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Financial Times

Gideon Rachman, the Financial Times chief foreign affairs columnist talks to the decision-makers and thinkers who are shaping world affairs.
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The Rachman Review

Gideon Rachman sits down with the FT's innovation editor John Thornhill and Caiwei Chen, China reporter for the MIT Technology Review, to discuss the race between China and the US to become the 21st-century AI superpower. The west is used to hearing about the might of the Silicon Valley giants, US cutting-edge research and chip dominance. But China has a different approach. Will its use of a cheaper and more efficient open AI model allow China to overtake the US with this era-defining technology?

Want more? Join John and the FT’s Chinese technology correspondent Eleanor Olcott in a live Q&A on November 13 at 1pm GMT where they will be answering your questions on the tech battle between Silicon Valley and Beijing. 

Submit your question: Will China win the AI race?

And subscribe to a new six part newsletter series - 'The State of AI'. It's a collaboration between the FT and MIT Technology Review where writers from both publications debate the defining questions of the AI era. Sign up here 

More on this topic:

The State of AI: is China about to win the race?

China offers tech giants cheap power to boost domestic AI chips

AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here

The AI race

Who’s right about AI: economists or technologists?

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Subscribe to the Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

The Rachman Review is presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and the sound design is by Simon Panayi.

Clip: Axios

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The battle for AI supremacy

Gideon Rachman talks to historian and author Anne Applebaum about the Trump presidency. The US president is increasingly accused of being a would-be dictator, but is it fair to compare Donald Trump to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping? 

This episode is an edited recording of an event organised by Intelligence Squared that took place in central London last month. 

Clips: CBS 60 Minutes

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

More on this topic:

Trump’s fawning cabinet and the threat to US democracy

The Trump doctrine: don’t rely on America

The Trump Supremacy

Saudi Arabia in talks for US defence pact

How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and sound design is by Breen Turner

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump and autocracy in America

Gideon talks to former US trade representative Michael Froman about Donald Trump’s visit to Asia this week, culminating in a meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea. What does it tell us about US trade priorities in the region and who is best placed to win the contest of strength between the US and China? Clips: NST online; Times Now 

Free links to read more on this topic: 

Will Trump push south-east Asia towards China?

China calls for ‘extraordinary measures’ to achieve chip breakthroughs

Why China keeps winning the trade war

China doubles down on industrial policy

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

US versus China: a test of strength

Gideon talks to the historian and author Serhii Plokhy about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed our calculations about the risk of nuclear war. They discuss the history of the atom bomb from its first use in 1945 to the risk of a resurgence of proliferation. Clip: Harry S Truman Library 

Free links to read more on this topic: 

The Nuclear Age by Serhii Plokhy — why nations want the bomb

US offers nuclear energy companies access to weapons-grade plutonium

The covert trip by Iranian nuclear experts to Russia

The old nuclear rules won’t stop proliferation

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nuclear weapons and the balance of terror

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed. The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website.

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

Gideon talks to Taipei-based policy analyst J Michael Cole about how the Taiwanese are handling the threat of invasion from Beijing. Clips: APT News; RTI English.

Free links to read more on this topic:

TSMC’s stock market rally is a triumph of need over fear

Taiwan accelerates ‘T-dome’ missile plan against China threat

Taiwan backtracks on chip export curbs to South Africa after China spat

Taiwan becomes largest importer of Russian naphtha

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Taiwan under threat: how strong are its defences?

Gideon talks to former White House official and Middle East expert Philip Gordon about Donald Trump’s plan for a peaceful end to the Gaza conflict. What are the chances that it can succeed and what are the main stumbling blocks? Clip: TRT World

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join Israel-Hamas talks in Egypt

What remains of Gaza?

Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East

How Donald Trump’s Gaza deal came together

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Jean-Marc Eck and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What chance for Trump’s Gaza peace plan?

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transforming the human race into an interplanetary species. 

In a new series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if we’re really about to land, and even live, on the red planet. 

Free to read:

Musk’s mission to Mars

Three days with America’s rocket chasers

Tech Tonic is produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Mission to Mars

Gideon interviews Britain's deputy prime minister David Lammy at the Labour Party conference at a meeting hosted by the Tony Blair Institute. They discuss how the Starmer government, which has had a tough first year in office, can turn things around, as well as the Gaza peace plan, ties with the Trump administration and how to fight 'the politics of grievance'. Clip: Keir Starmer

Free links to read more on this topic: 

Starmer urges Labour to launch ‘patriotic’ fight against Reform

How Donald Trump’s Gaza deal came together

Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East

‘Lost the plot’: Tony Blair’s Gaza role prompts incredulity — and some hope

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Lammy on the fight for democracy

Gideon talks to Matt Duss, former adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders and executive vice-president of the Washington-based Center for International Policy. They discuss recent curbs on free speech, former president Joe Biden’s foreign policy mistakes, and how identity politics has been used to distract voters from the ever widening gap between rich and poor. Clips: DRM News; Forbes

Free links to read more on this topic: 

Jimmy Kimmel hits out at ‘anti-American’ threats to free speech as show returns

Inside Disney’s decision to bring back Jimmy Kimmel

America’s accelerating exit from itself

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to fix America

Gideon talks to economist Linda Yueh of Oxford university about recent dramatic developments at the Chinese Communist party’s congress in Beijing. They discuss what the growing centralisation in China tells us about how Xi Jinping will handle the private sector, the property crisis and international tensions over Taiwan.

Clips: CGTN; CNA

More on this topic:

China’s limitless presidency means limited diplomacy

China’s growth stutters as exports fail to rescue economy

China’s wealthy activate escape plans as Xi Jinping extends rule

Hit film Return to Dust has vanished from China’s cinemas. Why?

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Xi consolidates his rule as economic problems mount

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