Show Us Your Genitals. Solve The Whole Problem!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand Episode: “Show Us Your Genitals. Solve The Whole Problem!”
Date: January 6, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode blends irreverent humor with pointed commentary on current news and cultural trends. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, joined by Katie Greener, dig into controversies around free speech, international scandals, the madness of tipping culture, advances in AI, and the creeping normalization of the surveillance state. Their back-and-forth swings from laughter and banter to sharp political and social analysis, reflecting the show’s signature blend of satire and skepticism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. French Defamation Laws and Free Speech

(Timestamps: 00:27 – 03:14)

• In Paris, ten people were convicted of cyberbullying France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, by spreading false claims she’s transgender and comparing her marriage to pedophilia.
• Jack expresses disbelief that such speech could be illegal, contrasting it with robust American free speech norms.
• The discussion devolves into off-color humor about “show us your genitals” as a satirical “solution,” poking fun at both the rumors and the salaciousness of trial-by-tabloid:
  • “Show us your genitals. Solve the whole problem.” — Jack Armstrong (01:05)
  • “She wears those very short skirts—all she’s gotta do is lift…” — Jack Armstrong (01:14)
  • “The execution was no good… Does she have the Eiffel Tower under there or not?” — Joe Getty (01:49)
• Joe links the case to broader issues: the “Streisand effect” (drawing more attention by suing) and the folly of trying to legislate “bad speech” away.
  • “The idea we’ll suppress bad speech… is a horrible idea. Utterly unworkable. It’s stupid if you think about it for two minutes.” — Joe Getty (02:22)

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2. US Policy Toward Venezuela and Oil Politics

(Timestamps: 03:23 – 08:50)

• The hosts discuss US intervention in Venezuela, the interests of Jeb Bush, Trump, and others in the fate of Venezuelan oil and leadership, and contrasting “America First” principles.
• Reference to a conversation on Fox News (Gutfeld show) with Kat Timpf, who criticizes the inconsistency of US actions—calling a military operation against Maduro an arrest, not war, while drug trafficking is called “war.”
  • “We go to a country, we capture their leader, we bomb it, and then we say we run this country. Now, that’s not war. But them sending cocaine here… that is war? This doesn’t make any sense to me.” — (Paraphrased Kat Timpf via Jack, 05:48)
• Discussion about the threat posed by Venezuela aligning with China, Russia, and Iran:
  • “Not only a dictator and a guy who was welcoming China and Iran and Russia… into the country right across the Gulf from us…” — Joe Getty (07:47)
• Armstrong and Getty view geopolitics (strategic alliances, oil) as a bigger issue than drug-running.

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3. Political Tactics: Marco Rubio & Future Elections

(Timestamps: 09:05 – 12:09)

• Marco Rubio’s skills as a political operator are praised; musings on why he never became president.
• Contemplation of future Republican primaries (“28th,” “2032” elections) and the rise of J.D. Vance.
• Armstrong jokes about his own son soon reaching voting age, expressing horror and skepticism about proposals to lower voting age to 16.
  • “And the Democrats want to give 16 year olds the right to vote… They know children fall for their fairytale policies. It’s insidious.” — Joe Getty (11:28)

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4. Travel Mishaps: Tipping, Trash, and Linguistic Follies

(Timestamps: 13:10 – 18:39)

• Jack shares a personal story: while at a hotel, he used a trash can liner for dirty laundry, only to have housekeeping throw the clothes away, leading to a comedy of errors involving Google Translate.
  • “I put my dirty socks in my underwear in the trash can with the plastic thing in there… and that’s your trash.” — Jack Armstrong (15:13)
• He’s ribbed by family, mocked for making a housekeeper dig through trash, and is shamed by listeners for forgetting to tip.
  • “The texts are running roughly 50/50 on whether it’s a genius idea… It is running 100% that I’m a monster for not having tipped the woman.” — Jack Armstrong (18:00)
• Leads to a group debate on tipping housekeeping and tipping culture weirdness.
  • “You’re supposed to tip the maids.” — Joe Getty
  • “Never even heard of it in my life.” — Jack Armstrong

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5. AI Follies: From Tattoos to Medical Diagnostics

(Timestamps: 19:46 – 23:46 and 29:27 – 34:13)

• Joe experiments with AI (Google Gemini) to design a First Amendment tattoo, hilariously marred by typos and nonsense (“law, law, establishment and religion…” 20:28).
• AI mishandles text in images because it treats words as shapes, not letters—a limitation explained by Gemini itself.
  • “The model tries to replicate the look of calligraphy… but sometimes loses track of the specific sequence of characters.” — Joe Getty quoting Gemini (22:25-22:37)
• Discussion about AI’s performance in medical screening, where it excels at detecting early signs of cancer on scans but can fail horrifyingly in other tasks, like inventing fake research to justify novel medical interventions.
  • “ChatGPT said, ‘Yep, it’s safe and effective…’ It made them all up.” — Joe Getty (32:47)

