The Interface (BBC) – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Can you hack ChatGPT?
Release Date: February 19, 2026
Hosts: Thomas Germain, Karen Hao, and Mickey (Nicky) Wolfe

Episode Overview

In this lively and incisive episode, the hosts investigate the vulnerabilities of AI search engines like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, highlighting how easily their outputs can be manipulated via basic online hacks. They also explore the explosion of energy-intensive AI data centers and discuss Elon Musk’s growing geopolitical influence through Starlink’s satellite internet. Throughout, the team keeps the conversation sharp, humorous, and jargon-free, making sense of the technological shifts that are reshaping society and power.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Hacking ChatGPT and Google Gemini – The Hot Dog Test

Time: 03:43–13:27

How Easy Is It to Hack An AI?

• Thomas Germain recounts a prank where he wrote a fake blog post about tech journalists excelling in a fictitious hot dog eating contest.
  • "Within 24 hours, if you asked ChatGPT and Google about it... they were spitting out the nonsense that I had written on my website as though it was, you know, basic, well established fact." (08:02, Thomas Germain)
• He changed details in real-time and watched as AI tools updated their answers accordingly.
• This points to a fundamental vulnerability: modern AI chatbots scrape recent web content for answers, making them easy to manipulate with even low-effort misinformation.

Concerns About Scale and Impact

• Old SEO "dark arts" have found new life in gaming AI-driven search—except now it’s even easier, and the stakes are higher.
  • "People have figured out this like dead simple trick that a 10 year old can do and you can change what tools that people use billions of times a day are telling other people." (07:21, Thomas Germain)
• This affects both trivial topics and crucial ones (e.g., health advice, local services, or voting info).
• Major tech companies are aware but seem to lack or delay protective measures.

Who’s Most at Risk?

• Karen Hao: Novices, including teenagers and kids, are easily misled, unable to discern junk from trustworthy information.
  • "AI can help supercharge people that are already experts... but novices... are unable to actually know, discern what is real and what is fake." (09:40, Karen Hao)
• The trio notes chatbots will soon display paid ads within answers, further muddying the mix of accurate and sponsored information.

2. AI Data Centers: The Hidden Cost

Time: 14:01–26:04

A New Environmental Threat

• The UK plans major new data center developments, mostly for AI like ChatGPT and Gemini.
• Reported emissions from just 10 of these new projects would negate the UK’s 2025 carbon savings from EV adoption. (15:33, Karen Hao)
• The size and energy demands are staggering:
  • Blythe, UK: A single complex will be 7x the square footage of Buckingham Palace.
  • OpenAI in Texas: Their new site is six times the Blythe campus, covering an area close to Central Park.
  • Meta’s project in Louisiana: 3x larger than the Texas site—about 1/5 the size of Manhattan.
  • "The amount of energy that they demand... almost matches the average power demand of New York City." (18:19, Karen Hao)

Invisibility and Political Loopholes

• Data centers are deliberately nondescript and often located where few notice.
  • "When you drive past them, you wouldn't actually necessarily know that it's a data center because it's just nondescript." (19:31, Karen Hao)
• In the UK, data centers are now deemed "critical infrastructure," allowing companies to bypass local planning for national approval.
• Governments globally are deregulating construction to "win the AI race," sometimes at the expense of transparency and local oversight.

Local Impacts

• Housing shortages: In parts of West London, residential developments were suspended due to grid constraints from data center power demands. (22:08)
• Minimal permanent jobs: Massive, expensive centers yield relatively few direct jobs (e.g., only 400 staff at the £10B Blythe site), and teams are often imported.

Action Steps

• Karen Hao urges listeners in affected communities to get informed and participate in public consultations, pressing for environmental and local impact assessments.

3. Starlink, Geopolitics, and Musk’s Power

Time: 26:56–35:01

What Is Starlink?

• A massive satellite internet network built by Elon Musk's SpaceX, providing connectivity (and bypassing government shutdowns) anywhere there’s a terminal.
  • "Currently Starlink is more than half of all active satellites in Earth orbit, which is stunning." (29:11, Karen Hao)

Starlink in Conflict Zones

• Recently, 6,000 illicit Starlink terminals were smuggled into Iran to give protesters uncensored access after government blackouts.
• Nicky Wolfe: "The entire power of Internet access to the protesters in Iran rests with Elon Musk. And I think we really need to think very hard about how much power that represents in one man's head." (30:49)
• Musk has previously refused Ukraine’s request to extend Starlink to Crimea, demonstrating unilateral power over critical infrastructure.

What If Control Is So Centralized?

• Concerns: A single private individual now has influence rivaling nation states. Heads of government must ask Musk for access—he can simply say no.
• Raises uncomfortable questions about whether internet access is now a human right—and if so, how society should regulate or distribute such power.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On AI Vulnerability:
  • "It is way easier to fool AI than it was to fool tools like Google like three or four years ago." (08:54, Thomas Germain)
• On AI Optimization:
  • "There is now a whole entire cottage industry around AI engine optimization — basically the AI version of SEO..." (11:46, Karen Hao)
• On Starlink’s Reach:
  • "Currently, Starlink is more than half of all active satellites in Earth orbit, which is stunning." (29:11, Karen Hao)
• On Musk’s Power:
  • "He’s basically more than a nation state. Right. Because the US President has to ask him permission...” (32:29, Karen Hao)
• On the Internet as a Human Right:
  • "Should we be thinking of the Internet the way we think of food and water and shelter?" (33:13, Mickey Wolfe)
  • "For these protesters in Iran, it is life or death. Right? That is what we're talking about here." (33:56, Mickey Wolfe)
• On AI’s Physical Impact:
  • "The reality is it [AI] has the largest physical footprint of pretty much any technology in history." (24:46, Karen Hao)
• On Centralized Tech Power:
  • "Because of the massive consolidation of power in the hands of just a few companies, just a few people... That's not always the case anymore." (35:18, Karen Hao)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment / Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:43 | Recap of the Ring/Flock surveillance news | | 05:00 | Thomas’s “Best Tech Journalists at Eating Hot Dogs” prank | | 08:20 | AI and search engine optimization vulnerabilities | | 10:27 | How the AI tools mislead people (Buckingham Palace anecdote) | | 14:01 | UK data center expansion and climate impact | | 16:19 | Size and scale of global AI data centers | | 18:55 | Location, invisibility, and fast-tracking of data centers | | 22:08 | Local impacts—housing shortages in London | | 26:56 | What is Starlink? Musk, geopolitics, and Iran | | 32:10 | Musk’s refusal to extend Starlink to Crimea | | 33:02 | Debate: Is internet access a human right? | | 34:44 | Fragility of internet infrastructure | | 35:18 | The world built by tech titans—do we want it? |

Tone & Language

The hosts maintain a smart, conversational, and often humorous tone, parsing daunting tech issues with clarity and wit. They blend skepticism toward tech giants with comradely banter and a sense of urgency regarding the societal stakes of unchecked technological expansion.

For Listeners: Why This Episode Matters

Whether you’re concerned about misinformation, the hidden physical and environmental footprint of digital life, or the unsettling fusion of tech and geopolitical power, this episode sheds light on the often-invisible ways technology is restructuring our world—and the importance of scrutiny and public engagement as that happens.