Meta takes a page from Twitter on fact-checking (01-07-2025--Hour3)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalinershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] Pete Kaliner here. That's K-A-L-I-N-E-R-H-E-R-E. It's not part of my last name, though. But I feel like it almost sounds like it is because I always say Pete Kaliner here because, of course, like I'm here. But I feel like that might, because my last name is, it's unusual, let's say. Which actually cuts down on the stalking. So maybe I'll stop spelling. Well, no, I can't because in order to email me, you need to know my last name. Pete at thepetekalinershow.com.

[00:00:56] Although I did get the URL for the Pete pod.

[00:01:01] Huh? Uh-huh.

[00:01:05] Also the Pete cast.

[00:01:07] I don't know. I go back and forth. It all routes to the Pete Kaliner show.

[00:01:11] But, because the last name, I also bought Pete Kalender, like C-A-L-E-N-D-A-R.

[00:01:18] Because so many people misspell the name. Anyway, it all routes to the same site.

[00:01:22] But if you want to email, it's Pete at the Pete Kaliner show.

[00:01:24] So, Donald Trump actually addressed this. Let me see. Do I have the clip here? I do.

[00:01:30] So, Donald Trump had a news conference. It ran, I think, over an hour or so.

[00:01:38] Down at Mar-a-Lago. Fielded a whole bunch of questions on all sorts of stuff.

[00:01:43] And he was asked about Meta. Facebook. Right?

[00:01:48] Meta or Facebook's parent company called themselves Meta Now and not now.

[00:01:54] It's been a while, a couple years since they've done that.

[00:01:57] Which, to me, I hate. I just hate saying the word.

[00:02:00] Because I always feel like I have to say it like Meta.

[00:02:03] Meta. I don't know why. It just sounds weird. It's a weird sounding name.

[00:02:06] Anyway, Meta announced, and by Meta, I mean the AI guy, Zuckerberg.

[00:02:14] Dude's totally AI.

[00:02:16] So, he did a hostage video kind of a thing where he's staring at a camera in a weird office or something, I think.

[00:02:25] And he is saying that they are no longer going to be using these third-party fact checkers.

[00:02:33] I'm putting that in air quotes.

[00:02:35] The third-party fact checkers.

[00:02:38] They're now going to copy Twitter with the community notes.

[00:02:45] Have you ever seen these things?

[00:02:47] If you're not on Twitter, and you're – well, I would say you should join Twitter just to follow me, at Pete Callender.

[00:02:54] K-A-L-I-N-E-R.

[00:02:56] But you should – so you should do that.

[00:02:59] But on Twitter, they implemented this system called Community Notes.

[00:03:03] And what it does is it's open for, I don't know, certain people, but you've got to get approved.

[00:03:09] I am approved as an official community noter or notarian, notary.

[00:03:19] I don't know.

[00:03:20] I get to help do fact checks, basically.

[00:03:24] But it's open to a lot of people.

[00:03:27] I think you can apply.

[00:03:28] It's free.

[00:03:29] It's whatever.

[00:03:31] And somebody posts something, like let's say Donald Trump is an agent of the Russians, right?

[00:03:38] And then I, as a community noter or notary, I could put a community note onto that tweet.

[00:03:47] But nobody sees it unless they are fellow notarians, okay?

[00:03:52] And if enough of the notarians rate it, they give it a thumbs up, basically, and they give you some reasons why you're agreeing or disagreeing or whatever, like helpful or not helpful kind of a thing.

[00:04:05] And once it gets voted up by a certain amount, then it becomes visible for everybody to see.

[00:04:14] And now your tweet is permanently tagged with this community note that says you're lying, basically.

[00:04:21] And so it has helped for the user base to correct mis- and disinformation.

[00:04:32] That's how Twitter has gone about doing their fact-checking, quote-unquote.

[00:04:36] They're relying on the people with their use of free speech to fact-check rather than the – what was it?

[00:04:45] The Twitter safety committee or whatever it was.