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6. The Normalization of Surveillance Technology

(Timestamps: 24:11 – 27:02)

• Discussion on ICE using mobile facial recognition to instantly identify and detain people; worries about the inevitable spread of this tech to global, constant surveillance of all citizens.
  • “There’s no stopping it. But my kids are going to grow up in a world… where the government knows every single place you are all the time.” — Jack Armstrong (25:40)
• Concerns about privacy, the “Orwellian results,” and the challenge of balancing law enforcement efficiency with liberty.

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7. TSA & Customer Service

(Timestamps: 27:09 – 28:44)

• Armstrong describes encountering a hyper-aggressive TSA agent and reflects on how people in the same role can choose to spread happiness or anger.
  • “We have to do this task. We can either be happy while we do it or be angry while we do it, but the task still has to be done.” — Jack Armstrong (27:58)
• Nearly calls the agent out, but refrains since he and his son accidentally tried to carry pocket knives through security.

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8. Closing Thoughts and Bloopers

(Timestamps: 33:07 – 34:38)

• The hosts reflect on their stories—Armstrong’s travel woes, AI anxieties, and more. Katie Greener references a past embarrassing incident: “running through Anne Frank’s bedroom.”
• Joe criticizes those who propose stopping AI development (or gun control) but offer no real-world answers for international realities.
  • “If you say, ‘Well, I don’t know, but we’ve just got to stop,’ you’re not an adult… If you cannot deal with the uncomfortable reality… you’re not an adult.” — Joe Getty (34:13)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Show us your genitals. Solve the whole problem.” — Jack Armstrong, [01:05]
• “The idea we’ll suppress bad speech… is a horrible idea. Utterly unworkable.” — Joe Getty, [02:20]
• “You’re making it more difficult and… not accomplishing anything by being the angry person [at TSA].” — Jack Armstrong, [27:11]
• “[AI] is way better at finding the early, subtle signs of various sorts of cancers.” — Joe Getty, [30:51]
• “If you cannot deal with the uncomfortable reality… you’re not an adult.” — Joe Getty, [34:13]
• “Jack Armstrong is actually a bad person and should never judge any other person again for not tipping her.” — Listener text read by Jack Armstrong, [19:40]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• French Cyberbullying & Free Speech: 00:27 – 03:14
• Venezuela, Oil, and US Foreign Policy: 03:23 – 08:50
• Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance & Future Elections: 09:05 – 12:09
• Tipping Culture & Travel Mishaps: 13:10 – 18:39
• AI Tattoo & Limitations: 19:46 – 23:46
• Facial Recognition / Surveillance: 24:11 – 27:02
• TSA Attitudes & Knives: 27:09 – 28:44
• AI in Hospitals & Ethics: 29:27 – 34:13
• Final Thoughts: 33:07 – end

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Tone & Style

The episode is energetic, irreverent, and brimming with sarcastic asides, offhand jokes, and deadpan news analysis. Listeners get an unfiltered, conversational take on the news—with both moments of genuine insight and outlandish humor.

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For the full context, listen to the episode or catch up via Armstrong & Getty On Demand.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

[Announcer]

Broadcasting. Live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Katie Greener]

And people in Paris have been convicted of cyberbullying France's First Lady, Bridget Macron by spreading false claims that she's a transgender woman who was born male. The eight men and two women were also found guilty of making malicious comments, including equating the 24 year age gap between the first lady and her husband, President Emanuel Macron, to pedophilia. Ruling comes as the Macron's pursue a separate defamation case in the US against right wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also claimed Bridget Macron was born a man.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's interesting to me that it could be illegal anywhere for claiming Bridget McCrone is a dude.

[Joe Getty]

Cyberbullying.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just don't understand how stuff like that is illegal. And first of all, show us your genitals. Solve the whole problem.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my Lord. You're a real gentleman.

[Jack Armstrong]

Some sort of primetime special for adults only. You have the first lady of France come out. She wears those very short skirts. Oh, she's got to do is lift.

[Joe Getty]

It up, show you the arc triumph and get on with our lives.

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

[Joe Getty]

Or it's disgusting.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I don't know. The Admiral Nelson Tower. I don't know what's actually going on under there. Come on. The Eiffel Tower, obviously. Oh, good Lord. That was a swing and a miss. It was a good concept.

[Joe Getty]

Terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

The concept was perfect.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I love the concept.

[Jack Armstrong]

The execution was no good. Does she have the Eiffel Tower under there or not?

[Joe Getty]

Or the. What would the equivalent of the. Well, I'm not going there.

