AI & Humanity, Apple's New Watch Could Lead To Divorces, The Dating IRL Boom, & Data Centers

[music] Hello everyone and welcome to Techmagic, the podcast where we talk about technology, AI, doom and gloom or utopia. [laughter] We're even going to talk about candy today. That's crazy. Anyway, we talk about gaming as well. But uh I am your host Kathy Hackle and I am joined by my co-host Lee Keebler. Lee, how's everything in Portland? >> Uh you know, really good. We we are having a a great enter into fall and this is my favorite time in Portland. Not because the weather's amazing and because Portland is in a beautiful state with all of the foliage and yada yada yada, but this is when we get all of the nerd conventions. So like the nerd conventions are just like going crazy right now. Seattle just got wrapped with PAX West. Um so that happened. This weekend is the uh Portland Rose City Comic-Con and then in early October we have the largest retro gaming expo called PRG Portland Retro Gaming Expo and they just kind of happen one after the other. So it's like if you're a geek being in Portland for like September and October is amazing. It's just fantastic. >> Amazing. Well, >> I mean I live in DC so we don't get We get some of those conventions but >> you have political nerds. Those are political different level now. Like no, no, like wait till like end of November, begin beginning of December cuz Nvidia's GTC >> is coming back into town. They were in town last year for the first time ever doing a GTC here. They're back in town. Uh so it's going to be it's going to be really interesting to see what happens. By the way, Lee Keebler, >> do you think AI is going to destroy humanity in the next 10 years? >> I don't think it'll take that long. >> Oh my gosh. >> I don't think it'll take anywhere near that long. No. Um, that depends on how you look at it, right? >> I I if we continue down the path, which is incredibly irresponsible. >> Mhm. >> It could, but not for the doomcrolling part of it. It is this ir irrational land grab for putting in massive data centers that are not sustainable. Um if you've studied technology, you know of Moore's law, you understand of the growth rate and change rate of technology. The data centers that we say are necessary right now today even if they are do not equate to being necessary tomorrow right it is a level of diminishing returns so let's say you actually get all of the land that you're pining for and you can put in all of these data centers the hardware turnover application in an already hardware shortage scenario globally is just simply not sustainable to say all of this stuff is necessary in a world where it is becoming increasingly obvious if not inevitable that inevitable is a word that I don't like to use but I will use it here that localized LLMs are obviously a thing that are possible within the next 5 years the spending that's taking place in the prediction of the current for the next 50 is stupid it's stupid the math don't math it's um I have my own conspiracy theories as to why it's happening. Uh, >> let's not go down that path. >> You got to have you have to have a whole whole role of Reynolds tinfoil to make this happen. [laughter] >> Um, but so you're not so much worried about recursive self-improvement and everything that's happening. I mean, obviously I mean, >> no. And I'll tell you why. >> You're not worried about that? I mean, I'm more worried about the corporations, to be honest. Um, I'm I don't know. there. Yeah, there's a fiscal responsibility to having so much invested especially as we've got large tech companies coming up against these like these LLM companies basically and they're just LLM companies >> coming up against >> let's clarify this by it's generative AI what we're talking about >> generative AI large language models is the recursive learning self-improvement that's happening and the whole thing with you know the enthropic what's his name last name Coxin I can't remember his first name uh who left anthropic and is saying that there is more than 10% chance that AI can destroy humanity and everyone's up in arms. I mean, here in here in DC, you've got Senator Blumenthal sending letters. You've got Bernie Sanders, you got to I mean, all the by all everyone's aligning, you know, and thinking like, "Oh, wow. We do need guardrails. We do need to do something because this might be get getting out of hand." >> Well, it is it is out of hand. It it absolutely is out of hand. Um, so let me let me clarify here. The destruction of humanity is is a to is a total like a total word, right? Like I don't even know how to describe this. It's too big. >> It's too big. Yes. >> But there are areas where it is proving to be so destructive that like something needs to be said, right? Some some type of policy needs to go in place. Health health insurance is a big factor, right? Like when when a LLM and this is the stories that we're reading, right? I don't work for and I'm not going against any particular brand here. But when these articles