305: AI Access Limits, Surveillance Missteps, Data‑Center Fallout, 6G Privacy Risks, Consumer Tech Shock all Hit at Once as The Industry Faces Regulation, Guest Nick Espinosa Joins us from Security Fanatics | Air Date: 6/30 – 7/6/26

Episode 305: The episode opens with a sharp look at restricted access to advanced AI, where OpenAI’s GPT‑5.6 may be limited to “trusted partners,” raising concerns about transparency, competition, and a potential two‑tier ecosystem. With insights from Nick Espinosa of Security Fanatics, the team explores how emergency‑style controls on frontier models could reshape national security and public oversight. The conversation then pivots to workplace surveillance as Meta pauses an employee‑tracking program that monitored clicks, keystrokes, and screen activity. The hosts break down why large‑scale monitoring often creates more risk than value, turning privacy issues into security liabilities.

From there, the show examines the physical footprint of AI growth, including data‑center noise, rising power demand, water usage, and community pushback. Nick explains why 6G networks may become the next privacy battleground, with sensing capabilities that infer behavior through radio signals. The episode closes with consumer‑focused stories: GTA 6 “physical” boxes containing only download codes, Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes, and Ford rehiring human workers after automation stumbles, all coming up on TechTime Radio, with a little whiskey on the side.

-- Full Episode Details:

Someone in Washington can now decide who gets early access to the most advanced AI, and that should make every tech listener pause. We unpack reports that OpenAI’s GPT 5.6 is being limited to “trusted partners,” plus the broader pattern of emergency-style controls hitting frontier models. With Nick Espinosa from Security Fanatics, we get into what this kind of AI regulation means for transparency, competition, national security, and the very real risk of a two-tier AI ecosystem.

Then we pivot to surveillance closer to home. Meta’s employee tracking program tries to measure work through clicks, keystrokes, and screen activity, only to get paused after internal data exposure. We talk about why employee monitoring software is both a privacy issue and a security risk, and why collecting sensitive data at scale almost guarantees messy outcomes.

We also look at the physical footprint of “the cloud.” AI data centers can bring nonstop HVAC hum, rising grid demand, water consumption, and neighborhood backlash, reminding us that unlimited AI growth has local consequences. From there, Nick breaks down why 6G could become the next privacy battleground, not just faster mobile internet but a sensing platform that can infer behavior through the radio environment.

To round it out, we hit the consumer shockwaves: GTA 6 “physical” boxes that contain only a download code, Microsoft’s steep Xbox Series X and Series S price hikes, and a reality check on automation when Ford has to rehire humans after AI stumbles. If you like smart tech news with real stakes and a little whiskey on the side, subscribe, share the show, and leave us a review.

Transcript

Welcome And What’s On Tap

Introduction 0:00

Broadcasting across the nation from the East Coast to the West, keeping you up to date on technology while enjoying a little whiskey on the side with leading edge topics, along with special guests, to navigate technology in a segmented, stylized radio program. The information that will make you go, hmm. Pull up a seat, raise a glass with our hosts as we spend the next hour talking about technology for the common person. Welcome to Tech Time Radio with Nathan Mum.

Nathan Mumm 0:31

Welcome to Tech Time Radio with Nathan Mum, the show that makes you go, hmm. Technology News of the Week, the show for the everyday person talking about technology, broadcasting across the nation on insightful subjects. Weeks ahead of the mainstream media. We welcome our radio audience of 35 million listeners to an hour of insightful technology news. I'm Nathan Mum, your host and technologist with over 35 years of technology expertise. Our co-host, Mike Roday is in the studio today, is the award-winning author and our human behavior expert and our featured segment, Mike the AI guy, is back again. People are loving this segment. So you're gonna hear Mike for that, I'm sure, coming up on the show. Now we're live streaming doing our show on six of the most popular platforms, including YouTube, Twitch.tv, Facebook, LinkedIn, and now Kick and Rubble. We encourage you to visit us online at techtimeradio.com and become a Patreon supporter at patreon.com forward slash techtime radio. We are friends from different background, but we bring the best technology show possible each week for our family, listeners, and fans to enjoy. We're glad to have Peyton, our producer at the control panel today. Welcome everyone. Let's start today's show.

Introduction 1:40

Now on today's show.

Nathan Mumm 1:45

All right, today on the show, we got our expert back from Security Fanatics, Nick Espinoza. He will be joining us. And guess what? There's nothing better than what we're gonna be talking about today. AI, AI, and AI. Yay! And we got some stuff. Now we've had the last couple shows, Two Truths and a Lie. We've talked about some Wi-Fi items that we're talked about. Nick's gonna be talking about Wi-Fi six. And you know what?

Mike Gorday 2:10

There was all the concern about, you know, if if Wi-Fi, if Wi-Fi 5 was all about aliens, what's Wi-Fi 6?

Nathan Mumm 2:17

Yeah, you're gonna have to wait for that segment to find out more. Can't wait. What's that? You can't wait. You can't wait. You you love Nick shows, right? It's a drink.

Mike Gorday 2:27

Nick is my favorite person to never come on. Just because when he comes on, I want to drink more. It has nothing to do with him. It just is all the news that he brings.

Nathan Mumm 2:38

All right. Uh well, of course, we have our standard features, including this week in technology, our technology fail, the week in a possible Nathan Nugget, and of course our pick of the day whiskey tasting. The CFR whiskey gets one thumbs up, two thumbs up, no thumbs up. We had a little bit of a pre-taster. This is an interesting looking. You had a pre-taster. This is an interesting looking whiskey. This is more like what'd you call juice. You said it was like apple juice. Looks like apple juice. It smells like apple juice. We'll see what it tastes like at the end of the show. But now it's time for the latest headlines in the world of technology.

GPT 5.6 Restricted By Government

Introduction 3:10

Here are our top technology stories of the week.

Nathan Mumm 3:14

All right, story number one. Open AI's Chat GPT 5.6 has now been restricted by the U.S. government. Now, they last week they pulled Anthropic, and now they're limiting what can go on with their new AI software. For more on this developing story, let's go to our reporter, Jennifer, who has more information on the rollout in the latest new models.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Thanks, Nathan. OpenAI quietly launched three new AI models: Seoul, Terra, and Luna. But here's the twist: they're not available to the public. OpenAI says the US government requested that GPT 5.6 be limited to a small group of trusted partners for now, citing concerns about the model's advanced capabilities. This means only government-approved users can access the technology, with a wider release planned in the coming weeks. Now back to the studio.

