Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

FIFA wants teams to use "AI coaches," colleges are incorporating LLMs into student sports journalism, and that's just the beginning of the ways AI boosters are infiltrating athletics. Sports journalist and professor Shireen Ahmed joins Alex and Emily for a closer look at what's lost when we cede sports knowledge to genAI.
Shireen Ahmed is an award-winning, multiplatform sports journalist who works at the intersections of race, gender, culture and politics. She's a co-host of the Burn It All Down podcast, and teaches journalism and sport media at Toronto Metropolitan University.
References:
"This Will Be The First World Cup Ever With AI Coaches On The Sidelines"
"WSU turns to artificial intelligence to assist sports communications"
"'I'm all in on Claude' - Joe Mazzulla admits he uses AI every day to help coach the Celtics"
Also referenced:
"WNBA fans hate AI but the league is embracing it anyway"
"The Relationship Between AI and Women’s Sports"
MAIHT3k Episode 45: Billionaires, Influencers, and Ed Tech (feat. Adrienne Williams)
Fresh AI Hell:
"We can't just change the definition of 'recording'"
Pervert glasses ban on the table in Norway
Daron Acemoglu rejects "stochastic parrots" framing
Google imposing Gemini on K-12 students
Altman: Don't waste RAM on personal computing devices
Google software still regularly doing racism
Author fan mail scammers turn out to be trafficked people
"Denmark Publishes Emergency Grid Law That Puts Data Centers Last"
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Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.
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Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

Across the tech industry, workers are fed up with endless layoff cycles, overwork, and "AI" tools being forced into their jobs. And their bosses hate to hear it! Emily and Alex are joined by JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine, the authors of Against Tech Oligarchy, to discuss the ways workplace organizing is evolving to meet this moment.
JS Tan is getting his PhD at MIT and formerly worked in tech, where he spent years organizing across the industry. Clarissa Redwine helped organize the Kickstarter union, and cofounded and runs the annual tech organizing conference Circuit Breakers. Their book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry, is available now!
References:
Amazon finds cases of AI causing runaway spending on tech projects
Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded.
Fresh AI Hell:
ICE x Boston Dynamics
"OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft"
Effective Altruists mad about someone "torturing LLMs"
Former Seattle City Council president launches centrist slop website
Palate cleanser: "New AI Literacy Program Awards Students Free Pizza If They Don’t Know How to Read Books Anymore"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.
Follow us!
Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

This week, Alex and Emily are joined by Keoni Mahelona of Te Hiku Media to discuss Indigenous language technology. They discuss problems that arise when Big Tech tries to bring its "solutions" into this space, and best practices for research and development that center the expertise, cultural norms and goals of Indigenous communities.
Keoni Mahelona is the CTO of Te Hiku Media and a Native Hawaiian from the island of Kaua'i. He's a driving force behind the development of sovereign digital technologies that aim to protect and promote Indigenous languages, knowledge, culture, and now democracy.
References:
Microsoft/IDB paper: "The Performance of Artificial Intelligence in the Use of Indigenous American Languages"
Also referenced:
Kaitiakitanga License
Joanna Radin paper on Indigenous data collection
Fresh AI Hell:
"Apple Watch's new always-on don't-call-it-transcription feature"
Nevada County prosecutors use "AI" and insert errors into criminal cases
UW Grand Rounds: "If AI Can Write the Note, Who Does the Thinking?"
The "Pro-Human Assembly"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.
Follow us!
Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

Last month, Sam Altman proclaimed that we're already in "the Singularity." Not to be outdone, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have both recently come out with lengthy blog posts about "superhuman AI." Emily and Alex brave some truly terrible writing to unearth the core motivations at the heart of these screeds.
References:
Gates: "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical."Also referenced: "Impulse Purchase" by OK Go

Zuckerberg: "The Future is for Everyone"
Fresh AI Hell:
Tristan Buckmaster's statement on OpenAI trying to take credit for his workAlso referenced: Emily's debate with Sébastien Bubeck

Nature article worrying about impact of LLMs on language change for all the wrong reasons
Palate cleanser: NYC bans "AI" in schools
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.
Follow us!
Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

In the past year, tech companies have laid off thousands of employees. But when CEOs blame "AI innovation," they're redirecting attention from something much more predictable: job discrimination and gig-ification. Emily and Alex examine some narratives of AI-streamlined workplaces — and why they don't match up with reality.
References:
Block press release: "From Hierarchy to Intelligence"
"Lawsuit claims Meta's layoff decisions were made by AI, not humans"
Fresh AI Hell:
"OpenAI’s latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say"Also referenced: Leiden Declaration

"AI Assisted Autism Screening"
Weird comparison of "AI" emissions to other data center activity
Paved paradise and put up a data center
"What if you just talked to your children"
Palate cleanser: US judge holds DOGE accountable for output they took from ChatGPT
Palate cleanser: Data center opposition momentum
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.
Follow us!
Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. 
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.