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.

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.

"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.