[00:04:49] Yeah, where – or their trust and safety project, whatever, that they were using where they would censor people.

[00:04:56] And this all came out, remember, in the Twitter files.

[00:05:04] Okay.

[00:05:05] Like this all came out when they got a hold of all of the internal emails when Elon Musk bought Twitter.

[00:05:11] And then they started Matt Taibbi, Michael Schellenberger.

[00:05:18] I think that was – there may have been a couple other journalists that started combing through all of this stuff and laying out the operation that came from the Democrat Party, the White House, the administration.

[00:05:32] It came from government agencies, right, the alphabet agencies, intelligence community members and stuff.

[00:05:39] And it was sort of a backdoor censorship model.

[00:05:42] Fascism, basically.

[00:05:43] It was this facade of freedom, a facade of free enterprise, a facade of free speech.

[00:05:50] But behind the scenes, not so much.

[00:05:53] That's how the Hunter Biden laptop story got suppressed.

[00:05:57] It got censored was through this mechanism.

[00:06:03] So Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook or the Facebook, he comes out and he says, we are going to get back to our roots and focus on rating the attractiveness of co-eds in college.

[00:06:21] That's the – that's our roots for Facebook.

[00:06:25] No, no, he said they're going to focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.

[00:06:35] He posted this video this morning.

[00:06:37] He said, more specifically, we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X or Twitter starting in the U.S.

[00:06:48] Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, was on Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends and he discussed the changes in an exclusive interview.

[00:07:00] Meta's third party fact checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and was used to manage content and misinformation on its platforms largely due to, quote, political pressure, executives said.

[00:07:14] But admitted that the system has, quote, gone too far.

[00:07:20] Really?

[00:07:21] Who could have ever expected that?

[00:07:25] Kaplan told Fox News Digital, quote, we went to independent third party fact checkers.

[00:07:31] It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact check because basically they get to fact check whatever they see on the platform.

[00:07:42] He said Meta is ending that completely.

[00:07:46] So what is what are the fact checkers have to say about this?

[00:07:51] So one of the fact checkers was PolitiFact.

[00:07:56] You've heard of them.

[00:07:58] There isn't a what I dare say virtually every single Republican at a national level has had some brush with the dumbassery of PolitiFact.

[00:08:11] PolitiFact that finds every nuance they could find in order to absolve any Democrat of the four Pinocchios or pants on fire ratings and that sort of thing.

[00:08:24] Meanwhile, divining the worst of intentions and assuming the worst motives of all Republicans and nitpicking.

[00:08:30] Well, he said this, but it's actually this plus a tiny, tiny little other thing.

[00:08:34] They find all these ways to construct their examination.

[00:08:40] To drop the hammer on conservatives and give a pass to the left.

[00:08:47] And Republicans know this.

[00:08:50] Conservatives recognize this.

[00:08:51] This is why they don't trust these types of ratings.

[00:08:55] So PolitiFact.

[00:08:57] This is from Aaron Schrockman.

[00:09:00] He is the executive director of PolitiFact.

[00:09:04] PolitiFact says the decision to remove independent journalists from Facebook's content moderation program in the U.S.

[00:09:11] has nothing to do with free speech or censorship.

[00:09:14] Mark Zuckerberg's decision could not be less subtle.

[00:09:17] PolitiFact is one of the five original partners who worked with Facebook to launch a fact checking program in the United States after December or in December 2016.

[00:09:26] And our journalists have worked on the project for more than eight years, publishing thousands of fact checks in that time.

[00:09:34] Once again, note what Facebook said.

[00:09:39] Facebook said that or the yeah, this guy Kaplan.

[00:09:44] said that there's too much political bias in what they choose to fact check.

[00:09:49] And that is exactly correct.

[00:09:52] I have been saying this for years.

[00:09:56] You're never a prophet in your own land, you know.

[00:09:59] But anyway, I've been saying this for years that the fact checkers pick and choose.

