This Week in Tech (Audio)

TWiT 1072: The Devil's Advocate - Jailbreaking Fighter Jets, Social Media Addiction, and Self-Driving Snafus

February 23, 2026

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  • The ongoing lawsuit against Meta highlights a fundamental debate over whether excessive social media use constitutes a clinical addiction, with Meta executives arguing that 16 hours of daily use is problematic but not an addiction. 
  • The hosts expressed concern that legal precedents holding platforms responsible for user well-being could negatively impact smaller, non-algorithmic online communities and forums. 
  • The rapid iteration of large language models (LLMs) like Gemini, Claude, and GPT is leading to concerns that models are increasingly being trained specifically on benchmarks, potentially rendering those benchmarks meaningless for measuring general intelligence. 
  • The cost of running and accessing large language models (LLMs) may lead to a future price squeeze similar to early ride-sharing services, despite current low subscription costs. 
  • The rapid advancement of local AI models and voice cloning technology (like QN and 11 Labs) presents significant, convincing security risks, such as highly realistic phishing scams. 
  • The expansion of Ring's 'Search Party' feature beyond finding lost dogs is explicitly planned to move toward comprehensive surveillance, raising Fourth Amendment concerns. 
  • The expiration of aggressive EV lease deals, which leveraged federal tax credits passed through by leasing companies, is expected to flood the used car market with low-mileage, off-lease EVs over the next year, presenting a buying opportunity. 
  • The security of messaging apps remains a concern, with Signal being highlighted as superior to WhatsApp due to its minimal metadata collection, while Telegram's default lack of encryption is noted. 
  • Recent cybersecurity incidents, including a six-month data breach at PayPal affecting loan applicants and a statewide ransomware attack on the Mississippi health system, underscore ongoing risks in financial and critical infrastructure systems. 
  • Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, has been serving in Rome for eight years, longer than initially planned, highlighting the difficulty of leaving his post despite training successors. 
  • Rome's historical significance means construction projects frequently uncover ancient ruins, such as Nero's Theater, which must be preserved, often leading to complex building compromises. 
  • The hosts concluded the episode by promoting the show's schedule, Club TWiT membership benefits (including access to a Discord server supposedly located near Nero's Theater), and various ways to consume the content. 

Segments

Show Introduction and Guests
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: This Week in Tech episode 1072 features guests Nicholas De Leon, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Sam Abuelsamid.
  • Summary: The episode, titled ‘TWiT 1072: The Devil’s Advocate - Jailbreaking Fighter Jets, Social Media Addiction, and Self-Driving Snafus,’ was recorded on Sunday, February 22nd, 2026. Host Leo Laporte welcomes Nicholas De Leon from Consumer Reports, Father Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Sam Abuelsamid from Wheelbearings. The introduction teases topics including Amazon delivery issues, speaker wire alternatives (mud), and jet jailbreaking.
Social Media Addiction Trial
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(00:04:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Meta executive Adam Mosseri stated that 16 hours of daily Instagram use is problematic but cannot be clinically defined as addiction, comparing it to binge-watching Netflix.
  • Summary: A trial is underway where a 20-year-old is suing social media companies for ruining her life, with TikTok and Snapchat settling early. Mark Zuckerberg testified, drawing criticism for wearing Ray-Ban smart glasses in court, which the judge prohibited. The debate centers on whether social media use constitutes a true addiction or merely compulsive behavior, with one host arguing that lying about the severity of use is the core issue.
Social Media Regulation Concerns
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(00:13:10)
  • Key Takeaway: A major concern regarding social media regulation is that any ruling impacting Section 230 liability could inadvertently harm smaller, public-facing platforms and forums, not just Big Tech.
  • Summary: The discussion moved to the potential impact of legal judgments on Section 230 protections, which could affect personal forums and Mastodon instances, not just major platforms. The devil’s advocate position suggests that marketing efforts to attract viewership are inherent to any product, making it dangerous to impose standards of responsibility that could lead to censorship. Zuckerberg is pushing for Apple to handle age-gating via an API, shifting responsibility for user age verification.
Australian Social Media Ban Impact
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(00:26:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Australia’s ban on social media for those under 16 is reportedly isolating disabled and autistic children who rely on online spaces as safe social environments.
