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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - Will A.I. Close Off the Internet?

Slate Daily Feed

Slate

Business, News, Society & Culture

3.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2022

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Reddit announced it will start charging companies to use its huge, ever-growing trove of text to train A.I. chatbots. It’s another expense for the fledgling tech and another knock against the “open internet” ideals that Reddit once embodied. 


Guest: Mike Isaac, tech reporter for the New York Times.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

A quick heads up before we get started, there is a little light swearing in this episode.

0:05.0

Okay, here's the show.

0:11.0

Are you reddit, dude?

0:14.0

Do I have to admit it? Yes, I am. I'm secretly a reddit person.

0:20.0

That's reporter Mike Isaac, who writes about tech for The New York Times.

0:24.0

And who's reddit life, sorry, Mike, is no longer secret.

0:28.0

I kind of was thinking maybe you were. What, what subreddits do you hang out on?

0:34.0

I have like multiple accounts because I have like a work account.

0:37.0

And then I have a secret account because I don't want people to actually know when I'm talking.

0:42.0

And then I have like a, I think I have like a book promotion account.

0:47.0

But so anyway, I try to keep track of them, but mostly for fun, for pleasure.

0:53.0

I hang out and like ask me anything or the child free subreddit for people complaining about children.

1:02.0

Or which is insane or I don't know if I can say this on the air.

1:06.0

Am I the asshole subreddit basically, which is like, that's a very good one.

1:10.0

Yeah, I have people explaining messed up situations and then like cooking and boring stuff like that.

1:17.0

And power washing actually.

1:19.0

Power washing?

1:20.0

Yeah, people post like pictures of their dirty driveways and then like an after picture or video of them power washing it.

1:27.0

It's super cool.

1:28.0

And I don't have a power washer. So it's more aspirational.

1:35.0

I just want to go on the record here and say that these videos are pretty incredible and make me also want a power washer.

1:41.0

Anyway, I'm asking Mike about his reddit habits because he recently wrote a story that fascinated me about the idea

...

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