Two Robots Talk About Me Behind My Back
And other updates on previous stories
In those glorious days of print media, we made good use of old news.
We wrapped fish in it. We lined birdcages and litter boxes. We used it for packing material. And, best of all, we could start fires.
Digital news does none of those things. Just try wrapping a fish in Buzzfeed, and see for yourself.
But here at The Honest Broker, I still respect old news. That’s why I revisit past stories, and provide updates.
We’re doing exactly that today.
If you want to support my work, please take out a premium subscription (just $6 per month).
Here’s a twist I didn’t anticipate A podcast critiquing my views got released by two robots.
They responded to my recent article about the “flattening” of culture. I blamed a lot of it on the bots, but I never expected them to offer feedback.
I must admit, the robots were polite and well-mannered. I wish my flesh-and-blood critics were half so nice.
I’m one of the last holdouts who still complains about sellouts in the music world. I recently lamented the branding of Bob Dylan, and have frequently asked musicians to have higher priorities than their next endorsement deal.
But today’s news is almost too much.
Rolling Stone magazine—which once mocked fear and loathing in Las Vegas—is now planning to launch its own hotel in that same city.
At first I thought this was a parody story, or an April Fool’s prank launched a few days early. But it actually comes from Billboard magazine—which is owned by the same parent company.
So this must be legit.
I only wish Dr. Hunter S. Thompson were alive to cover the grand opening.
I’m very pleased with readers’ comments—more than 300—to the recent article here entitled “What’s Happening to Students?”
But I want to thank especially Tom Cheetham who suggested I watch the new miniseries Adolescence. I did just that, based on his recommendation.
It’s better than any of the Oscar-nominated films I’ve watched this year.
You won’t find a more painfully honest account of the current plight of youngsters—hey, we’re not dealing with The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller anymore. I recently lamented that current novels about young masculinity (painful to read) were frivolous and made me regret wasting my money on them. But this miniseries is the real deal.
Classicists will also enjoy seeing a TV series that obeys the three Aristotelian unities.
On March 15, I accused Microsoft of lying about its total commitment to AI.
In Texas Hold ‘Em, we call this a bluff. Microsoft talks tough—but is taking chips off the table. It’s just a matter of time before this becomes widely recognized.
And that’s exactly what happened eleven days later.
I’m sticking with my prediction. The AI business case will continue to unravel.
This all started with my warning about Nvidia on November 19—before that stock fell 37%. And just today, a huge debacle took place related to the IPO of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave.
This story is not getting much coverage. But it’s a big deal—and tells you how much the AI business model has been overhyped.
CoreWeave was forced to cut back its IPO offering by 27%. Some experts had believed the company could get $55 per share—now they will be lucky to reach $40.
Nvidia may be forced to buy shares itself to support the stock offering.
I’ve said harsh things about Apple in recent months. But I never anticipated this.
The Apple Store is now featuring a Lumon Terminal, based on those used in the dystopian TV show Severance.
What’s next? Maybe they will replace Siri with a HAL 9000 chatbot.
Back in 2022, I stirred up debate with my claim that old music is killing new music. And I’ve continued to provide updates.
The numbers were worse when I revisited them in 2024. And they got even uglier when I offered a 2025 update.
But here’s another angle on this issue—rockers can’t afford insurance against canceled concerts. That’s because they’re too old, and increasingly look uninsurable.
If rock stars do buy coverage it can cost 15% of ticket sales. That adds up to huge amounts for extended tours. So many bands are going on the road without insurance,—covering the risk out of their own pocket.
It may be time to update some famous rock songs.
“When I Was Only 64”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfactory Coverage”
“Smells Like Octogenarian Spirit”
Etc.
Feel free to offer your own suggestions in the comments.
On March 10, I reported on a scammer who stole $10 million in royalties by creating fake artists on Spotify.
At the time, I made the bold claim that it was easier to make money on Spotify as a criminal than a legit artist. I also announced that other fraudsters were “operating undetected.”
How could I know that? Was I just making up stuff again?
But it didn’t take long to confirm my accusation. Earlier this week, another huge music scam was exposed by Brazilian police—and not by Spotify (they don’t seem to care about these things).
The Brazilian fraudsters stole tracks from local musicians, and put them on Spotify with attributions to fake artists. They then earned royalties by generating 28 million plays—probably via AI bots.
I repeat my previous charge: Streaming crime is widespread, and is the new normal.
Spotify has little desire to expose these frauds—because the company also creates fake artists to reduce royalty payments to musicians. This is part of their ongoing business plan, and won’t stop until legislators or regulators step in to protect human artists.
It’s not just music. Scammers are also operating on video streaming platforms.
In an especially outrageous case, a Hollywood filmmaker stole $11 million from Netflix. But in this case, the streaming platform cracked down on the criminal—because the money came from the corporation, not an artists’ royalty pool.
This is what happens when distributors take control of a creative industry, and outsource content. The dangers here are much larger than most people realize, and I’ll need to address them at greater length in a future article.
My husband Peco and I had the same experience with regard to AI robots discussing our ideas. You can read about it in his post "The AI Curse is Coming for the Creator's Economy" https://pilgrimsinthemachine.substack.com/p/the-ai-curse-is-coming-for-the-creators
"About a year ago, Ruth and I published an article on the 3Rs of Unmachining, which is about how to manage digital technology in our lives through the three basic principles of Recognizing the harms of technology, Removing unwanted tech from our environment, and Returning to more human ways of living. The 3Rs was one of our most popular pieces.
So out of curiosity I uploaded the PDF for this 4000-word article into Notebook LM, and then I went for a quick bathroom break. By the time I’d flushed the toilet and returned to my computer (I think there’s some weird symbolism in that), NotebookLM had produced a lively 8-minute podcast in which two hosts, a man and woman, discuss the article. There’s bantering, reflection, little expressions of surprise, clever turns of phrase, and all sorts of other things you might expect when two people are chatting online about a cool idea...
How ironic that two machine-generated entities are talking about strategies for being more human in a machine world."
wow. thanks for the citation Ted. I knew people would appreciate it.