In this episode of the Future Tech & Policy (FTP) Podcast, we make sense of the Moltbook and Openclaw AI agent craze, in which we ask why (even for fun) agents need their own social network? The panel also takes a look at rentable humans by AI agents, AI board game archaeology unlocking the rules to an ancient Roman board game, us being wowed by the live robotics performances during the Chinese New Year Gala, and the recently released AI Policy Atlas by the IGPA Science & Technology Working Group. There's always something interesting happening at the intersection of new technology and society!


Links to articles discussed

- Rent-a-Human wants AI agents to hire you (Mashable) https://mashable.com/article/rent-a-human-wants-ai-agents-to-hire-you

- A Roman board game has mystified researchers for years. AI discovered how to play (Fast Company) https://www.fastcompany.com/91492290/roman-board-game-ai

- Humanoid robots steal the show during China's 2026 Spring Festival Gala (GMA News, YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAbHFcq5yw

- The AI Policy Atlas
https://www.aipolicyatlas.com

- Moltbook mania explained (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/podcasts/moltbook-mania-explained.html

- An AI-only social network now has more than 1.6M 'users.' Here’s what you need to know (ABC News)
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ai-social-network-now-16m-users-heres/story?id=129848780



Panelists

- Alvin Chin, Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor, Information and Decision Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvinchin

- Zachary McDowell, Associate Professor, Communication, University of Illinois Chicago
https://comm.uic.edu/profiles/zachary-mcdowell/

- Jeremy Riel (Host), Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://education.uic.edu/profiles/riel-jeremy/



About The FTP Podcast

The FTP podcast brings together a panel of interdisciplinary faculty experts across the University of Illinois System to discuss trends and news from recent weeks in tech and policy while looking toward the future. Produced by the Science and Technology Working Group, Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), University of Illinois System.

https://igpa.uillinois.edu

All opinions expressed on the FTP Podcast are those of the individual panelists and not the opinions of the University of Illinois System, The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or the three UI universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, or Springfield.

In this episode of the Future Tech & Policy (FTP) Podcast, the panel explores the Wikipedia community guidelines on spotting AI-written works to help with the editorial process only to have that set of guidelines used in a new plugin to make AI write less like AI, fake citations in AI papers (written by AI) and court cases, claims of disruption in jobs and the economy from AI leaders and how tech always promises different disruptions than we tend to actually see, and age verification technologies by tech companies to ensure child safety but are easily spoofable.

*Links to articles discussed*

- Wikipedia volunteers spent years cataloging AI tells. Now there's a plugin to avoid them. [Ars Technica] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/new-ai-plugin-uses-wikipedias-ai-writing-detection-rules-to-help-it-sound-human/

- GPTZero finds 100 new hallucinations in NeurIPS 2025 accepted papers [GPTZero] https://gptzero.me/news/neurips/

- Anthropic Economic Index report: Economic primitives [Anthropic] https://www.anthropic.com/research/anthropic-economic-index-january-2026-report

- Artificial intelligence tools expand scientists’ impact but contract science’s focus [Nature] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09922-y

- Claude Is Taking the AI World by Storm, and Even Non-Nerds Are Blown Away [The Wall Street Journal] https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-claude-code-ai-7a46460e

- Anthropic CEO says government should help ensure AI’s economic upside is shared [MSN] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/anthropic-ceo-says-government-should-help-ensure-ai-s-economic-upside-is-shared/ar-AA1UB0o4

- Palantir CEO says AI “will destroy” humanities jobs but there will be “more than enough jobs” for people with vocational training | Fortune [Fortune] https://fortune.com/2026/01/20/palantir-ceo-ai-humanities-jobs-davos-alex-karp/

- Our approach to age prediction [OpenAI] https://openai.com/index/our-approach-to-age-prediction/

- Age Verification Laws Came for the Open Internet [Engadget] https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-year-age-verification-laws-came-for-the-open-internet-130000979.html?src=rss


*Panelists*

- Zachary McDowell, Associate Professor, Communication, University of Illinois Chicago
https://comm.uic.edu/profiles/zachary-mcdowell/

- Jeremy Riel (Host), Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://education.uic.edu/profiles/riel-jeremy/

- Ken Suh, Adjunct Professor, Law, University of Illinois Chicago
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kensuh


*About The FTP Podcast*

The FTP podcast brings together a panel of interdisciplinary faculty experts across the University of Illinois System to discuss trends and news from recent weeks in tech and policy while looking toward the future. Produced by the Science and Technology Working Group, Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), University of Illinois System.

https://igpa.uillinois.edu

All opinions expressed on the FTP Podcast are those of the individual panelists and not the opinions of the University of Illinois System, The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or the three UI universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, or Springfield.

In this episode of the Future Tech & Policy (FTP) Podcast, the panel returns from winter break with a look at the light-hearted "Worst In Show" awards for products from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the US Executive Order toward federal AI regulation preemption over state laws, the new "Head of Preparedness" officer being hired by OpenAI to investigate risks and challenges with their models, and the recent licensing agreement between Disney and OpenAI to use everyone's favorite Disney characters on the company's AI products like ChatGPT and Sora.

*Links to articles discussed*

- CES Worst in Show Awards Website
https://www.worstinshowces.com

- ‘Worst in Show’ CES products include AI refrigerators, AI companions and AI doorbells (AP)
https://apnews.com/article/ces-worst-show-ai-0ce7fbc5aff68e8ff6d7b8e6fb7b007d

- “Worst in Show” Returns at CES 2026, Calling Out Gadgets That Make Things Worse (iFixIt)
https://www.ifixit.com/News/115344/worst-in-show-returns-at-ces-2026-calling-out-gadgets-that-make-things-worse

- Trump tries to block state AI laws himself after Congress decided not to (Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/trump-tries-to-block-state-ai-laws-himself-after-congress-decided-not-to/

- Trump’s AI executive order promises ‘one rulebook’ — startups may get legal limbo instead (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/12/trumps-ai-executive-order-promises-one-rulebook-startups-may-get-legal-limbo-instead/

- OpenAI is looking for a new Head of Preparedness (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/28/openai-is-looking-for-a-new-head-of-preparedness/

- Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI, licenses 200 characters for AI video app Sora (Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/disney-invests-1-billion-in-openai-licenses-200-characters-for-ai-video-app-sora/

- Disney has accused Google of copyright infringement on a 'massive scale' (Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/ai/disney-has-accused-google-of-copyright-infringement-on-a-massive-scale-163737642.html

- Extracting books from production language models (arxiv)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02671


*Panelists*

- Zachary McDowell, Associate Professor, Communication, University of Illinois Chicago
https://comm.uic.edu/profiles/zachary-mcdowell/

- Jeremy Riel (Host), Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://education.uic.edu/profiles/riel-jeremy/

- Gagandeep Singh, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://siebelschool.illinois.edu/about/people/faculty/ggnds

- Ken Suh, Adjunct Professor, Law, University of Illinois Chicago
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kensuh


*About The FTP Podcast*

The FTP podcast brings together a panel of interdisciplinary faculty experts across the University of Illinois System to discuss trends and news from recent weeks in tech and policy while looking toward the future. Produced by the Science and Technology Working Group, Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), University of Illinois System.

https://igpa.uillinois.edu

All opinions expressed on the FTP Podcast are those of the individual panelists and not the opinions of the University of Illinois System, The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or the three UI universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, or Springfield.