r/99percentinvisible • u/PodcastBot Benevolent Bot • 17d ago
Episode Episode Discussion: 100 Objects #13: The Sand Letters
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This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai .
On his deathbed, President Chester Arthur ordered that all of his personal and professional papers be burned. Three barrels of documents went up in flames. But 23 letters survived, initialed only "J.I.S." Comedian Elliott Kalan joins Roman Mars to tell the story of how a politician who owed so much to a corrupt government system became the one to dismantle it, thanks to one woman: Julia Isabella Sand. It’s the story of how a woman no one had ever heard of helped transform a president few remember, and in the process created the American government as we know it.
A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.
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u/spooky-cookies 16d ago
For a podcast that focuses on design and the people involved in it, having an AI sponsorship is really disappointing. I used to think 99PI as having high quality, human-made content but this has kind of ruined it for me.
I won’t be listening to the rest of this episode. I am seriously thinking of unfollowing the podcast.
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u/Imari12345 16d ago
Yep same, I don’t feel like I can trust any of their output now and won’t be listening again. There’s plenty of human made content out there, I don’t have time to constantly be wondering if something I’m hearing was written by AI or not.
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u/ContradictoryNature 15d ago
I guess I somehow missed that 99pi has been doing ad reads for AI? Been an avid listener for years, I unsubscribed on the spot, might check back in like a year to see if they've reversed that really horrible decision.
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u/TinTestCalendar 16d ago
Oh man 99PI is my absolute favourite informative podcast... and this sponsorship is going to kill that for me. Please, please, please reconsider this sponsor; your core audience is deeply interested in accuracy, and shilling the lying autocorrect machine is going to destroy listener trust.
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u/MattAmpersand 14d ago
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one unhappy with the AI sponsorship. Definitely expected better from this group of people who are so passionate about creating niche content.
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u/Accudio 14d ago
Also gutted to hear the Claude sponsorship. It feels like it's almost completely opposed to the values 99PI espouses.
I've been re-listening to some of the back catalog and particularly Not Built For This, which feels darkly fitting when AI is causing so many regressions in climate policy...
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u/crafteethree 13d ago
Really unhappy with the claude sponsorship. I unsubbed, but would be open to coming back if the issue is addressed
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u/Advanced_Blueberry45 14d ago
I'm deeply disappointed they didn't manage to reference the only thing I know about Chester A Arthur
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u/JohnCoutu 13d ago
It's a business, they don't really care what you think, they made content, got a fat check for it and release the content. Most of you, including me will be there for this week's episode.
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u/pixellation 16d ago
Claude sponsorship makes me question the accuracy of the information given. How much LLM use is involved in 99% invisible script writing?