
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
- Episodios
- 91
- Se publica
- cada dos semanas
- Último episodio
- 10 Nov 2026
Sobre el podcast
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.
Participantes
Episodios 91
Sports Are About Bodies, Not Bots, 2026.11.02
FIFA wants teams to use "AI coaches," colleges are incorporating LLMs into student sports journalism, and that's just the beginning of the ways AI boosters are infiltrating athletics. Sports journalist and …
Notas del episodio
FIFA wants teams to use "AI coaches," colleges are incorporating LLMs into student sports journalism, and that's just the beginning of the ways AI boosters are infiltrating athletics. Sports journalist and professor Shireen Ahmed joins Alex and Emily for a closer look at what's lost when we cede sports knowledge to genAI.
Shireen Ahmed is an award-winning, multiplatform sports journalist who works at the intersections of race, gender, culture and politics. She's a co-host of the Burn It All Down podcast, and teaches journalism and sport media at Toronto Metropolitan University.
References:
- "This Will Be The First World Cup Ever With AI Coaches On The Sidelines"
- "WSU turns to artificial intelligence to assist sports communications"
- "'I'm all in on Claude' - Joe Mazzulla admits he uses AI every day to help coach the Celtics"
Also referenced:
- "WNBA fans hate AI but the league is embracing it anyway"
- "The Relationship Between AI and Women’s Sports"
- MAIHT3k Episode 45: Billionaires, Influencers, and Ed Tech (feat. Adrienne Williams)
Fresh AI Hell:
- "We can't just change the definition of 'recording'"
- Pervert glasses ban on the table in Norway
- Daron Acemoglu rejects "stochastic parrots" framing
- Google imposing Gemini on K-12 students
- Altman: Don't waste RAM on personal computing devices
- Google software still regularly doing racism
- Author fan mail scammers turn out to be trafficked people
- "Denmark Publishes Emergency Grid Law That Puts Data Centers Last"
Reserve your spot at DAIR's 5th Anniversary celebration here!
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.My Tech Workers Have Unionized, 2026.10.05
Across the tech industry, workers are fed up with endless layoff cycles, overwork, and "AI" tools being forced into their jobs. And their bosses hate to hear it! Emily and Alex are joined by JS Tan and Clarissa …
Notas del episodio
Across the tech industry, workers are fed up with endless layoff cycles, overwork, and "AI" tools being forced into their jobs. And their bosses hate to hear it! Emily and Alex are joined by JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine, the authors of Against Tech Oligarchy, to discuss the ways workplace organizing is evolving to meet this moment.
JS Tan is getting his PhD at MIT and formerly worked in tech, where he spent years organizing across the industry. Clarissa Redwine helped organize the Kickstarter union, and cofounded and runs the annual tech organizing conference Circuit Breakers. Their book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry, is available now!
References:
- Amazon finds cases of AI causing runaway spending on tech projects
- Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded.
Fresh AI Hell:
- ICE x Boston Dynamics
- "OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft"
- Effective Altruists mad about someone "torturing LLMs"
- Former Seattle City Council president launches centrist slop website
- Palate cleanser: "New AI Literacy Program Awards Students Free Pizza If They Don’t Know How to Read Books Anymore"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Big Tech Colon-AI-lism, 2026.09.15
This week, Alex and Emily are joined by Keoni Mahelona of Te Hiku Media to discuss Indigenous language technology. They discuss problems that arise when Big Tech tries to bring its "solutions" into this space …
Notas del episodio
This week, Alex and Emily are joined by Keoni Mahelona of Te Hiku Media to discuss Indigenous language technology. They discuss problems that arise when Big Tech tries to bring its "solutions" into this space, and best practices for research and development that center the expertise, cultural norms and goals of Indigenous communities.
Keoni Mahelona is the CTO of Te Hiku Media and a Native Hawaiian from the island of Kaua'i. He's a driving force behind the development of sovereign digital technologies that aim to protect and promote Indigenous languages, knowledge, culture, and now democracy.
References:
- Microsoft/IDB paper: "The Performance of Artificial Intelligence in the Use of Indigenous American Languages"
Also referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
- "Apple Watch's new always-on don't-call-it-transcription feature"
- Nevada County prosecutors use "AI" and insert errors into criminal cases
- UW Grand Rounds: "If AI Can Write the Note, Who Does the Thinking?"
