This week on Surprise! It’s Not a Toaster, we dive headfirst into the chaotic dumpster fire that is YouTube clickbait. Apparently, Henry Winkler has died 11 times, and there are at least 17 “official” trailers for John Wick 5. Spoiler: none of them are real. Welcome to the golden age of AI-generated garbage.

Annoyance of the Week: YouTube Shorts and algorithm bait are breaking our brains. When even death hoaxes and fake movie trailers are passing for truth, we may be approaching peak unreality.

Tech Rec (that isn’t tech): The new season of Black Mirror is incredible — eerie, moving, and painfully on point. Two episodes in particular punch hard on how digital life twists human behavior. No spoilers, but let’s just say… it’s back.

Stump GenAI: We fire up ChatGPT’s Deep Research mode to test a health policy hypothesis: Are out-of-pocket costs for diabetes care actually going down? (Spoiler: Nope. PBMs are still doing PBM things.)

It’s a weird one, folks — full of fakes, digital existentialism, and actual useful insight.

Mentions from the Show: 

YouTube is cracking down on clickbait

Let’s Talk About YouTube Face and Clickbait

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Ed Bennett on LinkedIn

Chris Boyer website

Ed Bennett of BlueSky

Chris Boyer on BlueSky