There Are No Girls on the Internet

Investigative journalist Karen Hao was covering OpenAI years before most of us had ever heard the words "ChatGPT" or "large language model." Her best-selling book, "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI," paints a gripping and damning portrait of the company's evolution from a sort of nonprofit to an empire-seeking tech juggernaut, drawing on her deep familiarity with the company as well as candid accounts from insiders.

She is one of the most influential and respected tech journalists covering the AI industry today.

In this interview, she shares the story of how she came to journalism, what she's learned from a decade of covering OpenAI and Sam Altman, and what she sees as the biggest threats of AI to intimacy, the environment, privacy, healthcare, and democracy.

Karen has a new podcast published by the BBC called "The Interface," and it is brilliant. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or by following this link: https://link.mgln.ai/theinterface-TANGOTI

Conversation with Karen is featured prominently in Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships, "Love At First Prompt." Pre-order your copy today at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Let us know what you think about this interview by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.

Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike are covering the tech news stories you might have missed.
Chappell Roan bodyguard controversy fueled by bots online, research finds: https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/chappell-roan-bodyguard-backlash-bots-b2947029.html
An AI-generated woman in images with President Trump has been going viral on conservative social media: https://wapo.st/3NtfbUi
Meta and YouTube lose two landmark court cases about harm to users:
. . California woman sues Meta and YouTube https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html
.. New Mexico Attorney General sues Meta https://mashable.com/article/new-mexico-meta-court-case-meta-loses
Comedian Druski published a hilarious short video titled "How Conservative Women in America act" and MAGA is real mad: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/1s48bw5/druski_parodies_erika_kirk_in_a_new_skit_how/
..Druski church parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/58hfPPHCRIU
..Druski NASCAR parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G32siPZXgx0
Barely six months after AI-video app Sora was released to much hype, OpenAI announced they are shutting it down:
https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/openai-shutting-down-sora-video-disney-1236698277/
. . Listen to Bridget predict Sora's demise back when it was announced, in our episode from Oct 10, 2025: https://app.omnystudio.com/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/programs/ad016d13-045e-48f3-9aa5-ae280172b27d/clips/66368931-ff00-467b-97fe-b3730017b21b/details
. . Some of Sora's main use cases are filling the internet with racist and misogynistic slop:
https://www.threads.com/@raisingself/post/DWP08hZmCOj?xmt=AQGzqaZ-H3abT0EW2lfRTONANK8dwciIx844aGm48QTIrQ
..Disney's Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywood: https://www.404media.co/disneys-openai-sora-disaster-shows-ai-will-not-save-hollywood/
Black filmmaker Nina Lee asked audiences to watch an unrelated Black rom-com in theaters to help convince studios that Black films are viable. We support Black filmmakers, but in Bridget's opinion this way of thinking is a trap. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/you-me-tuscany-black-rom-coms_n_69c57cb8e4b0a6ee60c3dfa3/amp
Judge dismisses lawsuit by Musk's X Corp accusing advertisers of illegal boycott: https://www.reuters.com/world/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-by-musks-x-corp-accusing-advertisers-illegal-boycott-2026-03-26/
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember the personal essay industrial complex? The 2010s era of Jezebel and xoJane where feminist writers put every raw, messy, private part of themselves on the internet? Lindy West was its brightest star.
Her new memoir, Adult Braces, reckons with what that cost her, and with a marriage that turned out to be more complicated than the happy ending she sold us in her first memoir, Shrill.
Her book sent the internet into a spiral, enraged conservatives, disappointed some feminists, divided the polyamory community, and inspired her husband to send a very intense email to a Slate writer.
Writer and comedian Ashley Ray joins Bridget to talk about the book, the discourse, and what all of it says about feminist writing, parasocial fandom, and whether the personal essay industrial complex of the 2010s has run its course.
Ashley’s Harper’s piece - Lindy West and the Trap of Perfect Polyamory: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a70801519/lindy-west-adult-braces/

Scaachi’s Slate piece - Lindy West’s How-Not-To Guide to Polyamory: https://slate.com/life/2026/03/lindy-west-polyamory-open-marriage-husband-roya.html

She Had a Cat Hair Ball in Her Vagina — or Did She? https://www.thecut.com/2015/09/she-had-cat-hair-in-her-vagina-or-did-she.html


Check out Ashley’s Substack Deep Trouble: https://www.deeptrouble.net/

Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.

Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !

Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed.

Afroman wins lawsuit brought against him by cops who raided his house. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-03-19/afroman-verdict-defamation-invasion-of-privacy-lawsuit

Afroman's video "Lemon Pound Cake" https://youtu.be/9xxK5yyecRo?si=P7JWA54zklLCWVnM

Afroman's video "Will You Help Me Repair My Gate" https://youtu.be/oponIfu5L3Y?si=cgLpG_T6A-JPBbW-

Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot cancelled in strangely cruel and surprising manner by Hulu. https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/buffy-reboot-dead-hulu-sarah-michelle-gellar-chloe-zhao-1236692284/

Nicole Kidman glides behind Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend at the Academy Awards, stealing all attention: https://www.threads.com/@rachelarich/post/DV8aFlADT6Q?xmt=AQGzqaZ-H3abT0EW2lfRTONANK8dwciIx844aGm48QTIrQ

Former Rolling Stone editor Noah Schactman lands new job at NYT, despite controversial role in misleading reporting to protect a personal friend. https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/noah-shachtman-nyt-rolling-stone-baltimore-banner-tristan-king-missing-st-helens-oregon-corruption-scandal-mayor.php

Columbia Journalism Review analysis on Rolling Stone's inaccurate story about campus rape at University of Virginia: https://www.cjr.org/investigation/rolling_stone_investigation.php

Celebrated relationship therapist Esther Perel has a guest on her podcast who is in a relationship with his AI chatbot: https://www.estherperel.com/podcast

Mark Zuckerberg finally calling it quits on the Metaverse (mostly): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/technology/mark-zuckerbergs-metaverse-vr-horizon-worlds.html

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris called Sam Altman a nazi at a party: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/tracewilliamcowen/jeremy-o-harris-openai-sam-altman-nazi
Specifically, Friedrich Flick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Flick

Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.

Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !

Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not long ago, Sam Altman was bragging about how OpenAI doesn't make sex bots. Then, just two months later, announced the company would be rolling out erotic content on ChatGPT.
So how's that pivot into adult content going? In the words of Dorinda Medley: "Not well, bitch."
Soon after the announcement, there was a high-profile exit from OpenAI — over concerns the company wasn't handling the adult content pivot responsibly. And now Sam Atlman says it’s been postponed.
So what does it all mean? Bridget sat down with friends Samantha and Anney over at SMNTY to break it all down.

Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !

Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.