Do you know the definition of a friend? This week in tech news, workplaces may not be getting a good return on their AI investments and a new wearable goes all in on advertisements, but they are getting defaced. Then, Italy has a new AI regulation law and there’s a buzzy new “actress” in Hollywood. On Chat and Me, how one listener is personalizing AI to help his students learn Spanish.

Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in an unusual or surprising way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at [email protected].

Additional Reading: 

• The hottest workplace policy at startups right now: No shoes | Fortune 
• AI Generated Workslop is Destroying Productivity 
• I went to an anti-tech rally, where Gen Z dressed as gnomes and smashed iPhones. Here's what I learned. 
• AI Startup Friend Bets On Foes With $1M NYC Subway Campaign 
• $55 Billion Deal for Electronic Arts Is Biggest Buyout Ever - The New York Times
• Neon, the No. 2 social app on the Apple App Store, pays users to record their phone calls and sells data to AI firms | TechCrunch
• Italy enacts AI law covering privacy, oversight and child access | Reuters
• AI Actress Tilly Norwood Draws Backlash From Melissa Barrera, Lukas Gage and More Hollywood Names as Creator Defends Her as a ‘New Tool’ and ‘Not a Replacement for a Human Being’  

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This week, we explore Hollywood’s open secret — that everyone is using AI, they just aren’t talking about it. Karah sits down with Lila Shapiro, a features writer for New York Magazine, about what Hollywood, itself, thinks of AI. She shares what she’s learned from her extensive interviews with studio executives, directors, writers, vfx artists, actors, and AI entrepreneurs. They discuss whether AI is making creative jobs easier, or threatening to destroy them entirely. 

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Who are the teens debugging in the bathroom? This week in tech news, there’s a Gen Z-led revolution in Nepal and Discord made it possible. Early 2000s hustle culture is so back in Silicon Valley — at least for teen tech founders. Then, there’s a new AI-generated political satire show airing on Russian state TV. And Albania gets an AI-avatar to seek out corruption. Finally, on Chat and Me, how ChatGPT is helping one user through a new diagnosis.

Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at [email protected].

Additional Reading: 

• Nepal Currently Being Run Via Discord After Gen Z Uprising
• AI Startup Founders Tout a Winning Formula—No Booze, No Sleep, No Fun
• The Trump Admin Is Suing Amazon for Tricking People Into Prime Subscriptions. Here’s How That Might Affect You
• Albania’s AI-generated chatbot, called Diella, was named to the country’s cabinet
• Russian State TV Launches AI-Generated News Satire Show

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This week, we’re bringing you the first episode of Season 3 of the podcast ON CRISPR. Walter Isaacson — the bestselling biographer behind Musk, Einstein and Steve Jobs – and journalist Evan Ratliff (Shell Game, Mastermind, Longform) take a behind-the-scenes look at the story of Jennifer Doudna, one of the scientific pioneers behind the gene editing software, CRISPR. 

In this episode, Evan sits down with Walter Isaacson to discuss Doudna’s upbringing, the history of DNA’s discovery and gene editing, and Baby KJ, a CRISPR patient who represents a milestone for both researchers and patients.

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What does the viral video of Charlie Kirk’s assassination say about the state of content moderation on social media? This week, Oz and Karah unpack the complexities of moderating graphic-but-newsworthy content, and why tech companies commitment to moderation has waned in recent years. Then, Karah talks to a student in New York about how they’re adjusting to not having access to their phone during the school day. Then, on Chat and Me, a woman uses ChatGPT to diagnose her mother’s mysterious ailment.

Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at [email protected].

Sources:

Charlie Kirk Was Shot and Killed in a Post-Content-Moderation World

From burner phones to decks of cards: NYC teens are adjusting to the smartphone ban

Larry Ellison’s personal fortune soars on back of Oracle’s share price surge

5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan

Labour MPs accused of using ChatGPT to write speeches

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This week, we take a deep dive into why Gen Z isn’t having sex. Karah talks with Carter Sherman, a reproductive health and justice reporter for The Guardian, and author of the book The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation's Fight Over Its Future. They unpack how tech factors into the “Sex Recession,” sex as a proxy measure for empathy and human connection, and how all of this is a lot more political than you might think. 

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What does getting older actually feel like? This week, Oz and Karah discuss MIT Researchers who are using technology to simulate aging. Then, Oz tells the story of an activist who used China’s surveillance state as a form of protest. Karah dives deep into the weird world of humans quietly training chatbots. And finally, on Chat and Me, is replacing your therapist with ChatGPT a good idea? 

Also, we want to hear from you: If you’ve used a chatbot in a surprising or delightful (or deranged) way, send us a 1–2 minute voice note at [email protected].

Sources:

My Day as an 80-Year-Old. What an Age-Simulation Suit Taught Me.

She Sacrificed Her Youth to Get the Tech Bros to Grow Up

A Hidden Camera Protest Turned the Tables on China’s Surveillance State

Inside the lucrative, surreal, and disturbing world of AI trainers

Sam Altman, Tim Cook, and other tech leaders lauded Trump at a White House AI dinner

“First of its kind” AI settlement: Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion

AirPods Pro 3 arrive with heart-rate sensing and live translation using Apple Intelligence

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This week, we’re all in. Oz chats with Kit Chellel, a Bloomberg writer who focuses on gambling, technology, and sports betting. He wrote an article about a secret Russian bot farm that infiltrated the world of online poker in the early 2000s.  We follow Kit from Siberia to Armenia, and get a peek into just how bots can make or break the future of online poker.

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This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Visit us at https://www.ibm.com/think/podcasts/smart-talks

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We’re taking this week off! But don’t worry, we’ll be back with new episodes starting September 10th. In the meantime, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews from the year so far. This week, Oz talks with writer Nathaniel Rich about one of the biggest challenges of sending humans to Mars: isolation.

Nathaniel Rich is a novelist, essayist and writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. Rich sits down with Oz to talk about his essay, “Can Humans Endure the Psychological Torment of Mars?” The piece explores NASA's CHAPEA (“Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog”) mission, a simulation meant to test a major challenge of Mars missions – isolation.

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