[00:10:05] That's where the bias usually occurs.

[00:10:07] It is where the people sit around and decide this is a lie that's worth checking.

[00:10:13] But I didn't even hear about this other lie over there told by a person that I like because they just don't consume media that ever that would ever put that lie onto their radar.

[00:10:24] Right.

[00:10:24] And so therein lies the bias.

[00:10:27] So they end up finding all the lies that the right tells and none of the lies that the left tells.

[00:10:33] And if you were just going to do it even handedly, you would have like, for example.

[00:10:40] Joe Biden's mental acuity.

[00:10:44] Hmm.

[00:10:45] That might be a pretty good lie to check.

[00:10:47] Here's a great idea.

[00:10:48] Yep.

[00:10:49] How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain?

[00:10:55] And Cabins of Asheville is your connection.

[00:10:58] Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal or get family and friends together for a big old reunion.

[00:11:05] Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter.

[00:11:12] Nestled within the breathtaking 14,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest,

[00:11:16] their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

[00:11:21] Centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park,

[00:11:25] it's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions.

[00:11:30] With hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi-Fi, grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch,

[00:11:38] choose from 13 cabins, 6 cottages, 2 villas, and a great lodge with 11 king-sized bedrooms,

[00:11:44] Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion.

[00:11:49] And they have pet-friendly accommodations.

[00:11:51] Call or text 828-367-7068.

[00:11:55] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime.

[00:12:01] Um, Donald Trump was asked about this decision by Facebook to, um, abandon this third-party fact-checking program that FETA,

[00:12:15] Meta, or maybe I will start calling it FETA.

[00:12:20] Yeah, because it is the, or the, the FETA.

[00:12:24] Anyway, they did a third-party fact-checking program in the 20, uh, right after the 2016 election.

[00:12:30] And they say it went too far, the third-party fact-checkers, um, it became too, uh, became clear there's too much political bias

[00:12:38] in what they choose to fact-check because basically they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform.

[00:12:43] Okay, so that's the, uh, that's what, uh, what's this guy's name, uh, Kaplan Mark?

[00:12:48] No, not Mark.

[00:12:49] Um, well, whatever.

[00:12:51] Something Kaplan.

[00:12:52] Oh, Joel Kaplan.

[00:12:54] He is Meta's chief global affairs officer.

[00:12:56] So Donald Trump at his press conference was asked about this, and here's how that went.

[00:13:00] ...fact-checks on a post on its website.

[00:13:04] And Meta said today it would stop putting fact-checks on its website and it would stop allow community...

[00:13:10] Well, I watched their news conference and, uh, I thought it was a very good news conference.

[00:13:14] I think they've, honestly, I think they've come a long way.

[00:13:17] Meta.

[00:13:18] Facebook.

[00:13:18] Meta.

[00:13:19] I think they've come a long way.

[00:13:20] I watched it.

[00:13:20] The man was very impressive.

[00:13:21] I watched it.

[00:13:22] Actually, I watched it on Fox.

[00:13:23] I'm not allowed to say that.

[00:13:26] Say it?

[00:13:26] Do you think he's directly responding to the threats that you have made to him in the past?

[00:13:30] Probably.

[00:13:31] Probably.

[00:13:38] He said, do you think that he, meaning Zuckerberg,

[00:13:41] do you think he's responding to threats that you have made against him in the past?

[00:13:47] And Trump says, yeah, probably.

[00:13:52] Because to Trump, you know, is like, that's right.

[00:13:57] I made the threat and he caved.

[00:13:59] Mmm, alpha male.

[00:14:01] You know, like that's...

[00:14:03] But this is the language these guys speak, these business guys.

[00:14:07] And look, Zuckerberg is not a fool.

[00:14:10] He's not.

[00:14:11] He's a smart guy.

[00:14:12] Right?

[00:14:13] So, he knows which way the wind is blowing here.

[00:14:16] And with the Trump administration coming in, you're going to have to play nice.

[00:14:22] Now, here's the problem.

