Fast & Broken

Carly Rector

Two friends from the internet try to make sense of what startup culture is doing to the world. Carly Rector is a software engineer and startup founder. Each week, she discusses current events with Teresa Kramer, TTRPG product manager and semi-professional voice actor. Their shared history lets them bridge the gap between online creative communities and the tech world with an empathetic but critical perspective.

  1. 22 HR AGO

    Emotional B.O.: US TikTok Issues, Social Media Addiction Suits, Is OpenAI Losing the Race?

    Sign the petition to call on tech leaders to speak out against ICE and Border Patrol's actions in Minnesota: https://iceout.tech/ This week we discuss accusations of censorship by the newly-divested US TikTok, landmark lawsuits using a product safety argument against social media companies, and the trend of bad signs for OpenAI.--Show Notes: TikTok https://usdsjv.tiktok.com https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/business/media/tiktok-us-terms-conditions.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/26/tiktok-censorship-ice-shooting/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/tiktok-shadowbanning-trump/685798/Social media addiction and product safety lawsuits https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/27/social-media-trial-meta-tiktok-youtube https://www.techdirt.com/2026/01/29/the-social-media-addiction-narrative-may-be-more-harmful-than-social-media-itself/Is OpenAI losing the race? https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtificialInteligence/comments/1qiphfr/open_ai_is_heading_to_be_the_biggest_failure_in/ Ads were a "last resort" - Sam Altman, October 2024 https://x.com/tomwarren/status/2012295849678602610?s=20&ref=platformer.news https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/openai-s-sora-app-hits-turbulence-after-meteoric-rise https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rywiggs_the-vibe-shift-in-ai-is-real-and-mercury-activity-7422658541175455744-Qxc7

    58 min

  2. 26 JAN

    A Little Too Roko's Basilisk: AI at Davos, Razer at CES, Claude's Constitution

    This week, we talk about comments from Dario Amodei and Satya Nadella at the World Economic Forum, Razer CEO Min-Ling Tan's interview with Nilay Patel of the Verge, and Anthropic's official release of Claude's Constitution, previously referred to on this podcast as the soul doc. -- Show Notes:AI at Davos https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-ceo-says-government-should-help-ensure-ais-economic-upside-is-shared-1eab376chttps://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-ceo-nervous-ai https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-20/anthropic-ceo-says-selling-advanced-ai-chips-to-china-is-crazy Razer CEO says Gamers Love AI, they just don't know it https://www.theverge.com/podcast/863361/razer-ceo-min-liang-tan-ces-2026-ai-gaming-project-ava-interview https://kotaku.com/razer-ava-ai-grok-interview-slop-motoko-2000661233 Claude Constitution released under Creative Commons  https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-new-constitution

    55 min

  3. 19 JAN

    Optimistic Dichotomy: Grok and Society, Claude Code and Claude Cowork

    In this episode, we review developments in the Grok deepfake epidemic and examine its implications on society at large, and then discuss the wave of excitement over Claude Code and the launch of Claude Cowork. -- Show Notes: Grok Updates Musk calls UK fascist https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-10/musk-calls-uk-fascist-as-row-over-x-s-grok-ai-images-escalates Senate bill https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-13/us-senate-targets-sexual-deepfakes-amid-furor-over-grok-images?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2ODU0NzAwNSwiZXhwIjoxNzY5MTUxODA1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOFQ5MVVLSkg2VjcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyQTY1MzM1Nzc4OTI0MzIxOEZCOTQzOTc4MzMyRjUyMyJ9.IQw7T3QrhdiAsH36MD_nt1BDRzjSHaK6B0mShb-fYAc https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/elon-musk-cannot-get-away-with-this/685606/ X disables nudes by Grok account on X https://www.npr.org/2026/01/16/nx-s1-5678965/elon-musks-x-to-block-ai-chatbot-grok-from-making-explicit-images-of-real-people Ashley St. Clair sues https://www.theverge.com/news/863097/ashley-st-clair-elon-musk-grok-undressing-lawsuit Wider Society Issues https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/01/the-internet-was-built-to-objectify-women/685652/ Claude Code + Claude Cowork https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-new-era-of-software-development-claude-code-has-seattle-engineers-buzzing-as-ai-coding-hits-new-phase/ https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/claude-code-and-what-comes-next https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-claude-cowork-release-ai-vibecoded-2026-1

    1h 2m

  4. 12 JAN

    Batteries in the Basement: Grok Deepfakes, War Prediction Markets, Data Center Demand Response

    In this episode, we discuss our depression and anger at the current torrent of nonconsensual nudification generated by Grok on X, a $400k Polymarket win on Maduro's deposition and Congress's response, and ways data centers can be connected to the grid earlier by prioritizing workloads.-- Show Notes:Grok Deepfakes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-07/musk-s-grok-ai-generated-thousands-of-undressed-images-per-hour-on-xhttps://www.404media.co/groks-ai-csam-shitshow/ https://www.404media.co/grok-ai-sexual-abuse-imagery-twitter/ https://www.404media.co/x-premium-grok-paywall-images-ai-generator/https://www.theverge.com/news/859309/grok-undressing-limit-access-gaslightinghttps://www.404media.co/inside-the-telegram-channel-jailbreaking-grok-over-and-over-again/ Polymarket Betting https://www.axios.com/2026/01/03/maduro-capture-bets-trade-prediction-markets https://ritchietorres.house.gov/posts/in-response-to-suspicious-polymarket-trade-preceding-maduro-operation-rep-ritchie-torres-introduces-legislation-to-crack-down-on-insider-trading-on-prediction-markets https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/traders-bet-on-the-u-s-s-next-airstrike-target-6914b6e4 Data Center Demand Response https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/ai-data-center-blackouts-electric-grid-1fed9803?mod=itp_wsj

