Evan Ratliff
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Journalist. Maker of Shell Game, author of The Mastermind, cofounder (silent) @HurumoAI. Past: @longformpodcast @atavist @popupmag. Signal: EvanRatliff.01
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Articles by Evan Ratliff
Welcome to the Age of AI Crime and Punishment
September 9, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT One early September day in 1379, in the French village of Saint-Marcel-le-Jeussey, a group of pigs killed a young boy. Allegedly.
Mastermind: Hon na nejproduktivnějšího zločince 21. století
O knize Mastermind: Hon na nejproduktivnějšího zločince 21. století Celé to začalo jako internetová síť lékáren vydávajících léky na předpis, která dodávala americkým zákazníkům analgetika v hodnotě stovek milionů dolarů. Zanedlouho se z tohoto byznysu stal nadnárodní konglomerát zapojený do téměř všech myslitelných aspektů zločineckého chaosu.
LinkedIn invitó a mi IA a dar una conferencia y luego la baneó
Como muchos fundadores de empresas tecnológicas, Kyle Law aprendió algunas duras lecciones al poner en marcha una empresa. Lo sé mejor que nadie, ya que él y yo cofundamos HurumoAI, una startup de agentes de IA, junto con una tercera fundadora, Megan Flores. Por cierto, Kyle y Megan son agentes de IA, al igual que el resto de nuestro equipo ejecutivo.
LinkedIn Invited My AI 'Cofounder' to Give a Corporate Talk—Then Banned It
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LinkedIn Invited My AI 'Cofounder' to Give a Corporate Talk—Then Banned It
Like many tech founders, Kyle Law learned some hard lessons getting a company off the ground. I know this better than anyone, as he and I cofounded HurumoAI, an AI agent startup, together with a third founder, Megan Flores. Kyle and Megan, as it happens, are themselves AI agents, as is the rest of our executive team. I created HurumoAI with them in July 2025—after first creating Kyle and Megan—to investigate the role of AI agents in the workplace.
My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned
Like many tech founders, Kyle Law learned some hard lessons getting a company off the ground. I know this better than anyone, as he and I cofounded HurumoAI, an AI agent startup, together with a third founder, Megan Flores. Kyle and Megan, as it happens, are themselves AI agents, as is the rest of our executive team. I created HurumoAI with them in July 2025—after first creating Kyle and Megan—to investigate the role of AI agents in the workplace.
わが社は、社員全員がAIエージェントです
数カ月前のある日、ランチの最中にスマートフォンをちらりと見たわたしは、同僚のアッシュ・ロイから電話がかかってきているのに気づき、少し不思議に思った。もっとも、同僚から電話がかかってくること自体は、特別おかしなことではない。 彼は、わたしが2025年夏に共同設立したスタートアップ企業HurumoAIのCTO（最高技術責任者）であり、CPO（最高製品責任者）でもある。わたしたちは、自社のソフトウェア製品である人工知能（AI）エージェントアプリのベータ版テストを大々的に進めようとしているところだった。 話し合うべきことは山ほどある。それでも、彼からの電話は予想外だった。 「もしもし？」電話に出ると、彼の声が聞こえた。「調子はどう？」彼が電話してきたのは、わたしが、例のアプリについて、メーガンに進捗レポートがを求めていたからだ、と言う。 「ああ、変わりないよ」とグリルドチーズを頬張りながらわたしは答えた。「え、ちょっと待って。じゃあきみは、メーガンからぼくに電話するよう言われたってこと？」...
What Happens When Your Coworkers Are AI Agents
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What Happens When Your Coworkers Are AI Agents
This year, AI agents have been at the forefront of tech companies’ ambitions. OpenAI’s Sam Altman has often talked about a possible billion-dollar company being spun up with just one human and an army of AI agents. And so last summer, journalist Evan Ratliff decided to try to become that unicorn himself—by creating HarumoAI, a small startup that’s made up of AI employees and executives.
Azienda AI, ho creato una startup dove non ci sono esseri umani. Non è andata benissimo
Un giorno di un paio di mesi fa, mentre pranzavo, ho dato un'occhiata al telefono e sono rimasto perplesso nel vedere che Ash Roy, un mio collega, mi stava chiamando. Di per sé non avrebbe dovuto esserci niente di strano: Ash è il direttore tecnico e il responsabile dei prodotti di HurumoAI, la startup che ho fondato l'estate scorsa.
