AI Ethics and Controversies (Hour 1)

Transcript

AI Ethics and Controversies (Hour 1)

Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Thu Feb 26, 2026

Kathryn Lake

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This is where Wisconsin wakes up.

It's Daybreak with Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson.

Here are your hosts, Brian and Jamie.

Good morning, it is 6.06 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us on Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.

I am Jamie Martinson.

And I'm Brian Noona.

We're glad you're here.

If you want to get involved in the show, we'd love to hear from you.

8-5-5-7-5-SIVIC-8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

Another big day, chock full of things to talk about.

Let's start.

This is a big weekend as far as the Epstein files go.

Big two days, I guess.

Today is Thursday.

Tomorrow, Friday.

That's how the days of the week work.

Thank you.

I'm starting out slow with our facts today.

Good we could clear that up right away in the

morning.

case people a little groggy I know all week for some reason all week I have not known what day it was last week when we had Monday off it wasn't as bad as this week I'm like wait what day is it it's a garbage day is it that it's Thursday so today in the Epstein file saga Hillary Clinton yeah is going to testify

Yeah, she will give her a deposition today and then tomorrow Bill Clinton will give his deposition and those are not the only big the Epstein it should be a big story every day into a lot of people it is but there's so much tsunami of misinformation and stories and things and outrage there's there's too much

for our little brains.

Literally too much to comprehend.

Now, when it comes to the Clintons, the sessions for the House Oversight Committee, because those negotiations have finally come to an end, and this is what they've settled on.

The sessions will take place near their home in New York.

They'll be transcribed.

They'll be filmed.

Republicans say the goal is transparency and accountability for the victims.

Is it though?

Is it relief for you?

No, if it were transparency, it would be in an open hearing.

And we

would all be able to watch it in real time not not count on But we see how they love to redact how the OJ loves to redact right documents I can only imagine the hatchet that will go into editing the depositions of the claims

I think this one's gonna be interesting because that's just it I mean even if it's videotaped are we ever going to know the full scope of what they actually said because of how?

the Republicans in this case have basically, as you mentioned, redacted, covered up, not put out all of the correct information.

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I

don't know if we'll ever actually see what the Clinton said.

And this all stems from, of course, Bill Clinton showing up in those Epstein files multiple times.

Not as much as the president, mind you.

No.

President of the United States current, but he does show up in the files.

This is theater.

I will say it is theater, but...

you've got two smart people going into this hearing and going into this deposition and I'm sure between the Clintons and their attorneys they have gone over every possible move and swerve and everything that they can do to make sure because their goal is for everything to be opened in the files.

They want to go in because Bill Clinton

He hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing.

And he claims that he has not done anything wrong, even though he is in there hundreds of times.

It mentions in the files.

And so is Hillary, but those are mostly emails from when she was running for president

that were sent to Epstein.

Those damn emails.

Her damn emails.

But she didn't send them.

Other

people

sent clips to Epstein.

So they know what's in there.

Their goal is to get them out.

And I'm sure their...

I'm guessing they're smarter than the people who are going to be asking them

questions.

I'm guessing so as well.

And again, these are two powerful people who have, I'm sure, very good attorneys also on their side.

John chiming in over on our Facebook page this morning says, hopefully the Clintons will be taping it also.

I'm going to assume that there's probably some sort of provision in there.

Maybe they're going to call for the release of the tapes.

I don't know.

The depositions are just, I think, the start of what we're going to see from the Clintons.

I'm going to assume that there's going to be more out of their depositions as the next few days and weeks roll on.

That's my assumption anyway.

You can also assume that the Clintons will not be shy about talking

about what

went on in there.

And if anything comes out from the other side that is not accurate, it's out of context, whatever it is, they will not hesitate.

to make sure that the record is set straight.

And again, if we've got some folks listening that are like, well, are you afraid that he's going to go?

Nope.

If he's found guilty of any wrongdoing like that.

He's got to go, he's got to go too.

Yeah, absolutely.

He's got

to be arrested and go to jail.

I don't care who, this is the weak sauce argument that a lot on the right use.

Oh, are you sure you want to find out who's in there?

Yep,

I sure do.