come out and these proof cases come out where uh there's an insurance denial that is based on an LLM interpretation of what the claim was and it goes against what an expert doctor is saying needs to be done and then it's just a shoulder shrug. This is where this is where a lot of politics do come into play. >> And it it's kind of proving some points that have been discussed for most of my lifetime. Uh and it's a it's a continual turn of like, well, where's the tipping point where the proof is officially in the pudding? And I think we are approaching that, right? That is a conversation that is quickly becoming undeniable. Um, as it goes for like generative AI in the arts, >> overblown. I honestly believe overblown. I [clears throat] I have had more success as an artist in my career than not. And there's nothing that Generative AI has done that has actually put me in concern here. Um, to to the point, you've been following what I've been doing as a writer and I'm putting out, >> which by the way, guys, you guys need to look at what he's doing on Instagram. Let's tell people what happened this weekend. >> You these things happen to you every couple of months. I feel like it's cyclical and I'm like, what is the secret sauce Keebler? I want to add those followers. >> If I could tell you how the algorithm worked, I would. And I don't know. I genuinely don't know. The best I can tell you is consistency and what my brilliant wife uh pointed out is loopability because she actually does the timing of these videos. So, I wrote a short story years ago. It's kind of like a horror thriller. Um, and I wanted to get it out there to kind of like just turn interest of myself as a writer. I partnered with I said no AI. We're not touching AI. Everyone's like, well, why don't you just use AI to make like a web comic? It's like, no, no. I'm going to take a little bit of money. I'm going to invest it in some artists. So, I I have uh some uh I have a friend of mine whose uh whose adult child now is is [laughter] graduating from Ringling. >> They're not a child anymore. >> Yeah. Right. I is graduating from Ringling. Uh uh Millie Walton. She's amazing. You should look her up on Instagram. Um but, uh graduating from Ringling School of the Arts, which is down in Florida where I where I grew up. And so, I reached out to her and she said she would work on this project. And so we've been putting out a little web comic series and it was doing fine. I had had a a good boost on on Instagram, but like this weekend one of the episodes just I don't know the algorithm was like, "Oh, you did it. This is this is really good. Now I'm going to show everybody." And >> it went uh very well. Um I think it's it it hit the 100,000 mark really quickly. Uh and the follow-ups have been very >> How many followers did you add? Couple thousand, right? >> Oh, probably about 5,000. >> Yeah, I saw that. I was like, I added I added a thousand last month and I was like 5K. It's crazy. >> Yeah. Well, and still and I keep I have to preface this when people are like, "Oh, this happens to you all the time." It's like, listen, a big part of it goes back to a weird viral moment with this Pac-Man remix that I did that just threw that was crazy numbers and I don't know, it put my profile in a weird [laughter] profile. >> I love it. Okay, talking about algorithms. Okay, >> but all well, all of that to say, >> go ahead. Go ahead. that success I don't believe would have happened had I leaned on generative AI to make the same product. I really don't think it I don't think it would because I don't think that's what humans are looking for. >> Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're 100% right. No, I'm with you. I am with you. And and that bleeds really well into the next story that I want us to talk about, which is what do humans want? What do humans need? Right. They're looking for creativity and art that inspires them that is mostly humanmade, I would assume. Um, like my kids do not like it when an AI song pops up in our in our playlist. They're like, "Mom, skip." Like they want real human music. Um, so but this is really important. So I I want to mention this and it's going to bleed into the next story and you're going to see kind of the the thread here. Um, I was reading um a LinkedIn post by uh Dr. Rana Al Kalubi um who is very well known um MIT Blue Tullet Ventures. She has a podcast called Pioneers of AI and she got really really vulnerable talking about how She was putting away her spreadsheet for dating. So, she got divorced and she created a spreadsheet. She was doing the apps, all that stuff. She's putting all that away and trying to use, you know, her friends to match her with someone and even using AI, you know, I don't know if I want to use AI for for that or not, but it was very vulnerable. And it made me start to think a lot about, you know, the dating apps and the algorithms, right? The algorithms, what what who with the people that they're surfacing, etc. Like my experience with the apps has been very