What’s the (AI) Hype? Nano Banana Pro, Dinner Dates with Chatbots, and More

Welcome to our launch episode for Series X - “What’s the (AI) Hype?” - where we intermittently discuss what’s been happening in the world of artificial intelligence in the past few weeks.

Today we’ll be discussing all the AI hype that’s been thrown out into the world in the past weeks, covering new AI products, experiences, and companies (including exactly what Angy mentioned in our recording with Henry: “is there room at the restaurant for my AI companion?” well, now there is! -  and the deeply disturbing new impossibility of recognizing AI-generated images (or AI slop from not when AI is not slop) with Gemini’s new Nano Banana Pro image generator); new media coverage on the mental health harms of AI, particularly with losing touch with reality and loss of relationships, and how OpenAI has been well-aware of it since 2020; recent legal and reputational hand-slaps on new AI products (remember that cute teddy bear FOLO toy we talked about? Well, apparently it’s kinky - explicitly so - with children, according to a new report done by the US Public Interest Research Group); some new policy moves with AI (the good and the concerning); and of course, some new research and a bit of “well, then, how are we supposed to use these things responsibly?” thrown in the mix.

In this episode, we cover:

• New AI products, experiences, and companies

• ChatGPT group chat (Nov 13)

• Gemini’s Nano Banana Pro (Nov 20)

• Anthropic partners with Iceland (Nov 4) and Rwanda (Nov 17) for AI in education

• Griefbot 2Wai by Calum Worthy (Nov 11 promotion)

• Time for dinner dates… with Eva AI (Nov 18 announced, starting in Dec)

• Medical startup Akido using LLM for appts and diagnoses (Sept 22)

• New mental health harm coverage

• NYT Users lost touch with reality (Nov 23)

• New legal and reputational slaps on existing AI products

• FOLO Toy by Futurism and CNN (Nov 13 - Public Interest Research Group report)

• New policy moves

• Trump executive order to limit state regulation of AI (Nov 19, Nov 21)

• Young People’s Alliance, etc. signed humanlike AI policy framework (Nov 21)

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GENERAL TRIGGER WARNINGS: Our show features sensitive content, including mentions of suicide, self-harm, mental health, and sexual harassment and sextortion. Our developing lives with bots renders these subjects front-of-mind in our discussions, and we want viewers to be aware of this as they follow along.

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This is Our Lives With Bots, the show where we ask important, timely questions about what it means to live with our bot counterparts. From time to time, we also dive deep into what an AI future might look like for us. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we spiral, but we always go deep.

Rose and Angy are psychologists with degrees in psychology, artificial intelligence, and ethics. They have conducted research in human-AI interaction and created this podcast to make information about AI acc