Hey folks! It's been a few weeks, but now the gift is here. :) It's the 7th installment of the "Cognitive Heists" series. This one is titled, "The Trojan Gift." 🎁 Not all traps look like traps. Some arrive with a bow on top. The Trojan Horse is the oldest example. But today, the gift often looks like a free service. No charge, no strings… except the ones you don’t see. Because the real price isn’t money. It’s privacy. -- It’s data. -- It’s you. In this issue of Cognitive Heists, we explore: 🔹 How “free” has always been one of the most effective disguises in the con artist’s playbook 🔹 Folklore warnings about cursed gifts that crumble into ash 🔹 Why reciprocity, curiosity, and flattery make us drag danger through our own gates 🔹 And how modern Trojan Gifts hide in inboxes, QR codes, cloud apps, and “free” platforms The cost of convenience is rarely written on the tag. Enjoy! Next up: The Double Agent—where the betrayal sits across the table, smiling like a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some cons don’t succeed because of the smooth-talking seller. Instead, they succeed because of the crowd. Enter The Shill -- a hidden accomplice pretending to be just another customer, audience member, or lucky passerby. They're in the crowd, acting as a 'normal' audience member... all with the goal of bringing validation to the con-artist's claims. They clap first, they nod enthusiastically. They “buy” the tonic. They shout “this stuff really works!” And we believe them… because we think they’re one of us. That’s the power of the shill: weaponized trust and manufactured consensus. Next time: The Trojan Gift - when the real danger is hidden inside the prize. ===== In other news: ===== The FAIK Files: It's a Personality Problem: Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/ZWVmYWYxMDgtZGU4ZC0xMWVmLWIwNGQtMmY0YjJkNzQ3YzEx YouTube version: https://youtu.be/RNw1T4CSIU8?si=99tQN5tcPwIaAlV6 Interesting Thing of the Week: The Washington Post has a great article titled, "Making cash off ‘AI slop’: The surreal video business taking over the web." The article covers the -- as the title states -- AI Slop: the internet's latest hustle. Get the book, FAIK! Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com. P.P.S -- Did you know that we have an text version of this newsletter? Check it out on LinkedIn or my Website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Deceptive Minds - An audio newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. This one is all about "The Long Con." When the lie moves in next door. Not every con kicks down the door. Some knock politely, charm their way inside, and stay for dinner. In this issue , we explore the anatomy of the long con... a psychological slow-burn that trades urgency for intimacy. Think of these as more than just scams. They’re stories that unfold like relationships... until the final betrayal. In other news: New FAIK Files episode (Video Killed the ...) Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/012b4c787fc35a8cd9df3d8f99fcd569 YouTube version: https://youtu.be/mYFwURVoPE8 Interesting Thing of the Week: Hany Farid's TED Talk, How to spot fake AI photos: https://www.ted.com/talks/hany_farid_how_to_spot_fake_ai_photos Until next week... stay safe out there! Perry P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: ⁠https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com⁠. P.P.S -- Did you know that we have a text version of this newsletter? Check it out on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ or at ⁠The Deception Project⁠ website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

👻 New Deceptive Minds issue: Cognitive Heist series issue #4 -- The Ghost The ghost doesn’t break in. It doesn’t even exist. It just panics you into acting-- fast, unthinking, exposed. This issue explores one of the most dangerous tools in a scammer’s toolkit: urgency. We unpack: 🧠 The psychology of panic and why urgency shuts down critical thinking 📞 Real-world scams that weaponize fake emergencies 🕯️ A chilling tie-in to folklore: the crying child at the door 🐙 And yes, there are tentacles. Always tentacles. The Ghost's superpower is tricking you into moving before you think. --- Check out the most recent FAIK Files podcast: Dark Knowledge & Hidden Agendas Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/ae2224ed846ac80ad3c8e2fbc0185087 YouTube version: https://youtu.be/U7447dpffao Interesting research of the week: Sweet-talk the bots: New research shows how LLMs respond to human persuasion tricks Geekwire article: https://www.geekwire.com/2025/sweet-talk-the-bots-new-research-shows-how-llms-respond-to-human-persuasion-tricks/ Wharton School blog post: https://gail.wharton.upenn.edu/research-and-insights/call-me-a-jerk-persuading-ai/ Until next week... stay safe out there! Perry P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com. P.P.S -- Did you know that we have a text version of this newsletter? Check it out on LinkedIn or at The Deception Project website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📞 The Call Is Coming from Inside Your Mind Welcome to #3 of the "Cognitive Heists" series. The Voice in Your Head -- Authority, Audio Deepfakes, and the Power of a Familiar Voice In 2019, a UK energy firm received a call. The voice on the other end sounded exactly like the CEO of their German parent company. The