- The "Pro-Human Assembly"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Manifesting the End of Tech Bro Manifestos, 2026.09.08
Last month, Sam Altman proclaimed that we're already in "the Singularity." Not to be outdone, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have both recently come out with lengthy blog posts about "superhuman AI." Emily …
Notas del episodio
Last month, Sam Altman proclaimed that we're already in "the Singularity." Not to be outdone, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have both recently come out with lengthy blog posts about "superhuman AI." Emily and Alex brave some truly terrible writing to unearth the core motivations at the heart of these screeds.
References:
- Gates: "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical."
- Also referenced: "Impulse Purchase" by OK Go
- Zuckerberg: "The Future is for Everyone"
Fresh AI Hell:
- Tristan Buckmaster's statement on OpenAI trying to take credit for his work
- Also referenced: Emily's debate with Sébastien Bubeck
- Nature article worrying about impact of LLMs on language change for all the wrong reasons
- Palate cleanser: NYC bans "AI" in schools
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.- Gates: "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical."
Working 9 to Hype, 2026.08.10
In the past year, tech companies have laid off thousands of employees. But when CEOs blame "AI innovation," they're redirecting attention from something much more predictable: job discrimination and …
Notas del episodio
In the past year, tech companies have laid off thousands of employees. But when CEOs blame "AI innovation," they're redirecting attention from something much more predictable: job discrimination and gig-ification. Emily and Alex examine some narratives of AI-streamlined workplaces — and why they don't match up with reality.
References:
- Block press release: "From Hierarchy to Intelligence"
- "Lawsuit claims Meta's layoff decisions were made by AI, not humans"
Fresh AI Hell:
- "OpenAI’s latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say"
- Also referenced: Leiden Declaration
- "AI Assisted Autism Screening"
- Weird comparison of "AI" emissions to other data center activity
- Paved paradise and put up a data center
- "What if you just talked to your children"
- Palate cleanser: US judge holds DOGE accountable for output they took from ChatGPT
- Palate cleanser: Data center opposition momentum
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Rumors of a Singularity Have Been Grossly Exaggerated, 2026.08.03
In the wake of OpenAI's announcement that its products caused a "cyber incident," Sam Altman is now claiming that we're already in the Singularity. And some media outlets are only too happy to help …
Notas del episodio
In the wake of OpenAI's announcement that its products caused a "cyber incident," Sam Altman is now claiming that we're already in the Singularity. And some media outlets are only too happy to help him advance that narrative! Alex and Emily tear up the AI boosters' latest claims of mathy maths combusting into consciousness.
References:
- Business Insider: "Sam Altman says we are in the singularity: 'This is the moment'"
- Also referenced: Altman on the Relentless podcast
- Wall Street Journal: "How the Futuristic Hack by Rogue OpenAI Models Unfolded"
- MacAskill op ed in the Guardian: "Could AI be conscious?"
- Also referenced: Emily's Bluesky thread
Fresh AI Hell:
- Google kills AlphaFold
- "Former executive accuses Mayo of cutting corners on AI research"
- Amazon wants to use Twitch streams to train gen AI
- "Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, lawsuit claims"
- Meta contaminates water in Cheyenne
- "Humanoid robot teaching assistant"
- AI companies buying and destroying antique books
- Palate cleanser: Mathematicians clap back
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.- Business Insider: "Sam Altman says we are in the singularity: 'This is the moment'"
Who's Responsible for "Responsible AI"?, 2026.07.06
Lately, a new framework has been creeping into AI boosterism: "harm reduction," or "responsible use." Education technology scholar dr. sava saheli singh joins Alex and Emily to unpack narratives around …
Notas del episodio
Lately, a new framework has been creeping into AI boosterism: "harm reduction," or "responsible use." Education technology scholar dr. sava saheli singh joins Alex and Emily to unpack narratives around automation inevitability in the classroom. Spoiler alert: they're not actually "reducing harm" to students at all!
An interdisciplinary scholar and filmmaker, sava is currently working on a research project examining secondary school teachers’ experiences of genAI use, and making a film about the future of AI in education. Her speculative short film series on the harms of surveillance technology is available at screeningsurveillance.com.
References:
- "Harm Reduction: A Strategy to Mitigate the Risks of AI"
- Also referenced: MAIHT3k newsletter, "How to talk about 'AI' without adding to the anthropomorphization"
- UNESCO "AI competency framework for students"
Fresh AI Hell:
- Hallucination rebranded as "critical confabulation"
- "Pennsylvania Board of Medicine Alleges Unlawful Practice of Medicine by an AI Chatbot"
- "Google's smart home AI will be able to use clothing to identify people"
- "Medicare AI program made them suffer in pain. Now they want answers"
- "Why do these Castro gay bars have TSA-style face scanners?"
