Is an AI chatbot, like ChatGPT, a search engine? Does it scour the internet for helpful information so that it can respond to user queries?

These questions were at the heart of a small kerfuffle on Bluesky last week between decorated speculative fiction writer Ann Leckie and a few prominent tech thinkers. Honestly, it bummed me out. But I found that the next morning, I had a lot to say about it. So I enlisted my dear husband, Sean, and I talked him through it.

This episode is different than the last 6 months or so of episodes. If you have the same taste in podcasts that I do, you'll recognize the format. I've been wanting to try it for a long time, and this was the perfect topic to give it a go. It's far more casual than the last 15+ episodes, but just as rigorous. If you like it, reach out on Bluesky, and let me know! Sean is already asking when we can do it again.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode.
• Ann Leckie's original post
• Casey Newton's post
• Anil Dash's post (in response to someone agreeing with Leckie)
• Courtney Milan's post about the "card catalog effect"
• The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan with Quentin Fiore
• "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜" by Emily W. Bender and Timnit Gebru

JOIN ME FOR SUMMER SEMINAR!

Summer Seminar is an intellectual oasis for creative thinkers and curious adventurers.

It combines speculative fiction, big questions, and practical application. For Summer 2025, we’re reading Sofia Samatar’s critically acclaimed novella The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain.

We’ll pair it with adventures in systems thinking and cultural analysis. And we’ll apply what we discover by reflecting on the systems we create and encounter in our own lives and work.

Summer Seminar is designed to fit into any schedule and explores critical thinking skills you can apply to any goal or challenge.

To learn more, visit whatworks.fyi/summer