IM 862: Ménage à Claude - AI, Human Agency, and Economic Value

IM 862: Ménage à Claude - AI, Human Agency, and Economic Value

Author: TWiT March 19, 2026 Duration: 3:00:43

Who gets to define what intelligence means in the age of AI, and why are tech companies so keen to shift blame onto their creations? This episode digs into moral outsourcing, agency, and the urgent need for independent oversight in the world of artificial intelligence.

  • Nvidia Unveils NemoClaw Agent Software
  • Nvidia's NemoClaw is OpenClaw with guardrails
  • Jensen just put Nvidia's Blackwell and Vera Rubin sales projections into the $1 trillion stratosphere
  • Nvidia Unveils Groq-Based Chip System to Speed Up AI Tasks Like Coding
  • Nvidia's DLSS 5 is like motion smoothing for video games, but worse
  • Zuckerberg has "finished" with Alexandr Wang, worth US$14 billion
  • Meta didn't buy Moltbook for bots — it bought into the agentic web
  • Meta's Manus AI agent arrives on your desktop to take on OpenClaw
  • Introducing GPT-5.4 mini and nano | OpenAI
  • Sources: OpenAI signed a deal with AWS to sell its AI services to US government agencies for
  • both classified and unclassified work, amid the Anthropic-DOD spat
  • Inside OpenAI's Race to Catch Up to Claude Code
  • OpenAI, Musk and Focus
  • A mystery 1T-parameter AI model called Hunter Alpha, which appeared on OpenRouter on March 11, sparks speculation that DeepSeek is quietly testing its V4 model
  • Hustlers are cashing in on China's OpenClaw AI craze
  • Baidu is integrating OpenClaw with its Xiaodu devices to work as voice-controlled remotes, as it seeks to catch up with Tencent and Alibaba in the AI race
  • Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud
  • Judges Find AI Doesn't Have Human Intelligence in Two New Court Cases - Slashdot
  • AI Agent Hacks McKinsey
  • A study of ~1,500 US workers finds AI use can reduce burnout but also cause "AI brain fry", a mental fatigue from using AI tools beyond one's cognitive capacity
  • AI companies want to harvest improv actors' skills to train AI on human emotion
  • A Reddit Post, An AI Hallucination, And Two Lawyers Who Never Checked Citations Walk Into A Dog Custody Case
  • Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam
  • EchoPrime – Cedars-Sinai’s AI system can read echocardiograms and write the report
  • Robotic Surgery Performed Remotely on Patient 1,500 Miles Away - Slashdot
  • Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots'
  • German philosopher Jürgen Habermas dies at 96
  • CanIRun.ai — Can your machine run AI models?
  • We tried White Castle from an airport vending machine. It was bleak.
  • I tried BigArch. A big mess.

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ

Guest: Rumman Chowdhury

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From the team at TWiT, Intelligent Machines (Video) dives into the seismic shift unfolding right now. The first part of this century was defined by networks connecting people; the coming era will be defined by the intelligence embedded within the objects and systems around us. This isn't just about speculative fiction-it's about the algorithms in your car, the logic in your home appliances, and the evolving minds within our phones and robots. Each episode of this podcast unpacks a piece of that complex reality, examining both the profound potential and the tangible risks of this transformation. We're moving beyond simple gadget reviews to explore the deeper societal, ethical, and personal implications of living alongside thinking machines. The conversation is grounded in the present, looking at real-world applications and the engineers, philosophers, and policymakers shaping our automated future. Tune in for clear-eyed analysis and thoughtful discussion that aims to demystify the technology, helping you grasp not only what these systems do, but how they will redefine work, creativity, privacy, and human agency itself. Join us as we navigate the most significant technological revolution in generations, seeking to understand what we're building before it reshapes everything.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 10

Intelligent Machines (Video)
Podcast Episodes
IM 867: The Ketchup Effect - The Lines Are Too Damn Long [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Game designer and Atlantic writer Ian Bogost joins to argue that the true joy of technology is not frictionlessness, but the small sensory pleasures and constraints that keep us tethered to real life. Discover how AI cou…
IM 866: I'm Bonkers for Yonkers - Is Coding Dead? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:28:30
When renowned photographer Craig Mod coded his own AI-powered Twitter, the lines between art, tech, and community blur in surprising ways. This episode explores what happens when creative minds take AI into their own han…
IM 865: Mythic - Too Dangerous to Release? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:26:36
A secretive AI called Mythos is already finding zero-day exploits that humans missed for decades, but Anthropic claims it is too risky for public release. Hear what leading security experts think could happen if this tec…
IM 864: And Artemis Too - Journalism In The Age Of AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:25:03
What happens when a thriving newsletter-turned-AI lab lets artificial intelligence shape writing, editing, and even entire products? Find out how Every is challenging the boundaries between tech and culture and why even…
IM 863: Fire and Ash - Hot Takes on Tech Trials [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:44:09
Tech journalist Marshall Kirkpatrick joins the panel to showcase a new AI-powered tool that doesn't just summarize articles—it thinks like a journalist, flagging what's truly new and revealing the patterns that matter. I…
IM 860: You Gotta Get Computer - Claude Surges to No. 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:08:24
A principled stand by an underdog AI company ignites a mass migration of users, shakes up Silicon Valley talent wars, and leaves even the tech giants recalculating their moves. Hear how one weekend suddenly redrew the li…
IM 859: What's Behind the Fox? - Tech's Gilded Age [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:05:22
What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter mo…