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TWiT 1087: Evil is the Root of All Money - Could Local AI Laptops Compete With Data Center Giants?
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Meta's Secret Face Recognition, AI Regulation & Trump's Stake in AI
At 2:03:56 · chapter starts 1:56:45
Leo presents Wired's finding: Meta has quietly embedded face-recognition code called 'Name Tag' in its AI app across millions of phones, designed to identify people in the real world via smart glasses. The feature hasn't been enabled, but the infrastructure is in place. Fr. Robert Ballecer reveals his own countermeasure: for seven years he has systematically tagged photos of random strangers with his name across Facebook and Google, so any face-recognition search for 'Robert Ballecer' returns approximately 150 different people [1] — Leo Laporte "Wired discovered face-recognition code called 'Name Tag' silently embedded across millions of phones in Meta's smart glasses AI app, pullin…" 1:56:41 . The conversation pivots to Trump's executive order requiring voluntary 30-day pre-release AI review, which the panel treats as regulatory theater. Fr. Robert connects it to the bigger story: Trump is also considering taking government equity stakes in AI companies, calling it 'a beautiful thing' that would make Americans rich. Joey de Villa notes this is just socialism with extra steps. The panel also flags that the U.S. already took a 10% stake in Intel via the CHIPS Act, so precedent exists.
Trump said on Air Force One that government ownership of AI companies could be 'a beautiful thing' that makes Americans rich. Sam Altman had already floated the idea. But the panel notes the U.S. government already took a 10% stake in Intel via the CHIPS Act — so the precedent exists, even if the implications are alarming.
