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muckrAIkers: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Jacob Haimes and Igor Krawczuk
Join us as we dig a tiny bit deeper into the hype surrounding "AI" press releases, research papers, and more. Each episode, we'll highlight ongoing research and investigations, providing some much needed contextualization, constructive critique, and even a smidge of occasional good will teasing to the conversation, trying to find the meaning under all of this muck.
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- May 4, 202646 min
The AI Booster Tier List
This week, Jacob and Igor swap the usual news breakdown for a complete taxonomy of AI boosters within the framing of a tier list. They run through every type, from the good-faith genuine enthusiast to the denial-prone deflector, the financially captured, corporate power-players, platform builders, and finally the model-building true believers. They also get into "crit-hype," the idea that some critics are inadvertently boosting the systems they're fighting against. No muck to separate this week, just the guys working through their framework and explaining why their opinions are S tier.Chapters - Introduction - Introducing the Booster Tier List - A-Tier: The Genuine Enthusiast - B-Tier: The Denial-Prone Booster - C-Tier: The Financially Adjacent Booster - D-Tier: The Corporate Booster - E-Tier: The Product and Platform Booster - F-Tier: The Model Builders - Bonus Tier: Crit Hype - So What Do We Actually Do With This? - Outro (Igor's Challenge) Critical LinksBelow are the most important links for this episode. For more, visit the episode page on Kairos.fm.Ed Zitron Substack article - How to Argue with an AI BoosterMIT Technology Review article - How Social Media Encourages the Worst of AI BoosterismThe Telegraph article - AI isn’t magic. We’re just being taken for mugs
- Apr 13, 202658 min
The Enemy of My Enemy is Still a Corporation
In this episode, Jacob and Igor break down the DoD vs. Anthropic standoff, tracing how Claude's use in military operations led to Anthropic being designated a supply chain security risk. Perhaps more importantly, why did Anthropic choose to take a stand now, and what can that tell us about the corporations behavior moving forward. The investigation is used as a case study in how to read the real motivations behind big institutions: intrinsic values, rational self-interest, and realpolitik.Chapters - Introduction - DoD-Anthropic Standoff - 3 Buckets of Motivation - How to Read What They're Actually Doing - Is This Designation Even Real? - Recap (Pragmatist's Playbook) Critical LinksBelow are the most important links for this episode. For more, visit the episode page on Kairos.fm.Ed Zitron subtack article - The AI Bubble Is An Information WarTechPolicy.Press article - A Timeline of the Anthropic-Pentagon DisputeTechPolicy.Press podcast episode - How to Think About the Anthropic-Pentagon DisputeBBC news article - Anthropic vows to sue Pentagon over supply chain risk labelThe Guardian article - AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worryingPalantir YouTube video - Multi-Domain AI: The Future of Command and ControlInto AI Safety podcast episode - Drawing Red Lines w/ Su Cizem
- Mar 17, 202643 min
The Mythical AI Bear
This week, Jacob and Igor dissect the "mythical AI bear," the strawman version of AI criticism that gets thrown around in tech discourse. Working through a viral blog post that typifies the genre, they examine how legitimate concerns about code quality, labor displacement, intellectual property, and the erosion of craft get flattened into caricature. Plus: Sam Altman writes ten paragraphs about how unbothered he is by an ad.Chapters - Introduction - Altman's Super Bowl Meltdown - What is "The Bear"? - But You Have No Idea What The Code Is - But The Craft, But The Mediocrity, But It'll Never Be AGI - But They Take Our Jobs & But The Plagiarism - Stochastic Parrots & Mythical Bears - Outro Critical LinksBelow are the most important links for this episode. For more, visit the episode page on Kairos.fm.Big Think article - The rise of AI denialismFly.io blogpost - My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nutsantirez blogpost - Don't fall into the anti-AI hypeEmily Bender blogpost - Resistance Isn't DenialismCory Doctorow blogpost - Reverse centaurs are the answer to the AI paradoxWashington Post article - The AI boom is so huge it's causing shortages everywhere elseBusiness Insider article - Veteran investor Jeremy Grantham says AI is 'obviously a bubble'Ipsos survey - Google / Ipsos Multi-Country AI Survey 2026Understanding AI Substack post - AI skeptics and AI boosters are both wrong
- Feb 9, 202649 min
Big Tech Plans to Move Fast and Break Democracy
