Mar 15th 2026
This Week in Tech 1075
The Commonwealth Club
Hosted by
Leo Laporte
Meta Layoffs, DOGE Data Theft, & the Rise of AI Fails
Records live every Sunday at 5:15pm Eastern / 2:15pm Pacific / 22:15 UTC.
From “gainfully employed robots” to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge.
- Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount
- Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model
- Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children
- Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal
- Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside
- Digg’s open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam
- X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation
- Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X
- Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion
- Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform
- Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots
- Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases
- DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery
- U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court
- Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
- EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story)
- TerraPower gets permit to build reactor
- Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for ‘Gainfully Employed Robots’
- Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud
- Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case
- Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power
- Palantir’s lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff
- How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world
- ‘Flying Cars’ Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer
- YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue
- Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns
- Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them
- Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92
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Links
- Meta planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount
- Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model
- Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children
- Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal
- Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside
- Digg’s open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam
- X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation
- Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X
- Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion
- Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform
- Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots - Slashdot
- Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases
- DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery
- U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court - Slashdot
- Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
- EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story)
- TerraPower gets permit to build reactor
- Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for ‘Gainfully Employed Robots’
- Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud
- Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case
- Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power
- Palantir’s lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff
- How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world
- ‘Flying Cars’ Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer
- YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue
- Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns
- Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them
- Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 - Slashdot