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What happens when a group of self-described “sluts” decide men need help with flirting? They create SlutCon, a three-day Bay Area conference where men pay between $3,000 to $18,000 to learn how to flirt, escalate, and date without being seen as too awkward.  On this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss talks with SF Standard tech culture reporter Zara Stone, who attended all three days of SlutCon at Lighthaven in Berkeley. The event, co-organized by controversial sex researcher and blogger Aella, featured dozens of “flirt girls” and various training sessions like “Confidence Engineering” and “Physical Escalation." Together with Emily, Zara digs into why so many attendees, most of them from tech and AI, are terrified of being labeled a “creep”. And they explain how SlutCon got caught in the online backlash around AI safety and the rationalist community. Is SlutCon feminist, fringe, or just very Bay Area? For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

Ryan Clark and his partner were dancing at a Pride event in 2023 when a man stumbled out of the crowd toward them. Under the flashing lights of the Midway Club, just south of Dogpatch, the man began to grope them inside and outside of their pants, the couple said — first Clark, then his partner. They repeatedly told him they were monogamous and wanted him to stop. He didn’t, they say, until they shoved him. They claim that man was Manny Yekutiel, a San Francisco cafe owner, well-known nightlife personality, and now a frontrunner in the District 8 Board of Supervisors election.  While the couple acknowledged the sometimes-complicated rules of consent in gay culture, they said Yekutiel’s actions clearly defied norms of propriety. Yekutiel said he does not recall this specific encounter with Clark and apologized if he crossed any boundaries. He also denies an earlier allegation by Brad Chapin that The Standard wrote about in June. On this episode of “PST,” reporters Joe Fitzgerald Rodgriguez and Jonah Owen Lamb discuss their investigation into this alleged assault, and listeners hear from Clark in his own words about the alleged incident. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

San Francisco public schools put an AI reading tutor called Amira in front of every K–5 student without telling parents. Host Emily Dreyfuss only found out when a substitute teacher mentioned it. Until then, she thought Amira was a real person. This week, SF Standard reporter Ezra Wallach joins Emily to explain what Amira is, how it arrived in SFUSD through a larger curriculum purchase, and why kids say it can't understand them. They dig into the biggest question parents have: what happens to their children's voice recordings? That includes a line about deleting voice data that quietly vanished from the district's FAQ page. They also look at how San Francisco compares to districts banning AI and phones in classrooms, and why the district hasn't answered parents' questions. Plus, Emily's sons Asa and Huxley share exactly how they feel about their AI tutor. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

By now you've probably heard of Flock: the license plate cameras that critics say have turned your daily commute into a surveillance network. Dozens of cities, from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, are pushing back – and in SF, two of the people leading that fight are 16-year-old Lowell High School juniors. Emily Dreyfuss talks with Zachary Schwartz and Hugo Zorn, the founder and outreach lead of DeFlock SF, about how a YouTube rabbit hole turned into a full-blown local movement. They discuss what Flock's automated license plate readers actually track, a recent data breach affecting hundreds of records, and the surprisingly loud pushback from Gen Z on an issue that's dividing generations. Plus: the moment they found their own protest poster going viral on TikTok, and why they're determined to keep fighting Flock even after they head off to college. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

AI company CEOs – the same people building these products – keep warning that AI could end humanity. This week it boiled over: an Anthropic researcher quit and accused his employer of endangering the world, and a current Anthropic safety lead agreed with him publicly. Host Emily Dreyfuss sits down with SF Standard tech editor Heather Kelly to explain what's really driving the AI industry's sudden wave of doomsday manifestos – regulatory capture, looming IPO paperwork, and a string of AI "misalignment" incidents. Emily then speaks to Claire Stapleton, who spent 12 years crafting Google's "don't be evil" image before helping organize the company's historic 20,000-person walkout. She talks about her new memoir, Don't Be Evil: Bad Bosses, Fake Promises, and My Escape From Big Tech – and what it actually looks like to fall out of love with a company you once believed in. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

A scooter rider in San Francisco is killed on Market Street. A CEO loses his teeth in a bike crash on Arguello. And buried in a 130-year-old newspaper clipping is proof that SF has been failing its cyclists since 1894. On this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss sits down with two people living San Francisco's bike-vs-car divide from opposite sides. First, Standard reporter Garrett Leahy breaks down his investigation into the “slot" – the notorious rail gap on Market Street that's been throwing cyclists since the cable car era – and the wildly divisive reader reaction to his story. Then, SF Standard CEO Griffin Gaffney gets brutally honest about the moment a pickup truck drifted into his bike lane, the surgery that followed, and why he refuses to pick a side in the culture war between cyclists and drivers. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

For years, "bipping" (SF slang for car break-ins) was practically the city's signature crime – so common it inspired rap lyrics and a whole genre of "never leave anything in your car" advice. But new reporting shows car break-ins in San Francisco have plummeted since their 2017 peak . On this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss sits down with SF Standard reporter Max Harrison-Caldwell to unpack his story "Rest in Peace, Bip City." They dig into where the term "bipping" came from, why it became a bizarre point of local pride, and what actually drove the steep decline – was it all thanks to the SFPD's new fleet of Flock cameras and drones? They also dive into the political fight over who deserves credit: former Mayor London Breed, current District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, or Mayor Daniel Lurie. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at age 80 – and San Francisco is mourning her like family. On this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss talks with the people who felt her impact most directly here: Zulema Rubalcava of the SF Department of Early Childhood on the local chapter of Dolly's Imagination Library, which has sent nearly 10,000 SF kids free books since launching last August; Angela Vincent, who's thrown Dolly tribute nights at local bars since 2020; Jacob Stensberg, artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, on their Pride tribute show and Dolly's quiet, decades-long support of the LGBTQ+ community (including funding the 1989 Oscar-winning AIDS Quilt documentary); and Margaret Belton on what it feels like to grieve a stranger who felt like family. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

San Francisco just opened its first brand-new elementary school in decades – Mission Bay School. But nearly 100 neighborhood families couldn't get in. Why? Because in SFUSD, even a brand-new school down the street doesn't guarantee your kid a spot. In this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss sits down with SF Standard reporter Ezra Wallach to break down San Francisco's infamous school lottery, which is the enrollment system that determines where your child goes to school. Together they explain how it works, who gets priority, and why 31% of SFUSD families don't get their top school pick. They also dig into the history: how San Francisco's school choice system grew out of desegregation efforts in the 1970s, why it hasn't actually integrated schools, and why the district has been promising to fix it since 2018, with the latest timeline now pushed all the way to 2028. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

San Francisco is failing survivors of alleged sexual assault – and the numbers prove it. SFPD cleared just 14% of rape cases last year, which is half the national average and the lowest rate of any major county in California.  SF Standard investigative reporter Anya Schultz joins host Emily Dreyfuss to break down what she found after months of digging into how the city handles rape investigations. The picture is alarming: roughly 80% of alleged rape cases are currently sitting inactive; the Special Victims Unit has lost half its investigators since 2019; and police failed to publish legally required rape kit data until Schultz's reporting forced them to comply. Schultz also shares the story of one alleged victim – an engineer in her early 20s who supposedly did everything right. When her rape kit came back as a DNA match, she expected action. Instead, the investigator emailed to say the DNA "wasn't conclusive evidence a crime occurred.” This episode covers what's driving SF's dismal clearance rates, what survivors are experiencing when they report to SFPD, and what local city supervisors are doing in response. Content warning: This episode contains extensive discussion of sexual assault. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/⁠ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber⁠

San Francisco is blanketed in AI billboards that make no sense. And most of us have just... stopped reading them. But a few people are fighting back. This week on PST, host Emily Dreyfuss talks to three of them. Harris Alterman and Dave Ross are two New York comedians who've been plastering parody AI ads in the NYC subway ("Payroll, now in pill form." "UnderwAIr. Panties that think.”). Then, there’s Tucker Bryant, a San Francisco conceptual artist who rented a real billboard in the city's SoMa neighborhood and used it to advertise a fake chatbot – one powered not by artificial intelligence, but by himself, an “average individual." The result is a conversation about tech satire, cognitive surrender, the psychological toll of living inside someone else's hype, and what it means to crave actual human connection in a city increasingly decorated with gibberish. Plus: Emily's theory on how AI billboards hit every dimension of sociological alienation – and why that's more serious than it sounds. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

A 22-story condo tower proposed on top of a Safeway grocery store in San Francisco’s affluent Marina District has become a flashpoint for the city’s YIMBY vs. NIMBY housing war. And a photo from a recent community meeting there showed exactly who's on which side. SF Standard reporter Kevin Nguyen joins host Emily Dreyfuss to break down the 800-unit project, why neighborhood opposition no longer has the power to kill it, and how developer Align timed their proposal to sidestep Mayor Daniel Lurie's new Family Zoning rules. Then, New York Times housing reporter (and Bay Area native) Conor Dougherty zooms out to explain how California's decade of state-level housing laws has stripped local governments of the control they once had – and why that might finally mean buildings actually get built. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

After six years and a bureaucratic maze involving PG&E, BART, and the Historic Preservation Commission, Jollibee has officially opened its doors on Market Street in San Francisco. In this episode of PST, host Emily Dreyfuss breaks down the full story, and what it reveals about the real cost of doing business in San Francisco. First, SF Standard food editor Lauren Saria gives a primer on Jollibee: the cult Filipino fast food chain known for its Chickenjoy fried chicken, sweet spaghetti, and the legendary peach mango pie. Lauren shares why the opening feels like a cultural milestone and not just a regular debut. Then we welcome Katy Tang from the SF Office of Small Business. Her team is in charge of enforcing the types of permitting reforms that initially plagued Jollibee. She specifically addresses the number of city-and voter-approved efforts that now help reduce headaches for small businesses, which comprise the majority of SF's commercial landscape. “We don't want a reputation that we are a difficult place to get permitting done,” she said. “We really want to encourage innovation and creativity. It's a constant state of improvement.” For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

Is streaming television broken? Netflix is hemorrhaging second-season viewers, prices keep climbing, and the service that once felt like magic now feels like a monthly bill you forgot to cancel. Host Emily Dreyfuss — who loves television so much she actually has a TV tattoo on her arm — brings in Bloomberg’s media and entertainment editor Lucas Shaw, to diagnose what's wrong with the streaming era. Emily and Lucas get into why Netflix's second-season viewership is collapsing, whether engagement actually matters to these streaming platforms if users aren’t canceling, and the uncomfortable truth that streaming (with its ads and rising prices) is becoming the new cable. They also tackle the bigger cultural question: what happens to shared experience when everyone's watching something different? Is monoculture dead? Also: who really runs Hollywood now — Silicon Valley or the studios? For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

Is a liberal arts education still worth it in the age of AI? Or is college about to become obsolete? Host Emily Dreyfuss is saving up to send her two kids to a liberal arts school like Wesleyan University, where she and her husband met. But as AI promises to replace everything from coding to essay writing, she's starting to wonder: do liberal arts schools still make sense to attend? This week, Emily sits down with two Wesleyan insiders to make the case for liberal arts education. First, she talks with President Michael S. Roth about what concerns him about AI, why small classes are the new live events you can't miss, and why schools like his will thrive while big lecture-hall universities struggle. Then Emily goes inside the classroom with Lauren Silber, Wesleyan writing professor and head of its Writing Center, who launched a first-year seminar called “Writing in the Age of Gen AI.” Silber shares what a campus survey of 700 students revealed about how Gen Z actually uses AI and why she believes AI might actually save the liberal arts degree. For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber