WEBVTT - Week In Tech: Can A Chatbot Help You Get Closure? 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.640 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of iHeart Podcasts and Kaleidoscope. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:20.840 I'm Os Voloshin and today Caraen Price and I will 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.479 bring you the headlines this week, including the future of 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.160 brain implants. Then on tech Support, we'll talk to four 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.440 or four Media's Sam Cole about a chatbot program to 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.520 soothe your heartache. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.000 So I don't know. I mean, everyone says this, but 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:38.080 it's so a black mirror to me. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.559 All of that. On the Week in Tech It's Friday, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:42.640 May twenty. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:49.520 Third, all right, So I want to tell you about 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.920 something that happened this weekend when I was hanging around 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.200 West Chelsea in Manhattan. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.400 I'm all the It's as I always am. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.640 So you know about Muji, of. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:04.640 Course, Aboutmuji Muji, the Japanese store. There was one about 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:06.360 five minutes walk from my house where I grew up 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.399 in London, and there were all kinds of fancy pens 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.880 in there, which I wanted but never got except for Christmas. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.760 The child who covets a pen will grow up to 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:20.000 have a podcast. But yeah, you know, Muji Muji is 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.680 a great Japanese retailer. There's a New York City location 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.160 in West Chelsea, and I went in there just because 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.160 you know, I always want to look at the latest 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.520 and unstructured garments and new bamboo toothbrushes. And I walk 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.280 into the cafe area which they have, and there are 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.640 two lines, and I was a little bit confused, like 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:42.960 why are there two lines? And I noticed one of 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.440 the lines is long, right, which is the line for 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.200 like the regular coffee and pastries, And one of the 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:54.800 lines is extremely short. And then I am hearing the 0:01:54.840 --> 0:02:00.440 motion of a robot arm named Jarvis that's making macha. 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.000 And unsurprisingly, the line for the robot mancha late is 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.160 short because you need to be patient if you're going 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:09.679 to receive a robot mancho. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.240 Li regular Barista. 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.440 Yes, I just want to explain this robot arm is 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.680 not a curerig. Okay, this is like if a human 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:26.080 arm was disembodied, turned into a cyborg given one of 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.799 those steel cups that we notice Barista's used to pour 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.800 stuff and to make macha with, and is just on 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:39.680 its own, powered by computing power and serving macha to 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:45.120 I guess incredibly enthusiastic tourists who like can't believe their 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.960 Uncanny Valley eyes that there is a robot that is 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.839 delivering macha to them, and not only delivering masha to them, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.800 referring to them by their first names, because you have 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.240 to put in your first name. So by the end 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.840 of the macha making experience, there like your macha is ready, Elise, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.040 and Elise is like Elise can barely pick up her 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.400 macha because she's like making a TikTok of this robot 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.280 who's giving her the macha. You know what I mean. 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.000 I'm like, don't spill Jarvis as much. 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:12.839 So this is for the tourists in New York City. 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.360 It's kind of interesting because I guess, like this is 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:19.000 not a robot that's there to more efficiently make much 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.240 a latte. This is a robot to give Muji customers 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.880 a sense of brand experience that they could be in 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:26.120 Japan but they're. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.079 Not, yeah, precisely. And also I mean maybe a glimpse 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.080 into the future where lines are going to be quite 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:35.160 long unless and no offense to this robot, but the 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.480 most striking observation that I had in this whole thing, 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.360 and I love you and I both talk about this 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:40.680 a lot. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:45.640 But you can tip, you can tip, or you have 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.360 to tip, you can. 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.560 Oh, that's always the question. You can always ten you 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:52.680 don't have to tip. 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.400 But how does Javis let you know that you not 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.120 only can, but really should. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.640 Because when you use a computer, just like you use 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.320 a tablet. Now in every setting, there's that pivotal moment 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.760 in every transaction that we have now in stores where 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.760 the iPad is flipped around and you're like, am I 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.240 a dick or am I not a dick? 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.120 You presumely a less of a dick if you refuse 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.320 to tip the robot, then the barrister. 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.279 It depends what Jarvis is doing in his free days off. 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.599 I'm not sure. I'm not sure. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.599 I do have a question about whether or not this 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.039 is going to become a ubiquitous part of food service 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.400 in the US, or whether this is going to remain 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.039 a gimmick in the muchI shop. I had a conversation 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:34.800 with my wife the other day and she said, well, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.320 you used to take podcast. How long is it going 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.479 to be until there's a robot that goes down to 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.360 the grocery store, buys our own for breakfast and cooks 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:43.880 it for me? And I said, you know what, that's 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.280 a very very good question, which I think even the 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.320 great futurists which struggle to give you a good answer 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:50.159 to We'll. 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.760 Be looking out for that here on the podcast TEXTU. 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.320 We will keep our eyes wide open. So I think 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.640 today we each have a new story that we want 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.600 to share, and then after that we're going to go 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:02.400 onto the headlines. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.120 Yeah, and I think it's safe to say that the 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.840 overarching theme for this episode is the consumer tech that 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.840 mediates our world and how system updates can change our world. 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.080 System updates can sound boring, but they can also really 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.880 change the way we live, and this is exactly that 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.960 type of story. So we've seen a lot in the 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.360 last few weeks about different lawsuits that are brewing against 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.799 big tech companies. Meta and Alphabet are both in litigation 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.760 with the Department of Justice over monopolistic practices, and they 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.960 may be breakups of their products like Chrome and Instagram 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.080 and others on the horizon. But today's story from me 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.520 is actually about a recent court ruling against Apple and 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.320 how other tech companies are responding to this ruling. Since 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.320 you're a big reader, Kara, I thought you'd be interested 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.520 in a story that gets to this. In the Verge 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.760 this week, with the headline Spotify's iPhone app will now 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.320 let you easily buy audiobooks just. 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.520 For reference for people who don't know. I run a 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.560 book club called Belatris, so I tend to keep my 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.000 eyes open about what's going on in the publishing world. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.880 And I listened to audiobooks on Spotify, yes, but they 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.680 were a little bit confusing to access. If you wanted 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.560 to buy an audiobook, you had to go to Spotify's website, 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.920 which would then download the book onto your app like 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.719 you couldn't buy it directly in app, which was annoying 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:21.880 to me. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.320 Again, and this was not a friction free purchasing experience, 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.159 and I was surprisingly There was a reason that friction existed, 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.400 and that reason was Apple because until very recently, in fact, 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:38.640 until this court ruling, they had almost exclusive power over 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.279 how developers could monetize apps and subscriptions on iOS. So 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:47.000 if companies did offering app purchases, in most cases, Apple 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:48.920 took a thirty percent commission right off the top. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.240 Oh, I see, so it makes sense that Spotify would 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.120 be like, get out of where Apple can charge this 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.520 thirty percent fee, Go to our website, get the audiobook, 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.080 and then come back to Spotify. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.799 Exactly accept It's a bit more complicated than that, because 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.840 if there was a button in the Spotify app that 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.400 pushed you to the website, Apple would still charge twenty 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.800 seven percent. I don't know whether three percent goes commission 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:18.000 for a kind of indirect referral sale fee. And so 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.000 that's why the buy through was so hard on Spotify 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.480 to audiobooks. But as of very very recently, like this 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.760 week recently, that's all changing, and you can see it 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:30.800 when you open your Spotify app. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:32.840 And I'm looking at it now and there's a very 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.200 obvious green button that says buy on it. I never 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.040 noticed there wasn't a price tag. 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.200 Right, And what you're seeing in your Spotify app on 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.240 your iPhone is actually the consequence of a lawsuit between 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.760 Apple and another tech company called Epic Games that made Fortnite, 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.120 and it's a lawsuit which has been going on for years, 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.560 and related to that lawsuit, just last month, a judge 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.200 rule that Apple could no longer impose commissions or fees 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.400 on per made outside an app. They could no longer 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.440 restrict the style, the formatting, or the placement of links 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.560 for purchases outside an app, all limit the use of 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:13.120 buttons or other obvious calls to action. In other words, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:18.640 the judge basically said, let people do commerce without taxing 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.080 them on their down phones. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.320 I love that it took Fortnite making a stink about this, 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.600 like nobody was like, we need audio books. 