[00:14:24] Nobody has been held accountable for the egregiousness of the behavior over at the Facebook.

[00:14:33] There's no price to be paid.

[00:14:36] Except by the users.

[00:14:37] Except by the conservatives that were, you know, their reach was throttled.

[00:14:43] Their Facebook accounts were banned, shut down.

[00:14:46] Whatever.

[00:14:47] Or suspended.

[00:14:48] So, that's who has paid the price here.

[00:14:52] So, I'm not in a particularly forgiving mood for Meta or Facebook on this.

[00:14:59] Kaplan told Fox News Digital that Meta is changing some of its own content moderation rules,

[00:15:05] especially those they feel are too restrictive and not allowing enough discourse around sensitive topics like immigration,

[00:15:12] transgender issues, and gender.

[00:15:15] I just saw a poll and it said a new low for support of men playing in women's sports.

[00:15:21] It's now at like 11% support, which means the rest of it is against or neutral, but like mostly against.

[00:15:31] That's a new low.

[00:15:32] Well, I should say it's probably not a new low.

[00:15:34] It probably was much lower than that before we actually started asking the question because prior to us asking the question,

[00:15:41] nobody thought to ever ask the question because we weren't morons.

[00:15:44] All right.

[00:15:45] I hope you had a happy holiday season, but tell me if something like this happened at your house.

[00:15:50] Your family and friends are gathered around.

[00:15:52] Maybe y'all are in the living room.

[00:15:53] You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then somebody says,

[00:15:57] Hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes?

[00:16:00] Did you ever get them transferred?

[00:16:01] And then the room gets all quiet.

[00:16:04] All eyes are on Dad who says, Oh, you know, well, I've been meaning to, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

[00:16:10] Look, don't let those priceless memories sit in a box for another year.

[00:16:14] All right.

[00:16:15] Create a Video has been helping families in the Charlotte area preserve their history since 1997.

[00:16:21] Simply bring in your old camcorder tapes and Create a Video will transfer them to a USB flash drive for just $14.95 per tape.

[00:16:29] You have a big collection, they've got a discount for you.

[00:16:32] And next year, instead of talking about those memories, imagine gathering the family to watch them together.

[00:16:38] Talk about a memorable gift.

[00:16:40] So do what I did.

[00:16:41] Trust the experts at Create a Video, conveniently located in Mint Hill, right off I-485, and online at createavideo.com.

[00:16:50] Going over the story, this is from Fox News.

[00:16:53] It is a Fox News exclusive written up by Brooke Singman over at their website.

[00:16:59] Meta ends fact-checking program as Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook.

[00:17:06] And I think probably more importantly, Instagram.

[00:17:13] Instagram.

[00:17:14] I think that's the bigger deal.

[00:17:18] Instagram.

[00:17:19] I mean, I don't even really, I barely even use Facebook anymore.

[00:17:25] I never really liked it to begin with.

[00:17:28] And let me tell you something.

[00:17:30] A little bit of background on the Facebook.

[00:17:32] And the way Facebook destroyed news and media operations.

[00:17:38] This was, I don't know, probably now about, well, let's see, 15, no.

[00:17:46] Yeah, about 10 years ago.

[00:17:48] Facebook went into the, they went to news organizations and such, and they were like,

[00:17:53] hey, we know you guys are doing like newsletters and the like.

[00:17:58] We will do all of this audience reach for you.

[00:18:03] And you create the content, and then you use our platform to distribute.

[00:18:07] So you end up with companies that have, well, I'll just make up an example here.

[00:18:14] Like, let's say there's a radio company, for example.

[00:18:17] I'm just making this up.

[00:18:18] But let's just say that there's a radio company that owns like 800 plus stations.

[00:18:24] Okay.

[00:18:25] No, I'm just saying it's complete, but it doesn't matter.

[00:18:27] All right.

[00:18:28] So you got this behemoth of a radio company.

[00:18:31] And they got like 800 stations all over the country.

