Holding Onto Our Humanity In The Age of AI

What makes us truly human? Is it our superior intellect, our scientific discoveries, or our ability to create awe-inspiring works of art, literature, music, and poetry? What if it is all of the above, but somehow; we no longer possess superior intellect, and our creative output has been surpassed by super-intelligent machines? What if, in the age of AI; we have become irrelevant, mundane, and nothing more than sweaty, profane, meat puppets dancing on marionette strings manipulated by tech titans in Silicon Valley and beyond? What if our future is the dark sequel to this 1961 Twilight Zone episode, "The Obsolete Man"? Well, we can't know "what if" today, but what we do know, is that creative human beings are pushing back against the AI overlords, and that's what we're talking about today. Listen now, as we explore Spotify's new effort to remove AI-generated slop music from its platform, and find out how you can participate in an interesting gathering coming up November 12-14 at Kent State University, called "Poets For Science". It aims to show the connection between what we perceive as the hard, cold, demonstrable truth of science, and the ethereal beauty of soul expressive poetry. It is, as our special guest, Professor David Hassler of Kent State's Wick Poetry Center tells us, "not either/or, but both/and". Take a journey with us, as we explore what it is to be human in the age of AI. David Hassler, Kent State Biography David Hassler directs the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. He is the author of two books of poems, including Red Kimono, Yellow Barn, for which he was awarded Ohio Poet of the Year 2006. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book Speak a Powerful Magic: Ten Years of the Traveling Stanzas Poetry Project, which will be published in March 2019 by the Kent State University Press. His play, May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970, based on the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project, was published in 2013 by the Kent State University Press along with a Teacher’s Resource Book. A filmed version of the play that he co-produced received the 2014 Oral History Association’s Nonprint Format Award. With photographer Gary Harwood, he is the author of the documentary book titled Growing Season: The Life of a Migrant Community, which received the Ohioana Book Award and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award, and was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award. With Maggie Anderson, he is co-editor of Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School and After the Bell: Contemporary American Prose About School. He received a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University. His TEDx talk, “The Conversation of Poetry,” conveys the power of poetry to strengthen communities.

Cybersecurity professionals are always facing new threats, and even with their best efforts; sometimes the bad guys win. But now, the "bad guys" are not just...you know...actual "guys". Now, they are also AI agents, that according to some of their creators, have at least in some sense; a mind of their own. Sure, we can quibble about anthropomorphizing AI; but since leaders at both Anthropic and Open AI have come out in the past few weeks admitting they don't have complete control over their models; what we do know is that cyber defense just got much more complicated, and potentially; impossible, without the right tools, and right people who know how to use them against these new "super intelligent" adversaries. So, that's where today's special guest comes in. Barrett Busch is a cybersecurity instructor at Stark State College, in North Canton, and we asked him how, in this rapidly changing threat environment; he's working to train students who will soon be our next line of defense. Listen now.

From Anthropic's new rules that bar users from engaging in repeated, severe cruelty or verbal abuse directed at Claude, to AI helping fight wildfires out West; today's show is all about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the expanding, developing, and ever more consequential world of artificial intelligence. Listen now for some of this week's biggest tech stories from ABC News, as well as my own DIY home improvement adventures with ChatGPT.

Today we've got great news about how Tech startups, entrepreneurs, and established companies can get help to succeed, and prosper in Northeast Ohio. Listen now, as we talk with Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub President and CEO, Jessica Sublett, as well as McKelvey Packard, who organized Cleveland's second annual Tech Week, which is going on through tomorrow, October 3.  For more information about Bounce Innovation Hub, go Bouncehub.org, and for Cleveland Tech Week schedule of events, visit Cletechweek.com/#events.

This week, high stakes political fallout, and concern about data centers in Ohio, an AI-based dispute between Meta and Amazon, and a major hack on the FBI, which exposed confidential information of thousands of applicants, agents, and even–reportedly–FBI Director, Kash Patel. To find out more, I talked with two ABC Radio News national correspondents; Technology Reporter, Mike Dobuski, and Former FBI Agent and Profiler, Brad Garrett, who is now working with ABC News as a Crime & Terrorism Analyst.

Pharmacies make it pretty easy these days to pick up a prescription, with convenient options like drive-through pickup windows, and mail order delivery. But, what if you’re too sick, injured, or disabled  to stop by the drugstore, or need your prescription more quickly than you can get it by mail? Well, now you can get it by drone, if you live within five miles of the Cleveland Clinic’s Beachwood Family Health and Surgery Center, in Northeast Ohio. Listen now as we talk about their first in the nation drone home delivery pharmacy service, with the Manager of that program; Pharmacist Bri Robinson.

This week it is all about big tech, big money, and big consequences, as Meta agreed to a nearly $18 billion dollar settlement with Attorneys General from dozens of States and four US territories, who sued over claims that their social media platforms were hooking and harming children and teens. $318 million dollars of that settlement, which will be paid in installments over the next ten years, is coming to the State of Ohio, where Attorney General Andy Wilson says it “marks a significant step toward fundamentally transforming how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.” Also this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit with Tik-Tok and Byte Dance for $400 million dollars, to resolve children’s privacy issues, and the streaming platform Twitch and its parent company, Amazon, got hit with a class-action lawsuit related to non-consensual use of user data to train AI. Elon Musk is making headlines again as well, with plans to build a build a massive $100 billion commercial spaceport called Starbase, in Louisiana. But what really hit home for me this week, is Bill Gates coming out against allowing big tech companies to continue to “self regulate” AI. He’s calling instead for national coordinating bodies, and new international organization to manage what he describes as the “turbulent” transition to the AI era. But all is not doom and gloom. We’ve also got news about what sounds like a very cool and interesting event coming up next month in Northeast Ohio. “IngenuityFest: America Dreams” promises to transform Cleveland with art, music, technology and innovation, September 25-27. Listen now.