request? Transfer €220,000 immediately to a trusted vendor. It wasn’t the CEO. It was a deepfake. This was the first confirmed deepfake voice fraud used to commit corporate theft—and it’s only the beginning. This issue dives into: 🎧 Why voice is one of the most powerful trust signals—and why that’s dangerous now 😨 How vishing, voice cloning, and audio deepfakes hijack your certainty 👻 A classic urban legend (yep—the babysitter and the call from inside the house) 🧠 The psychology of obedience, panic, and auditory illusion 🧯 And how to train your brain to pause the response before the wire transfer In a world where your boss’s voice can be faked, what part of your brain do you not listen to? A couple relevant sources related to AI based voice scams: [PROVED] Unsuspecting Call Recipients Are Super Vulnerable to AI Vishing: (this is my story about having an AI voice bot participate in DEFCON's Social Engineering Community Capture the Flag competition). https://blog.knowbe4.com/proved-unsuspecting-call-recipients-are-super-vulnerable-to-ai-vishing Seeing (and Hearing) Isn’t Believing: My SEC Presentation on AI-Driven Scams: https://blog.knowbe4.com/seeing-and-hearing-isnt-believing-my-sec-presentation-on-ai-driven-scams The FAIK Files: AI Oopsies! Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/af214a2812ad672b675870a9fb56f4cb YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY31aE5-PxA TechCrunch story: Google’s Gemini panicked when playing Pokémon: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/17/googles-gemini-panicked-when-playing-pokemon/ P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to part 2 of the Cognitive Heist miniseries: The Bait Man 🗝️ He doesn’t pick the lock. 🚪 He doesn’t sneak in the back. 🪝 He just leaves something shiny on the ground and waits for you to pick it up. Enter "The Bait Man": the scammer who lets your own curiosity or greed do all the work. Part 2 of Cognitive Heist explores: 👉 Why bait-based scams (phishing, “found” USBs, QR traps, honeytexts) work so well 👉 The irresistible psychology of forbidden knowledge and too-good-to-miss offers 👉 A chilling parallel with the Nazi gold train legend—possibly the most expensive “nothing” in history 👉 The ancient myth of Pandora’s Box... and what it says about modern clickbait 👉 And as always: tentacles, noir, and cognitive traps. In other news: 👉 The FAIK Files: Climbing Through the Context Window Audio version: https://pod.link/1771521321/episode/3ec38fa7cd599b26e3c7fde25651a3f0 YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ntZlQ4Lbkw 👉 Research Paper of the Week: Project Vend-- Can Claude run a small shop? (And why does that matter?) Anthropic's page discussing the experiment Business Insider P.S. -- Just a quick reminder that I've got a great book out that's all about deepfakes, disinformation, and deception. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already: https://ThisBookIsFAIK.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🕵️‍♂️ New Deceptive Minds mini-series: Behind the Scams (Cognitive Heists) 🕵️‍♂️ They didn’t pick the lock. They didn’t sneak in through the vents. You held the door open for them. This week’s issue kicks off a new 10-part series: Cognitive Heist—a deep dive into the psychological exploits behind the world’s most effective social engineering attacks.T his week is all about "The Insider": Trust by proximity. Why do we let people in—not because they’re verified, but because they seem like they belong? We unpack: ⚡ The psychology of in-group bias and “trust theater” ⚡ Real-world infiltration tactics (think BEC, fake IT staff, Slack scams) ⚡ Urban legends and conspiracies that make insiders feel mythic ⚡ How your mind, not your firewall, is the real attack surface You’ll never look at the new guy in the group chat the same way again.Oh... and there are a couple other fun bits in there as well. Enjoy! Cognitive Inoculation: Winn Schwartau and the Metawar -- FAIK Files Podcast (audio version): https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/the-faik-files/41/notes Cognitive Inoculation: Winn Schwartau and the Metawar -- FAIK Files Podcast (YouTube version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ntZlQ4Lbkw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to deception, everything is about story. And the stories people cling hardest to are ones that aren't solely about information... they are about self-protection. They explain the world. They spark emotion. They reinforce identity. And once we believe them, we don’t just share them…We defend them. In this issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore why some narratives become immune to fact-checking, critique, or correction — and how we end up reinforcing falsehoods just by wanting them to be true. 🛡️ Why emotionally charged stories resist disproof 🧠 How narratives come preloaded with defenses (mockery, morality, tribalism) 📜 Real-world & historical examples of story-based immunity 🧩 And how to tell when you're dealing with a belief that's been bulletproofed Because when deception takes the form of a story you want to believe… truth never even gets a chance. Deceptive Minds: newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. Check out the print newsletter on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ or on my ⁠⁠website⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Friends! This is one of the most important issues so far -- please share! Ever find yourself believing something… just because you’ve heard it enough? That’s the Illusory Truth Effect at work. "Illusory Truth" is the cognitive glitch that makes repetition feel like credibility. In this issue of Deceptive Minds, we explore: 🧠 Why familiar lies feel more believable than unfamiliar truths 📢 How repetition is used in marketing, politics, scams, and propagan 🛡️ And how to defend your mind against one of the most powerful tools in deception If it’s been said often enough, we stop asking whether it’s true. We just… feel like it is. 🧩 How This Connects to Previous Deceptive Minds Issues Narrative sets the stage. Attention brings focus. Plausibility helps the lie land. Fluency makes it feel smooth. Emotion gives it velocity. Credibility theater dresses it in trust signals. Repetition cements it. Repetition is the glue that binds these elements together. It gives them staying power. It builds the illusion of consensus — even when there is none. Want to see my Bigfoot Security Tips video? Here are links to the video on YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Till next time! Perry Check out the print newsletter on LinkedIn or on my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ok. This one's pretty uncomfortable. It's about the lies we tell ourselves and why we believe them. We all like to think we’re rational. But the truth is, our minds are masters of defense... not just against deception, but against discomfort. In this issue, I explore the mental machinery behind "motivated reasoning" and "cognitive dissonance." These are mechanisms we use to try to protect ourselves from inconvenient facts. 🔍 Why we reject information that threatens identity 🛡️ How our beliefs start defending themselves 🎭 Why feeling right often beats being right This theme hits at the core of the Deceptive Minds mission: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠⁠get here as a LinkedIn newslette⁠r⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Other references for this issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_flat_Earth_beliefs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repressed_memory https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/about/index.html Jessica Barker's newsletter: Human Nature of Cyber Security: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7312575416190255104/ Jessica Barker's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-barker/ The FAIK FILES Audio version here: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/the-faik-files/38/notes FAIK FILES YouTube version: https://youtu.be/Sy67tVZ_OVk Apple's controversial research paper: https://ml-site.cdn-apple.com/papers/the-illusion-of-thinking.pdf Nate Jones' thoughts on the Apple paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tYAvjkOQk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not all deception hides in the shadows. Some of it walks right in — wearing a badge, a clipboard, or a lab coat. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore one of the most powerful tools in the scammer’s playbook: credibility theater — the subtle art of looking legitimate enough to bypass your skepticism. Inside this issue: 🎭 Why we trust uniforms, logos, and titles more than facts 🧠 The psychology behind “surface-level trust” 📜 Historical scams that used nothing but confidence and costumes 🔍 How social engineers, phishers, and marketers use the same tricks today 🛡️ And how to train your brain (and your team) to see through the performance Because sometimes, the most dangerous deception doesn’t sneak past you — it gets waved through the front door. 🧠 Join 4,000+ others exploring how deception works — and what to do about it. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠⁠get here as a LinkedIn newslette⁠r⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Check out The FAIK Files, episode 27: Prove Yourself!! Audio version of the podcast: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/the-faik-files/37/notes YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/m4TYB40oThg?si=AqzkaqHqD3QBXLLu Link to my Google VEO 3 experiment, "The Sandwich Incident: https://youtu.be/DvsFm1XII6U Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it made you panic, rage, or rush… it probably bypassed your cognitive defenses. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I dig into the dark cognitive malware of emotional hijacking: how scammers, manipulators, and even well-meaning voices use fear, urgency, outrage, and hope to short-circuit your critical thinking. Inside: 🧠 Why your emotions beat your rational mind to the punch 📞 How scam messages and panic phishing bypass logic 📣 What viral rage-bait and fear-mongering have in common 🔥 Plus: how a single fire reshaped a nation — and how the “lie that felt true” still outperforms facts today The stronger the feeling, the weaker the scrutiny. Want the print version? It's available on LinkedIn or my website. References: The Great Moon Hoax: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/08/the-great-moon-hoax/ Moon Shot: Race, a Hoax, and the Birth of Fake News: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/moon-shot-race-a-hoax-and-the-birth-of-fake-news The True Story of the Reichstag Fire and the Nazi Rise to