The War on Knowledge (with Raina Bloom), 2025.02.24

In the weeks since January 20, the US information ecosystem has been unraveling fast. (We're looking at you Denali, Gulf of Mexico, and every holiday celebrating people of color and queer people that used to be on Google Calendar.) As the country's unelected South African tech billionaire continues to run previously secure government data through highly questionable LLMs, academic librarian Raina Bloom joins Emily and Alex for a talk about how we organize knowledge, and what happens when generative AI degrades or poison the systems that keep us all accurately -- and contextually -- informed.

​​Raina Bloom is the Reference Services Coordinator for University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.

References:

OpenAI tries to 'uncensor' ChatGPT

Elon Musk's DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts

Guardian Media Group announces strategic partnership with OpenAI

Elon Musk's AI-fuelled war on human agency

• Archive version

(Post now deleted) A DOGE intern asks Reddit for help with file conversion

When is it safe to use ChatGPT in higher education? Raina recommends the table on page 6 of UNESCO's QuickStart guide.

Fresh AI Hell:

Irish educational body, while acknowledging genAI's problems, still gives LLMs too much credit

From haircuts to dress design, AI slop is creating unrealistic expectations that hurt small businesses

Attorneys still falling for "AI" search

The latest in uncanny valley body horror robotics

Google claims to have developed AI "co-scientist"

Is AI 'reasoning' or 'pretending'? It's a false ch

Check out future streams at on Twitch, Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

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Alex

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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Christie Taylor.