The Fart App Era of AI Is Over. Now What? | FAFO Friday Vibes From SXSW Rooftop With Rob Kenedi

Very fun news… The Webby Awards have just nominated Future Around & Find Out as a nominee for Best Technology Podcast!!!

And you can help make it a Popular Choice winner. Winning would be great for the growth of show. Thank you!

Please vote for FAFO! 

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OK, on to today’s episode… it’s another good vibes rooftop episode recorded at SXSW. 

For the second year in a row I’m joined by Rob Kenedi, a fellow podcaster, who is the founder and host of Decelerator. 

Last year he, very memorably, said we were in the “fart app era of AI”. Meaning: people are trying stuff (a la the make-a-fart-sound apps that people built in the early days of the iPhone). So, we revisit that comment and ask where are we now? And what’s defensible for app makers — and for creators like us?

Podcaster that he is, Rob turns the tables on me and asks me a bunch of questions about how I’m approaching this question and I shared what was top of mind when I rebranded the show recently from CRAFTED. to Future Around & Find Out. Namely, I wanted to give the show more personality, but that is how you stand out right now and that’s what going to be defensible in the age of AI. 

And the Webby nomination — you already voted, right?? — only makes me feel more confident in the rebrand and the addition of more of these casual “FAFO Friday” episodes that feature a lot more of my (and regular guest Kwaku Aning’s) personality. 

(You’ll hear more about how AI is changing the creator economy and why “being human” is so important in a few days when my episode with Jim Louderback, writer of Inside the Creator Economy, comes out; he gives a great annual talk at SXSW and I had seen it the day before recording with Rob.)

In the meantime, come join Rob and me for some good vibes from Austin… 

And (ask your friends to) vote: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology