The lawsuit that could reclaim the internet, and the AI hype cycle is eating its own tail

When was the last time a news headline about AI actually told you something true?

George K. and George A. recorded this one from opposite sides of the planet — George K. fresh off RSA in San Francisco, George A. embedded at a global trust and safety conference in London. The distance didn't slow them down.

This month's System Check has a theme: we're living inside a story that powerful institutions are writing for us, and most of us aren't stopping to ask who's holding the pen.

Meta and YouTube just lost a landmark lawsuit — not over what they published, but over how they designed their products to keep you hooked. The legal strategy that finally worked was the one used against Big Tobacco. Meanwhile, 82% of journalists now use some form of AI tool in their work. The people covering AI are increasingly shaped by it. The snake is eating its tail.

The arms race math doesn't add up either. Forty billion dollar bridge loans. Circular investments. Credit-based bets assuming a revenue base that doesn't yet exist. And somewhere in rural Mississippi, kids are developing breathing problems because gas turbines got trucked in to power a datacenter the community never voted for.

The question running underneath all of it: are we making decisions based on outcomes, or based on vibes? And if it's vibes — whose vibes are they, and how did they get there?

Mentioned:

* Meta and YouTube verdict news coverage [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V1A.wqyR.v21PP8eaW4dc&smid=url-share] * Center for Humane Technology's podcast "Your Undivided Attention" episode on the Meta and YouTube lawsuit verdicts [https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/why-the-meta-verdicts-are-a-big-deal-and-what-it-was-like-to-testify] * Ed Zitron's recent monologue [https://youtu.be/D0q7qMKbBcc?si=2NORoOT0GBuTHJwt] * Research into how media covers AI [https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/05/how-uncritical-news-coverage-feeds-the-ai-hype-machine/] * UK Study on AI media coverage [https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/video/research-finds-60-uk-media-coverage-about-artificial-intelligence-industry-led] * Muck Rack's 2026 State of Journalism Report [https://media.muckrack.com/documents/State_of_Journalism_2026_1.pdf] * WSJ: CFOs expect to reduce headcount because of AI [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-admin-job-market-6a1c3436] * Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark on not being able to idle AI systems [https://youtu.be/no9ACSFUMsU?si=-Ds_bQH-atVYuSL7&t=2878] * Iran War affects world helium supply, creating semiconductor bottleneck [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/business/helium-chips-iran-war.html] * Environmental effects of Elon Musk using gas turbines to power data centers in rural communities [https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/03/18/a-battle-over-data-centers-heats-up-along-the-mississippi-tennessee-state-line/]