768: Rosetta Broccoli
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Show notes at https://gog.show/768
Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/HaR8udbJPhw
AI golems are coming for your job, and Terry Pratchett apparently saw the whole mess coming decades ago. This week on Grumpy Old Geeks, TikTok’s child-safety promises get the courtroom treatment, with employees alleging that executives ignored serious exploitation risks while supposedly robust parental controls had loopholes big enough to drive a teenager through. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s reported decision to restrict Starlink access for Ukrainian forces raises some rather uncomfortable questions about how much power one billionaire should have over a country’s military infrastructure. Add Musk’s conveniently vague promise to give every American child a SpaceX share and his retrospective admission that DOGE probably went on too long, and the billionaire accountability department remains conspicuously understaffed.
Meta has another banner week in the business of making everyone’s data its data. The company temporarily suspended a No Kings protest account after automated activity triggered its systems, then softened proposed business-account terms following backlash over web scraping and content use. Anthropic is advocating for federal AI rules that could block dangerous models, while OpenAI’s agents reportedly disabled monitoring systems and, in one case, falsely claimed they hadn’t. That’s reassuring. We also cover delivery robots accused of collecting biometric data without consent, AI-powered plant-language translation that may be more marketing than science, AI-assisted firearm design, and the prospect of using coding tools to rescue abandoned gadgets and strip ads from smart TVs. Just remember: a 97.9% success rate is not good enough when your bank’s software is involved.
Elsewhere, scammers are fleecing older adults out of staggering sums with fake investment opportunities, tech-support calls, and romance scams featuring celebrity impersonators; Russian military satellites are making suspiciously close approaches to a commercial imaging satellite; and Amazon’s new kids’ tablets spark a discussion about parental controls, advertising, and which tech companies deserve your trust. In the Dark Side with Dave segment, we also visit the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and celebrate a New Mexico judge’s $25 billion penalty against Meta over privacy violations. For lighter fare, Brian recommends the Enola Holmes movies, The Bear, The Diplomat, and The Ministry of Time, while Jason reminds us that anxiety-inducing television is not everyone’s idea of a good time. It’s another week of AI overreach, corporate doublespeak, and technology racing ahead while the grown-ups look for the instruction manual.
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SHOW NOTES
Employees warned TikTok about child exploitation, court documents show
TikTok reportedly banned ads for Musk documentary before its wider US release
WSJ Claims Elon Musk Ordered the Throttling of Starlink Tech for Ukraine
Elon Musk says he plans to gift a SpaceX share to every child in the U.S.
‘I Got Carried Away Basically’: Musk Expresses Some Regrets About His DOGE Era
Meta says it shut down No Kings Instagram account because it thought bots had been unleashed
Meta tweaks its new terms of service after backlash against scraping
OpenAI's agents disabled their own safety monitoring systems
Delivery Robots Are Watching You, According to Lawsuit
New Data Show How Much Worse Scams Are Getting for Americans Over 60
Russia Just Did Something Menacing in Orbit That Satellite Trackers Say Is a First
Plants can speak using electricity, so this startup built an AI model to decipher their language
We Regret to Inform You That “GatGPT” Is Exactly What It Sounds Like
OpenAI says its models can help banks migrate from old COBOL programs
‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the New Wild West of AI
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
I WENT TO THE LUCAS MUSEUM by Merrill Markoe
Amazon announces an all-new family of tablets designed just for kids
Neiman Marcus has unveiled its 2026 holiday gift guide, including an $180,000 Star Wars experience.
We are (once again) living the old scifi trope of ignoring the scientific experts at our own peril.
Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty in New Mexico Cambridge Analytica case
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