Mike Gorday 4:11

Trusted partners, huh?

Nathan Mumm 4:13

Trusted partners. What is trusted partners? I didn't know. Uh multiple outlets report that Trump administration requested this control release due to concerns about the model's advanced capabilities. Okay, so now what what so my question is here's the overall question. We'll talk more about this technology stuff. What are we doing now? Does every software release is Windows 12 now gonna have to go to the Trump administration and they have to make a decision on if they're gonna release it? Or from here on out, we we're having uh presidents decide if there's a new car that rolls out of the assembly line.

Mike Gorday 4:46

Maybe they're gonna you know worry about Adobe's new AI tools that we talked about last week.

Nathan Mumm 4:51

Talk about one the decision has sparked criticism from AI transparency groups and civil liberty organizations who or argue that the government is deciding who gets early access to the cutting-edge AI sets a trouble precedent. Now, some researchers warn that this could create a two-tier AI ecosystem. One for the government. That sounds like China. I mean, one for the government and one for everybody else. So we get the watered down version of AI, the government gets the high-end version of AI, and as the government then get uh books into actually see what we do.

Mike Gorday 5:24

Who was that bald woman back in the 90s and 80s that was like Stop the Madness? Oh, I don't I I don't know what to do. You remember that? No. Stop the madness. Were you talking about where's the beef gal? No, no, stop the madness lady. It was she was some bald lady big into uh life coaching or some stuff like that.

Nathan Mumm 5:42

Okay, all right. Well, others say the secrecy around soul's capabilities raises questions about what the model can do and why federal oversight is needed before public access. Now, OpenAI, who tried to take over and be buddy buddies with the government because Anthropa got kicked out, says they have a broader rollout coming soon. But critics argue that the move highlights growing tension between innovation, as I said, and regulation. As AI systems become more and more powerful, governments are increasingly stepping in, not just to regulate them, but to control access. For now, GPT 5.6 remains behind the locked door, available only to a select group chosen by Washington. And the tech world is watching closely to see what this means for the future of AI. We're gonna have to ask Nick about his opinion on this. I can't wait. I I'm interested. Oh, there is Nick here.

Nick Espinosa 6:32

He is listening in that odd here. It's not it's not good. It's not good, huh?

Nathan Mumm 6:38

Is that you're coming on in on this first one? All right, Nick. So uh in our main story, we're gonna interrupt just a little bit. I don't give it all away because we still have other questions to ask you. But what is your take here on this, right here, if I was to ask you as a consumer? It's bad.

Nick Espinosa 6:53

Well, let me let me just put this in an overarching way that essentially the hallmark of democratic governance is that major decisions like this are distributed across the government. The courts have a say, legislators have a say, regulators have a say, there's independent oversight bodies. And so when decisions are basically just on executive discretion, power becomes concentrated. And so I am not a fan. So think about this because now they can just declare emergency powers. And so, what happens when they decide who the competitors are, who the researchers are, who the universities are that can get these kinds of stuff, not to mention political opponents and everything else. There's a precedent that's being established here that I think is just not good. Not good at all.

Nathan Mumm 7:39

Not good at all. There you heard it from Nick. You're gonna get more from him in the main segment coming on up, but he says, not good at all. Not good at all. That's kind of the same feeling that I have also. I I I'm feeling the same way. I just don't know when we start trusting our legislators to make the decision on what we're doing.

Mike Gorday 7:56

Do we ever trust legislators? Do we ever trust the government? I I I I yeah. Because they would never do anything bad, right? That's that's right. All right, I think you

Meta Employee Tracking Backfires

Mike Gorday 8:05

have the next story. Yeah, we're gonna talk about Meta.

Nathan Mumm 8:07

Okay, what do we got going on there?

Mike Gorday 8:09

Hey, so Meta had this whole employee tracking program. Oh, yeah, that they immediately halted after internal data exposures happened. So Meta has abruptly paused this controversial employee tracking program after a security lap exposed sensitive worker data inside the company. The system, which is known as the Model Compatibility Initiative, or MCI, was rolled out in April and monitored employee computer activity, including mouse movements, click locations, keystrokes, and even screen content. Workers protested the tool from the start, calling it an invasive, unsafe, and a violation of personal liberty. They even did a a um what do you call it?

Nathan Mumm 8:56

What do you call those things that you asking me what? They did it they did an audit? They did a uh survey? No, they signed a petition. Oh, they signed a petition, they signed a pool.

Mike Gorday 9:07

Way to go helping me remember things. Okay, well, I I I didn't know I mean I know that they're trying to put a petition to get them to stop doing this, and Meta went ahead and did it. Okay. They're also trying to unionize, too. They initially we don't care about that. Okay. They initially refused to allow opt-outs, only softening its stance after the internal pushback. The pause came after a meta engineer issued a security notice revealing that databases containing MCI collected information were accessible to anyone inside the company far beyond the intended group. Meta says it has no indication the data was misused, but confirmed the exposure occurred on June the eighteenth, which and required multiple attempts to fully lock that down. Employees say the incidence validates their warnings, describing the leak as a mess and accusing leadership of ignoring clear risks. Huh. Wow. I don't understand that.

Nathan Mumm 10:04

You don't understand that? No. Do you do you like having a uh a software program watching everything you do?

Mike Gorday 10:10

No, I I have been against this. You know that I have consistently been against employee tracking software. Yes, yes. Uh one former employees There was all the rage during COVID.

Nathan Mumm 10:20

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's it's we didn't know if they're working at home.

SPEAKER_07 10:24

Yeah.

Mike Gorday 10:26

It's just crazy. One one former employee said Meta has created an authoritarian environment work where workers are no longer respected or heard. Late Monday, Meta VP Stephanie Kazriel announced the program would remain offline until the company is confident in the effectiveness of our data protection controls. He added that Meta has already gathered enough data to evaluate whether MCA or MCI, rather, sorry. Sorry, MCA has long-term value. Statement some employees interpret as a sign the tool may not return in its current form. For now, the program remains paused, workers are demanding answer, and Meta is once again facing scrutiny over how it handles the data of the people who build its products.

