Three Years of Ridicule as Praxis, 2025.09.19

It's Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000's third birthday! To celebrate, Emily and Alex respond to listener questions about the show, and reflect on the past and future of AI hype. Topics range from how to talk to your kids about LLMs, to what the MAIHT3k birthday cake looks like.
Artifacts referenced:
AI and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Benchmark
Data and its (dis)contents
Stochastic Parrots Day
Dr. Casey Fiesler on TikTok
Dr. Nicole Holliday on TikTok
Alex and Emily’s media appearances about The AI Con
Emily and Alex on The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan
Emily’s interview with Dr. Carl Rhodes
Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire
October 21st event for The AI Con
FAccT AI Workers’ Inquiry Panel
Emily’s presentation at UNESCO Digital Learning Week — Paper version on pp.41-45 here
A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.
Fresh AI Hell:
Meet the Robot Using AI to Ink Your Next Tattoo
Medicare Will Start Paying AI Companies a Share of Any Claims They Automatically Reject
Taco Bell AI drive-through
Can AI doulas improve maternal health?
Countries are struggling to meet the rising energy demands of data centers
Bluesky post about Business Insider
OpenAI has reportedly misjudged its cash burn by $80 billion
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.
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Follow us!
Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.