Artificial Intelligence Ethicology (WILL A.I. CRASH OUT?) with Dr. Abeba Birhane
Who’s babysitting AI? Will it steal your job? What happens when you’re rude to a chatbot? Cognitive scientist, Trinity College professor and Artificial Intelligence Ethicologist Dr. Abeba Birhane lets me ask her not-smart questions about legislation around AI, auditing datasets, environmental impacts, booby traps, doorbell narcs, commonly used fallacies, how the “godfathers’ of AI feel about their creation, robots doing your homework, and and whether or not AI is actually the root of all evil. Also: bacon ice cream and why Siri is a girl.
Listen via Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Visit Dr. Birhane’s website and follow her on Bluesky and Google Scholar
A donation went to The Municipality of Gaza and UNRWA
Links to things we discussed:
Dr. Birhane’s Ph.D thesis: Automating Ambiguity: Challenges and Pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence
Most AI avatars look female, young and attractive. Are they a passing trend or here to stay?
Every AI Copyright Lawsuit in the US, Visualized
One rebel’s malicious ‘tar pit’ trap is driving AI web-scrapers insane
1986: Learning representations by back-propagating errors
2025: A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse
2025: One of Google’s recent Gemini AI models scores worse on safety
2025: Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview Model Card
2024: McDonald’s ends AI drive-thru trial as fast-food industry tests automation
2024 TikTok: AI can’t handle the drive-thru lane
2023: ChatGPT can now access up to date information
Police Are Monitoring Black Lives Matter Protests With Ring Doorbell Data and Drones, Activists Say
Is Ring's Doorbell Camera Notifying Locals About ICE Raids? What We Know
People are building Tarpits to trap and trick AI scrapers
AI Art Generators Spark Multiple Copyright Lawsuits
Transformer (deep learning architecture)
What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.
Judge allows 'New York Times' copyright case against OpenAI to go forward
Artists Score Major Win in Copyright Case Against AI Art Generators
AI is poised to drive 160% increase in data center power demand
Other episodes you may enjoy:
Neurotechnology (AI + BRAIN TECH)
Architectural Technology (COMPUTER PROGRAMMING)
FIELD TRIP: A Hollywood Visit to the Writers Guild Strike Line
Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY)
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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee
Managing Director: Susan Hale
Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth
Transcripts by Aveline Malek
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn