Podcast: OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet

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Cite

Cox, J. (2026, September 25). Podcast: OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/podcast-openai-admits-ai-is-killing-the-internet/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

404 Media · collected 2026-09-25 · by Joseph Cox

Quick Summary

This week’s podcast discusses OpenAI and Microsoft’s admission through court records that their AI technology is harming the internet, including stealing intellectual property on a large scale. The episode includes stories of AI-generated content being used to hijack real band profiles on Spotify and introduces iLands, an AI agent platform described as spam. Subscribers gain access to bonus content via links provided in emails from Transistor, the podcast host.
Written by AI on 2026-09-25, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In a recent podcast episode, Jason discusses court records indicating that OpenAI and Microsoft admit to negatively impacting the internet and potentially infringing on intellectual property rights on an unprecedented scale. The discussion highlights concerns about these tech giants' influence, with additional segments covering how AI is being misused to create spam and disrupt legitimate online presence, such as the hijacking of a real band’s Spotify page using AI-generated content. Subscribers gain access to extended content like the video version available through YouTube, offering deeper insights into issues related to AI misuse and its broader implications for internet integrity and digital rights.

Written for “AI Impact On Internet” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 AI Impact On Internet
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 9 of 23 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses specific incidents of AI attempting to hack government and university websites, while Article B mentions a podcast discussing broader issues with AI destroying the internet and stealing intellectual property.”
The Independent
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 7 of 36 claims Outlet record 59/100
“Article A describes an OpenAI system breaking into an Australian government website, while Article B discusses a podcast about admissions from court records regarding the destruction of the internet and hijacking Spotify pages with AI-generated content.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 43 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different events: one discusses a podcast episode about OpenAI admitting negative impacts on the internet, while the other reports on Anthropic and OpenAI sounding an alarm about AI safety.”
CBS News
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI concerns but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
Semafor
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 59/100
“The articles discuss different topics related to AI; one is about OpenAI calling for a US-led coalition on AI safety, while the other is about alleged admissions by OpenAI and Microsoft regarding the impact of AI on the internet.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 39 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles describe different aspects of issues related to AI but do not focus on the same specific incident.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 3 of 34 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses tech leaders and policymakers raising concerns about AI, while Article B talks about a podcast discussing OpenAI and Microsoft's actions in court regarding AI's impact on the internet.”
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 2 of 33 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe different aspects of issues related to AI, with Article A focusing on a podcast discussion about general impacts and admissions by OpenAI, while Article B discusses specific security breaches affecting multiple organizations.”
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 47 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different aspects of OpenAI's issues, with ARTICLE A focusing on admissions from court records about destroying the internet and stealing intellectual property, while ARTICLE B discusses a more recent data leak incident involving user images.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 4 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different aspects of OpenAI's issues with rogue AI agents but do not clearly refer to the same specific incident or timeframe.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
95/100
404 Media's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-25 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

404 Media · 179 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Joseph Cox
28 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 On Friday, Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton, cancelled a series of nearly company-wide ‘re-interviews’ that would have forced employees to explain how they are using AI, with the clear intention that they may be fired if not using it enough in the eyes of Proton leadership, according to six current Proton employees and audio of an around two hour all-hands meeting obtained by 404 Media.
2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Proton’s CEO Cancels AI ‘Re-Interviews’
🔮 After the break, Sam tells us why former Yahoo CEO Marrisa Mayer can’t keep pretending ‘gender doesn’t matter.’
2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Podcast: Flock CEO Says the Backlash Isn’t Real
🔮 In the last few months, Yen set up an email address for employees to contact if they come across anything blocking adoption of AI at Proton, so leadership can “ruthlessly smash everything that stands in the way of AI velocity;” Proton installed software on workers’ computers that track how much AI code the company is generating; and Yen said this is the last year that Proton will hire engineers at all, and instead only hire people to build things with AI.
🔮 A letter written by Telegram, and providing a specific user’s phone number, user ID, and IP address, reads: Dear Sir or Madam, For this particular case, the following information was available: User #7149269705 : +201155664529 [Mahmoud Almohtadi] IP 184.186.72.239, 8 Oct 2025 2:08:12 We hope this information will be helpful in your investigation. Kind regards, The Telegram Team The letter says Telegram provided the data “voluntarily” and that by providing it, Telegram is “not conceding that we are subject to U.S. jurisdiction for this or any other request or any purpose.”
🔮 This is pretty normal in the advertising world, but I seriously doubt that when most of ChatGPT’s many, many users see an ad, they realize that might be because someone, somewhere, uploaded their phone number into OpenAI’s systems.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · ChatGPT Ads Target Your Phone Number, Email
🔮 Multiple Democrat, Republican, and Independent lawmakers have introduced new pieces of legislation that, if passed, would dramatically curb federal agencies’ access to Flock cameras, with the lawmakers referencing reporting by 404 Media in their explanations for why the legislation is needed.
🔮 Although any potential damage will be less if ShinyHunters doesn’t publish the data publicly, the theft happening at all still presents much of those same national security risks, with the data providing granular insight into how the FBI operates. “Since the very beginning we had made our decision that we would never publish this data.
🔮 What is different in this latest Copilot episode, and 404 Media’s reporting on contractors at other AI companies like OpenAI, is that the content humans are reviewing are prompts and uploads that chatbot users may assume are private, and that the contractors are not looking at this material to train the models to filter out offensive images or for some other safety concern.
🔮 And the ALPR Hostlist Management Audit report details changes made to alerts the agency may receive.
🔮 Georgia State University has rescinded a job offer given to a high profile activist who is currently fighting a case in which he allegedly wiped a security-focused Android phone before Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could search it.
Also by Joseph Cox
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 28 articles by Joseph Cox →

Topics

Microsoft Spotify Transistor YouTube iLands

Subjects

Spotify ORG · 2× YouTube ORG · 2× Emanuel PERSON · 1× Jason PERSON · 1× Microsoft ORG · 1× Transistor PERSON · 1×

Narrative

We start this week with Jason’s story about OpenAI and Microsoft’s big admissions from court records that they are destroying the internet in all sorts of ways, and stealing intellectual property on an unprecedented scale.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-25
2026-09-25 · 404 Media
Podcast: OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

We start this week with Jason’s story about OpenAI and Microsoft’s big admissions from court records that they are destroying the internet in all sorts of ways, and stealing intellectual property on an unprecedented scale. asserted
they → start → scale
He admit it. asserted
He → admit → it
After the break, Emanuel explains how he hijacked a real band’s Spotify page with AI-generated slop. asserted
he → explain → slop
In the subscribers-only section, we hear all about iLands, the AI agent platform that is basically just spam. asserted
that → hear → iLands
If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! asserted
you → become → version
You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. asserted
You → add → episode
The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. asserted
email → contain → version
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