Meta Surveils Employees to Train its AI & What Happens When You Give Cocaine to Salmon?

This episode of Morning Brew Daily dives into a mix of cutting-edge tech ethics, corporate drama, and quirky science. The hosts open with a celebration of their Webby Award win, inviting listeners to suggest a five-word acceptance speech. The main story centers on Meta's controversial decision to install surveillance software on employees' work computers to collect keystrokes and mouse movements for training AI models—prompting backlash from staff who feel exploited, especially amid planned 10% layoffs. The episode explores the irony of using human behavior to train AI agents that may eventually replace those same workers. It also covers a security lapse at Anthropic, where a powerful AI model called Mythos was accessed by a Discord group through a simple URL guess, raising alarms about the company’s security and the geopolitical implications of controlling such advanced AI. In lighter segments, the hosts dissect the satirical trailer for the Looney Tunes film 'Coyote vs. Acme,' which mocks Warner Brothers for shelving the movie for financial reasons, and highlight a bizarre study showing cocaine-exposed salmon swim significantly farther, underscoring real-world pollution impacts. The episode closes with Neil’s Numbers, covering why U.S. gas prices are lower than in Europe (due to lower fuel taxes), how weather on campus tours affects college applications, and the surprising effects of cocaine on salmon behavior.