Snake Oil: Block Layoffs, Netflix & WB, Anthropic RSP, Anthropic and OpenAI vs the DoD

Nonsense Grounds: AI in Law, LLM Ethics, Google IO, AI Leaders' Response to Backlash

Today's episode is focused on AI in law, and features Sarah Frankel, an Australian laywer working in immigration. We discuss the trend of lawyers submitting AI-generated briefs with hallucinated citations, where LLM tools can be useful for lawyers, how the problems we see in law are common across all domains, the issues that arise when you have LLMs making ethical decisions, how LLMs value facts, how changes to Google Search will affect the internet, the response of Sundar Pichai and other AI leaders to the AI backlash, and why a lot of AGI belief is more religious than anything. Find Sarah on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-frankel-570749134/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-frankel-570749134/] -- Show notes: Discussed in "AI in Law" section: * https://www.404media.co/18-lawyers-caught-using-ai-explain-why-they-did-it/ [https://www.404media.co/18-lawyers-caught-using-ai-explain-why-they-did-it/] * https://www.harvey.ai/blog/building-a-legal-coworker-with-gpt-5 [https://www.harvey.ai/blog/building-a-legal-coworker-with-gpt-5] * https://claude.com/blog/claude-for-the-legal-industry [https://claude.com/blog/claude-for-the-legal-industry] * https://mpathic.ai/mpact-misinformation-benchmark/ [https://mpathic.ai/mpact-misinformation-benchmark/] * https://www.anthropic.com/constitution [https://www.anthropic.com/constitution] Discussed in Google IO section: * https://www.businessinsider.com/google-new-ai-search-will-ruin-internet-web-2026-5 [https://www.businessinsider.com/google-new-ai-search-will-ruin-internet-web-2026-5]?  * https://www.platformer.news/google-agents-daily-brief-newsletters-ask-youtube/ [https://www.platformer.news/google-agents-daily-brief-newsletters-ask-youtube/]  * https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/podcasts/our-field-trip-to-google-i-o-a-sit-down-with-sundar-pichai-system-update.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/podcasts/our-field-trip-to-google-i-o-a-sit-down-with-sundar-pichai-system-update.html]

Skill Issue: Agentic Coding Tools, Circular Funding Deals, Double Standards in Content Policy

Today's show is cohosted by Oz Brown! Oz is nontraditional software engineer who went through bootcamp at Amazon after a history doing creative work, including voice acting, and customer support, including for Xbox. We talk about the philosophy and current state of agentic coding tools, the Anthropic-SpaceX deal and the state of circular funding, and the double standards in platform content policy and copyright enforcement. -- Show Notes: State of AI coding tools * https://ramp.com/leading-indicators/ai-index-may-2026 [https://ramp.com/leading-indicators/ai-index-may-2026]  * Are software engineers' brains rotting https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/ [https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/]  Circular finance * https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-ai-circular-deals/ [https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-ai-circular-deals/] * https://www.anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex [https://www.anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex] * https://www.platformer.news/did-xai-just-concede-the-ai-race/ [https://www.platformer.news/did-xai-just-concede-the-ai-race/]    Copyright/content policies and inconsistent enforcement * Kickstarter: https://www.comicsbeat.com/kickstarter-nsfw-ban-story/ [https://www.comicsbeat.com/kickstarter-nsfw-ban-story/]

Multiple Specialized Throbbing Brains: AI & Jobs, UBI, PSM

This week I'm joined by Frank Kane, independent educator and one of the handful of people I know posting sane takes about AI on LinkedIn. We have the AI job loss conversation in the context of reporting that software engineer job listings are actually rising, go over recent developments in the realm of universal basic income (or similar things), and then talk about Anthropic's "Persona Selection Model" as a new framework for thinking about how LLM's work. Find more about Frank at: https://www.sundog-education.com/ [https://www.sundog-education.com/] -- Show Notes: Is AI killing jobs? Update * https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/ai-jobs-unemployment-silicon-valley.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/ai-jobs-unemployment-silicon-valley.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f1A.Ax4x.HdNCkCgVSsk_&smid=url-share] * https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-isnt-killing-software-coding-jobs-booming-trueup-2026-4 [https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-isnt-killing-software-coding-jobs-booming-trueup-2026-4] UBI developments * https://www.platformer.news/ubi-ai-public-wealth-fund-musk-openai-bores/ [https://www.platformer.news/ubi-ai-public-wealth-fund-musk-openai-bores/]  * OpenAI policy doc https://openai.com/index/industrial-policy-for-the-intelligence-age/ [https://openai.com/index/industrial-policy-for-the-intelligence-age/]  * Elon Musk tweet https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2044990537145753894 [https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2044990537145753894]  * Andrew Yang https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/podcasts/hardfork-tim-cook-yang-ubi.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/podcasts/hardfork-tim-cook-yang-ubi.html]  * Alex Bores proposal https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores-Dividend_Policy.pdf [https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores-Dividend_Policy.pdf] Persona Selection Model https://www.anthropic.com/research/persona-selection-model [https://www.anthropic.com/research/persona-selection-model]

Programming Note: Schedule & Format Changes

There will be a hiatus in weekly episodes of this podcast and there may be some newer things coming soon! Email podcast@graphenesoftware.com [podcast@graphenesoftware.com] with suggestions or if you'd like to come on the pod!

Snake Oil: Block Layoffs, Netflix & WB, Anthropic RSP, Anthropic and OpenAI vs the DoD

We start the episode with a less-than-lightning round through some events of the week, including Block's 40% layoffs, Netflix walking away from the Warner Bros acquisition, and Anthropic's updates to their Responsible Scaling Policy. Then we discuss at length the drama around Anthropic refusing the Department of Defense's contract terms, and OpenAI coming in to accept the deal a few hours later. -- Show notes Block lays off 40% of the company (~4000 people) * https://x.com/jack/status/2027129697092731343 [https://x.com/jack/status/2027129697092731343] Netflix walks away from Warner Bros deal * https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/media/netflix-paramount-wbd [https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/media/netflix-paramount-wbd]  Anthropic RSP updates * https://www.anthropic.com/news/responsible-scaling-policy-v3 [https://www.anthropic.com/news/responsible-scaling-policy-v3]  Anthropic vs DoD * https://www.axios.com/2026/02/24/anthropic-pentagon-claude-hegseth-dario [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/24/anthropic-pentagon-claude-hegseth-dario]  * "Incoherent" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/incoherent-hegseths-anthropic-ultimatum-confounds-ai-policymakers-00800135 [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/incoherent-hegseths-anthropic-ultimatum-confounds-ai-policymakers-00800135]  * Dario Amodei's statement https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war [https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war]  * Google + Open AI Employee support https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/google-openai-workers-push-for-military-ai-limits [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/google-openai-workers-push-for-military-ai-limits]  * OpenAI takes Anthropic's side? https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/altman-openai-anthropic-pentagon [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/altman-openai-anthropic-pentagon]  * Trump & Hegseth tweets https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/trump-anthropic-claude-drop/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/trump-anthropic-claude-drop/] * Dario Amodei responds https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-comments-secretary-war [https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-comments-secretary-war] * OpenAI reaches deal with DoD https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.html]  * Jeremy Lewin clarifies it was the "compromise" deal  https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/28/pentagon-anthropic-fight-silicon-valley/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/28/pentagon-anthropic-fight-silicon-valley/]  * Opinion piece on Anthropic and DoD dealings with AI companies https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/ [https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/]