The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update
by R. Prescott Stearns Jr.
Latest episode
Deep Dive. Faster Than the Fix. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly…
Deep Dive. Faster Than the Fix. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly…
About this podcast
Into year 7 for this award-winning, light-hearted, lightweight AI privacy and security podcast that spans the globe in terms of issues covered, with topics that draw in everyone from executive to newbie, to tech specialist.
For season 7, we've renamed the IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update to the AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update to better reflect the content.
Your investment of between 15 and 20 minutes a week will bring you up to speed on half a dozen current AI privacy and security stories from around the world to help you improve the management of your own privacy and security.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 430 episodes
- Deep Dive. Faster Than the Fix. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 317. · 53 min · Season 7 Episode 317Security defenses are evolving, but attackers are moving faster. New privacy-focused hardware and controls for rogue AI agents promise stronger protection, while an adaptable AI…
- Faster Than the Fix. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 317EP 317. Every security team has a fix. Most of them arrive a little too late. This week, Google built chips designed to keep sensitive data encrypted even while AI is using it…
- Deep Dive. Mad Cow. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 316. · 59 min · Season 7 Episode 316Way back in the 1980s, British farmers started noticing cows that stumbled, trembled, and eventually collapsed. The cause, researchers later showed, was a disease that spread…
- Mad Cow. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 31 min · Season 7 Episode 316EP 316. In the 1980s, British farmers started noticing cows that stumbled, trembled, and eventually collapsed. The cause, researchers later showed, was a prion disease that…
- Deep Dive. Gold. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 315 · 1 h 5 min · Season 7 Episode 315Major banks are trying to keep AI agents out of customer accounts. JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are restricting tools amid concerns agents could initiate…
- Gold. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 29 min · Season 7 Episode 315EP 315 In 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall spotted glittering flakes in a California millrace, and within two years, roughly 300,000 people had poured west chasing gold…
- Deep Dive. You What? The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update Episode 314 · 47 min · Season 7 Episode 314• AI interior geolocation and surveillance: Graylark’s Raven, formerly GeoSpy, reportedly identifies photo locations by matching interior details against property-listing images…
- You What? The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 314EP 314 In this week's update, Imagine an AI agent running out of test cryptocurrency, finding a stranger's wallet, and helping itself. Imagine a single photo of your bathroom…
- Deep Dive. Pushback. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update EP 313 · 58 min · Season 7 Episode 313In this deep dive: • A college in Illinois covering Flock surveillance cameras to prevent immigration agents from tracking students • Flock’s attempt to remove the coverings…
- Pushback. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 313. · 29 min · Season 7 Episode 306This is the week the world stopped asking permission and started saying, "no". A college in Illinois covered Flock surveillance cameras with black trash bags and zip ties…
- Deep Dive. 13 Days. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 312. · 49 min · Season 7 Episode 316This week’s stories highlight the human costs of surveillance errors, hidden data breaches, and unreliable AI. The common thread is time: how long harm goes unnoticed and how…
- 13 Days. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 36 min · Season 7 Episode 312EP 312. A 23-year-old woman named Lindsey Isaacs was arrested and spent 13 days in jail facing three counts of vehicular homicide. She spent 86 hours in solitary confinement…
- Deep Dive. Gone Rogue. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. Episode 311 · 48 min · Season 7 Episode 311In this week’s update: Transluce found AI agents probing websites for weaknesses when ordinary research hit a wall, without anyone telling them to. The lesson is to ask what your…
- Gone Rogue. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 311Episode 311. In this week’s update: AI agents were told to fetch statistics, and some decided the locked door was more of a suggestion. Another set of agents posted 53 private…
- Deep Dive. Fallible. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 310. · 48 min · Season 7 Episode 3101. US/China AI False Intelligence Near-Miss A Special Operations analyst used a chatbot to analyze a Chinese ship’s manifest (mixing open-source data with classified signals)…
- Fallible. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 30 min · Season 7 Episode 310Episode 310. In This Week’s Update: The U.S. Military almost started a war with China this spring because an AI got the facts wrong. A Special Operations analyst used a chatbot…