I do.

I want

to find out.

I mean, I don't care if it's public figures, I don't care if it's politicians, I don't care if it crosses the party lines.

Anybody connected to this, if the

actually did anything wrong and aren't just named in the files, because let's be real, Jeffrey Epstein had ties all over the

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globe.

But if they actually did something wrong, then yes, they deserve to be prosecuted and that transcends party lines, or at least it should.

It should

transcend.

It should transcend everything to basic human dignity.

And to be honest, if you are arguing on either side to protect someone

who is accused and charged with any crimes against not only well children first and foremost but any of the others if you if you defend that you're a scumbag

I'm sorry no you are you're as

bad as the as the person who committed these crimes

absolutely

so now that that's out of the way so that this is going to be interesting by the time we come back on Monday

Both of the Clintons will have done their depositions.

There will be information coming out.

That will be exciting to talk about.

But they are not the only ones.

The Epstein files go to the Ivy League too, Jamie.

I couldn't get into Harvard,

but the

Epstein

files have reached

Harvard.

Well, I don't know if they've reached Harvard, but several people connected to the Ivy League schools have reached that level.

Larry Summers, who is the former US Treasury secretary, is going to retire from the Harvard institution at the end of this academic year.

You notice it's not right away.

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As

the university reviews his time,

to Jeffrey Epstein.

Now, he's been on leave since November.

Newly released files, though, show that his name appears hundreds of times detailing years of contact between Summers and Epstein, including visits and email exchanges.

Now, he previously called this relationship a major error in judgment.

Oh, you don't say that Ivy League education.

Listen, I don't speak East Coast elitist, but I'm going to say that means...

I got

caught.

Right.

So

if we

translate it into the common language, the language of UNI.

Yes, yes.

Now, Harvard is saying it's reviewing individuals named in the Epstein documents.

Summers was also banned for life from the American Economic Association over the ties.

He stepped down from open AIs board.

His resignation follows that of Nobel Prize winner Richard Axel, who also stepped down from a leadership role at Columbia University after Epstein Connections served

in these newly released files.

If Larry Summers is stepping down, fine, but here's what I'm going to point out.

If you zoom out for a second, how many of these powerful people are directly connected to Donald Trump that keep popping up in these files?

Think about that

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for a

minute.

It's not just the president, there's presidents, there's billionaires, there's academics, there's political insiders, and...

one by one, especially in the European countries, they're quietly starting to step aside.

Or if you're the former Prince Andrew, you just get arrested.

And it's not as quiet, but you have to think about the people and the ties that we're starting to see as we find out more from the Epstein files.

And if you are prone to conspiracy theories, which I try not to be, but sometimes you are piggybacking on what you just said, all right, does that have anything to do with who

Is in the cabinet now or who was appointed before of was there was there influence and pressure to put somebody in?

And it can go wild.

This is how people

get crazy.

Let's talk about that for just a second, because Pam Bondi has a pretty sordid history with Jeffrey Epstein and the president.

Now, to be clear, she was not the Florida Attorney General when Epstein's controversial 2007-2008 plea deal was negotiated.

That was handled by federal prosecutors.

She didn't take office until 2011.

By then, Epstein had already served that sentence.

Florida's Attorney General doesn't directly prosecute most criminal cases.

that's handled by local states attorneys.

So there's no court finding that Bondi interfered.

But there are political overlaps because in 2013, a PAC supporting Bondi, if you remember, back to your history, that PAC received a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation about the time that her office decided not to join that lawsuit against Trump University.

The Trump Foundation later paid a penalty over the donation.

There was no legal authority, though, that said that there was

is any quid pro quo involved in that.

And then about 2016 is when Bondi became a very vocal Donald Trump supporter.

When does coincidence turn into Oh, this is not just a coincidence.

This is actually fact.

There is there is meat on this bone.

Right.

And again, I'm always cautious about diving into the facts.

The facts do do line up and it becomes at some point it's

too hard to ignore all these coincidences, just lining up one after another.

But yeah, then, well, and it's also hard not to say, well, if you're the attorney general, does there always have to be documentation if you exerted some pressure

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on your

state's attorney?

