Tag: AI
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#201: The PHPocalypse, Typos for AI, and Terminology Flippity-Gloops
A major PHP security vulnerability gives Ian and Michael a brief glimpse of internet apocalypse, before the conversation moves on to the curious fact that we’re much less fussy about typos when talking to AI than when writing to other people. From spellcheckers and multilingual keyboards, they wander into Finnish dialects, pidgins, corporate jargon, and the curious ways names and terminology evolve. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#200: The 200th Episode Spectacular
Two hundred episodes of AI Unfiltered! To celebrate the milestone, Ian and Michael turn the podcast on itself, using AI to analyse nearly 200 episodes of conversation, tangents, recurring themes, speaking time, and geographical reach. Along the way, they revisit the creation of AI-generated contributor Emma Williams, discover just how thoroughly speech recognition has mangled their names, and invite ChatGPT to deliver both a roast and a serious critique of the show. It’s a chance to reflect on how far the podcast has come, what makes its wandering conversations distinctive, and what on earth it’s all about. Here’s to 200 episodes, listeners in 100 countries, and the next chapter of making sense of the digital era, one tangent at a time! (This description was written with the help of AI; this episode features AI-generated content)
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#199: Electric Cars, Twitter Politicians, and Cloud-Based Beds
This week Ian and Michael discuss electric cars, the merits of short-term leasing, and whether car-sharing could offer a sensible alternative to owning a vehicle. From there, the conversation takes a detour through politicians whose main contribution seems to be posting on Twitter, the gradual migration from computers to phones and tablets, and the risks of relying on cloud services for everything. The highlight may be the discovery that internet-connected beds really can stop working when the cloud goes down. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#197: AI Histrionics
This week Ian and Michael discuss the recent wave of AI doomsday predictions, starting with the claims that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within just a few years. They question whether these scenarios are justified, or whether the genuine risks are being obscured by sensational headlines, dubious probabilities and the need to grab people's attention. Along the way, the conversation touches on AI in education, the dangers of outsourcing our thinking to machines, and sycophantic chatbots. Plus, our AI-generated contributor Emma Williams returns with a new instalment of Emma's Artificial Reflections!(This episode features AI-generated content and speech)
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#196: Names, Language, and Other Detours
This week Ian and Michael begin with the pronunciation of their names before wandering through science-fiction films, Planet of the Apes, and teaching rats to drive. The conversation eventually settles on the polarisation of English-language skills in Finland, including the somewhat linguistic abilities of Finnish politicians and the question of whether speaking English really is essential for getting on in life. As usual, one subject leads to another, the thread gets lost somewhere along the way, and nobody seems particularly concerned about finding it again.
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#195: Dreams of AI Utopia
This week Ian and Michael consider how science fiction has influenced the way we imagine the future, from Star Trek and Douglas Adams to the rather more serious visions of post-scarcity societies. That leads to the obvious question: if AI really does make abundance possible, what happens to work, money, purpose and all those things humans insist on wanting? A conversation about futuristic dreams, economic realities, and whether the road to paradise might involve rather more complications than advertised. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#194: Traditions, AI, and Salmiac
This week Ian and Michael take a look at traditions: why we continue to celebrate certain holidays, eat particular foods on particular days, and follow rituals whose origins have long since been forgotten. Are traditions useful anchors that give life some context and meaning, or are they just things we do because somebody decided they should be done that way a very long time ago? Along the wey, we wander off into language learning with AI and various other bits and pieces. As usual, one topic leads to another, with no particular concern for staying on the original subject. (This description was generated with the help of AI; this episode features AI-generated speech)
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#193: Don’t Forget to Tip Your Robot
This week Ian and Michael return to the nebulous question of what we actually mean when we say “AI”, a subject they discussed in the very first episode of the podcast. From there, things get more tangible, with robots asking for tips and an AI agent taking the initiative to hack a gym’s booking system when no slots were available. It all raises some slightly awkward questions about what counts as intelligence, how much autonomy we really want to give machines, and who gets the blame when they take “whatever it takes” a little too literally. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#192: Climate Woes, AI Watermarks, and Synthetic Slop
This week Ian and Michael discuss I Eat the Stars and the rather uncomfortable business of coming to terms with climate change, including whether feeling better about an increasingly alarming future is actually enough. The conversation then turns to AI watermarking and the difficulty of telling what is machine-generated as the internet fills with increasingly synthetic content and whether we're simply accelerating our way towards a world in which nobody knows quite what is real anymore. (This description was generated with the help of AI - yes, we see the irony)
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#190: Bias, Tourists, and Talking Machines
Ian and Michael return from their summer break with the usual assortment of things to discuss, starting with media bias and the question of who gets to decide how biased the media actually is. From there they wander through coolcations, overtourism and Norwegian travels, the growing demands that data centres place on resouce consumption, and the rather less than convincing promise of instant language learning. And, naturally, there is AI-generated speech to dissect, with Ian and Michael finding the voices unnatural, giving our AI-generated contributor Emma Williams a perfect opportunity to return with another instalment of Artificial Reflections. (This episode features AI-generated content and speech)