AI Unfiltered

This week Ian and Michael wonder what happens to creative arts education when universities start offering degrees in “AI-enhanced creative practice”, and whether learning to prompt a machine really counts as learning to be creative. The conversation then turns to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a surprisingly prescient 1960s vision of AI, computers and machine sentience, before arriving at another perennial subject: overtourism and the curious determination to keep attracting ever more visitors to places that are already struggling with the numbers. Along the way, there are the usual digressions. (This description was written with the help of AI)

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)

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)