How should we navigate a world in which anxieties about AI, climate change and capitalism collide? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi speaks with Helen Phillips, author of Hum and the second-ever winner of the Climate Fiction Prize. Rathi asks Phillips how she’s transformed her anxieties into captivating prose, how her relationship to technology has changed through writing and what humanity loses out on if we rely on AI too much.

Past episodes of Zero’s Imagine series:
Abi Dare on finding the best climate stories 
Julia Wolfe on How Music can Inspire Climate Action
George Saunders on Climate Guilt, AI and Critical Thinking
Kim Stanley Robison on Abundance, Adequacy and Better Climate Futures
Artist Monira Al Qadiri on the End of Oil

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

How should we navigate a world in which anxieties about AI, climate change and capitalism collide? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi speaks with Helen Phillips, author of Hum and the second-ever winner of the Climate Fiction Prize. Rathi asks Phillips how she&rsquo;s transformed her anxieties into captivating prose, how her relationship to technology has changed through writing and what humanity loses out on if we rely on AI too much.
Past episodes of Zero&rsquo;s Imagine series:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2026-03-11/zero-the-best-climate-stories-are-not-where-you-think-podcast">Abi Dare on finding the best climate stories&nbsp;</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-02-14/julia-wolfe-on-how-music-can-inspire-climate-action">Julia Wolfe on How Music can Inspire Climate Action</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-29/george-saunders-on-climate-guilt-ai-and-critical-thinking">George Saunders on Climate Guilt, AI and Critical Thinking</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-02/abundance-or-adequacy-the-search-for-better-climate-futures">Kim Stanley Robison on Abundance, Adequacy and Better Climate Futures</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-18/bloomberg-zero-podcast-artist-monira-al-qadiri-on-the-end-of-oil">Artist Monira Al Qadiri on the End of Oil</a></li>
</ul>
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Summer Maxwell, Sommer Saadi, Alyssa McDonald and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">https://www.bloomberg.com/green</a>.

Zero is about the tactics and technologies taking us to a world of zero emissions. Each week Bloomberg’s award-winning reporter Akshat Rathi talks to the people tackling climate change – a venture capitalist hunting for the best cleantech investment, scientists starting companies, politicians who have successfully created climate laws, and CEOs who have completely transformed their businesses. The road to zero emissions has many paths and everyone’s got an opinion about the best route. Listen in.

Zero: The Climate Race

Zero

When AI and climate anxieties collide to make beautiful stories: Imagine Series

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f5875b10-7aa1-4c52-865a-b49600d25825/transcript