EdTechSR Episode 372: AI's Psychological Dangers

Welcome to episode 372 (”AI’s Psychological Dangers”) of the EdTech Situation Room from April 8, 2026, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week, Dr. Jason Neiffer (aicentrist.com) and Dr. Wesley Fryer (wesfryer.com) discussed the growing psychological risks of AI companion bots and the new documentary The AI Doc, explored open and local AI models including Google’s Gemma 4, dug into Anthropic’s Project Glasswing and its discovery of thousands of zero-day software vulnerabilities, examined quantum computing’s looming threat to encryption, and unpacked the urgent media literacy challenges posed by propaganda memes and war narratives. Jason also shared the Frontier Learning Lab’s Basecamp for AI resource, and both hosts geeked out over sketchnotes-turned-AI-infographics and Microsoft’s AI Playground. Our show was live-streamed and archived on YouTube Live via StreamYard.com and auto-archived to YouTube. We are now publishing from Substack too! Subscribe to us with your favorite podcast listening app, or directly on or https://www.youtube.com/@edtechSR. Follow our EdTechSR page on Facebook, mastodon.education/@edtechsr on Mastodon for updates, and join LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can. All show notes are available at edtechSR.com/links.

🔗 Links We Discussed

* Lawyer behind AI psychosis cases warns of mass casualty risks (TechCrunch, 15 March 2026)

* ‘The AI Doc’ Is Probably the Scariest Movie You’ll See All Year (PBS KQED, 25 March 2026) - official trailer

* Basecamp for AI from the Frontier Learning Lab (more info)

* Project Glasswing/Anthropic Mythos

* Google Vids are Free!

* In Japan, the robot isn’t coming for your job; it’s filling the one nobody wants (TechCrunch, 5 April 2026)

* Gemma 4: Byte for byte, the most capable open models (The Keyword; 2 April 2026)

* Run an open model on your iPhone

* Jeff Utecht’s local AI server for schools

* Studies: Quantum Computers Could Hack all Encryption by 2029 (Verity, 2 April 2026)

* Media Education Lab webinar: AI, News and Education (6 April 2026)

* We’re Being Played Through Propaganda, Memes, and War (Psychology Today, 1 April 2026)

* Jason’s Geek of the Week:: Microsoft AI Playground??!

* Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Sketchnote to AI InfoGraphic - Memes, Warfare, and Propaganda (May 4, 2026)

🧭 Links We Did NOT Discuss

* OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about Pentagon AI deal (NPR, 8 March 2026)

* Z.AI Releases 5.1

* Google quietly launched an AI dictation app that works offline (TechCrunch; 7 April 2026)

* OpenAI Releases: “Introducing the Child Safety Blueprint”

* Russia denies Ukrainian intelligence assessment that its hackers have teamed up with Iran’s for cyberattacks (Reuters, 8 April 2026)

* Social media has become a freak show (Nate Silver, 5 April 2026)

* Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life (Wired, 31 March 2026) - paywall free version

* Apple Took Down These ICE-Tracking Apps. The Developers Aren’t Giving Up (Wired, 8 Oct 2025)

Episode 372 is also available on YouTube in two formats: Portrait mode optimized for mobile phones, and Landscape mode optimized for laptop / desktop computers! This Substack version (syndicated to other podcasting platforms) was edited using Descript.com to remove “filler words!”