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Hard Fork

‘A.I.-Washing’ Layoffs? + Why L.L.M.s Can’t Write Well + Tokenmaxxing

3/20/20261 hr 1 min

This week, we start by talking about the new wave of tech layoffs at Atlassian and Block, as well as reports that Meta plans to cut up to 20 percent of its work force. This raises the question of whether A.I. job loss has truly begun, or if there are other factors at play. Then, we’re joined by the writer Jasmine Sun to talk about why chatbots are still so bad at creative writing. And finally, it’s tokenmaxxing time! Kevin takes us behind the scenes of his latest reporting about why tech companies are building leaderboards to measure who is using the most A.I.

 

Guest:

  • Jasmine Sun, journalist and writer at jasmi.news

 

Additional Reading:

 

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Clips

How post-training tamed creativity
“I tried to automate me”
Building a personal AI editor
Will AI write literature?
Why style resists rubrics
LLMs write without a life

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 00:00

    We gave Times employees a preview of Crossplay from New York Times Games, and here's what they had to say. I can finally play with other people.

  2. Kevin Roose· Host0:08

    I'm pretty competitive. It's fun to beat friends and coworkers.

  3. Speaker 00:12

    I have a J for 10 points.

  4. Casey Newton· Host0:14

    I'm guessing Tenga is not a word. Let's see. Tenga is a word. Oh.

  5. Speaker 00:19

    As an English as a second language speaker, I like to learn new words. Crossplay, the first two-player word game from New York Times Games. Download it for free today.

  6. Kevin Roose· Host0:29

    I just read the most heartwarming news this morning that I wanted to share with you, Kevin.

  7. Casey Newton· Host0:35

    What's that?

  8. Kevin Roose· Host0:36

    The UK government has withdrawn a proposal to let AI companies train on copyrighted works after a backlash from artists like Dua Lipa. Did you see this?

  9. Casey Newton· Host0:45

    No.

  10. Kevin Roose· Host0:46

    Dua Lipa said, "Don't start now with this AI." [laughs] My sugar boo, she litigating, Kevin. [laughs] She's like, she's making some new rules, and she's saying, "We're not gonna train on my copyrighted works."

  11. Casey Newton· Host1:01

    Wow.

  12. Kevin Roose· Host1:01

    And that's why she is a queen. And so Dua Lipa, if you're listening, we salute you.

  13. Casey Newton· Host1:07

    Yeah. Dua Lipa, you're a Dua keeper.

  14. Kevin Roose· Host1:10

    Yeah. [laughs] Period. [laughs] Dua Lipa said artist rights.

  15. Casey Newton· Host1:14

    Wow.

  16. Kevin Roose· Host1:15

    [upbeat music] I'm Kevin Roose, a tech columnist at The New York Times.

  17. Casey Newton· Host1:22

    I'm Casey Newton from Platformer.

  18. Kevin Roose· Host1:23

    And this is Hard Fork.

  19. Casey Newton· Host1:24

    This week, a big wave of tech layoffs is raising the question, has AI job loss truly begun?

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