Power: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-reichstag-fire-and-nazis-rise-power-180962240/ The Missile Gap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_gap Episode 26 of The FAIK Files: Listen here: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/the-faik-files/36/notes Watch here: https://youtu.be/2slM09Czy_s?si=D3ZotFEef3zdGbZA Anthropic's Claude 4 Attempts to Blackmail a Researcher: Claude 4 System Card: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/6be99a52cb68eb70eb9572b4cafad13df32ed995.pdf Something Wild Happens If AI Looks Through Your Emails and Discovers You're Having an Affair: https://futurism.com/ai-email-affair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some lies try hard to fool you. Others just make it easy for you to believe them. That’s the danger of cognitive fluency: the simpler something feels, the more likely we are to think it’s true. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore: Why fake documents with grainy photos often seem more real than verified ones How anti-intellectualism and slogan-based disinfo campaigns thrive on fluency bias And what makes even seasoned professionals fall for staged “leaks,” forged letters, and photo ops 💡 The truth can feel complex and overwhelming. But, the best deceptions...are frictionless. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠⁠get here as a LinkedIn newslette⁠r⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends, Let’s start with a weird truth: People don’t fall for things because they’re true. They fall for things because they’re plausible. That’s the dark magic of deception — it doesn’t need to be airtight, or flawless, or even particularly clever. It just needs to feel true enough. Something your brain can accept without asking too many questions. Welcome to the Plausibility Effect — the sneaky cognitive glitch that powers scams, fuels misinformation, and makes even the dumbest conspiracies stubbornly sticky. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠get here as a LinkedIn newsletter⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to issue #3 of Deceptive Minds: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. In this week's episode: 🚨 Your attention is under attack! 🚨 From WWII rubber tanks to 2023’s phantom Paris bedbugs, the first strike of any scam is the same: steal your gaze, shape your reality. This issue of Deceptive Minds is all about “attention theft”—how con-artists, phishers, and AI-powered tricksters hijack that split-second between stimulus and thought…and what to do about it. 🕵️‍♂️🗞️I NSIDE: Operation Fortitude’s audacious distraction playbook The modern attention-hijack toolkit (urgency, authority, AI personalization) Fast-action defenses to keep your cognitive perimeter intact ... and a few other fun items from the past week! Listen now: turn the tables on the impostors, and guard the one resource every attacker wants first: your focus. Want to check out the print version? You can get here as a LinkedIn newsletter. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: https://TheDeceptionProject.com Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends! Here's issue 2 of Deceptive Minds: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. 🔥 Since starting this newsletter last week, we're already closing in on 3,000 subscribers to the print edition! 🔥 Huge thanks to everyone who's jumped in early! This week, I'm diving into what I call the “artifacts of deception,” and why the flashy stuff (deepfakes, fake emails, cloned voices) isn’t the real trick you need to watch for. Hope you enjoy this exploration into the hidden mechanics of how deception *really* works. Here we go… — Perry The Deception Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Hey listeners, Perry Carpenter here. Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted this feed, but I've got something exciting that I think you'll be interested in. It's the audio version of a newsletter that I recently started. The newsletter is called Deceptive Minds, and it's all about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. In other words, it's the exact right newsletter for the 8th Layer Insights audience. So for the next little bit at least, I'm going to post these audio newsletters into the 8Li feed -- exactly where you are right now. We'll see if it grows into something else or if it fades into oblivion. But regardless, I hope you enjoy it while it's here. So with that, let's get to episode one... or I guess I should call it issue number one of Deceptive Minds, the audio newsletter, If you're interested in the print version, it's a LinkedIn newsletter and you can also subscribe on my new website, The Deception Project, at https://thedeceptionproject.com. So, regardless of your format of choice, unless you want to see my face reading this on video, you can get the audio version right here or you can read the print version on LinkedIn or in an email that will make its way to your inbox and hopefully not to your spam filter. With that, let's go ahead and get to issue number one. Thanks! Perry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of 2024. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. In our holiday episode, Mason opens a rather unique Christmas present from Perry, we invite a special guest to help explain the infamous "Paperclip Maximizer" thought experiment, and we discuss an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) new AI Safety paper from Apollo Research. 