Talking to chatbots can have serious mental health consequences — fueling delusions and leading users away from consensus reality. Futurism writer Maggie Harrison Dupré joins us to unpack the hype around AI therapists, based on her groundbreaking reporting on "AI psychosis."

Maggie Harrison Dupré is an award-winning tech journalist at Futurism who’s reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping media, information, humans, and our real and digital lives.

References:

How AI Is Expanding The Mental Health Market

He Had Dangerous Delusions. ChatGPT Admitted It Made Them Worse.

OpenAI: What we're optimizing ChatGPT for

Also referenced:

Gov Pritzker Signs Legislation Prohibiting AI Therapy in Illinois

People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions

Stanford: New study warns of risks in AI mental health tools

Fresh AI Hell:

Bluesky post about DEI by chatbot

How AI is being used by police departments to help draft reports

Politico's recent AI experiments shouldn’t be subject to newsroom editorial standards, its editors testify

UK Asks People to Delete Emails In Order to Save Water During Drought

Sam Altman says 'yes,' AI is in a bubble

Google's AI pointed him to a customer service number. It was a scam.

Mastodon post about Dieter Roth's Literaturwürste

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.

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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 Christie Taylor and Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

Trump’s “AI Action Plan” is his latest attempt to turn AI hype into official national policy. Kate Brennan and Sarah Myers West, of the AI Now Institute, join us to dig through this pile of deregulatory gifts to Big Tech.

Dr. Sarah Myers West is co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, and a former senior advisor on AI for the FTC.

Dr. Kate Brennan is associate director of the AI Now Institute, where she spearheads their policy work, informed by a doctorate in law and years of experience in the tech industry.

References:

Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan

Also referenced:

People’s AI Action Plan

Fresh AI Hell:

Medical Pros Risk Malpractice Suits by Avoiding AI Innovation

Google search’s next cash cow

AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’

The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die

Amazon’s Alexa Fund Invests in ‘Netflix of AI’ Start-Up Fable, Which Launches Showrunner: A Tool for User-Directed TV Shows

In federal lawsuit, students allege Lawrence school district’s AI surveillance tool violates their rights

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 Christie Taylor.

After many months of making fun of the term "vibe coding," Emily and Alex tackle the LLMs-as-coders fad head-on, with help from security researcher Susanna Cox. From one person's screed that proclaims everyone not on the vibe-coding bandwagon to be crazy, to the grandiose claim that LLMs could be the "opposable thumb" of the entire world of computing. It's big yikes, all around.

Susanna Cox is a consulting AI security researcher and a member of the core author team at OWASP AI Exchange.

References:

My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts

LLMs: the opposable thumb of computing

A disastrous day in the life of a vibe coder

Also referenced:

Signal president Meredith Whittaker on the fundamental security problem with agentic AI

The "S" in MCP stands for security

Our Opinions Are Correct: The Turing Test is Bullshit

AI Hell:

Sam Altman: The (gentle) singularity is already here

What do the boosters think reading is, anyway?

Meta's climate model made up fake CO2 removal ideas

Ongoing lawsuit means all your ChatGPT conversations will be saved

"Dance like you're part of the training set"

Some Guy tries to mansplain Signal to…Signal's president

WSJ headline claims ChatGPT "self-reflection", gets dunked

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 Christie Taylor.