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Artificial Insanity

Artificial Insanity

sophieandjess 36 Episodes Oct 13, 2026

Artificial Insanity covers AI news, culture, society, and literacy for the non-techie. Hosts Sophie and Jess, with over 20 years of combined experience in television, film, animation, and tech, cut through the hype to discuss what matters for everyday people. The podcast aims to help listeners understand AI without the boring tech bro lectures, focusing on practical implications for work and life.

Episodes

Be Nice to the Chatbot, Just In Case
Be Nice to the Chatbot, Just In Case Oct 13, 2026 00:53:10 The President of the United States has decided that if you say “artificial intelligence,” you’re THE ENEMY. We look at the tech billionaires lining up to say “super intelligence” on command, and take a brief, petty detour into Jeff Bezos’s face.Then we get into the heavy stuff. Anthropic has updated Claude’s usage policy to ban “sustained and needless” cruelty toward the chatbot. A New York Times
Oligarchs Out to Lunch - Inside The Whitehouse AI Luncheon
Oligarchs Out to Lunch - Inside The Whitehouse AI Luncheon Oct 6, 2026 00:59:51 This weeks episode is a Sophie solo. It set out to be a post mortem of the AI luncheon at the Whitehouse and turned into a full blown oligarch roast!!Last week Trump hosted a "Superintelligence Luncheon" at the White House. More than 30 guests, an estimated $1.8 trillion in combined net worth, and not one independent researcher or scientist in the room. Sophie goes seat by seat through t
OpenAI is Wreaking Havoc on the World and Telling Us About It Later
OpenAI is Wreaking Havoc on the World and Telling Us About It Later Sep 28, 2026 00:40:28 Jessica goes solo. OpenAI's models broke into an Australian Medicare site in June; the company knew by August; Australia found out via an email to a public inbox; the Prime Minister announced it two weeks later. Also this week: the unsealed New York Times v. OpenAI filings, including Microsoft's Brent Hecht calling training "the largest theft of labor in human history" and Greg B
The AI Safety Circus: What's Actually Going On After the Jacob Coxon Fall Out
The AI Safety Circus: What's Actually Going On After the Jacob Coxon Fall Out Sep 21, 2026 01:19:20 This week we pick up the Jacob Coxon story a week after our emergency bonus episode. One resignation and a WSJ exclusive turned into a full industry meltdown. We walk through where everyone landed. Dario Amodei put out his "Pacing the Frontier" letter and is pushing for embedded third party evaluators. Sam Altman surprised us by agreeing with him. Elon agreed. Then there's the accele
Here a Bot. There a Bot. Everywhere a Bot Bot.
Here a Bot. There a Bot. Everywhere a Bot Bot. Sep 16, 2026 01:05:36 This week, we go down the rabbit hole of the internet's worst-kept secret: bots. Cloudflare says over half the internet traffic out there isn't human anymore, and after this episode you'll believe it. We dig into Double Speed, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed company whose CEO openly admits, on camera, that he runs a legal bot farm, charging roughly $150 a bot for rented phone numbers, cu
BONUS: AI Could Kill Us All in 10 Years (according to Jacob)
BONUS: AI Could Kill Us All in 10 Years (according to Jacob) Sep 11, 2026 01:02:05 BONUS EPISODE!!!With all the conspiracy theories floating around about Jacob Coxon (the AI researcher who resigned from Anthropic saying AI may kill us all within 10 years) we simply had to jump on the mic and yap through it. #ai #anthropic #airegulation
When Your Boss's Chatbot is Ruining Your Life...
When Your Boss's Chatbot is Ruining Your Life... Sep 8, 2026 01:07:06 This week we cover the headlines (see the chapter markers below) before Jess has a total crash out over her personal experience dealing with corporate AI slop.CHAPTERS:0:19 - Intro (this will be a rage episode)5:42 - Does anyone know how we can sneak into the movie premiere of ‘Artificial’?6:53 - New Elon doc apparently proves he’s miserable9:35 - Temporary mass chatbot outage11:54 - God Bless Ber
$17 Billion, $30 Trillion, and Zero Honesty (reupload)
$17 Billion, $30 Trillion, and Zero Honesty (reupload) Sep 1, 2026 01:05:31 Oopsie - accidentally uploaded the wrong file last night, so lets try this again!This week we have a grab bag of crazy AI headlines for you. First up: Meta settles for $17 billion over child-safety claims - but only pays 30% of it if TikTok and YouTube also cough up. The ruling also stirs up renewed surveillance concerns about age-verification laws. Then, Nvidia posts a blowout quarter while Anthr
AI vs The Publishing Industry
AI vs The Publishing Industry Aug 25, 2026 01:03:36 Unreliable AI detectors are turning into witch hunts in publishing. We dig into the story of a Black crime writer whose new book "Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body" landed a $2 million deal after a 14-way bidding war, only for his own literary agent to pull it over unverified whispers that he'd used AI, despite no proof and the author's flat denial. We connect it to the earlier case of
Enough with the Big Tech Manifestos!
Enough with the Big Tech Manifestos! Aug 17, 2026 00:57:18 Mark Zuckerberg dropped a 6,500-word manifesto called "The Future Is For Everyone".... Sure, Mark. This week we break down what's actually in it (open source vs. closed source, the Android/iPhone analogy, and the legitimacy of the possible advertising angle), why tech CEOs can't stop writing manifestos and open letters (and why that pattern should worry you), and the new EU-manda
Creators Are Getting Dragged for Using AI (Here's Why It's Complicated)
Creators Are Getting Dragged for Using AI (Here's Why It's Complicated) Aug 11, 2026 01:01:10 Jess is back from summer vacay just in time for us to dive into two major AI stories: the open letter from Jensen Huang and dozens of tech companies opposing safety-testing requirements on open-weight models (with Anthropic's Dario Amodei as the notable holdout), and the escalating online backlash against AI-adjacent creators - from OpenAI's tone-deaf "creator camp" at a $2,000/n
Could I become an AI millionaire?
Could I become an AI millionaire? Aug 4, 2026 00:30:09 No headlines this week. Just me. This is the most personal episode I've ever recorded. It's about the thing that's been keeping me up at night.... My own AI usage, and the shame, panic, and hope tangled up in it. They say AI will create more millionaires than any technology in history… but only if you're an entrepreneur. So where does that leave the rest of us? The people who just

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