limited. Like I downloaded Hinge and Bumble once, not much. Um I have Rya cuz you know Rya is the celebrity dating app and I've got it on my phone cuz it just feels like a status symbol. But like have I really met anyone there? No, not really. Um but I was thinking about that. I was thinking, okay, maybe I should just not look for look for anyone there. I should look at IRL. So I was looking at Meetup. Meetup.com is having a moment. I was looking at 222, which is like a social club. I was looking at base social which is from Y Combinator that came out of Y Combinator. I was looking at Time Left. There's a boom happening right now in these IRL people want to meet in person. >> Yeah. >> And not so much like the algorithm matches you or tells you you must date this person is more like let's show up have great conversations and if something happens great. That leads into next the next part that I was going to talk about is the company buying a lot of the companies called Bending Spoons bought Meetup >> right? And I remember when they bought it cuz like Meetup I hadn't thought about Meetup in forever, right? And now it's having this boom right now cuz everyone's sick of the dating apps and I feel people are also getting a little bit definitely sick of social media as well and they're going IRL. So Meetup's having a moment, right? Um you have all these social clubs making a a move. Bumble has Bumble friends. So very interesting that Bendy Spoons bought it. Well, Bending Spoons just bought another company. It doesn't have to do with IRL, but it has to do with like what Bending Spoons is doing. is going in and buying companies that people might say they're they've got nowhere to go or they're only on the decline. So, I'll let you talk a little bit about this. >> So, yeah, Bending SP and I wasn't a I wasn't following all of that, right? Uh and so, Bending Spoons bought is is buying >> cash deal by the way, which deal 1.3 billion. It seems like such little money, but >> for Miro, um, now I will say I use Miro daily. Miro is the collaborative tool that I've been using with my artists uh down in Sarasota to make this web comic series. It works really well. You and I used Miro quite a bit when you were working on like video game design for other companies and stuff like that and event design for other companies. So yeah, uh, Bending Spoons is buying Miro on top of everything else. um for $1.355 billion. Uh it's it's going to be interesting once once we see what a company >> Mhm. >> and this isn't just like investment capital. I feel like that Bidding Spoons has a bit of a track record here of knowing what to do with these connective tools, right? Cuz effectively what you're talking about with Meetup is still a connective tool, right? How do you connect one person to the other? So seeing this all kind of come together is is interesting. Um [sighs] we we'll see. I think I'm I'm reading here that they recently completed a similar purchase with Air Table. >> Yeah, they're buying all these companies that people are thinking, oh, they're no like AI killed them or or they were kind of like not very popular like Meetup, right? So, >> so Meetup hurt itself. Meetup was interesting. Uh Meetup used to be >> Oh, yeah. >> the go-to application. And and I and I base this not from like the dating side, but from like tech side. Yeah, >> Portland and Seattle had prior to co some of the best technology meetups in the United States. Uh and and people on the West Coast would tell you like Seattle had some of the best meetups. Portland had some of the best virtual reality meetups when virtual reality was on its incline uh than anywhere in the US. Uh influential people just lived here who were in that arena >> and all of that was being hosted and kind of shuffled through Meetup. This was also kind of when uh uh work oh what's that workspace place that no longer exists >> we work >> we work thank you >> which was a tech company but it was not a tech company let's be >> yeah it was it was also in the same era of wei works there we works everywhere so you had places to go and that that combination just really worked for people to meet in real life co happens and things get real tricky right and all of a sudden these things go away we work kind of like falls away for a multitude of reasons and meet up because they need to make money. Started changing some of their business policies. They also got very ligious when it came to using the word meet up. [laughter] That's >> who owns that. No one can. Come on. >> Evidently, they do >> like trademarking a letter. Come [laughter] on. You can't do that. >> Meet up gathering birthday. Like what? What's next? I will say Lee, I want I want to interject here because this also bleeds into the next story is like meet up had its moment got very lious like they were charging. They they still charge quite a bit. I mean, $25 a month for Meetup. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if that's worth it. Um, but I saw a lot of people using Party Fool or uh Luma for events. That's where Snapchat, >> yes, Snapchat is uh in they got to do something. Let's just I love Snapchat as a company. I've been a big fan of them. I am still rooting for them, but we have to admit when underdogs are underdogs, right? And so Snapchat has tried a lot of things. Most recently, they're going after event planning. Uh so they're trying to come up with Snapchat plans. This is not a bad idea. It's basically a tool for creating, sharing, managing real world events. Um and it's going to be directly within their app. >> Yeah, >> that's great. This is something that of all the things Instagram refuses to do, uh this is like the duh thing. >> Yeah. Most t most times if I'm looking at Instagram and I'm trying to find an event, by the time I see it, it already happened because how that algorithm works. And it's like, oh, everyone's talking about this thing, so now I'm going to put it in front of you. >> It's a day late and a dollar short because that event already happened. That's why everyone's talking about it. So, I'm not seeing events in real time. I've had a long time argument, you know, internal argument with like, why am I trying to use Instagram for for this type of like party planning or event going? Um, so seeing Snapchat do this, they have a good user base. Most of it is not necessarily in the United States. So if this could grow their user base in the United States, that that would be cool. I'm down with that. >> I could see people a lot of people in the Middle East use Snapchat. So I could definitely be see it being used there. >> Um, we'll see. That being said, Snapchat next week on September 16th is launching their uh new uh spectacles or what are they called now? They're glasses. Like they're called spectacles, right? the new ones. >> Yeah, I think so. >> Which is the name of the ones I've always had. >> Yeah. >> Specs. No, no, no. It's called Specs. Never mind. That's good because I spun off from Snapchat, but it's still part of Snap. >> Spectacles is a mouthful of a word. It really [laughter] >> specs is launching next week. [sighs] >> I mean, it's a bad time to be launching smart glasses. >> Yeah. >> Just in general. >> Apple do it. Apple just had their Apple EVENT AND >> WELL they didn't do it but they got a they're still doing it but they didn't do it. Let's talk about that. >> They're still doing that. They just didn't announce anything. They announced a foldable phone, the Apple iPhone Duo, which >> I don't know if I want I don't know if I want one. >> This is tricky. Um I watched uh Marcus Brownley's >> Yeah. >> unveiling video. I always watch his stuff. Like he always has the best breakdowns. And it is a it is for a foldable phone. It's a sexy looking phone. There is some Apple design in there that I'm like, "Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. That's really cool." When you open it and you close, it's technically like >> three screens cuz you have full design either side and they have a front one and where they put the dock and when you open it, it goes semi-transparent and then it like unfades to the next. It looks cool. It does look good. However, Apple is the company that perfected the smartphone. It just did. I don't I am not an Apple iPhone user, but I do admit that all of our smartphones are the way they are because Apple hit a home run with the iPhone. >> Mhm. >> This is the first time that I have seen Apple No, second time. This is the second time I have seen Apple make a product and chase someone else's design concept. >> Samson. Right. >> Right. The only other time that I've seen them do this was the vision pro. [snorts] >> I I will say and I made this observation on LinkedIn and there's a huge debate on my LinkedIn right now about that. Um so the two the the like the the upper version like the highest the most expensive version of the Duo is $3,100. Well close to $3,200 actually. >> I'm like the Vision Pro started at $3,699. >> Yeah. I'm like, "Wow." Okay. Um, I was one of the people, one of the people like in DC, first in line to get a Vision Pro. I'm not going to be first in line to get a Duo at that price. I'm like, do I this? I don't know. >> What does it do different? Right. Like, it's it's a visual status symbol on some level. It is cool looking. Do not get me wrong. >> Of the foldable phones, it's the best looking one. >> I just don't know why I would want a foldable phone. The argument is, well, you can't put an iPad mini in your pocket. That's the best argument I've heard. I don't want an iPad mini, though. So, you know how many people I see with iPad minis who are adults? >> Very few. >> Genuinely, no. >> Very few on the plane when they're reading something. >> Yeah. Maybe. May maybe. It's usually kids who have like a three genu. Usually a kid, they've got a three, like a third generation iPad or something with peanut butter and jelly smeared all over the screen, >> right? And so I don't know if there's really a functional market for not only the iPad mini, but for this cuz you're not giving a $3,100 phone to