[00:18:35] And so they say, awesome.

[00:18:38] They fire a bunch of people.

[00:18:39] It's unrelated, but they just like to fire a bunch of people.

[00:18:41] Anyway, so they fire people.

[00:18:43] But then they use Facebook.

[00:18:45] And they just use the bejeebus out of it.

[00:18:47] I mean, they use Facebook to spam you with everything, nonstop.

[00:18:55] Post after post after post after post.

[00:18:58] Across 800 stations.

[00:18:59] And they all look the same, by the way, because it's just a template.

[00:19:02] And so they just push it all out.

[00:19:04] And I mean, hypothetically.

[00:19:06] And so they push all this content out.

[00:19:08] And then, of course, the users are complaining because they're just getting inundated.

[00:19:13] Now, imagine that in addition to all of the other media outlets and newsrooms.

[00:19:19] Now, in actual news stations, newsrooms, newspapers and such, they're creating content because that's what these platforms need.

[00:19:29] Right.

[00:19:30] They need content.

[00:19:31] And so when the Facebook made its big push to get more people to use videos in order to compete with other video centric platforms, they started doing deals with these large corporate content creation machines.

[00:19:51] But that required the content creation to occur.

[00:19:54] And then it would push out, push out, push out.

[00:19:57] And that drove up engagement numbers.

[00:19:59] And Facebook could say, look at all the people that are looking at Facebook ads and posts and all this.

[00:20:04] But then people were like, I don't want to see it.

[00:20:07] So they start blocking.

[00:20:08] They start complaining and all this other stuff.

[00:20:11] But in the meantime, you have the news organizations that dismantle their newsrooms because they got all these other financial pressures.

[00:20:19] So they start getting rid of people that are actually creating the content.

[00:20:24] And instead, they're just pushing out clickbait, essentially.

[00:20:30] They give up their newsletters, their email distribution newsletters.

[00:20:35] They just let those go away because that's harder.

[00:20:38] It's more intensive.

[00:20:39] Creating content takes time.

[00:20:42] And so they don't want to pay for that.

[00:20:45] So they just start posting lots of more videos.

[00:20:47] And Facebook is giving them preference for more of the videos because Facebook wants more of the videos.

[00:20:53] And then what happens?

[00:20:54] The backlash.

[00:20:56] And then Facebook turns around and says, you know what?

[00:21:00] If you're posting this kind of stuff, we're going to throttle you.

[00:21:04] And that's what they did.

[00:21:06] So they started throttling the posts that were coming from these mega content creators, news organizations, newsrooms.

[00:21:18] And where did that leave these news operations?

[00:21:21] In a worse position than before Facebook ever darkened their door.

[00:21:27] And then Facebook steps in to fill the void, right?

[00:21:30] That's the idea that Facebook would then take over all of this area of content creation.

[00:21:35] But mainly relying on people to create it for free.

[00:21:40] That's why they want more users.

[00:21:43] More users equals more content.

[00:21:45] More content means they can sell more ads.

[00:21:47] That's it.

[00:21:49] So no love lost here on my part for Facebook.

[00:21:53] For its business practice, but also its platform.

[00:21:56] It's kind of janky.

[00:21:57] I don't really like it.

[00:21:57] Anyway, now they've angered the PolitiFact people.

[00:22:02] And maybe they should fact check Zuckerberg on this.

[00:22:05] But they say, this is the head of PolitiFact.

[00:22:09] Says, let me be clear.

[00:22:10] The decision to remove or penalize a post or an account is made by Meta and Facebook, not the fact checkers.

[00:22:21] They created the rules, not us.

[00:22:24] The role of PolitiFact and other U.S.-based journalists has always been to provide additional speech and context to posts that journalists found to contain misinformation.

[00:22:36] So this is where they pretend that it's like, oh, we're just observers over here.

[00:22:41] We're not actual participants in the fight.

[00:22:44] This is always, it's sort of like the, you've probably heard this, the clown nose on, clown nose off that Jon Stewart was always accused of doing.

