Crazy Town

Even AI Chatbots Hate Us: The Rise of the New Luddites, with Brian Merchant

Post Carbon Institute: Sustainability, Climate, Collapse, and Dark Humor Episode 101
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Who knew that the breakthrough moment of AI sentience would come from interacting with an annoying neo-Luddite?

After failing to raise a single dollar for PCI’s newest initiative — the $350 billion Transdisciplinary Institute for Phalse Prophet Studies and Education (TIPPSE) —  Jason, Rob, and Asher devise the only profitable pitch for raising capital: using AI technology to cure the loneliness that technology itself causes. The only problem is that AI chatbots won’t talk to us, as evidenced by Asher’s experience of being blocked by an AI “friend.” So Asher turns to the flesh-and-blood author of Blood in the Machine, Brian Merchant, to discuss the rise of the neo-Luddite movement — the only people who might be able to stand your humble Crazy Town hosts. 

Brian Merchant is a writer, reporter, and author. He is currently reporter in residence at the AI Now Institute and publishes his own newsletter, Blood in the Machine, which has the same title as his 2023 book. Previously, Brian was the technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and a senior editor at Motherboard.

Originally recorded on 1/3/25 (warm-up conversation) and 3/24/25 (interview with Brian).

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

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