Deep Fakes, Data Centers, and AI Slop — Are We Cooked?

Donald Trump has signed an executive order limiting state regulation on artificial intelligence. On this week’s On the Media, Republicans spar over AI, and what deregulating the industry means for the rest of us. Plus, how AI fakery got better in 2025.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter for Axios and author of the Axios Pro: Tech Policy newsletter, to chat about the massive bets that Silicon Valley and the White House are making on artificial intelligence. 

[13:10] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Stephen Witt, author of the book The Thinking Machine, about the massive infrastructure project, and potential problem, that is AI.

[28:54] Brooke speaks with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, about why Big Tech embraced fakeness in 2025, and what that means for 2026 and beyond.

 Further reading / watching:

• “States defiant in face of Trump's AI executive order,” by Maria Curi
• “MAGA scrambles to influence Trump's AI executive order,” Maria Curi
• “Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid,” by Stephen Witt
• “2025: The year tech embraced fakeness,” by Craig Silverman & Alexios Mantzarlis

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.