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Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

Latest episodes

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Oct 4, 2023 • 1h 2min

Episode 17: Back to School with AI Hype in Education (feat. Haley Lepp), September 22 2023

Stanford PhD student Haley Lepp joins Emily and Alex to discuss the hype around LLMs in education. They talk about reducing teacher workloads, increasing accessibility, and 'democratizing learning and knowing'. They also explore the devaluation of educator expertise and fatalism about LLMs in the classroom. Other topics include the University of Michigan's AI tools, blend of technical and socio-emotional skills, chat GPT in education, Microsoft's AI-generated article mishap, ethics of AI-generated content, and tech power in San Francisco.
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Sep 28, 2023 • 1h 2min

Episode 16: Med-PaLM or Facepalm? A Second Opinion On LLMs In Healthcare (feat. Roxana Daneshjou), August 28, 2023

Guest Roxana Daneshjou, incoming assistant professor of dermatology and biomedical data science at Stanford, joins the hosts to discuss the use of large language models in healthcare. They evaluate the performance of these models, explore the challenges of evaluating them in clinical settings, and highlight the importance of multimodal processing in medicine. They also touch on the controversial use of AI in school libraries and transportation, and discuss the issue of fake books on Amazon.
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Sep 20, 2023 • 1h 4min

Episode 15: The White House And Big Tech Dance The Self-Regulation Tango, August 11 2023

Emily and Alex tackle the White House hype about the 'voluntary commitments' of companies to limit the harms of their large language models: but only some large language models, and only some, over-hyped kinds of harms.Plus a full portion of Fresh Hell...and a little bit of good news.References:White House press release on voluntary commitmentsEmily’s blog post critiquing the “voluntary commitments”An “AI safety” infused take on regulationAI Causes Real Harm. Let’s Focus on That over the End-of-Humanity Hype“AI” Hurts Consumers and Workers — and Isn’t IntelligentFresh AI Hell:Future of Life Institute hijacks SEO for EU's AI ActLLMs for denying health insurance claimsNHS using “AI” as receptionistAutomated robots in receptionCan AI language models replace human research participants?A recipe chatbot taught users how to make chlorine gasUsing a chatbot to pretend to interview Harriet TubmanWorldcoin Orbs & iris scansMartin Shkreli’s AI for health start upAuthors impersonated with fraudulent books on Amazon/GoodreadsGood News:Zoom restCheck out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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Sep 13, 2023 • 1h 1min

Episode 14: Henry Kissinger, Machines of War, and the Age of Military AI Hype (feat. Lucy Suchman), July 21 2023

Emily and Alex are joined by technology scholar Dr. Lucy Suchman to scrutinize a new book from Henry Kissinger and coauthors Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher that declares a new 'Age of AI,' with abundant hype about the capacity of large language models for warmaking. Plus close scrutiny of Palantir's debut of an artificial intelligence platform for combat, and why the company is promising more than the mathy-maths can provide.Dr. Lucy Suchman is a professor emerita of sociology at Lancaster University in the UK. She works at the intersections of anthropology and the field of feminist science and technology studies, focused on cultural imaginaries and material practices of technology design. Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the fields of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary militarism. She is concerned with the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world.This episode was recorded on July 21, 2023. Watch the video on PeerTube.References:Wall Street Journal: OpEd derived from 'The Age of AI' (Kissinger, Schmidt & Huttenlocher)American Prospect: Meredith Whittaker & Lucy Suchman’s review of Kissinger et al’s bookVICE: Palantir Demos AI To Fight Wars But Says It Will Be Totally Ethical About It Don't Worry About It Fresh AI Hell:American Psychological Association: how to cite ChatGPThttps://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgptSpam reviews & children’s books:https://twitter.com/millbot/status/1671008061173952512?s=20An analysis we like, comparing AI to the fossil fuel industry:https://hachyderm.io/@dalias/110528154854288688AI Heaven from Dolly Parton:https://consequence.net/2023/07/dolly-parton-ai-hologram-comments/Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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6 snips
Sep 7, 2023 • 1h 1min

Episode 13: Beware The Robo-Therapist (feat. Hannah Zeavin), June 8 2023

UC Berkeley scholar Hannah Zeavin discusses the National Eating Disorders Association's decision to replace their helpline with a chatbot, the history and significance of suicide hotlines, the importance of training for crisis support volunteers, workplace toxicity and the threat of job replacement, ethical concerns of sharing data with a for-profit, and the hype around AI services and concerns about relying on chatbots for financial advice.
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Aug 29, 2023 • 1h 1min

Episode 12: It's All Hell, May 5 2023

In this episode, Alex and Emily discuss the benefits and risks of GPT-4 as an AI chatbot for medicine, highlight concerns about an AI therapy service, question the ethical use of AI to simulate conversations with deceased figures, and explore the use of chat GPT in courts. They also delve into the potential of mind-reading machines, discuss limitations of language models, and emphasize the importance of consent.
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Aug 24, 2023 • 1h 3min

