726: Sycophantic and Delusional
Grumpy Old Geeks12 Dec 2025

726: Sycophantic and Delusional

The labor market has swung from the Great Resignation to “job hugging,” where workers cling to their roles out of fear of AI-driven layoffs and inflation, crushing engagement and accelerating burnout. At the same time, OpenAI is accused of suppressing research showing job losses, ignoring internal warnings about chatbot mental health risks, and bleeding safety staff, while state Attorneys General fire off an opening salvo likening unchecked AI harms to an opioid crisis-in-the-making.

The AI boom is now colliding with reality. Environmental groups want a halt on new datacenters as power prices spike, and the industry is starting to look financially radioactive, with opaque financing schemes, hidden debt, and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets that could vaporize household wealth. Regulators are pushing back too: the EU is fining X, probing Google over training data, and floating a statutory licensing scheme for AI scraping, while Disney dives in with a billion-dollar bet on “responsible” AI storytelling that mostly translates to fewer humans on payroll.

Meanwhile, everyday tech dystopia rolls on. Uber is monetizing your movement data, Instacart is quietly price-discriminating groceries, Waymo is spinning a robotaxi birth as a feel-good story, and crypto fraud finally earns real prison time. Add in AI-generated marketing slop, government sites hijacked by SEO porn, billion-dollar festival scams resurrected, and Congress kneecapping right-to-repair, and the takeaway is simple: the machines are hungry, the adults are absent, and the vibes are aggressively bad.


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Show notes at https://gog.show/726


Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eJbLlVhIQ-Y


FOLLOW UP

“Why ‘job hugging’ can be worse than quitting”

OpenAI Accused of Self-Censoring Research That Paints AI In a Bad Light

OpenAI, Anthropic, Others Receive Warning Letter from Dozens of State Attorneys General


IN THE NEWS

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

Something Ominous Is Happening in the AI Economy

OpenAI's house of cards seems primed to collapse

X shuts down the European Commission’s ad account the day after major fine

EU opens antitrust investigation into Google's AI practices

EU Report Distills AI-Training Lessons from Napster Piracy Era: Don’t Sue, License

Disney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its Brand

Uber will start selling trip and takeout data to marketers

Instacart Charging Customers Different Prices for Same Products, Study Finds

Waymo's robotaxi fleet is being recalled again, this time for failing to stop for school buses

Driverless delivery: Woman gives birth in San Francisco Waymo

Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraud

Porn Is Being Injected Into Government Websites Via Malicious PDFs

Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI

'Architects of AI' named Time Magazine's Person of the Year


MEDIA CANDY

The American Revolution

What Happened at Billy McFarland’s PHNX Festival?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy returns to theaters in January for 25th anniversary

Amazon’s Official ‘Fallout’ Season 1 Recap Is AI Garbage Filled With Mistakes

Spartacus House of Ashur

The Boys - Final Season Teaser Trailer | Prime Video

Paradise Season 2 | Official Teaser | Hulu

Supergirl | Official Teaser Trailer

No Such Thing As a Fish - Ep612: No Such Thing As The Gordon Ramsay Songbook

WTF Happened To Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)?!

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Official Trailer | Paramount+ (NYCC 2025)

Starfleet Academy - What Is This Garbage?


APPS & DOODADS

Google and Apple partner on better Android-iPhone switching

Congress removes right to repair language from 2026 defense bill

Glide Gear TMP 100 Teleprompter – DSLR, Tablet, Smartphone – 12" Glass, Carry Case, No Assembly

BetterDisplay Pro


THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

Splat HiFi

The History Behind All the Cuts of the Original ‘Star Wars’’

Rise of the Resistance | Layout Side By Side

BLUE MONDAY - Analyzing the MOST BRUTAL BEAT of the '80s | Drum Patterns Explained

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