Episode 47: Hell is Other People's AI Hype, December 9 2024

It’s been a long year in the AI hype mines. And no matter how many claims Emily and Alex debunk, there's always a backlog of Fresh AI Hell. This week, another whirlwind attempt to clear it, with plenty of palate cleansers along the way.

Fresh AI Hell:

Part I: Education
Medical residency assignments
"AI generated" UCLA course
"Could ChatGPT get an engineering degree?"
AI letters of recommendation
Chaser: 'AI' isn't Tinkerbell and we don’t have to clap

Part II: Potpourri, as in really rotten
AI x parenting
Et tu, Firefox?
US military tests AI machine gun
"Over-indexing" genAI failings
AI denying social benefits
Chaser: AI 'granny' vs scammers

Part III: The Endangered Information Ecosystem
Fake Emily quote in LLM-written article
Protecting Wikipedia
AI: the new plastic
Google AI on 'dressing'
"AI" archaeology
Misinfo scholar used ChatGPT
OpenAI erases lawsuit evidence
LAT "AI" bias meter
WaPo AI search: The Washington Post burns its own archive

Chaser: ShotSpotter as art

Part IV: Surveillance, AI in science/medicine
Apple patents "body data"
Chatbots "defeat" doctors
Algorithm for healthcare "overuse"
"AI friendships"
"Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas?"
Another LLM for science
Chaser: FTC vs Venntel

Part V: They tell us to believe the hype

Thomas Friedman: AGI is coming
Matteo Wong on o1's 'reasoning'
WIRED editor: believe the hype
Salesforce CEO: The "unlimited age"

Chaser: Emily and Alex's forthcoming book! Pre-order THE AI CON: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want

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.

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Emily

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Alex

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• Twitter: @alexhanna

Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Christie Taylor.