Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense.

Warning: today's episode gets a bit dark as we chat with seasoned prosecutor and founder of Operation Shamrock, Erin West, about a devastating combination of attacks known as "Pig Butchering" scams. We go deep into how they work and what we can do about them.

Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIK

You can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz

*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***

Learn more about Erin West

• Erin's LinkedIn Profile
• Operation Shamrock

Pig Butchering Scams:

• CNN Story featuring Erin West: Killed by a scam: A father took his life after losing his savings to international criminal gangs. He’s not the only one
• CNN Story: Hear how this man lost $1M in a 'pig butchering' crypto scam
• CNN Story: Myanmar-based gangs force trafficking victims to scam Americans online
• YouTube video: John Oliver episode
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

Ok, doomer! Let's talk P(doom):

• NY Times article: Silicon Valley Confronts a Grim New A.I. Metric
• FastCompany article: P(doom) is AI's latest apocalypse metric. Here's how to calculate your score
• Wikipedia Entry
• PauseAI P(doom) records

*** THE BOILERPLATE ***

About The FAIK Files:

The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions.

• Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link)
• Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA
• Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm 

Want to connect with us? Here's how:

Connect with Perry:

• Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter
• Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter
• Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social

Connect with Mason:

• Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/
• Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025.

Welcome back to The FAIK Files--- the show about artificial intelligence and natural nonsense!

In this week's episode:

• Mason shares how ChatGPT became an unexpected hero in solving his home networking and studio challenges
• Perry dives into the mysterious case of "David Mayer" and how a simple ChatGPT privacy patch sparked widespread conspiracy theories
• We explore Tencent's bold entry into AI video generation with their open-source HunyuanVideo model
• And in our AI Dumpster Fire of the Week, we unpack the drama surrounding leaks of multiple models from OpenAI

Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIK

You can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz

*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***

The ChatGPT Privacy Patch Conspiracy:

• TechCrunch: Why does the name 'David Mayer' crash ChatGPT? OpenAI says privacy tool went rogue
• FastCompany: The Internet is Freaking Out Because ChatGPT Won't Say the Name "David Mayer"
• USA Today: Why won't ChatGPT acknowledge the name David Mayer? Internet users uncover mystery
• YouTube: Solved: Why ChatGPT Will Not Say "David Mayer"
• The Decoder: New York Times writer exposes how AI models can be fooled by invisible text on websites
• NYT: How Do You Change a Chatbot's Mind?

Tencent's HunyuanVideo Release:

• The Decoder: Tencent introduces open source video generator HunyuanVideo and challenges Sora
• TechNode: Tencent launches and open-sources Hunyuan video-generation model
• YouTube: New AI Video Model Storms Onto The Scene!
• HuggingFace: HunyuanVideo Official Model Page
• Research paper about text based sound generation for videos. SonicVisionLM: Playing Sound with Vision Language Models

AI Dumpster Fire of the Week (The Sora Leak):

• TechCrunch: OpenAI's Sora video generator appears to have leaked
• Washington Post: OpenAI hits pause on video model Sora after artists leak access in protest
• Tom's Guide: OpenAI's o1 model leaked on Friday and it is wild — here's what happened
• Leopold Aschenbrenner: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: The Decade Ahead
• Additional Sora leak from internal preview

*** THE BOILERPLATE ***

About The FAIK Files:

The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions.

• Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link)
• Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA
• Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm 

Want to connect with us? Here's how:

Connect with Perry:

• Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter
• Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter
• Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social

Connect with Mason:

• Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/
• Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025.

Welcome back to The FAIK Files— the show about artificial intelligence and natural nonsense!

In this week’s episode:

• Mason has an update on last week's shocking story of Google Gemini’s alleged threats against a user. Is this a glitch, a hack, or something more sinister?
• We sit down with cybersecurity expert Justin “Hutch” Hutchins (author of The Language of Deception) to dive into his experience weaponizing large language models and what it means for the future of AI.
• And finally, we lighten things up with some fun AI music experiments, showing that Perry & Mason may have too much time on their hands,

Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIK

You can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz

*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***

Hutch's stuff:

• Justin's Book: The Language of Deception: Weaponizing Next Generation AI
• AI podcast: The Frontier Today (Apple Podcasts) (Spotify)
• Justin and Len Noe’s podcast: Cyber Cognition (Apple Podcasts) (Spotify)
• RSA Conference talk: Autonomous Hacking Systems - Future Risk or FUD
• Houston Security Conference talk: This is how we lose control - Focused on the catastrophic/societal risks - P(Doom)

Mason's update on theories about Google Gemini threatening people:

• AI Didn’t Threaten Humanity—The Media Did: Breaking Down the Gemini Incident
• LLM Context Windows
• Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contexts
• Attention Sorting Combats Recency Bias in Long Context Large Language Models
• Cognitive Overload Attack: Prompt Injection for Long Context

Suno and Generative AI Music Generation:

• Suno
• Udio
• Whispers in the Static (full song generated on Suno)
• Experimental outro from today's episode (Suno)
• Wired: US Record Labels Sue AI Music Generators Suno and Udio for Copyright Infringement
• Soundiiz Blog: The music industry is at war against AI: Suno and Udio’s case

*** THE BOILERPLATE ***

About The FAIK Files:

The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions.

• Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link)
• Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA
• Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm 

Want to connect with us? Here's how:

Connect with Perry:

• Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter
• Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter
• Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social

Connect with Mason:

• Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/
• Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025.

Happy FAIKs-giving everyone! Welcome to the newly renovated and relaunched FAIK Files podcast. On this week's episode, Perry & Mason cover Anthropic's recent hiring of an employee focused on AI well-being, an AI grandmother from hell (for scammers), and Google's Gemini chatbot allegedly tells a user what it really thinks of them. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense.

Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIK

You can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz

*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***

AI Wellbeing:

• Anthropic has hired an 'AI welfare' researcher:https://www.transformernews.ai/p/anthropic-ai-welfare-researcher
• It’s time to take AI welfare seriously: https://www.transformernews.ai/p/ai-welfare-paper
• Taking AI Welfare Seriously: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.00986 

The problem of sycophancy in AI:

• Suckup software: How sycophancy threatens the future of AI: https://www.freethink.com/robots-ai/ai-sycophancy 
• Towards Understanding Sycophancy in Language Models:https://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.13548

AI Interpretability:

• Mapping the Mind of a Large Language Model: https://www.anthropic.com/news/mapping-mind-language-model 
• Lex Fridman podcast interview with Dario Amodei, Amanda Askell, & Chris Olah: https://youtu.be/ugvHCXCOmm4 

Deceptive and self-serving tendencies in AI systems:

• Sycophancy to subterfuge: Investigating reward tampering in language models: https://www.anthropic.com/research/reward-tampering 
• OpenAI o1 System Card: https://openai.com/index/openai-o1-system-card/
• Announcing our updated Responsible Scaling Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/news/announcing-our-updated-responsible-scaling-policy

AI Grandmother from Hell (for scammers):

• Phone network employs AI "grandmother" to waste scammers' time with meandering conversations: https://www.techspot.com/news/105571-phone-network-employs-ai-grandmother-waste-scammers-time.html
• YouTube video of Daisy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV_SdCfZ-0s

AI Dumpster Fire of the Week (Gemini tells an end user what it really thinks about him):

• Article: https://people.com/ai-chatbot-alarms-user-with-unsettling-message-human-please-die-8746112
• Gemini interaction: https://gemini.google.com/share/6d141b742a13

*** THE BOILERPLATE ***

About The FAIK Files:

The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions.

• Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link)
• Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA
• Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm 

Want to connect with us? Here's how:

Connect with Perry:

• Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter
• Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter
• Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social

Connect with Mason:

• Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/
• Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com

This is Part Three of a ten-part miniseries exploring Perry Carpenter's latest book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Each episode kicks off with a dramatized reading of the "Whispers from the Static" vignette that opens the chapter, followed by an in-depth conversation with Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus, where they unpack the chapter's themes and real-world implications.

Get the Book (Amazon Associate Link): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions

Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

Voice credits for the opening "Whispers from the Static": Kayla Temshiv 

This is the last episode we are publishing in this feed. If you enjoy The FAIK Files, be sure to follow the show's feed so you don't miss out on future episodes.

Links to the show:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-faik-files-decoding-ai-deception/id1771521321
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7CGEktxUQAbgwQaWB922Ip?si=9-NazIazRgKCDXudoGwAdQ
• All others: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2409237

This is Part Two of a ten-part miniseries exploring Perry Carpenter's latest book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Each episode kicks off with a dramatized reading of the "Whispers from the Static" vignette that opens the chapter, followed by an in-depth conversation with Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus, where they unpack the chapter's themes and real-world implications. 

Get the Book (Amazon Associate Link): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions

Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

We'll be posting episodes 1 through 3 on this feed. If you enjoy The FAIK Files, be sure to follow the show's feed so you don't miss out on future episodes.

Links to the show:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-faik-files-decoding-ai-deception/id1771521321
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7CGEktxUQAbgwQaWB922Ip?si=9-NazIazRgKCDXudoGwAdQ
• All others: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2409237

This is Part One of a ten-part miniseries exploring Perry Carpenter's latest book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Each episode kicks off with a dramatized reading of the "Whispers from the Static" vignette that opens the chapter, followed by an in-depth conversation with Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus, where they unpack the chapter's themes and real-world implications. 