- "County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to 'Conserve Electricity'"
- Palate cleanser: "Florida AG sues OpenAI, seeks to hold CEO Altman personally liable"
- Palate cleanser: "Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary school"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.- "Harm Reduction: A Strategy to Mitigate the Risks of AI"
State of Emergency, 2026.06.29
AI boosters want to hand off emergency services to the bullshit generators. And horrifyingly, some medical professionals want to help them! Join Emily and Alex for a deep dive on the latest automated horrors …
Notas del episodio
AI boosters want to hand off emergency services to the bullshit generators. And horrifyingly, some medical professionals want to help them! Join Emily and Alex for a deep dive on the latest automated horrors threatening our collective health and safety.
References:
- "The role of large language models in emergency care: a comprehensive benchmarking study"
- "Seattle uses AI to help triage, divert 911 medical calls"
- Also referenced: MAIHT3k newsletter on Seattle's 911 automation
- "FDA approves early warning system for sepsis"
- Also referenced: Underlying research paper on this system
Fresh AI Hell:
- Family business stops shipping due to automated delivery nonsense
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says people aren't "evolved" enough to understand AI
- "California judges are testing a new AI clerk, and you won't know if it’s looking at your case"
- Nonconsensual "AI monitors" for memory care
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the goal is Star Trek computer and/or R2D2
- "A little surveillance break, as a treat"
- "Virtual child" chatbot company
- Chaser: Festus, MO residents vote out council members who approved data center
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.When the Bubble Bursts (with Matt Scherer), 2026.06.01
What should we do when the "AI" bubble pops? Emily and Alex are joined by researcher Matt Scherer, who recently published a report called "No Bailout for Big Tech Billionaires: Policies for when the AI bubble …
Notas del episodio
What should we do when the "AI" bubble pops? Emily and Alex are joined by researcher Matt Scherer, who recently published a report called "No Bailout for Big Tech Billionaires: Policies for when the AI bubble bursts." They unpack what the boosters are saying about their finances, and how we can all push back against arguments for a government bailout.
Matt Scherer is a fellow at the anti-monopoly think tank Open Markets Institute. He previously led the workers' rights project at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
References:
- Forbes: "AI Can Change The World And Still Be A Bubble"
- Also referenced: Is AI Profitable Yet?
- CNBC: "Altman says some investors will be left 'very burnt'"
- CNBC: "Bezos brushes off concerns of an AI bubble: 'You shouldn’t worry about it'
Fresh AI Hell:
- Empty Waymos create self-driving traffic jam
- "AA digital sponsor"
- Stanford researchers claim "AI agents...embrace Marxist ideologies"
- "Chatbots at the drive-thru"
- YouGov polling on automated juries
- Chaser: Erin Brockovich is on the case!
- AI Startup Says It Will Pay People $2,000 a Month to Masturbate
- Chaser: You used which brush!?
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.- Forbes: "AI Can Change The World And Still Be A Bubble"
Beware the 20x Engineer, 2026.05.11
"Sure, LLMs are bad at some things, but you can't deny that they're useful for programming!" Sound familiar? In this week's episode, Emily and Alex break down the key myths around AI-boosted …
Notas del episodio
"Sure, LLMs are bad at some things, but you can't deny that they're useful for programming!" Sound familiar? In this week's episode, Emily and Alex break down the key myths around AI-boosted productivity in tech. Plus, Alex previews her work with DAIR's newly launched Luddite Lab, where workers are organizing against automation.
References:
- Yale Budget Lab report: "What Might AI Adoption Mean for the Fiscal and Economic Outlook?"
- Also referenced: Karger et al. paper funded by Open Philanthropy
- Garry Tan’s gstack
- "Karpathy-Inspired Claude Code Guidelines"
Previous MAIHT3k episodes referenced:
- Episode 60: Vibe Coding: Four Security Nightmares in a Trenchcoat (with Susanna Cox)
- Episode 53: Linguists Versus 'AI' Speech Analysis (with Nicole Holliday)
Fresh AI Hell:
- Emotional surveillance at work
- DARPA call for proposals on "Decentralized Artificial Intelligence"
- CircleCI claims "the promised AI productivity boom isn’t all hype"
- Andreessen is at it again
- "A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed"
- Retraction of pro-edtech paper
- Chaser: "Minnesota passes the nation’s first ban on ‘nudification’ apps"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.- Yale Budget Lab report: "What Might AI Adoption Mean for the Fiscal and Economic Outlook?"
