Iain Thomson

AI giants are battling not just in code, but in politics, with behind-the-scenes lobbying, strategic naming, and rumors of blockbuster deals at the heart of this week's wildest tech stories. Get the inside scoop on who's pulling the strings. Apparently The Real Reason Anthropic's Models Are Offline: A Six-Year-Old Trump Grudge Trump says he no longer views Anthropic as a national security threat after G7 meeting with CEO Exclusive | Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says Elon Musk's Next Move May Be a Mega-Merger of SpaceX and Tesla Anthropic's latest feud with the Trump admin may actually help it, sales data suggests Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving for OpenAI Google's Secret Warrant Fight Over DOJ Pipe Bomb Probe Revealed The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16 Meta lobbies Congress for protection from child-harm lawsuits Waymo recalls nearly 4,000 robotaxis to stop them driving into highway construction zones Snap Launches $2,195 Specs, Declaring Glasses the Next Computer Fox wants to take over your TV — and the tech inside it Midjourney goes from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans Nothing cancels this year's CMF phone due to RAM prices The AI IPO boom is different Joshua Baer, Capital Factory Founder, Dies in Laredo Plane Crash - RuntimeWire Ubisoft's co-founder Claude Guillemot dies in plane crash Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson , Owen Thomas , and Doc Rock Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: shopify.com/twit Simply CX ethos.com/twit box.com/AI zscaler.com/security

Campus hacks bring final exams to a standstill, a blockbuster study on AI in education gets pulled, and the world's biggest technology companies face government crackdowns with barely a dent to their bottom lines. Plus, Apple returns to Intel as chip wars reshape US tech! Anthropic and OpenAI IPO Chatter Canvas Breach Disrupts Schools & Colleges Nationwide The Canvas Hack Is a New Kind of Ransomware Debacle Influential study touting ChatGPT in education retracted over red flags - Ars Technica Anthropic Says It Has Eliminated Undesirable Behaviour Like Blackmail From Claude By Deeply Explaining To It Why It Was Wrong Tech is turning increasingly to religion in a quest to create ethical AI Intel's comeback story is even wilder than it seems Apple, Intel Have Reached Preliminary Chip-Making Agreement Meta challenges Ofcom in UK High Court over the Online Safety Act, which calculates levies based on global, not UK, revenue, in a case scheduled for October Meat Industry Price Fixer Sentenced to Make Money Chrome's Prompt API: A Unilateral Gamble That Is Fracturing Web Standards NHTSA says the 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first car model to pass the agency's new ADAS tests; Tesla conducted the tests and submitted the results to the NHTSA Here is Yarbo's promise to fix the robot mower that ran me over Social Media Sites Got Information from Ad Trackers on US State Health Insurance Sites Pinterest crosses $1 billion quarterly revenue as AI-powered visual search drives advertising growth that social platforms cannot match Cloudflare beat earnings, cut 1,100 jobs because AI agents do the work now, and lost a quarter of its stock price in a day Motherboard Sales 'Collapse' By More Than 25% - Slashdot The FCC Wants Your ID Before You Get a Phone Number Kids say they can beat age checks by drawing on a fake mustache FCC to allow banned drones and routers to receive critical updates until 2029 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Berber Jin , Iain Thomson , and Paris Martineau Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: <a href="http://outsystems.com/

Campus hacks bring final exams to a standstill, a blockbuster study on AI in education gets pulled, and the world's biggest technology companies face government crackdowns with barely a dent to their bottom lines. Plus, Apple returns to Intel as chip wars reshape US tech! Anthropic and OpenAI IPO Chatter Canvas Breach Disrupts Schools & Colleges Nationwide The Canvas Hack Is a New Kind of Ransomware Debacle Influential study touting ChatGPT in education retracted over red flags - Ars Technica Anthropic Says It Has Eliminated Undesirable Behaviour Like Blackmail From Claude By Deeply Explaining To It Why It Was Wrong Tech is turning increasingly to religion in a quest to create ethical AI Intel's comeback story is even wilder than it seems Apple, Intel Have Reached Preliminary Chip-Making Agreement Meta challenges Ofcom in UK High Court over the Online Safety Act, which calculates levies based on global, not UK, revenue, in a case scheduled for October Meat Industry Price Fixer Sentenced to Make Money Chrome's Prompt API: A Unilateral Gamble That Is Fracturing Web Standards NHTSA says the 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first car model to pass the agency's new ADAS tests; Tesla conducted the tests and submitted the results to the NHTSA Here is Yarbo's promise to fix the robot mower that ran me over Social Media Sites Got Information from Ad Trackers on US State Health Insurance Sites Pinterest crosses $1 billion quarterly revenue as AI-powered visual search drives advertising growth that social platforms cannot match Cloudflare beat earnings, cut 1,100 jobs because AI agents do the work now, and lost a quarter of its stock price in a day Motherboard Sales 'Collapse' By More Than 25% - Slashdot The FCC Wants Your ID Before You Get a Phone Number Kids say they can beat age checks by drawing on a fake mustache FCC to allow banned drones and routers to receive critical updates until 2029 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Berber Jin , Iain Thomson , and Paris Martineau Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: <a href="http://outsystems.com/

This week's episode confronts the mounting legal battles over addictive social apps, questioning whether court rulings should reshape Instagram and YouTube's design. Explore the heated clash between user autonomy, scientific uncertainty, and the next wave of regulation. NASA: Artemis II Artemis II Live Tracker – Real-Time Orion Spacecraft Position, Speed & Trajectory NASA did eventually solve Artemis II's Outlook glitch How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'? I mapped every one Phone-free bars and restaurants on the rise across the U.S. Claude Code's Source Didn't Leak. It Was Already Public for Years. | AfterPack Blog Anthropic essentially bans OpenClaw from Claude by making subscribers pay extra OpenAI acquires popular tech talk show for 'low hundreds of millions' The latest Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are more customizable and expensive After 16 Years and $8 Billion, the Military's New GPS Software Still Doesn't Work - Slashdot Why the Pentagon loves Xbox controllers for laser weapons Iranian missile blitz takes down AWS data centers in Bahrain and Dubai — Amazon reportedly declares "hard down" status for multiple zones Iran's hackers go to war Breaking down the government's bizarre router ban How to turn anything into a router You Can't Defeat the Robots!': Baseball's AI Strike Zone Is Must-Watch Television Tech Companies Are Trying To Neuter Colorado's Landmark Right-to-Repair Law - Slashdot Delta to Tap Amazon Satellite-Internet Service for In-Flight Wi-Fi The IBM scientist who rewrote the rules of information just won computing's highest prize Chromebook Remorse: Tech Backlash at Schools Extends Beyond Phones ZomboCom was stolen by hacker, put up for sale, and has now been... Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja , Abrar Al-Heeti , and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT rippling.com/twit <a hre

This week's episode confronts the mounting legal battles over addictive social apps, questioning whether court rulings should reshape Instagram and YouTube's design. Explore the heated clash between user autonomy, scientific uncertainty, and the next wave of regulation. NASA: Artemis II Artemis II Live Tracker – Real-Time Orion Spacecraft Position, Speed & Trajectory NASA did eventually solve Artemis II's Outlook glitch How many products does Microsoft have named 'Copilot'? I mapped every one Phone-free bars and restaurants on the rise across the U.S. Claude Code's Source Didn't Leak. It Was Already Public for Years. | AfterPack Blog Anthropic essentially bans OpenClaw from Claude by making subscribers pay extra OpenAI acquires popular tech talk show for 'low hundreds of millions' The latest Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are more customizable and expensive After 16 Years and $8 Billion, the Military's New GPS Software Still Doesn't Work - Slashdot Why the Pentagon loves Xbox controllers for laser weapons Iranian missile blitz takes down AWS data centers in Bahrain and Dubai — Amazon reportedly declares "hard down" status for multiple zones Iran's hackers go to war Breaking down the government's bizarre router ban How to turn anything into a router You Can't Defeat the Robots!': Baseball's AI Strike Zone Is Must-Watch Television Tech Companies Are Trying To Neuter Colorado's Landmark Right-to-Repair Law - Slashdot Delta to Tap Amazon Satellite-Internet Service for In-Flight Wi-Fi The IBM scientist who rewrote the rules of information just won computing's highest prize Chromebook Remorse: Tech Backlash at Schools Extends Beyond Phones ZomboCom was stolen by hacker, put up for sale, and has now been... Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Patrick Beja , Abrar Al-Heeti , and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT rippling.com/twit <a hre

