e519 — Clippy Kittens

e519 — Clippy Kittens

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper June 30, 2025 Duration: 27:56
orange kitten on a bed
Photo by Mike Stimpson on Unsplash

Published 30 June 2025

e519 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories about AI conversations with pets and people, LLM data retention, AI slop, Clippy-esque prompts, AI workloads in space and a whole lot more.

Michael, Andy and Michael begin with an AI story about the possibility for translating what your pet has to say.  There have been similar stories, and certainly it is only a matter of time before there is a breakthrough to help humans talk to the animals. 

Next up, a video from John Oliver on AI slop for the masses, that interestingly enough starts off with cats.  The team then moves on to what LLMs know about those that use them.  A couple of articles from Schneier and Geeky Gadgets illustrate the challenges emerging with current data retention policies.  Andy asked ChatGPT to write his bio back in 2023, and the hallucinations from that experience is in the show notes below.

After a conversation on the future of Computer Science, the team considers AI workloads in space using the Syntilay example of designing shoes.  Then, a Mastodon post on the newest prompts from Microsoft Word reminds the cohosts of the fan favorite Clippy.  Next, there’s an AR example of advertising popup blockers where the cure may be worse than the disease of the number of ads and their content.

Wrapping things up for this episode, Andy, Michael and Michael take a look at the Microsoft Xbox branded Meta VR headset and The Confrontation LoTR tabletop game.  

What is your favorite AI slop example?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! 

These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Selected Links

AI

Boy Genius Report article: AI could finally help us talk to our cats

Games at Work e495: Personal Planetarium for translating animal communications

Mashable article: John Oliver finds a creative way to get revenge on AI spam

Schneier on Security post: What LLMs Know About Their Users

Geeky Gadgets article: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Data Retention Policy Explained : Is Your Data at Risk?

Games at Work e406: AI Lemmings (for multiple versions of Andy’s bio)

Andy’s fun with ChatGPT from 2023 – multiple versions of his bio

The Atlantic article: The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting

Coolest Gadgets article: Reebok Co-Founder’s Startup to Design AI-Generated Shoe in Space

Syntilay AI designed shoes

me: there’s nothing worse than opening a blank document

microsoft word: hold my beer

— Hadas Weiss (@HadasWeiss@mastodon.social)2025-06-27T09:12:48.909Z

PC Gamer article: Software engineer creates a real-life ad block using Snapchat’s AR smart glasses, but ultimately ends up making something far more distracting than ads

VR

The Verge article: A week in Xbox VR with Microsoft and Meta’s new $399 headset

Tabletop Gaming

Wargamer article: This special edition Lord of the Rings board game comes with its own damn table

Gamefound: The Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Ultimate Edition


The weekly conversation hosted by Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, and Andy Piper, Games At Work dot Biz, explores the intersection where our digital play and professional lives collide. This isn't just a review show; it's a deep dive into the technology that powers our hobbies, the business behind the leisure, and the cultural news shaping both worlds. Each episode feels like pulling up a chair with three friends who are as passionate about the craft of game development and the evolution of hardware as they are about the pure joy of finding a great new title. You'll hear specific discussions on everything from the latest graphics card impacting performance to the narrative design of an indie darling, all filtered through the lens of professionals who live in the tech space. The Games At Work dot Biz podcast operates on the belief that the games we play and the tools we use are inextricably linked, offering listeners a consistently thoughtful and engaging analysis that goes far beyond a simple score. Tune in for a regular dose of insightful commentary where the serious business of technology meets the serious fun of games.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 55

Games At Work dot Biz
Podcast Episodes
e515 — Seeing Through Walls [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:52
Photo by Mihály Köles on Unsplash Published 26 May 2025 e515 with Andy, Michael and Michael – the Fortnite Darth Vader NPC, IO, both from Google and Open AI, AI hardware, an intriguing Vision Pro use case, infrared conta…
e514 — Leroooooy Jenkins! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:50
Photo by WTFast on Unsplash Published 19 May 2025 e514 with Michael R and Andy – generative ads & LEGO, Aston Martin x Apple CarPlay Ultra, new Vision Pro UX, an Internet Roadtrip, Leroy Jenkins and so much more. While M…
e513 — Not Dead Yet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:26
Photo by Hande B. on Unsplash Published 12 May 2025 e513 with Michael and Michael – Clippy + LLMs, social AI, first person video, Duck, Pong & other games, and so much more. While Andy is away, Michael and Michael start…
e512 — Sounds Good, On Paper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:58
Cartoon versions of Andy and Michael M, generated by ChatGPT Published 5 May 2025 e512 with Andy and Michael – E Ink monitors, Agent run companies & towns, winning arguments with AI assistants, pixellating reality and mu…
e511 — Vibing in London [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:36
Photo by bill emrich from Pexels: Published 28 April 2025 e511 with Michael, Andy and Michael – Vibe coding with the Vision Pro, E Ink, ePaper, multi and single player MMORPGs, Minecraft London and much more. Michael, An…
e510 — Singing To the Dolphins [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:28
Photo by Ádám Berkecz on Unsplash Published 21 April 2025 e510 with Andy, Michael and Michael – AI stories ranging from privacy, dolphin communication, open source models for robots, Game Transfer Phenomenon and much mor…
e509 — Maverick and Marbles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:10
Photo by Josiah Farrow on Unsplash Published 14 April 2025 e509 with Michael and Michael – stories and discussion all around AI, LLMs, llamas, generated Quake, grokking, generalization and much more. Michael and Michael…
e508 — Taxes and Tetris [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:53
Photo by Ben Griffiths on Unsplash Published 7 April 2025 e508 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories and discussion on AI Conversational Swarm Intelligence, the Pokétax game and numerous Nintendo stories and much more…
e507 — VR is Dead?  Let’s Play! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:09
Photo by Braedon McLeod on Unsplash Published 31 March 2025 e507 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories and discussion on AIs training humans, non-serindipious searching, doomed VR gaming, playlist portability and much…
e506 — Make Me A PowerPoint [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:32
screen capture of a presentation agenda with a photo of a painting of a mountain Published 23 March 2025 e506 with Andy and Michael M – stories and discussion on the attention economy, focus, pirated data used in trainin…