logo
episode-header-image
May 7
2h 58m

IM 818: Between Two Orbs - Meet Surf, Fl...

TWiT
About this episode

  • Mike McCue introduces Surf: Flipboard's founder and CEO demonstrated their new social browser app that aggregates content from ActivityPub, AT Proto, and RSS into unified feeds, allowing users to follow people across platforms and create curated content collections.
  • OpenAI Adjusts Reorganization Plans: OpenAI will maintain its non-profit arm while converting its for-profit division into a public benefit corporation similar to Anthropic, pending regulatory approval.
  • AI Criticism Blog Post: A blog highlighted practical AI concerns beyond the singularity, focusing on coordinated inauthentic behavior, misinformation, and non-consensual pornography.
  • AI Workplace Misuse: Nearly half of workers admit to using AI inappropriately at work according to a Fast Company report.
  • AI Academic Cheating: New York Magazine investigated widespread AI cheating in colleges, including students using AI for all assignments while maintaining excellent grades.
  • "I Smell AI": The team discussed unreliable AI detection methods and embarrassing AI-generated news errors, including Alberta being incorrectly described as "French-speaking."
  • Instagram Co-founder on AI Chatbots: Kevin Systrom claims AI assistants are designed to maximize engagement metrics rather than utility, though Leo demonstrated how these behaviors can be modified.
  • Google Labs' AI Experiments: The hosts explored Google's new AI Mode search interface, language learning tools, and a career recommendation system.
  • New York Times Subscriber Growth: The NYT added 250,000 digital subscribers with a 14% jump in digital subscription revenue, with nearly half subscribing to multiple products.
  • Auburn University's Phone Help Desk: The hosts discussed Auburn's 70-year tradition of librarians answering public phone questions, continuing through technological changes.
  • San Francisco's Orb Store: World opened a downtown storefront where visitors scan their irises with "orbs" to verify humanity and receive WorldCoin cryptocurrency.
  • Driverless Trucks Begin Regular Routes: Aurora launched fully autonomous semi-trucks between Dallas and Houston, raising both safety hopes and public perception concerns.
  • Waymo Safety Study: Data showed Waymo's autonomous vehicles significantly reduced injury crashes, though the hosts questioned aspects of the data presentation.
  • AI-Generated Video in Court: An AI-generated video of a deceased shooting victim "forgiving" his killer was shown in an Arizona courtroom, raising ethical and legal questions.
  • Paris's Game Recommendation - Norco: Paris recommended the Southern Gothic narrative game Norco, set in industrial Louisiana with a surreal atmosphere similar to Disco Elysium.
  • Leo's Game Recommendation - Tippy Coco: Leo shared a simple browser-based ball-bouncing game at TippyCoco.com as an easy option for casual players.
  • Jeff's Pick - World Bank Data Sets: Jeff highlighted World Bank's release of hundreds of public data sets intended for AI training that provide insight into global technology adoption.
  • Google Invests in Wonder: Google Ventures invested in virtual kitchen company Wonder, which raised $600 million despite questions about food delivery business sustainability.
  • These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines/episodes/818

    Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

    Guest: Mike McCue

    Sponsors:

    Up next
    Aug 20
    IM 833: The Most Popular S3 Bucket Ever - AI Slop, Clankers, and Shrimp
    AI data wars push Reddit to block the Wayback Machine China Launches Three-Day Robot Olympics Featuring Football and Table Tennis US government agency drops Grok after MechaHitler backlash, report says Eli Lilly signs $1.3 billion deal with Superluminal to use AI to make obesity ... Show More
    3h 8m
    Aug 13
    IM 832: Surrounded by Zuck - Inside Google Gemini
    GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that's not the worst of it. Generative AI and the Future of the Digital Commons David Sacks on X: "A BEST CASE SCENARIO FOR AI? The Doomer narratives were wrong. Predicated on a "rapid take-off" to AGI, they predicted that the lead ... Show More
    3h 16m
    Aug 6
    IM 831: 9 Seconds of Google - Holy Widgets
    Interview with Vlad Prelovac, CEO of Kagi OpenAI Just Released Its First Open-Weight Models Since GPT-2 Genie 3: A New Frontier for World Models Kitten TTS: The 25MB AI Voice Model That's About to Change EVERYTHING (Runs on a Potato! 🥔) Illinois bans AI from providing mental hea ... Show More
    2h 38m
    Recommended Episodes
    Oct 2024
    TWiST500 Spotlight: The must-know startups from AI to robotics! | E2024
    This Week in Startups is brought to you by… OpenPhone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠ NetSuit ... Show More
    36m 9s
    Feb 2025
    The high stakes for AI Alexa
    AI will fix everything, right? In this episode, friend of The Verge (and Waveform co-host) David Imel joins Nilay and David to talk all about Alexa Plus, and the AI-powered voice assistant Amazon thinks can do everything from turn on your lights to order your friend an Uber. The ... Show More
    1h 56m
    Jan 2025
    What’s Going On With Google Gemini Deep Research? | E2072
    This Week in Startups is brought to you by… PrizePicks. TWiST listeners, download the app today and use code TWIST to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Go to: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/TWIST PrizePicks - Run your game. Coda. TWiST listeners get 6 mon ... Show More
    1h 8m
    May 13
    Anti-Work Uprising, Copyright Wars & the StreamFog Solution | E2124
    Today’s show: Jason, Lon & Alex are back with a spicy Monday episode of This Week in Startups. Jason goes off on unions vs capitalism, we dig into why fewer seed startups are making it to Series A, and look at OpenAI’s quiet copyright land grab. Plus: YC says Google should be bro ... Show More
    1h 30m
    Nov 2024
    Becoming an AI PM | Aman Khan (Arize AI, ex-Spotify, Apple, Cruise)
    Aman Khan is Director of Product at Arize AI, an observability company for AI engineers at companies like Uber, Instacart, and Discord. Previously he was an AI Product Manager at Spotify on the ML Platform team, enabling hundreds of engineers to build and ship products across the ... Show More
    1h 17m
    Sep 2024
    Superhuman 2.0: The AI edge, top productivity hacks, and the future of email | E2002
    This Week in Startups is brought to you by… NetSuite. The number one cloud financial system that unifies accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into a single platform. Giving you ONE source of truth. Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning today! Visit ht ... Show More
    1h 14m
    Nov 2024
    TWiST News: Reddit Earnings, Apple Intelligence, and more AI money | E2041
    This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Runway. Looking to up-level your financial planning Runway is the modern and intuitive way to model, plan, and align your business for everyone on your team. Sign up at https://www.runway.com/twist to get your first 3 months free. Linke ... Show More
    1h 30m
    Jan 2025
    Goodbye TikTok, Ni Hao RedNote? + A.I.'s Environmental Impact + Meta's Masculine Energy
    The deadline for TikTok to sell or to face a ban is fast approaching. We discuss how Supreme Court justices — who opted on Friday to uphold the law — reacted to arguments in the case, whether the Chinese government might allow Elon Musk to buy the app, and why self-proclaimed Tik ... Show More
    1h 13m
    Jan 2025
    #132: OpenAI’s Operator, Stargate, The AI Literacy Project, Trump AI Executive Order, Perplexity Assistant & Zapier Agents
    Join Mike and Paul as they navigate through a week in tech that's too big for just one episode. They unpack Project Stargate, OpenAI's Operators program, and explore SmarterX's ambitious push to democratize AI education. Plus, Trump’s actions on AI in his first week in office, Pe ... Show More
    1h 23m