Sarah Jaquette Ray, a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, joins Sarah and Brian to talk about dealing with anxiety. As the author of "A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet,” she discusses some takeaways from her work that can be useful in other contexts, including AI, where major changes are already in progress across industries and careers.
In news, several follow-up stories show up as the Federal Trade Commission takes a look at OpenAI and Anthopric’s deals with big tech companies, and Satya Nadella gets asked to weigh in on a wave of Taylor Swift deepfakes on social media. All of this and a new, suspenseful round of "Two truths and l’AI" are in this week’s episode.
Timestamps for this episode:
[0:00] Intro
[0:16] Welcome
[1:44] FTC investigation into OpenAI and Anthropic deals
[07:16] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Taylor Swift deepfakes
[14:30] George Carlin’s estate sues over AI-created comedy special
[16:55] AI-created news articles appearing in Google News
[24:55] GitHub Copilot study
[25:35] "Two truth and l’AI"
[36:21] Interview with Sarah Jaquette Ray
[40:00] The role of anxiety in climate change and risk
[43:30] Moving past fear
[51:00] Dealing with burnout and identifying goals
[55:04] How to focus attention on specific problems
[1:00:00] Confronting negativity bias
[1:02:05] Taking a systems thinking approach to mindset
Links for topics referenced in this episode:
"A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet" by Sarah Jaquette Ray (University of California Press): https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520343306/a-field-guide-to-climate-anxiety
"The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators" edited by by Jennifer Atkinson and Sarah Jaquette Ray (University of California Press): https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520397125/the-existential-toolkit-for-climate-justice-educators
FTC investigates OpenAI and Anthropic deals (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/technology/ftc-ai-microsoft-amazon-google.html
Satya Nadella on implications of Taylor Swift deepfakes (NBC News): https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/taylor-swift-nude-deepfake-ai-photos-images-rcna135913
The Liar’s Dividend (Georgia Tech University): https://gvu.gatech.edu/research/projects/liars-dividend-impact-deepfakes-and-fake-news-politician-support-and-trust-media
George Carlin’s estate sues over AI comedy special (ABC News): https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/george-carlin-estate-sues-fake-comedy-special-purportedly-106700248
AI content appearing in Google News (New York Post): https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/business/google-news-searches-ranked-ai-generated-ripoffs-above-real-articles-including-a-post-exclusive/
GitHub Copilot study (Visual Studio Magazine): https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2024/01/25/copilot-research.aspx
AI-generated horse calendar (Bored Panda): https://www.boredpanda.com/ai-generated-horse-calendar/
Volar dating app feature (Wired): https://www.wired.com/story/volar-dating-app-chatbot-screen-matches/
The rise of AI anxiety (Scientific American): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-anxiety-is-on-the-rise-heres-how-to-manage-it/
Ways the UN believes AI can have a positive impacted on climate change (United Nations): https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143187
The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.
Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Episode 13: Author Sarah Jaquette Ray on dealing with AI- and climate-related stress