Everyone seems to have an opinion about AI, but what about those who will likely be affected most — recent graduates?

This cohort of grads is unique. They remember what classrooms were like before the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, and have seen how it transformed the education world seemingly overnight. Today, we hear from three recent graduates in the Bay Area about their thoughts on AI, how it affected their education, and how they feel about their futures. 

This week, we’re sharing a recent episode from KQED podcast The Bay — a show that takes an in-depth look at stories from across the SF Bay Area.

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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When shareholders of gaming giant Electronic Arts approved an acquisition of the company by a group that includes Jared Kushner’s private equity firm and the Saudi Public Investment Fund late last year, it rocked the entertainment industry. The sale worth an estimated $55 billion sent the player community of the EA-owned game The Sims scrambling, afraid that a game known as a haven for LGBTQ+ expression might be changed for the worse. In this second part of our exploration of the inclusive history of The Sims franchise, we dive into what the deal might mean for the game, how it’s reshaping the future of the industry, and why a popular Sims streamer is ready to walk away from the game in protest.

Guests:
Kayla Sims, Twitch streamer and YouTuber known as “lilsimsie”

Zefrine, Twitch streamer and organizer with The Players Alliance

Loel Phelps, senior game design director at Maxis

Jessica Croft, senior designer at EA on The Sims 4 

Further Reading/Listening:

Bay Area Gamers Rally Against Electronic Arts’ $55 Billion Acquisition — Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED 

'Gaming is the new oil:' How the EA buyout 'diverges from the traditional playbook' — Nicole Carpenter, Game Developer

Congressman Teams Up With Popular Sims Streamer To Oppose Saudi Purchase Of EA — Nathan Grayson, Aftermath

US representative Maxwell Frost protests Saudi buyout of EA — Diego Argüello, Game Developer

Sims streamers are distancing themselves from EA, but for some the choice is hard — Ash Parrish, The Verge

EA Advertisement Isn't New: A Look Back At The Sims' History With Brands (And What Comes Next) — Callum Bowyer, Sims Community

Private Equity's EA Takeover: Corruption, Contradictions, and Exploitation — Daniel Stone, Center for Economic and Policy Research

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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“Did The Sims make you gay?” is a long-running joke among Sims players. For millions, The Sims has been more than a video game — it’s been a place to experiment, tell stories, and explore identity. Long before LGBTQ representation became common in mainstream games, The Sims allowed same-sex relationships, helping create a devoted queer fan base that reshaped what players expected from virtual worlds.

In this episode, Morgan Sung talks with The Sims 4 senior designer Jessica Croft and Electronic Arts’ senior game design director Loel Phelps about the game’s unlikely emergence as one of the most queer-inclusive franchises in gaming. They explore the legendary story of how same-sex romance accidentally made it into the original game, the challenges of translating sexuality and gender into game systems, why so many LGBTQ players discovered their own identities in The Sims long before they felt safe doing so in real life — and why some players are worried about where the game might be headed.

Guests:

Jessica Croft, senior designer and lead designer at EA on The Sims 4

Loel Phelps, senior game design director at Maxis

Further Reading/Listening:

The Kiss That Changed Video Games — Simon Parkin, The New Yorker

Unearthed The Sims design docs show the internal debate over same-sex relationships — Steven Messner, PC Gamer

Did The Sims make you gay? - a video essay. — Alexander Avila, YouTube 

The Sims Knew I Was Queer Before I Did — Megan Elliot, BRICKS Magazine

Gay weddings for Russia: How The Sims became a battleground for the LGBTQ+ community — Tom Regan, The Guardian

The Sims designer says that the series’ diversity is “critical, especially at times like now” as the games must recognise “the fundamental truths of our humanity” to stay successful — Lewis White, FIVR

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production help from Francesca Fenzi. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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During a recent phone call,  BBC tech columnist Thomas Germain couldn’t convince his aunt that he wasn’t AI. Being unable to distinguish a real person from a fabricated version is a problem born from the sheer volume of AI-generated content flooding the internet — and one that’s increased dramatically in the last year alone. Even world leaders are now plagued by the issue: a glitchy video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked an enduring conspiracy theory that he was really dead and his public appearances on social media were an AI-driven cover up.

In a world where everything looks fake, how do we know what’s real? Thomas joins the show to explain how we got here, where we might be headed, and a surprisingly analog technique that could save you from getting scammed by a deepfaked version of a loved one.

Guest:

Thomas Germain, co-host of the podcast The Interface, and tech columnist at the BBC.

