Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins us to unpack the issues when self-professed worker advocates use chatbots for "research."

Sophie Song is a researcher, organizer, and advocate working at the intersection of tech and social justice. They’re a research associate at DAIR, where they're working with Alex on building the Luddite Lab Resource Hub.

References:

• Senate report: AI and Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade
• Senator Sanders' AI Report Ignores the Data on AI and Inequality

Also referenced:

• MAIHT3k Episode 25: An LLM Says LLMs Can Do Your Job
• Humlum paper: Large Language Models, Small Labor Market Effects
• Emily's blog post: Scholarship should be open, inclusive and slow

Fresh AI Hell:

• Tech companies compelling vibe coding
• arXiv is overwhelmed by LLM slop
• 'Godfather of AI' says tech giants can't profit from their astronomical investments unless human labor is replaced
• If you want to satiate AI’s hunger for power, Google suggests going to space
• AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
• Gen AI campaign against ranked choice voting
• Chaser: Workplace AI Implementation Bingo

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

Our book, 'The AI Con,' is out now! Get your copy now.

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.

It's been six months since our last all-Hell episode! In honor of Halloween season, we take a long journey into the very scary Fresh AI Hell mines. Topics include terrifying uses of AI in education, scientific research, and politics — plus, some delicious palate cleansers along the way.

AI bubble: bigger than dot-com bust?

No one wants to pay for ChatGPT

Meta lays off 600 from AI unit

AI data centers: an even bigger disaster than we thought

Public universities anticipate data center-driven power outages

Chaser: Deloitte has to pay back Albanese government after using AI in report

"AI" schools are "dead classrooms"

Fake sources in "ethical AI" education report

Parents letting kids play with AI

Startup sells 'synthetic influencers'

AI-powered textbooks fail to make the grade

Chaser: "High-reliability" AI slop

Nature offers "AI-powered research assistant"

AI bots wrote all papers at this conference

"AI" reviewing at AAAI

AI medical tools downplay symptoms in women and POC

Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT

Chaser: Microsoft blocks Israel's use of its technology

German initiative uses "AI" for voter education

Police gunshot detection mics will listen for human voices

SF's AI chatbot for RV dwellers

Cuomo campaign posts racist AI slop

DHS Ordered OpenAI To Share User Data

Chaser: LA County moves to limit license plate tracking

A new form of eugenics

"AI Superintelligence" prohibition letter

Emad Mostaque's LLM blurbs

Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery

Chaser: The hot new trend in marketing: hating on AI

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

Our book, 'The AI Con,' is out now! Get your copy now.

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.

So-called AI tools are increasingly infiltrating newsrooms, particularly when it comes to data analysis. DAIR writer-in-residence Decca Muldowney joins us to discuss the need for journalists to distinguish between "AI" and reliable, verifiable research methods.

Decca Muldowney is a journalist and writer who was our fact checker for The AI Con. She's also a writer-in-residence and web editor at the Distributed AI Research Institute.

References:

• An early AI pioneer shares how the "vibe coding" revolution could reshape data journalism
• America's top companies keep talking about AI — but can't explain the upsides
• Analysis: 96.2% of Climate News Stories Don't Cover Animal Agriculture as a Pollution Source

Fresh AI Hell:

• Teen Sues Maker of Fake-Nude Software
• ChatGPT's Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
• GitLaw announces "Vibe Lawyering"
• Salesforce Offers Its Services to Boost Trump’s Immigration Force
• Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.
• Rent a Cyber Friend will pay you to talk to strangers online
• The Wire's David Simon is over it

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

Our book, 'The AI Con,' is out now! Get your copy now.

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.