Tech Brew Ride Home – "Nobody Cares About AI Ads?"

Host: Brian McCullough
Date: November 4, 2025
Podcast: Tech Brew Ride Home by Morning Brew

Episode Overview

Today's episode delivers a rapid-fire roundup of the latest tech news, from Apple refreshing its App Store web experience, to the ethical dilemmas in cybersecurity, new city expansions for Waymo’s robo-taxis, the business politics surrounding Nvidia's chip sales to China, Coca Cola's surprising findings on consumer attitudes toward AI-generated ads, a deep-dive on Common Crawl’s misunderstood but crucial infrastructure role in AI, and a look at Google Cloud's stunning rise inside Alphabet. The host also closes with a call for recommendations on automated animation tools for pairing with spoken word content.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Apple Launches Revamped App Store on the Web

• [02:11] Apple has updated the web version of the App Store—now at apps.apple.com—offering a user-friendly interface to browse and search apps for all Apple platforms.
  • Users can’t download apps directly, but can share apps or open them on their devices.
  • Adds features for better recommendation discovery and navigation by category.
• Notably, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26.1 released with improved Liquid Glass design options—including a frosted, higher-opacity look for better visibility and accessibility.
  • “The aesthetic has been divisive... The tinting... joins a growing roster of accessibility and visibility options.” (06:45)
  • iPad’s beloved ‘Slide Over’ multitasking feature also makes its return and is now more versatile.

2. Cybersecurity Professionals Turn Bad Actors

• [09:45] Shocking revelation: Three US cybersecurity professionals allegedly orchestrated ransomware attacks on five companies using ALFV/BlackCat ransomware.
  • Defendants: Ryan Clifford Goldberg (ex-Signia manager), Kevin Tyler Martin (ex-Digital Mint negotiator), and an unnamed co-conspirator.
  • They received nearly $1.3 million ransom from a single medical company in 2023.
• Both Signia and Digital Mint promptly terminated involved employees. The case highlights risks of insider threats in cybersecurity.

3. Waymo Expands Robo-Taxi Service

• [13:12] Waymo announces plans to launch commercial robo-taxi services in three additional cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, and Detroit.
  • Currently active in five cities, with ambitions for further geographic growth despite regulatory and local resistance.
  • Still needs specific approvals for full commercial operation in Nevada and Michigan.
• “Waymo says it plans on launching... after the company said it would begin rapidly scaling to bring its fully driverless technology to more people on a faster timeline.” (14:08)

4. Nvidia and US-China AI Chip Politics

• [15:31] President Trump refrains from discussing Nvidia’s AI chip exports to China in his meeting with President Xi Jinping—despite Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s lobbying.
  • National security concerns cited by officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
  • Exporting Blackwell chips to China could be worth tens of billions, but represents a “seismic policy shift.”
• “Trump’s ultimate decision marked a victory for Rubio and other Trump advisors over Huang, leader of the world’s most valuable public company.” (17:25)

5. Coca Cola Finds Consumers Don’t Care about AI Ads

• [22:48] Coca Cola releases new AI-generated holiday ads, following controversy in 2024 over ‘uncanny valley’ visuals in earlier AI ads.
  • Improvements this year: more natural animation, less unsettling human likenesses, and an expanded cast of AI-generated critters.
• Notably, most viewers didn’t notice or care if ads were AI-generated:
  • “Coca Cola has released upgraded AI generated ads... after finding people didn’t know or care about the use of AI in making the ads.” (23:02)
  • System1 found Coke’s AI ads scored highly with mainstream consumers despite industry criticism.
  • 46% of surveyed consumers in four countries “aren’t okay” with AI in ads (down from 49% last year), but this opposition is waning.
• Marketers stress human input remains vital: “A voiceover discusses the team of artists who work frame by frame, often pixel by pixel, to touch up and tweak the festive images generated by the AI.” (27:31)

6. Common Crawl: The “Secret” AI Infrastructure

• [28:48] Profile of Common Crawl, a nonprofit whose vast, petabyte-scale archive of web pages is foundational to today’s major AI models (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Nvidia, Meta, etc.).
  • Issues:
    • Despite claims, Common Crawl’s bot often bypasses paywalls and archives millions of paywalled news articles.
    • Publishers have requested removals, but content remains, raising ethical and legal concerns.
• Common Crawl’s view: “Models should read anything online. The robots are people too.” – Rich Skrenta, Executive Director (31:45)
• The Atlantic argues that openness here enables free-riding on journalism, pushing publishers toward stricter paywalls.

