 |
Grumpy Old GeeksAuthor: Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner
We dissect the tech news train wrecks of the week, calling out what went wrong and whos to blame. Think of this podcast as if Kurt Cobain threw down with Tom from MySpace, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg in a back alley brawl. No mercy, no filterif tech had a walk of shame, this would be it. Language: en Genres: News, News Commentary, Tech News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
Listen Now...
726: Sycophantic and Delusional
Episode 726
Friday, 12 December, 2025
The labor market has swung from the Great Resignation to “job hugging,” where workers cling to their roles out of fear of AI-driven layoffs and inflation, crushing engagement and accelerating burnout. At the same time, OpenAI is accused of suppressing research showing job losses, ignoring internal warnings about chatbot mental health risks, and bleeding safety staff, while state Attorneys General fire off an opening salvo likening unchecked AI harms to an opioid crisis-in-the-making.The AI boom is now colliding with reality. Environmental groups want a halt on new datacenters as power prices spike, and the industry is starting to look financially radioactive, with opaque financing schemes, hidden debt, and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets that could vaporize household wealth. Regulators are pushing back too: the EU is fining X, probing Google over training data, and floating a statutory licensing scheme for AI scraping, while Disney dives in with a billion-dollar bet on “responsible” AI storytelling that mostly translates to fewer humans on payroll.Meanwhile, everyday tech dystopia rolls on. Uber is monetizing your movement data, Instacart is quietly price-discriminating groceries, Waymo is spinning a robotaxi birth as a feel-good story, and crypto fraud finally earns real prison time. Add in AI-generated marketing slop, government sites hijacked by SEO porn, billion-dollar festival scams resurrected, and Congress kneecapping right-to-repair, and the takeaway is simple: the machines are hungry, the adults are absent, and the vibes are aggressively bad.Sponsors:CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSGusto - Try Gusto today at gusto.com/grumpy, and get three months free when you run your first payroll.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/726Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eJbLlVhIQ-YFOLLOW UP“Why ‘job hugging’ can be worse than quitting”OpenAI Accused of Self-Censoring Research That Paints AI In a Bad LightOpenAI, Anthropic, Others Receive Warning Letter from Dozens of State Attorneys GeneralIN THE NEWSMore than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacentersSomething Ominous Is Happening in the AI EconomyOpenAI's house of cards seems primed to collapseX shuts down the European Commission’s ad account the day after major fineEU opens antitrust investigation into Google's AI practicesEU Report Distills AI-Training Lessons from Napster Piracy Era: Don’t Sue, LicenseDisney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its BrandUber will start selling trip and takeout data to marketersInstacart Charging Customers Different Prices for Same Products, Study FindsWaymo's robotaxi fleet is being recalled again, this time for failing to stop for school busesDriverless delivery: Woman gives birth in San Francisco WaymoCrypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraudPorn Is Being Injected Into Government Websites Via Malicious PDFsMarco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI'Architects of AI' named Time Magazine's Person of the YearMEDIA CANDYThe American RevolutionWhat Happened at Billy McFarland’s PHNX Festival?The Lord of the Rings trilogy returns to theaters in January for 25th anniversaryAmazon’s Official ‘Fallout’ Season 1 Recap Is AI Garbage Filled With MistakesSpartacus House of AshurThe Boys - Final Season Teaser Trailer | Prime VideoParadise Season 2 | Official Teaser | HuluSupergirl | Official Teaser TrailerNo Such Thing As a Fish - Ep612: No Such Thing As The Gordon Ramsay SongbookWTF Happened To Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)?!Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Official Trailer | Paramount+ (NYCC 2025)Starfleet Academy - What Is This Garbage?APPS & DOODADSGoogle and Apple partner on better Android-iPhone switchingCongress removes right to repair language from 2026 defense billGlide Gear TMP 100 Teleprompter – DSLR, Tablet, Smartphone – 12" Glass, Carry Case, No AssemblyBetterDisplay ProTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingSplat HiFiThe History Behind All the Cuts of the Original ‘Star Wars’’Rise of the Resistance | Layout Side By SideBLUE MONDAY - Analyzing the MOST BRUTAL BEAT of the '80s | Drum Patterns ExplainedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