Is that just a conversation you have in the hallway?

Is that a mention?

You don't do it on text, you don't do it on the phone, but you

bump into each other while you're getting a cup of coffee and things like

that.

What I think it shows with Bondi is that she

has been an attack dog and for Donald Trump for quite some time now,

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10 years.

She's

essentially, she was even on his first term impeachment defense team.

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So

she's been an attack dog for the president, which also leads me to believe, and this is just my opinion, that she does know how to basically cover things up potentially for this president and to make things go in a way that he, that most appeases him.

I mean, if that's how we want to put it, because we don't know what's all happening behind the scenes.

That's where my mind starts to go.

This isn't over though, because there's more reporting that came out on these Epstein

files.

There's a lot going on.

Yeah, and we

could talk about that for three

hours.

It's insane because the NPR is reporting that the Justice Department may not have released all the Epstein-related documents that reference allegations against the former President Donald Trump, or I should say the current President Donald Trump.

You're projecting, you're wishing it.

I was like,

easy.

According to the investigation.

I overslept.

Wow.

What day is it?

What year is

it?

Exactly.

More than 50 pages of FBI interview records appear to be cataloged in Justice Department logs.

They're not publicly available in an online database.

One of the files involves a woman who told the FBI that when she was about 13, Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to the current president.

I'll get my facts straight in the early 80s and that she was sexually abused.

FBI records show agents interviewed her multiple times.

None of those interviews are actually public.

There was a second woman who

who later testified in the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell.

She told investigators she met Trump at Mar-a-Lago while she was a minor, being abused by Epstein.

The Justice Department, this is where it gets interesting, says that there are absolutely no records that were withheld for political reasons and that any unpublished documents are privileged, duplicates, or tied to ongoing investigations.

That sounds fishy because The New York Times also published a report, a review that found that key FBI

memos related to a woman who accused both Epstein and Trump of sexual assault.

Those are missing from the Justice Department's public document release.

She came forward this woman in 2019 after Epstein was arrested.

She alleged that she was assaulted in the 80s when she was also a minor.

So, you know, a lot of things missing, Jamie.

Again, the redaction, whether just by pen or by physical omission,

continues and

so many questions.

This is not going away despite what the president wants.

No, even if you don't talk about it in your state of the union, it's not going away.

It's 6.19 right now.

You are listening to Daybreak.

I'm Jamie Martenson.

And I'm Brian Nunez, Wisconsin joins a lawsuit against the CDC.

We'll talk about that and more.

This is Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

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Wisconsin wakes up here.

Back to Daybreak with Brian and JB.

It's 622 right now.

We hope that your morning is off to a great start.

If you are in Appleton in Oshkosh listening on WISS or in Eau Claire listening on 93.5 the tap.

Thank you so much for having us on along with all of the other stations across the state of Wisconsin.

Yes, I was waiting for you to say your name.

I'm like Pavlov's dog.

I don't start speaking until I hear Martinsen.

These new intros are great.

Thank you so much, producer Frank, but they say our name so that it gets weird because we're like, do we say our name again?

We were just trained monkeys people.

We're getting used to it.

But anyway, yeah, good morning.

What do you think about the new vaccine schedule that the CDC

Has released if you want to get involved in a little all who doesn't love a good vaccine talk 8

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5 5

7 5 civic 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Because you know there was a change in Wisconsin now is joining a multi-state lawsuit boy Josh Hall is he's he's getting in on all of these lawsuits

He is

and I don't but I'm glad I'm happy he's doing but their challenge the lawsuit challenges major changes to the federal childhood vaccine schedule that the Trump administration just

Just on lease, the lawsuit was just filed February 24th in California.

It names, oh, health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kidd.

I don't know why you're coming after me.

I bought about, did you see me with Kid Rock?

I

don't want my kids.

Just go get some more tight jeans, it's fine.

And the CDC acting director, Jay, long last name.

Bada

Chara.

A Bada Chara has defendants.

So Bada Chara.

Yeah, that's, I still,

am amazed that there are so many people who since the big autism outcry years ago that vaccines caused autism which for the record they do not there has been there have been countless countless

scientific studies that show no correlation between vaccines and autism.