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/cThqEnMhJz *** NOTES AND REFERENCES *** An interesting cluster of new AI safety research papers: Apollo research: Frontier Models are Capable of In-context Scheming (Dec 5, 2024) YouTube Video: Apollo Research - AI Models Are Capable Of In Context Scheming Dec 2024 YouTube Video: Cognitive Revolution - Emergency Pod: o1 Schemes Against Users, with Alexander Meinke from Apollo Research OpenAI o1 System Card (Dec 5, 2024) Anthropic: Alignment Faking in Large Language Models (Dec 18, 2024) Anthropic: Sycophancy to subterfuge: Investigating reward tampering in language models (June 17, 2024) Fudan University: Frontier AI systems have surpassed the self-replicating red line (Dec 9, 2024) Other Interesting Bits: The Paperclip Maximizer thought experiment explanation Theory of Instrumental Convergence iPhone Game: Universal Paperclips VoxEU: AI and the paperclip problem Real Paperclips! 500 Pack Paper Clips (assorted sizes) OpenAI Announces New o3 Reasoning Model: OpenAI's "12 Days of Ship-mas" announcement page YouTube video: OpenAI's announcement of their o3 Model TechCrunch: OpenAI announces new o3 models Wired: OpenAI Upgrades Its Smartest AI Model With Improved Reasoning Skills TechCrunch: OpenAI trained o1 and o3 to ‘think’ about its safety policy Matthew Berman YouTube video: OpenAI Unveils o3! AGI ACHIEVED! NewScientist: OpenAI's o3 model aced a test of AI reasoning – but it's still not AGI Yahoo Finance: OpenAI considers AGI clause removal for Microsoft investment *** 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 Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  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/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. Warning: today's episode gets a bit dark as we chat with seasoned prosecutor and founder of Operation Shamrock, Erin West, about a devastating combination of attacks known as "Pig Butchering" scams. We go deep into how they work and what we can do about them. 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/cThqEnMhJz *** NOTES AND REFERENCES *** Learn more about Erin West Erin's LinkedIn Profile Operation Shamrock Pig Butchering Scams: CNN Story featuring Erin West: Killed by a scam: A father took his life after losing his savings to international criminal gangs. He’s not the only one CNN Story: Hear how this man lost $1M in a 'pig butchering' crypto scam CNN Story: Myanmar-based gangs force trafficking victims to scam Americans online YouTube video: John Oliver episode FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Ok, doomer! Let's talk P(doom): NY Times article: Silicon Valley Confronts a Grim New A.I. Metric FastCompany article: P(doom) is AI's latest apocalypse metric. Here's how to calculate your score Wikipedia Entry PauseAI P(doom) records *** 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 Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  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/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to The FAIK Files--- the show about artificial intelligence and natural nonsense! In this week's episode: Mason shares how ChatGPT became an unexpected hero in solving his home networking and studio challenges Perry dives into the mysterious case of "David Mayer" and how a simple ChatGPT privacy patch sparked widespread conspiracy theories We explore Tencent's bold entry into AI video generation with their open-source HunyuanVideo model And in our AI Dumpster Fire of the Week, we unpack the drama surrounding leaks of multiple models from OpenAI 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/cThqEnMhJz *** NOTES AND REFERENCES *** The ChatGPT Privacy Patch Conspiracy: TechCrunch: Why does the name 'David Mayer' crash ChatGPT? OpenAI says privacy tool went rogue FastCompany: The Internet is Freaking Out Because ChatGPT Won't Say the Name "David Mayer" USA Today: Why won't ChatGPT acknowledge the name David Mayer? Internet users uncover mystery YouTube: Solved: Why ChatGPT Will Not Say "David Mayer" The Decoder: New York Times writer exposes how AI models can be fooled by invisible text on websites NYT: How Do You Change a Chatbot's Mind? Tencent's HunyuanVideo Release: The Decoder: Tencent introduces open source video generator HunyuanVideo and challenges Sora TechNode: Tencent launches and open-sources Hunyuan video-generation model YouTube: New AI Video Model Storms Onto The Scene! HuggingFace: HunyuanVideo Official Model Page Research paper about text based sound generation for videos. SonicVisionLM: Playing Sound with Vision Language Models AI Dumpster Fire of the Week (The Sora Leak): TechCrunch: OpenAI's Sora video generator appears to have leaked Washington Post: OpenAI hits pause on video model Sora after artists leak access in protest Tom's Guide: OpenAI's o1 model leaked on Friday and it is wild — here's what happened Leopold Aschenbrenner: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: The Decade Ahead Additional Sora leak from internal preview *** 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 Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  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/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices