748: Space Bone

This week on Grumpy Old Geeks, Brian and Jason stare directly into the flaming garbage barge of “the future” and discover that self-driving vehicles still can’t tell the difference between a road and an urban swimming pool. Waymo stranded robotaxis in both Atlanta and San Antonio, while Gothenburg’s brand-new autonomous bus service survived roughly one day before getting rear-ended by a tram like a lost RoboCop scene directed by Benny Hill. Meanwhile, Ferrari unveiled the Jony Ive-designed Luce EV, proving that if you give Apple designers enough money and untreated minimalist impulses, eventually everything starts looking like an uninspired bar of soap.

The AI bubble keeps inflating like a cursed parade balloon nobody knows how to land. Uber admits it’s spending fortunes on AI without being able to explain what it actually improves, Starbucks killed its AI inventory system after repeated losses to dairy products, and Google’s AI search now struggles with advanced concepts like “ignore,” “stop,” and spelling “Google.” CEOs remain committed to replacing workers anyway, with 99% expecting AI-driven layoffs because apparently nothing says innovation like firing junior staff and replacing them with autocomplete that thinks there are two Ps in Google. Meanwhile, Spotify continues its transformation into the content equivalent of a casino buffet with AI-narrated magazine articles, while Pope Leo emerges as the lone adult in the room, suggesting humanity maybe shouldn’t hand civilization over to glorified pattern-matching slot machines.

Elsewhere in dystopia, Trump Mobile exposed customer data to the open internet because, of course, it did, while the White House reportedly plans to force-install its official app on government phones in what feels like the world’s least subtle spyware rollout. Prediction markets are devolving into a legal cage fight between states and crypto gambling enthusiasts. A Google engineer allegedly made $1.2 million through insider trading on Polymarket because we’ve apparently rebuilt Wall Street out of meme apps, and researchers say your Wi-Fi router can now identify you by how your meat body disturbs radio waves. Add in SpaceX building a military sensor-to-shooter network straight out of a cyberpunk fever dream, China launching artificial embryo experiments into orbit to explore off-world reproduction, and Erin Brockovich mapping AI data centers draining entire towns' worth of water, and suddenly the most comforting thing this week might be watching The Grand-ish Tour and pretending the world still runs on gasoline and bad decisions.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/748

Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/1ji4EPiTgQ4

Links:

The Mandalorian and Grogu

Waymos in Atlanta and San Antonio keep driving into flooded roads

Gothenburg's self-driving bus trammed on day one

Ferrari Luce unveiled: Here's the first car from Jony Ive's design house

Uber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’

Trump Mobile has exposed customers' personal data, including home addresses and phone numbers

The White House is reportedly forcing its official app onto all government employee phones

Kalshi and Rhode Island sue each other in latest challenge to prediction markets

Google engineer charged with insider trading after making $1.2M on Polymarket

Google is currently struggling to define words like disregard, stop and ignore

Why Google's AI can't spell Google (or anything else)

Starbucks abandons its AI inventory tool after only nine months

Majority of Americans Support Ban on Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels

Ansel Adams' trust says AI-colorized version of his work was exhibited without permission

People used AI to recreate the voices of pilots killed in a plane crash

Spotify now lets you stream narrated magazine articles, too

Pope Leo calls for AI to serve humanity and not concentrate power

99% of CEOs Expect AI-Driven Layoffs in the Next Two Years

US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network

Star Trek Title Card Generator

Erin Brockovich launches a crowdsourced AI data center map

Researchers Issue Warning About Tech That Could Turn Every Router ‘Into a Potential Means for Surveillance’

China Launched Artificial Embryos to Orbit to Find Out If We Can Have Space Babies

I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything by Joanna Stern

Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better by David Epstein

The Grand-ish Tour

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