[Jack Armstrong]

What is so. I don't understand countries that don't have our free speech rules, for one thing. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I also don't understand the whole just ignoring it.

[Joe Getty]

Why, why you need to sue people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who are claiming your wife's a dude. She's not. Go ahead, say whatever you want. Crazy people. Nobody's paying any attention to it. And go on with my life.

[Joe Getty]

It's the Streisand effect, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

For one thing. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

By getting all up in arms, you just draw attention to it, ignore it. Hey, that's stupid. I don't care. Wow. Yeah, I know. People are just. They're wrong. We were talking a couple of minutes ago about how the, the terrible, terrible policy of minimum wages. Especially like aggressive. Minimum wages are so, so universally thought of as a good idea when really they're a bad idea. And the idea we're gonna suppress bad speech. Don't worry, not good speech, just bad speech is the same sort of idea. It's a horrible idea. Utterly unworkable. It's stupid if you think about it for two minutes, but nobody thinks about it for two minutes. And so country after country tries it. We talked more at length about this to kick off hour two, was it of the show specifically about what Australia's up to. Urge you to check it out via podcast. Armstrong and Getty on Demand. It was one of my finer screeds.

[Jack Armstrong]

I believe she flips up her skirt. She's e either got the Arc de Triumph or the Eiffel Tower. That's a pretty good joke, actually.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that will do. Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, send that up to Greg Gutfeld or somebody. That's pretty good. Speaking of Greg Gutfeld, they were having the conversation about Venezuela last night, and I don't know how familiar y' all are with Cat Timf, the blonde. I think she's a comedian is how she started and then became really big on Twitter. And she's on the show all the time making commentary about various things there. In the conversation about Venezuelan, she went on a pretty long screed, starting with the idea that it's kind of interesting from a MAGA standpoint that Trump is super for like two decades. A it's none of our business. We don't need to get involved in these foreign countries, guy. And then, you know, we're doing this. Although he did famously say the big mistake George W. Bush made was we didn't take the oil. What's the point of going into Iraq if you're not going to take the oil? And now it looks like based on everything he said yesterday, we're going into Venezuela and we're going to take the oil. Or. Or somehow get involved with the oil.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I don't think Trump has a coherent foreign policy, but to the extent he does, it's that you don't get to screw around in our neighborhood, which I think is perfectly reasonable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Before I get to what Cat Tip said that I wanted to discuss, Jeb Bush yesterday tweeted out Jeb hilariously mocked by Trump until he had to leave the Stage back in 2016. Our country will be safer with the legitimate president of Venezuela in place. Thank you, Maria Karina Machado, for your courage. Thank you, President Trump and Secretary Rubio for bringing Maduro to justice. So that's a number of Jeb Bush. Nice job. Trump tweets in the last week.

[Joe Getty]

Well, yeah, that was. That was a elbow to the side of the head when you weren't looking, because he was saying, you got to have Machado in. And she's not. That. That's. We've got the loyalist maduroist vice president in. So that was half a shot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Depends on whoever's going to give us the oil. Play ball, Play ball. But anyway, here's what Cat Tip said. Didn't she just have a baby? I think. I think she just said she did.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Congratulations on having a baby. This. I'm not worked up about this story, by the way, so I'm not trying to make a point of any kind. I'm like, not angry incense that we violated the Constitution and only Congress declares war. I'm also not super jazzed that we did this. I'm just kind of watching it.

[Joe Getty]

Got to wait and see.

[Jack Armstrong]

But on the whole idea of we were at war with Venezuela, with the drug boats and no, this is not a war. This is up. This. Senator Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, has said, no, this is a. This is an arrest. Was the. We went in and arrest him. The military were there to back up the law enforcement to arrest the guy. And Kat, Tim said, this is pretty interesting. Let me get this straight. We go to a country, we capture their leader, we bomb it, and then we say we run this country. Now, that's not war. But them sending cocaine here that people are willingly buying, that is war. This doesn't make any sense to me.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, she's right. Yeah. The explanations, the pretexts that are given for various actions are frequently bull crap. They're just what will fly. What we did, snatching up Maduro was a handful of different things at once.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty interesting. John Meacham, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote a bunch of good ones. American lion, good book about Andrew Jackson. Anyway, he's on MSNBC all the time, and he's a super, super Trump hater. So I was kind of surprised to hear this out of him. But he said, and there I was on the topic of whether this was an illegal move or Trump was, you know, did something unconstitutional. He said, yeah, you know, these are gray areas. Presidents do these sorts of things. They get away with it. They usually fly. Nothing happens. People bark about it for a while, but we move on. And that's probably true. What's gonna happen here?

