698: Watch Out for That Tree!

This week, we kick things off with the return of Space Karen’s meltdown tour: Elon Musk got flustered in an interview, sputtered out one-word answers, and called the journalist an “NPC,” which is rich coming from the guy whose only real upgrade since PayPal is yelling “freedom” in meme fonts. Meanwhile, 23andMe sold your DNA to Regeneron at a bankruptcy auction, proving once and for all that your spit is more valuable than most tech startups.

IN THE NEWS is a parade of corporate idiocy and dystopian fuckery. Coinbase employees got bribed into leaking user data (because clearly we didn’t have enough crypto chaos), Klarna keeps flip-flopping between AI and human workers like it’s a bad Tinder date, and OpenAI is out here buying Jony Ive’s design firm for $6.5 billion because sure, what’s another billion when you’re trying to build a surveillance device to stalk 100 million users? Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times is publishing AI-generated trash with imaginary authors, Anthropic’s new model attempts blackmail, and researchers dumped two billion Discord messages online just for kicks. And yes, Elon’s Tesla robotaxis will now only roam the safest parts of Austin, which is code for “we still can’t make this thing turn left.”

In MEDIA CANDY, we’re watching Murderbot, Godfather of Harlem, and Hotel Cocaine because who doesn’t love a little synthetic assassin, crime drama, and coke-fueled nostalgia? Notepad.exe now writes for you (and probably files HR complaints too), and Audible is teaming up with publishers to replace narrators with robot voices. Yay, progress. Over in THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, Bittner brings the malware, monsters, and a new theme park review that’s somehow less terrifying than the news. Bookworms, don’t miss Curepedia and The AI Con — one’s about goth gods, the other’s about taking down our techno-overlords. And pour one out for George Wendt — Norm from Cheers is now drinking with the angels.

Sponsors:

DeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.

Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.

SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!

1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password

Show notes at https://gog.show/698

FOLLOW UP

Elon Musk Gets Rattled by Hard Questions He Can't Answer, Calls Interviewer an "NPC" While Giving One-Word NPC-Like Responses Himself

23andMe (and Your Genetic Data) Sold to Regeneron in Bankruptcy Auction

IN THE NEWS

Extortionists bribed Coinbase employees to give them customer data

OpenAI buys Jony Ive's design startup for $6.5 billion

Sam Altman Tells Staff Plan to Ship 100 Million Devices That See Everything in Users' Lives

Klarna Hiring Back Human Help After Going All-In on AI

Klarna CEO and Sutter Hill take victory lap after Jony Ive's OpenAI deal

Klarna used an AI avatar of its CEO to deliver earnings

Klarna users are buying now, but not paying later

DOGE Used a Meta AI Model to Review Emails From Federal Workers

Chicago Sun-Times publishes made-up books and fake experts in AI debacle

We’re Focused on the Wrong A.I. Problem in Journalism

Anthropic's new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline

MIT Backs Away From Paper Claiming Scientists Make More Discoveries with AI

Researchers Dump 2 Billion Scraped Discord Messages Online

Musk says Tesla's self-driving tests will be geofenced to 'the safest' parts of Austin

MEDIA CANDY

Murderbot

Godfather of Harlem

Hotel Cocaine

APPS & DOODADS

The Grand Encyclopedia of Eponymous Laws

Apple confirms iOS 19 will end support for legacy Home app system

Audible to Partner With Publishers to Create AI-Voiced Audiobooks

In 3.5 years, Notepad.exe has gone from “barely maintained” to “it writes for you”

AT THE LIBRARY

Curepedia: An A-Z of the Cure by Simon Price

The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want By: Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

First photos from inside Universal Studio’s new Orlando theme park Epic Universe revealed

A Very Honest Review on Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment | Universal's Epic Universe

Gadget recommendation - Electric Air Duster with Flashlight

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

George Wendt, Norm From Cheers, Dead at 76

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.