your kid. Not at least for five generations. >> Yeah. Yeah. Not most kids, let's just be clear. >> Yeah. I mean, it >> it's a little cheaper. The higher end, like the two terabyte one is like really expensive. I just I don't I don't think >> I don't know if I want one. That's my thing. I'm like, >> did you see anything today or in these announcements that you that you wanted that? Let's start there. >> The only thing This is so sad. The only thing I like one of the new colors, which is like a burgundy wine, cuz I'm really into that color, but I'm like, is that enough? Is that enough for me to get me to No. It would match a lot of my cute outfits for the fall, but yeah. No. You know, that was like the only thing that I was like, "Ah, I'm excited." >> The foldable phone. H, you know, maybe if I'm on the plane and I want to watch the movie, but then everyone's going to watch my movie with me. And then I'm like, the thing is, as a woman, right, my purse already weighs a ton. And then if I'm going out, I'm work I'm have a little tiny purse. >> Uhhuh. >> And I was thinking about the dimensions, the weight. I'm like, is that even going to fit in my tiny little purses? So, I don't know. I was like, "Oh, I mean, I already have enough enough of a hard time getting my like my regular phone in there." >> Well, the the phone is functionally smaller. It's passport size is what they called it. >> Um, so it is dimensionally thick, though. A little bit thicker. So, I don't know. Like, these purses are like Yeah. Yeah. No, I hear you. I hear you. So, you're just It's It's trading off that spec, right? I would love genuinely I would love an iPhone that is the that's not unfold that's not foldable. That is the size of the duo, right? Just make that just give me the front half. You can you can have the back half. Just just crack it in half. Give me the front half and go away. That I think would actually do well. It you you already converted you already converted the dimensions of the UI, so it's there. I love a lot of the UI changes. I loved where they put the toolbar. However, it is quite interesting that this is a right-handed phone and there is no left-handed version. So, do with that what you will. Uh, >> huh, it's interesting. Two of my kids are left-handed, so I wonder. >> Yeah, I mean, it's designed >> Yeah, I never thought about that. >> It's designed for right-handed people. Um, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. >> Why does anyone want to buy it other than the status symbol, right? >> No, no, no, no. We don't know if anyone does want to buy it. >> We don't know. We'll have to see. Right. October 16th is when it comes out. I think October sometime in October it comes out. >> Yeah, it'll it it that's that's TBD. And I think that that is a a point worth mentioning for Apple's future, right? We've had a couple of designs, changes, outputs that seem to not have a lot of user market research. Um, the new Apple Watch Series 12 is getting raked over the coals right now. This is real interesting. Um, there is not a major hardware design, but they are shoving audio intelligence. Oh yes, it's >> software and so when I said they're not doing it, but they're doing it, I wasn't talking about the phone. I was talking about what they're doing with the Apple Watch. They said, "Okay, well, we know that the the the glasses are too invasive. People know >> when those are on and they're they're having a negative reaction. So, they're just going to move the always listening AI stuff into the watch." Um, that is already getting real interesting. And I have a feeling this watch is going to cause divorces. >> Oh, I I >> Oh, cuz it's going to record like the >> cuz it has live rewind features that replays the last 15 seconds of a conversation. >> That's my next LinkedIn post. That is brilliant. >> You said what you said was Dick Tracy style. [laughter] blah blah or if it's recording and like, "No, honey. I wasn't talking to anyone and they were talking to their [laughter] their lover or whatever." >> Mhm. >> Oh, snap. >> Yeah, this this this phone is or this watch is really >> What was it? The Black Mirror episode, but it was more like a rewind on the memories. But yeah, this is like I was just recording you and you just said that you would be here at 6. >> Honey, it is 8:00 p.m. and you're not home. Yeah, I'm not bringing that >> trash out. >> I'm not bringing that watch into my house. Like, forget about it. I don't, you know, actually, as a parent, maybe I do want to record my kids and what they promise they will do. >> But it is the the real thing is a privacy concern, right? Like it's always on recording, right? Like, and and we've been speculating if our phones are always listening, but they've never given us the proof. This is finally them saying, "Okay, and here's the proof because we're going to give you access to it." >> We want that. [laughter] Yeah. I mean, the Samsung TVs that are always listening to you apparently as well. I'm like, >> yeah, there's been a lot of that of like uh