Further Reading/Listening:

I tried to prove I'm not AI. My aunt wasn't convinced — Thomas Germain, BBC

The Interface Podcast — BBC

Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to prove he’s not an AI clone  — Jess Weatherbed, The Verge

Cascade of A.I. Fakes About War With Iran Causes Chaos Online — Stuart A. Thompson and Alexander Cardia, The New York Times 

AI is intensifying a 'collapse' of trust online, experts say — Angela Yang, NBC News

Deepfakes, Elections, and Shrinking the Liar’s Dividend — Josh A. Goldstein, Brennan Center for Justice

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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When JetBlue replied to an angry customer on X that they should clear their cookies for a better flight price, it seemed to confirm a long-held consumer belief: companies use your personal data to determine what you should pay in real-time based on your urgency, habits and identity. It’s what’s known as surveillance pricing. According to economic sociologist Lindsay Owens, the practice is rampant. She says companies have been investing for years in sophisticated tools meant to squeeze every last dollar out of consumers — and for the most part, it’s legal. Lindsay joins Morgan to talk about how we got here, the U.S. laws designed to fight back against surveillance pricing and what you can personally do to sidestep the practice.

Guest:

Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative

Further Reading:

The Tiger Mom Tax: Asians Are Nearly Twice as Likely to Get a Higher Price from Princeton Review — Julia Angwin, Surya Mattu and Jeff Larson, Pro Publica

The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more — Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post

Issue Spotlight: The Rise of Surveillance Pricing — FTC Staff, Federal Trade Commission

Why surveillance pricing bans are suddenly gaining traction this year (and not just in California) — Khari Johnson, CalMatters

Influencers are peddling 'the library hack' as a way to score cheaper flights. Whether it works is beside the point — Grace Snelling, Fast Company

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production help from Francesca Fenzi. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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For three weeks, all eyes were on a salacious courtroom drama unfolding in Oakland, California. The Musk v. Altman trial had everything you’d expect from a favorite soap opera: Backstabbing? Check! Secret diary entries? Check! Pleading text messages? Check! And two billionaire buddies turned rivals duking it out over who did or did not steal a charity. Morgan and KQED’s Rachel Myrow explore the trial highlights, outcome and the big question: what was it all for?

Guests:

Rachael Myrow, senior editor, Silicon Valley News Desk at KQED

Further Reading/Listening:

Federal Court Rules Against Elon Musk in His Bitter Feud With Sam Altman — Katie DeBenedetti and Rachael Myrow, KQED

Everyone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt Cushions — Paresh Dave, WIRED

Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people — Hayden Field, The Verge

Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? — Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker

Advice for 2026 commencement speakers: Don't bring up AI — Jude Joffe-Block and Michelle Aslam, NPR

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Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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AI-generated Lego videos have become a tool of war. Since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in late February, increasingly elaborate videos featuring LEGO figures and catchy rap lyrics have been flooding our feeds. They're shareable, surprisingly high quality and they're deeply critical of the U.S. and Trump. They're also propaganda.

Welcome to the age of "slopaganda" — where AI Slop meets information warfare.

Michał Klincewicz, assistant professor of computational cognitive science, joins Morgan to break down the rise of slopaganda, what it's doing to our information ecosystem and why the U.S. is losing the meme war.

Guest:

Michał Klincewicz, assistant professor of computational cognitive science at Tilburg University. 

Further Reading/Listening:

Slopaganda: The interaction between propaganda and generative AI

 — Michal Klincewicz, Mark Alfano, and Amir Ebrahimi Fard, Filosofiska Notiser 

Slopaganda wars: how (and why) the US and Iran are flooding the zone with viral AI-generated noise — Mark Alfano and Michal Klincewicz, The Conversation

‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump | US-Israel war on Iran News — Alia Chughtai, Al Jazeera

The Team Behind a Pro-Iran, Lego-Themed Viral-Video Campaign — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker

YouTube removes pro-Iran channel producing anti-Trump videos — Alex MacDonald, Middle East Eye

‘We want the mullahs gone’: economic crisis sparks biggest protests in Iran since 2022 — Deepa Parent and William Christou, The Guardian 

Read the Transcript ⁠here⁠

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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We’re diving into the world of nonconsensual deepfake porn and why this problem reaches far beyond influencers and sex workers.

When users on X started asking Grok to generate explicit images of real women and girls without their consent, Twitch streamer and OnlyFans creator Morgpie watched the harassment spiral in real time. Cosplayer and software engineer Zander Small saw firsthand how nonconsensual images affected his girlfriend, a SFW creator, and her friends. The two decided to team up to build tools that help creators detect leaks, remove deepfakes, and reclaim control over their images online.

Note: This episode contains mentions of gender-based violence and nonconsensual intimate imagery, which may be triggering for some listeners.