We're talking about developments in AI while those in power have unapologetically revealed their true fascist intensions; are we spending our time in the right way? Igor and I discuss the importance of shining a light on the techno-authoritarians who have played a very significant role in current state-of-the-world.While we discuss the murders of Nicole Good and Alex Pretti during this episode, it's important that we also acknowledge the many marginalized people who have died as a result of ICE's behavior, and they same level of outcry didn't happen. Six additional individuals died in ICE custody under suspicious circumstances between January 1st and 25th of 2026: Victor Manuel Díaz, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz, Parady La, and Heber Sánchez Domínguez.Chapters - | Introduction - | The Authoritarian Stack - | Palantir & Theil-Government Consolidation - | Move Fast & Break Everything - | Fascism in the US & Starving the Beast - | Finding Local Opportunities for Action Critical LinksBelow are the most important links for this episode. For more, visit the episode page on Kairos.fm.The Authoritarian Stack websiteProject 2025 Observer websiteEFF report - ICE Using Palantir Tool Feeds on Medicaid DataThe Guardian article - Eight people have died in dealings with ICE so far in 2026. These are their storiesIndivisible websiteDistributed AI Research Institute projectsEAAMO website - Mechanism Design for Social GoodCarlos Maza video - How To Be Hopeless
- Jan 12, 202638 min
AI Skeptic PWNED by Facts and Logic
Igor shares a significant shift in his perspective on AI coding tools after experiencing the latest Claude Code release. While he's been the stronger AI skeptic between the two of us, recent developments have shown him genuine utility in specific coding tasks, but this doesn't validate the hype or change the fundamental critiques.We discuss what "rote tasks" are and why they're now automatable with enough investment, the difference between genuine utility and AGI claims, and why this update actually impacts our bubble analysis. We explore how massive investment has finally produced something useful for a narrow domain, but it doesn't mean the technology is generalizable or that AGI is real.Chapters - | Introduction - | What Changed Igor’s Mind - | Rote Tasks Explained - | How Does This Impact our Bubble Analysis? - | AGI Is Still BS - | Externalities Remain Unchanged - | Final Thoughts & Outro LinksRelated muckrAIkers episode - Tech Bros Love AI WaifusBubble TalkOfficeChai startup - OpenAI Hasn’t Completed A Successful Full-Scale Pretraining Run Since GPT-4o In May 2024, Says SemiAnalysisVechron report - Anthropic Prepares for Potential 2026 IPO in Bid to Rival OpenAIYCombinator Forum post on AI crashYCombinator Forum post on OpenAI adopting Anthropic's "skills"YCombinator Forum post on OpenAI rumorsYCombinator Forum post on OpenAI add suggestionsOther SourcesLinkedIn post discussing an agentic coding vibe shiftExecutive Order - Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial IntelligenceInside Tech Law blogpost - Germany delivers landmark copyright ruling against OpenAI: What it means for AI and IPNeurIPS 2025 paper - Ascent Fails to ForgetNBER working paper - Large Language Models, Small Labor Market EffectsDwarkesh Podcast blogpost - RL is even more information inefficient than you thought
- Dec 15, 202545 min
Tech Bros Love AI Waifus
OpenAI is pivoting to porn while public sentiment turns decisively against AI. Pew Research shows Americans are now concerned over excited by a 2:1 margin. We trace how we got here: broken promises of cancer cures replaced by addiction mechanics and expensive APIs. Meanwhile, data centers are hiding a near-recession, straining power grids, and literally breaking your household appliances. Drawing parallels to the 1970s AI winter, we argue the bubble is shaking and needs to pop now, before it becomes another 2008. The good news? Grassroots resistance works. Protests have already blocked $64 billion in data center projects.NOTE: The project that we cite for the $64 billion blockage is actually a pro-data-center campaign. The numbers still seem ok, but it's worth being aware of.Chapters - - Introduction - - The Addiction Business Model - - Public Sentiment Data - - Data Centers and Infrastructure Problems - - The Bubble Discussion - - Closing Thoughts & Outro LinksPublic Sentiment on AIPew Research report - How People Around the World View AIPew Research report - How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial IntelligencePew Research report - How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and SocietyUniversity of Toronto report - Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025Melbourne Business School report - Key findings on public attitudes towards AIThe Washington Post article - Americans have become more pessimistic about AI. Why?The New York Times article - From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. FrenzyThe Guardian article - ‘It shows such a laziness’: why I refuse to date someone who uses ChatGPTThe Register article - OpenAI's ChatGPT is so popular that almost no one will pay for itAI and Claims of Curing CancerRachel Thomas, PhD blogpost - “AI will cure cancer” misunderstands both AI and medicineThe Atlantic article - OpenAI Wants to Cure Cancer. So Why Did It Make a Web Browser?Independent article - ChatGPT boss predicts when AI could cure cancerThe Atlantic article - AI Executives Promise Cancer Cures. Here’s the RealityAI Porn and the Addiction EconomyForbes article - ChatGPT Will Allow ‘Erotica’ After Easing Mental Health Restrictions, Sam Altman SaysThe Addiction Economy websitePPC article - OpenAI is staffing up to turn ChatGPT into an ad platformTom Nicholas video - Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive NowAI BubbleFast Company article - AI isn’t replacing jobs. AI spending isPivot to AI article - The finance press finally starts talking about the ‘AI bubble’Fortune article - Without data centers, G
- Oct 13, 202549 min
AI Safety for Who?