Get the Book (Amazon Associate Link): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions

Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com

We'll be posting episodes 1 through 3 on this feed. If you enjoy The FAIK Files, be sure to follow the show's feed so you don't miss out on future episodes.

Links to the show:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-faik-files-decoding-ai-deception/id1771521321
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7CGEktxUQAbgwQaWB922Ip?si=9-NazIazRgKCDXudoGwAdQ
• All others: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2409237

In this conversation, Perry sits down with Dr. Bilyana Lilly to discuss her new book Digital Mindhunters (Coming Oct 30) and the intersection of cybersecurity, disinformation, and AI. She describes the narrative structure of her book, navigating a world of cyber threats and influence operations, and the evolving landscape of disinformation with AI amplifying threats. Dr. Lilly emphasizes the importance of awareness and education in combating misinformation and highlights the global threats posed by countries like Russia and China.

Guests:

• Dr. Bilyana Lilly (LinkedIn) (Twitter)

References:

• Digital Mindhunters, by Dr. Bilyana Lilly (Amazon Associates Link)
• EU vs. Disinfo website
• International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Code of Principles
• Quote Origin: A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes
• SE Community John Henry competition (where Perry's AI bot was able to compete!)
• [PROVED] Unsuspecting Call Recipients Are Super Vulnerable to AI Vishing
• Perry's LinkedIn post talking about the competition results

Perry's Books (Amazon Associate Links)

• NEW BOOK (Oct 1, 2024): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions
• Book website: https://thisbookisfaik.com
• Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter
• The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

Want to get in touch with Perry? Here's how:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Email: perry [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com

In this episode, Perry catches-up with Stephanie (Snow) & JC Carruthers. They talk about social engineering, the DEFCON Social Engineering Community / Village, and share their favorite (and most embarrassing) social engineering stories.

Perry also gives a quick update on his recent exploits entering an AI chatbot into the Social Engineering Village CTF, speaking at the DEFCON AI Village, and the release of his new book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions.

Guests:

• Stephanie (Snow) Carruthers: (LinkedIn) (Twitter)
• JC Carruthers: (LinkedIn) (Twitter)

References:

• Social Engineering Community website
• SE Community twitter page
• SE Community John Henry competition (where Perry's AI bot was able to compete!)
• [PROVED] Unsuspecting Call Recipients Are Super Vulnerable to AI Vishing
• Perry's LinkedIn post talking about the competition results

Perry's Books (Amazon Associate Links)

• NEW BOOK (Oct 1, 2024): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions
• Book website: https://thisbookisfaik.com
• Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter
• The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

Want to get in touch with Perry? Here's how:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Email: perry [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com

On this episode, Perry gets to sit down with Ed Skoudis to discuss the simplicity and complexities of cybersecurity ethics. Ed's new book is The Code of Honor: Embracing Ethics in Cybersecurity.

Guest:

• Ed Skoudis (LinkedIn) (Twitter) (Website)

Books and References:

• The Code of Honor: Embracing Ethics in Cybersecurity, by Paul J. Maurer and Ed Skoudis
• The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I, by Douglas Brunt
• The Cybersecurity Code (downloadable): https://www.montreat.edu/cybersecurity-code/
• The Code of Honor book page
• YouTube Video: Inside SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2023 | Host: Ed Skoudis | August 29, 2023

Perry's Books (Amazon Associate Links)

• NEW BOOK (Oct 1, 2024): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions
• Book website: https://thisbookisfaik.com
• Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter
• The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

Want to get in touch with Perry? Here's how:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Email: perry [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com

On this episode, Perry gets to sit down with Jon Gillham. Jon is the founder and CEO of Originality.ai -- an AI content detection platform designed to help website owners, content marketers, writers and publishers hit 'publish' with integrity in the world of generative AI.

In this interview, we get the lowdown on how AI content detection works, what it is good at, and where some of the current limits are.

Guest:

• Jon Gillham (LinkedIn) (Twitter) (Website)

Books and References:

• AI Content Detector Accuracy Review + Open Source Dataset and Research Tool, Originality.ai blog post
• Is Using AI Tools the Same as Plagiarizing? A Legal Perspective, Originality.ai blog post
• Empirical Study of AI-Generated Text Detection — Results as per An Empirical Study of AI-Generated Text Detection Tools, Originality.ai blog post
• A Survey on LLM-Generated Text Detection: Necessity, Methods, and Future Directions
• LLM-as-a-Coauthor: The Challenges of Detecting LLM-Human Mixcase

Perry's Books (Amazon Associate Links)

• NEW BOOK (Oct 1, 2024): FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions
• Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter
• The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

Want to get in touch with Perry? Here's how:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Email: perry [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com