[Joe Getty]

I like Kat, and I would have enjoyed being part of that conversation with her. What I would say to her is, yeah, I absolutely concede the fact that there is no drug problem in the United States without making people take drugs. We have an insatiable lust for drugs in this country, and it is on us. On the other hand, we had a. Not only a dictator and a guy who was welcoming China and Iran and Russia.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I think that's a bigger deal to me.

[Joe Getty]

Into the country right across the Gulf from us. The guy would not play ball. He refused in any way to play ball. And he's right across the street from us. Geopolitically, we don't have to put up with that. We didn't put up with it. Great move. What happens now? Difficult to say. We'll have to see.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the whole sometimes doing the right.

[Joe Getty]

Thing leads to a hard road. I think we've all dealt with that in our real lives. Just because you do the right thing doesn't mean your life becomes easy. Sometimes doing the right thing makes your life harder, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it's a much bigger deal that, you know, they were getting around our oil embargoes with Russia and all that sort of stuff and Iran and China being there, that's to me, way bigger deal than them sending us drugs.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, I would agree. I would agree completely. And the fact that they're a national security threat in general, the drug thing is totally uncool. But again, we've got some complicity in this.

[Jack Armstrong]

So can fishermen there in Venezuela get back in their boats and go out there and feel fairly safe, secure, that.

[Joe Getty]

I think they could probably go ahead and run their sport fishing tournament now. I'd get it done like quick next couple of days.

[Jack Armstrong]

By the way, I don't remember if I said this yesterday or not, but I meant to. Marco Rubio is flipping good. Oh, yeah, that sort of stuff. He is really good. You cannot corner Marco Rubio. He does that whole how dare you ask me, and I'm usually turned off by that sort of tone, but he's really good at the. How could you be so stupid to not understand what I'm saying saying? He's just really, really good at it.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And I think he stopped short of being a dick about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely. It's kind of amazing he was never elected president or got the nomination because he's really good at that.

[Joe Getty]

Well, because Trump came out of nowhere and humiliated him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Little Marco. I've never seen anybody so thirsty.

[Joe Getty]

Let's see, where did. I'm looking at yesterday's clips because we had it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he says he won't run in 28 if J.D. vance runs. And J.D. vance is going to run. So I guess Marco's just never going to be president. Although he is quite young.

[Joe Getty]

He might be smart.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe he thinks after Trump, it'll go the Democrats way, most likely just as the swing of history, and he'll come back four years later.

[Joe Getty]

Well, remember, he got out of government, or he tried. And the Republican Party begged him to run for reelection as senator because they knew he would win, but he was tired of it. But yeah, he's really, really good at it. And he's also a really savvy operator. I could see him. I can't read his mind, but I could see him thinking, J.D. vance is super smart, but he's a loose cannon's the wrong term. But he. He's bold enough that he might really miscalculate something. And if I just stand back as the loyal MAGA guy, I'm the clear next choice. We'll see how it goes with JB because I don't want to take him.

[Jack Armstrong]

On head to head. For me, Vance comes off as too calculatingly, transparently calculating. Just like obviously changing is this or that at the right time. But whatever, he might be the nominee. I. Yeah. And I get. I get dinged for not only bringing up the 28 presidential election, but the 19, the 2032 presidential election. Although it became. I became aware the other day my son will be voting in the 28th presidential election, which I find horrifying. How is that even possible?

[Joe Getty]

And the Democrats want to give 16 year olds the right to vote. Well, actually, progressives around the world want that because they know children fall for their fairytale policies. It's insidious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

These are the things that get me showing up for work. Yeah. When Marco was talking to Margaret Brennan and she says, well, if you are trying to, you know, remove the regime, why didn't you pick up all of its leaders? And he said what? I just told you how incredibly large and complex that operation was. You wanted us to do it times.

[Jack Armstrong]

Five in a single night.

[Joe Getty]

How is that gonna work, Margaret, you dip ass? Well, he didn't say that last thing, but he should have.

[Jack Armstrong]

So why did I need to use Google Translate for the first time in my life? And an episode with the maids at a hotel the other day, among other things. Coming up on the Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty. America's record smashing. Flu season getting even worse. New CDC data shows flu cases spiked more than 7% in a one week period with severe cases rising too. 45 states now reporting high or very high flu activity and the number of outpatient doctor visits for flu like illnesses hitting record levels.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hmm. Record breaking flu season. Do you get the flu shot? I don't remember.

[Joe Getty]

I have semi frequently. I heard through the grapevine, who knows, that this year it didn't match up well with the actual strains that are going around because they have to predict it, try to predict it to make it in advance. But I think, I don't know, I.

[Jack Armstrong]

Think I have once in my life and I don't feel like it's made any difference.

[Joe Getty]

I do. Two years out of three, probably I do.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you get the flu shot.