Nathan Mumm 11:08

Well, we talked about last week. They lost two huge senior executives all last week, right? So Meta is bleeding. They gotta be bleeding there with their employees. Well, it was supposed to do that. Then it was uh tracking how many clicks you did, what you did, and then all of a sudden it started coming on up with analysis of who was a better worker by how much work product they did versus not work product. So and then did you ever see those videos they hit YouTube where they had people that create like uh devices that they could have so that they hit the keyboard or one was on the fan and they would move the mouse left and right? They they created all these creative little ideas that were on the internet for people to so that it looked like they were actually doing work. Yeah, so that's what Meta's up to. All right. Well, you ready for story number three? Sure. Well, and this you know what, this was gonna be a rant, but I just decided to move it to story number three because shouldn't this be a Nathan Nugget if you're gonna rant about it? Yeah, I got something else I'm gonna

GTA 6 And The Death Of Discs

Nathan Mumm 12:15

rant about. Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 12:16

Nathan Rant 2.

Nathan Mumm 12:17

So no, this is the first one. All right. Nathan Nugget one. Rockstar, not the energy drink, but the game company might single-handedly end physical media for all video game systems moving forward. Grand Theft Auto 6 went on pre-sale last week for $799 for the download only. $799? Sorry.

SPEAKER_06 12:38

That's a lot of money for GTA 6.

Nathan Mumm 12:40

Sorry. $79.99. Um, with the down the download only version. Now, Rockstar has confirmed that they will have a ultimate edition for $99.99, but the physical edition does not include a disc. Just a box with a single-use download code. So you're gonna open up your CD-ROM box that says Grand Theft Auto 6 with artwork on the are they gonna give it a make it a scratcher at least so you can be like doing something? No, it's probably just a code in there. So you're telling me you're paying 20 bucks for a plastic uh case for artwork that you get, and a couple additional hands. Why not?

Mike Gorday 13:26

We live in we we live in the age of delusion. We might as well do that there.

Nathan Mumm 13:31

All right, so for many long time fans, this isn't just disappointing, but it feels like it's breaking up. Grand Theft Auto has always been the franchise defined by its physical presence, maps, manual, posters, and iconic unboxing moments. Now players are paying a record high price for a product that they can't hold, can't resell, and can't preserve. The backlash immediately has been out there. Independent retailers like VGP in Toronto, Loot Box Gaming in Delaware, and PP Games in Winnipeg have publicly refused to stock the code in box editions, calling it the death of physical media. The death of physical media. Now, PNP Games even launched a petition demanding Rockstar release a real disc. Consumer right groups include Stop Killing Video Games, say the move accelerates the industry's shift towards licensing instead of true ownership. Now, the founder urges that digital only releases erode trust, especially from publishers with a history of removing older titles from stores. Now the title has also shifted about this. We talked about the digital distribution. In recent years, they've introduced the game key cards, physical cartridges that act as a key to download a game rather than containing the game itself. But this is the problem. Fans are frustrated. Physical media supporters say Rockstar is abandoning the last form of game ownership. While collectors mourn the loss of GTA's traditional launch experience, even Midnight release culture wants a hallmark for Grand Theft Auto hype. The question is, are retailers going to be able to sell these or is this going to become an online process only? Well, I do think this is interesting. So I do think this will be the death of physical media. But we've had a birth of rental entertainment before. It was called VHS Rentals and DVD rentals. And that was going to be the end of media as we knew it because no one would ever buy a physical copy. 20 plus years later, guess what? We're still buying DVDs, we're still buying Blu-rays, and as a matter of fact, some publishers are spending more time with the added features again in Blu-ray editions, and physical media is on an uptick. So as much as you want to remove it now, I get the whole idea about having licensing and about only renting versions of the games. This will be a fad that will soon be replaced by physical media again. So hang on there, people.

Mike Gorday 15:56

So you think it will be okay. You think that Rockstar is gonna actually come back around and make physical dishes.

Nathan Mumm 16:02

Well, why not? Because if I can then release a physical version for $169, and then I jump the price even more, so you get the two download versions, or now all of a sudden you're gonna pay for a double copy, and you can now get the physical. Yeah, people will pay. They'll pay an additional almost $100 more for a game so they could have that physical media. That's the problem, and that is what's gonna happen. All right, Nick wants to jump in here. His thoughts on this, Nick, what's your thoughts on this?

Nick Espinosa 16:28

Basically, Amazon proved why physical media isn't going away. Yeah, I have a Kindle, I love to read. I've had books pulled from the Kindle when basically Amazon loses publishing rights. They don't give me my money back. But if I have a physical book, is somebody from Amazon knocking on my door saying we need the physical book back? So so there has been, as I understand it, a resurgence of people buying physical books that like to read because they don't want to see them gone all of a sudden, like three years from now when they want to read it again. So to your point, Nathan, I think this is coming. Not to mention the collectors of the world that like to put up the boxes and the stuff behind them. I mean, anybody that's been a longtime viewer of the YouTube channel here on Tech Time has historically seen these shelves filled with DVDs and all of that. And I've always joked if the apocalypse the apocalypse hits, come on over because Blockbuster Nick is open. Yeah, you know, like we'll hang out. As long as we get power, we can load up the shotguns, wait for the zombies, and watch a movie. That's right you know. So it's it's one of those things I think that's not going away. So my two cents.

Nathan Mumm 17:28

That's I believe so too. All right, well, that ends our top technology stories of the week. Next we have Nick Espinoza from the Security Fanatics Up. See you after the commercial break.

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Nathan Mumm 18:31

All right. Are you okay there, Mike? Are you okay? He was choking up over the whiskey. Welcome back to Tech Time with Nate

Whiskey Pour And Guest Intro

Nathan Mumm 18:38

the Mum. Our weekly show covers the top technical subjects without any political agenda. We verify the facts and do it with sense of humor in less than 60 minutes, and of course, the little whiskey on the side. Now, today, Mark Gregui, our whiskey consumer, is not in studio, but he sent his information to our control board. So we have our new intern control board person, Peyton, behind. Can you explain to us what Mark has chosen for us today?

SPEAKER_06 19:03

I can. Give me a minute while I pull up his information. So it is from Burbatch website, Tequila and Company Spirits in one whiskey. It's a s exciting, complex spectrum and characterized by a fresh, creamy, and fruity aroma on the palate. Harmonizing vanilla cream, light fruits, and a hint of pepper, balanced with a mild, gentle note of fresh wood in the finish, creating a perfect, rounded taste experience. Sure. That's that's what it is.

Nathan Mumm 19:36

Okay, Mark, sure. I I really like it actually.

Mike Gorday 19:38

It's good for you.

Nathan Mumm 19:40

I'm kind of liking it, yeah.

Mike Gorday 19:41

Yeah, okay. It tastes like apple juice filtered through an old rusty carburetor.

SPEAKER_06 19:45

Oh, wow. It's a German brand. Okay. From uh Norton Hart Hard Hurdenberg. I don't know. I don't speak German. It's a single malt. It is a 43%, and it is a 86% proof. Give a rough estimate on the price because Nathan will like it because it's in his price range.

Nathan Mumm 20:05

Uh it's under 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_06 20:07

$15. It's not a $54.

Nathan Mumm 20:10

$54. That's bridging up at the high end of my price.

SPEAKER_06 20:15

Yeah. Please do not forget to like and subscribe and drink responsibly. Heaven can wait. All right. Note from Mark. That's a note from Mark.

Nathan Mumm 20:23

I can't wait to see what our deal is. That's his that's his that's his deal. That's his that's his deal. All right, heaven can wait.

Mike Gorday 20:29

Now, this is pretty much any movie back in the no. I I'm not so far I'm not a fan. Oh, I like it. It's got a nice finish after it's got an after finish that that hangs out.

Nathan Mumm 20:40

I kind of like it. For a while. Yeah.

Mike Gorday 20:42

It's like tequila.

Nathan Mumm 20:43

I do taste the tequila in it. Absolutely.

Mike Gorday 20:45

You're you you you don't have that subtle of a palette?

Nathan Mumm 20:50

Is that what you're telling?

Mike Gorday 20:51

Yeah, okay.

Nathan Mumm 20:51

All right. Well, with our whiskey tasting completed, let's move on to our feature segment. Today, our technology expert, Nick Espinoza, is joining the show. He's an expert in cybersecurity, network infrastructure, and has consulted with clients ranging from small businesses to the Fortune 100 level. In 1998, at the age of 19, Nick founded Windy City Networks, which was later acquired in 2015. He is created now security fanatics, and he serves as a chief security fanatic. Let's start our next segment.

Who Gets To Shut Off AI

Introduction 21:20

Welcome to the segment we call Ask the Experts with our Tech Time Radio expert, Nick Espinosa.

Nathan Mumm 21:29

All right, Nick, welcome to the show. Now, for everybody that's listening, no, you've already come on in and gave a couple of opinions. Tell a little bit about your background to everybody that doesn't know or has not met you before on our show.

Nick Espinosa 21:42

Yeah, I'm Nick Esp Espinoza, as your intro said, um, with Security Fanatics, and uh, you know, we uh we do a whole lot of stuff uh on top of it. Uh I also uh, you know, you might catch my podcasts or whatnot on YouTube, SoundCloud, all the social medias, minus TikTok and a couple of other things. Things. But I am curious though. Do you know, does Mark like ranch dressing? Does he like ranch?

Nathan Mumm 22:07

I don't.

Mike Gorday 22:07

I would say that he he probably doesn't like Star Wars, so he probably doesn't like it.

Nathan Mumm 22:12

He doesn't like ranch. He probably doesn't like ranch. He's probably like all these other Europeans that don't know what ranch is.

Nick Espinosa 22:18

Yeah, because he's vacationing like a European. So like I don't I don't even know what's going on there. Every time I see that dude, he's like in Italy or somewhere. But I digress. Yep. Happy to be here.

Nathan Mumm 22:29

All right. Well, thank you for telling. Now let's start up. We're gonna be talking about our lead story here with the government, right? So we're they are now collaborating on AI. Are we gonna start playing a factor in businesses by the government choosing who has access and who doesn't? And what's your thoughts on the control of anthropic's newest AI model? And now what the new information on open AI?

Nick Espinosa 22:53

Now, and and this was even before ChatGPT. And I don't even know if I'd say the government is collaborating so much as it is trying to control it. But I want to start with this because anthropic is essentially the foundation of what we just talked about at the very beginning of the show. And for the record, I think export controls are critical for high technology. But this particular situation, for some of the stuff that I said earlier, has just given me some serious, serious pause here. And so here's what's going on because about a week or two or so, the Trump administration imposed emergency export controls on Anthropic's newest AI models. Those are Fable V and Mythos V. And they basically uh uh forced the company to disable the systems worldwide. They said it can only be used in the United States. Anthropic could not very quickly just shut off the planet, except for the US, so they shut the whole thing down. Uh so essentially the Trump administration was citing national security concerns that these two models had safety controls that could be bypassed, but you know, Anthropic really came out and said, no, this, you know, this is not um uh a thing. This is not a real big issue. It's a minor thing, and we're in the process of fixing it already. But this is uh actually a rather significant thing because it's not that the model was just restricted, it's that the US government, the Trump administration, demonstrated that it could effectively shut down access to a globally deployed frontier AI system, and we have like almost no public transparency regarding any kind of evidence, process, or standards that they're using. And so this really, for the record, isn't about anthropic or even open AI, it's about who gets to decide when an AI system is too powerful to exist, right? And and so, because of that, we have an unprecedented situation on our hands here. A single government directive has effectively removed a cutting-edge AI system from the planet within hours. You know, that's uh it it's it's uh basically unprecedented, you know, and so they did it without any real transparency. None of the other branches of government, you know, uh, or even the public were notified, they just pulled the plug. And so I think that's a huge thing, right? Because the Trump administration is effectively denied uh, you know, deciding who receives access and what technologies are permitted, what competitors are restricted. I kind of talked about that, you know, in the beginning here, but think about the global implications of what they just did. Because imagine being the EU or Canada or Australia or any modern country that has the ability to build compute or AI. They're all thinking basically, like, well, if access to an advanced AI coming out of the United States can be turned off by that government, then maybe we should just build our own, you know? And I think that's one of the reasons why we're seeing sovereignty, data sovereignty, and AI sovereignty discussions accelerating around the world, especially in the EU. It's a crazy situation to be in, you know, and and for a lot of the reasons why I said earlier on with Chat GPT, it's it's just it's a big, big concerning issue. Really is.

Nathan Mumm 25:54

It is, you know, and and I do have some concerns about it also. I mean, again, as I kind of joked about it in the lead story. I mean, are we gonna start sending windows there?

Mike Gorday 26:02

I don't know concerns about it at all.

Nathan Mumm 26:05

But I bet but I mean, if you start regulating, when then all of a sudden you say, Well, you know, I don't like this or I don't like this, guess what? Uh Microsoft, we really like your new OS that you're releasing, but you know, we really don't like your browser. We think there's some concerted security concerns with that. We're gonna delay you releasing this until you fix this, or we want you to do this.

Nick Espinosa 26:22

I mean, right, right. Or or or maybe Microsoft runs afoul of the government in some way. Yeah, that pesky old freedom of speech thing. Yeah, you know, and those are the things. And there are products that from Microsoft that have been export controlled before. High encryption is one of those things. So, for example, you cannot export high encryption, the most advanced encryption platforms, to China for fear of reverse engineering. That's illegal to do. You know, so so when we are looking at this, there's an entire apparatus and infrastructure called ER. It's the export regulation authority, basically. And and they are the ones that that have a very transparent standard for these things. And I can understand emergencies, but without any kind of transparency or notification or or or really even a valid reason, it's deeply, deeply concerning. It really is.

Data Centers Bring Noise And Costs

Nathan Mumm 27:12

Let's move on to story number two. AI data centers. Now there's many hidden costs, but neighbors are now realizing that data centers are constantly emitting the humming noises due to all the HVACs that need to keep these machines cool. Are local data centers now the old versions of the power lines over your home?

Nick Espinosa 27:32

Well, I mean, the old joke is did you grow up over, you know, under power lines? Yep. That's a whole other thing, right? But but these residents are, yeah, to your point, you know, I mean, think about all the heating, cooling, the chillers, everything that mechanical contractors need to make a data center just keep the temperature it needs to be at. So there's just they're constantly hearing low frequency hums across the neighborhoods. And it goes 24-7, 365. I mean, computers generate a lot of heat. When you have a lot of heat in an enclosed building, you need a lot of HVAC. But this, I think, really, if I'm just thinking this through, you know, as I was putting my notes together, you know, when we were going to talk about this, was you know, I think this really just shows the planet as these things grow that the cloud isn't like some ethereal thing. It's not floating in the sky, right? The cloud is somebody else's computer, and it's usually a whole lot of computers, and now it's next door to you, right? And as AI demand just continues to absolutely explode, we have seen an absolute explosion in data consideration or permits for it across not just North America, but Europe, Asia, you name it. And it's interesting too, because originally and initially it was sold to communities as economic development and all of this, but after the construction costs, there's like two guys that need to run the data center. It's all just computers, right?

Nathan Mumm 28:46

Yep, yeah.

Nick Espinosa 28:47

And so, you know, so so they're not seeing that. And now you've got humming and and increased electrical cost because the grid is shared, which I think is ridiculous. And so the the bigger question, I think, through this whole thing is you know, data centers are critical, and like nobody's denying that we would not be talking to each other right here or on the radio if data centers didn't exist, right? But as society and a species, can we sustain unlimited growth, which is what they seem to really want, right? We have physical resources that that are limited in general, right? Local communities are bearing the costs of this, and so on top of the noise, I mean, you've got increased energy, water consumption, which is a huge problem right now, land use changes, environmental concerns. And so the profits of this, you know, obviously they're global for these massive companies, but the consequences are being felt in the communities. They're local. And I think that's something that that we really have to consider. And that's, I think, why we're seeing a big pushback. Uh, a lot of uh states or or communities are now really reconsidering stuff. That massive one in Utah had to be shrunk, you know, in permits because the residents of Utah came out, you know, with torches and pitchforks, main banned data centers for two years, you know. I mean, so it's it's a big topic, and I don't think it's going away.

Mike Gorday 30:01

You know, we are we are entering the great filter.

Nathan Mumm 30:04

Yeah, see, I think we're gonna figure out a way to actually have some of these data centers be put into water facilities, like we're talking about putting them in the ocean, lakes and oceans and different places to we've done that already. It and I've heard that there's some of that already. Yeah, and I've heard it's been kind of successful. So I think if we could figure out figure out a way to do that, now all of a sudden our oceans are are are are well, although I don't know if all of a sudden you're at a data center and you have this big pollution that just squares Right.

Nick Espinosa 30:32

Well, and that's and that's the concern. I mean, Google, I think it was like in San Francisco Bay or somewhere, or maybe it was off the coast, uh, basically sank a data center underneath. The there are logistical problems with putting it in space or on the moon. I actually did a segment like a while ago on my podcast on data centers on the moon, uh, where a company's trying to shoot a little box that essentially could sit there and very slowly capture data and you could send stuff to it. Um, but to your point, poisoning the ocean is uh is a big longitudinal concern. I mean, think about all the plastics. Like we have a pool of plastic that's larger than the state of Texas, if I recall, floating around the Pacific alone. Yeah, you know, so so that's a big issue. We kill that ecology, we're basically killing ourselves. Yeah, so these are the discussions, these are the longitudinal discussions we should be having at the governmental level, and we're just not. And it seems like right now Congress couldn't get together and vote on what to have for lunch, let alone like meaningful legislation on this, but it it's something that just we need to talk about.

Nathan Mumm 31:29

6G is our next privacy battleground.

6G As A Surveillance Sensor Grid

Nathan Mumm 31:32

6G isn't just giving us internet connected devices, it's used for mass surveillance in a way we simply should be considering and talking about as a society. Nick, what is going on here?

Nick Espinosa 31:45

Yeah, yeah. This is, I mean, you know, Mike strap in, buddy.

Mike Gorday 31:49

Oh, I need more whiskey.

