711: Oh Thank Heaven

Remember when we thought AI was going to bring about utopia or Skynet? Turns out, it's mostly just a bunch of fancy spreadsheets, a potential bubble ready to burst (looking at you, Nvidia), and a legal minefield. We're talking wrongful death lawsuits because a chatbot encouraged suicide, OpenAI admitting their 'safety controls degrade,' and then secretly siccing the cops on users. Plus, the Citizen app's AI can't even tell a murder vehicle from a motor vehicle, and Grok 2.5 is now open source if you want to invite that chaos into your life. Also, don't ask Google if 1995 was 30 years ago, because apparently, AI can't do basic math.

Meanwhile, the adults in the room are just doing what they do: the U.S. government is buying a chunk of Intel, while Trump wants to "design" government websites (with badly edited photos, naturally). Meta's own AI stuff is so bad they're just licensing Midjourney's tech, proving it's always easier to buy than build. Apple TV+ raised its prices, and Spotify finally figured out how to let you DM songs. Over at Apple Fitness, it seems the execs are fostering a "toxic workplace environment," because who knew working out could be so hardcore? Oh, and Chipotle is doing drone delivery now. Welcome to Zipotle, because getting off your ass is apparently too much to ask.

As for what we're actually watching, it's a mixed bag. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' documentary episode was... fine, but Paramount's axing jobs and "un-renewing" Dexter: Original Sin to focus on Dexter: Resurrection (because that always works out). We're trying to keep up with Alien: Earth, Wednesday, and Upload, but good luck with those staggered release dates. Apple TV+ has some good sci-fi, but Foundation might just be a hate-watch for Brian. And in the library, we've got Budgie's surprisingly depressing memoir and some solid sci-fi from Scott Meyer and Dennis E. Taylor. It's almost enough to make you miss the simpler times before AI broke everything.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/711

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IN THE NEWS

The US government is taking an $8.9 billion stake in Intel

Trump is forming a 'National Design Studio' to spruce up government websites

Trump Mobile is promoting its smartphone with terribly edited photos of other brands' products

ChatGPT Lawsuit Over Teen’s Suicide Could Lead to Big Tech Reckoning

OpenAI Admits Safety Controls 'Degrade,' As Wrongful Death Lawsuit Grabs Headlines

OpenAI Says It's Scanning Users' ChatGPT Conversations and Reporting Content to the Police

Huge Number of Authors Stand to Get Paid After Anthropic Agrees to Settle Potentially $1 Trillion Lawsuit

Meta is licensing Midjourney's AI image and video tech

MidJourney TV

Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes

You can now download and tweak Grok 2.5 for yourself as it goes open source

MEDIA CANDY

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Paramount Job Cuts In Excess Of 2,500 Coming In November, With Cost Savings To Exceed $2 Billion

‘Dexter: Original Sin’ Un-Renewed as Paramount Opts Out of Second Season

Alien: Earth

Wednesday

Upload

‘The Institute’ Renewed for Second Season at MGM+

Apple TV+ subscriptions just rose to $13 a month

Spotify is adding DMs

APPS & DOODADS

Apple fitness exec accused of creating toxic workplace environment

Zipotle: Chipotle, Zipline Launch Drone Food Delivery in Dallas

AT THE LIBRARY

The Absence: Memoirs of a Banshee Drummer by Budgie

Master of Formalities by Scott Meyer

Flybot by Dennis E. Taylor

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

'Was 1995 30 years ago?' Google's AI overviews is having issues with a simple question

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