TechStuff Week In Tech: Would You Rather Live in a World with No Privacy or No Crime?
Dec 12, 2025
The podcast dives into the controversial use of AI to monitor inmate phone calls for crime prevention. It questions the ethics of sacrificing privacy for security in society. The hosts also discuss the pharmaceutical landscape and why AI has yet to produce groundbreaking drugs, with the spotlight on potential shifts in drug development from China. Additionally, there's buzz about the rise of a self-made billionaire in the tech space and a quirky segment on a company selling giant blueberries. Lastly, a geopolitical deepfake incident raises eyebrows.
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AI Drug Discovery Hasn't Delivered—Yet
- AI drug discovery promised breakthroughs but hasn't produced many market drugs yet.
- Funding cycles, immature models, and long clinical timelines reset expectations after the GPT moment.
China Racing To Pharmaceutical Leadership
- China is accelerating pharma innovation by prioritizing regulation, trials, and infrastructure.
- Faster, cheaper development threatens U.S. dominance in drug IP and supply chains.
Prison Calls Used To Train LLMs
- Karah Preiss described Securus training LLMs on prison phone calls to detect planned crimes.
- She and Oz expressed moral outrage at charging inmates to have calls used for AI training without consent.