Tech Gets Real: Protect Yourself in the AI Era

David Meyer: Technology Journalist

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.

Episodes

  1. 5D AGO

    Europe’s LEAKED privacy threat: Digital Omnibus vs the GDPR

    A leaked draft proposal shows the European Commission wants to remove key protections from the tough General Data Protection Regulation. The changes in the so-called Digital Omnibus would make it easier for AI companies to train their models on people’s personal data, even sensitive information like medical data. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. Please also consider subscribing to my mailing list: https://subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com/d763645e-9f25-4e6c-839a-da39daa947df 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. 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: Leaked Commission proposal https://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2025/11/EU-Kommission-Digital-Omnibus-A-Data-Act-und-DSGVO.pdf Paul Nemitz’s LinkedIn comment https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7391511950519840769?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7391511950519840769%2C7391530716725071873%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287391530716725071873%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7391511950519840769%29 Noyb analysis of leaked draft https://noyb.eu/en/eu-commission-about-wreck-core-principles-gdpr Lukasz Olejnik’s analysis https://blog.lukaszolejnik.com/european-commission-proposal-to-overhaul-the-gdpr-risks-user-privacy/

    9 min

  2. NOV 5

    AI Needs Renewable Energy

    The AI data centre boom is becoming a significant factor in water shortages and power outages, with the technology adding to the energy-grid stress caused by things like electric vehicles and air conditioning. With electricity demand soaring, solar and wind power are the best solutions for building out more capacity quickly. But AI’s thirst needs different solutions. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. Please also consider subscribing to my mailing list: https://subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com/d763645e-9f25-4e6c-839a-da39daa947df 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. 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: NYT on data centre water outages and power cuts https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/technology/ai-data-center-backlash-mexico-ireland.html Guardian on Arizona data centre protests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/15/tucson-arizona-ai-data-center-project-blue James Ball on AI’s current environmental impact https://www.transformernews.ai/p/ai-energy-water-use-environment-argument-wrong Visual Capitalist chart on data centre boom https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-the-growth-of-global-data-center-capacity-2005-2025/ My Fortune article on the nuclear industry’s AI hopes https://fortune.com/2024/11/21/tech-nuclear-energy-google-microsoft-amazon-ai/

    9 min

  3. OCT 29

    Ditching US Tech Has To Be An Option

    Europe has talked about “tech sovereignty” from America before, but Donald Trump’s second term has made the issue an urgent one. Luckily, a time of massive flux in the tech industry has made it more viable than ever for the EU to declare independence from the US. 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. 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: EU tech sovereignty summit in November https://www.politico.eu/article/france-germany-united-states-big-tech-sovereign-digital-transition/ Survey about Big Tech being more powerful than the EU https://peoplevsbig.tech/large-majority-of-french-german-and-spanish-public-back-tough-eu-stance-on-big-tech-despite-risk-to-trump-relations/ Snowden’s claims about intel sharing https://www.infoworld.com/article/2192246/nsa-created-european-bazaar-to-spy-on-eu-citizens-snowden-tells-european-parliam.html Problems with Europe’s sovereign cloud https://eliatra.com/blog/the-sovereignty-illusion-why-awss-european-cloud-cannot-escape-us/

    11 min

  4. OCT 22

    The AI Bubble Is Your Problem Too

    The AI bubble is real – even Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos say so – and it’s already affecting you, because fear of the bubble bursting is leading companies to shove AI down your throat. And when it does burst, things will get ugly. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. 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. 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: OpenAI pledges to spend $1 trillion on AI infrastructure https://www.ft.com/content/a169703c-c4df-46d6-a2d3-4184c74bbaf7 OpenAI is world’s most valuable private company https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/openai-becomes-worlds-most-valuable-private-company-500b-valuation-report OpenAI’s revenue and losses in the first half of 2025 https://www.techinasia.com/news/openais-revenue-rises-16-to-4-3b-in-h1-2025 AI accounts for huge chunk of markets https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/business/stock-market-nvidia-trump.html Business return on AI investment remains uncertain https://www.techpolicy.press/generative-ais-productivity-myth/ Altman’s bubble comments https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/18/openai-sam-altman-warns-ai-market-is-in-a-bubble.html Bezos’s bubble comments https://www.ft.com/content/8d80f601-4725-489a-8d6e-39099a01f9cb

    11 min

  5. OCT 15

    AI Slop Will Be Our Ruin

    We’ve all seen our social media feeds and the wider web getting taken over by AI fakes, from writing to images and video. It’s a cynical waste of our time — and it could destroy what’s left of public discourse. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. 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. 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: Three-quarters of new content is AI-generated https://ahrefs.com/blog/what-percentage-of-new-content-is-ai-generated/ Washington Post on Sora 2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/02/sora-openai-video-face-fake/ Sora 2 watermarks easy to remove https://www.404media.co/sora-2-watermark-removers-flood-the-web/

    10 min

  6. OCT 8

    3 Things NOT to expect from AI

    I'm no AI hater, but I do know AI's limits - and you should too. In this episode of Tech Gets Real, I dig into 3 major pitfalls that people encounter when they use AI today. If you like this, please 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

    8 min

  7. OCT 1

    When AI Decides

    AIs are increasingly used to make decisions that have major impacts on people's lives. In this episode of Tech Gets Real, veteran technology journalist David Meyer discusses the risks, and the ways in which we can take back control. To contact David, 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 for this episode: Bias in facial recognition https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/unmasking-bias-facial-recognition-algorithms Bias in speech recognition https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885230823000864 Research into recruitment screening bias https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/31748/33915 British regulators warning recruitment-tool makers https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2024/11/ico-intervention-into-ai-recruitment-tools-leads-to-better-data-protection-for-job-seekers/ Human Rights Watch on facial recognition and refugee kids https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/31/uk-plans-ai-experiment-on-children-seeking-asylum European law on automated decision-making https://gdpr-info.eu/art-22-gdpr/ EU AI Act on high-risk AI systems https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/chapter/3/

    9 min

  8. SEP 24

    How Honest Should You Be With AI?

    In the first episode of Tech Gets Real, veteran technology journalist David Meyer explores the risks of over-sharing with AI chatbots. As always, he avoids technical jargon and gives useful recommendations for staying in control in the AI era. To contact David, 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 for this episode: OpenAI's terms of use https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/row-terms-of-use/ Anthropic's consumer terms https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms ACLU on US mass surveillance https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/five-things-to-know-about-nsa-mass-surveillance-and-the-coming-fight-in-congress

    10 min
  • 8 Episodes

About

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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