TWiT 1075: The Commonwealth Club - Meta Layoffs, DOGE Data Theft, & the Rise of AI Fails

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson, Richard Campbell, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit preview.modulate.ai monarch.com with code TWIT spaceship.com/twit threatlocker.com/twit