IM 863: Fire and Ash - Hot Takes on Tech Trials

IM 863: Fire and Ash - Hot Takes on Tech Trials

Author: TWiT March 26, 2026 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. If you want to stay several steps ahead in the AI race, this episode is a must-listen.

  • Malware autodownloaded by AI agents
  • Meta loses trial after arguing child exploitation was "inevitable" on its apps
  • We're saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.
  • TurboQuant: Redefining AI efficiency with extreme compression
  • Apple Can 'Distill' Google's Big Gemini Model
  • Apple Plans AI Reboot With Siri App, New Look and 'Ask Siri' Button in iOS 27
  • Google Search referrals to the web have plummeted, AI links are 'less than 1%' of traffic
  • A US appeals court puts on hold an earlier ruling that had blocked Perplexity from using its agentic shopping tool to shop on Amazon's marketplace
  • A look at "tokenmaxxing", a status game where employees at a number of companies compete on leaderboards to show how much AI they're using
  • Elon Musk Announces $20B 'Terafab' Chip Plant in Texas To Supply His Companies
  • Jury finds Elon Musk guilty of defrauding Twitter investors [U]
  • Tracy Kidder, Author of 'The Soul of a New Machine,' Dies at 80
  • AI Doc trailer
  • reflect — Time-Travel Reflection for Obsidian
  • Esoteric Ebb
  • Butthole
  • Regex Blaster

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Guest: Marshall Kirkpatrick

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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: 33

Intelligent Machines (Video)
Podcast Episodes
IM 890: 200 Donuts - How One Engineer Manages a Team of 24 AIs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:52:34
What happens when a single person manages a staff of 24 AI "employees" with one-on-one performance reviews and weekly stand-ups? This episode takes you inside the wild, experimental frontier of local AI, where hobbyists…
IM 889: We Are the Neanderthals - Why LLMs Fail at Complex Reasoning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:37:02
Forget large language models. This episode uncovers a radically different approach to AI, where physics-guided reasoning and energy-based models are reshaping what machines can actually understand—and why that could unlo…
IM 888: Large Linguine Model - Inside the AI Doom Debate [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:41:37
Discover how to run serious AI at home without breaking the bank, as Lon Seidman reveals his tricks for turning old data center GPUs into powerful local LLM machines. Anthropic Researchers Raise Alarm Over A.I. Accelerat…
IM 883: Gates-Gate - AI Model Watermarks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:35:27
Can a single journalist armed with $30 in AI tools outpace traditional newsrooms and reinvent local reporting? This episode spotlights the DIY ingenuity shaking up journalism from the ground up. How Claude marks AI-gener…