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A listener we're calling Natalie received over a million dollars after being sexually abused by her university gynecologist in one of the largest abuse settlements in American history. She talks about the strange math of converting a bad experience into a dollar amount, and why she’s barely spent any of it. *This episode includes descriptions of abuse. Please take care while listening. Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason Koebler, cofounder of 404 Media and tech reporter who covers AI and internet culture, walks through OpenAI’s short-lived video tool Sora. He recounts surreal viral clips, how the app created videos from prompts, and why a Disney tie-up and business pressures may have unraveled. They debate a future of cheap AI churn versus premium human-made entertainment.

Blair Imani, educator, historian, and creator of the Smarter in Seconds series, talks about staying informed as a busy parent and breaking down big topics for kids. She covers teaching systems and geopolitics in age‑friendly ways. They discuss involving children in civic action, modeling curiosity, and practical approaches to news and sensationalism.

Summer Lee, a progressive U.S. representative focused on civil rights and tech policy, explains why AI and facial recognition need guardrails. She discusses algorithmic bias, risks to Black women, limits on DHS and ICE use of facial tech, and her bills to ban algorithmic discrimination and preserve human decision-making. Politics, industry influence, and paths for oversight and organizing also come up.

They unpack huge pre-posting oil futures trades and whether insider information moved markets. They analyze how presidential social posts can act as market signals. They debate legal rulings that could reshape social media products. They discuss OpenAI shutting down a consumer video tool and what that means for AI business models.

Ian Bassin, co-founder of Protect Democracy and former Obama White House lawyer, discusses America’s rapid democratic backsliding. He talks about shifting from litigation to coalition-building, how courts are acting as speed bumps or accelerants, threats framed as “deceive, disrupt, deny,” and tactics like ICE deployments and the SAVE Act. The conversation stresses mass participation and public organizing as the ultimate safeguard.

Rebecca Jennings, New York Magazine features writer who reported the profile on Taylor Frankie Paul. She discusses why producers picked Taylor despite controversy. She explains rewriting her profile after new allegations and a disturbing video. They trace Taylor’s rise on TikTok and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. They critique the industry’s treatment of volatile relationships and ABC/Disney’s late response.

What YouTube and Meta’s loss in the “social media addiction trial” could mean for your feed.Guest: Ryan Mac, business and technology reporter for the New York Times.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, Nadira and Felix take a trip to a bathhouse for spirits in 2001’s Spirited Away.Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film follows a girl named Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the spirit world and must save her parents, encountering soot sprites, river spirits, a giant baby, and many more wonderful and terrifying beings along the way.The film is a masterpiece of storytelling and technical animation, but as Felix explains, it also works as a highly developed metaphor for capital and the Japanese economy at the close of the millennium: the bathhouse stands in for a stable but exploitative economic system, beset by outside capital forces, with workers stripped of their names and identities.This is the final episode of the Money On Film miniseries. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, Nadira and Felix take a trip to a bathhouse for spirits in 2001’s Spirited Away.Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film follows a girl named Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the spirit world and must save her parents, encountering soot sprites, river spirits, a giant baby, and many more wonderful and terrifying beings along the way.The film is a masterpiece of storytelling and technical animation, but as Felix explains, it also works as a highly developed metaphor for capital and the Japanese economy at the close of the millennium: the bathhouse stands in for a stable but exploitative economic system, beset by outside capital forces, with workers stripped of their names and identities.This is the final episode of the Money On Film miniseries. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.