Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

Beware the 20x Engineer, 2026.05.11 24.06.2026 53min

"Sure, LLMs are bad at some things, but you can't deny that they're useful for programming!" Sound familiar? In this week's episode, Emily and Alex break down the key myths around AI-boosted productivity in tech. Plus, Alex previews her work with DAIR's newly launched Luddite Lab, where workers are organizing against automation. References: Yale Budget Lab report: "What Might AI Adoption Mean for the Fiscal and Economic Outlook?"Also referenced: Karger et al. paper funded by Open Philanthropy...

Bernie Goes Down the X-Risk Rabbithole (with Dr. Nathalie Maréchal), 2026.05.04 09.06.2026 1h 3min

Senator Bernie Sanders recently hosted a panel on "The Existential Threat of AI," featuring Future of Life Institute co-founder Max Tegmark and other x-riskers. Dr. Nathalie Maréchal joins Emily and Alex to unpack this latest stop on Bernie's descent into doomerism. We return to the MST3k model with a rare video artifact! Nathalie Maréchal is a writer, researcher and advocate fighting for democracy and human rights in the age of technofascism. Her latest article, "Tech Policy Is on the Front ...

LIVE: Anthropic Imagines a Very Special Boy, 2026.04.30 26.05.2026 1h 1min

Last month, we recorded our very first in-person podcast, live from Brooklyn! Alex and Emily debunk an especially soulless hype artifact about Anthropic's absurd claims of "moral education" for chatbots. Tune in to hear our rendition of "There Was A Society That Swallowed AI," plus other fun surprises! References: "Claude has an 80-page 'soul document'"Fresh AI Hell: NYC schools "Guidance on Artificial Intelligence""Therapy App Sessions Exposed in Court"Meta to track "employee mouse movements...

Hotter Than (AI) Hell, 2026.04.20 13.05.2026 55min

The weather’s getting warmer, so what better time to take a trip to the hottest place in the universe — Fresh AI Hell! Emily and Alex take a spin through more than 30 hype artifacts, with topics including medicine, data centers, and fake people. Fresh AI Hell regions visited: AI bubble + data centersFake peopleMedicineThis is your brain on ChatGPTPolicy + privacySee the show notes on Peertube for a full list of artifacts referenced. Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any A...

There's No Ghost in the Machine (with Carmen Maria Machado), 2026.04.13 28.04.2026 53min

Why are some writers and publishers so excited to automate their work? Author Carmen Maria Machado joins Alex and Emily to unpack what writers are missing when they hand off their work to chatbots, and the underlying issues this reveals in the publishing industry. Plus, we resolve to keep fan fiction a human endeavor! Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the award-winning short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. Her essays, fiction, an...

Uber for Military Surveillance (with Niamh McIntyre), 2026.03.30 16.04.2026 53min

The people who make automated translation possible are often low-paid gig workers. Usually, they don't even know who they're really working for — and it might be the US military. Reporter Niamh McIntyre joins Alex and Emily to dissect how one data labeling company presents its work, based her investigation into the experiences of East African employees. Niamh McIntyre is a senior reporter at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) in London, covering AI, labor, and surveillance tech. Sh...

Data Centers Go Nuclear (with Maia Woluchem and Dr. Livia Garofalo), 2026.03.09 31.03.2026 57min

We knew that the energy demands of data centers were preventing dirty energy sources from being sunsetted. Now hyperscalers are reaching even further, resurrecting Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile Island. Emily and Alex are joined by Maia Woluchem and Dr. Livia Garofalo, who have researched the impacts of data center construction across PA. Maia Woluchem and Livia Garofalo are with the Trustworthy Infrastructures program at Data & Society. Their latest article, "Pennsylvania is pe...

Data Centers in Space!? (with Dr. Adam Becker), 2026.03.02 17.03.2026 53min

Data centers are overburdening the planet, so tech billionaires have a new scheme — put 'em in space! Astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker joins Alex and Emily to launch this plan into the sun. We unpack all the reasons that this hilariously terrible idea will never be viable outside of sci-fi-villain fantasies. Dr. Adam Becker is the author of More Everything Forever, a book about the terrible plans that tech billionaires have for the future and why they don’t work. Keep an eye out for his new pod...

How the War Department Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI (with Naomi Klein), 2026.02.09 26.02.2026 52min

AI boosters and the US military are engaged in a lethal love affair. Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein joins Emily and Alex to discuss how glitchy technology supports global imperialism — and vice versa. Plus, we explore which Dr. Strangelove characters are currently running the US war machine. Naomi Klein is a columnist for The Guardian and the international bestselling author of nine books published in over 35 languages. Her new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World...

A Bad Case of Hype-itis, 2026.02.02 12.02.2026 56min

Move over Dr. Google, Dr. ChatGPT is here, and it's even worse as a medical intervention! Alex and Emily scrub in to slice up some harmful new nonsense in the world of "AI" for medicine. What's the cure for an expensive and inaccessible health care system? One thing's for sure — it's not AI hype. References: "Stop Worrying, and Let A.I. Help Save Your Life""Introducing ChatGPT Health"Also referenced: "No, I don't want an AI scribe to write my pulmonologist’s note""The Danger of Intimate Algo...

