The Ghost in the Machine: When Tech Seems to Have a Mind of Its Own

Sometimes, it can feel like tech has a mind of its own — from the smart speaker that suddenly starts laughing, to the chatbots that say oddly human things. On this episode, stories about “the ghost in the machine.” We investigate why a strange man’s name kept appearing in our show transcripts, learn about the long history of tech in horror, and hear the spooky story of an AI agent that went rogue. A few months ago, Pulse producer Lindsay Lazarski noticed something strange — a man’s name that kept appearing in our interview transcripts: Aaron Ross Powell. In this homespun mystery, she leads us on an investigation into why this was happening. We talk with Aviva Briefel, a professor of English and Cinema Studies at Bowdoin College, about why "possessed" technologies have been such a persistent theme in the horror genre, and what it says about our anxieties related to technological change. We’ve all heard about the threat AI might pose to the future of humanity — but what if it went after you directly? Pulse reporter Liz Tung tells the story of Scott Shambaugh, and the vindictive AI agent that tried to take him down.