Vast Numbers of Lonely Kids Are Using AI as Substitute Friends
͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­
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Lonely kids have a new friend in Skynet / Can your employer make you donate something dear to you? / You can only kill someone once

Keith Conrad
Jul 16
 
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Vast Numbers of Lonely Kids Are Using AI as Substitute Friends

Has anyone thought about starting a business where you just talk to people? About anything? I should stop giving away these million dollar ideas

A frequent flyer needed a kidney transplant to live. This Delta employee gave him one

At this very moment right now United is looking through their HR files to see which employee they’re going to volunteer to donate an organ to a passenger. Regardless of your employer, it might be a good idea to read the find print of your employment agreement


More Stories Below, but first some new content in the News Sidequest Podcast Universe…


Auditory Anthology

SCI-FI SHORT STORIES - NARRATED BY DARREN MARLAR & PRODUCED BY KEITH CONRAD
Tales from the Blue Line: A man's promising first date takes a bizarre turn when the charming woman he met begins sending him strange texts that lead him to a shocking and impossible truth about who she really is.

Tales From the Blue Line - Ghosted

Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar

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Become a paid subscriber to listen to all of our episodes completely ad-free! You’ll also get access to a deeper dive on the stories we share and the authors!

Andy Shaw on Trump, Media, and the Future of Politics

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WITH JOHN DEMPSEY
This week on What Does It Mean?, John Dempsey reconnects with a longtime friend and Chicago media legend: political reporter, columnist, and former head of the Better Government Association, Andy Shaw.

Andy Shaw on Trump, Media, and the Future of Politics

John Dempsey

Episode

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Pete Rose, Perfectionism, and the Price of Redemption

THE CHICAGO SMOKEHOUSE WITH BIG JOHN HOWELL AND RICK TELANDER
Long before Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter was indicted or your cousin could bet on Little League from his phone, Pete Rose was baseball’s original gambling pariah. Now, posthumously reinstated and potentially Cooperstown-bound, Rose’s legacy—and the sport’s relationship with vice—is back in the spotlight.

Pete Rose, Perfectionism, and the Price of Redemption

John Howell / Rick Telander

Episode

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Also Worth A Look…

  • Court of Appeal confirms it isn't possible to kill a person who is already dead - Yeah, that tracks

  • AI could create these new jobs despite gloomy forecasts, experts say - AI is like any new technology, it’ll probably end up decimating some jobs but it’ll also create enough new ones that it’ll probably just about be a wash

  • US inflation rises as tariffs drive up prices - Who could have predicted this?

  • Retired Army officer pleads guilty to sharing classified info on Russia-Ukraine war on dating site - How did that come up in the text chat?

  • Lead investigator into Biden's use of an autopen signed letters with a digital signature - We’re not sending our best and brightest to Congress

  • Nick Cannon to Launch Podcast Giving Relationship Advice - Maybe he needs a producer

  • Bizarre 12-sided object dating to Roman Empire baffles scientists: ‘A cosmic symbol’ - You just thought about the Roman Empire. Re-start the clock

  • Overturned milk truck creates 'significant spill' on New York road - It’s nothing to cry about…

  • Commodore 64 Returns with FPGA-Powered Remake, Coming This Fall Starting at $299 - I look forward to firing up Jupiter Lander again

  • Study finds no link between aluminum in vaccines and autism, asthma - Huh… imagine that. Where do vaccines go to get their reputation back?

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© 2025 Keith Conrad
25 Northwest Point Blvd Suite 400 Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
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