Close All Tabs

Flock Safety’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates worried about a creeping surveillance state and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for.

Morgan talks to Bay Area reporters Roselyn Romero and Riley Cooke about the fight over Flock spreading throughout the region, what we still don’t know about how Flock’s data is used and how some residents are finding creative ways to push back.

Guests:

Roselyn Romero, public safety journalist at The Oaklandside 

Riley Cooke, reporter at Palo Alto Weekly 

Further Reading/Listening:

We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds — Benn Jordan, Youtube 

Palo Alto license plate data searched by hundreds of out-of-state agencies — Riley Cooke, Palo Alto Weekly

Flock is quietly training Bay Area police to sway city leaders to buy surveillance tech — Roselyn Romero, The Oaklandside 

Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves — Jason Koebler, 404 Media

Does Flock Safety Keep Women Safe? — Jayme Kusyk, Knock LA

Police Have Reportedly Used License Plate Readers to Stalk Romantic Interests at Least 21 Times in Recent Years - Institute for Justice  

Home Depot and Lowe’s Downplay Customer Surveillance Threats — Whitney Curry Wimbish, The American Prospect

Flock cameras in Hampton Roads surveil Black communities more intensely than white ones, CNU study says — Toby Cox, WHRO 

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows — Jason Koebler & Joseph Cox, 404 Media

Who is paint bombing Oakland’s Flock cameras? — Eli Wolfe, The Oaklandside

Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras — Brian Merchant, Blood In The Machine

Has S.F. cracked how to fix the car break-in crisis? Here’s what is driving the decline — Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle  

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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. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brian Douglas and Chris Egusa. 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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Everyone seems to have an opinion about AI, but what about those who will likely be affected most — recent graduates?

This cohort of grads is unique. They remember what classrooms were like before the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, and have seen how it transformed the education world seemingly overnight. Today, we hear from three recent graduates in the Bay Area about their thoughts on AI, how it affected their education, and how they feel about their futures. 

This week, we’re sharing a recent episode from KQED podcast The Bay — a show that takes an in-depth look at stories from across the SF Bay Area.

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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. 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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When shareholders of gaming giant Electronic Arts approved an acquisition of the company by a group that includes Jared Kushner’s private equity firm and the Saudi Public Investment Fund late last year, it rocked the entertainment industry. The sale worth an estimated $55 billion sent the player community of the EA-owned game The Sims scrambling, afraid that a game known as a haven for LGBTQ+ expression might be changed for the worse. In this second part of our exploration of the inclusive history of The Sims franchise, we dive into what the deal might mean for the game, how it’s reshaping the future of the industry, and why a popular Sims streamer is ready to walk away from the game in protest.

Guests:
Kayla Sims, Twitch streamer and YouTuber known as “lilsimsie”

Zefrine, Twitch streamer and organizer with The Players Alliance

Loel Phelps, senior game design director at Maxis

Jessica Croft, senior designer at EA on The Sims 4 

Further Reading/Listening:

Bay Area Gamers Rally Against Electronic Arts’ $55 Billion Acquisition — Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED 

'Gaming is the new oil:' How the EA buyout 'diverges from the traditional playbook' — Nicole Carpenter, Game Developer

Congressman Teams Up With Popular Sims Streamer To Oppose Saudi Purchase Of EA — Nathan Grayson, Aftermath

US representative Maxwell Frost protests Saudi buyout of EA — Diego Argüello, Game Developer

Sims streamers are distancing themselves from EA, but for some the choice is hard — Ash Parrish, The Verge

EA Advertisement Isn't New: A Look Back At The Sims' History With Brands (And What Comes Next) — Callum Bowyer, Sims Community

Private Equity's EA Takeover: Corruption, Contradictions, and Exploitation — Daniel Stone, Center for Economic and Policy Research

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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. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. 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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“Did The Sims make you gay?” is a long-running joke among Sims players. For millions, The Sims has been more than a video game — it’s been a place to experiment, tell stories, and explore identity. Long before LGBTQ representation became common in mainstream games, The Sims allowed same-sex relationships, helping create a devoted queer fan base that reshaped what players expected from virtual worlds.

In this episode, Morgan Sung talks with The Sims 4 senior designer Jessica Croft and Electronic Arts’ senior game design director Loel Phelps about the game’s unlikely emergence as one of the most queer-inclusive franchises in gaming. They explore the legendary story of how same-sex romance accidentally made it into the original game, the challenges of translating sexuality and gender into game systems, why so many LGBTQ players discovered their own identities in The Sims long before they felt safe doing so in real life — and why some players are worried about where the game might be headed.