Guests:

Morgpie, OnlyFans creator and cofounder of Fanlock

Zander Small, content creator and cofounder of Fanlock

Further Reading/Listening:

Influencers take on AI deepfakes with their own creator protection agency — Virginia Glaze, Dextero

Musk’s Grok AI chatbot is still making sexual deepfakes, despite X’s promise to stop it — David Ingram, NBC News

The Deepfake Nudes Crisis in Schools Is Much Worse Than You Thought — Matt Burgess, WIRED

Take It Down Act: How to use it to remove revenge porn — Jasmine Mithani, The 19th

Image-Based Sexual Abuse Laws: Combat Nonconsensual AI Deepfakes — RAINN

AI & Tech-Enabled Sexual Abuse: Risk & Prevention — RAINN

Deepfake Statistics 2025: AI Fraud Data & Trends — Mohammed Khalil, DeepStrike

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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What happens when your therapist is… a chatbot?

For KQED health reporter Lesley McClurg, it started with a late-night spiral over dating. Instead of texting a friend, she opened ChatGPT and got the kind of calm, reassuring advice she needed. It worked… maybe a little too well.

Lesley joins Morgan to dig into the rise of AI therapy, why so many people are turning to chatbots for emotional support, and what they might be risking in the process. These systems promise something traditional mental health care often can’t: instant, affordable, judgment-free access. But there are limits and, sometimes, serious consequences. 

Note: This episode includes discussions of suicide and mental health conditions. Listener discretion is advised.

This episode first aired on April 23rd, 2025 

Guest: 

Lesley McClurg, KQED health correspondent

Further Reading/Listening:

Can AI Replace Your Therapist? The Benefits, Risks and Unsettling Truths - Lesley McClurg, KQED

The AI therapist can see you now - Katia Riddle, NPR 

Woebot, a Mental-Health Chatbot, Tries Out Generative AI - Casey Sackett, Devin Harper, and Aaron Pavez, IEEE Spectrum

AI Prophets and Spiritual Delusions — Close All Tabs 

New Studies Reveal Mental Health Blindspots of AI Chatbots — Marlynn Wei, Psychology Today AI in the mental health care workforce is met with fear, pushback — and enthusiasm — Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR 

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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In 2018, researcher Eva Galperin made a discovery about a colleague. He had been sexually abusing women for decades, and threatening to expose their private information using “stalkerware” — hidden applications that allow people to spy on another person’s private life through their mobile device. This set Eva on a new path. She went on to found the Coalition Against Stalkerware, a network of researchers and advocacy groups working to limit the spread of stalkerware and support survivors of tech-enabled abuse. 

Eva joins Morgan to talk about how her background in cybersecurity allowed her to help countless survivors of stalkerware abuse, and how activists and researchers are beginning to turn the tide against a sprawling, largely hidden industry.

Guest: 

Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Further Reading/Listening:

What is stalkerware? — Coalition Against Stalkerware 

Hacked, leaked, exposed: Why you should never use stalkerware apps — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, TechCrunch 

When whisper networks let us down — Sarah Jeong, The Verge

Spyware Company Leaves ‘Terabytes’ of Selfies, Text Messages, and Location Data Exposed Online — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, Vice 

A massive 'stalkerware' leak puts the phone data of thousands at risk  — Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch 

Support King, banned by FTC, linked to new phone spying operation — Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch 

EFF Teams Up With AV Comparatives to Test Android Stalkerware Detection by Major Antivirus Apps — Eva Galperin, Electronic Frontier Foundation

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Brian Douglass. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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Life on an H-1B visa — a visa that lets U.S. companies hire foreign-born workers for specialized jobs — is difficult, unpredictable, and has gotten even harder under the Trump administration. A new gaming studio, Reality Reload, is trying to capture that experience in a mobile game. It’s called H1B.Life, and it simulates the difficult choices, competing priorities, and personal sacrifices visa holders face — complete with chaotic design elements, like all-powerful “gods” who control your fate.

KQED reporter Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman joins Morgan to break down the game’s surprising design choices, the mission behind it, and the stories he heard from people navigating the H1-B process.

Guest: 
Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, reporter at KQED

Further Reading/Listening:

What Does It Take to Get a H-1B Visa? This Video Game Shows Just How Complicated It Is — Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED

Meta, Google, and Amazon slash H-1B petitions after Trump's visa crackdown — Geoff Weiss, Melia Russell, Andy Kiersz, and Alex Nicoll, Business Insider 

Faculty Warn Against State Bans on H-1B Visas — Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed 

H-1B Visa Restrictions Will Hurt America’s Research Potential, Experts Say — Shelby Bradford, PhD, The Scientist 

US Tech Visa Applications Are Being Put Through the Wringer — Lauren Goode, Wired 

A New Game Turns the H-1B Visa System Into a Surreal Simulation — Zeyi Yang, Wired 

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Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.

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