Bernie Goes Down the X-Risk Rabbithole (with Dr. Nathalie Maréchal), 2026.05.04
Senator Bernie Sanders recently hosted a panel on "The Existential Threat of AI," featuring Future of Life Institute co-founder Max Tegmark and other x-riskers. Dr. Nathalie Maréchal joins Emily and Alex to …
Notas del episodio
Senator Bernie Sanders recently hosted a panel on "The Existential Threat of AI," featuring Future of Life Institute co-founder Max Tegmark and other x-riskers. Dr. Nathalie Maréchal joins Emily and Alex to unpack this latest stop on Bernie's descent into doomerism. We return to the MST3k model with a rare video artifact!
Nathalie Maréchal is a writer, researcher and advocate fighting for democracy and human rights in the age of technofascism. Her latest article, "Tech Policy Is on the Front Line of Fascism vs. Democracy. Pick a Side," is available in Tech Policy Press. She is currently the managing policy director at Northeastern University’s Institute for Information, the Internet, and Democracy.
References:
Fresh AI Hell:
- "The AI Pledge for Humanity" petition
- Richard Dawkins force-femmes a chatbot
- Anthropic claims LLMs have "emotion concepts"
- Palantir wants us all to stop being mean to data centers
- "Optimizing LLM costs by inventing employees again"
- Luxury surveillance cat
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.LIVE: Anthropic Imagines a Very Special Boy, 2026.04.30
Last month, we recorded our very first in-person podcast, live from Brooklyn! Alex and Emily debunk an especially soulless hype artifact about Anthropic's absurd claims of "moral education" for chatbots …
Notas del episodio
Last month, we recorded our very first in-person podcast, live from Brooklyn! Alex and Emily debunk an especially soulless hype artifact about Anthropic's absurd claims of "moral education" for chatbots. Tune in to hear our rendition of "There Was A Society That Swallowed AI," plus other fun surprises!
References:
Fresh AI Hell:
- NYC schools "Guidance on Artificial Intelligence"
- "Therapy App Sessions Exposed in Court"
- Meta to track "employee mouse movements, keystrokes for AI training data"
- News org uses real journalist names on synthetic text
- "New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations"
- "The first agentic cannabis device"
- TikTok auto–opts in users for "AI" remixes
- Oberlin students push back on "Year of AI Exploration"
- "This is just to say / I have turned off / the AI features"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Hotter Than (AI) Hell, 2026.04.20
The weather’s getting warmer, so what better time to take a trip to the hottest place in the universe — Fresh AI Hell! Emily and Alex take a spin through more than 30 hype artifacts, with topics including …
Notas del episodio
The weather’s getting warmer, so what better time to take a trip to the hottest place in the universe — Fresh AI Hell! Emily and Alex take a spin through more than 30 hype artifacts, with topics including medicine, data centers, and fake people.
Fresh AI Hell regions visited:
- AI bubble + data centers
- Fake people
- Medicine
- This is your brain on ChatGPT
- Policy + privacy
See the show notes on Peertube for a full list of artifacts referenced.
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.There's No Ghost in the Machine (with Carmen Maria Machado), 2026.04.13
Why are some writers and publishers so excited to automate their work? Author Carmen Maria Machado joins Alex and Emily to unpack what writers are missing when they hand off their work to chatbots, and the …
Notas del episodio
Why are some writers and publishers so excited to automate their work? Author Carmen Maria Machado joins Alex and Emily to unpack what writers are missing when they hand off their work to chatbots, and the underlying issues this reveals in the publishing industry. Plus, we resolve to keep fan fiction a human endeavor!
Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, The Believer, Guernica, and elsewhere.
Find tickets to our April 30th live show here!
References:
- "I wrote a novel using AI. Writers must accept artificial intelligence."
- AFT shares tips for "Harnessing the Best of AI"
Fresh AI Hell:
- "With Teens Comfortable Confiding in AI, Should Schools Embrace It for Mental Health Care?"
- Longread on the use of automation by the British government
- "OpenAI Backs Bill That Would Limit Liability for AI-Enabled Mass Deaths or Financial Disasters"
- UN brief on "AI Deception"
- Reader's Digest cover on "Making Friends with AI"
- The only good "AI acceptance" policyCheck out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Uber for Military Surveillance (with Niamh McIntyre), 2026.03.30
The people who make automated translation possible are often low-paid gig workers. Usually, they don't even know who they're really working for — and it might be the US military. Reporter Niamh …
Notas del episodio
The people who make automated translation possible are often low-paid gig workers. Usually, they don't even know who they're really working for — and it might be the US military. Reporter Niamh McIntyre joins Alex and Emily to dissect how one data labeling company presents its work, based her investigation into the experiences of East African employees.