Turns out people don't like being spied on, having their jobs threatened, or having to pay more for electricity to support technology and infrastructure that is both powered by, and necessary to support AI. Huh. So, while we both celebrate Ohio as a great place to do business–particularly with regard to advanced manufacturing technology–we're also hearing that the natives are restless here, when it comes to police illegally using Flock license plate reader data to stalk and surveil citizens, and to build huge, energy-sucking data centers.  For example, this week, WTOL TV, in Toledo reports that vandals attacked at least three flock surveillance cameras in Toledo. We also have a report from ABC News, also centered on Toledo, about how a county official there tried to have their cameras shut down after it was revealed that 3,200 law enforcement agencies nationwide did more than 900,000 searches on their database in just one month. That didn't happen though, after pushback from the County Sheriff, who calls the technology a "game changer" when it comes to fighting crime. That's also the opinion of Akron's Police Chief, Brian Harding, who talked to us about how the City of Akron is both finding them extremely useful, and putting guardrails in place that limit how officers can access camera data. But those "guardrails" have not been holding everywhere. For example, in Reynoldsberg, OH, just east of Columubs, two police officers have resigned, two police officers have been placed on leave in Lynn, Massachusetts, near Boston, and a police officer was arrested and placed on leave in Lufkin, Texas. Ohio residents are also not particularly happy about big data center projects, which have become a political thorn in the side of Ohio's Republican US Senator, Jon Husted. He's facing criticism from his Democratic opponent, former US Senator, Sherrod Brown, and advice from Republican campaign experts who acknowledge his past, extremely enthusiastic support of data center construction while he was Lt. Governor, is an increasingly potent threat to his re-election campaign in November. But on the plus side, Ohio's current Lt. Governor, Jim Tressel, hit the road with Governor Mike DeWine this week, on their "Heart of Opportunity" tour, stopping in places like Toledo, Youngstown, Lima, and Cleveland, to talk up Ohio's renewed vigor when it comes to advanced manufacturing technology, particularly with regard to more eco-friendly, sustainable polymers. That is a huge deal here in Akron, where what was once "The Rubber City", is now gearing up to do some really cutting-edge research and development, thanks to a $160 million dollar National Science Foundation grant that is also being shared with other educational organizations in our area, including Case Western Reserve University. Listen now to find out how that is expected to supercharge the region's economy, from Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Steve Millard, and from Team NEO Chief Executive Officer, Matt Dolan.

Honestly, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. I can't even tell you how many stories I've written over the past few years about how social media is harming kids. On the other hand, it's not like it is my imagination. Everybody has been talking about it for a long time, and now finally; somebody is doing something about it. Well, a whole group of "somebodies"; i.e., Attorneys General from states nationwide. Why, you might ask? Well, it's because the federal government isn't doing squat about it, that's why. While this administration (and to be fair; previous ones as well) cozies up to tech billionaires, and members of Congress collectively sit on their collectively inactive behinds; kids are getting "left-behind". So, in the absence of reasonable laws to keep kids safe; they're getting hurt by media platforms that are designed to both addict them, and leave them prey to pimps, perverts, and predators. Until now. That's because this week it is all about State authorities stepping up to fill the void left by a do-nothing federal government, and seemingly against all odds; actually winning. Listen now for the latest on massive judgement against Meta and Google out of New Mexico, another big trial centered on Meta and social media addiction getting underway this week in California, and a new lawsuit based a rather novel legal argument, filed by Ohio's new Attorney General, Andy Wilson, this week,  against Roblox.

The federal government is committing more than $5 billion dollars to a national effort to expand the Genesis Mission, which is aimed at harnessing AI for science. Part of that effort involves seeking domestic sources for critical and rare earth minerals that are vital for a wide range of industries, including aerospace, health care, and defense. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), these minerals are also key inputs to many clean energy technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and energy storage technologies. As a result; they’re giving out grants worth between $500 and $750 thousand dollars, to researchers who can help them find the these critical resources here home, instead of having to import them from other countries. I talked to one of those researchers this week, Dr. David Costello, from Kent State University, who tells us his team will work on the project over the next nine months. We’re also talking with ABC Radio News Correspondent Jim Ryan, about efforts to keep the Swift Observatory Telescope from crashing to earth as space junk, and taking a bit of a time trip back to the early 2000's when Myspace was the hottest thing in social media, and why the people who are running it now are are giving it a makeover. Biography Dr. David Costello's research broadly focuses on how human activities affect the structure and function of stream ecosystems. As an ecosystem ecologist, he studies how entire ecosystems respond to stress, and uses an interdisciplinary perspective to understand the abiotic and biotic forces that modify how sensitive an ecosystem is to human-derived stress. His research has shown that a nuanced understanding of complex interactions (e.g., multi-element cycles, food web interactions) is required to make informed management decisions about critical freshwater resources.