"Like Magic Intelligence in the Cloud", 2025.05.26
Because Sam Altman hates opening his laptop, OpenAI is merging with iPhone guy Jony Ive's design firm in the name of some mysterious new ChatGPT-enabled consumer products: Alex and Emily go full Mystery Science Theater and dissect the announcement video. Plus how tech billionaires like Sam Altman mythologize San Francisco while their money makes it less livable for everyone else.References:Sam Altman and Jony Ive are merging (Video)Emplacedness, real estate, and gentrification in San FranciscoAnthropic? More like anthropomorphicKaren Hao on her new book "Empire of AI" in conversation with Alex and EmilyFresh AI Hell:Don't use ChatGPT to summon demonsAI prompts accidentally left in novels"AI" tutors are teaching fentanyl recipesxAI's data center polluting Memphis with unpermitted methane generatorsGemini's on Bluesky - block itFamily uses "AI" generated avatar to give victim impact statementThe market for "AI friends"? Lonely losersNo, LGBTESCREAL isn't a thing*****You can check out future streams at on Twitch, and send us any AI Hell you see for future episodes.Our book, The AI Con, is out! Get your copy now.Follow Emily: Bluesky/Mastodon Follow Alex: Bluesky/MastodonMusic: Toby Menon. Production: Christie Taylor. Graphic Design: Naomi PleasCheck out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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59:50
The "AI"-Enabled Immigration Panopticon (with Petra Molnar), 2025.05.05
This week, Alex and Emily talk with anthropologist and immigration lawyer Petra Molnar about the dehumanizing hype of border-enforcement tech. From hoovering up data to hunt anyone of ambiguous citizenship status, to running surveillance of physical borders themselves, "AI" tech is everywhere in the enforcement of national borders. And as companies ranging from Amazon, to NSO Group, to Palantir all profit, this widening of automation threatens a future of faceless human rights violations with no attempts at accountability of any kind.Petra Molnar is associate director of York University's Refugee Law Lab, and a faculty associate for the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She's also the author of the book The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving immigration in the age of artificial intelligence.References:Department of Homeland Security: Robot Dogs Take Another Step Towards Deployment at the BorderLeaked: Palantir’s Plan to Help ICE Deport PeopleAthens prepares to host DEFEA 2025, a major hub for international defence cooperationFresh AI Hell:Meta served teen girls beauty product ads whenever they deleted selfiesDating app/luxury surveillance leaks personal info"AI" for subway crime predictionCA used "AI" to make bar exam questionsCA using "AI" tool to bypass building permit processWildly unethical "AI persuasion" research on Reddit usersAI makeup to retouch Holocaust imagesCheck out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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1:01:58
AGI: "Imminent", "Inevitable", and Inane, 2025.04.21
Emily and Alex pore through an elaborate science fiction scenario about the "inevitability" of Artificial General Intelligence or AGI by the year 2027 - which rests atop a foundation of TESCREAL nonsense, and Sinophobia to boot.References:AI 2027Fresh AI Hell:AI persona bots for undercover copsPalantir heart eyes Keir StarmerAnti-vaxxers are grifting off the measles outbreak with AI-formulated supplementsThe cost, environmental and otherwise, of being polite to ChatGPTActors who sold voice & likeness find it used for scamsAddictive tendencies and ChatGPT (satire)Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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1:05:02
AI Hell in a Handbasket, 2025.04.14
It's been 4 months since we've cleared the backlog of Fresh AI Hell and the bullshit is coming in almost too fast to keep up with. But between a page full of awkward unicorns and a seeming slowdown in data center demand, Alex and Emily have more good news than usual to accompany this round of catharsis.AI Hell:LLM processing like human language processing (not)Jack Clark predicting AGISebastian Bubeck says predictions in "sparks" paper have already come trueWIRED puff piece on the AmodeisFoundation agents & leaning in to the computational metaphor (Fig 1, p14)Chaser: Trying to recreate the GPT unicornThe WSJ has an AI bot for all your tax questionsChatGPT libelAOL.com uses autogenerated captions about attempted murderAI coding tools fix bugs by adding bugs"We teach AGI to think, so you don't have to"(from: Turing.com)MAGA/DOGE paints teachers as glorified babysitters in push for AIChaser: How we are NOT using AI in the classroomAI benchmarks are self-promoting trash — but regulators keep using themDOGE is pushing AI tool created as "sandbox" for federal testing"Psychological profiling" based on social mediaThe tariffs and ChatGPT"I was not informed that Microsoft would sell my work to the Israeli military and government"Microsoft fires engineers who protested Israeli military use of its toolsPulling back on data centers, Microsoft editionAbandoned data centers, China editionBill Gates: 2 day workweek coming thanks to AI...replacing doctors and teachers??Chaser: Tesla glue fail schadenfreudeChaser: Let's talk about the genie tropeChaser: We finally met!!!Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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1:00:25
"AI" Agents, A Single Point of Failure (with Margaret Mitchell), 2025.03.31
After "AI" stopped meaning anything, the hype salesmen moved on to "AI" "agents", those allegedly indefatigable assistants, allegedly capable of operating your software for you -- whether you need to make a restaurant reservation, book a flight, or book a flight to a restaurant reservation. Hugging Face's Margaret Mitchell joins Emily and Alex to help break down what agents actually are, and what to actually worry about.References:PwC launches AI agent operating system to revolutionize AI workflows for enterprisesAn Open-Source AI Agent for Doing Tasks on the WebScale AI announces multimillion-dollar defense deal, a major step in U.S. military automationOther references:Why handing over total control to AI agents would be a huge mistakeFully Autonomous AI Agents Should Not be DevelopedBender vs. Bubeck: The Great Chatbot Debate: Do LLMs Really Understand?Democratize artFresh AI Hell:DOGE suggests replacing workers with "AI" (of course)Vape, or the tamagotchi gets itVia @maaikeverbruggen"AI" for psychotherapy, still bad, still hypedBiology (not) of LLMsMark Cuban's grifty chatbotVia @HypervisiblePalate cleanser: "AI is the letdown"https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/tech/apple-ai-artificial-intelligence/index.htmlComic relief: "Fortified with AI"Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this podcast, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science from bloviation. They're joined by special guests and talk about everything, from machine consciousness to science fiction, to political economy to art made by machines.
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