Dr. Iain Thomson is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico and one of the world’s leading experts on Martin Heidegger and 20th-century Continental thought. His groundbreaking work explores the intersections of technology, art, education, nihilism, and our relationship to the environment in the modern age. Author of five books—including the recent Heidegger on Technology’s Danger and Promise in the Age of AI—Thomson is renowned for making complex philosophical ideas accessible and transformative. A celebrated teacher, he regularly offers courses on Existentialism, Introduction to Philosophy, and Modern Political Philosophy. Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro to Theory, The Philosophy of Stewardship, and The Philosophy of Religion with David McKerracher. Tier 2 and higher get access to a monthly writers or speaking workshop. Tier 3 includes the book or thesis writer's cohort. All members get access to the monthly Post Duopoly (de)Radicalization Starter Pack reading group, which is a collaboration between TU and 1Dime. https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe David McKerracher is an organizer, theorist, husband and father (not in that order), and the founder of Theory Underground. McKerracher is the author of Timenergy: Why You Have No Time or Energy (Foreword by Slavoj Žižek), as well as the chief editor of Underground Theory (Volumes one and two are available now, with volume three in the works). Office hours: The first Monday of every month at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, or if you wait around after lectures/seminars. Theory Underground (TU) is dedicated to making challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible for a non-college audience. TU emphasizes audio-based learning for real-world application of big ideas, operating both online and through an international tour that has hosted events in over 20 U.S. cities, 9 countries throughout Europe, as well as cities in Canada and Mexico. Mission: To provide accessible, rigorous, and wide-ranging educational material for three types of people: - dropout workers with earbuds getting into big ideas during daily routines - burnt-out postgrads seeking to supplement their journey - parents who take a deliberate role in their children's education through keeping alive their sense of wonder. Vision: A world that is timenergy-rich, meaning that parents and teachers have large, energy-infused, and reliably repeatable blocks of time throughout their day, week, and month. Such a world would construct and cultivate a culture of active leisure for the sake of discovering and stewarding one’s own talent and the talents of future generations. Lectures: Ongoing and archived sessions on key thinkers and topics, including: 📚Intro courses: Intro to Theory (monthly throughout 2026), Intro to Marx, Intro to Heidegger, Political Theory, Intro to The Idea of the University, Intro to Žižek, Intro to Lacan, Intro to Land, Intro to Illich, The Philosophy of Nature, Intro to the PMC, Intro to Critical Social Theory, and The Philosophy of Religion (2026). 📚Advanced courses: Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity, and Slavoj Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do, The Autistic Subject and the Clinical Structures of Psychoanalysis. 📚Seminars: Critical Media Theory (2 years), Critical Doxology & Timenergy (1 year), The Philosophy of Stewardship and Home Economics (monthly throughout 2026). Publishing: Underground Theory Volumes 1 and 2, Time

As new AI models promise unprecedented abilities to find vulnerabilities in software – a task that could benefit both attackers and defenders – journalist Iain Thomson joins TGR this week to chat about the technology’s potentially enormous impact on cybersecurity. We also talked about Iran’s surprising lack of offensive capabilities in the cyber domain, the likelihood of Trump changing his mind about AI regulation, and whether AI-infused art is worth paying attention to yet. Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades. If you like this, please hit like and subscribe, and share it with others who might find it useful. To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites REFERENCES: Anthropic's Nicholas Carlini on new cybersecurity capabilities https://youtu.be/1sd26pWhfmg?si=ZOvrLSs7qxCvTxqb Fortune on Anthropic’s Mythos or Capybara model https://fortune.com/2026/03/26/anthropic-says-testing-mythos-powerful-new-ai-model-after-data-leak-reveals-its-existence-step-change-in-capabilities/ BBC on Iran’s cyber capabilities https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr0576ygvo Guardian on Gavin Newsom’s AI regulation push https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/california-ai-regulations-trump

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson , Richard Campbell , and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Wee

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson , Richard Campbell , and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Wee

AI bots are having existential crises, inventing religions, and allegedly plotting against humanity... or so the internet would have you believe. We dig into Moltbook, the “AI-only” social network that sent Twitter into a meltdown, attracted breathless talk of the singularity, and turned out to be far less Terminator and far more humans role-playing as bots. Plus we discuss why "vibe coding" your app might be a catastrophically bad idea, when security researchers can easily peek inside rifle through your private messages, API keys, and databases. Also this week we learn that pro-Russian hackers are circling the Winter Olympics - or is it the Jamaican Bobsleigh team? All this and more is discussed in episode 454 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity veteran Graham Cluley, and special guest Iain Thomson. EPISODE LINKS: AI Agents Created Their Own Religion, Crustafarianism, On An Agent-Only Social Network - Forbes. I Infiltrated Moltbook, the AI-Only Social Network Where Humans Aren’t Allowed - Wired. 'Moltbook' social media site for AI agents had big security hole, cyber firm Wiz says - Reuters. Italy blames Russia-linked hackers for cyberattacks ahead of Winter Olympics - The Record. Italy says railways hit by 'serious sabotage' as Winter Olympics begin - BBC News. EpsteIN - GitHub. Private Eye . Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff) SPONSORS: Meter - Network infrastructure for the enterprise. Get a free personalised demo. Vanta - Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off! Passwork - a reliable secrets manager and password management solution. SUPPORT THE SHOW: Tell your friends and colleagues about “Smashing Security”, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser . Become a supporter! Join Smashing Security PLUS via Patreon or Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes on our early-release feed! FOLLOW THE SHOW: Follow us on Bluesky or Mastodon , or on the Smashing Security subreddit , and visit o