A.I.’s Messy Moment + Listeners Respond to Jonathan Haidt + Shrimp Jesus
4Description
Warning: The second segment of this episode includes mentions of suicide. If you are in crisis please call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988 or you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
This week, we look at a mess of corporate drama in artificial intelligence. Stability AI has announced that its founder and C.E.O., Emad Mostaque, is leaving the company. Meanwhile, Microsoft hired away two of the co-founders and much of the staff of Inflection, without actually acquiring the company itself. Both moves surprised tech insiders. Then, we talked with listeners who had something to say about our interview with Jonathan Haidt on smartphones, social media and young people. And finally, we examine the true motives behind “Shrimp Jesus” and other hugely popular images on social media that were generated with artificial intelligence.
Today’s guests:
- Jordan Lucero, a high school student
- Maya Rayle, a graduate student
- Jack Campbell, a college student
- Brendan Kelley, a high school digital coach
Additional Reading:
- The indie AI companies are falling apart
- How Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience Growth
We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com.
Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.
United States
It was painful to listen to the young people who called in. Their arguments were confused, anecdotal, self-involved, and largely incoherent. They sounded very poorly educated, and their groaning up-talk didn't help.