But that started the whole everybody doing their own research, everybody coming up with a theory.

And it came to a head with COVID where the vaccine, oh, we don't don't tell us what to put in our bodies.

And Jamie, you're old enough, and I

Kathryn Lake

am definitely

old enough to remember you just

That's what you did.

You got your MMR vaccine.

You had your kids vaccinated.

We had our daughter vaccinated.

She's perfectly healthy.

I'm as healthy as I can be based on my lifestyle.

So there's nothing... I don't understand this.

And then for Kennedy and the CDC to cut back...

What I

find interesting about all of this is even if you look back at the COVID days, right?

People were not okay with a vaccine and having to take the shot, but they were okay with the president telling them that bleach worked and ivermectin was

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a

drug they should be taking.

I mean, they were okay with that, but you're not gonna put a needle in my arm to keep me and others around me safe.

That was what I never

understood.

remember this, Jamie, Bill Gates had put trackers.

Oh, that's right.

I forgot.

I forgot.

So there were microbes in there that were tracking us and doing everything else.

He hasn't found me yet, so I feel safe.

I've had my shots.

I feel safe.

And Bill Gates has not come after me yet.

Listen, and yes, just like with the flu vaccine, you can still get the flu.

I got COVID.

Well, I didn't get COVID.

I didn't get COVID during COVID.

Right.

I got COVID after.

And yes, but.

I didn't I didn't get really sick because I had had the vaccine just like with the flu.

If I happen to get the flu, it's a much less serious

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case.

But people who wouldn't know a tile wouldn't know a acetaminophen from ibuprofen all of a sudden knew exactly what every vaccine held because they read some stupid thing online.

They didn't vet it.

And now now instead of the CDC

and the Health and Human Services Department saying, this is what's best for you.

These are, if your children are going to school, they're required to have these injection, vaccine injections.

They're, well, you know, sometimes the parents need to be in, and yes, parents need to communicate with their kids, doctors, but not to the point where they go, you know what, that polio vaccine, don't trust it, don't give it to my kid.

Oh, measles vaccine, we see how that's working out, not well.

So,

There's a point where parents' judgment needs to be overridden to a point.

It's actually as a parent, and obviously my kids are much older now, but as a parent, it's always a little maddening to me.

And I understand people are free to make their own choices, but it's also a little maddening when kids are little germ monsters in itself.

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And

that extends to them then being around adults who might be immune compromised, right?

And so it becomes a whole, I mean, it's why disease spreads.

It's why viruses spread because this is...

what happens, right?

We, in these cases.

Let's clarify something you said.

Yes, people have freedom to make decisions.

But the part that we leave out or a lot of people leave out is that freedom comes with a responsibility.

And your responsibility is that you live in a community.

And if you don't get vaccinated and you don't get your kids vaccinated, you put other people at danger.

It's not just you making a choice for you because let's be honest, you don't live in your house and never leave.

You don't have everything delivered and left on your porch.

You interact with society and we used to care about society and we don't anymore.

So yes, we have freedom.

But it's just like spider-man said Jamie, and you know I love

to

quote

superheroes when I'm

making a serious point with great power comes great responsibility.

Yes

with freedom

comes at responsibility as well.

With this particular lawsuit, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Call calls the changes dangerous, saying they can make children sicker and strain state resources.

The lawsuit actually challenges Kennedy's decision to dismiss the federal vaccine advisory committee and appoint new members.

The Trump administration says that the move they're making here just brings the US more in line with other countries vaccine schedules.

State officials here in Wisconsin, though, in case you're wondering, say they will continue following recommendations from the.

American Academy of Pediatrics, and this lawsuit in particular is asking the court to block the new vaccine schedule and invalidate the new committee appointments as well.

So that is what your attorney general, by the way, if you're wondering what he's doing all day at his office, these are the types of things that he's getting involved in to keep all of us safer and better, right?

He is on top of things, so good for him.

Yeah, that's just...

And this is the argument where, yes, we like to hear from other people.

On that, there's no argument you can make.

No.

There's no sensible argument.

No.

So that one we'll pass on.

It is 6.29 right now.

You are listening to Daybreak.

