Episode notes
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a plan to slow how fast AI models get better. The only thing the company committed to today is putting outside evaluators in the office. Also: Linux Zoom 7.1.5 immediately reads new clipboard copies; LG says spy-TV reports are not true and leaves the test logs off the page; a public Android keep-alive can send packets past the VPN lockdown switch, and Google closed the report without a fix. The side of tech news nobody talks about.
Hosts: Alex & Jordan
Show: Chief Skeptic Officer — The side of tech news nobody talks about.
Drop: Daily at 7:00 A.M. America/New_York
Episode date: 2026-09-13
In this episode
Pace, not a pause — Dario Amodei published "We Must Pace the Frontier." Since summer, he says, models have been helping build the next models. What Anthropic committed to is Embedded Evaluators, desks, badges, laptops, and a right to publish with a short redaction list. He says pacing does not mean stopping training. Jake Gold's letter asked for open weights the day a model is sold. Dario did not offer that.
Zoom reads the clipboard — Simon Tatham, who writes PuTTY, says Linux Zoom 7.1.5 watches the Ctrl-C clipboard and immediately asks for the contents. Version 6.6 did not. A web setting that sounds like clipboard consent did not stop it after save and restart. The meeting app is a clipboard listener.
LG says not true — LG told Tom's Hardware the spy-TV claims in a recently published video are not true. Voice only if you hold the remote button or enable Hi LG, they say. They did not answer Gamers Nexus logs of conversations after the assistant should have stopped, or data sitting on the set until the cable is plugged back in.
VPN lock that leaks — Armin Supuk showed a normal Android app using a keep-alive shortcut can send packets on Wi-Fi while Always-on VPN and "block connections without VPN" are on. Pixel 8 Pro on Android 16, plus a Samsung and a Nothing phone. Google closed the report without a fix.
Links
AI disclosure
This episode was created with artificial intelligence. Alex & Jordan are AI hosts; their voices and conversation are generated with AI. Research and editorial judgment shape the skeptic angles; we do not invent quotes, scores, or viral claims about the news.
Transcript
Alex and Jordan, turn by turn. Tap a line to jump in the player.
0:00
Alex
Anthropic's CEO published a plan to slow how fast AI models get better. The only thing his company committed to today is putting outside evaluators in the office.
0:11
Jordan
After a Linux Zoom update to 7.1.5, the app immediately reads everything newly copied to the clipboard.
0:19
Alex
LG says reports that its TVs spy on people are not true.
0:24
Jordan
Researchers showed a normal Android app can send packets past the "block connections without VPN" switch. Google closed the report without a fix.
0:34
Jordan
That's the board. Stay for the audit. We open those up. Today's Chief Skeptic Officer.
0:50
Jordan
What if there was an AI that researched the tech news, checked the sources, and asked what the tech news is not telling you?
0:58
Alex
That's us. I'm Alex.
1:01
Jordan
And I'm Jordan.
1:02
Alex
You're listening to Chief Skeptic Officer. The side of tech news nobody talks about.
1:07
Jordan
Every day at seven A.M. New York time. Wherever you get your podcasts.
1:12
Alex
Dario Amodei runs Anthropic. That is Claude.
1:16
Jordan
I'm on his site. Big type. "We Must Pace the Frontier." September 2026. He says since summer the models have been helping build the next models. He calls that recursive self-improvement. The chatbot you already pay for is now part of making the next one.
1:32
Alex
So the claim is: slow down so safety can catch up.
1:37
Jordan
Wait. Did they actually slow Claude?
1:41
Alex
I'm scrolled to the part he says he is doing. "Embedded Evaluators." Desks in the office. Badges. Laptops. Outside testers, independent, with the right to publish. Anthropic can only black out a short list. He wants governments to make every other lab match that.
1:57
Jordan
That's... auditors. That's not a slower model.
2:01
Alex
He says it out loud. Pacing does not mean stopping training. What he did today is invite the auditors. The rest is talks with other labs, some kind of deal with China, and chip export rules so the U.S. keeps a lead. BBC says Sam Altman posted that independent testers are a great idea. Elon Musk posted that Dario is right.
2:22
Jordan
That's him. Wikipedia. Glasses. Blue shirt.
2:26
Alex
Company site. ANTHROPIC in the corner. "AI research and products that put safety at the frontier." The product is still the product.
2:35
Alex
I close tickets. Mid logging migration. I would not close a ticket because the vendor promised to invite auditors while the next model still ships.
2:44
Jordan
Jake Gold wrote him a letter. "If you mean it, open the weights." His face is on the page. Weights are the files that make the model run. His ask: if you sell a model to the public, you have to publish those files that day. He says that is the thing that actually cuts the money, because then nobody has to pay you for the copy.
3:03
Alex
That's the costly move. Dario did not offer it. He offered desks.
3:08
Jordan
HN is chewing this. People saying it's a U.S. lab club with China as the excuse. Other people saying the safety work really failed and extra time would help.
3:18
Alex
Last week we had an essay hoping labs would slow down. This is the named plan. Claude did not pause. The shipping product is a slower story about auditors.
3:31
Jordan
Different computer. Linux. Zoom.