[00:22:53] Where he presents himself as this, I'm just a comedian kind of a guy.

[00:22:57] But then he like rails against stuff, makes these policy pronouncements, casts moral aspersions on people and such.

[00:23:05] And then when challenged, when he gets stuff wrong, then he puts the clown nose back on.

[00:23:11] I'm just a comedy.

[00:23:13] I'm just a comic.

[00:23:14] You shouldn't be relying on me.

[00:23:16] Meanwhile, we find out, remember all the studies that found that the younger people were getting their news from the Daily Show, from Jon Stewart.

[00:23:23] That was their, quote, newscast.

[00:23:26] And so he, he did more damage to the political discourse, which is highly ironic because he was the guy who went on Crossfire and browbeat Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.

[00:23:40] Because Crossfire, he said, you know, there wasn't doing enough to help with the civil discourse and informing people and all this other stuff.

[00:23:46] Crossfire, which actually brought a conservative and a liberal together to debate issues.

[00:23:51] And Jon Stewart savaged them.

[00:23:55] And then corroded the discourse by basically doing, well, what I do nowadays.

[00:24:01] Like that's basically, say clown nose on.

[00:24:04] There you go.

[00:24:06] I am anything if not self-aware.

[00:24:08] But man, the lefties and the reporters and such, but I repeat myself there.

[00:24:14] But they are, they are really mad at this.

[00:24:16] They all went over onto Blue Sky, which is supposedly a competitor to Twitter, but it's like a, it's just like a censorious mob.

[00:24:26] Right.

[00:24:26] So just a bunch of leftists.

[00:24:27] And they just, you know, shout down people, report them, get them banned and suspended.

[00:24:31] It's just, it's this constant witch hunt that goes on.

[00:24:34] It's, it's Blue Sky witch hunt site.

[00:24:35] And so they all went over there and they're like lamenting.

[00:24:38] Mark Elias is over there crying about it, which I love it when Mark Elias cries about stuff.

[00:24:44] And that's the Democrat super lawyer that sues only Republican legislatures and such.

[00:24:50] Even though Democrats do the exact same legislation in other states, he never challenges that.

[00:24:54] He only sues the Republican states.

[00:24:56] He was also the, uh, uh, the cutout, uh, for the, the steel dossier stuff.

[00:25:02] So that Mark Elias, yeah, he's very upset about this decision to not have, you know, third party independent journalists that happen to always agree with him on stuff.

[00:25:11] That they're not going to be riding herd on what is and isn't capital T the truth.

[00:25:17] You know, I think this is a better model, but once again, I'm not in a forgiving mood for Facebook for many reasons that I have articulated, but also for the fact that, um, the damage that they did has already been done.

[00:25:32] And now they're just trying to ingratiate themselves with the, uh, incoming administration.

[00:25:38] So I see that for what it is.

[00:25:39] All right.

[00:25:40] If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events and I know you do too.

[00:25:44] And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources.

[00:25:48] Why?

[00:25:49] Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground news.

[00:25:54] It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place.

[00:26:00] So you can compare coverage and verify information.

[00:26:03] You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete.

[00:26:08] I put the link in the podcast description too.

[00:26:10] I started using ground news a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom.

[00:26:20] The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right.

[00:26:25] See for yourself.

[00:26:26] Check.ground.news slash Pete.

[00:26:29] Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription.

[00:26:33] I use the vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.

[00:26:37] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground news as they make the media landscape more transparent.

[00:26:44] One more thing on the Meta.

[00:26:47] Chris Rufo responding to the announcement from Meta's founder there, Mark Zuckerberg, saying they're going to go with a community notes system to fact check rather than the journalismers to start, you know, fact checking people's posts on Facebook and Instagram.

[00:27:07] Rufo said this is good and welcome, but Facebook has not been leading the discourse for many years.