articles of LG like TVs finding out that like >> LG I thought it was Samsung TV listening to you. >> Yeah. >> We know Alexa is right. Like I >> Yeah, >> it's not listening to you. It's listening to your watching habits, right? So, it's not like from my understanding, it's not like there's a phone or a a like a a microphone inside of your television. Maybe there is, I don't know. Um, it is more so watching what you watch, the ads that you watch, creating those pro profiles, and sending it off. It's just this another level of target marketing data. Uh, that >> depends on what you're watching. [laughter] >> If that's how it's going to target you, be careful, people. >> Good night. >> Oh, lordy, lordy, lord. >> So, will AI destroy the future? Uh, I think I'm starting to lean yes. Uh, [laughter] >> I don't think it's going to destroy humanity. I have to rem I I have to remain hopeful. I don't know. >> You know what? It's not destroying. This is true. This is crazy. >> I know where you're going with this. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, there's been I've as I mean, people who are watching this on on video, you can see I always have a different record on my record stand. I've got my turntables here. I listen to a lot of vinyl. Um, but that mostly is because I started as a vinyl DJ back way longer ago than I care to admit. Vinyl made its resurgence probably around 2015. It started really coming back and now it's actually the leading seller of tangible music. CDs are now on the uptick. Now, a big part of the CDs being on the uptick is not because, oh, they sound better or anything like that, right? It it's still a digital recording. >> It's just because you can get used CDs cheaper and you can build a library that cannot be taken away from you. Um, this is happening at a great time. because VHS's went away, DVDs went away. Those players are getting harder to find. Um, so before they stop making CD players, CDs are coming kind of back in vogue. Uh, but it is crazy how much growth we've seen. >> Yeah. >> Year overyear in CD collections. This causes me to ask a lot of my my friends who are younger than me um questions of like, well, how many C like what's your music library look like? And there's been a I've had a couple friends who've when I asked them that question, they had to stop and think about it and admit that they didn't have a music collection. Oh, so what do you do if you go on an airplane and you don't have access to Wi-Fi or something like that or internet and it's like, well, I have, you know, Spotify premium and so what I want to listen to is already there. Okay, so what happens if Spotify goes away or they change their policy? >> Correct. It's >> Yeah. >> Um and so I think a lot of this as we've seen larger companies change and I think it's coming out of the video game sector to be totally honest. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> As we watch Sony and PlayStation take away libraries. Um for those who are unaware, Sony basically took away the movie library out of the PlayStation. A lot of people are kind of just left going, I thought I owned those. And they're like, you thought wrong. Um that's changing a lot of people's minds, especially in a younger generation. I don't think it's hit Gen Alpha, but Gen Z is buying CDs right now. Oh, no, no. Gen Alpha is like my son and his friends are all about CDs. That's what's on their Christmas list. My son for even asked me for a one of those plastic racks to put the CDs which we all gave AWAY AT SOME POINT. >> YEAH. >> YEAH. NO, my son has a whole CD collection. My little one has vinyl. Like Gen Alpha is definitely into it. Definitely into it. But >> I've I've started glowing growing my my Blu-ray collection again. Um, just because I've started to become frustrated at how hard it is to find movies that I want to watch when there's now a hundred different streaming services and I don't know where my movie went to. It used to be here. Now it's over there and then it got changed over. It's insane. It's absolutely insane. >> It's insane. And on that note, Lee, >> no, no, no. There's one more. I have one more story. >> I don't know if I have time for one more, but okay. Let's go. >> Oh, yeah. You got it. You got to go. Okay. Snickers. This is how I know we jumped the shark. >> You I know you want to talk about this. >> Oh my gosh. >> Reality has jumped the shark here. Snickers Mars launched the Snickers hunger AI marketing campaign that extends the brand's classic you you're not you when you're hungry slogan to the AI movement. So, it's basically a digital candy bar that you can give to uh an LLM when it's giving you bad information to try to entice it to do better. I have no idea if it works. I'm just saying this is a real article. You can go find it on your own. And with that, I'm going to say thanks for tuning in to Tech Magic, where we always invite you to come for the tech, stay for the magic. I'm Lee Keebler with the incredible Kathy Hackle. We will be back next week. [music] >> [music]