Guests:

Jessica Croft, senior designer and lead designer at EA on The Sims 4

Loel Phelps, senior game design director at Maxis

Further Reading/Listening:

The Kiss That Changed Video Games — Simon Parkin, The New Yorker

Unearthed The Sims design docs show the internal debate over same-sex relationships — Steven Messner, PC Gamer

Did The Sims make you gay? - a video essay. — Alexander Avila, YouTube 

The Sims Knew I Was Queer Before I Did — Megan Elliot, BRICKS Magazine

Gay weddings for Russia: How The Sims became a battleground for the LGBTQ+ community — Tom Regan, The Guardian

The Sims designer says that the series’ diversity is “critical, especially at times like now” as the games must recognise “the fundamental truths of our humanity” to stay successful — Lewis White, FIVR

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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. Additional production help from Francesca Fenzi. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. 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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During a recent phone call,  BBC tech columnist Thomas Germain couldn’t convince his aunt that he wasn’t AI. Being unable to distinguish a real person from a fabricated version is a problem born from the sheer volume of AI-generated content flooding the internet — and one that’s increased dramatically in the last year alone. Even world leaders are now plagued by the issue: a glitchy video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked an enduring conspiracy theory that he was really dead and his public appearances on social media were an AI-driven cover up.

In a world where everything looks fake, how do we know what’s real? Thomas joins the show to explain how we got here, where we might be headed, and a surprisingly analog technique that could save you from getting scammed by a deepfaked version of a loved one.

Guest:

Thomas Germain, co-host of the podcast The Interface, and tech columnist at the BBC.

Further Reading/Listening:

I tried to prove I'm not AI. My aunt wasn't convinced — Thomas Germain, BBC

The Interface Podcast — BBC

Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to prove he’s not an AI clone  — Jess Weatherbed, The Verge

Cascade of A.I. Fakes About War With Iran Causes Chaos Online — Stuart A. Thompson and Alexander Cardia, The New York Times 

AI is intensifying a 'collapse' of trust online, experts say — Angela Yang, NBC News

Deepfakes, Elections, and Shrinking the Liar’s Dividend — Josh A. Goldstein, Brennan Center for Justice

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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. 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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When JetBlue replied to an angry customer on X that they should clear their cookies for a better flight price, it seemed to confirm a long-held consumer belief: companies use your personal data to determine what you should pay in real-time based on your urgency, habits and identity. It’s what’s known as surveillance pricing. According to economic sociologist Lindsay Owens, the practice is rampant. She says companies have been investing for years in sophisticated tools meant to squeeze every last dollar out of consumers — and for the most part, it’s legal. Lindsay joins Morgan to talk about how we got here, the U.S. laws designed to fight back against surveillance pricing and what you can personally do to sidestep the practice.

Guest:

Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative

Further Reading:

The Tiger Mom Tax: Asians Are Nearly Twice as Likely to Get a Higher Price from Princeton Review — Julia Angwin, Surya Mattu and Jeff Larson, Pro Publica

The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more — Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post

Issue Spotlight: The Rise of Surveillance Pricing — FTC Staff, Federal Trade Commission

Why surveillance pricing bans are suddenly gaining traction this year (and not just in California) — Khari Johnson, CalMatters

Influencers are peddling 'the library hack' as a way to score cheaper flights. Whether it works is beside the point — Grace Snelling, Fast Company

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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. Additional production help from Francesca Fenzi. 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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For three weeks, all eyes were on a salacious courtroom drama unfolding in Oakland, California. The Musk v. Altman trial had everything you’d expect from a favorite soap opera: Backstabbing? Check! Secret diary entries? Check! Pleading text messages? Check! And two billionaire buddies turned rivals duking it out over who did or did not steal a charity. Morgan and KQED’s Rachel Myrow explore the trial highlights, outcome and the big question: what was it all for?

