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In 2023, ChatGPT took Artificial Intelligence into the mainstream. Now there's a bewildering choice of human-like chatbots to choose from. Generative AIs can produce pictures and video from a text prompt, and many websites and apps are now labelled "Powered by AI". This new technology can do lots of things and tech companies have raised vast amounts of money from investors based on its potential. But what is AI actually for? Certain specialised AIs have a clear purpose. AlphaFold2 can predict how proteins fold-up and won its creators the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and Google Translate is an AI with a purpose that’s clear from its name. But so far there is no must-have or "killer" application for the Large Language Models and Generative AIs. The future of AI is equally hazy. Will AI somehow lead to all-purpose "Artificial General Intelligence", autonomous robots or even machine consciousness? Or is this all just the stuff of fantasy and nightmares? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: Mike Wooldridge, the Ashall Professor of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford. Rosalind Picard, Grover M. Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. Ethan Mollick, Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and AI researcher. Pip Finkemeyer, author of "One Story" and software designer and researcher. Tracy Dennis Tiwary, Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology at the City University of New York. Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.

The government has launched the Pride in Place scheme but is it possible to regenerate urban areas without leaving local people out? Most buildings have a certain shelf life before they need renovating. Social norms change and the ways people interact develop as society transforms with time. And local economies can change dramatically with once prosperous industrial areas falling silent, or tourist hot spots left behind by low-cost air travel. But is it possible to do this without being accused of gentrification? Swanky new buildings are introduced attracting people with money, house prices go up, expensive shops and cafes open up and before you know it, local people are priced out of the area. So are there ways to improve urban areas without leaving local residents behind? How much should any regeneration project acknowledge and honour local history? Isn’t attracting new people, with new ideas and new businesses a vital part of any regeneration project? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Tom Gillett Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: Dr Eilis Lawlor, Director of the research institute Just Economics. Patrick Murray, Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs, the Northern Housing Consortium. Wayne Hemingway, designer. Martha Grekos, Barrister who specialises in planning and environmental law. Paul Chatterton, Professor of Urban Futures in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.

People are living longer and delaying life's milestone moments. How does this affect our middle years and should we be paying more attention to people in this phase of their lives? For some, middle age can be a very challenging period in their lives. Today, people are postponing the milestones in life that traditionally signified a change in priorities. People are having children later in life meaning parents in their 40s or even 50s are looking after small children. Jobs for life no longer exist and housing is so expensive that many have no choice but to pay costly rents. All of these phenomena have given rise to the so called “sandwich Generation” – simultaneously looking after children but also elderly parents. Many experience multiple roles- worker, parent, carer, spouse and friend – and juggling the demands of all of those roles can lead to burnout. Academic literature on happiness has until recently suggested that our satisfaction with life as we age is hump shaped. When we're young, we're happy — and then that declines, bottoming out in middle age. As we pass middle age and get older, we get happier again. But is that still the case? Is mid-life a uniquely unhappy place to be? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Tom Gillett Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: Ben Akers - Co-founder and co-CEO of Talk Club David Blanchflower - Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire Jane Green - Professor of Political Science and British Politics at the University of Oxford Andrew G Marshall - Marital therapist, communications trainer and author Les Mayhew - Professor of statistics at Bayes Business School, City University, London Kate Muir - Journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University.

The Night Times Industries Association says one in four venues have shut down since 2020, and the sector will face an irreversible decline unless the government provides urgent support. The industry was one of the worst hit during the pandemic, and it's asking for cuts to National Insurance, a permanent cut in VAT and a reform of business rates to help it keep afloat. The NTIA claims the night time economy contributes more than £153 billion to the UK economy and supports over 2 million jobs. Culturally, the sector punches above its weight. The nightclub boom in the last 50 years gave us disco, acid house, drum and bass and grime, as well as many other sub-genres of music. But nightclubs are expensive and consumers are finding their thrills elsewhere; drink is cheaper from supermarkets, and why search for someone you fancy on the dancefloor when you can use a dating app? And as nightclubs struggle, so do small music venues, where artists like Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys Blur and Oasis started out, as well as many others. People are willing to pay hundreds of pounds to see those same artists in giant venues like Co-op Live in Manchester or at Wembley Stadium, so what can be done to make sure the next wave of new artists have somewhere to play? Should the government intervene? Should big venues subsidise smaller ones, or is it up to fans to throw them a lifeline? Or has nightlife in its current form - much like variety music halls - taken its last curtain call? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Tom Gillett Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: Michael Kill - CEO, Night Time Industries Association Fat Tony - DJ Steve Lamacq - BBC 6 Music DJ and Patron of the Music Venues Trust Richard Simm - Co-owner, The Forum Tunbridge Wells Jane Darougar - Psychotherapist and counselor at the Central St Martins University, London