Jacob and Igor argue that AI safety is hurting users, not helping them. The techniques used to make chatbots "safe" and "aligned," such as instruction tuning and RLHF, anthropomorphize AI systems such they take advantage of our instincts as social beings. At the same time, Big Tech companies push these systems for "wellness" while dodging healthcare liability, causing real harms today We discuss what actual safety would look like, drawing on self-driving car regulations.Chapters - Introduction & AI Investment Insanity - The Problem with AI Safety - Anthropomorphizing AI & Its Dangers - Mental Health, Wellness, and AI - Censorship, Bias, and Dual Use - Solutions, Community Action & Final Thoughts LinksAI Ethics & PhilosophyForeign affairs article - The Cost of the AGI DelusionNature article - Principles alone cannot guarantee ethical AIXeiaso blog post - Who Do Assistants Serve?Argmin article - The Banal Evil of AI SafetyAI Panic News article - The Rationality TrapAI Model Bias, Failures, and ImpactsBBC news article - AI Image Generation IssuesThe New York Times article - Google Gemini German Uniforms ControversyThe Verge article - Google Gemini's Embarrassing AI PicturesNPR article - Grok, Elon Musk, and Antisemitic/Racist ContentAccelerAId blog post - How AI Nudges are Transforming Up-and Cross-SellingAI Took My Job websiteAI Mental Health & Safety ConcernsEuronews article - AI Chatbot TragedyPopular Mechanics article - OpenAI and PsychosisPsychology Today article - The Emerging Problem of AI PsychosisRolling Stone article - AI Spiritual Delusions Destroying Human RelationshipsThe New York Times article - AI Chatbots and DelusionsGuidelines, Governance, and CensorshipPreprint - R1dacted: Investigating Local Censorship in DeepSeek's R1 Language ModelMinds & Machines article - The Ethics of AI Ethics: An Evaluation of GuidelinesSSRN paper - Instrument Choice in AI GovernanceAnthropic announcement - Claude Gov Models for U.S. National Security CustomersAnthropic documentation - Claude's ConstitutionReuters investigation - Meta AI Chatbot GuidelinesSwiss Federal Council consultation - Swiss AI Consultation ProceduresGrok Prompts Github RepoSimon Willison blog post - Grok 4 Heavy
- Aug 21, 20251h 24m
The Co-opting of Safety
We dig into how the concept of AI "safety" has been co-opted and weaponized by tech companies. Starting with examples like Mecha-Hitler Grok, we explore how real safety engineering differs from AI "alignment," the myth of the alignment tax, and why this semantic confusion matters for actual safety. - Intro - Mecha-Hitler Grok - "Safety" - Under-specification - This time isn't different - Alignment Tax myth - Actually making AI safer LinksJMLR article - Underspecification Presents Challenges for Credibility in Modern Machine LearningTrail of Bits paper - Towards Comprehensive Risk Assessments and Assurance of AI-Based SystemsSSRN paper - Uniqueness Bias: Why It Matters, How to Curb ItAdditional Referenced PapersNeurIPS paper - Safetywashing: Do AI Safety Benchmarks Actually Measure Safety Progress?ICML paper - AI Control: Improving Safety Despite Intentional SubversionICML paper - DarkBench: Benchmarking Dark Patterns in Large Language ModelsOSF preprint - Current Real-World Use of Large Language Models for Mental HealthAnthropic preprint - Training a Helpful and Harmless Assistant with Reinforcement Learning from Human FeedbackInciting Examplesars Technica article - US government agency drops Grok after MechaHitler backlash, report saysThe Guardian article - Musk’s AI Grok bot rants about ‘white genocide’ in South Africa in unrelated chatsBBC article - Update that made ChatGPT 'dangerously' sycophantic pulledOther SourcesLondon Daily article - UK AI Safety Institute Rebrands as AI Security Institute to Focus on Crime and National SecurityVice article - Prominent AI Philosopher and ‘Father’ of Longtermism Sent Very Racist Email to a 90s Philosophy ListservLessWrong blogpost - "notkilleveryoneism" sounds dumb (see comments)EA Forum blogpost - An Overview of the AI Safety Funding SituationBook by Dmitry Chernov and Didier Sornette - Man-made Catastrophes and Risk Information ConcealmentEuronews article - OpenAI adds mental health safeguards to ChatGPT, saying chatbot has fed into users’ ‘delusions’Pleias websiteWikipedia page on Jaywalking
About muckrAIkers
Join us as we dig a tiny bit deeper into the hype surrounding "AI" press releases, research papers, and more. Each episode, we'll highlight ongoing research and investigations, providing some much needed contextualization, constructive critique, and even a smidge of occasional good will teasing to the conversation, trying to find the meaning under all of this muck.
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