I am Jamie Martenson.

And I'm Brian Newton, and this is the Civic Media Network.

From Lake Superior to Lake Michigan.

This is Wisconsin's Morning Conversation, a break with Brian and Jamie.

It's 6.35 right now.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

If you want to get involved in the conversation, 1-855-752-4842, 1-855-75 Civic, how are you doing over there?

We spent the entire break trying to like old people that we are navigate around Facebook.

Boomers.

All right, this is.

I am not a Luddite, just for record.

No you are not.

I'm telling you what happened and I have witnesses to back it up.

So, it's there.

Now you can follow us, you can follow us on Facebook at Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Good luck.

Godspeed with that.

You can follow us on Instagram, same place.

You can go to the Civic Media website and supposedly under shows, if you click 87 tabs and you get there, then you can follow us there too.

Or you can

just listen every day

and you can be here

and

that's that.

But we're all, we're trying to become almost way too accessible,

to be honest.

We are, we are, absolutely.

Roger chimed in over on our text line this morning and says, did you know there used to be a statewide radio program called Daybreak?

used to originate from Marshfield's WDLB from 1976 to around the mid-2000s.

No.

I did not know

that, Roger.

And everybody who researched our name obviously did not know it either.

But they're done.

They're gone.

We're the new daybreak.

We are the new daybreak.

We

are.

We are the new daybreak.

We

are.

We are all over.

We are all over Wisconsin.

So that's good.

We are.

Kind of keeping things, keeping things the same.

Jamie, yesterday we gave a shout out to a corporation, which we don't usually do.

We gave a shout out to Anthropic, which is an AI company, because Pete Hegseth and his defense department bros had given them a warning that said, listen, if you don't give us complete control of your AI, meaning we can do whatever we want with it in the legal sense

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of

defending the country, then you're going to lose your government contract.

And Anthropic and its CEO said,

No, you can't.

We're not giving you complete control.

We're going to put in some guardrails because we don't agree with how this technology could be used in the future.

We can see the perils if left unchecked.

So we are going to keep this in line.

And then, unfortunately, yesterday, completely separate from the Defense Department.

Sure it was.

Why would you doubt?

Everybody's honest, Jamie.

Of course.

Again, coincidence is lining up

before

you go, hmm, hard to believe.

But anyway, now the company founded by OpenAI Exiles, people who used to work there, but wanted things to be safer.

They were worried about the dangers of AI, so they started their own company.

Well, now they're loosening their own core safety principle, saying it's in response to competition.

It has nothing to do with the Defense Department and our contract.

So I retract my Atta Boy from Anthropoc.

I gave them a hearty full-throated Atta Boy yesterday.

that is retracted.

This all came in a blog post.

I think they were probably hoping that nobody was paying attention if they just put it in a blog post and didn't make any sort of public statement.

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This is

our public statement, nobody look.

But they're calling it responsible scaling policy.

And earlier that policy included those safeguards that the company would pause training more powerful AI models if their capabilities began to outpace its ability to really

fully understand or even control them.

That pause requirement has now been completely removed.

Instead, Anthropic is introducing what it calls a frontier safety roadmap.

The company says that this new framework will be more flexible and adjustable rather than binding commitments.

It will set public goals and regularly published reports, grading their own progress on risk mitigation, model capabilities and safety planning.

Now, Anthropic... I don't

like the term...

Oh, I'm sorry.

I don't like the

term frontier, because what usually precedes the word

frontier?

I think a Star Trek.

That's what I think of.

Wild frontier.

You're out on the wild frontier.

So when you're talking about corralling things to use more frontier lingo, when you're talking about corralling things and keeping the air in check, frontier is not what I want to hear.

Right.

Now, Anthropic is saying that these changes, the only reason they're doing this is because it reflects the reality of today.

AI race.

So the company originally hoped its strict safety posture would inspire a broader race to the top across the entire industry.

Now they're arguing though in this blog post that that hasn't happened.

In their view if responsible developers slow down while competitors push forward aggressively the outcome could actually be less safe overall.

Now remember the policy shift is

After that meeting, as you mentioned, with Higgseth at the Pentagon.

