Nick Craig In For Pete Kaliner (03-28-2025--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 thepetekalendershow.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.

[00:00:29] It's a great honor to be sitting in for a Pete this afternoon, chat with you, taking your calls at 704-570-1110. That's 704-570-1110. We're talking about DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, as well as other agencies within the new administration. I spent some time earlier talking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and some of the work going on over at DHHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, estimated to be cutting about 10,000 inaudible

[00:00:58] employees there. A lot of employees there. A lot of this, of course, is happening at all levels of the federal government and all of these different cabinet positions, all of these different secretaries, whether it's EPA or HHS, these cuts, these changes are happening at a rapid rate. Before we get back to the Brett Baer interview, I want to jump back to our phone lines. Alex is hanging on line one. Alex, good afternoon. You're on the Pete Calendar Show with Nick Craig. Go ahead.

[00:01:23] Yeah, I just had a couple of points. You were talking about the transparency of the DOGE efforts and that being the gold standard and why it's not the gold standard. Yes, sir. I have a couple of issues with the transparency. One of them is like they're putting a lot of information out there, but it's been shown that a lot of that information is inaccurate and they're having to continually go in and correct it.

[00:01:46] The second point is that the actual results of the cuts that they're making, when you look into what the effects are on actual real people in the world, a lot of those results are harmful, whether it's just people losing their jobs. Okay, outside of people, hold on, hold on, hold on. But outside of people losing their jobs, talk about the harmful effects and results that you've seen. Some of the – sure, like some of the stuff, like the USAID cuts being one of those, like I understand there's a lot of things in other countries that I don't think we should be spending money on.

[00:02:15] Like I agree with the principle of that. But the speed with which those cuts were made without making an effort to try to help people find other ways to address those issues and stuff is kind of abandoning a lot of people that we had agreements with, commitments that we had made. Like if you made a two-year contract to help somebody, I think you should honor that two-year contract. If you don't want to do that anymore, after your two years is up, you don't do the contract again.

[00:02:41] But I think just yanking it out immediately, almost – or in some cases literally overnight, just cutting off all of their funding and leaving people hanging around the world, I think causes a lot of problems. And it is causing real harm to actual people in some of those places. The third point is, to me, indicative of what is happening in the Trump administration with Musk as well.

[00:03:10] Yeah, they're putting a lot of information out, but I feel like a lot of it is self-dealing. And let me tell you why. The first one is, they're putting a lot of information out, but they're putting that information out on Truth Social, which is a for-profit company that Trump's affiliated with, and on X, which is a for-profit company that Musk owns. All of that's on the Doge website, though, too, right? Well, yeah, but like everybody's going to the Doge website. Now, everybody's getting that information off of X.

[00:03:38] Sure, but it is all available on Doge.gov. I mean, just because people are reading it, and of course you're sharing it on X because it's a social media platform, but there is an official website, Doge.gov, that's got all of that on there. Right, but every headline, whether you think it's brilliant or whether you think it's outlandish, every headline is causing people to go to their for-profit social media platforms, which earns them money. And I'm not saying that that's necessarily like corruption. I'm just saying...

[00:04:08] Well, no, but you're alluding to it. But you're alluding to it, so where should it be? Every time they create a headline, they make money. So where should the information then be relayed, Alex? I mean, if putting it on Doge.gov is not enough, I mean, should the federal government be buying advertising on television and radio stations to promote? I mean, how else would you get the information out? I'm okay with it being out there, but are they intentionally doing... But how? I'm asking you.

[00:04:37] But are they putting out information on other platforms besides the ones that they own? Doge.gov is a federal government website. I mean, nobody... I mean, you and I own it. Sure. Yeah. So where else should they put the information? Are they putting things out on YouTube videos? Are they putting things out in statements to the evening news? Like, where else should they put this information? Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's transcendent.

[00:05:02] I mean, it goes on Doge.gov, and there are press releases and information, and then that gets scooped up by the media, and it's reported. The main point of that is that every time they can create a headline, it does result in them making personal money. There's an incentive there for them to continue to create headlines. I mean, Trump himself has said there's no such thing as bad press. Anything that gets my name in people's mouths is good for the Trump brand, and he's still living up to that.

