TWiT 1075: The Commonwealth Club - Meta Layoffs, DOGE Data Theft, & the Rise of AI Fails

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge.

• Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount • Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model • Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children • Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal • Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside • Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam • X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation • Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X • Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion • Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform • Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots • Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases • DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery • U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court • Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them • EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) • TerraPower gets permit to build reactor • Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' • Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud • Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case • Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power • Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff • How Pokémon Go • is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world • 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer • YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue • Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns • Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them • Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson, Richard Campbell, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

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