Now, according to sources who are familiar with what happened in that room, Pete Higgseth gave anthropic CEO, Dario Amade, a deadline to pull back certain safeguards by Friday, so tomorrow, or

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risk

losing a $200 million defense department contract.

So as we mentioned,

Obviously, this is very coincidental, but it really feels like perhaps Anthropic was like that 200 mil.

That's pretty good money.

We really need that cash to keep us afloat.

Yeah.

I won't say that they bent the knee, but maybe

see what happens.

Sounds like they bent the knee.

Feels like

it.

Yeah.

It sure does.

It sure does.

And when you see what happens to other corporations who think they're going to get loyalty by bending the knee, they don't.

I do agree with one part of their argument.

I do agree if you're trying to be ethical and everybody else isn't, then you could be left behind.

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But there

has to be a way to balance the two.

You can still keep your ethics in the soul of your company and your protections and ramp up because sooner or later,

even if your competition who is not keeping that same self-regulating guideline in place, they will be found out.

And as long as you haven't gone out of business or fallen so far behind that you cannot be seen as a suitable alternative, you'll be okay.

And I don't know enough about the tech industry to say how, I mean,

we know how fast it changes.

Well, obviously, it's an even-used Facebook here a few minutes ago, so no, we... Stop

it.

No, I will... That's... I will... I will defend myself on that for... So

the day I die.

Was it just you?

Was it just you?

But anyway... It wasn't just me

and, you know, I think our socials guy... It was mostly you.

It was mostly you.

It was not most.

But I think this also opens a broader question about Anthropic and these companies.

Are they, are we going to start seeing this more and more because they don't want to be targeted by this particular administration?

Right?

We've already seen this administration target news media.

We've seen this administration target universities.

And if you want to be a viable company, especially in the tech industry, you can't constantly be looking over your shoulder that this administration is going to come after you for some sort of retribution because you didn't do something they wanted you to do.

Right?

And so you have to think about the fact that some of these businesses may start altering how they actually operate, what their ethics are, because they're literally afraid that they're going to be attacked and basically put right out of business because of this administration.

And I know the business of business is to make profit not only for yourself, but for your shareholders.

It's to drive innovation.

I know all of that.

But I also know that if you sell your ethics,

You can't buy them back, right?

So if and this usually I accuse you of being the Pollyanna one, but this is where I'm like, okay.

Yes.

In the short term, you're going to get your 200 million, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I don't I don't discount how

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that can

change a company's fortunes.

But you'll get the money in the short term, you'll get perhaps some short term favor from

either the Defense Department or the administration, but one day those people will be gone and then you just like everybody else who kowtowed to them will be judged on what you did.

And did you stand firm?

Did you stick to your ethics?

Are your new customers going to see that or are they going to see the company that gave in?

And maybe, see, this is where I get a little downtrodden that maybe it just doesn't matter.

And that could be where we're living now, that it doesn't matter.

That ethics and standing up for what's right don't matter.

I just had a, that's exact same conversation with a good friend yesterday.

Um, ironically, uh, and one of the things that he said to me is he said, is it neo fascism or is this just modern day politics?

And I said, I hope this is not modern day politics because I long for the days of George Bush and Dick Cheney at this particular point in time.

Right.

And we've, we've talked about that on this program as well, but I, I actually long for the days when.

politics was normal.

We'll put that near quotes because it's never been normal, but we are living so far out of what we actually know and understand at this point.

And the pressure on these companies, the pressure on Congress or the lack thereof, I guess, if you're Mike Johnson, but we are living so far out of those norms that it feels like, it does feel like the wild frontier a little bit, right?

Well,

and the thing is,

The argument about AI and the debate over AI and its uses and its potential dangers and its ability to make things better should not be political.

This is something, yes, I want Congress to look into it just like they look into social media, just like they look into anything that affects the American people.

But you add on this extra layer of ultimatums and pressures and now it becomes, am I

Am I hesitant of AI because of its connection to this administration?

Am I hesitant of AI because, as you guys say, I'm a boomer who fears technology?

I've used chat GPT.

You know.

I'm convinced.

Listen, you.

Let's

get a little sassy over there this morning.