[00:05:30] The other thing concerned to me is that I just... I'm worried that these are a bunch of super rich people that are looking out for themselves instead of us. I feel like they've sold us a product that turned out to not be what they promised it would be and what we wanted it to be. Like, what? I hear you, and I appreciate what you're saying. So what... If you were running Doge for the day, Alex, if you were in charge of Doge just starting at midnight tonight,

[00:05:56] what would you do differently tomorrow to rectify some of those issues that you're describing? Well, first of all, no one that's going to be overseeing whether you think it's... They have the authority to or not is beside the point. No one who's doing this should be in a conflict of interest with government contracts. And Musk is in a conflict of interest with that. He is overseeing departments that he himself has for-profit contracts with, and that is a massive...

[00:06:25] But all of that had to be disclosed. I mean, when you become an employee of the government, even a special employee, you are required to submit information to the federal government. And talking about all of those disclosures, that is all screened, and that is all approved by onboarding within the federal government. But that speaks to what you're saying about how transparent they're being and how they're just putting it all out there. Just because we know about it doesn't make it right. But it's not illegal.

[00:06:53] I know, but he's very public that he has a conflict of interest. We know that he's got contracts with SpaceX and the government and all this kind of stuff. Just because he's saying it's there does not make it right. Just because he says, if there's a conflict of interest, I'm sure people will say something. And people have been saying something, and they're just ignoring people saying stuff, and he's just doing what he wants to anyway. Well, he's not doing what he wants to. I mean, he's a special government employee. He's not Jesus Christ.

[00:07:21] I mean, he doesn't have the ability to do whatever he wants. He has to go through the channels. And in most cases, Doge is not doing anything. They are pointing out to agencies what needs to be cut, and then it's the agencies that are doing it. Doge does not have the authority to change things. Really? No, they don't. I mean, that's not how it's set up. Elon Musk can't walk in. He is not in charge of anything. Is that what you're telling me? No, that's not what I'm saying. You're purposefully trying to flip my words.

[00:07:51] Elon Musk does not have the authority to cut money from, for example, HHS. What he does have the authority to do. Why is Elon Musk on the news saying, we cut this and we cut that and I cut this and I cut that? Because he's bringing the information. So Elon Musk is not making any cuts. And Doge is not making cuts. I mean, that's what's going on. Elon Musk does not have the authority to go into an agency and physically adjust their budget.

[00:08:20] He's not doing that. Doge is not doing that. Not under my understanding. They are providing the information to the agencies. They get access to their computer systems or invoicing systems, whatever it might be. And then they say, hey, this is all of the stuff that we found. And then it's those agencies that are doing the cuts. That's how I understand it. The Department of Education is cutting itself. Correct. I mean, Secretary McMahon is overseeing that.

[00:08:49] Did you not watch the press conference with her last week? Sure. But so all of them. No, no, no, no. Not sure, Alex. I mean, you're making the claim that they're not doing. Did you watch her speak last week when Trump signed the executive order? My question is. No, no, no. You've been not answering my question. Hold on. Hold on. You've been you've been talking and I'm asking you. I mean, did you watch the press conference last week? I did not. No. OK, well, then how can you how can you call in and say that and make those comments about the Department of Education?

[00:09:19] To me, it feels that if all of it doesn't matter how it feels to you. The question is, did you actually listen to the information? Is the answer yes or no? I did not listen to that press conference. No. OK. So then how can you have an opinion? Listen to it. Yeah, you should have an opinion based on the pattern. It is broad spectrum across all of these government agencies that the people at these agencies are filing lawsuit after lawsuit because of the cuts that Doge is making to these agencies.

[00:09:47] It's the it's the Doge recommendations that is being made to the agency heads who are Trump's cabinet's picks that are following through on his agenda. That's the process. That's what's happening. I feel like if you think that Elon Musk and those are not the ones calling the shots, that feels like it. But we're not discussing whether they're calling the shots or not. You're indicating and making the point that Elon Musk himself has the authority to make these wide sweeping changes within the government.

[00:10:16] And that's just not true. He is making the recommendations and the cabinet officials who happen to be in agreement with Trump and Elon Musk are following through on the recommendations. There is a huge distinction there. Well, it's to me, it's semantics because it's not semantics. Alex, I appreciate the call. I got to hit a break, Alex. I appreciate the call, but it's not semantics. I mean, it's very clear. Elon Musk does not have the authority. The cabinet does. The secretaries have the authority. The president has the authority.

