The 404 Media Podcast

When chatbots become our closest “friends,” what happens to our capacity to care?

This week I'm joined by Professor Sherry Turkle. Sherry is a licensed clinical psychologist, the founding director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self, and the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. She's a the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books including Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and The Empathy Diaries.

Her latest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines, comes out on September 29. In it, Turkle explores how conversational chatbots have changed the ways we relate to other humans, empathize with each other, and what that could mean for our future.

“The progression is: First we talk to each other, then we talk to each other through machines, and now we drop the middleman and we're happy to just talk to machines,” she said in our conversation.

We get into what happens when people stop placing importance on emotionally connecting with other people, and whether it’s too late to pull back from the path we’re on.

Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines

Instagram's AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed Therapists

How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

Researchers Simulated a Delusional User to Test Chatbot Safety

Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/whqDsYhCl0s
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus collaboration with our friends at The Intercept, 404 Media's Jason Koebler and the Intercept's Sam Biddle and Akela Lacy discuss the ways AI is already used to empower private surveillance companies that filter data to the government, how AI is used in war, and the prospect of an AI apocalypse. This podcast was recorded live in Los Angeles at The Loved One on September 12.

Check out The Intercept Briefing podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and find a full transcript of this pod here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Joseph’s story about the people who are reading real ChatGPT users’ prompts and conversations. He got a bunch of documents all about these contractors and saw real prompts himself. After the break, Sam tells us all about the Automattic CEO getting kicked out. Then coming back again. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us why a16z thinks enshittification is not real.

Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'

Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control'

Sources say Automattic’s board is out after failed attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg

A16z Says You Actually Love Social Media, Enshittification Isn’t Real

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/AyPuYrjLk1E

Subscribe at 404media.co
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re joined by Jennie Rose Halprein. Jennie is the executive director of Library Futures, a non-profit that advocates for a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve. We have written a bunch of stories about libraries over the years, and I have talked to Jennie a few times for those stories. I always have really interesting conversations with her, but a lot of what we talk about never makes it into a story. That’s why I wanted to share one of those conversations with you today. We of course touch upon censorship but also many other subjects, so I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/mS0xofGW2hE

Subscribe at 404media.co
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media

We start this week with Joseph’s story about the secretive predictive policing units inside DHS that are analyzing Americans’ financial data and having local cops pull them over. After the break, Jason tells us about the funky shirt designed to fool AI-camera systems. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about our third anniversary events.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/o0AG6A5MIRg

RSVP: Killer Technology With 404 Media

A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over

This 'Digital Camouflage' Shirt Confuses AI-Powered Surveillance Cameras

We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices