This Week in Tech 1065: "AI Action Park" — Summary & Highlights

Podcast: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio)
Episode: This Week in Tech 1065: AI Action Park
Date: January 5, 2026
Host: Leo Laporte
Panelists: Dan Patterson (Blackbird AI), Joey deVilla (AI developer advocate, globalnerdy.com)

Episode Overview

The first TWiT of 2026 launches with a deep dive into the dizzying acceleration of AI, the strange economics shaping the industry, and the new challenges posed by both technological and regulatory developments. Leo Laporte is joined by two AI-savvy guests: Dan Patterson, Senior Director of Content at Blackbird AI, and developer advocate/accordionist/blogger Joey deVilla. Together, they reflect on the breakneck pace of AI advances, notable industry stories and misadventures over the holidays, emerging regulatory crackdowns in the US and abroad, and share personal anecdotes about tech’s sometimes wild history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI's Rapid Evolution: Overwhelmed Even The Experts (00:00–14:00)

• Karpathy’s Overwhelm: AI researcher Andrej Karpathy confessed to feeling left behind by the pace of AI development, despite his own groundbreaking work.

  • Quote: "I've never felt this much behind as a programmer... I could be 10x more powerful if I just properly string together what has become available over the last year." (Karpathy, cited by Joey deVilla, 11:50)

• Vibe Coding: Karpathy’s “vibe coding” is barely a year old — the space moves so fast even new concepts age instantly.

• Economics of AI: Discussion on whether the industry is profitable, with much of current market value built on speculation rather than proven revenue.

  • Quote: "Fully 1% of our GDP growth last year was from AI. None of which at this point is profitable." (Laporte, 04:02)

• AI Progress Then & Now: Comparison to the overwhelming advent of the public Internet; panelists reminisce about Mosaic, Usenet, and the original feeling of struggling to keep up.

2. Productization, Fragmentation & Strategic Moves in AI (04:21–13:00)

• Rise of AI Products:

  • Google and Anthropic surge on the enterprise side while Microsoft leans on OpenAI; consumer products are improving, but differentiation is based on use cases and audience rather than raw model performance.
  • Quote: "It's not so much the success or failure of [AI] products, but the strategic direction that they've elected to take." (Patterson, 08:53)

• The End of Hallucination News (09:16):

  • Media focus shifting away from sensationalism about AI hallucinations, as companies become better at reliability and filtering.
  • Analogy: Comparing current AI backlash to skepticism around Photoshop in the '90s—every disruptive tech brings similar concerns.

• Water/Golf Debate: Leo debunks overblown headlines about AI’s environmental cost, noting data center water use is much less than, say, US golf courses (06:10).

3. “Hacquisitions” & Holiday Mergers (26:39–32:09)

• Nvidia’s $20B “Brain Drain” of Grok (28:45)

  • Nvidia licensed, not bought, Grok’s tech—essentially acquiring the team, leaving behind the rest.
  • Term: "Hacquisition" (MG Siegler): skipping company acquisition to scoop up key technologists.
  • Quote: "They basically hollowed out a company, spent $20 billion not to acquire the company, but to acquire its brains." (Laporte, 28:45)

• Meta Mimics Approach: Also hiring away AI teams or buying startups outright for talent rather than products.

• Antitrust, Talent Wars & Investor Fallout: Discussion on implications for remaining staff and whether investors benefit.

4. Cutting Edge AI: Beyond LLMs — Enter MHC (37:02–45:22)

• DeepSeek's “Manifold Constrained Hyperconnections” (MHC):
  • An architecture promising more dynamic, stable AI model training.
  • Confusing analogies abound: "It reads like SharePoint marketing," says Joey (37:59).
  • Action Park Analogy: Old LLMs are a straight water slide; MHC is a "crazy water park but with perfect safety controls" (39:55).
  • Discussion: Is LLM progress stalling? Experts suggest new architectures like MHC are the next frontier.

5. Regulatory & Censorship Troubles (61:18–70:49)

• US Legislative Overreach:

  • Multiple bills threaten encryption, platform liability (Section 230), and online privacy (Screen Act; KOSA; Cooper Davis Act).
  • Concern about federal and state “book burning”–era censorship being repackaged for the Internet.
  • Quote: "It's 21st century equivalent of book burning." (deVilla, 67:24)
  • Panel’s consensus: the likelihood of passage this year is low due to congressional gridlock.