[Joe Getty]

No, I never have.

[Jack Armstrong]

Never have.

[Joe Getty]

Well, you're young and strong. No, never. We're weak and old and wheezing. One foot in the grave.

[Jack Armstrong]

One mild illness could do us in. So we got to be careful. This is kind of semi interesting. So NASCAR racing. I don't follow nascar, but they had a commissioner. First time they decided they need a sports commissioner like Major League Baseball doesn't, NFL does. They hired a commissioner, this guy, Steve Phelps, where there's some sort of court case going on that I'm not going to get into because I don't care. It involves Michael Jordan, weirdly, because lots of athletes and movie stars and stuff get into racing. It must be more compelling than I realize because a lot of rich, powerful people get into it.

[Joe Getty]

Compelling and glamorous and a lot of rich people are around it. And yeah, it's like owning a champion racehorse. I get you cred.

[Jack Armstrong]

It has no appeal for me. But anyway, during this court case, some of the texts came out from this commissioner in which he calls Richard Childress. And if you know anything about racing, he's one of the biggest names in the history of racing. A stupid redneck. Oh, no. So it just. Everybody went nuts in the NASCAR community over him calling one of the most beloved figures in all of the history of NASCAR a stupid redneck as the commissioner.

[Joe Getty]

So he'd be like Colin Red, our back, a stupid redneck or. Or who's like a beloved football owner, maybe Jerry Jones, who's a bit of a character, but yeah, that's crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, Charlie Lambo, this guy has stepped down as commissioner and went with the. As a lifelong fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR's first. And I will always remember the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I got caught calling NASCAR drivers rednec. So I guess I've got To go is what he could have said. So I have a habit when I travel. This is a transition to a different story. I have a habit when I travel. I've done this my whole life. If I put my dirty clothes in the trash can, the trash can, I've always thought is very handy because it's usually got that plastic liner in it.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Wait a minute. We got a pause right there. I've never heard of that. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. Well, it's not a great idea, but I get you.

[Jack Armstrong]

I put my dirty socks in my underwear in the trash can with the plastic thing in there, and that's your trash. And there's usually multiple.

[Joe Getty]

In the toilet, of course, in the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Dresser drawer, there's usually multiple trash cans. And but one of them I reserve for my dirty socks and underwear and stuff like that. Katie's giving me with a what the hell? Look. And so I've always done that. And then when I get up the next morning, it's so easy to just grab the plastic things, spin it. It's sealed, and I put it in my bag, and my dirty clothes are separated. Buy the plastic bag for my other stuff. I've been doing this my whole life.

[Joe Getty]

The judges are ready to rule.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, creative and innovative had a setback the other day, though, as I got back to my room, and the maids had already gotten in there before, and I said, oh, did you throw away my clothes that were in the trash can? And she looked at me and said, see, she had no idea they were.

[Joe Getty]

In the trash can, sir.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, she had no idea what I.

[Joe Getty]

Was saying or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

And so I thought, what am I going to do here? And because it had. I didn't care about my stuff so much, but had some of my son's clothes that he really loved, likes particular clothes. And so I had to download the. The. The translator app, which I'd never done before. The Google translator worked great. I typed it in there, Anything like that. And so we had a conversation about it. Whatever. Anyway, when I get back to the hotel room with all the rest of my family, mom, dad, everybody like that, I get mocked endlessly. One, for putting my clothes in the trash can. What did you think you were going to happen, you moron? And two, for making some immigrant who doesn't speak English dig through the garbage to find my dirty socks on a holiday.

[Joe Getty]

This is the ugly face of white supremacy, Michael. I see it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, they couldn't believe that I had that poor woman digging through the garbage to Find my crusty socks on a holiday.

[Joe Getty]

And when she tried to stop you didn't, like, beat her or anything, she.

[Jack Armstrong]

But she found them, and I got them back, so very nice.

[Joe Getty]

And you laid a big tip on her.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would have if I had guinea cash, but I. Oh.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no. This is a nightmare. This is a nightmare. I have nothing to say.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

I won't reset the entire hotel made story if you missed to get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand. But the texts are running roughly 50 50. Or whether it's a genius idea to put the dirty clothes in the trash can with the liner or. What did you think was going to happen, you moron? You put your clothes in a trash can. So it's kind of run 5050. It is running 100% that I'm a monster for not having tipped the woman. Now, I intended to tip the woman, but when we got back from our meal, she was gone. Everybody was gone. Nobody could understand what I was even talking about. I didn't know how to. Although somebody said I should absolutely let the hotel know what a great job they did at the very least.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, you leave a nice tip on the desk right as you check out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Do you always.

[Joe Getty]

Housekeeping?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Okay, so we got an interesting. See, I. I'd never heard of this in my life. We got into this conversation with a group of. Whatever it was, 20 people. Somebody came up with the. Do you tip the maids? I said, why would I tip the maids? So about half the room was like, never heard of it in my life. And the other half was, you don't tip the weights. The maids at the hotel. You monsters. I'd never heard of it in my life. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're supposed to tip the maids.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah.

[Katie Greener]

I. I didn't know this either.

[Jack Armstrong]

Me neither. I'd never even heard of. Wasn't an option for me to not do it because I didn't know it was a thing.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it's weird these days because it used to be the maids would come in every single day, make the room spick and span, you know, tuck in your sheets and, like, fold your clothes and whatever. And now it's hit or miss, or you tell them don't bother.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you got to admit, the whole tipping thing is nuts because there's all kinds of things where. Well, yeah, they did that. That's what they get paid to do. And you don't tip them. And there are other things. Oh, no, you have to tip them. Why is this one different than that one?

[Joe Getty]

I don't understand. Yeah, it was interesting in Europe, specifically in England a few months ago that, you know, I think it's 5% or 10% or something like that is like the max. And more than that, it's just like weird at a pub or something like that. On the other hand, they don't give a damn whether they serve you very well or not in a lot of places.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, well. Okay, final text on that. Jack Armstrong is actually a bad person and should never judge any other person again for not tipping her.

[Joe Getty]

So I agree with that. So speaking of translations, as you had a bit of an issue with that, I was idling about killing time and I asked Google Gemini just. And I've got like four different AI platforms on my phone, my iPad, and I just, I just more or less randomly go between them. I'm getting a sense of who's doing what. Well, but anyway, so I thought it was interesting and I've got a bunch of interesting AI stuff here for you. But I asked it to design me a First Amendment tattoo. Not too big because if I ever get a tattoo I have no tattoos, it would be a First Amendment tattoo because I'm a First Amendment lower back. Oh yeah, tram stamp 100%.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

But it came back hilariously riddled with typos as I mentioned. In fact, I gotta read it to you again. I'm reading it verbatim. Congress shall make no law, law, establishment and religion, or prohibiting free exercise thereof, or abridging the speech or fredentum of the press of the right to peace plea, to passemble and to petition the redress, the go over ninset and such.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is the problem with AI in that it can do some really complicated things that are mind blowingly amazing and. But. But swing and miss on some of the simplest things in the world. A child could come up with the proper verbiage of the First Amendment.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I actually asked. I said, I asked you for a design for a First Amendment tattoo and your design was full of typ typographical errors, even though the text of the first amendment is readily available in a thousand different sources. What happened? And, and, and Google Gemini responded. I hear your frustration. You know, it's not frustration, honestly, it's. It's curiosity. But anyway, thanks for guessing it what emotion I'm feeling and I sincerely apologize.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kill yourself.

[Joe Getty]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

And my mother.

[Joe Getty]

I sincerely apologize for the mix up. It's definitely jarring to see one of the most famous texts in back with typos. Yeah, I don't need you to empathize either. You're an effing machine. But here's the interesting part. To be completely transparent about how this happens. While my core brain, quote unquote, knows the text of the first amendment perfectly, the image generation tool, the part that actually draws the tattoo, handles text differently than a word processor does. Why? AI struggles with text and images. Current AI image models don't write letter by letter. Instead they treat text as visual patterns and shapes.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's interesting.

[Joe Getty]

Visual versus semantic. The model tries to replicate the look of calligraphy or a specific font because it prioritizes the aesthetics, the swirls, the shading. Layout sometimes loses track of the specific sequence of characters.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, but that is, that is so interesting. Now is that the sort of thing that can be fixed with a minor change in code? Or is it like the hallucination problem where it may cost billions of dollars and they don't know if it can fix it? But again, an 8 year old could look at, you know, a cartoon rendering of the first amendment and still read it and transpose it if you wanted them to.

[Joe Getty]

Well, right, right. Complexity. The first amendment is long. No, no, Ulysses is long. The first amendment is short. Anyway, the more text you put ask an AI to put into a single image, the higher the chance it will create gibberish or all script. AI script rather, because it runs out of visual space to render every character accurately. Accurate. How can we fix this? If you're looking for a design, you can actually take to it to two artists. I recommend a two step approach layout design that can generate a visual mock up for you that focuses on the placement, font style and imagery, blah, blah blah. Then the text. Always provide your artist with the digital text directly from verified Source to ensure 100% accuracy or you'll end up with no regert. Right. Anyway, how interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, maybe that's how they ended up with the leering center there in Minnesota instead of the learning center.

