The 404 Media Podcast

This week we start with Emanuel’s crazy story about WebinarTV, a company that is secretly recording Zoom meetings and turning them into AI-powered podcasts. It’s nuts. After the break, Joseph tells us about the eccentric billionaire who tried to become a cocaine kingpin. In the subscribers-only section, we lament the lose of the metaverse.

1:06 - This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts

25:58 - An Adrenaline Junkie Millionaire’s Quest to Become a Cocaine Kingpin

Sub's Story: RIP Metaverse, an $80 Billion Dumpster Fire Nobody Wanted

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This week, Sam talks to Emily Bender and Alex Hanna about the marketing ploys of “artificial intelligence,” why ridicule works to keep big tech’s claims in check, and what makes them hopeful for the future. They’re the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.Dr. Alex Hanna is a writer and sociologist of technology, labor, and politics. She’s the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a Lecturer in the School of Information at the University of California Berkeley.

Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School.They also host the The Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 podcast which “deflates AI hype and draws attention to the real harms of the automation technologies we call ‘artificial intelligence’.” 

Flood of AI-Generated Submissions ‘Final Straw’ for Small 22-Year-Old Publisher

The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want


Emily’s cartoon 

Questioning the Normalization of Surveillance by the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown

You Are Not a Parrot at NY Mag

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/UwBZiuH-1QY
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This week we start with Joseph’s series of articles about the DOGE depositions. He watched hours and hours of them, then a judge ordered them removed from YouTube. But, they’ve already been archived all over the web. After the break, Jason tells us about the AI data labelers who are fighting back. In the subscribers-only section, Jason breaks down what’s wrong with all the AI job loss research at the moment.

0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Google Street View's Unmappable City
3:40 - I Watched 6 Hours of DOGE Bro Testimony. Here's What They Had to Say For Themselves
13:24 - DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery
18:58 - The Removed DOGE Deposition Videos Have Already Been Backed Up Across the Internet
28:32 - 'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back

SUB'S STORY - AI Job Loss Research Ignores How AI Is Utterly Destroying the Internet

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/xtMniLj_yzQ
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There's only one city in America that isn't on Google's Street View. Documentary filmmaker Chris Parr set out to map it, using North Oak, Minnesota's byzantine rules and the help of a drone. His experience shows who gets privacy in America, and who doesn't.

'I Mapped Google’s ONLY SECRET CITY'

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/3iGvHBr0mJw

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This week we start with Sam’s story discussing something that has come up a lot but no one has really answered: how do you speak to your friend or family member falling into AI psychosis? After the break, Joseph breaks down what happened when the FBI wanted data from ProtonMail. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us about the viral developers behind an app called Quittr, and how they exposed very sensitive data of hundreds of thousands of users.

1:21 - 'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

27:33 - Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

SUBSCRIBER'S STORY: Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users

'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users

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