Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Big Tech Colon-AI-lism, 2026.09.15

This week, Alex and Emily are joined by Keoni Mahelona of Te Hiku Media to discuss Indigenous language technology. They discuss problems that arise when Big Tech tries to

Sep 30
55 min

Manifesting the End of Tech Bro Manifestos, 2026.09.08

Last month, Sam Altman proclaimed that we're already in "the Singularity." Not to be outdone, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have both recently come out with lengthy

Sep 17
56 min

Working 9 to Hype, 2026.08.10

In the past year, tech companies have laid off thousands of employees. But when CEOs blame "AI innovation," they're redirecting attention from something much more pr

Sep 2
54 min

Rumors of a Singularity Have Been Grossly Exaggerated, 2026.08.03

In the wake of OpenAI's announcement that its products caused a "cyber incident," Sam Altman is now claiming that we're already in the Singularity. And some med

Aug 19
54 min

Who's Responsible for "Responsible AI"?, 2026.07.06

Lately, a new framework has been creeping into AI boosterism: "harm reduction," or "responsible use." Education technology scholar dr. sava saheli singh joins Alex and Em

Aug 4
58 min

State of Emergency, 2026.06.29

AI boosters want to hand off emergency services to the bullshit generators. And horrifyingly, some medical professionals want to help them! Join Emily and Alex for a deep

Jul 23
55 min

When the Bubble Bursts (with Matt Scherer), 2026.06.01

What should we do when the "AI" bubble pops? Emily and Alex are joined by researcher Matt Scherer, who recently published a report called "No Bailout for Big Tech Billion

Jul 7
53 min

Beware the 20x Engineer, 2026.05.11

"Sure, LLMs are bad at some things, but you can't deny that they're useful for programming!" Sound familiar? In this week's episode, Emily and Alex break d

Jun 24
53 min

Bernie Goes Down the X-Risk Rabbithole (with Dr. Nathalie Maréchal), 2026.05.04

Senator Bernie Sanders recently hosted a panel on "The Existential Threat of AI," featuring Future of Life Institute co-founder Max Tegmark and other x-riskers. Dr. Natha

Jun 9
1 h 03 min

LIVE: Anthropic Imagines a Very Special Boy, 2026.04.30

Last month, we recorded our very first in-person podcast, live from Brooklyn! Alex and Emily debunk an especially soulless hype artifact about Anthropic's absurd cla

May 26
1 h 01 min

Hotter Than (AI) Hell, 2026.04.20

The weather’s getting warmer, so what better time to take a trip to the hottest place in the universe — Fresh AI Hell! Emily and Alex take a spin through more than 30 hyp

May 13
55 min

There's No Ghost in the Machine (with Carmen Maria Machado), 2026.04.13

Why are some writers and publishers so excited to automate their work? Author Carmen Maria Machado joins Alex and Emily to unpack what writers are missing when they hand

Apr 28
53 min

Uber for Military Surveillance (with Niamh McIntyre), 2026.03.30

The people who make automated translation possible are often low-paid gig workers. Usually, they don't even know who they're really working for — and it might b

Apr 16
53 min

Data Centers Go Nuclear (with Maia Woluchem and Dr. Livia Garofalo), 2026.03.09

We knew that the energy demands of data centers were preventing dirty energy sources from being sunsetted. Now hyperscalers are reaching even further, resurrecting Penns

Mar 31
57 min

Data Centers in Space!? (with Dr. Adam Becker), 2026.03.02

Data centers are overburdening the planet, so tech billionaires have a new scheme — put 'em in space! Astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker joins Alex and Emily to launch t

Mar 17
53 min

How the War Department Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI (with Naomi Klein), 2026.02.09

AI boosters and the US military are engaged in a lethal love affair. Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein joins Emily and Alex to discuss how glitchy technology supports

Feb 26
52 min

A Bad Case of Hype-itis, 2026.02.02

Move over Dr. Google, Dr. ChatGPT is here, and it's even worse as a medical intervention! Alex and Emily scrub in to slice up some harmful new nonsense in the world

Feb 12
56 min

Hell All the Way Down, 2022–2025

This is a special episode, and it’s not like our usual livestream recordings. Instead, our producer Ozzy dug through the Fresh AI Hell archives to create a supercut of Al

Jan 30
40 min

Wrapping Up a Hellish 2025, 2025.12.15

For our last recording of 2025, Emily and Alex take on a TIME article naming the "architects of AI" as their person of the year. We also look back at the year in AI nonse

Jan 13
58 min

Defining AGI: Oops! All Eugenics, 2025.12.08

There's a new definition of artificial general intelligence in town, and unsurprisingly... it's bad! Alex and Emily rip up the tissue-paper-thin premises behind

Dec 30 2025
55 min

Chart trend

Position in the Technology chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#100#198JulAugSepOct

#29

all-time peak

days in the top 50 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 6, 2026).

#92 ▲ 13 Technology US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

I am sooooo grateful for this beautiful podcast and for Alex and Emily’s perspectives on AI and its hype. Today I read a headline about AI potentially making humans extinct by 2030 and definitely got startled, then listened to an episode of the podcast and it definitely helped calm me down. It’s just so helpful to know there are more of us out there who don’t buy into the hype or promises (or threats) people pushing AI are making.

Gabireyes9 · Sep 2026

This podcast helps people including this skeptical Computer Scientist (CS) student and professional. More importantly it is accessible to all by educating about facts rather than marketing jargon. It is informative and recent episodes have improved greatly. Cutting through AI-hype trends is increasingly important. Please keep doing this brilliant work!

Infini19A0 · Apr 2024

Finally some skepticism to counter the hype. Podcast does a good job of deflating the bubble.

Ememqut · Jun 2025

If you are still afraid of the stochastic parrots, listen. If you already know, and are exasperated by otherwise sensible people convinced they’re on the verge of being replaced in all areas of life with some grinning robot, have them listen. This is both vaccine and antidote.

pengcognito · Sep 2023

I was genuinely interested in an AI skeptic podcast in today’s naive AI optimist world. There were some genuinely interesting points brought up, but the hosts repeatedly defaulted to dumb slurwords and an unsufferable cynicism, basically reducing nuance of the topics to zero, echoing social media armchair arguments: “AI = BAD!1!1!1!” I was expecting a lot more nuance and critical thinking from academics. Unlistenable. If you want to be taken seriously, take the topic seriously and skip the cheap sarcasm.

Szaby1 · Aug 2026

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.