Niamh McIntyre is a senior reporter at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) in London, covering AI, labor, and surveillance tech. She was 2023 AI Accountability Fellow at the Pulitzer Center, and prior to joining TBIJ, spent four years as a data journalist at The Guardian.
Find tickets to our April 30th live show here!
References:
Also referenced:
- "Gig workers in Africa have been helping the US military. They had no idea"
- DAIR's Data Workers' Inquiry
Fresh AI Hell:
- Marc Andreessen says "there is no inner self"
- Rest of World call for stories on labor and tech
- Detrans.AI wants you to talk to fake detransitioners
- Melania proposes catwalking robot as replacement for teachers
- Microsoft sidelines Mustafa Suleyman
- Andrej Karpathy cooked by LLM usage
- "Sorry AI, you can't call yourself a nurse"
- Volunteer fire department rejects $250,000 Google donation
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Data Centers Go Nuclear (with Maia Woluchem and Dr. Livia Garofalo), 2026.03.09
We knew that the energy demands of data centers were preventing dirty energy sources from being sunsetted. Now hyperscalers are reaching even further, resurrecting Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile …
Notas del episodio
We knew that the energy demands of data centers were preventing dirty energy sources from being sunsetted. Now hyperscalers are reaching even further, resurrecting Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile Island. Emily and Alex are joined by Maia Woluchem and Dr. Livia Garofalo, who have researched the impacts of data center construction across PA.
Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo are with the Trustworthy Infrastructures program at Data & Society. Their latest article, "Pennsylvania is perfect," is part of the New Internationalist's AI–themed issue.
References:
- Three Mile Island press release
- Sen. McCormick on AI investments in PA
- McCormick's wife Meta president
Fresh AI Hell:
- Amazon data center targeted by Iran
- "AI-powered bombing quicker than 'speed of thought'"
- Meta's AI glasses use human reviewers (See also: original Swedish reporting)
- Bernie posts video with Yudkowsky
- Grammarly offers fake advice as if from real writers
- Google data center water estimates
- "AI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Intensifies It"
- High schooler questions surveillance
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Data Centers in Space!? (with Dr. Adam Becker), 2026.03.02
Data centers are overburdening the planet, so tech billionaires have a new scheme — put 'em in space! Astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker joins Alex and Emily to launch this plan into the sun. We unpack all the …
Notas del episodio
Data centers are overburdening the planet, so tech billionaires have a new scheme — put 'em in space! Astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker joins Alex and Emily to launch this plan into the sun. We unpack all the reasons that this hilariously terrible idea will never be viable outside of sci-fi-villain fantasies.
Dr. Adam Becker is the author of More Everything Forever, a book about the terrible plans that tech billionaires have for the future and why they don’t work. Keep an eye out for his new podcast, Dreaming Against the Machine, which is launching soon.
References:
- SpaceX press release on "space-based AI"
- "How data centres in space sustainably enable the AI revolution"
Also referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
- Judge rules chatbots can't offer attorney-client privilege
- "RFK Jr's Nutrition Chatbot Recommends Best Foods to Insert Into Your Rectum"
- AI company seeks writer who doesn't use LLMs
- Altman likens AI energy use to human nutritional needs
- SXSW promoting panel with "AI speaker"
- The agent-erati just want servants
- News editor mad that journalism students don't want to use AI
- Simple rules for fighting fascist tech
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.How the War Department Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI (with Naomi Klein), 2026.02.09
AI boosters and the US military are engaged in a lethal love affair. Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein joins Emily and Alex to discuss how glitchy technology supports global imperialism — and vice versa …
Notas del episodio
AI boosters and the US military are engaged in a lethal love affair. Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein joins Emily and Alex to discuss how glitchy technology supports global imperialism — and vice versa. Plus, we explore which Dr. Strangelove characters are currently running the US war machine.
Naomi Klein is a columnist for The Guardian and the international bestselling author of nine books published in over 35 languages. Her new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World, written with Astra Taylor, will be published in September 2026.
References:- War Department press release on GenAI.mil
- Old-school racism from Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey
- "How artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of war"
Previous episodes referenced:
- Episode 61: Winning the Race to Hell (with Sarah Myers West and Kate Brennan)
- Episode 50: Petro-Masculinity Versus the Planet (with Tamara Kneese)
Fresh AI Hell:
- "Cops Forced to Explain Why AI Generated Police Report Claimed Officer Transformed Into Frog"
- "Amazon outbids WA utility for one of nation's largest solar projects"
- "AI data centers are forcing dirty 'peaker' power plants back into service"
- "Mamdani Targets 'Unusable' AI Chatbot for Termination"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.A Bad Case of Hype-itis, 2026.02.02
Move over Dr. Google, Dr. ChatGPT is here, and it's even worse as a medical intervention! Alex and Emily scrub in to slice up some harmful new nonsense in the world of "AI" for medicine. What's the …
Notas del episodio
Move over Dr. Google, Dr. ChatGPT is here, and it's even worse as a medical intervention! Alex and Emily scrub in to slice up some harmful new nonsense in the world of "AI" for medicine. What's the cure for an expensive and inaccessible health care system? One thing's for sure — it's not AI hype.