  • Summary: Reports indicate that Australia’s social media ban is negatively affecting vulnerable youth, such as a 14-year-old autistic girl who lost her primary social connections. The hosts acknowledge that while social media can hinder real-world socialization, it provides essential community for marginalized individuals. The conversation concluded that banning platforms might eliminate valuable, non-algorithmically driven social networks.
Sponsor Break and F1 Chat
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(00:39:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Trusted Tech offers free consultations to help businesses optimize complex Microsoft 365 licensing, potentially saving significant costs compared to standard support agreements.
  • Summary: Following the break announcement, the conversation briefly touched on Formula 1, with excitement over potential Apple Vision Pro integration for viewing races with multiple data feeds. Father Robert mentioned finding a lost Vision Pro in the Vatican Museum’s lost and found. The segment concluded with a transition to discussing the current state of technology innovation, particularly concerning AI.
AI Dominance and Tech Stagnation
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(00:48:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The overwhelming industry focus on AI development is perceived as causing stagnation in other tech sectors, such as mobile phones and gaming, leading to degraded products like Windows.
  • Summary: The hosts feel that nearly all engineering talent is being funneled into AI, resulting in a shrinking scope of interesting tech news outside of LLM updates. Nicholas noted that consumer reports on products like Windows reflect a seriously degraded user experience. The massive funding rounds for AI companies, like OpenAI’s potential $100 billion raise, suggest resources are being diverted from other potentially beneficial innovations.
LLM Benchmarking and Spatial Reasoning
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(00:54:47)
  • Key Takeaway: The latest LLMs, including Gemini 3.1 Pro, are showing high performance on benchmarks, but the practice of training models directly on these tests raises concerns about their real-world utility, especially in complex spatial reasoning tasks.
  • Summary: Recent releases include Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, OpenAI’s GPT 5.3 Codex, and Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro, with Google claiming dominance on key benchmarks like Arc AGI. Arc AGI specifically tests pattern recognition and spatial reasoning, which is crucial for tasks like autonomous driving where single-camera depth perception is challenging. The cost-effectiveness of the new Gemini model on these tests is highlighted, despite its slightly lower score than a previous version.
AI Benchmarks and Model Usage
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(00:59:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Training AI models exclusively to benchmarks results in exceptional benchmark performance but potentially limited real-world abilities.
  • Summary: Training models only to tests leads to limited abilities outside of those specific tests, suggesting performance on benchmarks may not translate to general utility. Nicholas De Leon primarily uses the Claude stack (Sonnet 4.6 and Haiku 4.5) for coding and show summaries. He was initially skeptical of the hype surrounding Claude Bot but found value in testing its capabilities.
Tucson Daily Brief Project
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(01:00:52)
  • Key Takeaway: An automated local news briefing pipeline using Claude Sonnet 4.6 and 11 Labs costs approximately $20 per month to operate.
  • Summary: The Tucson Daily Brief aggregates top headlines from local RSS feeds, summarizes them using Claude Sonnet 4.6, and delivers the summary via Telegram at 6 a.m. daily. The system then uses 11 Labs with a cloned voice to generate an audio podcast, blog post, and YouTube version of the top story. The entire cloud-based pipeline is estimated to cost around $20 per month.
LLM Economics and Dead Ends
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(01:05:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Subscription fees for LLMs operate in a false economy because companies are currently absorbing massive operational losses, and LLMs are inherently static, not self-improving.
  • Summary: The current low cost of services like ChatGPT is misleading because companies are operating at massive losses, and the cost structure is not expected to become more efficient as LLMs are static and require expensive retraining. One perspective suggests LLMs are a dead end for the next generation of AI, serving only as one tool in a larger set. The eventual need for these companies to go public will likely force a price increase, similar to the trajectory of Uber pricing.
AI Voice Cloning Dangers
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(01:15:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Local text-to-speech models like QN can generate highly convincing voice clones from minimal audio input without the content restrictions imposed by cloud services like 11 Labs.
  • Summary: A demonstration showed a phishing scam created locally using the QN model, which sounded convincingly like Leo Laporte after only a few minutes of training audio. Unlike cloud services, locally run models like QN do not impose content restrictions, allowing them to generate speech containing potentially inappropriate language. This capability reinforces concerns about voice print identification being used for security, as demonstrated by the ease of creating a convincing scam call.