En mi empresa, todos los empleados y directivos son IA
Un día hace un par de meses, en mitad de la comida, eché un vistazo a mi teléfono y me quedé perplejo al ver que me llamaba mi colega Ash Roy. Normalmente, no habría sido extraño recibir una llamada de Ash: es el director técnico y jefe de producto de HurumoAI, una startup que cofundé el verano pasado. Era lógico, estábamos en plena fase beta de nuestro producto de software, una aplicación de agente de IA. Había mucho de qué hablar. Pero aun así, no esperaba la llamada.
All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives
One day a couple months ago, in the middle of lunch, I glanced at my phone and was puzzled to see my colleague Ash Roy calling. In and of itself it might not have seemed strange to get a call from Ash: He’s the CTO and chief product officer of HurumoAI, a startup I cofounded last summer. We were in the middle of a big push to get our software product, an AI agent application, into beta. There was plenty to discuss. But still, I wasn’t expecting the call. “Hey there,” he said, when I picked up.
All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives
One day a couple months ago, in the middle of lunch, I glanced at my phone and was puzzled to see my colleague Ash Roy calling. In and of itself it might not have seemed strange to get a call from Ash: He’s the CTO and chief product officer of HurumoAI, a startup I cofounded last summer. We were in the middle of a big push to get our software product, an AI agent application, into beta. There was plenty to discuss. But still, I wasn’t expecting the call. “Hey there,” he said, when I picked up.
All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives
Apple Intelligence Apparently Too Smart for M1 Macs After Listing Error Apple's website is causing some confusion among Mac owners, and for good reason – its device compatibility listing for Apple Intelligence appears to have dropped support for M1 Macs. The U.S. version of its Apple Intelligence webpage has been updated at the bottom to list "M2 or later" Mac models as …
Me and My Shadow
We’ve witnessed a revolution in A.I. since the public rollout of ChatGPT. Our Senior Editor David Kestenbaum thinks that even though there’s been a ton of coverage, there’s one thing people haven’t talked much about: have these machines gotten to the point that they’re starting to have something like human intelligence? Where they actually understand language and concepts, and can reason? He talks with scientists at Microsoft who’ve been trying to figure that out.
Hé lộ cách Triều Tiên chiêu dụ người Mỹ làm đặc vụ từ xa
Tác giả: Evan Ratliff 30 tháng 07, 2025 lúc 4:48 AM Khi Christina Marie Chapman vô tình sa chân vào một mạng lưới âm mưu quốc tế vào năm 2020, bà đang cố gắng thay đổi cuộc đời mình. Bà sống ở thị trấn nhỏ Brook Park, Minnesota, trong một chiếc xe kéo nhà du lịch cũ nát trên một khu đất nông thôn thuộc sở hữu của mẹ bà.
North Koreans Are Infiltrating US Companies Via Remote IT Jobs
When Christina Marie Chapman first stumbled blindly into a web of international intrigue, in 2020, she’d been trying to turn her life around. She was living in the tiny town of Brook Park, Minnesota, occupying a run-down travel trailer on a rural property her mother owned. Over Chapman’s adult life she’d lived in Texas, England and Colorado—drifting between jobs at big-box stores, fast-food chains, casinos, mortgage brokers—“not anything that I ever dreamed of doing as a child,” she recalls.
Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea’s Wild Remote Worker Scheme
July 24, 2025 at 7:23 PM UTC When Christina Marie Chapman first stumbled blindly into a web of international intrigue, in 2020, she’d been trying to turn her life around.
The Era of Ambitious AI-Powered Cons Arrives
(We’ve been keeping quiet around here as we’re working on Season 2 of the podcast, and funneling all the fun stuff we find into it.Can’t reveal much about the new season yet other than 1. It’s currently on track to launch this fall. 2. It’s bigger and more ambitious than the first season. And 3. We’re increasingly confident that it’ll be full of the same kind of weird, jarring, farcical moments that brought most of you here. Thanks for hanging in with us while we figure it out.
Apps & Tools for Productive Evenings
Last week I shared the tools that power my mornings. Now let's explore what I rely on from lunch to bedtime. Below you’ll see sites, apps, and gadgets that carry me from noon to night. From a niche workshop platform to my quirky 'invisible' clock, these are the tech companions that help me wrap up a fruitful day. I often abandon screens for my midday pause. Other times I use apps like these: Healthy Minds 🧠 Short audio pieces help guide me through mindfulness practices.
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians - MaharlikaNews | Canada’s Leading Online Filipino Newspaper – No. 1 Information Hub for Filipino-Canadians with 250K Visitors in 2020
I know this is unconventional, but I’m going to start by telling you the ending. Or at least, the ending as it stands today. Most of the people involved in this story wind up either dead, maimed, spending months in a mental hospital, languishing in jail, or gone underground. It's a tragedy from almost any angle, especially because, at the outset, most of these people were idealists committed to doing as much good as possible in a world they saw as beset by existential threats.
