Did you have to verify your government ID to listen to this podcast? We hope not, but in some parts of the world, this is becoming a reality. We're talking about why age verification laws are becoming more popular in the U.S. and U.K., and how the pursuit of children's online safety -- when legislated irresponsibly -- can just create new problems of surveillance and censorship.

Also, Isabel went to the Hugos. She lost. She gave George R.R. Martin his own high school yearbook to sign. It was weird. We talk about that here, too.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're chatting with Kaila Yu, author of "Fetishized," about her experience growing up online in the 90s and 00s and reckoning with her relationship to Asian fetishization. Yu started as an "import model" and pin-up girl who appeared in "Playboy" and the "Fast and Furious" franchise, then became a MySpace star and lead of the all Asian-American punk band Nylon Pink, and now, she's a writer and content creator studying the portrayal of Asian women in the media.

Links

"Fetishized" by Kaila Yu

Kaila's Instagram & TikTok

Find Us Online

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod

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Website: https://wowiftrue.com/

Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We spent last episode taking to AI chatbots. What if we, two humans, simply chatted with each other while speaking in NPR voices? Don't worry, the NPR voices don't last long.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Isabel and Amanda sacrifice the sanctity of their souls and talk to Ani, the very horny anime waifu that is now part of Elon Musk's Grok app. But don't worry, we balance it out by telling you a weirdly wholesome story about Tony Hawk.

[This episode is NSFW; if you do not want to hear an AI panda talk about burning down schools, you also might wanna skip this one]

Sources

Amanda's article about Ani and Bad Rudy

Find Us Online

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue

Website: https://wowiftrue.com/

Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Isabel and Amanda talk about two very different kinds of AI grift. In one, a man pretends to be real social media for the (probably) AI band "The Velvet Sundown." In another, Soham Parekh simply gets employed by every single AI startup at once.

Sources

The Velvet Sundown: https://medium.com/@andrew.frelon/i-am-andrew-frelon-the-guy-running-the-fake-velvet-sundown-twitter-fcab2b7e471b

Soham: https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/03/everyone-in-tech-has-an-opinion-about-soham-parekh/

Find Us Online

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue

Website: https://wowiftrue.com/

Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Isabel and Amanda throw out their other plans and instead talk about the subreddit “myboyfriendisAI” which is about, you guessed it, AI boyfriends and other types of digital partners. We also discuss Meta’s not-amazing practices and the LLM paper doing the rounds on the AI hater part of the internet, with Iz’s human partner weighing in.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You had questions. We have answers. We tell you about: the most "white lady" email we have sent; our screen time; fears of unexpected wet; life hacks for 29-year-olds specifically; Amanda's undying love for HBO Girls; cursed food content; political memes and earnestness; is there any good use of AI; and, unfortunately, not the 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty.

Find Us Online

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue

Website: https://wowiftrue.com/

Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We explore all the ways that various AIs are going weird—sycophantic, white genocide focused, blackmailing its users, and not trusting Chargers fans. Also, we talk way too much about Sam Altman's olive oil choices, the Hugos, and Isabel talks for fifteen minutes about trying to get the internet installed. Which, hey, this is a podcast about the internet. And that includes calling Verizon.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.