Nick Espinosa 31:53

So think about it this way. Most most of us just look at cellular networks um, you know, as communication systems, right? We use them to make phone calls, send messages, browse the internet, connect devices. But here's the thing like a lot of researchers that have been working on future 6G networks, they're increasingly describing them as something that's like way more powerful than this, right? And so it's looking like these 6G systems coming up pretty shortly, you know, in the grand scheme of things, aren't just going to simply move information. It looks like they're gonna become massive sensing platforms capable of detecting movement, location, behaviors, environmental conditions, and even physiological signals through the radio environment that it creates as it's basically meshed everywhere, right? So think about it this way: like future networks may not just know what you're communicating, they may actually know what you're doing. Because some of the proposed 6G architectures include environmental sense, uh sensing, precision location tracking, digital twins, meaning easily clonable, smart city integration, autonomous systems, human-machine interactions. And mind you, this is the cellular system that we are talking about here. So the network itself becomes part of a becomes part communication system and part sensor network. And most people don't even realize what is being collected today, right? Most of us, you know, we understand cameras capture images and all of that, or you know, but but very few understand radio sensing. And so we have a big transparency problem with 6G as well, because data collection will go through the roof and it'll be unescapable. And so one of the biggest lessons that we've got thus far, I think, from the internet age is that data collected for one purpose obviously gets used for another. We've seen that. Location data is a perfect example of that, right? It's it's can be used for advertising or surveillance, even national security. And so imagine the data that that you could pull from 6G sensing, and and it's absolutely staggering with what this could do in terms of surveillance. It's it's absolutely crazy.

Mike Gorday 34:00

Yeah, you gotta stop sitting around naked in a beanbag chair eating keto's people thinking that's gonna be towers for 6G.

Nathan Mumm 34:09

So we had two truths and a lion. Again, uh, I had two segments regarding uh wireless network stuff, and I changed just very briefly information of some of the technology that is actually being worked on. I mean, and these sensors, man, they can t they can bounce off the uh radio framework. Echolocation. Yeah, it's echolocation on top of that, and then they know if you're at the store, they know when you're walking by, they know when you look at your phone and raise your phone up. I mean, you can start doing tracking if you go into like Walmart and you stop at a certain area, they have inside uh shelves, they're gonna be able to tell if you're crop listing a while. Disney pioneered it, yeah. They did.

SPEAKER_06 34:45

They can see as you grab that can of beans and slip it into your bag.

unknown 34:49

Yep.

Nick Espinosa 34:50

Yeah, yeah. Did Disney Disney was the one that pioneered it? They, you know, they moved everybody from credit cards to these like smart bands. So you tap Mickey's face, you can buy something. But what they also are are RFID sensors, and they literally could see the flow of traffic moving through like Disney World or Disneyland or whatever to understand which attractions weren't really getting much use, uh, you know, what people were buying, where they were going, how the herd was moving, if you will. You know, and they were able to hone their precision. I went to Disney years ago, um, you know, and I was there for I want to say like four days. And when I got that bill, I was absolutely shocked because I didn't know what I was charging until I got it. And I have never been separated faster from my money than at Disney. And I wasn't even mad. I was just impressed. Like, oh my God, I spent how much and did how, you know, because your credit card's not out. You know, it's it's a subconscious thing, they're amazing at it. But that's what's coming for all of us everywhere. And I think that's something that that we really need to start really looking at and and slapping controls and security and regulation around it. It's gonna be a big problem.

Nathan Mumm 36:00

Instead of everybody, but everybody will be, uh, I just want the new iPhone. I just want to I just want the new Samsung phone and it hasn't on it. That's okay. It's no big deal. I don't really care. And then we just do Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, then uh we're that's where we're at. Well, hey, we want to thank Nick for being a part of a handedly destroyed society. All right. Now though, let's move on to Mike, the AI guy.

SPEAKER_07 36:24

We have the grumpiest guy in the world.

Ford Rehires Humans After AI Fails

Nathan Mumm 36:46

Bonk. Alright. Mike the AI guy. What do you got for us today?

Mike Gorday 36:50

Oh man, what do I got? Ford. Yep. Ford just proved my entire existence on this segment. Okay, what is that? Ford, yes, Ford. Just prove that AI isn't replacing humans anytime soon. In fact, Ford's AI messed up so badly they had to rehire 350 humans to come back and fix the damage. Some of them were rehired, meaning Ford literally called people who had already been fired and said, Hey, remember when we replaced you with a robot? Yeah, it turns out they can't build a car, so you come back and train it. And I, Mike the AI guy, would like to say, I told you so. Okay. I told you this would happen. I told you companies would shove AI into places that doesn't belong, and then panic when the AI starts acting like a toddler with a wrench. Okay. Ford rolled out this AI system hoping to improve vehicle quality. Meanwhile, USA Today reported that Ford leaves the entire U.S. auto industry in the 2026 recalls. That's right. Ford is number one, and oops, bring it back. We need to fix it. They're up there with Wiimo now, aren't they? Waymo, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:02

Waymo's different. I mean, Ford could be making the Waymo cars. Not really.

Mike Gorday 38:07

But don't worry. Ford's CE COO says recalls are a lagging indicator. Nathan, that's a corporate speak for hey, the AI messed up last year, but maybe it won't mess up next year.

SPEAKER_07 38:20

Okay.

Mike Gorday 38:21

Uh, here comes the best part. Yep. Ford admitted the AI didn't work because they didn't have enough experienced engineers left to train it. Oh, okay. Charles Poon literally said the AI was only as good as the information it was trained on, and Ford had let too much of that knowledge walk out the door because they were so excited about the awesomeness of AI.

SPEAKER_06 38:43

Hey guys, we're so sorry. We fired everything that the AI needs to learn from.

Mike Gorday 38:47

Tell you what, if if somebody did that to me and rehired me to train the AI, I would go to great lengths to train it wrong.

Nathan Mumm 38:55

Would you really? Yeah. I could see you doing that. Yeah. This is where a door goes. Yeah.

Mike Gorday 39:00

The engine how come all the handles are over here? So Ford spent three years hiring 350 seasoned engineers, some new, some returning, to retrain younger employees and retrain the AI. That's right. Humans had to teach the robot how to do the job the humans were already doing before Ford placed them with the robot. That's not innovation. That's a sitcom.

Nathan Mumm 39:25

It does sound like that. How do you have those conversations if you're rehiring back next year? You're like, hey, I'm told.

Mike Gorday 39:32

Hey, uh, hey John, uh, I know we fired you last year.

