a royal palace. And you tell us about the tech that's made a...
Launching a commercial space station
A company called Vast hopes to put Haven-1 into orbit in 2026. If successful, it'll be the world's first commercial space station. We speak to the com...
Chatbots changing minds
A study found AI chatbots can persuade us with fake facts. We explore what this means for politics. Then we speak to author of The Web Beneath the Wav...
The darker side of streaming
Twitch streamer QTCinderella talks about the unwelcome attention she receives in real life. Shiona McCallum reports on robotics for offshore wind farm...