Ring Surveillance Expansion Plans
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(01:23:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Leaked internal emails confirm Ring’s ‘Search Party’ feature, initially framed for finding dogs, is intended to expand its scope toward achieving ‘zero crime’ through expanded surveillance.
  • Summary: A leaked email from Jamie Siminoff indicated that the Ring Search Party feature, which leverages community camera footage, will move beyond lost pets to target ‘zero crime.’ This goal is fundamentally incompatible with the Fourth Amendment’s protection against pervasive surveillance. A $10,000 bounty is currently offered for a method to force Ring doorbells to store data locally rather than relying on Amazon’s cloud.
Amazon Van GPS Failure
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(01:29:24)
  • Key Takeaway: An Amazon delivery van became stranded in tidal mud flats after the driver followed GPS instructions onto a 600-year-old footpath unsuitable for vehicles.
  • Summary: An Amazon delivery driver followed GPS directions onto the Broomway, a tidal sandbar path in Britain that is not suitable for vehicles, resulting in the van becoming stranded. The driver reportedly confirmed the route with dispatch, who instructed them to follow the GPS exactly. This incident highlights the danger of blindly trusting automated guidance systems over clear environmental warnings.
Tesla vs. Waymo Crash Data
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(01:33:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Tesla’s reported autonomous driving crashes in Austin are significantly more frequent than human averages, while Waymo’s data suggests its system performs better than human drivers in its operational urban environment.
  • Summary: Since its June launch in Austin, Tesla’s autonomous driving system has reported roughly five crashes per month, four times worse than human collision rates in minor incidents, though Tesla heavily redacts incident details submitted to NHTSA. Conversely, Waymo reports 51 incidents over 127 million driverless miles, indicating performance better than human drivers in urban settings. Waymo monitors provide guidance only when the vehicle is conflicted, not for direct remote control, and this data is incorporated into future software iterations.
EV Tax Credit Lease Loophole
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(01:57:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Automakers exploited a loophole in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) commercial vehicle tax credit to pass $7,500 savings onto consumers via leases, even for non-North American assembled EVs.
  • Summary: The IRA’s $7,500 tax credit for commercial vehicles lacked the strict North American assembly and battery sourcing requirements applied to retail EV credits. Automakers realized that leasing is technically a commercial sale to the leasing company, allowing them to claim the credit and pass the savings to the end customer, resulting in extremely cheap or even free leases in some states. The IRS confirmed this practice, but these specific lease benefits have since expired.
EV Tax Credit Loopholes and Leases
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(01:58:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Leasing companies exploited a loophole to pass the $7,500 commercial EV tax credit to consumers, resulting in extremely cheap, sometimes nearly free, EV leases.
  • Summary: Manufacturers sold vehicles to leasing companies as commercial sales, allowing them to claim the $7,500 tax credit, which was then passed down to lower lease payments. This practice enabled deals like $0 down, $0 per month leases on the Fiat 500E in states like Colorado, which also offered state tax credits. These highly subsidized lease deals are now ending.
Used EV Market Outlook
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(02:00:56)
  • Key Takeaway: A wave of off-lease EVs with low mileage is coming to the used market, offering significant savings as battery longevity exceeds expectations.
  • Summary: Two-year leases initiated during the peak subsidy period are expiring, sending these EVs to auction, where they are expected to sell cheaply, often for half their original sticker price. Most of these vehicles will have low mileage (under 20,000 miles) due to annual lease limits of 10,000 miles. Excluding early Nissan Leafs, 10-year-old EV batteries generally retain over 90% capacity, and they are covered by 100,000-mile warranties.
Fisker Reliability Concerns
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(02:02:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Fisker vehicles are associated with significant reliability issues, including door and trunk malfunctions, leading to strong warnings against purchasing them.
  • Summary: A fleet of Fisker Oceans was reportedly being dumped in Las Vegas for $7,500 each, though they have since been sold. Anecdotal evidence suggests severe operational problems, such as a Pixar director being temporarily trapped inside his Fisker due to door failure. Despite these issues, some units were reportedly operating as taxis in New York City after a fleet company bought remaining inventory cheaply.
