Podcast
The 404 Media Podcast
Hosted by 404 Media · EN
Welcome to the podcast from 404 Media where Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason catch you up on the stories we published this week. 404 Media is a journalist-owned digital media company exploring the way technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We bring you unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL through investigative reporting, smart blogging, and breaking news. At 404 Media you’ll read, and hear, stories you can’t find anywhere else written by journalists who are leading experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism.
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138episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Tokenpocalypse Is Here
Yesterday00:42:51Summary readyGo to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. We start this week with Joseph’s story about the Tokenpocalypse, which is companies scrambling to stop spending so much on AI after providers started charging per AI token. After the break, Joseph and Emanuel tell us about the ways companies are trying to do this, including using a tool to make their LLMs talk like cavemen. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel explains how entirely fake AI-generated flowers are all over eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. The Tokenpocalypse Is Here: Companies Are Scrambling To Stop Spending So Much on AI Companies Are Making Claude and Codex Talk Like Cavemen to Stop AI’s Soaring CostsScammers Sell Seeds for Exotic AI-Generated Flowers That Don’t Exist Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Sia4LZGNkVs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow Brands Use Reddit to Poison AI Search
3d ago00:41:54Summary readyThis week, we're doing a deep dive into how marketing companies are poisoning AI search results by manipulating Reddit. You may remember when Google’s AI search results first launched, it recommended that people put glue on their pizza. Well that happened because it scraped a 10 year old Reddit comment. We’ve learned over the last year or so that this sort of thing can be done on purpose, and brands are taking advantage of it. There’s been the rise of AEO or GEO, which stands for AI Engine Optimization or Generative Engine Optimization. Basically this is trying to get mentions of your brand into web content that’s likely to be scraped by AI tools. It’s the new version of SEO and lots of marketers and companies are trying to do it. The most reliable, easiest way to do this appears to be by putting brand mentions onto Reddit. Reddit’s volunteer mods have noticed an increase in bot accounts and entire sequencing efforts—where a post and its comments are all basically done as a stealth ad—intended to boost brands. I wrote an article about this a few weeks ago, about r/biohackers banning mentions of peptides, which were a popular promoted class of product. After we wrote that article, researchers from Cornell University reached out to me about a new study they had just done. The research is called “Deep-research agents can be poisoned via user-generated content,” which provides a mechanism for the ways reddit, wikipedia, and other sites that allow users to post are being attacked by brands doing AEO: "We show that a tiny snippet—just 13 words—of retrieved text on a UGC website like Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, or Facebook can change AI agents to output spam / scam content pretty consistently," the study says. We spoke to two of the researchers, Hal Triedman and Tingwei Zhang, about this problem and what, if anything can be done about it. Deep-Research Agents Can Be Poisoned via User-Generated Content: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24245 Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/2uG8ohZHOD8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryIf AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II
1w ago00:41:38Summary readyTake control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at incogni.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. We start this week with Matthew’s story about a fascinating paper that argues if LLMs are sentient, then by those metrics so is the classic game Age of Empires II. After the break, Matthew tells us about a wild story out of Texas with a data center being built on land that was donated to be a park. In the subscribers-only section, we talk hacking and basketball. If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II’ A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead Hackers Publish Knicks and Madison Square Garden Data Online Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/LlWJTM18z3E Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryStopping Tech Company Censorship (with Jake Hanrahan)
1w ago00:44:19Summary readyGo to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. This week Joseph speaks to Jake Hanrahan, creator of the independent conflict-focused media company Popular Front. They talk all about conflict journalism and how to get your journalism out there when platforms like YouTube make it all that much harder, sometimes. Popular Front Away Days Plastic Defence: Secret 3D Printed Guns in Europe Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Yf51H5IuRcM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryThe Government Wants to End Anonymity on Phones
2w ago00:49:58Summary readyGo to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Joseph’s story about the FCC’s wild proposal to require peoples’ government ID numbers to even get a phone plan. The FCC is doing it to curb robocalls, but also said it would be useful for a bunch of other stuff. After the break, Jason tells us all about cops abusing Flock to stalk girlfriends and other people. In the subscribers’ only section, Emanuel explains how a software update is impacting Amazon drivers. FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones By Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers’ IDs Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People Software Update Automatically Turns off Amazon Delivery Drivers’ AC During Dangerous Summer Heat YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hP53hSJSsSU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryMeet Me at the Opsec Rave (with Imani Thompson)