Guests:

Rachael Myrow, senior editor, Silicon Valley News Desk at KQED

Further Reading/Listening:

Federal Court Rules Against Elon Musk in His Bitter Feud With Sam Altman — Katie DeBenedetti and Rachael Myrow, KQED

Everyone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt Cushions — Paresh Dave, WIRED

Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people — Hayden Field, The Verge

Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? — Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker

Advice for 2026 commencement speakers: Don't bring up AI — Jude Joffe-Block and Michelle Aslam, NPR

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Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠Credits: 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. 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-generated Lego videos have become a tool of war. Since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in late February, increasingly elaborate videos featuring LEGO figures and catchy rap lyrics have been flooding our feeds. They're shareable, surprisingly high quality and they're deeply critical of the U.S. and Trump. They're also propaganda.

Welcome to the age of "slopaganda" — where AI Slop meets information warfare.

Michał Klincewicz, assistant professor of computational cognitive science, joins Morgan to break down the rise of slopaganda, what it's doing to our information ecosystem and why the U.S. is losing the meme war.

Guest:

Michał Klincewicz, assistant professor of computational cognitive science at Tilburg University. 

Further Reading/Listening:

Slopaganda: The interaction between propaganda and generative AI

 — Michal Klincewicz, Mark Alfano, and Amir Ebrahimi Fard, Filosofiska Notiser 

Slopaganda wars: how (and why) the US and Iran are flooding the zone with viral AI-generated noise — Mark Alfano and Michal Klincewicz, The Conversation

‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump | US-Israel war on Iran News — Alia Chughtai, Al Jazeera

The Team Behind a Pro-Iran, Lego-Themed Viral-Video Campaign — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker

YouTube removes pro-Iran channel producing anti-Trump videos — Alex MacDonald, Middle East Eye

‘We want the mullahs gone’: economic crisis sparks biggest protests in Iran since 2022 — Deepa Parent and William Christou, The Guardian 

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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. 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’re diving into the world of nonconsensual deepfake porn and why this problem reaches far beyond influencers and sex workers.

When users on X started asking Grok to generate explicit images of real women and girls without their consent, Twitch streamer and OnlyFans creator Morgpie watched the harassment spiral in real time. Cosplayer and software engineer Zander Small saw firsthand how nonconsensual images affected his girlfriend, a SFW creator, and her friends. The two decided to team up to build tools that help creators detect leaks, remove deepfakes, and reclaim control over their images online.

Note: This episode contains mentions of gender-based violence and nonconsensual intimate imagery, which may be triggering for some listeners.

Guests:

Morgpie, OnlyFans creator and cofounder of Fanlock

Zander Small, content creator and cofounder of Fanlock

Further Reading/Listening:

Influencers take on AI deepfakes with their own creator protection agency — Virginia Glaze, Dextero

Musk’s Grok AI chatbot is still making sexual deepfakes, despite X’s promise to stop it — David Ingram, NBC News

The Deepfake Nudes Crisis in Schools Is Much Worse Than You Thought — Matt Burgess, WIRED

Take It Down Act: How to use it to remove revenge porn — Jasmine Mithani, The 19th

Image-Based Sexual Abuse Laws: Combat Nonconsensual AI Deepfakes — RAINN

AI & Tech-Enabled Sexual Abuse: Risk & Prevention — RAINN

Deepfake Statistics 2025: AI Fraud Data & Trends — Mohammed Khalil, DeepStrike

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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. 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 happens when your therapist is… a chatbot?

For KQED health reporter Lesley McClurg, it started with a late-night spiral over dating. Instead of texting a friend, she opened ChatGPT and got the kind of calm, reassuring advice she needed. It worked… maybe a little too well.

Lesley joins Morgan to dig into the rise of AI therapy, why so many people are turning to chatbots for emotional support, and what they might be risking in the process. These systems promise something traditional mental health care often can’t: instant, affordable, judgment-free access. But there are limits and, sometimes, serious consequences. 

Note: This episode includes discussions of suicide and mental health conditions. Listener discretion is advised.

This episode first aired on April 23rd, 2025 

Guest: 

Lesley McClurg, KQED health correspondent

Further Reading/Listening:

Can AI Replace Your Therapist? The Benefits, Risks and Unsettling Truths - Lesley McClurg, KQED

The AI therapist can see you now - Katia Riddle, NPR 

Woebot, a Mental-Health Chatbot, Tries Out Generative AI - Casey Sackett, Devin Harper, and Aaron Pavez, IEEE Spectrum

AI Prophets and Spiritual Delusions — Close All Tabs 

New Studies Reveal Mental Health Blindspots of AI Chatbots — Marlynn Wei, Psychology Today AI in the mental health care workforce is met with fear, pushback — and enthusiasm — Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR 

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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. 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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