Signal vs. WhatsApp Security
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(02:07:15)
  • Key Takeaway: Signal is preferred over WhatsApp for privacy because Signal does not leak metadata, even though both use the same underlying encryption protocol.
  • Summary: Consumer Reports published a primer on Signal, emphasizing its minimal data collection compared to WhatsApp, which leaks metadata. While WhatsApp uses the same encryption as Signal for messages, the metadata leakage is a key differentiator for privacy-conscious users. Adoption remains difficult because users must convince their entire network to switch to a new platform.
OpenClaw Security and AI Risks
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(02:10:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Using AI tools like OpenClaw (or similar command-line integrations) carries inherent security risks, especially when granting access to sensitive accounts, though some users mitigate this by running them on isolated hardware.
  • Summary: One panelist expressed severe regret after granting OpenClaw access to API keys and Google Docs, highlighting the danger of trusting such tools with sensitive data. The practice of using ‘curl to a bash prompt’ has become common, despite historical warnings against it. The risk of AI models being trained on malicious code (well poisoning) is a growing concern for generated code security.
PayPal Data Breach Disclosure Failure
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(02:11:50)
  • Key Takeaway: PayPal exposed PII, including SSNs and account numbers, for six months due to a code update error, and its delayed disclosure (from December to February) erodes trust.
  • Summary: A code update for PayPal Working Capital in July 2025 exposed sensitive user information until the end of December, but the disclosure only occurred in late February. PayPal cannot confirm the extent of the data exfiltration because the faulty code lacked proper logging, meaning the breach could have affected all users of that loan program. The significant delay in reporting the confirmed breach raises serious questions about the company’s current assurances.
TP-Link Router Security Controversy
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(02:14:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite federal shelving of a ban, Texas is suing TP-Link over security concerns related to Chinese access, though experts suggest router security hinges more on firmware updates than country of origin.
  • Summary: The White House shelved a potential ban on TP-Link routers, the most popular brand in the US, possibly as a political bargaining chip before a summit with Xi Jinping. Consumer Reports’ security rating heavily weights automatic firmware updates, noting that many brands, including TP-Link, are vulnerable if users fail to update. Users concerned about security can install custom firmware like OpenWRT, but this sacrifices automatic updates.
Password Manager Vulnerability Assessment
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(02:21:04)
  • Key Takeaway: A novel attack demonstrated that compromised password manager servers could force clients to downgrade encryption, but responsible disclosure by researchers and vendors mitigated the immediate threat.
  • Summary: ETH Zurich research showed that if a password manager’s servers were compromised, attackers could force clients (like LastPass, Bitwarden, and Dashlane) to use legacy, less secure cryptography. All three vendors responded responsibly by removing support for these downgrade attacks, turning the event into a positive example of security disclosure. Users are advised to use strong passwords and memory-hardened key derivation functions like Argon2.
Ransomware Impact on Healthcare
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(02:26:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Ransomware attacks against essential services like the entire Mississippi health system force shutdowns, highlighting the ethical dilemma where patient safety overrides immediate security patching.
  • Summary: A ransomware attack compromised the electronic health records platform for the Mississippi health system, forcing the shutdown of all statewide clinics. Panelists urged attackers to avoid targeting hospitals, schools, and city governments due to the direct impact on public safety. The flat network architecture at Jaguar Land Rover, which allowed a breach to compromise the entire system, was cited as an example of poor IT design.
AI Code Generation and Exploits
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(02:28:38)
  • Key Takeaway: Malicious code from fake job recruiter campaigns targeting developers risks poisoning AI training data, potentially leading to AI models generating malware or exploits.
  • Summary: North Korean actors are targeting developers with crypto-related coding challenges containing malware, raising concerns about this code entering the training sets for models like Claude Code and Codex. While AI models are proving adept at finding vulnerabilities in open-source projects, the risk of ‘poisoning the well’ means future generated code could inadvertently contain malicious elements. However, AI may also reduce common programming errors like buffer overflows.
F-35 Jailbreaking Possibility
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(02:30:34)
  • Key Takeaway: The Dutch Defense Secretary suggested the F-35 fighter jet software could be jailbroken like an iPhone, potentially allowing allied nations to customize or bypass U.S. control mechanisms.