Hell All the Way Down, 2022–2025 30.01.2026 40min

This is a special episode, and it’s not like our usual livestream recordings. Instead, our producer Ozzy dug through the Fresh AI Hell archives to create a supercut of Alex's improvised transitions. She's made up dozens of skits and songs about the demons of AI Hell, based on weekly prompts from Emily and listeners. Finally, hear all the lore together in one place! Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see. Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here...

Wrapping Up a Hellish 2025, 2025.12.15 13.01.2026 58min

For our last recording of 2025, Emily and Alex take on a TIME article naming the "architects of AI" as their person of the year. We also look back at the year in AI nonsense, and share findings from our Fresh AI Hell Wrapped. Happy Hype-y New Year! References: "The Architects of AI Are TIME's 2025 Person of the Year"Stanford AI Index ReportAlso referenced: Original "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" photo"The Number of People Using AI at Work Is Suddenly Falling"Fresh AI Hell: Fresh AI Hell, WrappedAd...

Defining AGI: Oops! All Eugenics, 2025.12.08 30.12.2025 55min

There's a new definition of artificial general intelligence in town, and unsurprisingly... it's bad! Alex and Emily rip up the tissue-paper-thin premises behind this latest attempt to define "intelligence." Plus, we discover that AI hypers love using logos that look like buttholes. References: "A Definition of AGI" landing page and paper-shaped objectFresh AI Hell: "What If Sea Monkeys Constantly, Sometimes Dangerously, Bullshitted People"Doctronic, the "AI doctor"NIST reports companies cheat...

This is What Algo-cracy Looks Like, 2025.12.01 16.12.2025 59min

Tech leaders are pushing the idea that automation can strengthen democracy — but as usual, their bold suggestions are based on castles made of sand. Alex and Emily tear down some flimsy arguments for AI governance, exposing their incorrect assumptions about the democratic process. References: "This Is No Way to Rule a Country""Four ways AI is being used to strengthen democracies worldwide"Also referenced: Collective Intelligence Project surveysInterview with CalMatters CEOFresh AI Hell: Ama...

You Talked to Workers for This Labor Research... Right? (with Sophie Song), 2025.11.17 02.12.2025 53min

Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins us to unpack the issues when self-professed worker advocates use chatbots for "research." Sophie Song is a researcher, organizer, and advocate working at the intersection of tech and social justice. They’re a research associate at DAIR, where they're working with Alex on building the Lud...

Drag It All To Hell, 2025.10.27 18.11.2025 56min

It's been six months since our last all-Hell episode! In honor of Halloween season, we take a long journey into the very scary Fresh AI Hell mines. Topics include terrifying uses of AI in education, scientific research, and politics — plus, some delicious palate cleansers along the way. AI bubble: bigger than dot-com bust? No one wants to pay for ChatGPT Meta lays off 600 from AI unit AI data centers: an even bigger disaster than we thought Public universities anticipate data center-driven po...

Crunching the Numbers (with Decca Muldowney), 2025.10.20 30.10.2025 56min

So-called AI tools are increasingly infiltrating newsrooms, particularly when it comes to data analysis. DAIR writer-in-residence Decca Muldowney joins us to discuss the need for journalists to distinguish between "AI" and reliable, verifiable research methods. Decca Muldowney is a journalist and writer who was our fact checker for The AI Con. She's also a writer-in-residence and web editor at the Distributed AI Research Institute. References: An early AI pioneer shares how the "vibe coding"...

Building Worlds Through Better Reading (with Reo Eveleth), 2025.09.29 14.10.2025 56min

Powerful AI boosters claim to love science fiction novels, but why do they always seem to take the wrong lessons from them? Reporter and writer Reo Eveleth joins us to discuss the ways tech leaders misuse storytelling, and how we can avoid their visions to imagine better futures. Reo Eveleth is a reporter, writer, and co-founder of COYOTE Media Collective. They created the hit independent show Flash Forward, which they also turned into a book of the same name. Reo’s work has been nominated f...

Three Years of Ridicule as Praxis, 2025.09.19 01.10.2025 55min

It's Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000's third birthday! To celebrate, Emily and Alex respond to listener questions about the show, and reflect on the past and future of AI hype. Topics range from how to talk to your kids about LLMs, to what the MAIHT3k birthday cake looks like. Artifacts referenced: AI and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Benchmark Data and its (dis)contents Stochastic Parrots Day Dr. Casey Fiesler on TikTok Dr. Nicole Holliday on TikTok Alex and Emily’s media appearances...

The Robo-Therapist Will See You Now (with Maggie Harrison Dupré), 2025.08.18 11.09.2025 55min

Talking to chatbots can have serious mental health consequences — fueling delusions and leading users away from consensus reality. Futurism writer Maggie Harrison Dupré joins us to unpack the hype around AI therapists, based on her groundbreaking reporting on "AI psychosis." Maggie Harrison Dupré is an award-winning tech journalist at Futurism who’s reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping media, information, humans, and our real and digital lives. Ref...