7. Google Cloud’s Meteoric Rise

• [35:13] Once a money-losing afterthought, Google Cloud is now Alphabet’s fastest-growing business, driven by the AI infrastructure boom.
  • Q3 revenue topped $15B (34% YoY growth), now threatening to overtake YouTube as Alphabet’s #2 cash generator.
  • Market share doubled to 13% since Thomas Kurian’s 2018 appointment; major AI labs now run on Google Cloud.
  • Key to the turnaround: focus on revenue discipline, industry-focused sales, and making in-house TPUs available to outside companies.
• CEO Sundar Pichai: “What Thomas has been a powerful voice for is making sure that when we say we’re focused on the user that we’re focusing on the enterprise customer too.” (38:37)
• CapEx guidance is high, but Google bets its decade-long AI groundwork gives it long-term resilience.

8. Listener Call-out: The Search for Automated Animation Tools

• [40:36] Host Brian McCullough invites listeners to suggest the best tool for automatically generating video or cartoons matched to audio content (for YouTube or podcasting).
  • Requests a tool that can take long audio (30–45 minutes), identify narrative segments, and pair with animated or kinetic visualizations—ideally without complex workflow or multiple tools.
  • References Steven Bartlett’s animated Steve Jobs video as inspiration.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Apple's UI “liquid glass” shift:
  “The aesthetic has been divisive... The tinting... joins a growing roster of accessibility and visibility options.” (06:45)

• On security insiders going rogue:
  “Three cybersecurity professionals whose job was to help companies respond to ransomware attacks instead carried out their own ransomware schemes…” (10:12)

• On AI in advertising:
  “People didn’t know or care about the use of AI in making the ads, despite criticism for its 2024 ads that also experimented with AI.” (23:07)
  “A voiceover discusses the team of artists who work frame by frame, often pixel by pixel, to touch up and tweak the festive images generated by the AI.” (27:31)

• On Common Crawl’s philosophy:
  “Models should read anything online. The robots are people too, and [Skrenta] dismisses attribution or stricter controls. ‘We can’t police that. We’re just a bunch of dusty bookshelves.’” (31:45)

• On Google Cloud’s transformation:
  “What Thomas has been a powerful voice for is making sure that when we say we’re focused on the user that we’re focusing on the enterprise customer too.” – Sundar Pichai (38:37)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------|--------------| | Apple web App Store and OS updates | 02:11–08:08 | | Cybersecurity professionals indicted | 09:45–13:12 | | Waymo’s robo-taxi expansion | 13:12–15:31 | | Nvidia/Trump/Xi Jinping chip politics | 15:31–22:30 | | Coca Cola’s AI ads findings | 22:48–28:48 | | Common Crawl’s AI data influence | 28:48–35:13 | | Google Cloud’s business ascent | 35:13–40:36 | | Listener call-out for animation tools | 40:36–End |

Summary & Takeaways

• Apple's product updates aim for greater usability and accessibility, especially for multitasking and visual clarity across devices.
• Cybersecurity remains vulnerable to insider threats, highlighting an often-overlooked risk.
• Waymo pushes further expansion as autonomous vehicle regulation and local sentiment remain mixed, reflecting the bumpy road ahead for robo-taxis.
• US-China tension over AI chip exports underscores geopolitics trumping (pun intended) corporate lobbying, even for giants like Nvidia.
• Coca Cola’s AI holiday ads and consumer indifference suggest the mainstream public is less concerned about AI in creative output than industry insiders, even as criticism lingers.
• Common Crawl’s role in AI raises deep questions about data ethics, openness, and the impact on journalism.
• Google Cloud’s dramatic growth makes it a new crown jewel within Alphabet, showing how sustained bets on infrastructure and AI have paid off against AWS and Azure.
• Brian’s closing request for automated animation tools is a practical note on the growing intersection of AI video generation and creator workflows.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone tracking the fast-changing dynamics of technology, enterprise, AI, regulation, and creative industries.