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:29.680 You're right, And the Spotify story is like an unintended 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.360 consequence of the epic game story. So this ruling against 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:37.000 Apple was recent. Apple are appealing, but other tech companies 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.880 are already adjusting their iOS apps. So for those who, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.280 like you, use the Kindle app, you'll now be able 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.000 to purchase books with far fewer taps than you previously 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.120 needed to make. And there is a clearly marked get 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:50.439 book button. 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.200 That's actually very exciting. I've always been annoyed by that, 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.720 Like it's always been a thorn in my side. It's 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.920 just like it is not friction free. 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:59.800 For you, as annoying for amazonic. 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:00.959 Amazon's like it's annoying for us too. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.240 Bit you know, this is in some sense like a 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.760 you know what looks like a small ux story, but 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.560 actually I think it's a really really big story because 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.440 I think we could look back on this moment, this 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.640 very week as a seismic shift in Apple's ability to 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.880 control the developer ecosystem, which in turn controls what shows 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.520 up on your iPhone and how you interact with it. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.720 And given we spend most of our waking hours interacting 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.840 with stuff on our iPhone, this loosening of the gates, 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.120 I think could be could be a very big and 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.680 interesting moment in the future of how we interact with tech. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.200 You know, your story about Apple actually leads me to 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:41.480 my story about Apple. Further pun intended implanting itself into 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.440 our minds. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.400 allow brain implants to control their devices. 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.240 I've just told you right there, because for me, the 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:55.600 idea of controlling computers and machines with just our brains 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.600 it feels like science fiction is one of the most 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.640 fascinating and exciting possibilities in all of tech. Also one 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:04.560 of the most terrifying. But the fact that it may 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:09.959 be leaving the lab and entering the app store just wow. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.800 I personally think it's amazing. I think it's important to 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.000 be clear that this is not just something you know. 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.079 You're not going to like, pick up a new pair 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.840 of Apple Vision goggles and all of a sudden control 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.640 stuff with your mind. You need a surgical implant. But 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.600 these devices could be incredibly consequential to people who have 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:33.760 difficulty communicating and have limited to no hand use, and 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.600 according to Morgan Stanley, that's actually around one hundred and 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.160 fifty thousand people in the US. That includes people living 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:44.120 with als stroke or spinal cord injury. And just to 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:46.960 kind of get under the hood of how this is working, 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.720 Apple is working with a startup called Syncron, and Syncron 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:54.640 has developed a device called stentrode, which is implanted right 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.000 on the top of the brain's motor cortex. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.480 Motor cortex, so it's kind of the surface part of 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.439 the brain that controls movement. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.240 That's exactly right, And the stent rode has electrodes that 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.080 read brain signals, and the idea is that those signals 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.800 could be translated into selecting icons on a screen. So 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.840 just imagine instead of using your hands, you're using your 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.640 brain to operate an Apple device. 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.240 And I have to ask you, obviously, neurallink is is 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.520 the kind of the dominant player in this very early 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:30.720 stage in the game, or at least the one that 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:34.000 gets the most airtime. Maybe that's because because Elon Musk 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:35.880 is such a good marketer. But you know, we've all 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.080 seen videos of people using their brain waves to control 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.960 a world building computer game like Civilization. What's the difference 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.360 between what Apple is doing and what Elon and neuralink 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:46.720 are doing. 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.000 It's a good question, and I think the key is 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:54.439 that neuralink is a much more invasive type of brain implant. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.800 The procedure involves literally making a hole in the recipient's 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.680 skull to insert the device, something you don't have to 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.200 do to implant the stentrode, which is inserted via the 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:12.200 jugular veins. But it's not botox, I'll tell you that. 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:18.560 But it's much easier. In terms of the difference between 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.319 neuralink and ctentrode. Neurallink also has one thousand electrodes picking 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:28.680 up neural activity compared with stentrodes sixteen. So, just for 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.319 a little bit of context and background, synchron has implanted 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.840 their device in ten people since twenty nineteen. But the 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.160 crucial difference here is that Apple is working on this 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.760 product in order to create a new technology standard for 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.560 the way brain waves interact specifically with their products, which 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.160 they will then release to other developers. So this isn't 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.480 really about creating a better neuralink. It's about creating a 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:58.280 standard pathway for implants like neuralink, Stentrode and others to 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.120 seamlessly control Apple devices. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.280 Because this really is the interface layer that Apple are 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.040 trying to create. And I guess to me, what it 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.600 says is that adoption of this type of brain reading 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.720 technology could actually start to happen outside of the lab. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.440 Because if you create an open system where there's a 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.640 standard through which I can communicate with my iPhone using 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.360 brain waves, that's much more likely to take on than 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.440 having to create kind of parallel tech system where I 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.000 can play civilizations through a neural link. In other words, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.840 this plugs me in in the most seamless and efficient 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.800 way to the tech everybody else is already using, and 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:38.040 that could be revolutionary. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:38.840 Yeah, totally. 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.040 But do we know and you mentioned ten people have 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:42.800 been implanted so far, do we know how it's going 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:43.200 for them? 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.040 They say it can be slow and that it can't 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.800 be used to mimic moving a cursor like you would 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.280 a mouse. But at the same time, the Wall Street 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.400 Journal article describes how one man, Mark Jackson, who has als, 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.920 was able to connect his synchron implant to an Apple 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.400 VR headset and walk around a VR version of the 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.120 Swiss Alps, and when he peered over the ledge in 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.760 this VR headset, he actually felt his legs shape. 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.400 Well. I can't imagine what a moving experience that must 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:11.959 have been for him. 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.720 Yeah. I think one of the things to think about, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:19.360 of course, is with your story, there is like a 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:25.520 very clear human centered cause and effect of this ruling 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.880 that you've talked about, something that will affect my personal 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.880 life of how I listen to audiobooks and how I 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.280 read digitally on my phone or on my iPad. I 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.320 think this story that I'm telling you is obviously a 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.760 little bit more in the future and may impact those 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.600 who need it most before it's something that we can 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.400 just kind of play around with. But I think both 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.280 are two big stories about how the app store is destiny. 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.120 We've got a few more quick headlines for you. First, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.800 an update, The Guardian reports that twenty three me, which 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:06.600 declared bankruptcy in March, has a buyer. Regeneral Pharmaceuticals, agreed 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.520 to buy the genetic testing company for two hundred and 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.720 fifty six million dollars through a bankruptcy auction. Once again, 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.160 this leaves over fifteen million people wondering what will happen 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.760 to their genetic data and why a pharmaceutical company might 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.200 have wanted to buy it now. Regeneral Pharmaceuticals has said 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.240 that they are quote committed to protecting the twenty three 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.280 meter data set with our high standards of data privacy, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:37.600 security and ethical oversight. So we'll see, I'll see, well, 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:38.840 you'll see, but I never signed up. 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.560 I know I did, I'll see. In another headline, if 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.640 you get your Netflix with a side of ads, there 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.640 are changes ahead. According to the publication Interesting Engineering, Netflix 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.240 will start running AI powered ads sometime next year, meaning 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.920 ads will get more personalized and things like tone and 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.640 messaging will change based on view your behavior. 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.080 This is basically an AD which is made for you 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.040 in the moment, contextually. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:10.280 Based on what you're watching. So if I'm watching something 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.040 that's particularly sad, if I'm watching something that's happy, if 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:18.800 I'm watching something that is you know, making me cry, 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:23.560 ads will adapt to this, which I don't personally. This 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.040 is a version of neuralink to me. It's connecting content 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.480 with what's happening inside my emotional brain. 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:34.560 Finally, a reporter from Wired was able to replicate the 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:39.280 gun that Luigi Mangoni allegedly used to kill United Healthcare 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.080 CEO Brian Thompson. As part of an experiment to see 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.880 how advanced three D printing technology and designs for ghostguns 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.880 already gotten, journalist Andy Greenberg wrote a story under the 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:55.320 headline we made Luigi Mangoni's three D printed gun and 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.840 fired it. Three things stood out to me. One, this 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.680 is legal in most states in the US to print gun. Two, 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.720 it's cheap. Total cost for Greenberg to do this, including 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.119 buying the printer, was twelve hundred. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.280 Dollars, cheaper than a New York City apartment. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:17.040 Yeah, well for one day. And Three it's ubiquitous. Between 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.439 twenty sixteen and twenty twenty two, seventy thousand ghost guns 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:24.720 i e. Three D printed guns that untrackable were found 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.240 on crime scenes, according to the ATF. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.800 After the Break four or four media is Sam cole 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.280 on a chatbot that helps you overcome heartbreak. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.840 So, Caaren, I'm very excited about today's tech support because 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.520 it's a story that gets to the heart of how 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.359 tech changed. Is our social interactions, and to me, this 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.800 story touching on two trends. One, the consequence of being 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:12.719 anonymous online and two the search for companionship in an 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.920 increasingly lonely digital world. This week's tech support is all 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.320 about ghosting and a story from four or for Media 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.880 that grabbed our attention with the headline quote, this chatbot 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.639 promises to help you get over that X who ghosted you. 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.040 And for those of you who are not familiar, ghosting 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.120 is when someone abruptly stops talking to you, with no explanation, 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.960 no fight. They just went dark, and they think they 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.959 can go dark because well, if they stop answering, they 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:41.879 never have to see you again. 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.920 I've been married for a few years, so personal ghosting 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.040 isn't something I've had to contend with for a bit. 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.119 But as you know, I have these sort of external 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.040 investors in Kaleidoscope, and courting investors is actually quite similar 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.159 to dating. I'm starting out the company. I had a 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:03.000 ton of very promising, mean first meetings, and then cricket 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.040 to my absolute avalanche of follow up emails. 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.600 I just think it's very interesting that the term ghosting 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.159 it didn't exist when we were in college, because I 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:15.560 think that the iPhone actually allowed for ghosting to happen. 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:17.479 We'll talk about ghost in the machine. We just had 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.760 ghost guns. Now we've got ghosting. I mean this whole 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.080 like tech digital anonymity thing. It's like, it's interesting that 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:27.200 we would return to this spiritual metaphor to explain our 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.240 interactions with something we made well. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:31.480 In a ghost you know, if we want to go 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.520 back to Victorian times, is a person whose soul is 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.119 stuck in the in between? Yes, who's not dead. 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.000 And in fact it's not the person who's trapped in 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.720 purgatory that you're trapped. You're the ghosts, the other one 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.000 who can't move between worlds when you're being ghosted because 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:45.840 you don't know whether or not to move on and 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.240 you're stuck with your obsessions and should it what it 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.479 could as and why haven't they responded precisely. So, with 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:53.920 all of that in mind, I'm thrilled to welcome four 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.600 or four Media's reporter Sam Cole to the podcast. She 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.360 reported on a startup that's made a chat bought specifically 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.800 to help people get over being ghosted. Sam, welcome to 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:05.359 tech Stuff. 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:06.800 Thank you so much for having me. 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.800 So tell us about this app. I mean, how did 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:11.680 you start reporting on it? How did you first learn 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:13.240 about it? What is it? Yeah? 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.720 So the app is called closure appropriately named, and that's 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.680 the whole point, to get closure from your ex from 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.640 a recruiter, from friends who ghosted you. And I came 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.920 across it because they were running ads on Reddit, all right, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:30.840 So I would get like promoted ads that would say, 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:33.440 thinking about your X twenty four to seven, there's nothing 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.520 wrong with you, chat with their AI version and finally 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.920 let it go, which is so I don't know. I mean, 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:41.879 everyone says this, but it's so black mirror to me. 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.240 And you interviewed the founder, who I believe have one 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.480 of those classic stories that you need to have to 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.840 raise VC money, which starts with a personal experience that 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:51.920 can be extrapolated to a large cohort. 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:53.960 Yeah, for sure. 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:54.760 Yeah. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.240 She told me that this was born of her own 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.800 experience with being ghosted. She said she is ghosted by 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:05.760 per fiance and also a best friend and recruiters. But 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.800 I would imagine be ghosted by your fiance is I 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.320 don't know. Making a chatbot would not be my first reaction. 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:13.880 I would do a lot of. 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:18.160 Things before that, But yeah, I would say that's very 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.720 much a classic kind of founder tug at the heartstrings 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:21.320 type story. 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.960 Can you talk a little bit about how it actually 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:25.400 works for the ghosted. 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.680 Yeah, so when you open up the site, your role 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.640 playing with chat GPT, it's running chat cheept in the background. 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.199 So it asks you a couple questions, says, you know, 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.200 what kind of relationship are you trying to recover from? 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.800 I think the options were long term relationship, a recruiter, 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.000 a date, which I guess is different than long term relationship, 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.359