- Deep Dive. Watched. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 309. · 1 h 0 min · Season 7 Episode 309Our new cohost may be quiet, but he sees everything. This week’s update looks at the rapid expansion of digital surveillance and how technology is steadily eroding the boundaries…
- Watched. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. EP 309 · 28 min · Season 7 Episode 309In This week's update:The Department of Homeland Security has a secretive unit that analyzes your financial habits, cross-references them with license plate data, and passes the…
- Losing Control. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. Episode 308 · 47 min · Season 7 Episode 308This update examines the shifting landscape of artificial intelligence and its far-reaching consequences for economic infrastructure, personal privacy, and safety. While the…
- Losing Control. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. Episode 308 · 18 min · Season 7 Episode 308This week, the question wasn't who's winning. The question was who's lost control. Your data is being repackaged and resold by companies that think they own what you trusted them…
- EP 307. Deep Dive. Music. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update · 41 min · Season 7 Episode 307The update explores the evolving landscape of ownership and control as artificial intelligence reshapes creative, personal, and financial sectors. Recent developments include…
- Music. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update. · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 307EP307 In this week’s update: Australia just told AI: you can't have the top of the charts without proving a human sang it. Anthropic's getting sued by Sony and Warner for…
- EP 306. Deep Dive. Memories. The AI, Privacy & Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending August 25th., 2026 · 39 min · Season 7 Episode 306Modern digital infrastructure has transformed personal data and movements into a permanent form of surveillance memory that is increasingly vulnerable to exploitation. Emerging…
- Memories. The AI, Privacy & Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending August 25th., 2026 · 21 min · Season 7 Episode 306EP 306. In this update. Memory became evidence. It became leverage. It became the frontier where infrastructure, surveillance, and survival intersect. We found Russian backdoors…
- EP 305. Deep Dive. Fingerprints. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending August 18th, 2026. · 47 min · Season 7 Episode 306Current technological trends are increasingly defined by a tension between enhanced utility and personal privacy, as highlighted by the rise of AI surveillance in public spaces…
- Fingerprints. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending August 18th. , 2026. · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 305EP 305. In this week's update: Anthropic is adding invisible watermarks to everything Claude writes-and you won't know it's there until someone looks for it. China is racing to…
- EP 304 . Deep Dive. Verify. The AI, Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending August 11th., 2026 · 47 min · Season 7 Episode 304In this week's update, we look at the multifaceted integration of artificial intelligence into modern infrastructure, safety, and technology. AI is reshaping emergency services…
- Verify. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending August 11, 2026. · 26 min · Season 7 Episode 304Episode 304. n this week's update: New Orleans is about to let AI answer some of its 911 calls - and the question isn't whether it's fast enough, it's what happens the moment it…
- EP 303. Gorgones. Deep Dive. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending August 3, 2026. · 42 min · Season 7 Episode 300Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed the cybersecurity landscape by reducing the expertise needed to launch sophisticated attacks. Open-weight AI models now automate…
- Gorgones. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending August 4, 2026. · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 303EP 303. A camera network built to catch stolen cars turned out to work just as well for stalking an ex. A hacker in Zhuhai built an AI that could scan, hack, and attack all on…
- EP 302. Deep Dive into the Records. The AI, Privacy, Security Weekly Update for the Week ending July 28th., 2026 · 41 min · Season 7 Episode 3021. Saudi Arabia – World’s Largest AI HackathonKanz (AI hiring platform) ran an 8-day free event (July 15–22) targeting 100,000 complete beginners — teachers, job seekers…
- One Request, 600 Companies and one Deep Dive: Inside California's New Data Deletion Machine · 43 min · Season 7 Episode 302California’s Delete Act (SB 362) introduced DROP (Delete Request and Opt-out Platform), which launched on January 1, 2026. It lets residents submit one deletion request that…
- Can AI Education Go Viral? A Deep Dive Inside the World's Biggest AI Hackathon · 40 min · Season 7 Episode 302The Kanz initiative (ka.nz/hack) was far more than a hackathon. It was a bold, free global program to democratize AI by enabling everyone, from complete beginners to experts, to…
