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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124episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams
2d ago01:04:20Summary readyWe start this week with Joseph’s story about how we obtained Haotian AI, a sought-after piece of realtime video deepfake software that lets you turn into anyone else during Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, or Zoom calls. After the break, Matthew tells us about some insane Yu-Gi-Oh trading card drama. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how the hard drive shortage is impacting those archiving the internet. ‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World Man Finds $1 Million Worth of Yu-Gi-Oh Cards in a Dumpster The AI Hard Drive Shortage Is Making It More Expensive and Harder to Archive the Internet YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/O_d1VxuBdAU Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow the World Became a Casino (With Natasha Schüll)
4d ago00:49:28Summary readyThe logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine. How did we get to a point where it’s legal for anyone to bet on anything? Be it the results of a baseball game or a land war in Europe, if you have access to a credit card and a computer you can try to predict the outcome of anything that’s happening in the world and win a little bit of money if you’re right. If we know that gambling can lead to high rates gambling addiction and financial ruin, why does it seem like our culture has suddenly embraced it? For years, anyone who has reported on our increasing addiction to technology has found their way to Natasha Natasha Dow Schüll’s book Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas. The book is an ethnography of slot machines. It is based on many interviews with the people who make them and play them, a deep investigation of how they work, and how they fit into the larger context of casinos, Las Vegas, and gambling more broadly. Since it was published more than a decade ago, the logic of slot machines has extended far beyond Las Vegas. Every notification on our phone, trading platforms like Robinhood, the crypto craze, and now prediction markets, can be understood through the lens of slot machine design and Schüll work. That’s why I was incredibly happy she agreed to come on the podcast this week to discuss our current gambling-obsessed culture. https://www.natashadowschull.org YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/2kRAXeKhzNY Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryFlock Used Cameras at a Children’s Gymnastics Center for a Sales Pitch
1w ago00:58:20Summary readyThis week we start with Jason's story about Flock accessing cameras in a children's gymnastics room as a sale pitch demo. After the break, Emanuel tells us why Nature retracted a paper about the alleged benefits of ChatGPT in education. In the subscibers-only section, we talk all about the cancellation of RightsCon after pressure from the Chinese government. City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway 'Nature' Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education OpenAI, Google, aÍnd Microsoft Back Bill to Fund ‘AI Literacy’ in Schools World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled China Pressure Canceled World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hLR8MOOhRCo Subscribe at 404media.co Go 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryThe New Luddites: Why People Are Destroying Surveillance and AI Infrastructure
2w ago00:52:39Summary readyThis week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously misunderstood and fought for worker protections against automation during the Industrial Revolution. Over the last few months, we have seen people in San Francisco and Los Angeles torch Waymos, bash delivery robots with baseball bats, destroy Flock cameras, and threaten AI data centers and the politicians championing them. This type of political violence doesn’t and cannot occur in a vacuum, it happens because people feel they are being taken advantage of and that their representatives aren’t listening to them. Given the current state of things, we can likely expect more of these sorts of attacks to occur. Blood In The Machine YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/1Z4k_vDovbY Go 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow This Trippy Image Started A Massive Conspiracy Theory
2w ago00:47:13Summary readyThis week, Jason explains the conspiracy theory circulating behind a trippy stock image that went viral after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—was it sent here by a time traveler? (Spoiler: It was not.) Then Sam unpacks what’s happening at Arizona State University with a messy rollout of a new AI-powered tool that generates lessons by scraping professors’ lectures without their knowledge. In the second for subscribers at the Supporter level, Emanuel gets philosophical with a discussion about the question of machine consciousness and how it relates to a new paper from a Google-affiliated scientist. University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop Did a Time Traveling Superintelligent AI Try to Warn About White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting? An Investigation Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/VOo0ZpIagP0 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryGovernment Hacking Tools Are Now in Criminals' Hands (with Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai)
3w ago00:51:03Summary readyThis week Joseph talks to Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, a journalist at TechCrunch. Lorenzo has possibly the deepest understanding of one of the wildest cybersecurity stories in years: how an employee of Trenchant, a government malware vendor that is supposed to only sell to the ‘good’ guys, secretly sold a bunch of hacking tools to a Russian company. Those tools, it looks like, then ended up with the Russian government and possibly Chinese criminals too. It’s a really insane story about how powerful hacking tech can fall into the wrong hands. Inside the story of the US defense contractor who leaked hacking tools to Russia US military contractor likely built iPhone hacking tools used by Russian spies in Ukraine Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/MWxLqopMo5o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow Algorithms Make Us Feel Bad and Weird
3w ago00:58:26Summary readyThis week Sam unpacks how social media algorithms manipulate our emotions around everything from engagement rings to wedding dresses to babies, and what it feels like getting lost in the #Weddingtok sauce, and Emanuel breaks down a satirical but functional AI tool that rips off open source software. There’s a long history in “clean room” software that’s really interesting. In the section for subscribers at the Supporter level, Jason walks us through “tokenmaxxing” and startups obsessed with spending as much money as possible on AI—and as little as possible on humans. Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. I Almost Lost My Mind in the Bridal Algorithm This AI Tool Rips Off Open Source Software Without Violating Copyright YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/-NEjEaOp1tI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryWhy Journalists Are Leaving Big Media (with Maddy Myers)
4w ago00:55:09Summary readyThis week, Sam is joined by Maddy Myers, editor-in-chief of Mothership. She’s also a co-host of the video games podcast Triple Click. Maddy launched Mothership with co-founder Zoë Hannah in January. It’s a queer and women-owned independent publication that focuses on gender and games. They discuss Maddy’s early days of games journalism via a (print!) alt-weekly in Boston and then at the Mary Sue, how she and Zoë decided it was time to quit Polygon and launch their own indie outlet, and the importance of owning your own work as a journalist. Subscribe to Mothership Why I’m launching a feminist video games website in 2026 - The GuardianMothership and a History of Women in Games Media - the Post Games podcast YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/sQUqYKXW3fE Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow the FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages
4w ago00:44:39Summary readyWe start this week with Joseph’s story on the inherent friction between secure chat apps like Signal and the phone they’re running on. Incoming message content can be stored in a phone’s internal notification database. After the break, Matthew tells us the latest about the data center pushback. Then in the subscribers’ only section, Emanuel tells us all about Marathon and its player numbers. (00:00) Intro (01:21) FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database (26:01) Maine Is Close to Passing a Moratorium on New Datacenters (33:21) Farmer Arrested for Speaking Too Long at Datacenter Town Hall Vows to Fight Subscriber's Story: I Wish I Didn’t Care About 'Marathon' Player Numbers, But I Do Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SummaryHow the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)
Apr 1301:04:46Summary ready‘The Ambivalent Intent’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad Why does the internet feel like it’s getting worse every single day, and why does it feel like the political landscape is getting worse in response? The answer might seem obvious, especially if you read 404 Media on a regular basis, where we’ve been documenting this decline, but it’s important to occasionally zoom out and ask the big questions. That’s why this week on the podcast I’m joined by Whitney Phillips. Phillips is the author of several books about internet culture and ethics, including This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things and The Ambivalent Internet. She’s a professor of information politics and media ethics at the University of Oregon, and also one of my favorite people to talk to and listen to because she’s a genius when it comes to the kind of internet culture and platform dynamics we report on every day at 404 Media. I wanted to talk to Whitney today because it’s been a few years since we talked in depth about the state of the internet and so much has changed in that time, sadly for the worst, and I really wanted some help in understanding the current state of things, as bad as they are. We also spent quite a bit of time talking about her upcoming book, The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/gp_n6vDmFfc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary