Yesterday in AI | 19 August 2026

The Secret AI Book Shredder, Disbanding Safety Teams, and Google's Contrail AI Win

From secret warehouse shredders to Hollywood truces and high-altitude climate fixes, this episode explores what artificial intelligence is consuming to fuel its rapid expansion. We break down 404 Media's AirTag investigation revealing Amazon's destructive scanning of rare physical books to capture pristine, pre-AI training text.

We examine ByteDance signing a landmark copyright pact with the Motion Picture Association to curb deepfake video generation across TikTok and CapCut. We dive into the controversy surrounding OpenAI reportedly disbanding its catastrophic risk Preparedness team ahead of an IPO, and look at the launch of ChatGPT for Teens and its behavioral age-guessing tools. We confront the rising surge of AI voice-cloning elder fraud and why establishing a family code word is becoming essential personal defense. Finally, we look up at Google and the UK government launching Operation Blue Skies to eliminate climate-warming airplane contrails with precision flight modeling.

Send us Fan Mail

Feedback? Email mike@yesterdayinai.news or connect on LinkedIn, X, or Bluesky. If you like the show, please take a minute to rate and review it so others can find it!