Kill The Computer

Ben and Emil of the Ben and Emil Show take us on a journey through the financial landscape of the tech sector and a glimpse of what to look out for in the coming months. Follow them at https://www.youtube.com/@benandemilshow

Note: You can use coupon code PotatoYear for half off your first month over at www.Patreon.com/KillTheComputer where this episode was originally released ~mid-September

A tech billionaire and Trump donor bankrolled an "AI focused" private school that costs $50,000+ a year. Kids are allegedly hooked to heart monitors while being criticized, and fail if their heartrate increases too much. They work unpaid "dirty" jobs like scrubbing toilets or manual labor, and strangely have required follower quotas on social media. This is Alpha School, the billionaire-funded AI academy Trump's Education Secretary came to tour.

We spoke with Benjamin Riley, founder of Cognitive Resonance, an education think tank, who is investigating what he believes are many improprieties.

Follow Ben and read his initial reporting and follow ups here: https://buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/special-report-my-so-called-alpha

Use coupon code POTATOYEAR for half off the first month of your Patreon subscription from now until Halloween at www.Patreon.com/KillTheComputer 

Articles discussed:

Character AI: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/13/just-5-years-in-interactive-chatbot-platform-character-ai-files-for-bankruptcy/

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-afraid-characterai-bankrupcy

Kelly Clarkson Bird Drama: https://slate.com/life/2026/10/kelly-clarkson-art-of-play-brooklyn-store-bird.html

Accenture: https://www.404media.co/accenture-tells-employees-they-can-now-spend-only-29-on-claude-per-month/

Elon Musk says he's had AI 'psychosis' half a dozen times in the last year https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-ai-psychosis-2026-10

Full episode: www.Patreon.com/KillTheComputer 

Saul Levin is the Program Director for the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Research and host of The Hum podcast, which serves as the oral history of the fight against data centers. He walks us through what successful municipalities have done to push back and what you can do if one pops up in your neighborhood.

Follow Saul:

https://x.com/thehumpod

Read the column he co-authored in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/08/ai-datacenters-democracy

Brian and Josh from The Worst of All Possible Worlds join us to discuss The Worst of All Possible Books: Mr. Beast's LLM-ridden slopfest "The Most Dangerous Games".

Follow TWOAPW: https://www.worstpossible.world