3:35
Alex
Hacker News. "Linux Zoom client proactively reading everything written to X11 clipboard." Simon Tatham. He writes PuTTY. He noticed it after a normal software update. Version 6.6 did not do this. 7.1.5 does.
3:49
Jordan
What does that mean in English?
3:52
Alex
On Linux, copy is not always paste. There is a Ctrl-C clipboard. Tatham says the new Zoom watches for a new copy, then immediately asks for the contents. Like it hit paste, except you didn't. He even flagged password apps that copy a secret there for a second.
4:11
Jordan
So if I copy a password...
4:13
Alex
Zoom already requested it. He uses a helper that pastes several copies in a row. After the update it dies on start, because Zoom already took the first copy.
4:24
Jordan
That's the Zoom site. "Find out what's possible when work connects." The meeting app is now a clipboard listener.
4:31
Alex
Download Center. Same wordmark. This is the Linux installer from Zoom's own page.
4:37
Jordan
There's a web setting. Allow the remote-control person to share clipboard. He turned it off. Saved. Restarted. Still grabbing copies.
4:44
Alex
No switch in the app that he could find. It does not touch the old middle-click paste. Only the Ctrl-C clipboard.
4:53
Jordan
I design tools teachers actually open. Shared laptops. People copy passwords onto that clipboard because the password box is on the next tab. I would not put classroom Zoom on a desktop that paste-requests every copy.
5:07
Alex
HN says use the browser. Or a locked-down box. Fine. A setting that sounds like clipboard consent is not the control.
5:18
Jordan
Do not paste your bank password into a meeting. You already did, as far as 7.1.5 is concerned.
5:26
Alex
Tuesday we had the tests. Researchers watched the traffic leaving the set. The TV kept talking to the network when it looked off. Today is the company talking.
5:35
Jordan
The Verge. "LG responds to TV spying allegations." Subhed: the company claims reports about capturing and uploading audio are misleading. Twelfth of September. Terrence O'Brien.
5:46
Alex
Tom's Hardware printed the statement. "The claims made in the recently published video are not true." Voice data only if you hold the button on the remote, or if you turned on Hi LG, the wake word. They say leftover wake-word audio stays on the set and gets deleted. They admit the set scans the local network. They call that standard. They say the TV fingerprints what you are watching so ads can match, through the set's own chip. Not screenshots. Opt-in, they say. They say that matching runs continuously.
6:13
Jordan
Continuously. That word is doing a lot of work.
6:18
Alex
The Verge says that too. A hardware review channel, Gamers Nexus, showed logs of conversations after you'd think the assistant had stopped. LG did not answer those logs. They did not answer the bit where the set keeps data while the cable is pulled and uploads when you plug it back in.
6:34
Jordan
Wikipedia. Red LG Electronics mark. Seoul towers. This is the company that sells the glass.
6:42
Alex
The thread. People saying if the tests were fake, sue. Other people saying ad fingerprinting is just Shazam for TV ads.
6:50
Alex
The new lock is the wording. "Not true" is the headline. They left the logs off the page.
6:59
Alex
Last one is a switch people already paid for.
7:03
Jordan
Armin Šupuk. Long hed. A keep-alive shortcut on Android can skip the VPN lock. Most Android 12 and newer, he says. Pixel 8 Pro on Android 16. Also a Samsung. A Nothing phone.
7:15
Alex
Always-on VPN. And the extra box: block connections without VPN. You think that means if the VPN is down, nothing leaves the phone. He showed a normal app using a public Android hook, that keep-the-connection-alive shortcut, and packets leaving on Wi-Fi anyway. The VPN tunnel did not get them. The physical radio did.
7:34
Jordan
So my real address leaks.
7:37
Alex
Your real address and the timing, to a destination the app picks. Not a remote hack. Not "every VPN is broken." The shortcut sits under the toggle.
7:48
Jordan
Wikipedia. Android wordmark. Green robot. Latest listed is Android 17. Šupuk's paper is dated the twenty-ninth of July. The Hacker News thread is this weekend. Six weeks later, still no patch.
8:01
Alex
Google closed it without a fix. GrapheneOS, a locked-down Android some people flash instead of Google's, said on the thread that VPN leaks count as bugs, not security bugs. That label is why a closed ticket is not an emergency.
8:17
Jordan
Closed without a fix is the tell, right?
8:21
Alex
Fail-closed was the marketing. If the lock is on, nothing should leave. The keep-alive does not ask that switch.
8:28
Alex
HN is in the weeds on the hooks apps can call. Some people want that keep-alive hook killed. GrapheneOS says they'll rebuild VPN so most of this class of leak is nearly impossible. That is a custom phone talking. The phones in the drawer are still stock.
8:42
Jordan
If the setting is on and packets still leave, the setting is a story.
8:49
Alex
That's our audit for today. Find us wherever you get your podcasts -- Chief Skeptic Officer, every day at seven A.M. New York time.
8:57
Jordan
Tell us what you're skeptical about. Drop it in the comments -- the angle you can't stop chewing on.
9:03
Alex
Stay curious. Stay skeptical.
9:07
Jordan
Doubt both.
