AI Unfiltered

As is tradition before the summer break, Ian and Michael compare holiday plans and wonder whether AI is capable of planning a genuinely useful itinerary, or merely an entertainingly unpredictable one. The conversation then turns into an enthusiastic tour of Finland, with recommendations ranging from Åland to Savonlinna, alongside reflections on tourism, good food, and why some destinations are worth taking your time over. We wrap up the season with a lighter episode, a few travel ideas, and the usual assortment of digressions. We return with new episodes in the autumn! (This description was written with the help of AI)

This week Ian and Michael discuss the economics of online platforms, and why owning a niche platform can be considerably more lucrative than simply creating content for one. From there the conversation turns to AI-generated influencers, whether they represent the next stage of online marketing or merely another symptom of an increasingly artificial internet, and what that might mean for human creators.

This week Ian and Michael discuss a handful of recent AI news stories, including Google's legal setback over AI Overviews in Germany and new US export controls on advanced AI models. From there the conversation broadens into familiar territory, with a look at subscription-based car features, the EU's right-to-repair rules, and a host of other topics. (This episode contains AI-generated speech)

This week Ian and Michael discuss the growing flood of AI-generated films, music, books, and artwork, prompted in part by a recent AI-produced entry at the Tribeca Film Festival. What begins as a conversation about synthetic creativity soon turns into a broader discussion about the economics of AI, the value of human-made art, and the fact that many of these systems are built on the uncompensated work of countless artists, writers, and musicians. Along the way we wonder whether audiences actually want endless machine-generated content, or whether the internet is simply becoming increasingly crowded with it. A mildly sceptical look at creativity in an age when producing more content has never been easier. (This description was written with the help of AI)

This week Ian and Michael discuss the increasingly uncomfortable feeling that much of the internet is no longer populated by people but by bots talking to other bots. From there the conversation wanders into reality television and its occasionally tenuous relationship with reality, before moving on to language learning through books, films, and sheer persistence. As usual, the topics may not appear to have much in common, but questions of what is real, authentic, or merely convincing seem to crop up rather more often than expected. Plus a few tangents into video games and German pastries, and a new instalment of Emma Williams' Artificial Reflections.(This episode features AI-generated content and speech)