Tech Gets Real: Protect Yourself in the AI Era

David Meyer: Technology Journalist
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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. In TGR, I provide short, jargon-free guides to help you navigate the new AI era.

  1. 4D AGO

    We've always wanted tech to bring us together

    Harvard Kennedy School fellow Krystian Łukasik joins Tech Gets Real to discuss his new project, the Techno-Optimism Archive. It’s a valuable reminder of how new technologies have been hyped since the nineteenth century – and a lot of these claims will sound very familiar to those tracking the hype around AI. Here’s the site: https://technooptimism.org/ Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. REFERENCES: Musk on work being optional https://fortune.com/2026/01/19/when-does-elon-musk-say-work-will-be-optional-and-money-will-be-irrelevant-ai-robotics/ Pessimists Archive https://pessimistsarchive.org/

    27 min

  2. MAY 7

    Hacker-friendly AI is changing everything

    The latest AI models, which have serious cybersecurity capabilities, are having a rapid impact on policy in the US, where the Trump administration has suddenly realised it’s not a great idea to maintain its hands-off policy to AI development. But in Europe, which lacks early access to models like Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5, the situation presents a threat to which the European Commission has no useful answer. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. REFERENCES: UK AI Security Institute on GPT-5.5 https://www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-evaluation-of-openais-gpt-5-5-cyber-capabilities My ISMG article on the MEPs’ letter to the Commission https://www.govinfosecurity.com/european-meps-push-for-stronger-post-mythos-cybersecurity-a-31599 Wednesday’s European Parliament IMCO committee debate https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstreaming/committee-on-internal-market-and-consumer-protection-ordinary-meeting_20260506-1430-COMMITTEE-IMCO CNN on OpenAI wanting to expand GPT-5.5 access https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/29/tech/openai-cybersecurity New York Times on Trump administration’s change of heart https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html US Center for AI Standards and Innovation announces early access deal with Google, Microsoft and xAI https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/05/caisi-signs-agreements-regarding-frontier-ai-national-security-testing

    10 min

  3. APR 30

    Age verification comes to Europe, like it or not

    The European Commission is forcing age verification on the EU internet to protect kids from the ills of social media, without creating a new law – and without admitting that it’s forcing social platforms to adopt the technology. My article on this for Information Security Media Group: https://www.govinfosecurity.com/europe-gliding-toward-mandatory-online-age-verification-a-31547 Including a detail I forgot to mention here – that the Commission is doing all this before hearing the findings of an expert panel who were tasked with advising it on exactly this subject! Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. REFERENCES: EC statement on Meta DSA breaches https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_920 Henna Virkkunen’s statement on age verification https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_921 BBC on Roblox and age estimation accuracy https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj94y9r0p10o Virkkunen’s press conference https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-288345 Politico report stating eight countries aren’t keen on the app https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-tells-eu-countries-to-use-its-age-check-app/ Molly Rose Foundation research on Australia’s social media restrictions https://mollyrosefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MRF_Australia-Social-Media-Ban-Research_Briefing-April-26.pdf

    11 min

  4. APR 24

    xAI is a problem for SpaceX's IPO

    This week’s TGR is a grab-bag of the latest interesting AI news, starting with SpaceX warning potential IPO investors about the risk posed by xAI and its Grok chatbot. Also included: Grok plays along with user delusions, Meta tracks its workers, the US accuses China of “industrial scale” AI intellectual property theft, and Mythos’s exclusive access program isn’t so exclusive after all. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. REFERENCES: Reuters on SpaceX warning investors about xAI risk https://www.reuters.com/world/spacex-warns-that-inquiries-into-sexually-abusive-ai-imagery-may-hurt-market-2026-04-23/ Guardian on the paper about AI and delusions https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/24/musk-grok-x-ai-researchers-delusional-advice-inputs The paper itself https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.13860 TechCrunch on Meta tracking employee mouse movements and keystrokes https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/21/meta-will-record-employees-keystrokes-and-use-it-to-train-its-ai-models/ Financial Times on White House’s China AI accusation https://www.ft.com/content/abde4e1e-c69a-4cc4-ad96-d88308314298 Bloomberg on outsiders accessing Anthropic’s Mythos https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-21/anthropic-s-mythos-model-is-being-accessed-by-unauthorized-users TechCrunch on Sam Altman throwing shade on Mythos https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/21/sam-altman-throws-shade-at-anthropics-cyber-model-mythos-fear-based-marketing/

