Podcast Episodes
To listen to an episode or view the transcript, click on the link to the corresponding episode post below.
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#35: Recommenders and Finding Online Content
Recommender systems are all around us in the digital realm. We're constantly bombarded with automatic recommendations for what to watch, what to listen to, what to read, what to buy, what to eat, or where to travel to. Chances are that's how you found this very podcast! Ian and Michael discuss recommenders and their flaws, and the difficulties both for consumers to find good online content and for creators to find an audience for their content.
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#34: AI in Translations
Ian and Michael discuss machine translation, recent advancements in automatic speech-to-speech translation and the role of translation in the future.
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#33: Communication in the Digital Age
Ian and Michael discuss how human communication has changed in the digital age, from the use of emojis to communicate whole sentences to the ability to send a message to a person on the other side of the planet nearly instantaneously.
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#32: Doomscrolling and the Mental Impact of Constant Connectedness
Ian and Michael discuss the concept of doomscrolling and how being constantly online and connected affects our mental health.
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#31: Controlling Your Life with AI
Ian and Michael give up on humanity and discuss the prospects of just letting the machines run the show. In previous episodes, we have discussed the role of AI in automating your life, and how AI is used by various actors (with varying degrees of malevolence) to manipulate you. But what if you could deliberately and consciously use AI to control your behaviour? And what if we automated the politicians away (imagine the savings!)?
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#30: Reviving the Dead, Virtual Friends, Virtual Bands
Ian and Michael revisit the Metaverse and discuss the idea of creating virtual replicas of deceased loved ones and famous historical figures, virtual bands, spending money on virtual real estate, and even the possibility of hosting a podcast in the Metaverse.
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#29: Autonomous Vehicles
Self-driving cars have been hyped to the extreme for several years, but is it technically feasible to get them working reliably enough, and even if would be possible, is it a good idea in the first place? Ian and Michael discuss self-driving cars and other forms of autonomous vehicles.
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#28: AI and Ethics
Ian and Michael discuss ethical use of AI and the ethics of innovation - if AI and digitalisation will destroy more jobs than it creates, is that a path we should continue walking? And is digitalisation the great equalizer, or will it exacerbate inquality and the darker sides of humanity? In the episode, Ian and Michael discuss the Vatican's AI ethicist, human rights in the era of AI, anti-cheating software in education as an invasion of piracy, racial bias in healthcare, and facial recognition as a tool of oppression.
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#27: AI and Food
Ian and Michael discuss the use of AI in the food making process. How far away are we from completely automated kitchens and restaurants, let alone a robot restaurant with a Michelin star?
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#26: The Metaverse
Is the metaverse more than a buzzword? And considering how much time we spend in the digital realm through smartphones and computers, do we really want to double down on a semi-digital reality? Ian and Michael discuss and deconstruct the metaverse concept - with a healthy dose of skepticism.