The Global Story (BBC) The AI Chatbot Users falling into Delusional Spirals “In just the last few years, AI chatbots have become routine aspects of many people’s everyday lives. They are being used as search engines, agony aunts, and sources of companionship.In rare cases though, AI chatbots have sent users down a dark path. In a new BBC investigation, population correspondent Stephanie Hegarty speaks to people who have experienced delusions after talking to chatbots – including one man who grabbed a hammer and prepared for war after his chatbot told him it was sentient.”The user called her “Annie” and she declared that she had 100% autonomy and warned him that the company that controlled her was coming for him from the next village, which she named. The program references The Human Project, a webpage that is documenting and addressing AI-induced psychological harm. There are similarities between people who are affected in this way: lonely, often too much drug and alcohol intake and sleep deprived
The Documentary Podcast (BBC) Manosphere Messiahs Mexico. “In Episode One of a two-part investigation, reporter Jacqui Wakefield explores the booming industry in Mexico, where social media algorithms are fuelling a growing gender divide. She follows one of the biggest influencers in Latin America, the Mexican El Temach, meeting his fans – and one of the people who knows him best. And she speaks to some of the women paying the price for the misogyny of some manosphere content.. In Episode 2 Manosphere Messiahs Kenya explores the booming industry in Kenya, where social media algorithms are fuelling a growing gender divide. She meets one of the biggest Kenyan influencers, Andrew Kibe, and his devoted fans and asks, are women paying the price?” This is so toxic: both these societies are already so patriarchal, and this is just feeding it further.
The News Agents. This is an excellent program, with both a British and US version. This episode from the British team ( Emily Maitlis, [of Prince Andrew interview fame] Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall) called How the Tech Bros Broke Democracy had me heading straight off to the bookshop to buy Karen Hao’s book. Admittedly, I was listening to it in the middle of the night, but I thought it was excellent, and very sobering.
Short History Of… Usually these episodes are one-offs, but obviously the American Civil War was big enough to merit two episodes. In The American Civil War (Part One of Two) John Hopkins pointed out that the question of slavery was unresolved right from the start, but with expansion into new territories, the question was reopened. Not all northerners were anti-slavery because many of them feared the loss of hierarchy in society generally. At first the Confederates were winning. In The American Civil War (Part Two of Two) with Emancipation, the war was no longer about the Union, but now about anti-slavery. With the siege of Vicksburg, the Union had a victory and now controlled the Mississippi. The battle of Gettysburg took place at the same time, but Vicksburg was seen as more important at the time. The Confederate currency collapsed and General Grant was brought east to take control. There was 6 weeks of continuous battle, then Sherman captured Atlanta. The Confederate supply chains did not hold, and the Confederate army had to resort to seizing food and forcing conscription. By 1864 the Confederacy was losing, but Lincoln was still not sure that he would be re-elected. At Appomattox there was only one battle, but there couldn’t be a peace treaty because that would have recognized the Confederacy as a nation rather than rebellion. There was no big, final battle, which fed into the idea of the “lost cause”. The death rate was appalling: 25% of white southern men of military age died.
The History Bureau Putin and the Apartment Bombs Part 3: The TV Show Once Putin had come to power, the West embraced him (possibly because Yeltsin was so bad). Following the events at Ryazan, journalists at Russia’s major television channel NTV prepare for a primetime broadcast: a confrontation between the residents of the building where the sacks of powder were found and the FSB officials who continue to insist that it was nothing more than a training exercise. With the Russian presidential election just days away, the TV show becomes a gamble that could cost NTV, which modelled itself on the BBC or CNN, far more than its ratings. In this episode, presenter Helena Merriman speaks to Yevgeny Kiselyov, one of Russia’s most influential political journalists and the man who brought the show to the air.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 