[00:10:45] The recommendations are made. And look, turns out, as we have seen over the last 70 some odd days, the administration is working lock and step. The administration is working together. All of the various secretaries, all of the cabinet people have the same goal in mind. So they're all working together. They're taking the recommendations and they're going, wow, I can't believe we're spending $800 million on a survey about trees. That's so unbelievably stupid. Let's stop doing that. All right.

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[00:12:10] Mail orders are accepted too. Get all the details at createavideo.com. We're talking about Elon Musk. We're talking about the Department of Government Efficiency. And just kind of going off the last call, we were talking with Alex about his concerns with Doge. And there's nothing wrong with having concerns. I mean, there's nothing wrong with saying, I don't like what's going on. But what I'm truly shocked by, and you heard the comment a little bit earlier from Elon Musk on the interview last night with Brett Baer, is the information is just not accurate.

[00:12:39] I mean, the amount of misinformation surrounding Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency and what's going on is staggering. And what makes it so crazy is all of the information is readily available. We're not getting the information from anonymous sources. This is not coming from leaked information with inside Doge. They publish all of this stuff online. You can literally go and read all of it for yourself.

[00:13:06] There is a website, Doge, D-O-G-E.gov, Doge.gov, that shows everything that's going on. When they find that there are tens of thousands of people that are over 150 years old that are still listed as alive and receiving payments within the Social Security Administration system, they're publishing that information online. And so it's hard for me to argue that this is not a good thing.

[00:13:34] It's hard for me to say this amount of transparency isn't good. What more could you possibly want? Well, the concern is that some of the information is being published on X and somehow what Elon Musk is enriching himself. That's a straw man argument. I mean, it's being promoted all over the internet. And just because X happens to be a very popular platform right now, I don't think Elon Musk is getting rich posting on the at Doge account on X.

[00:14:04] I just don't think that that's the case. I really find it, I would find it hard to believe that he is personally enriching himself at a major, major scale by publishing information on X. I just, I don't, I don't think that's the case at all. So let's transition away from Elon Musk. One of the other individuals on the Doge team is the co-founder of Airbnb. He is working within the Department of Government Efficiency. He was one of the Doge guys on the panel last night with Brett Baer.

[00:14:34] Brett asked him some questions and then he started talking about the retirement system. Take a listen to this. Joe Gabby, besides Elon, you're one of several billionaires here, co-founder of Airbnb. And you wanted to help out. I bumped into Anthony and Elon probably back in February. And they told me something about a mine that was dealt with retirement. And they said they needed somebody to help out to fix retirement in the government.

[00:15:03] I love the challenge, so I jumped on board. And it turns out there is actually a mine in Pennsylvania that houses every paper document for the retirement process in the government. Now picture this. This giant cave has 22,000 filing cabinets stacked 10 high to house 400 million pieces of paper. It's a process that started in the 1950s and largely hasn't changed in the last 70 years.

[00:15:29] And so as he dug into it, we found retirement cases that had so much paper they had to fit it on a shipping pallet. So the process takes many months, and we're going to make it just many days. Will it be digitized? Absolutely. So this will be an online digital process that will take just a few days at most. And I really think it's an injustice to civil servants who are subjected to these processes that are older than the age of half the people watching your show tonight.

[00:15:58] So we really believe that the government can have an Apple Store-like experience. Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems. Because right now it's by hand. Yes. The retirement process is all by paper, literally with people carrying paper in manila envelopes into this gigantic mine. I mean, how insane is that? We live in 2025, and I've heard this before.

[00:16:24] It takes literally months to retire from the federal government. All of the information is sitting in Iron Mountain, which is a mine in Pennsylvania that stores all of these documents, and it's all done on paper. The system essentially hasn't changed in 70 years. When you talk about inefficiencies, this is another one of the shining examples.

[00:16:48] How can anybody in the age that we're living right now, with the amount of technology, by the way, not that it's just available, but the federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year on technology. With all of the money they spend, I mean, they spend $800 million just on some stupid survey about trees. But all of the hundreds of billions of dollars that they spend on technology, their retirement process is still 100% manually done by paper.

[00:17:16] And I'm supposed to believe that government's just chugging along away at 100% there? The status quo is where we need to continue? How is that appropriate for you? How are you opposed to that being a quicker process, a more efficient process? Not only is it a huge waste on the taxpayers that fund these completely antiquated systems, but how about the civil servants? You just heard there from one of the co-founders of Airbnb.

