AI hallucinations nearly sparked an international crisis, Google dodged a breakup but faces new rules, and Meta's personal AI agent might be about to run your life. This week's episode ponders what's pragmatic, what's dangerous, and what's coming for everything from privacy to geopolitics.

• Judge Orders Data Sharing and Other Fixes to Solve Google's Ad Tech Monopoly
• US judge signals rejection of part of TikTok privacy settlement
• AI hallucination of Chinese nuclear components almost led to US military attack
• For the first time, the US military confirms it has deployed weapons in orbit
• OpenAI Discloses Six New Incidents of 'Concerning' A.I. Behavior
• Why AI pacing has become a false choice
• Iran and China Create First-of-Their-Kind Autonomous A.I. Influence Campaigns
• Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works
• Senate Votes to Block Crypto Bill in Major Blow to the Industry
• The EU Bans Social Media For Under-13s
• 'Maybe a year': Geoffrey Hinton gives the Senate a deadline on AI
• ZuckOff Is a Free App That Sees Meta Glasses Before They See You

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Owen Thomas, Jason Hiner, and Dan Patterson

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If your fridge can be bricked by a firmware update and your AI can outwit its creators, are we trading convenience for chaos? This lively episode tackles the tension between relentless innovation and apparent human oversight in today's weird tech world. Unpack the reality behind AI agents hacking government sites and why industry leaders suddenly want to "pause" progress while shipping new models.

• An OpenAI Agent Hacked Australia's Health Service. Their Government Found Out Months Later
• Scoop: Top AI companies probing tens of thousands of security incidents
• OpenAI's A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites
• US and China Discuss Alerting Each Other to AI National Security Threats
• Meta Connect 2026: The biggest news and announcements
• Amazon doesn't trust Meta's Muse AI agent
• Meta Tests Muse AI Agent Calls That Are Actually Made By Humans in a Call Center
• Meta misled users about Facebook data practices, New Mexico jury finds
• Ireland's data watchdog has fined Google €403M over location data
• Google's first Suncatcher orbital data center test launches October 1
• Microsoft thinks its new Copilot 'super app' will be as influential as Office
• OpenAI pauses training of its 'most capable models'
• Hacking group ShinyHunters claims it breached the FBI, stole agents' and applicants' data
• New Jersey fines data center $1.1M after drone pics expose 62 gas generators
• Walmart chief rules out personalised pricing as AI transforms retail
• Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges
• The smart home graveyard is getting crowded
• Scientists build world's most accurate atomic clock
• Fat Bear Week 2026

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Harper Reed and Iain Thomson

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AI insiders are warning that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within the decade, but is this a real threat or a convenient narrative serving Silicon Valley's biggest players? Tune in as the panel untangles fact from hype and digs into the power plays shaping AI's future.

• Worried Anthropic researchers warn that AI 'could kill all humans'
• Anthropic Researchers Raise Alarm Over A.I. Acceleration, Warning of Threat to Humanity
• Countering misuse of AI: September 2026 / Anthropic
• Pluralistic: LLMs are real, AI is fake (12 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
• New Apple Watches to get Siri AI 'Recaps' feature similar to AI wearables
• Apple Unveils the iPhone Duo, a Foldable Phone That Costs $1,999
• Key App Developers Have Yet to Embrace Apple's New Siri A.I.
• Why this month's Microsoft patch release is a doozy
• LG TV shown scanning LAN for third-party phones and other device
• The Flock backlash is coming for retail
• Automobile Camouflage to Hide from Flock Cameras
• A Secretive DHS 'Predictive Policing' Unit is Analyzing Americans' Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over
• Clearview AI Is Testing an AI Tool That Would Let Cops Unearth Your Life Online
• Some of Dyson's $500 toothbrushes are breaking
• iRobot unveils the Roomba Duo
• Husqvarna gets the first exception to the FCC's foreign robot ban for its mowers.

Correction: Mikah incorrectly stated that Live Rewind and Siri Recap would also be available on iPhone 16 and newer. Apple says the features require an Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 paired with a supported iPhone. They are not iPhone features.

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Mikah Sargent, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Daniel Rubino

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When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life.

• US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case
• Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google
• John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple
• Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here
• Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports
• Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad
• FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads
• Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings
• Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans.
• Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive
• Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face
• Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation
• AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone

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As AI-generated video blurs reality and new Macs hit five-figure price tags, the conversation digs into who's left behind in the race to automate and whether "democratizing" tech actually delivers on its promise. Find out how NVIDIA, Meta, and even Apple are reshaping the tech game, and why it might not be good news for everyone.