Do you agree with either of these statements? Illegal migrants come here and are a burden on services and the taxpayer. OR The only way to reduce inequality is to tax billionaires and giant companies who avoid tax. They may seem on opposite poles of the political spectrum, but both anti-migrant campaigners and anti-capitalists share an identical mindset. Both are demonstrating zero-sum thinking; the belief that if one group wins, another has to lose. In itself, zero-sum thinking isn't moral or immoral, right or wrong. But Economists claim it leads to poor economic policy, and they say evidence shows it is possible to create win-win situations for everyone. But many of the main parties at Westminster also use zero-sum thinking in their political rhetoric - from Reform and the Greens, to the Conservatives and Labour. Also, the first past the post electoral system is literally a zero-sum process. So is this kind of thinking baked-into UK politics? So are there particular groups of people that are more prone to zero-sum beliefs? Where did this mindset come from? What economic conditions encourage zero-sum thinking, and how deeply are these beliefs held? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Richard Vadon Contributors: Stefanie Stantcheva, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard and founder and director of the Social Economics Lab. Dr Patricia Andrews Fearon, behavioural science researcher at social impact accelerator The Agency Fund, and Stanford University. Her research on zero-sum mindsets began during her doctoral studies at Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Dr Parth Patel, Associate director for democracy & politics at the Institute of Public Policy and Research Iain Mansfield, Director of Research and Head of Education and Science at Policy Exchange Cleo Watson, Former Downing Street strategist, adviser to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, author, and presenter of Radio 4's "How to win a campaign"

Aviation is far more difficult to decarbonise than other sectors of the economy, because kerosene is the perfect fuel for planes. It produces enough power to enable planes to fly, yet it is light enough for them to get off the ground and cross the world. Alternatives are thin on the ground; batteries are too heavy, clean hydrogen power is in its infancy, while Sustainable Aviation Fuel - or SAF - is expensive and in short supply. Although the Government has a "SAF-mandate", only 22% of all jet fuel supplied by 2040 will have to be sustainable. New airliners are more fuel-efficient than ever before, and both routes and air-traffic control are being optimised. But if growth outpaces efficiencies, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise. And passenger demand is back at pre-pandemic levels. In 2024 the UK was the third largest market in the world for flights. In the absence of any immediate solution, should we fly less, if at all? How realistic and affordable are slower alternatives like the train? Could passengers be penalised for taking more than one return flight a year? And should the Government rather than individuals be taking responsibility for change? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. Dr Roger Tyers, UK Aviation specialist at Transport & Environment Yannick van den Berg, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam Law School Tom Nevitt, project manager of Climate Perks Duncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

Aviation has a problem: it's reliant on fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases when they're burned in a jet engine. Other industries are worse polluters, but in the next few decades, they are likely to decarbonise much faster than the airline sector. Why? Because kerosene is a light enough fuel for planes to get off the ground, while producing enough thrust for them to do so. Also it enables airliners to carry passengers to the other side of the world. International flight has only been around for less than 100 years, but research suggests that it's responsible for 4% of total global warming to date. It's not just that airliners pump out carbon dioxide, but they also emit nitrous oxides and soot. Even contrails, which are mostly water vapour, have a warming effect high up in the atmosphere. Can efficiencies in jet engines, optimal routes and air traffic control lead to less fuel being used? What technologies are available to make flying cleaner? Is the pace of change fast enough to meet net zero by 2050? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: David Lee, Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Centre for Aviation, Transport and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr Mark Bentall, Head of the Research and Technology Programme, Airbus Dr Naomi Allen, Head of Research at the Royal Aeronautical Society, Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. Duncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

What is terrorism? Without doubt, it is a pejorative term; few people would ever want to be called a terrorist, and when the word terrorism is attached to a belief system, it delegitimises it in the eyes of the public. It's an emotive word with severe consequences for any individual or group given the label. Virtually everybody agrees that being a terrorist is not a good thing and that the law must seriously punish them. But there isn't an agreed international definition of what terrorism is. The UK has a legal definition, but it differs from other western democracies. When does property damage become a terror offence? How do police officers decide the difference between support for a cause and membership of a proscribed organisation? Should individuals without an ideology who plan or commit mass murders be considered terrorists? Are UK anti-terror laws too broad, or too narrow? And can violence by states be counted as terrorism? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Lisa Baxter Contributors: José Ángel Gascón, Professor of Argumentation in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Murcia Jonathan Hall KC, UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Nick Aldworth, Threat, risk & security strategist, former Detective Chief Superintendent and National Coordinator in Counter Terrorism Policing. Leonie Jackson, Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Northumbria University, and author of " What is Counterterrorism For?" Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and author of Does Counter-Terrorism Work? Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

Two weeks in the sun - it's the classic summer getaway. For many of us, summer holidays are something to look forward to all year. But some of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers are under strain. Protesters in Barcelona and Majorca have been pushing back at the number of visitors they host - even spraying them with water pistols. Locals are unhappy at being priced out of the housing market and feeling pressure on public services - but they also need tourists to support their economies. At the same time, many destinations are experiencing increasingly hot summers, with sometimes catastrophic results. Two years ago, 20,000 tourists in Rhodes were forced to evacuate their hotels to get away from wildfires. Climate models suggest future summers will be hotter still. So is it time to rethink how we approach the summer holiday? Should we be considering different destinations for our holidays - swapping Mediterranean beaches for northern Europe or British destinations? Would those places be ready for more summer visitors? How can tourist destinations change to meet shifting demands? Is it time for schools to move away from the long summer break? We'll look at the history of the beach holiday, and try and imagine what summer holidays will look like in the future. And we'll ask - what is a summer holiday for? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Lucy Burns Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors Sarah Stodola, author of The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit and Peril at the Beach Simon Calder, travel journalist Christos Giannakopoulos, research director, the National Observatory of Athens Rowland Rees-Evans, chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance Lee Elliot-Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

President Trump promised "America First" on the campaign trail, and has delivered that in his second term, unleashing a trade war and causing global economic instability. Although China and the USA have recently agreed a temporary truce in the trade war, the US President regards Beijing as an economic enemy. Perversely, Donald Trump's actions may push other countries into China’s embrace. For some countries, like Russia, that's a natural fit. Others, like China’s neighbours South Korea and Japan, have agreed to talks about a free-trade agreement, while the EU says it is seeking to "engage constructively" with Beijing. So where does that leave the UK? Of late, Labour ministers have been on a charm offensive, with the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary and the Energy Secretary all visiting China, as well as a recent trade delegation. So should the UK be seeking closer ties with China? What are the risks, and is China even interested in us? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Todd Hall, Director of the University of Oxford China Centre and Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University Of Oxford. Yeling Tan, Professor of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and also a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Wang Guan, senior news anchor with The China Media Group and also a founding fellow of the Taihe Institute think tank in Beijing. Cindy Yu, contributing editor and a columnist at The Times, who also writes the Chinese Whispers substack. Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

The UK government has made growth its key mission. But solving the British productivity puzzle is not a new priority - it’s been on the agenda for successive governments. Getting productivity up is crucial to sustain higher living standards. The more productive we are, the better off we'll be. But the UK has experienced significantly slower productivity growth than comparable countries since the global financial crisis in 2008 and by some measures, Britain has been going through its worst period for productivity growth since the Napoleonic Era. Britain’s productivity lags that of many of our major trading partners, including France, Germany and the USA and that’s despite British workers spending longer in the office. According to the ONS, the French can work four days and achieve roughly as much as the British do in five. What are the factors behind the UK’s chronically weak productivity growth, what are other countries doing better? How can we increase Britain’s productivity? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Farhana Haider Contributors: Margaret Heffernan, Professor of Practice in Management at the University of Bath, writer and former CEO. Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Gareth Davies, Head of the National Audit Office. Leslie Perlow, Professor of organisational behaviour at the Harvard Business School and founder of the Crafting Your Life special project. Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

Across many countries, civil services, once seen as the backbone of stable governance, are facing growing scrutiny. Long viewed as the impartial and efficient machine of government, the role of civil servants is now being questioned as political polarisation intensifies and trust in traditional institutions declines. In the UK, the United States and other democracies, critics question its effectiveness, arguing that the civil service has become opaque, unwieldy and inefficient, and process is getting in the way of outcomes. The modern British civil service emerged in the 19th century, and was designed to carry out the day-to-day tasks of government in an unbiased and professional manner. However, is a bureaucracy that was created and designed more than a century ago still fit for purpose - or are we witnessing a turning point in its role in modern governance? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Eleanor Harrison-Dengate Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Gus O’Donnell, former Cabinet Secretary, 2005 - 2011 Jennifer Pahlka, former United States government’s deputy chief technology officer Aaron Maniam, scholar at the Blavatnik School of Government, and former Singaporean civil servant Hannah White, Director and CEO of Institute for Government Joe Hill, Policy Director, Reform Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

For most of this century, the UK has had a housing shortage, but for one section of society, that shortage has become a crisis. Prices have risen so much that people who need social housing are completely locked out of the private renting market, and owning a home for many is only a pipe dream. And when politicians speak about "affordable homes", these are also out of reach for many people. "Affordable" means homes available at 80% of the market rate. Typical social housing rents are much lower- around 30% of the full rate. And this type of home is in very short supply. In 1980, there were around seven million dwellings in the social rent sector, largely owned by councils. Today that's just over four million, the majority of which are owned by housing associations instead. To the average person, the answer seems simple - just build more homes. And that’s being done, but not enough are being built - only around 10,000 social homes are constructed each year - far lower than the estimated 90,000 we need every year. So how can we speed up the process to help the million households in England currently sat on council waiting lists? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Contributors: Anna Minton, Reader in Architecture at the University of East London and author of the book "Big Capital, Who is London For?" Jasmine Basran, Head of Policy at the homelessness charity Crisis. Richard Hyde, founder of Thinkhouse.org, an open library of housing research, and chair of Solihull Community Housing. Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester. Graham Kauders, commercial director at EDAROTH, an AtkinsRéalis company. Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University

Across the West, the long-established liberal order appears to be struggling to adapt to the economic and social challenges of the 21st century. As a result, traditional politics is being rejected by voters at the ballot box, increasingly usurped by narratives once considered too radical for the mainstream. In Europe, right wing populists and the far-right are in the ascendancy in countries such as France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump has returned to the White House for a second term. The roots of political liberalism can be traced back to the 18th century, with much of the modern liberal world order emerging out of the end of World War II. But as similar patterns emerge across numerous democracies, could we be witnessing the end of liberalism? Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Jon Cruddas, author and former Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham Edmund Fawcett, political journalist and author Sarah de Lange, Professor of Political Pluralism at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam Catherine de Vries, Professor of Political Science at Bocconi University Michael Gove, Editor of The Spectator and former Conservative MP for Surrey Heath

You would be forgiven for thinking that inflation, interest rates, GDP and tariffs drive the global economy. But there are a whole set of interconnected underlying systems that work quietly in the background to keep economies running smoothly. It's not just countries that rely on them, but individuals as well. These systems allow workers to get paid, banks to make transfers, and the free-flow of information on the internet. These immaterial systems have a presence in the physical world, from fibre optic cables to the servers that host our data. Building and maintaining this infrastructure, and everything else that makes up modern civilisation requires a constant and reliable supply of raw materials. But in this globalised world, both the underlying systems online and the supply chains in the material world have pinch points - places where if just one thing gets squeezed, then there are immediate and dramatic effects on the economy. And whoever controls those pinch points wields a vast amount of power. In this episode of Rethink, Ben Ansell explores those pinch points, how the USA and China are realising their power, and what this means for the UK. Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham Contributors: Henry Farrell, SNF Agora Professor of International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and co-author of Underground Empire. Abe Newman, professor in the School of Foreign Service and Government Departments at Georgetown University, and co-author of Underground Empire. Ed Conway, economics and data editor of Sky News and author of Material World.