"AI" Agents, A Single Point of Failure (with Margaret Mitchell), 2025.03.31

After "AI" stopped meaning anything, the hype salesmen moved on to "AI" "agents", those allegedly indefatigable assistants, allegedly capable of operating your software for you -- whether you need to make a restaurant reservation, book a flight, or book a flight to a restaurant reservation. Hugging Face's Margaret Mitchell joins Emily and Alex to help break down what agents actually are, and what to actually worry about.References:PwC launches AI agent operating system to revolutionize AI workflows for enterprisesAn Open-Source AI Agent for Doing Tasks on the WebScale AI announces multimillion-dollar defense deal, a major step in U.S. military automationOther references:Why handing over total control to AI agents would be a huge mistakeFully Autonomous AI Agents Should Not be DevelopedBender vs. Bubeck: The Great Chatbot Debate: Do LLMs Really Understand?Democratize artFresh AI Hell:DOGE suggests replacing workers with "AI" (of course)Vape, or the tamagotchi gets itVia @maaikeverbruggen"AI" for psychotherapy, still bad, still hypedBiology (not) of LLMsMark Cuban's grifty chatbotVia @HypervisiblePalate cleanser: "AI is the letdown"https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/tech/apple-ai-artificial-intelligence/index.htmlComic relief: "Fortified with AI"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!EmilyBluesky: emilymbender.bsky.socialMastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBenderAlexBluesky: alexhanna.bsky.socialMastodon: dair-community.social/@alexTwitter: @alexhannaMusic by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.