{"podcast":{"title":"The David McWilliams Podcast","slug":"the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453","podcast_index_feed_id":512453,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/20b97d01-ba9b-5fb0-9acf-161391a88cb0","website_url":"http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/61b9fedc1a8cbefa383cf076/show-cover.jpg","author":"David McWilliams","episode_count":678,"summary":"The aim of this weekly podcast is to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible. With the world at a political, technological and financial tipping point, economics has never been so important to all of us and yet, it’s made inaccessible and complicated by so many. I’ve always thought what is complicated is rarely important and what is important is rarely complicated. That will be our motto. Every week we are going to tease out some big economic or political issue facing us, not just here in Ireland but in Europe and further afield. Globalisation has brought us all together. We all face similar challenges whether you live in Dublin, London, Minnesota or Milan. If you would like to enjoy all of our content ad-free and have early access to episodes, subscribe to DMCW+ on Apple Podcast. Want to join our crew? Join at davidmcwilliams.ie/crew , where you can enjoy ad-free listening, as well as exclusive bonus content such as premium episodes, our macroeconomics course, early access to episodes and pre-sale access to tickets for Dalkey Book Festival & Kilkenomics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T18:19:51.080822+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453"},"episode":{"title":"Can Democracy Survive an AI Economy?","slug":"can-democracy-survive-an-ai-economy","published_at":"2026-03-03T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453/can-democracy-survive-an-ai-economy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453","url":"https://shows.acast.com/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast/episodes/can-democracy-survive-an-ai-economy","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast/e/69a5733e854be12860c8d0c1/media.mp3","summary":"In this episode, we ask what happens when economic evolution moves from human speed to machine speed. Fresh from an off-the-record discussion with a Nobel Prize–winning AI pioneer Demis Hassibis, we unpack how AI is reshaping medicine, productivity, profits, and power, and why markets are now rewarding mass layoffs as a sign of progress. From Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction to Jack Dorsey’s AI-driven job cuts and the explosion of “buy now, pay later” debt, we trace how AI is intensifying inequality, short-termism, and financial fragility. Is this the next great leap forward, or the beginning of a techno-feudal economy where a small elite extracts value at scale? We explore why equilibrium economics no longer makes sense, why evolution never waits for permission, and whether democracy can keep up with machines that learn faster than society can adapt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"In this episode, we ask what happens when economic evolution moves from human speed to machine speed. Fresh from an off-the-record discussion with a Nobel…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2476,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453/episodes/can-democracy-survive-an-ai-economy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast-512453/can-democracy-survive-an-ai-economy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}