References:Also referenced:
- "No, I don't want an AI scribe to write my pulmonologist’s note"
- "The Danger of Intimate Algorithms"
- MAIHT3k Episode 62: The Robo-Therapist Will See You Now (with Maggie Harrison Dupré)
Fresh AI Hell:
- Waymo files vague NHTSA report on crash that killed KitKat (See also: NHTSA Standing General Order on Crash Reporting)
- "Medical Schools Use AI Patients to Help With Clinical Training"
- "What If Your Coffee Mug Knew Your Next Move? AI Researchers Made It Happen"
- "Monkeys are on the loose in St. Louis and AI is complicating efforts to capture them"
- Using LLMs to "infer race, ethnicity"
- Tech CEOs hate ridicule as praxis!
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Hell All the Way Down, 2022–2025
This is a special episode, and it’s not like our usual livestream recordings. Instead, our producer Ozzy dug through the Fresh AI Hell archives to create a supercut of Alex's improvised transitions …
Notas del episodio
This is a special episode, and it’s not like our usual livestream recordings. Instead, our producer Ozzy dug through the Fresh AI Hell archives to create a supercut of Alex's improvised transitions. She's made up dozens of skits and songs about the demons of AI Hell, based on weekly prompts from Emily and listeners. Finally, hear all the lore together in one place!
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Wrapping Up a Hellish 2025, 2025.12.15
For our last recording of 2025, Emily and Alex take on a TIME article naming the "architects of AI" as their person of the year. We also look back at the year in AI nonsense, and share findings from our Fresh …
Notas del episodio
For our last recording of 2025, Emily and Alex take on a TIME article naming the "architects of AI" as their person of the year. We also look back at the year in AI nonsense, and share findings from our Fresh AI Hell Wrapped. Happy Hype-y New Year!
References:
Also referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
- Fresh AI Hell, Wrapped
- Adobe for Education outputs sexualized images
- "'Low Tech ChatGPT' on physical paper"
- "Springer Nature retracts, removes nearly 40 publications that trained neural networks on 'bonkers' dataset"
- Hologram lecturers and robot sandwich-makers
- "'ChatGPT for Doctors' Startup Doubles Valuation to $12 Billion as Revenue Surges"
- No more ideas. Need AIdeas!
- "For the First Time, AI Analyzes Language as Well as a Human Expert"
- "Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man’s Meta Smart Glasses on Subway"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Defining AGI: Oops! All Eugenics, 2025.12.08
There's a new definition of artificial general intelligence in town, and unsurprisingly... it's bad! Alex and Emily rip up the tissue-paper-thin premises behind this latest attempt to define …
Notas del episodio
There's a new definition of artificial general intelligence in town, and unsurprisingly... it's bad! Alex and Emily rip up the tissue-paper-thin premises behind this latest attempt to define "intelligence." Plus, we discover that AI hypers love using logos that look like buttholes.
References:
- "A Definition of AGI" landing page and paper-shaped object
Fresh AI Hell:
- "What If Sea Monkeys Constantly, Sometimes Dangerously, Bullshitted People"
- Doctronic, the "AI doctor"
- NIST reports companies cheat on "AI" evaluations
- "Microsoft Lowers Sales Staff's Growth Targets For Newer AI Software"
- "PEN Guild wins landmark arbitration on AI protections"
- "AI" assistant pop-up whack-a-mole
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.This is What Algo-cracy Looks Like, 2025.12.01
Tech leaders are pushing the idea that automation can strengthen democracy — but as usual, their bold suggestions are based on castles made of sand. Alex and Emily tear down some flimsy arguments for AI …
Notas del episodio
Tech leaders are pushing the idea that automation can strengthen democracy — but as usual, their bold suggestions are based on castles made of sand. Alex and Emily tear down some flimsy arguments for AI governance, exposing their incorrect assumptions about the democratic process.
