Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate and host of Amicus, discusses the legal complexities of Donald Trump's executive orders and their clash with existing laws. Ed Zitron, host of Better Offline, dives into how the rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, threatens to deflate America’s AI bubble. They analyze the overhyping of AI by tech moguls and the gap between public expectations versus actual capabilities of generative AI. The duo calls attention to the industry’s unsustainable trends and the possible ramifications of a bubble burst in tech.
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Executive Orders and Legal Confusion
Trump's executive orders create confusion about their legal force and impact. They illustrate a chaotic approach to governance that can undermine institutional integrity.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Understanding Executive Orders
Treat executive orders like letters of intent without binding legal force. This perspective can help mitigate their paralyzing effects on governance.
insights INSIGHT
AI Market Competition
China's DeepSeek chatbot challenges American AI narratives by proving advanced models can be built more efficiently. This raises questions about the sustainability of the American AI industry.
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In this book, Dahlia Lithwick tells the story of women lawyers who sprang into action after Donald Trump's victory in 2016 to combat the retrograde policies of his administration. The book highlights the legal ingenuity and indefatigable spirit of women such as Sally Yates, Becca Heller, Roberta Kaplan, and Stacey Abrams, who worked tirelessly to protect voting rights, challenge the Muslim travel ban, and sue neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. It is a celebration of the unrecognized work of these women and their contributions to holding the line against a chaotic presidency.
President Donald Trump has signed dozens of executive orders since returning to office. On this week’s On the Media, how the directives are butting heads with existing laws. Plus, what the DeepSeek saga reveals about American A.I.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate and host of the podcast Amicus, to discuss Donald Trump’s attempt to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding, the legality of the president’s litany of executive orders, and how political paralysis is the point.
[21:00] Brooke speaks with Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast and author of the newsletter Where’s Your Ed At on how the release of a new Chinese AI chatbot model, DeepSeek-R1, threatens to burst the American A.I. bubble, and how tech moguls have gotten away with overhyping A.I. for years.
[38:14] Brooke continues the conversation with Ed Zitron, peeling back the facade to explore what generative A.I. can actually do.
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