Dot Slash Podcasts
The podcasts and articles that support my research for Dot Slash Magic.
I'm continuing to update this list as I work on book two.
How to Survive the Broligarchy
A podcast offshoot of Carole Cadwalladr's How to Survive the Broligarchy Substack. Cadwalladr is best known for her investigative journalism, which exposed the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data scandal. She was nominated for a Pulitzer for National Reporting for that work.
This podcast is rarely updated (it may in fact have never gotten off the ground) but I'm including it here because I really hope more episodes are coming! You can also check out the Substack.
Understanding TESCREAL
w Dr. Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres
Dr. Timnit Gebru is one of the most high-profile Black women working in the field of AI. In 2020 she was ousted from Google for her work on the paper On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots, which criticized AI's lack of guardrails against bias. Here, she talks about the TESCREAL acronym and how it influences the decision-making of powerful figures in charge of companies like OpenAI.
Factually - AI Companies Believe They're Making God
w Karen Hao
Adam Conover (actor, comedian, negotiating committee member of the Screen Actors Guild) helped SAG negotiate the terms of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) contract during the WGA strike against streaming companies in 2023.
Here, he chats with Karen Hao: long-time AI reporter who recently released Empire of AI.
The 80,000 Hours Podcast - AI
A series of podcasts diving into technical topics surrounding artificial intelligence. Things like the alignment problem, machine learning, deep learning, etc. Some get pretty in the weeds, others are easy to follow for non-tech folks.
Offline - The Rise of Slop AI
Jon Favreau (former speechwriter for Obama, co-host of Pod Save America) talks about how social media should come with a warning label, and the rise of AI "slop" in search results.
Factually - The AI Bubble is Bursting
w Ed Zitron
Adam Conover chats with tech blogger Ed Zitron about how AI will collapse the tech sector.
Lex Friedman - Jeff Bezos
Lex Friedman leans too right for my taste, and in the past he has soft-balled people like Donald Trump, and fan-boyed over Elon Musk. But I think it's important to listen to different perspectives, and it's interesting to hear what the overlords are planning (Bezos talks about how AI fits into his plans for Blue Origin.)
More...
PODCASTS
Offline - The Episode China Doesn't Want You to Hear
Factually - Spotify is Even Worse Than You Think
WTF With Marc Maron - Chris Hayes
ARTICLES
The Paper That Forced Timnit Gebru Out of Google
The Rise of Silicon Valley's Techno Religion
Welcome to Janelle Monáe's Dreamworld
A Hiker Was Missing Until AI Spotted His Helmet
AI Is Taking Water From the Desert
Israel and Iran Usher in a New Era of Psychological Warfare
The Internet Has Always Been Trans
AI Designs Antibiotics for Superbugs