Grumpy Old Geeks – Episode 727: "Merry Slopmas"
Hosts: Jason DeFillippo, Brian Schulmeister, with guest Dave Bittner
Date: December 20, 2025
Episode Overview
In the final show of the year, Jason, Brian, and Dave deliver their signature irreverent, no-filter round-up of the week’s most notorious tech blunders, media shakeups, and “AI slop”—a fitting sendoff for a year dominated by regulatory chaos, algorithmic nonsense, and societal malaise. From Amazon’s failed AI recaps to the global legal circus around social media and the never-ending fright fest of generative AI, the Geeks take no prisoners. They also honor the passing of Rob Reiner, lambast the state of modern entertainment, and indulge in a little media comfort food to weather the existential dread of 2025.
Key Discussion Points
1. Holiday Fatigue & Personal Updates
- Hosts jokingly lament the exhaustion of the holiday/end-of-school season.
- Jason: "The final show of the year... oh, thank Jesus." (00:37)
- Jason marks the anniversary of his stroke:
- “Today alone is my fourth stroke-avers, so four years ago today my brain exploded. And I'm still standing.” (04:19)
2. The State of AI & Content “Slop”
Amazon’s AI Video Recaps Fail
- Amazon’s AI-generated episode recaps for Prime Video pulled for being riddled with errors.
- Brian: "They’re jamming this shit in. It doesn’t work and nobody wants it." (02:54)
- Jason: “I think they just hired somebody and fixed it.” (03:17)
Merriam Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year: “Slop”
- ‘Slop’ chosen to describe low-quality, AI-generated digital content.
- Brian: “...Digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” (19:35)
Growing Tech Fatigue and Disdain
- Hosts reflect on the tidal wave of AI mediocrity and its consequences on media and society.
- Jason (re AI in video/music): “Now they're using it. And now you're going, oh no, you're using it. Oh, and you’re not paying us for it.” (24:24)
- Brian on energy waste: "We are already stretching power grids with these... so we can have Studio Ghibli slop everywhere." (25:34)
3. Tech & Policy Trainwrecks
Tesla Deception Ruling
- Tesla may face a 30-day sales suspension in California over misleading "Full Self Driving" advertising.
- Brian: “Words matter... My ire was about Tesla and their full self-driving, which is not full self-driving.” (05:42)
- Jason: “That would be all of it.” (07:11)
TikTok's US Ownership Reshuffle
- ByteDance offloads part of TikTok to a US venture for regulatory compliance—Oracle now oversees critical operations.
- Jason: “...Nothing says national security like a convoluted corporate restructure.” (07:38)
- Brian: “So now we can just be concerned about Oracle’s influence.” (08:32)
Global Social Media Age Restrictions
- Australia’s under-16 ban & Louisiana’s now-blocked age-verification law.
- Brian on Reddit’s lawsuit: “Reddit has filed a lawsuit... saying this ban intrudes on free political discourse.” (09:09)
- Jason on Reddit’s “free speech” argument: “Their excuses are pretty paper thin.” (10:29)
- Brian predicts: “My prediction... we will see these things roll out everywhere. This is not going to stop.” (12:54)
State vs. Federal AI Regulation
- Federal administration moves to preempt state-level AI law with executive order, task force, and the appointment of David Sacks as AI/crypto czar.
- Brian: “All you’ve done is create a task force to kick down all the state regulations, but you’re not going to replace it with anything.” (18:17)
- Jason on Sacks: “He’s in bed with all of the AI companies.” (18:52)
4. AI’s Dark Side: Actual Societal Harm
- OpenAI accused of hiding chat logs after ChatGPT allegedly enabled a murder-suicide suspect’s delusions.
- Jason: “What are you hiding, Sam? The family is suing, demanding safeguards...” (14:18)
- Brian: “That’s because this one doesn’t work out well for them.” (14:15)
5. AI Industry Meltdowns & Warnings
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Anthropic CEO warns of recursive AI/“intelligence explosion”—Hosts call hype and highlight “model collapse.”
- Jason: "We know that's bullshit… unless there's been some breakthrough, Brian, that I have not..." (21:09)
- Brian: "There is zero chance this has not happened already." (22:11)
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OpenAI struggles with infrastructure limits as Google catches up
- Jason predicts: “OpenAI’s fucked because Google’s caught up.” (25:34)
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Power grid and environmental concerns around skyrocketing compute usage.
- Brian's SF theory: “All those Dyson spheres… were purely put there to make AI-generated slop.” (26:08)
6. Space Collision Risks Skyrocket
- Satellites now pass within a kilometer every 22 seconds; “Crash clock” for catastrophic orbit catastrophe is down to 2.8 days.
- Jason: “When you’re going 10,000 miles an hour, that's pretty fucking hairy.” (28:10)
7. The Death of the Open Web & Algorithmic Pricing
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Facebook tests paywalls for outbound links; only Meta Verified users get more than two per month.
- Jason: “End stage enshitification.” (30:05)
- Brian: “Maybe we’ll see a resurgence in blogging again.” (30:47)
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Amazon and Instacart now implement discriminatory algorithmic pricing for schools and districts.
- Brian: “The price was the price for everybody. Not anymore.” (31:49)
- Jason: “Isn’t this... there’s gotta be some laws about this. Oh wait, there's nobody to enforce them anymore." (31:55)
8. App/Doodad/Tech News in Brief
- Apple iOS 26.2 brings another disliked liquid glass tweak; designer reportedly on the way out. (47:49)
- Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC requirements (16GB RAM minimum) stifle laptop market for budget-conscious buyers.