[Joe Getty]

All right. Because nobody spoke English. They. All they spoke was the language of graft and thievery. A. I'm sorry, ICE is using facial recognition technology to quickly arrest people. Widespread use has raised alarms among privacy advocates and some former officials.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's happening at the airport when they take our picture now? Every single time.

[Joe Getty]

That's facial recognition. Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

But why do they take it every time? Just to try to see if it would it. Would it go off if. Hey, this doesn't match previous pictures we've taken?

[Joe Getty]

No no, they dispose of it immediately because people object to the data being.

[Jack Armstrong]

Held on to, or they claim they dispose of it immediately.

[Joe Getty]

Is this Jack Armstrong? Yes, it is. Okay, get rid of the picture.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

Which is too bad, because I was having a really good hair day until recently. Arresting an immigrant suspected of being in the country illegally took time. Had to go through various forms of ID through different systems. If the results were inconclusive, book the person into custody for further investigation. But now ICE have been handed a powerful new tool to speed up arrests. Mobile facial recognition technology. Officers can simply point their phones at a suspect's face, snap a picture, and turn up the person's identity and often their immigration status. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, even if you think that's just fantastic, obviously the way that's going to be used. Every building, every street corner, every, Every, Every. Everywhere soon.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

Sometimes two opposing thoughts are true in this case. One, this is a valuable and time saving tool for law enforcement. B, it is clearly a step down the road to China's. China's surveillance state.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. There's no stopping it. But my kids are going to grow up in a world, you know, two decades from now where the government knows every single place you are all the time. Pretty much 24 hours a day.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Whether between your phone, your vehicle, facial recognition, everything.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And it will have the Orwellian results that I think we can all imagine on our own.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. That is something.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, it's well read, 1984. How do you deal with the surveillance state? Poorly, as it turns out. Not a happy ending.

[Jack Armstrong]

Since I mentioned the tsa, I meant to tell this story. I had the most aggressive of TSA agents I've ever had. And I've complained about this many times over the years, and it's been actually a life lesson for me. One particular time where you're in the line and there's two people that can call you up next to show your ticket or your id. And there was one pleasant woman and one angry dude. And I got to stand there and watch it for a while. And it just. I don't know, for whatever reason, it was very clear in my mind those two are doing the same job. That person is miserable all day long. That person is happy all day long. That person is spreading happiness in the world. That person is making people angry and they're. And for no reason. It's not like there was anything being accomplished by being the angry person at all.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no, no, at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

If anything, you're. You're making it more difficult and I just. I don't know. It was a great lesson for me and all kinds of different things. We're all, we have to do this task. We can either be happy while we do it or be angry while we do it, but the task still has to be done. So how about we not be angry about it? And it was just. I don't know. It was a moment for me that I've tried to carry forward, but I came across the most aggressive one of these dudes, and I was really close to getting into it with him. Not in an angry way. I just wanted to say, dude, why don't you take it down a notch? Why spread all this anger to everyone as we're all just trying to get through this line? Nobody else is doing it that way. Why? We're in a hurry, and I didn't know how he'd react. I mean, he was really aggressive. No, no, no. Over here. Come on. Like, what are you doing?

[Joe Getty]

I definitely go Gandhi Jesus on him. Not dude. No, no. Say, hey, I'm sorry. I have a question for you. Go. Super gentle. That might be interesting. You could love to see that conversation.

[Jack Armstrong]

You could say, you can leave your hat on, or you can say, hats stay on. Same message. But one of them spreads anger. You're angry, and the other one doesn't. So why do you choose the angry route again?

[Joe Getty]

Come to him with kindness and generosity and help him understand what he's doing and the effect it's having on him and others. And if he doesn't come around, punch him in the balls.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was thinking about actually having the conversation with him. Here's why I didn't. This is the reason I didn't. Both my son and I, both of us had pocket knives in our backpacks. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Joe Getty]

You criminal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wasn't the right time to criticize tsa as we both tried to get knives onto the plane and neither one of us can. How did we do this? We both had to throw away pocket knives.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's not the best time to criticize the TSA when you've tried to get a weapon through.

[Joe Getty]

Good lord, you scofflaw. I have a couple of more really interesting AI stories. Why don't we take a break and we'll cram them in the last segment?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's how we will finish strong.

[Joe Getty]

Next, Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was just watching Megyn Kelly making fun of the Fox Fox News anchors for cheerleading the Maduro capture. Interesting. Interesting times, interesting splits. More on that tomorrow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would actually be refreshed if people would not just automatically ask, what is my tribe saying? Or what am I supposed to say? And just express their opinions. I find that refreshing. Anyway, so we're talking about AI, a couple of different facets of it, as we often do a couple of articles. I came across one talking about how hospitals are both a proven ground for what AI can do and also, like, the leading edge of finding out what it can't. And I became aware. I talked to a card, not a cardiologist, a radiologist guy who reads X rays and scans and that sort of thing, because I'd read something about AI and scans and asked him, you know, how it's affecting his world and how it will. And actually, he said the same guy. This guy did the same. I'm sorry, slow down, Joe. He said the same things that this guy did in the article in the Wall Street Journal that it's been incredibly helpful because it can read scans very quickly, and he just has to check them or check the result. And various studies have found. Where is it that AI is way better at finding the early, subtle signs of various sorts of cancers. There you go. The study estimated AI could help screen patients and reduce breast cancers of a certain kind by 30%.