[00:17:46] What a slap in the face to the civil servants that have given their entire lives working for the federal government. Oh, hey, it's going to take you eight months to retire so we can run a bunch of paperwork back and forth between some Iron Mountain mine in Pennsylvania. I mean, there's no more bigger slap in the face than that. But that's the status quo. That's the system. That is what we have deemed as acceptable from our federal government.

[00:18:14] And I say that because nobody's willing to change it. Nobody in the past has been willing to change it. We have gone through administration after administration after administration that has said, this is okay. This is totally acceptable, normal, and reasonable. Paper retirements. No digitization of it at all. We're just going to store it all in a mine somewhere in Pennsylvania. And who cares if it takes you eight months to retire?

[00:18:44] We have said that that's okay. We have told our government this is an appropriate thing to go forward. I mean, it's completely remarkable. All right. 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. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app, and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place,

[00:19:12] so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news.com. I put the link in the podcast description, too. 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. The Blindspot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news.com.

[00:19:42] Subscribe through that link, and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. This afternoon, we were talking about, just before the break, the Department of Government Efficiency, and we heard there from the co-founder of Airbnb about modernizing technology and bringing things into the modern age.

[00:20:10] This ties in with a big announcement made in North Carolina earlier this week. It surrounds artificial intelligence. To get some more details on that this afternoon, Teresa Opeka from carolinajournal.com joins us on the Pete Callender Show. So, Teresa, AI's been all the rage over the last couple of years. Walk us through this announcement out of the state treasurer's office. Sure. Thanks so much, Nick, for having me this afternoon. So, yeah, that took place yesterday at North Carolina Central University Student Center.

[00:20:40] In fact, they are opening their institute for artificial intelligence and equity research in May. So, the treasurer, Reiner, figured that was a good place to make the announcement. So, what he did, he said he's partnering for a 12-week agreement with OpenAI that he says is going to modernize systems and streamline the data processes, all while providing more efficient and effective services for taxpayers and local governments while saving money.

[00:21:08] So, basically, he said, you know, first off, there is a fine red line between what they can do this, what information can be shared with AI versus, like, say, state health plan information. Anything like that, that's a no-go because it's got all private information. You've got HIPAA rules. What they're looking at is the local government commission, the local and, like, the different municipalities across the state, and also their other, where they look for, like, getting

[00:21:37] cash back as far as businesses, things of that nature. Stuff that is not public, or not private, rather, but public information where they can go in and, you know, actually make things more efficient. Like, for instance, local government commission, there's audits that are done every year. Matter of fact, this is the time of the year when the local governments get their audits into the state treasurer's office. There's hundreds and hundreds of pages.

[00:22:02] What this could do is take all those hundreds of pages, put it into AI, and basically spit out any, like, red flag. Say there's five red flags that the commission might see that, oh, here's a warning. You're going to be overextending yourself or you're going to be in financial trouble versus going through all those pages of information. It's supposed to cut down waste and really speed up the time and efficiency of the department. Teresa, you've been following state government for quite some time, and I know you've had

[00:22:32] the pleasure of, you know, clicking on a link available somewhere on a state government website only to be opened up to a 300-page PDF that you've got to skim through to try and look at all the information. Yet this is happening, I think there's, what, 1,100 entities that submit audits to the local government commission, the LGC, every year, that's taxpayer time and money that is being used to sift through those reports. I mean, you talk about efficiency. This sounds like it could be a massive project for the state.

[00:23:01] Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. You're right. And Treasurer Briner said yesterday we have 1,100 towns, counties, municipalities, and we could do an even better job making sure they're not in financial trouble by using this open AI agreement. And, of course, like you said, the price is right. They're doing it for free. Open AI has given this a shot for the 12 weeks to see how this is going to go for them. So it's not no-cost taxpayers or no cost to the state. But you're right.

[00:23:29] There's, like, case in point, you know, story about audits. You see audits all the time, especially now Dave Bullock took over the office. There's quite a few pages you've got to sift through and get all the information. So stuff like that nature, anything that's got all this information that they could just go ahead and help this be the process along is going to be very helpful. You know, Teresa, the whole AI discussion is a rather interesting one we've seen.