References:
Also referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
- Amazon introduces AI translation for Kindle authors
- Nature op ed recommends AI versions of Einstein, Bohr, and Feynman
- An AI Podcasting Machine Is Churning Out 3,000 Episodes a Week
- AI dating café to open in New York
- Recipe slop flooding social media
- AI slop about Autism published in Nature
- Upwork ad for fixing LLM editorial
- "Hundreds of Chicago residents sign petition to pause robot delivery pilot program over safety concerns"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.You Talked to Workers for This Labor Research... Right? (with Sophie Song), 2025.11.17
Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins …
Notas del episodio
Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins us to unpack the issues when self-professed worker advocates use chatbots for "research."
Sophie Song is a researcher, organizer, and advocate working at the intersection of tech and social justice. They’re a research associate at DAIR, where they're working with Alex on building the Luddite Lab Resource Hub.
References:
- Senate report: AI and Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade
- Senator Sanders' AI Report Ignores the Data on AI and Inequality
Also referenced:
- MAIHT3k Episode 25: An LLM Says LLMs Can Do Your Job
- Humlum paper: Large Language Models, Small Labor Market Effects
- Emily's blog post: Scholarship should be open, inclusive and slow
Fresh AI Hell:
- Tech companies compelling vibe coding
- arXiv is overwhelmed by LLM slop
- 'Godfather of AI' says tech giants can't profit from their astronomical investments unless human labor is replaced
- If you want to satiate AI’s hunger for power, Google suggests going to space
- AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
- Gen AI campaign against ranked choice voting
- Chaser: Workplace AI Implementation Bingo
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Drag It All To Hell, 2025.10.27
It's been six months since our last all-Hell episode! In honor of Halloween season, we take a long journey into the very scary Fresh AI Hell mines. Topics include terrifying uses of AI in education …
Notas del episodio
It's been six months since our last all-Hell episode! In honor of Halloween season, we take a long journey into the very scary Fresh AI Hell mines. Topics include terrifying uses of AI in education, scientific research, and politics — plus, some delicious palate cleansers along the way.
AI bubble: bigger than dot-com bust?
No one wants to pay for ChatGPT
Meta lays off 600 from AI unit
AI data centers: an even bigger disaster than we thought
Public universities anticipate data center-driven power outages
Chaser: Deloitte has to pay back Albanese government after using AI in report
"AI" schools are "dead classrooms"
Fake sources in "ethical AI" education report
Parents letting kids play with AI
Startup sells 'synthetic influencers'
AI-powered textbooks fail to make the grade
Chaser: "High-reliability" AI slop
Nature offers "AI-powered research assistant"
AI bots wrote all papers at this conference
AI medical tools downplay symptoms in women and POC
Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT
Chaser: Microsoft blocks Israel's use of its technology
German initiative uses "AI" for voter education
Police gunshot detection mics will listen for human voices
SF's AI chatbot for RV dwellers
Cuomo campaign posts racist AI slop
DHS Ordered OpenAI To Share User Data
Chaser: LA County moves to limit license plate tracking
"AI Superintelligence" prohibition letter
Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery
Chaser: The hot new trend in marketing: hating on AI
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Crunching the Numbers (with Decca Muldowney), 2025.10.20
So-called AI tools are increasingly infiltrating newsrooms, particularly when it comes to data analysis. DAIR writer-in-residence Decca Muldowney joins us to discuss the need for journalists to distinguish …
Notas del episodio
So-called AI tools are increasingly infiltrating newsrooms, particularly when it comes to data analysis. DAIR writer-in-residence Decca Muldowney joins us to discuss the need for journalists to distinguish between "AI" and reliable, verifiable research methods.
Decca Muldowney is a journalist and writer who was our fact checker for The AI Con. She's also a writer-in-residence and web editor at the Distributed AI Research Institute.
References:- An early AI pioneer shares how the "vibe coding" revolution could reshape data journalism
- America's top companies keep talking about AI — but can't explain the upsides
- Analysis: 96.2% of Climate News Stories Don't Cover Animal Agriculture as a Pollution Source
Fresh AI Hell:
- Teen Sues Maker of Fake-Nude Software
- ChatGPT's Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
- GitLaw announces "Vibe Lawyering"
- Salesforce Offers Its Services to Boost Trump’s Immigration Force
- Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.
- Rent a Cyber Friend will pay you to talk to strangers online
- The Wire's David Simon is over it
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Building Worlds Through Better Reading (with Reo Eveleth), 2025.09.29
Powerful AI boosters claim to love science fiction novels, but why do they always seem to take the wrong lessons from them? Reporter and writer Reo Eveleth joins us to discuss the ways tech leaders misuse …
Notas del episodio
Powerful AI boosters claim to love science fiction novels, but why do they always seem to take the wrong lessons from them? Reporter and writer Reo Eveleth joins us to discuss the ways tech leaders misuse storytelling, and how we can avoid their visions to imagine better futures.
