Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

There's No Ghost in the Machine (with Carmen Maria Machado), 2026.04.13


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Why are some writers and publishers so excited to automate their work? Author Carmen Maria Machado joins Alex and Emily to unpack what writers are missing when they hand off their work to chatbots, and the underlying issues this reveals in the publishing industry. Plus, we resolve to keep fan fiction a human endeavor!

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, The Believer, Guernica, and elsewhere.

Find tickets to our April 30th live show here!

References:
- "I wrote a novel using AI. Writers must accept artificial intelligence."
- AFT shares tips for "Harnessing the Best of AI"

Fresh AI Hell:
- "With Teens Comfortable Confiding in AI, Should Schools Embrace It for Mental Health Care?"
- Longread on the use of automation by the British government
- "OpenAI Backs Bill That Would Limit Liability for AI-Enabled Mass Deaths or Financial Disasters"
- UN brief on "AI Deception"
- Reader's Digest cover on "Making Friends with AI"
- The only good "AI acceptance" policy

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.

Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.

Follow us!

Emily

  • Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
  • Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender

Alex

  • Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
  • Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
  • Twitter: @alexhanna

Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

...more
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Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000By Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

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