[00:23:55] And, you know, there's actual artificial intelligence, and then there's more algorithm, you know, compute machine learning kind of things that take place. AI, unfortunately, is more of a buzzword now than anything else. But when you look at specifically this partnership and really the rise and the use of new technology within government, do you see that as overall a positive or negative thing going forward? You know, that's a good question.

[00:24:24] It could definitely, well, just mentioning what we just talked about, you know, the efficiency for it going through all this to maybe speed things, speed the process up. That's definitely a good thing. But you might see some bad things on the way. One thing yesterday that Treasurer Briner said right now it's not the loss of any expertise or anybody's jobs in the short term or as they go along. Didn't say down in the long term that there wouldn't be job cuts.

[00:24:53] Now, I'm not saying that there are, but he said right now short term, no, we're not, you know, there's no cutting of jobs. But you wonder how AI is going to possibly take over some roles in different, you know, mediums. State government also talking about that as well. So that might be a bad point if you want to say it. But I think overall it should be a good new facet to the world of state government and for other entities.

[00:25:21] You know, I've heard some of those similar concerns about the potential long term impacts, specifically looking at individuals that no longer are needed in those positions, if some of that's to be done by computers and specifically what we're talking about with open AI going forward. And while obviously, Teresa, there is a concern of that, I don't know that I see that big of a difference between what we could be seeing in the future with the use of AI and then the invention of the computer and the innovation of that into business where you used to have

[00:25:51] you know, into whole departments of typists with typewriters that would repeat the same memo over and over and over again. If you had a meeting and you needed 30 copies of something, you had to have those manually typed up by somebody. Computers come along, printers come along, and now you just click print 30 copies and it's done. I mean, the workforce changed then and I presume it will change going into the future. Oh yeah, you're right. You're right. And I want to backtrack to something you said earlier before you were talking with me.

[00:26:19] I know for a fact I'm originally from Pennsylvania and they are at their Department of Unemployment. Only 15 years ago, I think it has been updated. They were using DOS programs for their unemployment database. How do I know this? I know someone very close who worked there. So yeah, so when you come down with DOS, typewriters, whatever, you know, we have integrated into what we've got a computer on our cell phone, right? Before you had the flip phone.

[00:26:47] As with anything, I think a lot of people are hesitant to change. You're hesitant to expand, you know, on other things that are going on. I think you have to work out all the different bugs and things that might be, you know, might trip some people up or might be a hindrance. But overall, it probably is going to be a good thing. You just have to get used to it, make sure it's going to run correctly. Obviously, I think they're doing this. They're taking the precautions at the treasurer's office to make sure everything is running correctly. But you're right.

[00:27:16] You know, we have modernized so much and it's only been for the best, really, when you think about it as far as efficiency and looking over all these systems. Well, and I think as we go into the future, and obviously this, as you mentioned, this is a 12-week pilot program, which I'll note as you did, is at no cost to the North Carolina taxpayer. A smart move there by OpenAI if they really want to kind of dig their claws into this and potentially get this long-term, potential more long-term contract with the state treasurer's office.

[00:27:45] To me, Teresa, this frees up resources that allows this office or any other office in the state, if they are to adopt similar technologies or similar platforms, to allow them to then start working on other projects and begin digging into other things that may have seemed impossible in the past due to a lack of manpower. Oh, yeah, absolutely. It frees up the time. And one thing that the treasurer said yesterday, he knows for a fact other offices, other state

[00:28:13] agencies in North Carolina are looking into OpenAI using it as well. They're kind of like leading the way at this point, but it would get, use the buzzword efficiency, but it will make things more efficient. And hopefully, that's all going to be for the best for the taxpayer and for local government, whatever agencies that are working on different issues. It is a good thing. So you're right.

[00:28:40] Teresa, you've got some more details in your story this morning. I know you and the folks over at Carolina Journal are tracking some additional news. A busy week coming up in the legislature next week. Where can folks read that story and keep up to date with North Carolina news? Sure. They can head on over to carolinajournal.com and also check us out on X. Also, we've got our weekly show, The Debrief, on YouTube. So we're lots of places. But the main place to check out the story is carolinajournal.com. Teresa, thank you so much for the update this afternoon.

[00:29:10] Greatly appreciated. Teresa Opeca, carolinajournal.com. A very interesting story out of North Carolina. The treasurer's office doing a 12-week pilot program with open AI. We'll be very curious to see what the postmortem on all of that looks like. Keep, obviously, updates over at carolinajournal.com. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection.