    9 min

  5. APR 15

    Rolling your own social media? Eurosky can help

    TGR spoke to Sebastian Vogelsang, co-lead of the now-fully-launched Eurosky social media infrastructure project, at the European Data Summit in Berlin. Eurosky is part of “the Atmosphere” – the frenzy of experimentation happening around the AT Protocol, best known for powering the Bluesky social network. Sebastian has much to say about providing an alternative to US tech infrastructure, embracing vibe coding, and generally starting to imagine a post-Big Tech future. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. Here’s the link to Eurosky’s new portal: https://portal.eurosky.tech/ Event page for the European Data Summit at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation: https://www.kas.de/en/events/detail/-/content/european-data-summit-2026

    24 min

  6. APR 9

    Journalist rants about AI breaking the news

    AI is killing journalism in multiple ways – from inaccurate AI summaries slashing traffic, to newsrooms that think the technology can replace real journalists. That doesn’t just hurt people in the media – it’s bad for democracy. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites REFERENCES: New York Times on accuracy in AI summaries https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html European Broadcasting Union on AI accuracy https://www.ebu.ch/news/2025/10/ai-s-systemic-distortion-of-news-is-consistent-across-languages-and-territories-international-study-by-public-service-broadcaste Pew Research on clickthrough rates https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/ The Verge on AI replacing headlines https://www.theverge.com/tech/896490/google-replace-news-headlines-in-search-canary-coal-mine-experiment

    12 min

  7. APR 1

    “It’s going to be a bit of a bloodbath”: Iain Thomson on AI and security

    As new AI models promise unprecedented abilities to find vulnerabilities in software – a task that could benefit both attackers and defenders – journalist Iain Thomson joins TGR this week to chat about the technology’s potentially enormous impact on cybersecurity. We also talked about Iran’s surprising lack of offensive capabilities in the cyber domain, the likelihood of Trump changing his mind about AI regulation, and whether AI-infused art is worth paying attention to yet. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites REFERENCES: Anthropic's Nicholas Carlini on new cybersecurity capabilities https://youtu.be/1sd26pWhfmg?si=ZOvrLSs7qxCvTxqb Fortune on Anthropic’s Mythos or Capybara model https://fortune.com/2026/03/26/anthropic-says-testing-mythos-powerful-new-ai-model-after-data-leak-reveals-its-existence-step-change-in-capabilities/ BBC on Iran’s cyber capabilities https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr0576ygvo Guardian on Gavin Newsom’s AI regulation push https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/california-ai-regulations-trump

    29 min

  8. MAR 26

    Meta's major losses over child safety are just the start

    Spare a thought for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has been having a very tough week. Meta has suffered two unprecedented court losses over child safety and addictive design – potentially opening the floodgates for many more such cases. Its massive AI expenditure continues to be a problem, and its takeover of Chinese AI agent company Manus may be in trouble. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites REFERENCES: Guardian on Meta’s New Mexico loss https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/24/meta-new-mexico-jury Crikey on Australian experience with age verification https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/13/teens-social-media-ban-kids-still-using-platforms/ Reuters on Meta and Google’s LA loss https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/jury-reaches-verdict-meta-google-trial-social-media-addiction-2026-03-25/ Andy Stone’s tweet on Meta’s $325 million fine https://x.com/andymstone/status/2036555284521558355 CNBC on Meta’s layoffs https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/meta-layoffs-reality-labs-facebook.html European Commission statement on TikTok preliminary findings https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_312 Business Insider on OpenAI shuttering Sora and surprising Disney https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-kills-sora-app-ai-compute-crunch-forces-hard-choices-2026-3 JDSupra on Meta’s AI agent incident https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/when-the-agent-goes-off-script-meta-s-1141491/ Financial Times on Manus trouble https://www.ft.com/content/d9123d9d-c807-41d6-8a17-80ff1111834a

    9 min
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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. In TGR, I provide short, jargon-free guides to help you navigate the new AI era.

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