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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, Society & Culture, Tech News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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751: Brewster’s Trillions
Episode 751
Thursday, 18 June, 2026
The AI hype train keeps shedding wheels this week. KPMG managed to publish a report about the transformative power of AI that was apparently riddled with hallucinations, fake citations, and imaginary products, proving once again that asking a stochastic parrot to do your homework is not a substitute for actual research. Meanwhile, Americans are using AI faster than ever while trusting it less than ever, OpenAI somehow turned $13 billion in revenue into losses that would make a dot-com CFO blush, and Silicon Valley CEOs have quietly stopped promising to replace all workers with AI. Not because they've changed their minds, mind you, just because they discovered that telling employees they're obsolete is terrible for morale and stock prices. Add in protests dogging Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta employees revolting against soul-crushing AI evaluation work, and the message is clear: the future is here, and everyone involved seems miserable.We then return to one of the founding principles of Grumpy Old Geeks: never build your house on somebody else's land. Anthropic learned that lesson the hard way when its AI models reportedly got caught in a geopolitical and regulatory tug-of-war involving Amazon, the U.S. government, and national security concerns. World leaders are now openly questioning whether American AI platforms can be trusted if access can be revoked overnight. The same platform-risk story pops up again as Meta launches AI-powered search across Facebook's oceans of questionable user-generated content. Remember kids: when you pitch your tent in someone else's backyard, don't act shocked when they turn on the sprinklers.From the Injustice Files, the hits keep coming. The Atlantic revealed the staggering scale of copyrighted music used to train AI systems, Hollywood inches closer to becoming a monopoly-themed amusement park, and the DOJ is backing xAI in a pollution lawsuit while reports emerge that Grok-assisted systems played a role in military operations. Elon keeps collecting legal losses, SpaceX buys Cursor for an eye-watering $60 billion, and Trump is threatening French wine over tech taxes while simultaneously promoting crypto through a UFC event at the White House. We wrap with Britain banning social media for kids under 16, hackers stealing entire Roblox games, Fox buying Roku, the return of human narrators at Blinkist, a gloriously anti-social-media flip phone from Commodore, and a reminder that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is still one of the few things keeping the future worth looking forward to.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.Shopify - Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at Shopify.com/grumpyPrivate 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/751Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/iRrbNdVw-pMSHOW NOTESA report on the benefits of AI was reportedly full of AI hallucinationsJust 16% of Americans Believe AI Will Positively Impact Society, Pew Poll FindsExclusive: OpenAI Losses Increased Nearly 8X in 2025, With Spending Hitting $34 BillionThe CEOs are No Longer (Publicly) Threatening to Replace Humans With AISundar Pichai faces boos, walkout at Stanford graduation ceremony over Google's Israel, ICE ties‘Tell Him He’s a Piece of Shit’: Meta’s New AI Unit Is a Total MessAnthropic becomes a cautionary sovereign-AI fableAnthropic Says It’s Taking Claude Fable 5 Offline to Comply With US Government OrderCyber experts warn Fable limits aid attackers and hurt defendersAmazon Triggered Claude Fable 5 Shutdown: Investor, Cloud Host, Now RegulatorWorld leaders want American AI. They just don't want America to be able to turn it off.Meta's new ‘AI Mode’ on Facebook pulls from public info across its platformsInvestigation by The Atlantic reveals many millions of songs used for AI music trainingJustice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff InvestigatorsJustice Department backs xAI in NAACP lawsuit over data center pollutionPentagon used Elon Musk’s Grok AI to fire 2,000 missiles at Iran, official saysxAI's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets has been thrown outSpaceX to acquire Cursor for $60B in stock, days after blockbuster IPOTrump threatens 100 percent tariff on France's wine industry over its tech taxUFC to pay White House fighters in crypto issued by Trump companyUK will ban social media for children under 16Hackers Are Hijacking Entire Roblox Games NowFox is buying Roku for $22 billionApple TV renews comedy horror Widow’s Bay for a second seasonDownton Abbey: A New EraDownton Abbey: The Grand FinaleDisclosure DayShrek 5 | Official Teaser TrailerRIDICULOUS - 2026 Special - Trailer #1 - Louis C.K.Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Season 4 Official TrailerCommodore made a social media-banishing flip phoneSnap's Stock Plunges the Moment It Reveals Its Comically Gigantic AR GlassesSo Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal NewportCreator Capitalist by the Category PiratesTrackalotBlinkist pulls back on AI narratorsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
