Recently, Spotify’s founder, Daniel Ek, announced he’s stepping back from running the company.

He leaves as one of the richest men in his home country of Sweden – with Forbes estimating his wealth at $9.6 billion.

In a departure note to staff, Ek said he wants to focus on creating more European “supercompanies” – companies he described as “developing new technologies to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time”.

The move comes months after Ek’s involvement in the global defence industry was revealed, prompting an artist backlash, with some pulling their music from the platform.

Today, we’re bringing you an episode we recorded in July with author and journalist Liz Pelly, which exposes Ek’s investments in AI-based military technology and Spotify’s embrace of AI in music.

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Guest: Author and journalist Liz Pelly