Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
Artificial Intelligence has too much hype. In this podcast, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna break down the AI hype, separate fact from fiction, and science from bloviation. They're joined by special guests and talk about everything, from machine consciousness to science fiction, to political economy to art made by machines.
Podcasting since 2023 • 68 episodes
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000
Latest Episodes
You Talked to Workers for This Labor Research... Right? (with Sophie Song), 2025.11.17
Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins us to unpack the issues when self-p...
•
Episode 67
•
53:14
Drag It All To Hell, 2025.10.27
It's been six months since our last all-Hell episode! In honor of Halloween season, we take a long journey into the very scary Fresh AI Hell mines. Topics include terrifying uses of AI in education, scientific research, and politics — plus, som...
•
Episode 66
•
56:44
Crunching the Numbers (with Decca Muldowney), 2025.10.20
So-called AI tools are increasingly infiltrating newsrooms, particularly when it comes to data analysis. DAIR writer-in-residence Decca Muldowney joins us to discuss the need for journalists to distinguish between "AI" and reliable, verifiable ...
•
Episode 65
•
56:20
Building Worlds Through Better Reading (with Reo Eveleth), 2025.09.29
Powerful AI boosters claim to love science fiction novels, but why do they always seem to take the wrong lessons from them? Reporter and writer Reo Eveleth joins us to discuss the ways tech leaders misuse storytelling, and how we can avoid thei...
•
Episode 64
•
56:59
Three Years of Ridicule as Praxis, 2025.09.19
It's Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000's third birthday! To celebrate, Emily and Alex respond to listener questions about the show, and reflect on the past and future of AI hype. Topics range from how to talk to your kids about LLMs, to what the MAI...
•
Episode 63
•
55:42