2w ago00:53:20Summary readyThis week, I’m thrilled to be joined by Imani Thompson. Imani is a digital security trainer and host of a series of events called Cache Me Outside, where she and partner orgs help people understand their personal security, divest from big tech platforms, and learn how to stay safe online. She recently hosted a “de-Googling” party and a self-doxxing rave. We get into how platforms have tried to make surveillance cute, why that damn Duolingo owl emotionally manipulates you, and why learning about privacy best practices when surrounded by community works. Follow Imani on Instagram A 'Self-Doxing' Rave Helps Trans People Stay Safe Online Now you can break up with big tech at a bar: ‘cybersecurity disguised as a party’ Fix It With Piggy YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/C4WVYBEIgzM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryGoogle Employees Meme About How Bad Their AI Is
3w ago00:35:04Summary readyWe start this week with Emanuel’s story about the internal memes Google employees are making all about AI. Definitely check out some of the examples in the article or on YouTube. After the break, Jason tells us how Microsoft explicitly wants to “make people addicted” to its new AI assistant, according to an internal document. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how companies are using Reddit to manipulate AI search results and big LEGO drama. Google Employees Internally Share Memes About How Its AI Sucks Microsoft Wants to 'Make People Addicted' to its New AI Assistant, Internal Documents Reveal Companies Are Using Reddit to Manipulate ChatGPT and Google AI Search Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryIt’s So Not Over for Hollywood (with Devindra Hardawar)
3w ago01:01:20Summary readyEmanuel talks to Devindra Hardawar about AI in Hollywood and the state of the movie industry. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s a good coincidence that my interview with Devindra Hardawar is coming out on the week that the first Star Wars movie in years is being crushed at the box office by two low budget horror movies. Something is extremely off at Hollywood, or at least the old studio executives and streamers who control most of the money that funds movies. This week we’re joined by Devindra Hardawar. Devindra is a senior editor at Engadget and a co-host of The Filmcast, a podcast about film I’ve been listening to for 15 years. We’ve covered the intersection of the movie industry and AI here and there on 404 Media, but Devindra lives at that intersection. He’s the perfect person to talk to about AI and film, but also the state of the industry more broadly, how to fit movies into your life in the age of the infinite scroll, how to introduce kids to film, and more. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/imCSQkhFkoM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Hackers Asked Meta AI To Let Them In. It Worked
4w ago00:39:12Summary readyGo to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Jason’s story about one of the wildest hacking stories in a while. Hackers simply asked Meta’s AI to change the email address on a target Instagram account, and the chatbot did so. Insane. After the break, Emanuel tells us about Amazon’s internal leaderboard for tracking AI usage and how it was cheated. In the subscribers-only section, we provided an update on our lawsuit against ICE. Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked Amazon Shuts Down Internal AI Leaderboard After Employees Cheated We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
A Repairable, No-Tech Tractor
Jun 100:38:56Summary readyGo to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Ursa Ag is an Alberta, Canada-based company that is selling a repairable, no tech tractor. It’s not often we have companies on this podcast, but listeners of the show will know we have been covering the right to repair movement for years. One of the things I’ve written about most is the frustration that farmers feel with agriculture giant John Deere, which has made their tractors very difficult to repair by loading it up with tech, lobbying against right to repair legislation, and making parts and diagnostic tools and repair guides hard to access. When we write about right to repair, people often say - why don’t people just vote with their dollars and buy something else? Well, all the major tractor companies have more or less done the same thing Deere has done - add software locks, sensors, and digital rights management to their tractors. There wasn’t any other alternative. Doug Wilson of Ursa Ag has built an alternative. Ursa Ag is selling a repairable dumb tractor specifically to provide an alternative in the market. We spoke with Doug about how one creates a tractor company, how it all works, and what the response has been. 00:00 Doug Wilson Introduction 00:02:05 Why IRSA Ag Exists 00:04:24 Modern Tractors & Repair Locks 00:07:40 Demand for Older Tractors 00:08:46 The $800K Tractor Story 00:09:37 Building a Repairable Tractor 00:12:56 Precision Ag vs Simplicity 00:20:45 Starting a Tractor Company 00:22:52 AI & Everyday Farm Work 00:27:21 Viral Response & Demand 00:28:52 Expansion Plans 00:31:56 Why Farmers Want Simpler Machines 00:34:11 Farm Consolidation 00:35:48 Tech Overload Beyond Farming 00:36:57 What’s Next YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/wYM4Ho-Ma9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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