Episode 47: Hell is Other People's AI Hype, December 9 2024

It’s been a long year in the AI hype mines. And no matter how many claims Emily and Alex debunk, there's always a backlog of Fresh AI Hell. This week, another whirlwind attempt to clear it, with plenty of palate cleansers along the way.Fresh AI Hell:Part I: EducationMedical residency assignments"AI generated" UCLA course"Could ChatGPT get an engineering degree?"AI letters of recommendationChaser: 'AI' isn't Tinkerbell and we don’t have to clapPart II: Potpourri, as in really rottenAI x parentingEt tu, Firefox?US military tests AI machine gun"Over-indexing" genAI failingsAI denying social benefitsChaser: AI 'granny' vs scammers Part III: The Endangered Information EcosystemFake Emily quote in LLM-written articleProtecting WikipediaAI: the new plasticGoogle AI on 'dressing'"AI" archaeologyMisinfo scholar used ChatGPTOpenAI erases lawsuit evidenceLAT "AI" bias meterWaPo AI search: The Washington Post burns its own archiveChaser: ShotSpotter as artPart IV: Surveillance, AI in science/medicineApple patents "body data"Chatbots "defeat" doctorsAlgorithm for healthcare "overuse""AI friendships""Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas?"Another LLM for scienceChaser: FTC vs VenntelPart V: They tell us to believe the hypeThomas Friedman: AGI is comingMatteo Wong on o1's 'reasoning'WIRED editor: believe the hypeSalesforce CEO: The "unlimited age"Chaser: Emily and Alex's forthcoming book! Pre-order THE AI CON: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want at TheCon.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.