No,

he thinks he's got the upper hand.

And yet when I start hate posting on him later, he's not going to feel so sparky.

But the whole thing is just we don't, everything now is mixed in with politics.

Everything.

Yes, it is.

We've seen it this week with hockey.

Hockey, the last thing that should have been brought

into politics.

The Olympics in general should not have been about the politics at all.

Exactly.

Right.

But it was from the very first.

Events yeah, and now AI which we have legitimate concerns about and it shouldn't it shouldn't be tried based on Who's in charge?

Kathryn Lake

No should

be tried on its own merits and it and that way

the companies who do want to operate with, and they use the word soul, not me.

That's their word.

If they want to, they should be able to operate in a free market without having the pressure from the administration that if they don't kowtow and tow the line, they're going to be out of business.

And I think that's my biggest fear.

I mean, let's be realistic.

When it comes to AI, there are so many unknowns.

I don't know if any of them feel, it doesn't feel like any of them are the perfect specimen of a company.

right?

So because I think there is so many unknowns right now.

But when it comes to, you know, what we were about, uh, anthropic, they were actually in this race with open AI to release, uh, enterprise AI products that were aimed at dominating the workplace market.

And now there's been this pressure from the administration and it really makes me go back and also wonder, why is Pete Higgs, Seth?

Why does he want this so badly?

Why is he

Kathryn Lake

putting

so much pressure on this particular company and putting so much emphasis on AI?

Because, again, it goes back into trust of your administration.

What does he want these tools for and what is he going to possibly do with them over at the Department of Defense?

And also, who benefits from these companies getting government contracts?

There are so many levels to this.

Listen, if you and I don't understand it, AI's complete potential, I know Pete Hegsett doesn't understand it.

And when the people developing it are saying, we still don't know.

Right.

Well, it's like these people who suddenly know everything about medicine.

Suddenly everybody

knows

about AI.

And let's be honest, folks.

We don't know the half of it.

No, we

don't know the half of it.

Now, speaking of AI, it turns out that it's gotten some attention over at Marquette University for their commencement speech this spring.

And we're going to talk about that when we come back.

It is 648.

This is Daybreak with Brian and Jamie on the Civic Media Network.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

civicmedia.us.

It's 6.52 right now.

We hope that you are having a great start to your morning.

Thank you so much for joining us on the Civic Media Network.

I am Jamie Martenson.

And I'm Brian Noonan.

We're glad you're here.

Do you remember if you went to college and you graduated, so two big ifs, do you remember your commencement speaker?

Because in reality...

Does anybody really care about the commencement speaker?

Because back when I was graduating, and Jamie, I'm guessing, now it's all celebrities.

Now

Kathryn Lake

you

get all.

You get big hot shots.

You get actors.

You get big politicians.

Maybe you get a former president.

They come in, and it's all about headlines.

And then they give the same inspiring speech that your local congressperson would have given if they had been your commencement speaker, but they don't have the hoopla.

One university this year has Jojo Siwa.

Just putting that out there.

Is that a real college or is it

a barbeque?

No, it's a real college.

Cosmetology

school?

No, it was a real college.

Anyway, I digress because this is an important number.

No,

no, no, no.

Well, it is, but not more important than who would invite.

And see, okay, that kind of makes my point because in the race to have

a celebrity, they booked Jojo Siwa.

If I had pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars for my child to go do a thing, and

this is the other part of the problem.

Harvard Business School, she gave the speech at Harvard Business School.

I'm looking it up, it's a real story.

I know

you're looking it up, but I'm telling you to stop it, because that can't be true.

It is.

Anyway, let's turn our focus closer to home.

Really, Harvard?

Harvard Business School.

I have lost all, who goes there?

All

the people who are going to want to get their doctorate from Trump University

are going there.

Exactly.

Wow, Harvard, you have dropped.

I can't express the amount of disappointment I now have in the Harvard Business School.

It makes you really think about the graduates coming out of this class, doesn't it?

It would be like if MIT had some kid who just counted popsicle sticks that

fell

on the floor.

Not Rain Man style, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, Marquette, you know Marquette University.

Lovely.

Well, they announced that Chris Duffy would be their commencement speaker.

