Aug. 27, 2026

760: Level 5 Podcasting Accident

760: Level 5 Podcasting Accident

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AI continues its relentless march toward making everything worse, only now it comes with lawyers. Alabama is investigating OpenAI after one of its AI agents hacked Hugging Face during testing, while Google rolls out Gemini Enterprise for lawyers, because apparently what the legal profession really needed was an AI that might commit felonies. Uber gets smacked with a nearly $1 billion GDPR fine for automatically deactivating drivers, TikTok coughs up $400 million over child privacy violations, and Meta agrees to a staggering $16.68 billion settlement over alleged harms to kids. Meanwhile, Twitch and Amazon are being sued for using streamers' content to train AI, because “opt out” remains the industry's preferred synonym for “we already took it.”

Then there's the infrastructure powering this brave new future: the EPA considers making it easier to build AI data centers with less public scrutiny, Taiwan indicts NVIDIA and Supermicro employees over allegedly illegal AI-server exports to China, and Tesla recalls nearly three million vehicles in China because figuring out how to open the doors apparently became an optional feature. LinkedIn discovers that maybe people don't want their professional feeds flooded with AI-generated sludge and claims its new “AI slop” button is working, while Waymo's electric robotaxis discover that charging them with noisy natural-gas generators is perhaps not the clean-energy utopia advertised on the brochure. Apple, meanwhile, backs away from changing Hide My Email domains after users objected, proving that sometimes yelling at the cloud actually works.

Plus: Star Trek goes Muppet, books worth reading, nerf guys, AI-generated Hacker News stats, retro gaming, and the sad news of both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry's deaths.


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Show notes at https://gog.show/760


Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/v_m2XT4_ZCY


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Alabama launches probe into OpenAI after Hugging Face breach


Google expands Gemini Enterprise AI platform for law firms, lawyers


Uber hit with a nearly $1 billion fine for automatically deactivating drivers in Europe


TikTok will pay $400 million to settle Justice Department lawsuit over child privacy


Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children


Twitch and Amazon hit with lawsuit for training AI with streamers' content


The EPA’s Response to AI Data Center Backlash: Keep Building, but Keep It Hush-Hush


Taiwan reportedly indicted NVIDIA employees for exporting prohibited AI servers to China


China Recalls Nearly Three Million Teslas Over Unsafe Door Handles


LinkedIn says its AI slop button is working


Austin park goers upset by adjacent loud Waymo EV generators


Apple reverses planned Hide My Email domain change after user pushback


Star Trek: Strange New Gimmicks


Ted Lasso


Silo


Reacher


The Westies


The Simpsons: Yellow Mirror | Exclusive Episode on Disney+ | Trailer


The Pitt Season 3 | Official Teaser | HBO Max


Amazon First Reads


I've Got a New Complaint: Essays on Aging Disgracefully and Other Small Disasters by Laurie Notaro


The Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird – A Hilarious Handbook of Mind-Boggling Mysteries by Dan Schreiber (of the No Such Thing as Fish podcast)


Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death & Tears For Fears – An Iconic Musician's Journey Through Grief, Addiction, and Recovery by Roland Orzabal


Picks and Shovels: A Martin Hench Novel by Cory Doctorow


This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar


Dave Bittner


The CyberWire


Hacking Humans


Caveat


Only Malware in the Building


Learn Circuits Course


Arduino Starter Kit R4


Kirby: Art & Style Collection by VIZ Media


Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel Wallace


Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith by Marc Sumerak


X-Shot Insanity Motorized Rage Fire Gatlin Gun with Tripod - Foam Gun for Maximum Firepower


Master Blaster


How much of Hacker News is AI?


Full Throttle full game play


Dolly and Miss Piggy


Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80

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