Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

By: Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna
  • Summary

  • Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this podcast, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science from bloviation. They're joined by special guests and talk about everything, from machine consciousness to science fiction, to political economy to art made by machines.
    © 2024 Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
    Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Episode 44: OpenAI's Ridiculous 'Reasoning'
    Nov 13 2024

    The company behind ChatGPT is back with bombastic claim that their new o1 model is capable of so-called "complex reasoning." Ever-faithful, Alex and Emily tear it apart. Plus the flaws in a tech publication's new 'AI hype index,' and some palette-cleansing new regulation against data-scraping worker surveillance.

    References:

    OpenAI: Learning to reason with LLMs

    • How reasoning works
    • GPQA, a 'graduate-level' Q&A benchmark system

    Fresh AI Hell:

    MIT Technology Review's AI 'AI hype index'

    CFPB Takes Action to Curb Unchecked Worker Surveillance


    You can check out future livestreams at https://twitch.tv/DAIR_Institute.

    Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.

    Follow us!

    Emily

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmilyMBender
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/emilymbender.bsky.social

    Alex

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/@alexhanna
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@alex
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexhanna.bsky.social

    Music by Toby Menon.
    Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
    Production by Christie Taylor.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Episode 43: AI Companies Gamble with Everyone's Planet (feat. Paris Marx)
    Oct 31 2024

    Technology journalist Paris Marx joins Alex and Emily for a conversation about the environmental harms of the giant data centers and other water- and energy-hungry infrastructure at the heart of LLMs and other generative tools like ChatGPT -- and why the hand-wavy assurances of CEOs that 'AI will fix global warming' are just magical thinking, ignoring a genuine climate cost and imperiling the clean energy transition in the US.

    Paris Marx is a tech journalist and host of the podcast Tech Won’t Save Us. He also recently launched a 4-part series, Data Vampires, (which features Alex) about the promises and pitfalls of data centers like the ones AI boosters rely on.

    References:

    Eric Schmidt says AI more important than climate goals

    Microsoft's sustainability report

    Sam Altman's “The Intelligence Age” promises AI will fix the climate crisis

    Previously on MAIHT3K: Episode 19: The Murky Climate and Environmental Impact of Large Language Models, November 6 2023

    Fresh AI Hell:

    Rosetta to linguists: "Embrace AI or risk extinction" of endangered languages

    A talking collar that you can use to pretend to talk with your pets

    Google offers synthetic podcasts through NotebookLM

    An AI 'artist' claims he's losing millions of dolalrs from people stealing his work

    University hiring English professor to teach...prompt engineering



    You can check out future livestreams at https://twitch.tv/DAIR_Institute.

    Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.

    Follow us!

    Emily

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmilyMBender
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/emilymbender.bsky.social

    Alex

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/@alexhanna
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@alex
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexhanna.bsky.social

    Music by Toby Menon.
    Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
    Production by Christie Taylor.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 1 min
  • Episode 42: Stop Trying to Make 'AI Scientist' Happen, September 30 2024
    Oct 10 2024

    Can “AI” do your science for you? Should it be your co-author? Or, as one company asks, boldly and breathlessly, “Can we automate the entire process of research itself?”

    Major scientific journals have banned the use of tools like ChatGPT in the writing of research papers. But people keep trying to make “AI Scientists” a thing. Just ask your chatbot for some research questions, or have it synthesize some human subjects to save you time on surveys.

    Alex and Emily explain why so-called “fully automated, open-ended scientific discovery” can’t live up to the grandiose promises of tech companies. Plus, an update on their forthcoming book!

    References:

    Sakana.AI keeps trying to make 'AI Scientist' happen

    • The AI Scientist: Towards Fully Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery

    Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas? A Large-Scale Human Study with 100+ NLP Researchers

    How should the advent of large language models affect the practice of science?

    Relevant research ethics policies:

    ACL Policy on Publication Ethics

    Committee On Public Ethics (COPE)

    The Vancouver Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work

    Fresh AI Hell:

    Should journals allow LLMs as co-authors?

    Business Insider "asks ChatGPT"

    Otter.ai sends transcript of private after-meeting discussion to everyone

    "Could AI End Grief?"

    AI generated crime scene footage

    "The first college of nursing to offer an MSN in AI"

    FTC cracks down on "AI" claims



    You can check out future livestreams at https://twitch.tv/DAIR_Institute.

    Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.

    Follow us!

    Emily

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmilyMBender
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/emilymbender.bsky.social

    Alex

    • Twitter: https://twitter.com/@alexhanna
    • Mastodon: https://dair-community.social/@alex
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexhanna.bsky.social

    Music by Toby Menon.
    Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
    Production by Christie Taylor.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr

What listeners say about Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.