  • Summary: Concerns existed that the U.S. could remotely disable F-35s sold to allies via a kill switch, but the Dutch minister stated the software is vulnerable to jailbreaking. Jailbreaking the jet would likely sever its connection to crucial U.S.-provided information services, effectively turning the advanced platform back into ‘just a plane.’ This capability might allow partner nations to replicate or modify the jet’s networking functions independently.
Audio Fidelity vs. Conduction Medium
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(02:46:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Blind audio tests showed that audiophiles could not reliably distinguish between audio signals transmitted through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud.
  • Summary: An experiment involving DIY Audio forum members tested whether listeners could identify audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud against a CD source. Listeners performed only slightly better than random chance (13.95% accuracy), suggesting that for these setups, the medium had negligible audible impact. The result challenges the premise that expensive, specialized cables provide superior sound quality.
Lab-Grown Meat Adoption Hurdles
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(02:49:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite regulatory approval and technological feasibility, lab-grown meat adoption is hampered by high cost and political opposition from traditional agriculture states.
  • Summary: Cultivated chicken has been approved by the FDA, and the technology exists to produce real meat without slaughter, but current prices range from $10 to $30 per pound, making it more expensive than conventional meat. Over $3 billion has been invested in the sector, yet nearly a third of U.S. states are actively trying to ban its sale. Americans’ preference for cheap food remains a significant barrier to widespread adoption.
CERN’s Original Web Browser
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(02:52:44)
  • Key Takeaway: CERN has made the original 1989 World Wide Web browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee, available online for historical viewing.
  • Summary: The original concept for the World Wide Web involved collaborative editing, similar to a wiki, intended for scientists sharing papers. The original browser, built on a NeXT machine, utilized a menuing system rather than modern web standards. The experience of accessing the early internet via Gopher and Archie in the mid-1980s is compared to the revolutionary impact of modern AI.
Guest Introductions and Banter
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(02:57:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Sam Abuelsamid’s affiliation is Wheelbearing State Media VP Research Telemetry.
  • Summary: The segment opens with light banter regarding placeholder city names like Ypsilanti. Sam Abuelsamid is formally introduced with his title at Wheelbearing State Media. The host expresses appreciation for the guests’ participation in This Week in Tech (Audio).
Fr. Robert’s Vatican Tenure
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(02:57:43)
  • Key Takeaway: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, has been serving in Rome for eight years, having initially intended the assignment to be temporary.
  • Summary: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, remains stationed in Rome, having been there for eight years despite trying to leave three times. He notes that he has trained people to take over his responsibilities, but the transition has not yet occurred. The host suggests this prolonged stay is now his calling.
Rome’s Historical Layers
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(02:58:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Ancient Roman ruins, including the site where Julius Caesar was murdered, are integrated directly into modern city structures like shopping malls.
  • Summary: The discussion highlights the pervasive nature of history in Rome, where ancient sites are often found unexpectedly, such as the remains of Julius Caesar’s murder site near the Forum. One shopping mall incorporates an exhibit displaying a Roman aqueduct segment found during construction. New construction, like a Four Seasons Hotel, requires extensive preservation efforts for discoveries like Nero’s Theater, which extends beneath adjacent properties.
Show Schedule and Club TWiT Promotion
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(03:01:39)
  • Key Takeaway: This Week in Tech (Audio) airs live on Sundays at 2 p.m. Pacific / 5 p.m. Eastern, with Club TWiT members receiving ad-free feeds and Discord access.
  • Summary: The show airs live every Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern (2200 UTC), with a time zone switch expected in the following weeks. Club TWiT membership offers ad-free versions of all shows and access to the members-only Discord where shows are streamed live. On-demand audio and video versions are available on the twit.tv website and dedicated YouTube channel.
Closing Remarks and Sponsor Messages
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(03:03:11)
  • Key Takeaway: The host expressed a desire to continue the show for another 20 years before transitioning to an AI avatar for subsequent millennia.
  • Summary: The host thanked the audience and expressed a goal of continuing the show for another two decades. The segment concluded with safety reminders about wearing seatbelts, sponsored by the governor’s traffic safety committee. Final sponsor messages promoted Eckridge smoked sausage and Jared Jewelers.