Reo Eveleth is a reporter, writer, and co-founder of COYOTE Media Collective. They created the hit independent show Flash Forward, which they also turned into a book of the same name. Reo’s work has been nominated for a Peabody, an Emmy, and an Eisner Award.
References:- Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real
- How New Science Fiction Could Help Us Improve AI
Also Referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
- Stop Worrying About AI’s Return on Investment
- The most radical act of feminism? Using AI
- Leader of Albania Pelted With Trash for Appointing AI-Powered Minister to Cabinet
- The Human Cost of Every ChatGPT Query: Inside the Cobalt Mines That Power AI
- Altman on "AGI" and quantum gravity
- OK Go - Impulse Purchase
Correction: We misstated Lee Ostertag's name during the livestream for this episode. We apologize for the error!
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Three Years of Ridicule as Praxis, 2025.09.19
It's Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000's third birthday! To celebrate, Emily and Alex respond to listener questions about the show, and reflect on the past and future of AI hype. Topics range from how to …
Notas del episodio
It's Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000's third birthday! To celebrate, Emily and Alex respond to listener questions about the show, and reflect on the past and future of AI hype. Topics range from how to talk to your kids about LLMs, to what the MAIHT3k birthday cake looks like.
Artifacts referenced:
AI and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Benchmark
Alex and Emily’s media appearances about The AI Con
Emily and Alex on The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan
Emily’s interview with Dr. Carl Rhodes
Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire
October 21st event for The AI Con
FAccT AI Workers’ Inquiry Panel
Emily’s presentation at UNESCO Digital Learning Week — Paper version on pp.41-45 here
A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.
Fresh AI Hell:
Meet the Robot Using AI to Ink Your Next Tattoo
Medicare Will Start Paying AI Companies a Share of Any Claims They Automatically Reject
Can AI doulas improve maternal health?
Countries are struggling to meet the rising energy demands of data centers
Bluesky post about Business Insider
OpenAI has reportedly misjudged its cash burn by $80 billion
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.The Robo-Therapist Will See You Now (with Maggie Harrison Dupré), 2025.08.18
Talking to chatbots can have serious mental health consequences — fueling delusions and leading users away from consensus reality. Futurism writer Maggie Harrison Dupré joins us to unpack the hype around AI …
Notas del episodio
Talking to chatbots can have serious mental health consequences — fueling delusions and leading users away from consensus reality. Futurism writer Maggie Harrison Dupré joins us to unpack the hype around AI therapists, based on her groundbreaking reporting on "AI psychosis."
Maggie Harrison Dupré is an award-winning tech journalist at Futurism who’s reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping media, information, humans, and our real and digital lives.
References:
How AI Is Expanding The Mental Health Market
He Had Dangerous Delusions. ChatGPT Admitted It Made Them Worse.
OpenAI: What we're optimizing ChatGPT for
Also referenced:
Gov Pritzker Signs Legislation Prohibiting AI Therapy in Illinois
People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions
Stanford: New study warns of risks in AI mental health tools
Fresh AI Hell:
Bluesky post about DEI by chatbot
How AI is being used by police departments to help draft reports
UK Asks People to Delete Emails In Order to Save Water During Drought
Sam Altman says 'yes,' AI is in a bubble
Google's AI pointed him to a customer service number. It was a scam.
Mastodon post about Dieter Roth's Literaturwürste
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.Winning the Race to Hell (with Sarah Myers West and Kate Brennan), 2025.08.04
Trump’s “AI Action Plan” is his latest attempt to turn AI hype into official national policy. Kate Brennan and Sarah Myers West, of the AI Now Institute, join us to dig through this pile of deregulatory gifts …
Notas del episodio
Trump’s “AI Action Plan” is his latest attempt to turn AI hype into official national policy. Kate Brennan and Sarah Myers West, of the AI Now Institute, join us to dig through this pile of deregulatory gifts to Big Tech.
Dr. Sarah Myers West is co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, and a former senior advisor on AI for the FTC.
Dr. Kate Brennan is associate director of the AI Now Institute, where she spearheads their policy work, informed by a doctorate in law and years of experience in the tech industry.
References:
Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan
Also referenced:
Fresh AI Hell:
Medical Pros Risk Malpractice Suits by Avoiding AI Innovation
AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’
The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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 Ozzy Llinas Goodman.
Aquí están los 40 episodios más recientes de 91. Los anteriores están en el feed del podcast.
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