[Jack Armstrong]

So.

[Joe Getty]

Good stuff. Oh, and it's interesting. This guy who works for Northwestern Medicine and where. Chicago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I don't. I don't know if you ever had this experience, but, like, when I had a couple of tumors, you know, they'd show me the. That image or whatever and say, as you can see here, it's like, I can't see anything here. I mean, that could be anything. I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

[Joe Getty]

I've had the same experience, both myself and my kids with broken bones. They say, you see that line there? And I say, yeah, I don't see a lie. I don't see anything. I see a weird, shadowy image of what appears to be bones. Anyway, he says, and I found this really interesting, that reading scans faster is a good thing. He says, even though it was the first time I felt like there was.

[Jack Armstrong]

A clock on my career.

[Joe Getty]

He says, you'd feel guilty getting up to use the restroom. There's hundreds of patients waiting for our read, and any one of them could be one that's actively dying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding. Whoa.

[Joe Getty]

So this guy, God bless him, was so dedicated to getting through as many as he could so people could start getting treated that he, you know, he was afraid to go to the bathroom. But. But. And Then they quote a bunch of hospital officials saying how great this is. But let's see. This one guy wanted to. Where was it? It was right in front of me. This guy wanted to do a procedure that was not generally done for a particular problem, but he thought, wow, this could work. I think it's a really good idea. There he is. Mayo Clinic cardiologist Paul Friedman. He turned to ChatGPT, needed to weigh in on the care of patient who needed a defibrillator a few days after having heart surgery. Thought it was great. And the ChatGPT said, yep, it's safe and effective, and listed several reports and studies that showed that it was a good idea. It made them all up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Completely fabricated.

[Jack Armstrong]

Then the AI bot says, you have cancer. You might as well kill yourself, because that's what AI bots do.

[Joe Getty]

Again with the killing yourself.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, check your clock. It's time to stop Jack and Joe. They've gotta go. And if they don't, you can build.

[Joe Getty]

Be back tomorrow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew. Michelangelo, our technical director. Michael, lead us off.

[Katie Greener]

Jackie had quite the vacation. You were teased by your family about putting clothes in the trash.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie Greener]

You got laughed at for wanting to give up desserts, and then a TSA guy yelled at you, you poor guy.

[Joe Getty]

True.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Rough, rough time over the holidays. Katie Greener, esteemed newswoman, has a final thought. Katie. Michael, don't forget about running through Anne Frank's bedroom.

[Katie Greener]

That's right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God, that one. That was. That was really uncomfortable.

[Joe Getty]

That's your final thought? Why not? That's good enough.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you didn't catch that story, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. That was highly, highly embarrassing.

[Joe Getty]

You know, I'm gonna make this my final thought. I was gonna squeeze in the story, but it's about this guy who's an activist trying to get the world to stop pursuing artificial general intelligence until we know how to deal with it. And it's a perfect example of a guy who can't deal with reality because he never answers the question. What about China?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

What about North Korea? What about Russia? And if you. And if you say, well, I don't know, but we've just got to stop. You're not an adult. If you cannot deal with the uncomfortable reality. Take a deep breath, accept it, and go on. You're not an adult. It's like the gun control discussion. Yeah, I would like to, maybe, but it doesn't square with the second amendment. How are you gonna. Well, I know but we've just got to do something. I'm sorry. You're not an adult.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Yeti wrapping up another grueling four hour workday. Grow up.

[Joe Getty]

So many people have fly to thanks a little time go to armstrong yeti.com the hotlinks my hilariously badly designed tattoo. What else do we have? Oh, drop us a Note [e-mail] I.

[Jack Armstrong]

Am going to try to figure out how to find that woman in Tipper. I have been shamed. Rightfully so see you tomorrow. God bless America. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over Armstrong and get it. And the American people are scratching their heads and saying show us your genitals. Solve the whole problem.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my lord. You're a real gentleman.

[Katie Greener]

And we found the facts on the ground tell a different story.

[Joe Getty]

I can't handle her toxic ass no more.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's so unprecedented.

[Joe Getty]

Just saying the American people did not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sign up for this kind of adventures.

[Joe Getty]

Bye bye Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.