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[00:30:32] Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. I'm Nick Craig, host of the Carolina Journal-NewsHour, also host of the Nick Craig Show, which you can find in your favorite podcast app. Sitting in for Pete this afternoon as we continue the discussion. Really, the whole show's been focused on government efficiency. We're talking about new technology, a lot of things going on right now in government.

[00:31:00] And I want to harp back on the conversation we were just having with Teresa Opeca from carolinajournal.com. This announcement from the North Carolina State Treasurer's Office, Brad Briner, that they're entering into a 12-week agreement with OpenAI to increase some of the efficiencies within the Treasurer's Office. I think this is phenomenal. Now, this is not to mean that there are no concerns, questions, and legitimate concerns

[00:31:27] and questions with artificial intelligence, which unfortunately is a buzzword, right? You see now, if you watch television, every single company is seemingly throwing AI into something or another. It's a phenomenal buzzword for marketing right now. Some of it is actually artificial intelligence. Other is just computer algorithms, which by definition are not AI. So there are still serious concerns about AI, and rightfully so.

[00:31:54] It's a relatively new technology, and it's kind of unknown exactly where it's going to lead us. Do we get to incredible levels of efficiency, or do we end up in a Terminator movie with a Skynet system trying to take everything over? But really, one of the things that you hear is that, well, people are going to lose their jobs. People are going to lose their jobs because of AI. And while that is likely to be the case, while that is probably true, this is no different

[00:32:23] than any other technological advance or modernization that has taken place throughout the entirety of human history. And the greatest example of this happened not that long ago. I mean, you look at the invention of the personal computer. IBM, Big Blue, bringing computers and mainframes into offices back in the 60s and 70s. You talk about increasing efficiency within business, within government.

[00:32:53] It started with IBM. It started with these huge mainframe computers that costed millions of dollars that were installed, that allowed spreadsheets and finances to be tracked electronically. It was a huge innovation. And with that, people did, in fact, lose their jobs. The job descriptions shifted and changed. As computers got smaller and cheaper and better, then they started landing on people's desks.

[00:33:22] Now, across every single office in the entire country, there is a computer or a hookup for a laptop sitting on desks. They're all over the place. And just sitting here, I mean, there's dozens of computers around. So the question is, and I know the concern is real, and I appreciate it. The question is, how do you get ahead of that? Right? In the free market, how do you set yourself apart from everybody else with the use of this technology?

[00:33:52] Right? The systems can't run by themselves. People are going to have to know how to use them. Individuals that are going to decide to adopt this technology are going to decide that, hey, this is something that I need to take serious. This is something that I need to use. And I need to learn how to master this craft of artificial intelligence. I need to craft the use of open AI and really hone in on this. Those will be the people that stand out. Right?

[00:34:20] This is no different than any other technological advance that we've seen in human history. Now, it's happening at probably a quicker rate than some other sort of innovations and inventions of the past. Sure. But the root idea of innovation, the idea of things becoming cheaper and easier to do, that's not new. That's not inherently unique in any meaningful way. It's happened all throughout human history.

[00:34:50] Business and government has always adapted to new technology. It's been happening literally forever. I mean, like, and when I say, I mean literally forever. And so I think this is a good idea coming out of the state treasurer's office. The fact that it doesn't cost North Carolina taxpayers a cent, I mean, sign me up for that. Smart move by OpenAI to give this service for free with the hopes of eventually getting probably a very lucrative government contract. Let's be honest about it. They've got their incentive as well.

[00:35:20] But to me, this is a great idea. And props to Brad Briner and the state treasurer's office for moving forward on this. For bringing this technology forward and saying, hey, this is happening. The world is still revolving around us. We have two options. We can either sit static, sit dormant, and allow the world to change. Or we can get on the bandwagon. We can try this out. Do a 12-week pilot program and see what the end result is. And if I've learned anything about Brad Briner over the last couple of months,

[00:35:50] the three months that he's been in office, he's done a really good job at bringing information to the people of North Carolina. Providing public and transparent information. So I'm pretty confident that we will learn in just the couple of months how this program worked. So very, very interesting stuff. You can, again, read the details this afternoon over at carolinajournal.com. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support

[00:36:19] and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepeatcalendershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't break anything while I'm gone.