• International Trends:

  • Australia, Denmark, France moving towards broad youth bans on social media and app store age barriers.
  • Users turning to VPNs—and predictably, calls to ban those too.

• US Judicial Check: Federal judge blocks Texas’s broad app age-verification law, ruling it akin to requiring book stores check everyone’s age at the door (66:04).

6. Security Setbacks & Industry Friction (92:03–99:03)

• Governmental Confusion:
  • Rapid flip-flopping on chip export bans to China; vulnerable US–China supply chains.
  • US bans all non-US-made drones, likely for protectionist reasons, with big market/domestic consequences.
  • FCC quietly abandons the Cyber Trust Mark program for IoT device certification due to China ties—panel is alarmed at the loss.

7. Tech Nostalgia, Music & Personalities (74:45–111:27)

• Accordion Interlude: Joey deVilla closes the episode with an accordion song about AI displacing jobs (140:25–140:54).
• Personal Tech Histories:
  • Reminiscence about tech’s wild early days: OpenCola, Cory Doctorow’s peer-to-peer startup, Cult of the Dead Cow/VPN projects, puppet-based developer TV shows.
  • Quote: "I just kind of land in the right place at the right time. I'm trying to be the 21st century equivalent of Zelig." (deVilla, 71:42)
• Analog Clocks and Kids Today (129:03–132:32):
  • NYC students struggle to read analog clocks after phone bans in schools; panelist stories about learning and using "hot clocks" in radio programming.

8. CES and Hardware Horizons (103:00–154:31)

• Anticipating CES 2026:
  • Panelists lightly roast the endless parade of vaporware and the perpetually demoed Sony/Honda AFEELA car.
  • Hardware constrictions: RAM & GPU prices surging due to AI demand; possible consumer impacts as Apple’s contracts with suppliers expire.
  • Speculation over Apple’s next redesign for MacBook Pro with OLED and M6 chip.

9. Memorable Moments, Quotes, and Cultural References

• “AI Slop”: The proliferation of low-quality, AI-generated junk content on social platforms.

  • "X is pretty much all AI slop now... it's kind of depressing." (Laporte, 11:12)

• On Tech Cynicism:

  • "Cynicism is a tool of autocrats. When we go, 'Oh, my goodness, everything is bad. Everything is terrible.' It makes so many people dial out." (Patterson, 64:48)

• Accordion Song (end credits):

  • "I was gonna get a job, but then came AI... I'm hiding from Terminators... because of AI." (deVilla, 140:25 & 167:22)

Notable Episode Timestamps

• 00:00–03:58 — Introductions and panelists reflect on AI’s rapid acceleration and the “year of AI”
• 11:50 — Joey quotes Karpathy on feeling behind as an AI programmer
• 28:45–32:09 — Nvidia’s “hacquisition” of Grok, Meta’s similar moves
• 37:59–45:22 — Deep Search’s “MHC”, water park/Action Park metaphor explained
• 61:18–70:49 — US legislative threats to Internet privacy, encryption, and age verification debates
• 74:45–75:10 — Early days of OpenCola, Cory Doctorow, developer TV with puppets
• 92:03–99:03 — FCC security setbacks, US drone restrictions, supply chain geopolitics
• 129:03–132:32 — Analog clocks, generational shifts, and radio “hot clocks”
• 140:25–140:54 & 167:22 — Joey’s AI Accordion Anthem

Closing & Panel Info

• Joey deVilla:
  • Blog: globalnerdy.com (since 2006; quirky tech/AI/musician content)
  • YouTube: Global Nerdy’s Channel (including accordion covers and AI songs)
• Dan Patterson:
  • Newsletter: news.danpatterson.com
  • Company: Blackbird AI (context checker: compass.blackbird.ai)

Final Thoughts

The Tone: Fun, slightly nostalgic, unsparingly honest. Panelists consistently balance hype and healthy skepticism, using both personal experience and sharp humor to illuminate the pace and perils—and the joys—of the AI era. Accordion music optional, insights not.

For listeners who missed it: This episode is a must-hear for those who wish to understand why even top AI experts are struggling to keep up, what new regulatory and market threats loom, and how the tightrope of progress, power, and policy continues to define the technology landscape in 2026.

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