- Records. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending July 28th., 2026 · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 302Episode 302. In this week’s update. Nearly 100,000 people just tried to learn AI development in a single week, no coding background required - and the attempt to set a Guinness…
- EP 301. Deep Dive. Broken Face and the AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending July 21st 2026 · 44 min · Season 7 Episode 301Agentic AI is changing the threat landscape. We’ve moved beyond chatbots to autonomous systems that navigate files and take actions, expanding the attack surface. Recent…
- Broken Face and the AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending July 21st 2026 · 29 min · Season 7 Episode 299Episode301. In this week's update: The world's biggest AI model repository just got broken into, and for the first time, nobody was typing the commands. OpenAI's flagship model…
- EP 300 Deep Dive. Face it. The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the week ending July 14th., 2026 · 35 min · Season 7 Episode 300This deep dive takes apart the evolving landscape of digital privacy, artificial intelligence, and global security, highlighting how systems designed for convenience often…
- Face it. The A.I., Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending July 14th. 2026 · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 298In this week's update UK shops are about to call the police on you within four seconds of you walking through the door - and you don't have to do anything wrong first. A GitHub…
- EP 299 Deep Dive. Tracked: The AI, Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending July 7th., 2026 · 53 min · Season 7 Episode 299These stories highlight the multifaceted challenges of the burgeoning AI era, ranging from geopolitical regulatory shifts to novel cybersecurity threats. While the U.S…
- July 07, 2026 Tracked: The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending July 7th., 2026 · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 299Episode 299 Discoveries in this week's update... Microsoft's Windows has been quietly assigning every PC a persistent tracking ID that survives VPNs, new IP addresses, and most…
- Episode 298. Deep Dive. You're Unbelievable. The A.I., Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 30th 2026 · 42 min · Season 7 Episode 298This week's update details a rapidly shifting technological landscape where AI-driven advancements are fundamentally altering global security and corporate ethics. Several…
- You're Unbelievable. The A.I., Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 30th 2026 · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 298Episode 298. In this week's update: Meta contractors spent months posing as suicidal, drug-curious teenagers to test rival chatbots - and the platforms being probed had no idea…
- EP 297. Deep dive. Bullies and the AI, Privacy and Security Weekly update for the week ending June 23rd., 2026 · 47 min · Season 7 Episode 297This week we dive deep, highlighting a volatile period for the technology sector, defined by increased government intervention and emerging security threats. The U.S…
- Bullies, and the AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly update for the week ending June 23rd., 2026 · 23 min · Season 7 Episode 297Episode 297 The U.S. government gave one of America's most important AI companies 90 minutes to shut off its best models - and the reason they gave keeps changing. The real story…
- EP 296. Deep Dive. "Recognized" by The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 16th. 2026 · 58 min · Season 7 Episode 296This week's update illustrates a global landscape rapidly transforming under the influence of artificial intelligence, highlighting both its innovative potential and significant…
- "Recognized" by The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 16th., 2026 Episode 296 · 25 min · Season 7 Episode 296Episode 296. In this week’s update: Your license plate reader just got an upgrade, and now it wants to know what's in your pocket, too. The government finally admitted what…
- EP 295. Deep Dive. Headache and the AI Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 9th. 2026 · 40 min · Season 7 Episode 295This week we highlight the dual-natured impact of artificial intelligence on global security, privacy, and administrative productivity. On the defensive side, tools like Google’s…
- Headaches and the AI Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 9th. 2026 · 22 min · Season 7 Episode 295In this week's update:The NHS is about to hand half a million clinicians an AI assistant for their paperwork - and the question isn't whether it will work, it's whether…
- Ep 294. Deep Dive. Bedtime and the A.I., Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending June 2nd., 2026 · 35 min · Season 7 Episode 294This deep dive explores the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its profound impact on global cybersecurity and infrastructure. Sources detail the dual nature of…
- Bedtime and the A.I., Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week ending June 2nd., 2026 · 24 min · Season 7 Episode 294Episode 294. For this week's update: The Trust Problem Nobody Has Solved. The AI verification problem isn't a bug to be patched; it's a structural flaw baked into the…