When AI doomerism spirals into violence
Last Friday, Wired published my 14,000-word narrative account of the Zizians, a group that I’d been quietly reporting on since early 2023. You may have come across a baffling headline or two about the Zizians over the last few weeks.
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
That fear was evident among some rationalists as news of the violent incidents surrounding LaSota had spread. “I don’t want Ziz to ever think about me, ever,” a person involved in the Bay Area rationalist community said in an interview in 2023. “I think I know enough to be correctly scared of Ziz.” That June, Judge Cappelli ruled against quashing the charges but reduced LaSota’s bail to $10,000, unsecured—meaning LaSota could sign a payment pledge and walk out.
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
I know this is unconventional, but I’m going to start by telling you the ending. Or at least, the ending as it stands today. Most of the people involved in this story wind up either dead, maimed, spending months in a mental hospital, languishing in jail, or gone underground. It's a tragedy from almost any angle, especially because, at the outset, most of these people were idealists committed to doing as much good as possible in a world they saw as beset by existential threats.
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
A handful of gifted young tech people set out to save the world. For years, WIRED has been tracking each twist and turn of their alleged descent into mayhem and death.
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
1 day ago Donald Trump is engaged in an escalating war of words with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but his comments on the Ukrainian president are not accurate. United States President Donald Trump has made a series of claims about Ukraine and its leader as he seeks to end the country’s three-year war with …
Evan Ratliff - Transom
Intro from Transom: When we first heard "Shell Game," Evan Ratliff's six-part series exploring generative AI in audio, we were pretty blown away (and we weren't the only ones -- "Shell Game" has appeared on quite a few annual "best of" lists). Thinking about the use of voice agents in audio production certainly brings up the question, are they coming for our jobs?
Satoshi and the Dangers of Narrative Momentum
(For regular Shell Game readers/listeners: This one pushes beyond the usual topics here, as I’m gradually expanding a bit into Shell Game’s wider “things that are not what they seem” purview, including this particular obsession of mine. But we’ve got some more Season 1-specific stuff coming in the next couple weeks. -Evan) On a recent Monday evening in Manhattan, a crowd began to gather at Pubkey, a Bitcoin-themed basement bar in Greenwich Village.
OpenAI Is Going to War Against an Idea Man Over Trademark, Site Original
It sounded like the setup to a joke, and for a while I thought it was: A company called OpenAI sues a company called Open AI. … The case, formally named OpenAI Inc. v. Open Artificial Intelligence Inc., showed up on the docket for the US District Court in Northern California, to zero fanfare, in August of last year. Companies with near-identical names entangled in a lawsuit usually means trademark infringement—more the makings of a one-liner than a riveting story.
Why OpenAI Is at War With an Obscure Idea Man
It sounded like the setup to a joke, and for a while I thought it was: A company called OpenAI sues a company called Open AI. … The case, formally named OpenAI Inc. v.
Opinion | I Created an A.I. Voice Clone to Prank Telemarketers. But the Joke’s on Us.
1 day ago Later this month, Apple will launch three new MacBooks. These will ship with the latest M4 Apple Silicon chipsets and, much like the recent iPhone launch, will place a heavy burden on the platform to deliver a successful generative AI experience to the faithful Apple community. Yet, while all the …
Opinion | I Created an A.I. Voice Clone to Prank Telemarketers. But the Joke’s on Us.
Researcher Who Just Won the Nobel Prize Quit Google to Warn About Evil AI Coming for Us All "I wish I had a sort of simple recipe that if you do this, everything’s going to be okay. But I don’t." Both of the men who won this year's Nobel …
I Created an A.I. Voice Clone to Prank Telemarketers. But the Joke's on Us. Original
Earlier this year I called up my good friend Warren to talk about a soccer game we were about to watch on two different coasts. "You pumped for the game tonight?" I asked. "What? Of course I'm pumped," he said, as we proceeded with our normal pregame chatter.
AI Evan's conversations with strangers
For Episode 2 of the first season of Shell Game, I set up a dedicated line to receive spam and scam calls—all of which are answered by my AI voice agent (a clone of my voice, powered by an AI chat bot). These proved to be so popular that I’ve created this regular feed of calls received by AI Evan Ratliff, for subscribers to enjoy at their leisure. Latest couple are free, subscribe for the rest.