And if you don't know who Chris Duffy is,

I didn't either.

He's an AI expert.

He's also a graduate of Marquette.

Well, oh my goodness.

This has some Marquette students in an uproar because students have nothing better to do when they're not studying for finals than getting an uproar.

Listen, they have a right to have an uproar, but...

They're just they're

not

happy for a number of reasons.

Well, Duffy works on artificial intelligence strategy at Adobe and he's spoken widely about emerging technology and leadership.

The choice though is, as you said, the students aren't happy.

In fact, they say inviting an AI leader conflicts with Marquette's Jesuit mission and human-centered values.

Their motto at Marquette is be the difference, which is rooted in Jesuit human-centered values, critical thinking, ethics, and even service.

Others worry about AI's environmental impact, its effect on creativity, and the shrinking job market graduates are also about to enter.

And of course, students were also frustrated that AI tools were discouraged in class, yet now there's an AI executive who's going to be their graduation headliner.

Duffy says his work focuses on using AIs to support not replace human creativity.

Sure it does.

First of all, I spent four years with the Jesuits in high school and a lot of propaganda, but we'll leave that aside.

Secondly, AI is here, friends.

And the reason you go to college and your parents or you spent a lot of money to get this degree is so you could broaden your horizons and open your mind.

AI is not the boogeyman.

AI is here.

If you want to use and put the Jesuit mission,

into practice, you need to know about the product, you need to know about its potential, you need to know all that, to then mold it, going back to what we were talking about in the last segment, so you can mold it to fit those principles.

And it can be done.

But to say that an alum who is very, very successful and a noted expert on this is not fit to talk to you is a close-minded boohoo, I'm a little baby kind of deal.

And that's why people look at

progressives or college kids

and stuff and say

they're not in touch with reality.

Well, in Duffy's defense, he says that his speech is going to be centered about ethical leadership and responsibility in innovation.

And university officials are standing by this selection.

They

Kathryn Lake

note

that artificial intelligence is becoming a major part of society and that ethical development aligns with the school's mission.

I think this, though, is just a reflection of or an easiness about AI, because national survey after national survey shows that

good majority of us are increasingly and easy about how quickly we feel AI is starting to reshape society.

But it's not going away, as you mentioned.

So I think at this point in time.

Marquette in particular, since that's who we're talking about, not JoJo Siwa over at Harvard Business School.

They're preparing students for a world where technology is going to be basically embedded in every part of your industry, right?

If you're looking at it from that perspective, inviting somebody like Chris Duffy who works in ethical AI development, I think that's practical.

I also think it's necessary.

And if the school wouldn't allow you to use AI to do your homework,

and have it involved in the class.

That's good.

You have to know how to do stuff on your own.

Yes, it's a tool.

Do you even remember who Parker's the most recent graduate?

Who gave your commencement address, Parker?

I had to look it up.

It was Julie Anding, who was on the Harley-Davidson board for 25 years or so.

Did you guys go into an uproar?

I

had zero idea who she was, and I still don't really know who she is after reading about her.

That's fair.

It was a state level representative who graduated from my alma mater, Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell, South Dakota.

I do not remember the speech.

I do not remember any of the contents, but I do remember it was a representative.

That's all I got.

And I remember mine only because I worked in the SIUTV station and radio station, and she was always on.

Virginia Marmaduke was the grand dam of Illinois journalism for a long time.

So she spoke.

I couldn't tell you what she said, not one word.

And the year before Molly graduated at Tulane, there was a huge uproar from parents because they were going to have Hoda Kotb.

be the commencement speaker who grew up in New Orleans.

Yes.

And who has accomplished a lot.

Oh, parents were not.

Other places are getting presidents.

We get the Hoda copy.

And

if I were Hoda,

I would have left.

But she gave the address good for her.

I would have been super excited to hear Hoda.

I would have loved it.

That's awesome.

It is 6.59 right now.

Pete Higgs says, well, he's just making news all over the place because we're going to talk about him again and his ties to Mark Kelly.

You're listening to Daybreak.

It's JV Martin said.

And I'm Brian Noon in the Civic Media

Kathryn Lake

Network.

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