- Jason: “Now it’ll cost you a kidney.” (48:04)
- iRobot (Roomba maker) files for bankruptcy; assets to be sold to Chinese robotics company.
- Brian: “It dominated the space... but market size has steadily shrunk.” (49:36)
- Jason on security concern: “...Chinese company mapping people’s homes...” (50:18)
9. Media Candy: Comfort Bingeing, Modern Gripes & Standouts
- "A Man on the Inside," "Oh, What Fun," endless Taylor Swift docs and the West Wing bring mixed reviews and comfort.
- Brian (re: Taylor doc): “It was a privilege, Jason.” (34:15)
- Jason enjoys “F1: The Movie,” “The Running Man,” and “Welcome to Derry” (Stephen King universe).
- Praise for “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
- “Is It Cake?” and other palate cleansers counterbalance too much “media slop.”
- Strong recommendation for “Pluribus” on Apple TV+ with Rhea Seehorn, season finale coming Christmas Eve.
- Concerns over the future of Star Trek with creative shakeups and reboots canceled or scaled back.
- Brian on leadership void: “We need a czar over there.”
- Oscars to move to exclusive YouTube streaming rights after ABC’s final contract, an admission of cord-cutting’s triumph.
- Jason: “Their numbers are so down, it’s ridiculous.” (46:56)
10. Library Hell: AI Chatbots & Fake Citations
- Librarians are besieged by reference questions with hallucinated, nonexistent sources from AI chatbots.
- Brian: “Many people believe their stupid chatbots over humans who specialize in finding reliable information day in and day out. And if that isn’t 2025 in a nutshell, I don’t know what is.” (54:57)
11. In Memoriam: Rob Reiner
- Panel reflects on the senseless tragedy of Rob Reiner’s passing and his lasting legacy.
- Dave Bittner (on grief/loss): "Some of these journeys that we're on with our kids, with our friends, with our loved ones, are lifetime journeys of dealing with things like addiction and mental illness, mental health issues, all those kinds of things. They're not episodic. You know, it's a marathon, not a sprint. And sometimes they end tragically." (59:14)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Jason on quitting vices: “No caffeine, no alcohol, no sex, no money, no empathy for my fellow man. I should just be a Mormon.” (05:00)
- Brian (on Facebook link paywall): “Maybe we'll see a resurgence in blogging again! Hey, wouldn’t that be great? But nobody will go look at it.” (30:47)
- Jason (summarizing AI doom cycle): “All smoke and mirrors, Brian.” (23:23)
Memorable Riffs
- Hosts joking about Facebook’s paywall for links:
- Jason: “The web used to be free and you could put as many links as you wanted to out there.” (30:42)
- Brian: “You want to link out, you gotta pay for it.” (30:05)
- On TikTok US handoff:
- Jason: “Nothing says national security like a convoluted corporate restructure.” (07:38)
- Brian: “So we go from Beijing to Ellison.” (08:36)
- On energy costs fueling AI slop:
- Brian: “All those Dyson spheres... were purely put there to make AI-generated slop because they ran out of fucking power.” (26:08)
- On generative image trends and user demand:
- Jason: “Just stop doing the fucking Studio Ghibli shit and, you know, maybe respect copyright and people wouldn't jump on it so fucking fast.” (23:23)
Media Candy Segment Highlights
(Timestamps approximate, segment starts ~32:08)
- “The Running Man” (Edgar Wright’s new comedy):
- Jason: “I thought it delivered. I enjoyed it all the way through. Yeah, there was some, some, some slow spots and some weak spots. But the thing was funny. It was really funny.” (37:34)
- “Welcome to Derry” (Stephen King spinoff):
- Jason: “Dude, you gotta watch it. It’s so good. It stuck the landing.” (38:21)
- “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”:
- “Loved it. It’s two and a half hours, so... it went by fast. It went by fast.” (39:15)
- Library confusion with AI:
- Brian: “15% of all emailed reference questions that they receive now are generated by AI chatbots... and many people believe their stupid chatbots over humans who specialize in finding reliable information.” (55:09)
Dark Side with Dave (with Dave Bittner, 55:25-end)
- Jason lauds Dave’s input on why movies don’t look “real” anymore; recommends related video essays.
- Discussion of James Cameron’s genius and “Avatar paradox”—beautiful but soulless franchise.
- Good news: The Muppet Show is set for a one-off 50th-anniversary special, maybe a full return.
- Dave prepping to experiment with home solar; Jason laments SoCal’s $1,900 utility bills.
- Recommendation: Anderson Cooper’s podcast on grief, especially episode with Stephen Colbert.
- Dave: “What I learned is that Anderson Cooper has a entire podcast that's just about grief... Stephen Colbert talks about grief ultimately being a gift... I found that very helpful and uplifting and encouraging.” (76:22)
Support & Listener Community
- No new Patreon subs; thanks to those who increased pledges and continued support.
- Patreon, PayPal, and tip jar shoutouts.
- AI-driven fan song ‘Enshittification’ by Len/Funny Name, inspired by the podcast.
- Brian: “Where’s my songwriting credit?” (80:54)
Closing Thoughts
- 2025 summarized as the year of “AI slop,” corporate overreach, and regulatory theater.
- The show signs off for two weeks, promising YouTube shorts and continuing the grumpiness into 2026.
Listen to if You Want…
- …Unfiltered, irreverent takes on the failures and absurdities of tech/news/culture.
- …A cathartic, darkly funny antidote to algorithm-fueled despair.
- …To feel less alone in your skepticism of “innovation.”
- …Surprisingly touching reflections on loss and finding comfort.