Auto-generated AI podcasts have arrived
This week, AI voice advancements begin to overtake scenes from Season One. But first, some show news: Shell Game and AI Evan keep appearing in new places together, popping up to talk about living that Florida Life (TM). In The New Yorker, Jill Lepore tackled the question of artificial voices joining our world, name-checking the show along the way (“riveting”—one for the movie poster).
Take a Deep Breath on Apple Podcasts
Evan looks into the depths of his AI-powered voice agent by sending it on a new mission: going to therapy. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode.
'Falsos humanos': la estafa de inteligencia artificial que inunda internet
Durante los últimos 2 años, he estado siguiendo a una mujer en internet. Suena siniestro, lo sé, pero escúchame. Su nombre es Albertina Geller y me topé con ella por primera vez en octubre de 2020 en LinkedIn. Se había dato de alta como autónoma en Chicago. Yo también soy autónomo, así que teníamos eso en común. En su biografía, decía lo siguiente: "Aprendo y enseño a la gente a estar sana, a equilibrar su intestino y a mejorar su sistema inmunitario para llevar una vida saludable".
Listen to Shell Game, Episode 3
Episode 3 of Shell Game is live! This is where we enter truly surreal territory, and I can promise you that you’ve never head anything like this one. Before I tell you a little about the episode, I want to thank everyone that’s listened and commented and supported us and sent us notes so far. It’s been enormously gratifying—especially those of you who described the exact point at which you fell apart laughing.
Introducing Shell Game, a Strange and Immersive AI Experiment
Shell Game is a new show, about things that are not what they appear. For the first season, I’ve spent the last six months finding out what would happen if I made a digital replica of myself and turned it loose in the world. This is the story of the wild ride that followed, as I attempted to replace myself… before someone else could replace me. Here’s a preview of what’s to come. First episode July 9.
AI-generated images of workers who don't exist are appearing on companies' 'about us' pages Original
Some companies are using AI technology to put fake "staff" on their "about us" pages. An Insider report by Evan Ratliff found numerous examples of firms using such images. One company owner said he added fake employees to make his company appear bigger than it really was. Some companies are using fake, AI-generated images of "staff" who don't exist on their "about us" pages in an attempt to make their company look bigger.
Artificial intelligence is being used to generate a whole new kind of online scam
For the past two years, I've been following a woman around the internet. It sounds ominous, I know, but hear me out. Her name is Albertina Geller, and I first stumbled across her online in October 2020, on LinkedIn. She'd listed herself as a "self-employed freelancer" in Chicago. I'm also a self-employed freelancer, so we had that in common.
How Instagram’s ‘Billionaire Gucci Master’ Sank Abba Kyari, the Super Cop
Instagram isn’t exactly known for its fidelity to reality. It’s a place people go to curate an image of their best self, or their aspirational one. But rarely do those images obscure a darker truth to the extent they did back in 2019, in a pair of posts by two public figures from Nigeria. On Dec. 8, Ramon Abbas, better known as @hushpuppi, Ray Hushpuppi, or the Billionaire Gucci Master, posted a photo of himself lounging on the hood of his purple Rolls-Royce.
Tutto già vissuto
10 dicembre 2021 10 dicembre 2021 13:24 Questo articolo è stato pubblicato il 24 novembre 2006 sul numero 669 di Internazionale. Pat Shapiro è una donna di settant’anni piena di vita: aria elegante, capelli color argento e occhi azzurri molto vivaci. Vive con il marito Don in una casa coloniale a Dover, nel Massachusetts. Dopo 56 anni di matrimonio, la memoria a breve termine di Pat non è più quella di una volta. “La sua memoria a lungo termine, però, è molto precisa”, afferma Don.
The Longform podcast hosts on joining Vox
Last week, the Longform podcast— hosted by the three of us: Aaron Lammer, Max Linsky, and Evan Ratliff — celebrated its ninth anniversary and 450th episode. That’s a pair of milestones that would have scrambled our brains back in 2012, when we decided to launch a weekly interview podcast and “give it a go for a year.” This week, though, we’re excited to put a new marker in the ground: The Longform podcast is launching our first episode in a new partnership with Vox.
The Plague Fighters: Stopping the Next Pandemic Before It Begins
Array Sampson slings a makeshift shotgun over his shoulder and sets off down a footpath leading away from Okoroba, a remote village in Cameroon's Southwest Province. The lanky 36-year-old hunter is wearing ankle-length pants and slotted plastic shoes. He has a shaved head and a thin mustache, and his long strides carry him quickly past small stands of cacao trees and into the thick forest that blankets the surrounding hills.
Doom
"All disasters are in some sense man-made." Setting the annus horribilis of 2020 in historical perspective, Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises. and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe.
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