Nathan Mumm 39:36

We gave you a severance.

Mike Gorday 39:37

We gave you a severance package, but you know, your job went to a robot. Hey, uh, we need you to come back and just it's just a prank, guys. We're just messing with you. If I was those engineers, man, I can come back and teach the AI how to how to build your own.

Nathan Mumm 39:51

I would be charging massive amounts of money.

Mike Gorday 39:53

Yeah, as a consultant.

SPEAKER_06 39:55

He doesn't understand that the wheels need to be on the sides of the car, it keeps putting them in the middle of the car in a straight line.

Mike Gorday 40:00

Yeah, I don't know. Now forward to celebrating topic JD Power's mass market quality ranking. Great, fantastic. But what's going on behind the curtain? They're quietly admitting that the AI wasn't ready, the humans were essential, and the whole automation revolution needed a human rescue squad. So here's your headline, Nathan. Ford tried to let AI build cars, and AI fumbled the wrench, and Ford had to bring back the humans who actually know what a car is. Okay. And here I am to remind you. AI is great at pretending it knows things. Humans are great at actually knowing things, and corporate is actually great at pretending to know that humans don't know what AI thinks it does.

Nathan Mumm 40:47

Okay.

Mike Gorday 40:47

Uh Ford forgot about that. And now they're paying 350 salaries to remember. That's almost kind of like poetic justice.

Nathan Mumm 40:56

We replaced all these people with AI. We spent billions of dollars on data centers. This is just crazy. We have all these things going on, and then we had to hire you back.

Mike Gorday 41:06

You know, when this started a few years ago, BuzzFeed uh got rid of everything got rid of a whole bunch of their writers. Yeah. Didn't they end up hiring all those guys back?

Nathan Mumm 41:15

Yeah. Uh no. They didn't know that. No, no, they did not. They hired some back, but they did not hire them all back. So all right. That was Mike's mesmerizing moment, which has been Ford AI guy. Which has been called. That's why I'm a Chevy guy. All right. Now, are you a Chevy guy? Uh yeah. Uh kind of a Ford guy myself, but maybe not anymore.

Mike Gorday 41:36

All right, let's start. Well, I'll be a Chevy guy until they they mess up with AR.

Nathan Mumm 41:40

Okay, let's let's go to our secret sound.

Secret Sound And How To Join

Introduction 41:43

And now for our secret sound, brought to us by Elite Executive Services. Visit TechTimeradio.com and click on the contact page to submit your answer. Odie, play that sound. Yeah, Odie.

Nathan Mumm 42:01

All right. Do you know what that secret sound is? The pot is back at $50 because we just had a winner now. We do want to make sure that we whiskey Chris was our winner. We had three people that were doing that. So Whiskey Chris has now won twice in a row. So we we had to now put so whiskey Chris, if you're listening, congratulations on winning your 65 bucks for the last sound. But you now have to wait at least one secret sound until you guess it again. Was our new rules that we put in place. So there we have everything taken care of. But if you do know what this one is, the plots back at 50 bucks. You can go and visit our talkback system at techtime radio.com. You can leave us a message at 206-649-6098. But now we're going to take a commercial break. When we return, we have this week in technology. So now would be a great time to enjoy a little whiskey on the side, as we will be doing so also. Hey Mike. Yeah, what's up? Hey, so you know what? We need people to start liking our uh social media pages.

Mike Gorday 42:58

If you like our show, if you really like us, we should use your support on Patreon.com. Or is it Patreon? I think it's Patreon. Okay, Patreon. If you really like us, you can say I'm the English guy? Patreon.com.

Nathan Mumm 43:10

I I butcher the English language? You know you butcher the English language. So it's all the time.

Mike Gorday 43:15

It's patreon.com. Patreon.com. If you really like if you really like our show, you can subscribe to Patreon.com and help us out.

Nathan Mumm 43:23

Oh, and you can visit us on that Facebook platform. You know the one that Zuckerberg owns?

Mike Gorday 43:27

The one that we always bag on?

Nathan Mumm 43:28

Yeah, you can we're on Facebook too. Yeah, like us on Facebook. Do you know what our Facebook page is? Tech Time Radio. At Tech Time Radio. You know what? There's a trend here. It seems to be that there's a trend, and that's Tech Time Radio. Or you can even Instagram with us. And that's at Tech Time Radio. That's at Tech Time Radio. Or you can find us on TikTok. And it's Tech Time Radio. It's at Tech Time Radio.

Mike Gorday 43:50

Like and subscribe to our social media.

Nathan Mumm 43:52

Like us today. We need you to like us.

Mike Gorday 43:54

Like us and subscribe. That's it.

Nathan Mumm 43:56

That's it. That's that simple.

Introduction 43:59

And next.

ARPANET And The Internet’s Birth

Introduction 44:00

Now, let's look back at this week in technology.

Nathan Mumm 44:04

Alright, we're going to the Wayback Machine. We'll go to July 3rd, 1969. The birth of the internet. Sorry, Algor, this was not you, but on July 3rd, 1969, UCLA issued a press release announcing something that sounded almost sci-fi at the time. It would become the first station in a nationwide computer network capable of linking machines of different makes and different languages into a shared system. They called it a major forward stefting computing, and they were absolutely right. This was the birth of the ARPA network or ARPNET is what it was kind of called. The project founded by the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, led by Dr. Lawrence Roberts, UCLA Stanford Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah formed the first four-node subnet. With UCLA serving as the official measurement center under Professor Leonard Glenrock. The first message on this network on this new network wouldn't be sent until October 29th, but July 3rd was the day the world learned what was coming. The press release predicted larger computer networks of the future. What they didn't know is that it would describe the beginning of the internet. Decades before any of us would ever log on. Was it a cat video? Uh no, it wasn't a cat video.

SPEAKER_06 45:23

It was a GIF. All right.

Nathan Mumm 45:26

Cat cat vid. That was this week in Technology. If you ever wanted to watch some Tech Time history with over three hundred plus weekly broadcasts, spanning our six plus years of video, podcasts, and blog information, you can visit us at techtime radio.com to watch our show. We're going to take a commercial break. When we return, we have the Mark Mumble whiskey review. See you after this.

