Close All Tabs

What happens when AI moves beyond answering questions and starts helping scientists decide what to investigate next? Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk with Elicit co-founder Jungwon Byun about building AI tools for scientific research, why reliable citations and evidence matter as hallucinations become harder to spot, and whether connecting vast amounts of research could eventually allow AI to make discoveries that humans might miss, like curing disease or solving global energy issues. They also discuss what it feels like to build an AI company in the Bay Area right now, and we’ll hear about Jungwon’s “oh sh**” AI moment. 

Guest: Jungwon Byun, co-founder of Elicit

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Produced by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Derek Lartaud, mixed by Brendan Willard, executive produced by Jen Chien. 

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Emily Hart, the bikini-wearing right-wing AI influencer, had captured the hearts, minds and more of MAGA men online. But her creator, Sam, had grown sick of the creepy messages and unsolicited explicit photos he’d received from Emily’s adoring fans. And he was about to be outed as a “scammer.” In this follow-up to last week’s episode, we dig into the downfall of the MAGA dream girl, the explosion of AI “thirst” grifts and why Sam says he shouldn’t be labeled as a “scammer” at all.

Guests:

Ej Dickson, senior culture writer at Wired

“Sam,” creator of AI MAGA Influencer Emily Hart

Further Reading/Listening:

This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men — Ej Dickson, Wired 

Goose, a New Gay Dating App, Appears to Be a Psyop — Ej Dickson, Wired

How India's Cyber Scam Industry Causes Global Havoc — Hanan Zaffar, Inkstick

Inside the Booming ‘AI Pimping’ Industry — Jason Koebler and Emanuel Maiberg, Wired

Delays in Visa Program Threaten Placement of Hundreds of Doctors in Underserved Areas — Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News 

White House Wants More Doctors But Its Immigration Policies Block Them — Stuart Anderson, Forbes

Foreign medical residents fill critical positions at U.S. hospitals, but many now face visa issues — Adithi Ramakrishnan and Devi Shastri, PBS News

Indians lead UK exit wave as Britain's migration crackdown begins to bite | Immigration News — Sunainaa Chadha, Business Standard

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon and also was the associate producer on this episode. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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AI is advancing at a breakneck pace, but how quickly will that actually transform the economy? Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk to Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson about what the data can tell us so far, why previous technological revolutions took decades to reshape everyday life, and whether this time will be different. They discuss early signs that AI may already be affecting young workers, what happens to the career ladder when machines take over junior tasks, and where the biggest challenges — and opportunities — lie.

Guest: Erik Brynjolfsson, economist and Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab

Read the Transcript here⁠

⁠Watch the Video here⁠

Credits:

Producers: Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Derek Lartaud

Sound Design: Brendan Willard

Executive Producer: Jen Chien

Editor-in-Chief: Ethan Toven-Lindsey

Special thanks to Chris Egusa, Annie Fruit, Paul Lancour, Matt Morales, Vivian Morales, Zaldy Serrano, Xtine Tiñoso, Hazel Tesoro and Alex Tran.

Support for the production of Dream Machines comes from the Krishnan Shah Family, Dorothy Marsh, and other generous KQED members

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Emily Hart was a pickup-driving, Trump-supporting blonde bombshell who frequently posted photos on Instagram along with captions about “deporting illegals.” Within a few weeks she gained thousands of followers. It was like she was engineered to go viral in the MAGA-sphere — because she was. A 22-year-old medical student in India who goes by “Sam” is the person behind Emily Hart, and he shepherded her to viral fame with a combination of right-wing engagement baiting and AI assistance. Reporter Ej Dickson, who wrote about Sam and Emily Hart for WIRED, describes how he was able to grift so many conservative men. And Sam himself explains how something that began as a fun side-hustle took a disturbing turn.

Guests:

Ej Dickson, senior culture writer at Wired

“Sam,” creator of AI MAGA Influencer Emily Hart

Further Reading/Listening:

This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men  — Ej Dickson, Wired 

AI‑generated influencers: A new wave of cultural exploitation — Ateqah Khaki & Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation

Meet Brandi Love, the Pro-Trump Porn Star Who Writes for The Federalist —  Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast 

Challenges under India’s university reservation system   —  Namrata Kolachalam, The World 

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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San Francisco has been at the center of successive waves of technological and cultural change —  from the literal Gold Rush days to the current gold rush-like AI boom. Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk to author, longtime San Francisco resident, and “chronicler of other minds” Annalee Newitz about the difference between this boom and previous ones, the pleasures and dangers of anthropomorphizing tech tools, and whether or not AI is embodied. 

Guest: Annalee Newitz, journalist and author of Automatic Noodle and other books

Read the Transcript here

Watch the Video here

Credits:

Produced by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Derek Lartaud, mixed by Brendan Willard, executive produced by Jen Chien. 

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When Twitch streamer Denims made a reaction video about Ethan Klein's nearly two-hour takedown video of Hasan Piker, she wasn’t expecting to be sued for copyright infringement. She employed a commonly-used method of streaming the original video and interjecting with reactions, commentary and analysis. But Klein, who was once seen as a champion of fair use after he won a similar lawsuit in 2017, sued Denims and other content creators anyway. Morgan talks to Denims and journalist Kat Tenbarge about what made these cases different and how reaction content across the internet could change based on how the courts ultimately rule.

