kill switch

• is using AI worse than driving a car?

  Dexter doesn't have a car. But he uses AI… a lot. So, is his environmental impact worse than someone who drives a truck to work every day? This seemingly simple question led us to a bigger conversation about water, public health, and why we still don't know much about the true environmental cost of artificial intelligence. To help us understand all this, we talk to researchers Shaolei Ren and Alex de Vries, who’ve been studying the toll AI takes on the planet. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  31:39
• how did Twitter’s AI get so obsessed with white genocide?

  For about 24 hours, Grok, Twitter’s AI chatbot, went berserk. You could ask it about puppies, sports, or movies, and it would reply with a bizarre diatribe about white genocide in South Africa. If you’ve already heard of this, you’ve probably seen people dunking on Elon Musk, and, well, that’s understandable. But Max Read, today’s guest, explains why this brief peek into a weird conspiracy theory might have actually been a good thing. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read: Max’s Substack article on the whole thing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  35:42
• can AI create ‘ethical’ true crime?

  Almost two million people watched a horrific story of a murder in Colorado: the “grisly” death of a real estate agent who had a secret affair with his stepson. The problem is, there was no crime. Dexter talks to Henry Larson, the reporter who tracked down the guy behind the video, about where the story came from and what it means for the “True Crime” genre. He also asks True Crime podcasters, Lauren Bright Pacheco and Bob Motta, about how this trend is a threat to more than just their livelihoods. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read: Henry’s article, A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-GeneratedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  33:50
• why is the US gov using a ‘cartoonishly hackable’ messaging app?

  About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they’d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is ‘cartoonishly hackable,’ but we still don’t know why top White House officials were using it. And what about the investigation to find out if this Israel-based app is bad on accident, or on purpose? I called up my friends Evan McMorris-Santoro of NOTUS and Joseph Cox of 404 Media to get some more context on how bad this might actually be. Here’s the links promised in the episode: Evan’s daily newsletter in NOTUSJoseph’s article in 404 on the Telemessage hackAnd here’s Micha Lee’s technical breakdown of Telemessage’s security problems Our guests:Evan McMorris-Santoro: @evanmcs.bsky.socialJoseph Cox: @josephcox.bsky.social Got something you’re curious about? Hit up @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See you on the next one.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  37:06
• how to make money from fake AI videos

  Have you seen Shrimp Jesus? What about the Hollywood sign burning? It probably feels random, but it’s not. There are real people behind AI Slop, and there’s real money to be made. Dexter talks to Jason Koebler from 404 Media who’s been tracking AI slop since its beginnings, and they compare notes to try to figure out where the money is coming from. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + watch: Jason’s article, Facebook's Shrimp Jesus, Explained Dexter’s article, Inside the Economy of AI Spammers Getting Rich By Exploiting Disasters and Misery Dexter’s video: people made money doing this. (so did Instagram)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  45:25

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