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DB Main
@dbmain.bsky.social

Just this morning I was listening to a podcaster I normally like. The topic was energy. Then he says, "Sam Altman is very optimistic about fusion." I hit the ceiling. "That guy is wrong about everything IN HIS OSTENSIBLE AREA OF EXPERTISE".

DB Main
@dbmain.bsky.social

The flipside to it is that these CEOs are constantly in the media. Interviews. Podcasts. As a retired tech guy, it makes me believe they don't have a clue about what's going on back at the job. How could they? They're never there. Probably getting fed a line of crap by their lap dog directors.

paulutrecht.bsky.social
@paulutrecht.bsky.social

It used to be that CEOs would not talk without a script that was carefully vetted by lawyers, PR people, etc. That protected the company. It also made very little news. Musk’s unvetted thoughts made news, but also a $2 billion jury verdict. Most CEOs can’t afford that much liability.

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

Once you see it, you'll see it everywhere: it's a weird simulacrum of journalism that mindlessly parrots executive claims without challenge, correction, historical context, or additional insight from actual experts. It's designed to look like journalism, but it's just hollow corporatist cack.

Hellanal Boner-Farter
@weedlordmegadoodoo.bsky.social

Every time Musk says something idiotic like "we're going to Mars" tesla stock goes up. Morons haven't figured this out. They haven't figured out that he's never delivered on a single promise. Wealthiest man in the world and the only thing he ever sold was a lie, and journalists still quote him.

Anchorage Man
@sethpartnow.bsky.social

The articles aren’t meant to be read, they are merely the real estate upon which to hang the headline that while tectonically true - the CEO did say that thing - is so obviously misleading as to make wonder if that was the intent all along* * I don’t wonder…

chung van gog
@umbralcuboids.com

Yes, and “politician said a thing” too. While it does matter what politicians say, I do not think it is good journalism to only report on that without further context, especially when the politicians in question are known to be dishonest.

Antoine C.
@ancadweb.com

In tech it started in the 90s, but in the time of 'the inspiring' Steve Jobs and 'the serious' Bill Gates it was (a bit*) more supportable to see uncritical reports of their discourses. The current generation has the merit to show how bad this kind of journalism is applied to uninspiring liars.

Antoine C.
@ancadweb.com

* I mean cultish reports of everything Jobs could say were tiring too, but he was usually just exagerating a bit the importance of real products, not announcing random things every couple weeks to seduce investors with no plan to do them.

Michael Marquis Albright
@chicagomstie.bsky.social

My favorite part of it is where they make no attempt at critical analysis of the thing, even when it's the stupidest thing anyone has ever said. Sam Altman said on national TV "I can't imagine raising a child without AI," and literally nobody has shunned him for it.

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

literally zero effort to offer any context or analysis, just pure parrot they usually can't even spend 20 minutes to ask an objective expert their thoughts

Dan Thiell
@danthiell.bsky.social

The craziest part of that clip is that he then says he feels bad about it — not for his kid, but for ChatGPT, for wasting its immense capabilities on such trivial matters as parenting. And CPS didn't immediately intervene for some reason.

Drew Curtis
@drewcurtis.bsky.social

They do it because "said a thing" isn't a false statement even when the thing is a total lie. Allows them to print provocative lies in headlines on a technicality. This also is why political media is specifically weak in the Trump era

lonevoice.bsky.social
@lonevoice.bsky.social

What is today's journalism in America: It is all "they said a thing" - "they" substituted with some powerful politician, an oligarch which includes CEO's. If this is what we get, they may as well close down all Journalism schools across the universities!

KateAL
@katieal.bsky.social

Ah it always just annoyed me that these bros, and all the finance and CEO types you hear on BBC radio, and Farage, all just have great PR teams. But yes journalists shouldn’t just spout daft press releases

William Gunn
@metasynthesis.net

Except in this case he says they're building superintelligent AI that will take all the jobs, maybe wipe us out to make room for more data centers, and he actually means it.

Geordi La Forge
@iwcore.eurosky.social

"The CEO as superhuman" is not limited to corporate CEO's and the corporate media. Recently, the CEO of a large Dutch vocational public school, who is also a member of Parliament, said, in the magazine of one of the largest educational labor unions, that he works 18 hours a day.