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News Weakly
The Story Machine: AI, Fabulism & What We’re Really Buying
This week on News Weakly, Sami Shah goes long on artificial intelligence, authenticity and the increasingly difficult question: how was this thing actually made?
From Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s disputed biography and Mahmood Fazal’s anonymous-source scandal at the ABC, to novelist Jerry Falade’s collapsed $2 million publishing deal and Hank Green reconsidering his own use of AI, The Story Machine asks what journalism, academia, publishing and creativity are really selling us.
Is AI the problem—or has it simply exposed how willing institutions already were to reward compelling outputs without checking their provenance?
News Weakly is completely ad-free and listener-supported through Patreon.
Sami Shah is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, journalist, and broadcaster.
For more: http://thesamishah.com
Theme music 'Historic Anticipation' by Paul Mottram
This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Sami Shah.
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