Oct 5, 2026 · 31 min
Listen from 0:41
Listen at 0:41
AI mods test gaming’s claim to AI entertainment
AI Video Game Mods, Chinese Cars Take Over UK, Apple Tightens Mac Data Controls | Diet TBPN
The episode connects rough game mashups, shifting AI attitudes, and cheaper Chinese cars to a broader question about where technology becomes genuinely useful.
- 1AI-assisted mods expose both the promise and technical friction of merging game assets, engines, physics, and logic.
- 2Gaming may adopt AI faster than film if a beloved franchise makes AI-created experiences meaningfully better.
- 3Chinese SUVs and hacked-device compute illustrate how price and scale can challenge established technology and luxury markets.
Don't miss
The hosts connect rough AI game mods to a larger argument that gaming, not film, may be the first medium where AI-created entertainment truly lands.
The brief
John Coogan and Jordi Hays open with AI-assisted game mashups, asking why combinations such as Modern Warfare 2 and Minecraft work technically—and where they fall apart.
Reverse-engineering compiled code makes projects such as Mario in Elden Ring possible, but rough, vibe-coded mods reveal how much physics, collision, and game logic still resist automation.
The hosts argue gaming could become AI entertainment’s breakthrough medium, provided a beloved franchise produces something players consider better rather than merely cheaper.
A detour through changing AI-risk attitudes and hidden ChatGPT features broadens the discussion from flashy demos to how people actually absorb new technology.
The episode closes on Chinese SUVs challenging Range Rover economics and on the startling possibility of aggregating computing power from millions of hacked devices.
What was said on this episode
26 statements · 15 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 4 neutral
Cross-game mods use multiple distinct technical approaches.
“Now these go a step further and run the gamut of different techniques.”
Listen at 3:05
The NSA maintains the open-source reverse-engineering project Ghidra.
“the NSA has a GitHub with an open source project called— it's called Ghidra”
Listen at 5:18
The Spider-Man-in-Arkham mod could motivate players to revisit the game.
“the end result, it looks great and it feels like it's almost ready to serve as a reason to be like, oh, I love that game. I want to play it again.”
Listen at 8:25
Completing such a game mashup could take five years.
“You're looking at 5 years.”
Listen at 9:48
Multiplayer first-person-shooter mashups can reach a fun working version relatively easily.
“The sort of multiplayer first-person shooters. You could imagine actually that being like relatively straightforward to get a working version that would be fun.”
Listen at 9:53
Cross-game mashups currently provide meme value rather than base-game-level entertainment.
“the base game remains dominant in terms of like actual entertainment value. This is, this is pure, uh, meme value.”
Listen at 11:42
A heavily AI-assisted breakout video game mod will emerge soon.
“there will be a breakout video game mod. That sees heavy assistance from AI in the near future.”
Listen at 14:11
AI tooling lets more people develop indie games faster.
“the fact that you have AI tooling to speed that up, you're just moving a lot of people into the indie developer category who can move things faster.”
Listen at 14:36
AI-assisted game creators still need sustained effort to produce polished games.
“they will obviously need to lock in for a long time to get something actually polished.”
Listen at 15:01
Gaming becomes broadly pro-AI only after a beloved franchise delivers a visibly improved AI-enabled game.
“for the gaming community to become broadly pro-AI, a very well-loved franchise has to release a new game that is noticeably better or bigger because of the technology.”
Listen at 15:32
Broad gaming enthusiasm may require a much larger GTA 7 world.
“I think you're going to need to see like GTA 7 and it's the entire world.”
Listen at 16:03
Most demographic groups are becoming more worried about serious AI harm.
“everyone else is, is getting increasingly more worried.”
Listen at 17:08
Rising serious AI concern among people over 65 could affect elections.
“If you're seeing even 65+ move to 40% very serious, that's going to move some elections.”
Listen at 17:17
Millennials are less vulnerable to brain rot, slop, and screen-time addiction.
“a lot of millennials are in a are in a very fortunate position with like not getting caught off guard by brain rot and slop and screen time addiction.”
Listen at 17:41
Most households have an abundant supply of cardboard.
“We're post-scarcity on cardboard in most households.”
Listen at 19:51
Construction paper has nearly preserved its value over five years.
“It's almost a perfect store of value over the last 5 years.”
Listen at 20:16
ChatGPT can provide a weekly global surfing-swell digest without custom software.
“if you want to get a weekly digest of where the swells are the biggest across the world for surfing, you can totally do that.”
Listen at 21:41
The JACU 7 costs about $50,000, roughly half a similar Range Rover's price.
“the upfront cost of his preferred version of the Chinese SUV at the equivalent of around $50K— half the price for a visually similar Range Rover model.”
Listen at 23:42
The Chinese SUV is likely to be solidly built.
“I would expect this car to be actually pretty solid.”
Listen at 24:46
The Chinese SUV is probably very reliable.
“Yeah, probably very reliable.”
Listen at 24:49
Tariffs and software restrictions largely exclude Chinese cars from the US market.
“For now, Chinese cars are essentially shut out of the large US market by high tariffs and restrictions on Chinese software.”
Listen at 26:35
Linux allows an AI agent to perform unrestricted actions when guardrails are removed.
“If you take all the guardrails off and you're on Linux, you can the agent can just do anything.”
Listen at 29:13
Ben Thompson's Mac Mini was compromised by hackers.
“his Mac Mini got hacked.”
Listen at 29:21
Ben Thompson's AI agent detected the Mac Mini compromise and alerted him.
“his AI agent actually detected it and sent him a note on Telegram and said, like, urgent, you've been hacked”
Listen at 29:29
The AI agent remediated the hacked Mac by closing the port and removing malware.
“it went and reset the Mac, like, you know, cleared all the— closed the port that was opened so the hackers couldn't get back in, and then also cleared out the crypto miner.”
Listen at 29:46
A botnet controlling millions of devices would provide substantial computing power.
“if they're getting to, to millions of devices, they would actually have a meaningful amount of compute.”
Listen at 30:28
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
