Instagram’s 90-minute video gamble

Instagram wants you to watch 90-minute videos. Its new Features tool lets creators post long, horizontal videos aimed at podcasters and comedians. Hosts Thomas Germain and Jessica Maddox ask what it says about a company that has spent years borrowing from its rivals, from Stories and Reels to Threads and Edits, and why Instagram seems so eager to go after YouTube’s audience.Then they follow the money. After a $500 billion drop in Google’s stock price in a single afternoon, they ask whether the AI bubble is about to burst, or just shrink. Tom explains why the industry is spending so much, what it means for your retirement and free AI tools, and why a collapse could put your private chats with AI at risk.Finally, Dessa, a new AI voice model from Jack Dorsey’s company Block, has people asking whether they could tell it’s a machine. Trained only on voices, rather than text, and with the ability to whisper, interrupt and respond fast, it’s the most convincing AI voice Tom and Jess have heard. They talk about what that could mean for customer service, companionship and deepfake scams - and whether talking to machines will make us speak more or less.The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and your world. Hosted by journalist Thomas Germain and “professor of the internet” Jessica Maddox, each episode unpacks, week by week, how technology is shaping all our futures. No jargon. Just two sharp voices debating the stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.New episodes drop every Wednesday on BBC Sounds in the UK. Outside the UK, find us on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on YouTube (search “The Interface podcast”). To get in touch with the team: theinterface@bbc.comThe Interface is a BBC Studios production. Producer: Becca Bryers Executive Editor: Philip Sellars