[00:27:14] It's turned into a recycled slop factory, useful perhaps for engineering mass consumer habits, but not useful for cutting edge politics.

[00:27:25] X is the platform that matters.

[00:27:28] And I agree with that.

[00:27:31] There isn't a lot I learned.

[00:27:32] I mean, OK, if I want to watch one of the short reels, I think is what they call them, on somebody who converts their backyard into a garden.

[00:27:42] I will watch Facebook.

[00:27:44] That's about the extent of what I do on Facebook.

[00:27:49] It really is.

[00:27:49] And I know like I've got a page over there and I should do more.

[00:27:53] I know like they're always.

[00:27:54] But like I'm only one man.

[00:27:56] I don't have a whole operation here to manage all of my socials, as they say.

[00:28:02] So.

[00:28:03] I just devote my focus and energy onto the one platform.

[00:28:07] It is Twitter.

[00:28:08] And.

[00:28:10] I know my way around Twitter very, very well.

[00:28:13] And also Twitter punches above its weight class.

[00:28:17] Twitter has the people who lead the discussions.

[00:28:23] You've got media.

[00:28:24] You've got politicians.

[00:28:26] All right.

[00:28:27] You've got academics and stuff like these are the people that are engaging in the these debates and stuff.

[00:28:34] And there are a lot of randoms like me.

[00:28:35] I'm in there, too.

[00:28:36] Right.

[00:28:36] But you've got a lot of those those types of people that are on Twitter.

[00:28:41] Twitter.

[00:28:42] And the reason I mean, the whole purpose of Twitter was to find somebody who had like a massive following, you know, is really well known or whatever.

[00:28:52] And then you just troll them.

[00:28:54] Like, that's the whole point of Twitter, I thought.

[00:28:56] I mean, that's what I used it for.

[00:28:58] But he's just like, you're stupid.

[00:29:05] Anyway.

[00:29:07] Sam Altman.

[00:29:08] Do you know who this guy is?

[00:29:10] He is the CEO of OpenAI.

[00:29:14] OpenAI.

[00:29:15] Artificial intelligence.

[00:29:17] He said in a blog post Sunday that his company has discovered how to build artificial general intelligence or AGI.

[00:29:29] Artificial general intelligence.

[00:29:31] They have discovered how to build it and that the product will start to impact the workforce roughly this year.

[00:29:42] He says it's going to materially change the output of companies.

[00:29:49] In a related story, a radio company just fired a whole bunch more people.

[00:29:52] No, I'm kidding.

[00:29:53] That's evergreen.

[00:29:54] Anyway, AGI is a type of artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human cognitive abilities on a range of tasks or subjects.

[00:30:05] AGI.

[00:30:06] He said the company believes creating AGI and putting it in the hands of people leads to great broadly distributed outcomes.

[00:30:18] I mean, it can.

[00:30:20] Right?

[00:30:22] It can lead to that.

[00:30:25] But I'm thinking it's going to lead to a lot more cat videos.

[00:30:29] That's what I'm thinking.

[00:30:30] Which some of them are adorable.

[00:30:32] Have you seen some of the AI generated cat images and stuff?

[00:30:35] They're just adorable.

[00:30:36] Anyway, we are beginning to turn our aim beyond that, he says, to super intelligence.

[00:30:42] In the true sense of the word, we love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future.

[00:30:51] That's his quote.

[00:30:52] He said that.

[00:30:52] Glorious, like you're sounding like a commie dictator.

[00:30:55] With super intelligence, we can do anything else.

[00:30:58] Super intelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own.

[00:31:06] And in turn, massively increase abundance and prosperity.

[00:31:12] Or, you know, destroy humanity.

[00:31:13] We'll see how it goes.

[00:31:14] All right.

[00:31:15] That'll do it for this episode.

[00:31:16] Thank you so much for listening.

[00:31:18] I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:31:23] So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here.

[00:31:26] You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendorshow.com.

[00:31:31] Again, thank you so much for listening.

[00:31:33] And don't break anything while I'm gone.