Cognitive neuroscientist Ruben Laukkonen tells Imran Garda that raising AI is a lot like raising a child: it’s not enough to make it intelligent, we also need to teach it human values. The question is how? Laukkonen believes the answer could be in one of humanity's most ancient practices — contemplative meditation. Dr. Ruben Laukkonen joins The InnerView from Barcelona to discuss how he believes we can mitigate the risks of AI, what it means for a machine to be moral, and how the world’s oldest meditation practices could help us build better AI.

Saleyha Ahsan tells Imran Garda that acts of inhumanity against medics, doctors, and humanitarian workers are happening daily and with complete impunity. She’s witnessed it all — in Palestine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Syria. Ahsan is a former British soldier, humanitarian doctor and filmmaker who has served on the frontlines of some of the world’s most brutal conflicts: from the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s, to attacks on healthcare workers in Palestine, and the large-scale bombings of schools and hospitals in Syria. On this episode of The InnerView, Ahsan shares why she no longer advises junior doctors to go to Gaza, the moment that changed her forever, and what she thinks must happen before anyone can truly feel safe.

As far as 20th century tyrants go, Joseph Stalin earned his place to be ranked near the top of the pile. Tens of millions died at his hands, and while he made the Soviet Union a superpower and helped defeat the Nazis during World War II, it’s really hard to ignore or rationalize his crimes. As more and more evidence emerged over the decades the world came to see the real cost of Stalin’s rule: forced deportations, gulags, the Holodomor famine in Ukraine. In essence – suffering on an industrial scale. And yet, in some corners of the world—especially in his homeland—Stalin’s shadow still lingers, his statues still sell and his memory evokes positive emotions among many. Stalin was born Joseph Dzhugashvili, an ethnic Georgian, who would become the leader of a world empire centered in Moscow. Imran Garda heads to Georgia, where he meets Irakli Khvadagiani, a researcher at the Soviet Past Research Lab in Tbilisi, and asks: Why does the cult of Stalin still survive, and who’s keeping it alive? Then, in Stalin’s hometown of Gori, Imran joins Zhana Odiashvili, founder of the Gori Free Walking Tour, who leads him through the highs and lows of Stalin’s legacy. Zhana speaks about the scars left by Stalin’s rule, the lingering effects of the country’s 2008 war with Russia and her own complicated feelings toward the man her town can’t seem to forget.

As a small country in the Caucasus, Georgia is no stranger to being caught between Russia and Western powers. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it brought flashbacks for Georgians — of their cities being bombed, of Russian tanks rolling across their border in 2008. Memories of war and occupation. It also was a reminder that in 2008 the United States and its allies promised much, but delivered little. That geopolitical challenge facing Tbilisi has increased anxiety among the Georgian people and has renewed questions about a choice Georgians feel they need to make. In which direction do they see their future? Imran Garda travels to Georgia where he meets protesters and sits down with two politicians on opposite sides to hear their arguments: former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Georgian Dream lawmaker Levan Makhashvili. Makhashvili says the ruling party, Georgian Dream, is being pragmatic and wants to survive. Georgian Dream stands accused by opposition leaders and even its Western friends of election fraud and steering the country toward Russia. The government claims it’s all a distortion of reality. But with Russia still occupying parts of Georgian territory and the recent introduction of the controversial “foreign agents” law that Human Rights Watch calls a law designed to “extinguish critical voices” and seems to mimic similar legislation in Russia, it has pushed some young people over the edge. They have taken to the streets to say they want a clear commitment away from Russia and towards Europe. For months, waving EU flags and defying their government, thousands of Georgians have protested outside parliament against what they say is an alarming slide away from Europe—and into Russia’s shadow. Giorgi Gakharia was once Prime Minister and oversaw a clampdown on dissent when he was Interior Minister. This time around, he stands with the dissenters, saying Georgian Dream is not merely being pragmatic and has made an active decision to be anti-West. On this episode of The InnerView we listen to Gakharia's criticisms and Makhashvili’s defense of the current policy and the controversial law. Can Georgia balance its interests, and the reality of its geography? Can Georgian Dream still keep Georgia’s dream of the European Union alive without upsetting Russia?