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Shell Game

Kaleidoscope

A podcast about things that are not what they seem, hosted by journalist Evan Ratliff. Season 3 is a miniseries in three episodes, telling the story of how Evan tried to understand the tsunami of AI-generated content by injecting as much of it as possible straight into his ears. 

What exactly is AI slop anyway? How do you actually define it? Who is behind it all? And what does it mean for the human storytelling that we care about? We journey deep into the muck, and fight our way back out with answers.

Shell Game is a multiple award-winning series that has been named one of the best of the year by Apple, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vulture, The Information, The Economist. It's "riveting," says The New Yorker, "awesome" says The Verge, "slightly terrifying," says The Globe and Mail, and “a dry, funny plunge down the rabbit hole that pokes at something essential about the hours we spend on this earth,” says Vulture.

www.shellgame.co

This show includes AI-generated content.

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  • 24 episodes
  • Avg 35 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • S1 · E3
    Jul 23, 2024 · 33 min

    Episode 3: Conversations With Myself

    Evan takes his experiment in a new direction by having his AI-powered voice agent converse with … another of his AI-powered voice agents. What can these surreal and hilarious conversations between two AI incarnations of Evan Ratliff tell us about identity, authenticity, and the best and worst of human interaction? Enter this digital hall of mirrors to find out.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • S1 · E2
    Jul 16, 2024 · 37 min

    Episode 2: Me and My Scammer

    Evan turns his AI-powered voice agent loose on the people who are always at the forefront of technological adoption: the fraudsters and the rip-off artists. How will the scammers and spammers react when they face Evan’s voice agent in a battle of wits? And what happens when they deploy the same kind of AI voice agents on Evan that he’s using on them? Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • S1 · E1
    Jul 9, 2024 · 32 min

    Episode 1: Quality Assurance

    This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Jul 2, 2024 · 2 min

    Introducing Shell Game, a Strange and Immersive AI Experiment

    What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Evan Ratliff, longtime tech journalist, decided to find out. He combined a clone of his voice, an AI chatbot, and a phone line—many phone lines, actually—into what are called “voice agents.” Then for the six months, he sent them out… as himself.This show is made by humans. More specifically, it’s produced and edited by Sophie Bridges. Evan Ratliff is our host, and Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes