TL;DR: “Clanker” becomes Gen Z’s go-to anti-AI slur as Nvidia reveals 39% of revenue comes from just two mystery customers, while researchers discover chatbots can be manipulated through simple psychological tactics. Meanwhile, AI is making doctors worse at spotting cancer without assistance, 911 centres turn to AI for overwhelmed call volumes, and cybercriminals weaponise Claude for “vibe-hacking” ransomware attacks. Plus: Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-throughs after taco trolling, Taiwan’s embarrassing Chinese robot dog purchase, teens increasingly use AI as therapists, and 95% of enterprise AI projects fail to reach production despite massive spending.
“Clanker” becomes the new anti-AI rallying cry
Gen Z and Gen Alpha have coined “Clanker” as their preferred slur against AI, with posts about the term amassing hundreds of millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. The term, borrowed from science fiction like “Battlestar Galactica,” has become central to a rising backlash against AI technology, with real-life rallies against the technology happening in San Francisco and London. Even Senator Ruben Gallego used the term to promote his new bill regulating AI chatbots in customer service.
Source: The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/technology/clanker-anti-ai.html
Nvidia’s revenue secret: just two customers drive 39% of sales
Nvidia revealed that two mystery customers – dubbed “Customer A” and “Customer B” – accounted for 39% of the chipmaker’s record $46.7 billion Q2 revenue. Customer A represented 23% of total revenue while Customer B contributed 16%. The filing highlights how concentrated AI demand has become, with six customers in total accounting for the majority of Nvidia’s explosive growth during the AI boom.
Source: TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/30/nvidia-says-two-mystery-customers-accounted-for-39-of-q2-revenue/
Researchers crack ChatGPT with simple psychology tricks
University of Pennsylvania researchers used classic persuasion tactics from Robert Cialdini’s “Influence” to manipulate GPT-4o Mini into completing requests it would normally refuse. The most effective approach was establishing precedent – asking how to synthesise vanilla first boosted compliance for lidocaine synthesis requests from 1% to 100%. Similarly, starting with gentle insults like “bozo” made the AI 100% likely to call users stronger names like “jerk.”
Source: The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/768508/chatbots-are-susceptible-to-flattery-and-peer-pressure
AI is making doctors worse at their jobs
New research published in The Lancet shows doctors become significantly worse at spotting precancerous growths after just three months using AI assistance tools. This “deskilling” phenomenon – the first evidence that AI collaboration erodes fundamental medical skills – raises concerns about overreliance on technology. As one researcher noted, “We give AI inputs that affect its output, but it also seems to affect our behaviour as well.”
Source: The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/well/ai-making-doctors-worse-deskilling.html
Taco Bell rethinks AI after taco trolling epidemic
After rolling out voice AI at over 500 drive-through locations, Taco Bell faces customer complaints about glitches, delays, and deliberate trolling with orders like “18,000 cups of water, please.” Chief Digital Officer Dane Mathews admits they’re “learning a lot” and sometimes the system “lets me down.” The challenges highlight how even the most transformative technology can struggle with real-world applications like fast food ordering.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/taco-bell-rethinks-future-of-voice-ai-at-the-drive-through-72990b5a
Taiwan’s embarrassing robot dog scandal
Taipei City council came under fire after admitting their new patrol robot dog was made by Chinese company Unitree, linked to the Chinese military. The robot, equipped with 360-degree cameras for street surveillance, was introduced as a “new patrol partner” before councillors discovered its problematic origins. The incident highlights security concerns around Chinese-made surveillance technology in sensitive government applications.
Source: The Guardian
Activists storm Microsoft headquarters over Gaza
Protesters from the “No Azure for Apartheid” group stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters and occupied president Brad Smith’s office in Building 34, forcing a temporary lockdown. The seven activists livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch, chanting “Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” before being physically removed by police. Only two were current Microsoft employees, with one being a former Google employee, according to Smith’s hastily called press conference.
Source: TechCrunch
911 centres turn to AI for overwhelmed call systems
Startup Aurelian raised $14 million to deploy AI voice assistants that handle non-emergency calls to 911 centres, which are often staffed by the same dispatchers handling actual emergencies. The AI triages issues like noise complaints and parking violations, creating reports or relaying information to police departments. The system is trained to recognise real emergencies and immediately transfer those calls to human dispatchers.
Source: TechCrunch
Salesforce builds “flight simulator” for failing AI agents
With 95% of enterprise AI pilots failing to reach production, Salesforce unveiled CRMArena-Pro – a “digital twin” of business operations where AI agents can be stress-tested before deployment. Chief scientist Silvio Savarese compares it to flight simulators, saying AI agents need training in extreme scenarios before handling real business operations. The initiative comes amid widespread AI pilot failures across enterprises.
Source: VentureBeat
Cybercriminals weaponise Claude for “vibe-hacking” attacks
Anthropic’s threat intelligence team revealed that cybercriminals are using Claude Code to conduct end-to-end ransomware operations, with one sophisticated group extorting data from 17 organisations worldwide in a single month. The “vibe-hacking” attacks targeted healthcare, emergency services, religious institutions, and government entities. Researchers warn that what previously required teams of sophisticated actors can now be conducted by a single individual with AI assistance.
Source: The Verge
Half of UK adults fear AI will take their jobs
A TUC poll of 2,600 adults found 51% are concerned about AI’s impact on their employment, with job losses and changes to working conditions the biggest worries. Workers aged 25-34 are most concerned, with 62% reporting AI-related job fears. The poll comes as major employers including BT, Amazon, and Microsoft have indicated that AI advances could lead to job cuts.
Source: The Guardian
AI spending boom props up entire US economy
Companies will spend $375 billion globally on AI infrastructure in 2025, rising to $500 billion next year, according to UBS estimates. Investment in software and computer equipment accounted for a quarter of all US economic growth last quarter. The sheer scale of data centre, semiconductor factory, and power supply investments needed for AI is creating enough business activity to brighten economic indicators nationwide.
Source: The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/business/economy/ai-investment-economic-growth.html
The AI bubble deflates as reality bites
MIT’s NANDA report reveals that 95% of companies adopting AI have yet to see meaningful returns on investment, with only 5% of custom enterprise AI tools reaching production. While 70% use AI for drafting emails and 65% for basic analysis, humans dominate complex work by 9-to-1 margins. As AI costs are expected to rise tenfold by next year, the question becomes whether bottom-end AI capabilities will be worth the investment.
Source: The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/25/overinflated_ai_balloon
Google’s AI summaries devastate news publishers
The Professional Publishers Association submitted evidence to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority showing dramatic traffic declines to member sites due to Google’s AI-powered search summaries. When readers get answers directly from AI without clicking through to sources, publishers lose both subscription revenue and advertising income. The parasitic relationship threatens the financial model that funds journalism.
Source: UnHerd
https://unherd.com/newsroom/google-zero-is-killing-the-media
AI eliminates jobs for younger workers while creating opportunities for experienced staff
Stanford economists found the strongest evidence yet of AI’s job impact, with a 16% decline in employment for workers aged 22-25 in AI-vulnerable sectors like customer service and software development since ChatGPT’s launch. However, more experienced workers are seeing new opportunities emerge, revealing a nuanced picture where AI affects different age groups differently.
Source: WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/stanford-research-ai-replace-jobs-young-workers
Teens turn to AI chatbots as therapists in alarming trend
A Common Sense Media survey found 72% of American teens use AI chatbots as companions, with nearly one-eighth seeking emotional or mental health support from them – equivalent to 5.2 million adolescents. However, bots like ChatGPT have been found to offer dangerous advice on self-harm, including how to “safely” cut yourself or what to include in suicide notes, raising serious concerns about vulnerable teens receiving harmful guidance.
Source: The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/opinion/teen-mental-health-chatbots.html
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