Your AI Friends 'Love' You...
Welcome back to The FAIK Files!
In this week's episode:
- OpenAI is feeling the pressure to meet demand, widening the scope of "Stargate" and looking at debt financing for chips by 2025.
- Creepy AI companion toys are posing risks to student mental health, and we look at a family's unsettling week with one.
- Microsoft is bringing Claude to Copilot, diversifying beyond OpenAI, while xAI is suing OpenAI for allegedly poaching talent and secrets.
- An AI safety tool sparked backlash after flagging art as porn and deleting emails, leading to a student lawsuit.
----> Check out Perry and Cameron Malin's "Deepfake Ops" course: https://maven.com/perception-lab/deepfake-ops
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/cU7wepaz
*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***
OpenAI’s 10+ Gigawatt Plans:
- OpenAI Feeling the Pressure (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-under-pressure-meet-demand-widens-scope-stargate-eyes-debt-finance-chips-2025-09-24/
- Sam Altman Blog Post: https://archive.is/iPaU9
- OpenAI Partnership with NVIDIA (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2025/09/24/sam-altman-ai-empire-new-york-city-san-diego-scary/
- NVIDIA letter of intent: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/openai-and-nvidia-announce-strategic-partnership-to-deploy-10gw-of-nvidia-systems
Creepy AI Toys:
- AI ‘companions’ pose risks to student mental health. What can schools do?: https://www.k12dive.com/news/ai-companions-student-mental-health-schools/761054/
- ‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/16/i-love-you-too-my-familys-creepy-unsettling-week-with-an-ai-toy
- Curio: https://heycurio.com/
- Oh… and a visit from a “Friend” (https://friend.com/) – we’ve mentioned them before. This interview is… interesting: https://fortune.com/videos/watch/creator-of-'creepy'-ai-friend-necklace-says-it's-'like-god'/41086999-face-458f-b917-ee465c56d187
Crossing Lines: Microsoft & xAI:
- Microsoft bringing Claude (and Deepseek?) to Copilot (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/business/microsoft-brings-anthropic-ai-models-365-copilot-diversifies-beyond-openai-2025-09-24/
- xAI is suing OpenAI for poaching talent & secrets (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/musks-xai-accuses-rival-openai-stealing-trade-secrets-2025-09-25/
- The official complaint: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/byvreaygope/XAI%20OPENAI%20TRADE%20SECRETS%20LAWSUIT%20complaint2.pdf
AI safety tool sparks backlash:
- AI safety tool sparks student backlash after flagging art as porn, deleting emails: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/09/24/students-lawsuit-ai-tool-gaggle/
*** 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
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/wickedinterest.ing
