It’s been a long year in the AI hype mines. And no matter how many claims Emily and Alex debunk, there's always a backlog of Fresh AI Hell. This week, it's another whirlwind attempt to clear it -- at least enough to start fresh in the new year -- with plenty of palate cleansers along the way.

Fresh AI Hell:

Part I: AI in education

Using AI "responsibly" in medical residency assignments

"AI generated" UCLA course

"Could ChatGPT get an engineering degree?"

Grad school promoting using AI to write letters of recommendation

Chaser: 'AI' isn't Tinkerbell and we don’t have to clap

Part II: Pot-pourri, as in really rotten

"AI x parenting" -- a16z investments

"Artisan," a company for fake workers

Et tu, Firefox?

US military is testing an AI-powered machine gun

Kashmir Hill thinks we're "over-indexing" genAI's failings

AI for denying social benefits

Chaser: AI 'granny' wastes scammers' time

Part III: The Endangered Information Ecosystem

Fake quote attributed to Emily in article "co-authored" by Claude

Protecting Wikipedia from AI slop

AI is the new plastic (derogatory)

Google AI fail: the ambiguous meaning of 'dressing'

"Could AI Ghosts of Ancient Civilizations Help Us Connect with Bygone Cultures?"

Stanford misinfo prof actually used ChatGPT

OpenAI "accidentally" erases evidence in lawsuit

"AI"-powered bias meter on LA Times stories

Washington Post AI search turns archive into slop

• Follow up: The Washington Post burns its own archive

Chaser: ShotSpotter false positives as art

Part IV: Surveillance, AI in science/medicine

Apple patents biometric "body data"

Chatbots for diagnosis "defeating" doctors

Algorithm for flagging "overuse" of mental health services

Risks of "AI friendships"

"Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas?"

Ai2 OpenScholar (Galactica redux)

Chaser: FTC action against Venntel

Part V: They tell us we should believe the hype

Thomas Friedman thinks AGI is coming

Matteo Wong, credulous about o1's 'reasoning'

Editor of WIRED says we should believe the hype

Salesforce CEO and Time owner on "unlimited age"

Chaser: Emily and Alex's forthcoming book! Pre-order THE AI CON: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want at TheCon.AI

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You can check out future streams at on Twitch, and send us any AI Hell you see for future episodes.

Our book, 'The AI Con,' comes out in May! Pre-order your copy now.

Follow Emily at https://twitter.com/EmilyMBender and https://dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender Follow Alex at https://twitter.com/alexhanna and https://dair-community.social/@alex

Music: Toby Menon. Production: Christie Taylor. Graphic Design: Naomi Pleasure-Park.