Mike Gorday 45:47

How to See a Man About a Dog. It combines darkly comic short stories, powerful poems, and pulp fiction prose to create a heartbreaking and hilarious journey. Readers will not soon forget. Read How to See a Man About a Dog, collected writings for free with Kindle Unlimited. Ebook available on Kindle, print copies available on Amazon The Book Pository and more.

Mark’s Whiskey Mumble From Germany

Introduction 46:12

The segment we've been waiting all week for, Mark's Whiskey Mumble.

SPEAKER_06 46:24

All right, what do we have on our whiskey mumble? All right, do you know what we're celebrating today on June 30th? Uh, what are we celebrating today? National OOT Day. That stands for Outfit of the Day. A holiday created so people can photograph their clothes, post them online, and pretend the rest of us are waiting for that update. It is a celebration of personal style and self-expression, so snap a photo, share your look, and inspire a global community of people who apparently had nothing better to do than judge pants on the internet. And here at Tech Time, our outfit of the day is whatever still fits. Looks clean on camera. It doesn't make Nathan look more confused than normal. While Mark is out showing off his outfit of the day, we're heading to Germany, a country known for engineering, efficiency, and precision. And absolute and absolutely not high fashion. For today's whiskey from Hardenburg Wheelton, it's Hardenburg something. Has been owned and managed by the Hardenberg family since 1700s. The family's ancestor home in Hardenberg Castle. In Norton Hardenburg, which is the ancestral home of the Knights of Hardenburg. They acquired the castle in 1287 and still own today. They were later made barons in 1778. Counts became apparently just their own. A castle was not good enough for them. Today's whiskey is their tricast produced using the pot still method with double distilled and and triple aged oak barrels. It's matured in Kentucky bourbon, new American oak, and German Napole not Napoleon something like that. Oak wood barrels, giving it its distinct characteristics. And what is a German Napoleon oak barrel, you might ask? Yes. Despite the name, it does not mean Napoleon Bonaparte, personally. Came by and inspected the tree and said yes. Uh regions known for high quality oak trees today. Nathan and Mike are drinking a German dry tri-cast whiskey from a family with a castle and noble titles. And enough oak terminology to make Nathan pretend that he understands barrel aging.

Nathan Mumm 48:50

Alright, thank you, Mark. Yeah, that could have been any more difficult. I think he must have just cut and pasted every single thing he could in there.

SPEAKER_06 48:58

I feel like he did.

Nathan Mumm 48:59

Alright, well. Thanks, Peyton. Whiskey and technology are such a great pairing. Kind of like Wheel of Fortune and Vanna White. Alright. Now though, you

Grok’s NSFW Problem Becomes The Fail

Nathan Mumm 49:10

got one. You like that? Does that make sense for you guys? Okay. Well, let's prepare for our technology fail of the week, brought to you by Elite Executive Services, technology experts, to help you out of a technology fail. Congratulations.

Ad 49:24

You're a failure. Oh, I failed. Did I? Yes. Did I? Yes.

Nathan Mumm 49:31

All right. This technology fail comes from XAI's Grok. Now, the chatbot Elon Musk keeps insisting it's edgy, free thinking, and built differently. And boy, it is. According to new report from the information, well over half of Grok's total traffic is NSF requests. Not coding, not productivity, not research. Nope. Users are hammering Grok for adult role play, erotica, and everything that filters well through that lens. Yep, that's what you do when you give people free reign. That's what you do. And here's the fail: Grok's users figured out it's cheaper to run these requests through X AI's coding model because that tier costs less than other AI porn models that are out there.

SPEAKER_06 50:13

So that's a sentence.

Nathan Mumm 50:15

So in the uh industry, I guess uh AI and Grok are meaningful and putting internal analysis together, finding significant code model prompts. Now I know a friend of mine, Steve, he uses Grok AI and he loves it. He is probably one of the few people that is not using it for the creative writings. Instead, now the company employees are reporting uncomfortable, some embarrassing and disturbed, especially after Grok generated inappropriate images of real people, including miners, which triggered investigations and lawsuits. XAI tried to patch the system, but paid subscribers can still generate questionable content through the models. And here's the kicker AI is aggressively chasing government and military contracts. Well, its flagship product is best known for, and that's why our technology fails.

Mike Gorday 51:06

There has to be something within the discussion of government taking control of certain AI things and not grok.

Nathan Mumm 51:14

Not grok and not grok. Well, okay, well, let's now move to our pick of the day whiskey tastings.

Whiskey Verdict And Sign-Off

Introduction 51:20

And now our pick of the day for our whiskey tastings. Let's see what bubbles to the top.

Nathan Mumm 51:28

Alright, what do we have here, Peyton? What are we drinking? Uh, we are drinking this you're supposed to have this up on the beaverbach.

SPEAKER_06 51:39

Beaverbach, yes. Okay. It is $59. $59. And what is the alcohol content? The alcohol content is it is a 43%. Okay. And it is an 86 proof.

Nathan Mumm 51:53

Because alcohol content times two is proof.

SPEAKER_06 51:56

Yes, well, I'm just giving you all the information I was giving you. It's 100%. Uh it's a malted barley. Okay. And it is from the Hardenburg Winthins family. Yep. Distilled in Nortan, Hardenburg, Germany. Okay. And yeah, it's not uh non-aged started. So it's dated.

Mike Gorday 52:17

All right. No age dated. Okay. Triple barrels, one Napoleonic oak, which has nothing to do with it. What do you go with though? I'm giving it a down.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

Thumbs up. I give it a down. I'm with Mike.

Nathan Mumm 52:27

You give it a down? Yeah. It's an honor to be a host of today's show each week. We're here to decode the technology that shapes your world. One breach, breakthrough, and bourbon at a time. Remember, the science of tomorrow starts with the technology of today. See you guys next week. Bye-bye.

Introduction 52:40

Thanks for joining us on Tech Time Radio. We hope that you had a chance to have that hmm moment today in technology. The fun doesn't stop there. We recommend that you go to techtime radio.com and join our fan list for the most important aspect of staying connected and winning some really great monthly prizes. We also have a few other ways to stay connected, including subscribing to our podcast on any podcast service, from Apple to Google and everything in between. We're also on YouTube. So check us out on youtube.comslash techtime radio. All one word. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did making it for you. From all of us at Tech Time Radio, remember Mum's the Word. Have a safe and fantastic week.