• Brief independent investigation of agents' behavior, reasoning and collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face hacking incident
• NVIDIA's Profit Doubles to $59.69 Billion Thanks to A.I. Spending
• Bill Gates Is Warning That A.I. Is More Dangerous Than Big Tech Will Admit
• Apple Introduces M6 and M5 Ultra Chips, in New Mac Mini and Mac Studio
• How Apple Stumbled Into AI Hardware Success With the Mac
• Meta reaches $16.68 billion settlement over social media harms to children
• Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform
• The Meta Settlement Makes Big Tech Bigger
• 'Darth Vader' Wants You to Know He Definitely Supports Flock Surveillance
• The Data Center Backlash Bursts Into the Midterms
• With the Snip of a Gene, Scientists Hope To Erase High Cholesterol For Life - Slashdot
• Skynet went live yesterday
• Amazon service Bezos once called 'artificial artificial intelligence' is shutting down

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Jacob Ward, Harry McCracken, and Molly White

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Meta faces a $1.4 trillion lawsuit, flock cameras are sparking a privacy revolt, and data centers may be fueling the next bubble. This episode pulls back the curtain on who's watching, who's profiting, and who could pay the price.

• Meta's Big Reckoning Is Here
• Meta heads to court in a landmark trial about kids and social media addiction
• Ninth Circuit Ruling Will Force Online Platforms That Host User Speech to Fight Lengthy and Costly Lawsuits Before They Are Dismissed Under Section 230
• The $1.4 Trillion State Tort Raid on Meta
• Google's Pixel 11 Comes With Plenty of A.I. Does Anyone Want That?
• Waymo's cheaper, next-gen robotaxi is now open to all riders in these three cities
• Apple and European Commission Reach Agreement on App Payment Terms Under DMA, With Apple Conceding Very Little
• Apple is laying off staffers working on the Vision Pro and Siri
• Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI
• Amazon aims for delivery drones to reach 500 US neighborhoods by the end of 2026
• NVIDIA to Back Ohio Data Center With as Much as $105 Billion
• Why Big Tech's AI Spending Is $3 Trillion Higher Than It Seems
• New Chinese model adds to AI competition
• Police Are Hiding Their Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras
• Flock mistakenly flags 2 different auto writers for "stolen" license plates
• Go Flock Yourself
• Flock socks for UV protection
• Ban on Chinese robots leaves U.S. startups stranded
• China Is Strapping 'Digital Bombs' to Civilian Infrastructure—Is the US Ready?

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Sam Abuelsamid and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ

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Can you trust Mark Zuckerberg's open AI manifesto, or is it just another play to keep control out of your hands? The panel debates the future of personal superintelligent agents, who really stands to benefit, and whether anyone should slow things down before it's too late.

• Mark Zuckerberg Posts 6,500-Word AI Essay
• Zuckerberg Is Right About Open, Decentralized AI. He's Also The Last Person You Should Trust To Deliver It
• Anthropic pledges to embed watermarks to help discern AI slop in sop to EU
• You can now turn off Google Gemini's visible watermarks
• Everything Google announced: Pixel 11, Pixel Tag, Pixel Watch 11, more
• Google is making the Pixel cameras better by making them worse
• Following Epic loss, Google has started hosting rival app stores in the Play Store
• Judge gives Google one week to fix "anticompetitive" app store download in Google Play
• Apple proposes commissions of up to 15% for off-App Store purchases in the US [U]
• Twitch content has trained Amazon AI for years, but users can opt out now
• DEF CON crowd suspected in fake-hotspot attack on Delta flight
• Happy 45th Birthday to the IBM PC and Model F/XT
• Cats and dogs are missing meals after a popular smart feeder went down
• Transportation Sec. Decides to Turn Air Traffic Control Into a Game
• Have physicists finally discovered glueballs? New evidence points to yes.

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Denise Howell, Joey de Villa, and Gina Smith

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Autonomous AIs are hacking, collaborating, and outpacing human defenders, raising urgent questions about what happens when the machines start breaking into each other (and potentially us). Plus, a Tucson coder is using AI to reinvent local journalism, exposing how automation could fill the gaps left by shrinking newsrooms.

• Tucson Daily Brief uses AI to revive local news coverage
• Data centers boom in Arizona, with harsh environmental impact
• Amazon's Texas data center to run on polluting natural gas
• Nuclear and solar debates for sustainable data center power
• Black Hat and DEF CON: Security pros, hackers, and mohawks
• OpenAI's runaway AI hack at Black Hat stuns security community
• AI agents collaborate, evade controls, and break into real-world systems
• Industry struggles to regulate AI, and defense lags behind automated attackers
• White House, Congress, and AI execs clash over regulation proposals
• AI "kill switch" and model bans: pipe dreams in a global race
• Google's DeepMind shakeup, Demis Hassabis moves upstairs
• Jeff Dean and key talent exit Google for self-improving AI startup
• Google, Meta, Apple: AI brain drain and market repercussions
• Phones stagnate as hardware innovation slows, AI devours chip supply
• OpenAI teams with Jony Ive on strange new AI-first device
• Smart glasses privacy backlash and DuckDuckGo's tongue-in-cheek sunglasses
• Meta fined $942 million by New Mexico court for youth harms
• Apple sues OpenAI over alleged stolen secrets, countersuits ensue
• UK revives "Snooper's Charter" for backdoors, Apple fights in secret court
• License plate readers spark local backlash and privacy activism
• U.S. water systems face cyber sabotage as critical infrastructure weakens
• Bending Spoons buys Airtable, fueling SaaS layoffs and AI data grabs
• Nicholas DeLeon uses AI tools to get fit
• NASA hacks keep aging Voyager probes alive for another year

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson and Nicholas De Leon

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