Guests:

Denims, political Twitch streamer

Kat Tenbarge, independent journalist, Spitfire News

Further Reading/Listening:

A Political Reckoning for Twitch? | KQED — Close All Tabs, KQED

Ethan Klein's War on Women — Kat Tenbarge, Spitfire News

Ethan Klein Doesn’t Deserve My Apology — Kat Tenbarge, Spitfire News

A YouTuber kicks up a stink over a flatulent “reaction” video — staff, The Economist

What's Up With Copyright Lately?: Summer Breeze Edition — Aaron Moss, Copyright Lately

Should YouTube introduce revenue-sharing for reaction content? — James Hale, Tubefilter

'Reactgate': Twitch streamer xQc and 'H3 Podcast' host Ethan Klein debate whether 'reaction videos' are 'stolen content' — Katie Mather, Yahoo News

How h3h3's Ethan Klein Might Change YouTube Forever — Melissa Chan, Time Magazine

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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We’ve got guests in the feed all August — a new series from KQED called Dream Machines! Today Morgan talks to co-hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan about this podcast project that looks at AI — how it works, what it means, and how it feels to be living right in the epicenter of it all: San Francisco. More episodes will be dropping in the feed, every Monday in August.

Guests:

Alexis Madrigal, co-host of KQED’s Forum, author of The Pacific Circuit, and former senior editor at The Atlantic, covering technology. 

Robin Sloan, author of New York Times bestseller Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, along with the novels Sourdough and Moonbound. 

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It starts with aspirational lifestyle content about “embracing your femininity,” but ends with alt-right ideology and conspiracy theories about reproductive care. This is the pink pill pipeline — one of the primary ways young women are radicalized online today. Seemingly innocuous content about dating advice, wellness tips, and pop culture leads to increasingly conservative and extremist talking points about how birth control is causing the fertility crisis or how women don’t need to vote. It’s all wrapped up in a glossy veneer of feminine empowerment. Reporter Kylie Cheung joins to discuss how seemingly apolitical content online is shifting the cultural narrative around reproductive rights through coordinated misinformation campaigns, and how to spot pink pill content for what it is.

Guest:

Kylie Cheung, staff reporter at Abortion, Every Day

Further Reading/Listening:

How Celebrity Smear Campaigns are Inspiring Attacks on Birth Control — Kylie Cheung, Abortion, Every Day

Far right coming for women’s autonomy; birth control on chopping block — Cassie Miller, Southern Poverty Law Center

We Need to Talk About the Pink-Pill Pipeline — Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day

I Caught a Secret Right-Wing Influence Operation Running In My Feed — Emily Amick, Emily In Your Phone

The Long Campaign to Turn Birth Control Into the New Abortion — Katharine Mieszkowski, Reveal

Inside Anti-Abortion Groups’ Campaign to Sell Women on Unreliable Birth Control “Alternatives” — Kiera Butler, Mother Jones

Trump Is Going After Birth Control. Here’s Why. — Mary Ziegler, Politico

The Trump Administration Is Overhauling Birth Control Access for the Pronatalist Movement — Jessica Washington, The Intercept

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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Anthrocon, the largest gathering of furries in the world, just celebrated its 20th anniversary in July — so we’re re-airing one of our favorite episodes yet. 

Furries are a community often known for wearing full-body animal suits at conventions — but the characters they inhabit, called “fursonas,” are much more than costumes. They’re deeply personal expressions of identity and creativity.

So when someone in the furry fandom dies, how does the community say goodbye? In some cases, they take to VR. Since 2020, a furry named Changa Husky has been running the Furry Family Ofrenda, a virtual memorial space inspired by the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos. It’s a place where furries gather to remember and celebrate the people — and fursonas — who have passed. In this episode, Morgan steps into that virtual world to explore what it means for a community to grieve both a person and the character they brought to life.

Guests:

Changa Husky, furry Vtuber and video producer

Patch O’Furr, founder and writer, Dogpatch Press

Further Reading/Listening:

Who runs the internet? Furries — Dylan Reeve, The Spinoff 

Remembering Mark Merlino (1952-2024), a founder and soul of furry fandom — Patch O’Furr, Dogpatch Press 

The Fandom: A Furry Documentary — Ash Coyote, YouTube

Never Ending Song - Doggo Edition — Changa Husky, YouTube 

Visit the Furry Family Ofrenda

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Editor’s Note: In this episode, we refer to some individuals only by their “fursona” names. We’ve chosen to use these names because members of the furry community are frequently subject to harassment, bullying, and doxxing, and many participants use online handles to maintain their safety and privacy.

Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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What are the chances that the internet could go down forever? How bad for humanity would it be if it did? And what would a shift back to the before-times look like? These are the kinds of questions “doom reporter” Ben Bradford tries to answer in his new podcast, Are We Doomed? Morgan and Ben discuss the scenarios that might lead to a long-term internet outage — from severed undersea cables to a massive solar storm. And they tackle the most pressing question of all: will influencers survive the internet apocalypse?

Guest: 

Ben Bradford, journalist and host of Are We Doomed?

Further Reading/Listening:

Are We Doomed? — Ben Bradford, Are We Doomed?

We Try and Kill the Internet — Ben Bradford, Are We Doomed?

Amazon Explains How Its AWS Outage Took Down the Web – Matt Burgess and Lily Hay Newman, WIRED 

The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds – Matthew Gault, 404 Media

Complex Structure Supported by a Tiny Part – Know Your Meme 

A Stealth Attack Came Close to Compromising the World’s Computers – The Economist

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. This episode was produced by Ana De Almeida Amara and Chris Egusa. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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