    1h 1m

  5. 5 JAN

    Lock the Bubble: 2026 AI IPOs, AI in the 2026 Midterms, Insights from Amazon Retail

    In our first episode of the year, we talk about some 2026 outlook topics: potential IPOs from OpenAI and Anthropic, and AI backlash in the US midterm elections. In the latter part of the podcast, we take a look back at what years working in Amazon retail personalization can teach us about capitalism.-- Show Notes: Opening comments https://www.theinformation.com/articles/salesforce-executives-say-trust-generative-ai-declined?rc=1ccjma&shared=ea202ace371d4657 https://www.theinformation.com/articles/story-salesforces-declining-trust-llms-hit-nerve?rc=1ccjma&shared=68cd8b3f8b325bea2026 IPOs https://www.theinformation.com/articles/banks-pitching-mega-ipos-seek-limit-mass-selling?rc=1ccjma&shared=9b682272889a4db9AI in 2026 Congressional Races https://www.theinformation.com/articles/ai-backlash-shape-midterm-elections?rc=1ccjma&shared=9a5b0b7f2da9609f https://qz.com/alex-bores-new-york-congress-race-ai-safety

    1h 13m

  6. 22/12/2025

    Seymour Cash: Disney-OpenAI Deal, AI Water Use Discourse, Larian Backlash & AI Leadership

    This week, we discuss the deal between Disney and OpenAI, including the interesting specifics of the financials and the challenge of implementing Disney's guardrails. Then, we discuss the complex issue of AI water use and how it's overblown in online discourse. Finally, we talk about how a lot of negative backlash to AI is actually backlash to decision's from leadership. At the end, we touch briefly on Anthropic's updates to their Project Vend, where they have Claude run a store.Fast & Broken will be off next week for the holidays. See you in the new year!--Show Notes: Disney-OpenAI deal https://www.wsj.com/business/media/disney-to-invest-1-billion-in-openai-license-characters-for-use-in-chatgpt-sora-3a4916e2 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-15/openai-deal-to-license-disney-characters-is-entirely-in-stockhttps://www.businessinsider.com/disney-ai-strategy-employees-disneygpt-openai-deal-chatgpt-2025-12 AI Water Use Discourse https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-short-summary-of-my-argument-that https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/podcasts/hardfork-australia-water.html https://youtu.be/H_c6MWk7PQchttps://www.linkedin.com/posts/karendhao_empire-of-ai-water-footprint-changes-activity-7407296049628971008-oM2X/ AI backlash: tech vs leadership https://www.polygon.com/divinity-larian-studios-generative-ai-swen-vincke/https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/dev-backlash-to-larian-ceo-s-ai-comments-is-about-leadership-not-just-tech Anthropic CISO forces Claude on his Discord server https://www.404media.co/anthropic-exec-forces-ai-chatbot-on-gay-discord-community-members-flee/https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-2

    1h 26m

  7. 15/12/2025

    Strong Air Quotes: AI Coding Productivity, Polymarket War Betting, Australia's Social Media Ban

    In this episode, we discuss research from DX and Anthropic on how much benefit enterprises are seeing from AI coding tools, the Polymarket bet on the Russia-Ukraine war that was probably gamed, and Australia's ban on under-16 users for a number of social media platforms going into effect. -- Industry AI usage reports: DX Q4 impact report: https://getdx.com/uploads/ai-assisted-engineering-q4-impact-report.pdfAnthropic state of AI agents report https://claude.com/blog/how-enterprises-are-building-ai-agents-in-2026 Ukraine's frontline map edited to win a Polymarket bet https://www.404media.co/unauthorized-edit-to-ukraines-frontline-maps-point-to-polymarkets-war-bettingAustralia's under-16 social media ban goes into effect  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/09/australia-under-16-social-media-ban-begins-apps-listed

    1h 25m

  8. 08/12/2025

    AI Vibes: Seattle Hates AI?, Social Media Polarization Research, Claude's Soul Document

    This week, we hit the viral discourse that everyone in Seattle hates AI, new research on how social media effects emotional affect and political polarization, and talk about Claude 4.5 Opus's "soul document."-- Show Notes:Everyone in Seattle hates AI https://www.geekwire.com/2025/viral-rant-on-why-everyone-in-seattle-hates-ai-strikes-a-nerve-sparks-debate-over-citys-tech-vibe/ Reranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarization https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.adu5584Claude 4.5 Opus's soul document https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vpNG99GhbBoLov9og/claude-4-5-opus-soul-documentAnthropic confirmation: https://x.com/Aman  daAskell/status/1995610567923695633?s=20 Ref: https://www.anthropic.com/research/claude-character

    1h 21m
See All (23)

About

Two friends from the internet try to make sense of what startup culture is doing to the world. Carly Rector is a software engineer and startup founder. Each week, she discusses current events with Teresa Kramer, TTRPG product manager and semi-professional voice actor. Their shared history lets them bridge the gap between online creative communities and the tech world with an empathetic but critical perspective.

Information

  • Creator
    Carly Rector
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Carly Rector
  • Show Website
    Fast & Broken