Episode 11: A GPT-4 Fanfiction Novella, April 7 2023

After a hype-y few weeks of AI happenings, Alex and Emily shovel the BS on GPT-4’s “system card,” its alleged “sparks of Artificial General Intelligence,” and a criti-hype heavy "AI pause" letter. Hint: for a good time, check the citations.This episode originally aired on Friday, April 7, 2023.You can also watch the video of this episode on PeerTube.References:GPT-4 system card: https://cdn.openai.com/papers/gpt-4-system-card.pdf“Sparks of AGI” hype: https://twitter.com/SebastienBubeck/status/1638704164770332674And the preprint from Bubeck et al.: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712“Pause AI” letter: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/The “Sparks” paper points to this 1997 editorial in their definition of “intelligence”:https://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/1997mainstream.pdfRadiolab's miniseries, 'G': https://radiolab.org/series/radiolab-presents-gBaria and Cross, "The brain is a computer is a brain.": https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.14042Senator Chris Murphy buys the hype:https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1640186536825061376Generative “AI” is making “police sketches”:https://twitter.com/Wolven/status/1624299508371804161?t=DXyucCPYPAKNn8TtAo0xeg&s=19More mathy math in policing:https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/aurora-police-new-ai-system-bodycam-footage/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitterUser Research without the Users:https://twitter.com/schock/status/1643392611560878086DoNotPay is here to cancel your gym membership:https://twitter.com/BrianBrackeen/status/1644193519496511488?s=20Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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7 snips
Aug 16, 2023 • 1h 7min

Episode 10: Don't Be A Lawyer, ChatGPT. March 3, 2023

Dive into the amusing yet critical examination of AI's ability to pass the bar exam! The hosts dissect inflated claims about legal expertise and explore the absurdity of AI aspirations within the law. They spotlight privacy concerns stemming from AI-generated communications and tackle the literary impact of spam from language models. With discussions on the future of legal jobs and the ethical considerations of automation, there's a mix of humor and serious insights that keep the conversation engaging.
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Aug 8, 2023 • 1h 3min

Episode 9: Call the AI Quack Doctor, February 17, 2023

Should the mathy-maths be telling doctors what might be wrong with you? And can they actually help train medical professionals to treat human patients? Alex and Emily discuss the not-so-real medical and healthcare applications of ChatGPT and other large language models.Plus another round of fresh AI hell, featuring "charisma as a service," and other assorted reasons to tear your hair out.This episode was first recorded on February 17th of 2023.Watch the video of this episode on PeerTube.References:Glass.ai makes “diagnosis machine”:https://twitter.com/AiBreakfast/status/1620128621821317125?t=Q6tTAOcGAoFJ3Ko9m4EC9g&s=19Percy Liang claims 'PubMedGPT' can pass medical exams:https://crfm.stanford.edu/2022/12/15/pubmedgpt.htmlhttps://twitter.com/percyliang/status/1603469265583353856?s=20&t=SdWeINzUw92pbkTO8OAVqQEmily's reaction to the above:https://twitter.com/emilymbender/status/1603766381807570944?s=20&t=SdWeINzUw92pbkTO8OAVqQChatGPT gets 60 percent of questions right in US Medical Licensing Exam:https://healthitanalytics.com/news/chatgpt-passes-us-medical-licensing-exam-without-clinician-inputAn Apple Watch error is clogging up 911 lines:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/health/apple-watch-911-emergency-call.htmlChatGPT-assisted diagnosis: Is the future suddenly here?https://www.statnews.com/2023/02/13/chatgpt-assisted-diagnosis/NVIDIA “eye contact” demo:https://twitter.com/Jousefm2/status/1616878021280993284“Theory of the mind":https://twitter.com/LChoshen/status/1623575423652139015?t=Ohc9tzB09pAEddAReLc6mA&s=09Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.
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Aug 4, 2023 • 1h 4min

Episode 8: The ChatGPT Awakens, January 20, 2023

New year, new hype? As the world gets swept up in the fervor over ChatGPT of late 2022, Emily and Alex give a deep sigh and begin to unpack the wave of fresh enthusiasm over large language models and the "chat" format specifically.Plus, more fresh AI hell.This episode was recorded on January 20, 2023.Watch the video of this episode on PeerTube.References:Situating Search (Shah & Bender 2022) Related op-ed: https://iai.tv/articles/all-knowing-machines-are-a-fantasy-auid-2334Piantadosi's thread showing ChatGPT writing a program to classify white males as good scientistsFind Anna Lauren Hoffman's publications (though not yet the one we were referring to) here: https://www.annaeveryday.com/publicationsSarah T. Roberts, Behind the Screen Karen Hao's AI Colonialism series Milagros Miceli: https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/spezialseiten/persons-details/p/milagros-miceli/Julian Posada: https://posada.website/“This Isn’t Your Data, Friend”: Black Twitter as a Case Study on Research Ethics for Public Data (Klassen & Fiesler 2022) No Humans Here: Ethical Speculation on Public Data, Unintended Consequences, and the Limits of Institutional Review (Pater, Fiesler & Zimmer 2022) Casey Fiesler's publications: https://caseyfiesler.com/publications/And TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@professorcaseyWhere are human subjects in Big Data research? The emerging ethics divide. (Metcalf & Crawford 2016) Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order now.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown. Follow us!Emily Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Alex Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex Twitter: @alexhanna Music by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Christie Taylor.

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