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Former White House Advisor Tim Wu on How Tech Platforms Threaten Our Future

Science &
Technology

Wu came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the dangers of the new AI economy

Tim Wu, is one of America’s leading thinkers on technology, power, and the history of monopoly powers. A Columbia Law School professor and former special assistant to President Joe Biden for technology and competition policy, Wu is best known for coining the term “net neutrality” and for his influential work in books like The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness which explore the balance between innovation, corporate concentration, and the public good. 

On November 18, Wu came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the dangers of the new AI economy. Drawing from his new book The Age of Extraction he discussed why in the AI economy tech companies will amass unprecedented power and argued that breaking up tech monopolies is ultimately the only solution to unleash creativity and growth for the rest of society. He also discussed the history of monopoly power and offer a blueprint for an alternative AI future which would allow tech platforms to still play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity for everyone.

Speakers for the motion

  • Tim Wu

    Former advisor for Technology and Competition Policy to President Biden and professor of Law at Columbia University

Against the motion

  • Alex Krasodomoski

    Programme Director, Digital Society Programme at Chatham House

Speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Speaker

Tim Wu

Former advisor for Technology and Competition Policy to President Biden and professor of Law at Columbia University

Professor at Columbia Law School, known for his influential work on ‘net neutrality’ theory and his role as an adviser to President Obama. In 2013 he was named one of America’s 100 Most Influential Lawyers. His books include The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires and The Attention Merchants: How Our Time and Attention are Gathered and Sold. He has testified before the US Senate that ‘Google is manipulating its search in an anti-competitive way’.
Host

Alex Krasodomoski

Programme Director, Digital Society Programme at Chatham House

Alex leads the Digital Society Programme. His work focused on AI, emerging technology and centres of tech power. He leads work aimed at strengthening state capacity and cooperation, identifying feasible paths towards global technology governance, and on routes to market for public technology. He was until 2022 research director at Demos, director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media and co-founder of the AI start-up CASM Technology. He led the Good Web Projectand is a fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).