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.

  1. 2d ago

    Temu's €200M safety fine is a bit geopolitical

    Europe has fined Temu for selling illegally dangerous stuff on its platform. This is a reminder that the Digital Services Act isn’t all about online speech, nor is it all about punishing US companies. But that doesn’t mean this €200 million DSA fine isn’t geopolitical – after all, the EU has big problems with China too these days. 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: European Commission statement on Temu fine https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_1178 Tech Policy Press on the Trump administration’s X fine reaction https://www.techpolicy.press/trump-administration-locks-arms-with-musks-x-against-eu-tech-enforcement/ Industrial Accelerator Act legislative timetable https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-a-new-plan-for-europe-s-sustainable-prosperity-and-competitiveness/file-industrial-decarbonisation-accelerator-act

    10 min

  2. May 21

    Google's AI search revamp looks cool, but...

    Google is overhauling its search experience to expand the role of AI – and make it even less likely that you will look at the list of web links that used to define Google Search. This will further erode investment in the web, and create new opportunities for propagandists. 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: Google’s blog post on its search overhaul https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/ Guardian on Eric Schmidt getting booed https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/18/eric-schmidt-ai-university-commencement-speech-booed

    12 min

  3. May 13

    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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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
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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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