The Artificial Human

Guest Jessica Smith, a former Paralympic swimmer and disability advocate, shares her struggles with AI-generated images accurately reflecting her experience of disability. She emphasizes how AI often perpetuates societal biases and the urgent need for inclusive design. Abraham Maldonado, an AI prompt engineer, discusses his work on creating diverse and representative AI outputs. Together, they explore why marginalized communities risk erasure in AI, the importance of diverse prompts, and a hopeful outlook for more inclusive technology.

What would make you want to exercise? Is it the thrill of being discovered as the next football legend? Or maybe the threat of a scary drill sergeant shouting at you? Join Aleks and Kevin at the starting line, as they set out to discover how AI could help reshape your fitness goals. From what the high end athletes are using to track their progress and how that trickles down to everyday users, to how AI is levelling the playing field when it comes to scouting new talent. Plus, could an AI coach be just the thing to help with that pesky fleeting motivation?Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Emily Esson Sound: Sean Mullervy

This discussion dives into how AI could transform urban traffic management by responding to real-time conditions, potentially enhancing efficiency. The speakers explore the nuanced emotional dynamics between humans and AI, revealing how our behavior influences AI responses. They also tackle the mysteries of consciousness and dreaming, pondering whether AI could experience dreams like humans. Finally, the podcast examines the challenges of catastrophic forgetting in AI, relating it to human memory processes and the vital role of sleep in learning.

As more and more of us use Ai chat bots inevitably people will start asking them about their problems. Aleks and Kevin ask if there's a risk they do more harm than good?They talk to Ryan Broderick who turned to Ai when going through a rough patch with his mental health. He's now seeing a human therapist and has a fascinating perspective on the advice his chat bot gave him. But are the potential risks of using Ai as a support especially if its one not designed for that purpose? Zoha Khawaja has been studying people's use of Ai and explains the 'therapeutic misconceptions' users can be prone to.Presenters: Alekes Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Neva Missirian & Murray Collier

In a thought-provoking discussion, former CIA case officer Peter Warmka and Professor Chris Moran delve into how AI is revolutionizing espionage. Warmka, with over 20 years in the field, shares insights on the balance between AI's analytical prowess and the irreplaceable nuances of human judgment. They explore AI's potential in recruitment, interrogations, and data management while emphasizing the enduring importance of human relationships and emotional intelligence in the spy game. Discover a new era where technology meets the art of espionage.

When Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released their R1 model on the world it sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley. Out of nowhere was an AI that performed as well as any of big tech's products but had been built at a fraction of the cost and with a fraction of the resources. Now the dust has settled they’re asking themselves whether the driving idea of bigger models, trained on ever bigger datasets still holds up. They're also asking if their business model of fiercely protecting the secrets behind how their technology works is the best way to innovate. DeepSeek is what’s called Open Source meaning that its creators have made the software available for others to study, use and modify. The race is on to see which of these approaches will dominate and see AI embedded into more and more of our lives.Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Neva Missirian & Fraser Jackson

Margaret Mitchell, chief ethics scientist at Hugging Face, explains why large language models hallucinate and why fixing trained models is hard. Clienthe Sardelli, a GDPR data protection lawyer, outlines legal routes for people harmed by false AI outputs. They discuss the Norwegian ChatGPT defamation case, technical limits on correction, privacy-by-design remedies, and when to seek legal or NGO help.

Kate Mosse, an award-winning author and advocate for copyright protection, shares her concerns about AI's unauthorized use of millions of books for training. Tanya Applin, a professor of intellectual property law, explores legal challenges regarding AI's outputs and data use. The conversation dives into the tension between technology and authors' rights, the potential for AI to reshape the publishing industry, and whether AI-generated books could ever truly replace human creativity. The future of authors, readers, and copyright law hangs in the balance.

Aleks and Kevin step into the world of actors “banking” their voices for use after death. With the help of AI your favourite actor can continue to appear on screen for years after they've gone. But what does that really mean? What’s a performance without the actor behind it? Benjamin Field is the producer behind the AI Sir Michael Parkinson podcast, where the late interviewer talks to new guests thanks to AI technology. Benjamin explains how the technology works, and the ethical concerns that it poses. Plus he describes how he sees the technology as a way to create more work for actors. Impressionist Alistair McGowan has portrayed everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to John Major to Boris Johnson. He explains that a voice is more than sound waves, but about soul, character and personal strength. Can those elements be replicated by AI? And do we want them to be? Produced by Emily Esson Researched by Juliet Conway A BBC Audio Scotland production.

Ai is at a turning point, Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what direction it will take and who is advising the most powerful man in the world on what vision of AI to pursue?There are numerous camps vying for President Trump's favour over how to develop Ai. There are those demanding that it be allowed to run free without the burden of innovation stifling regulation. Others still cling to the notion that the risks of rampant Ai still need to be curbed, while a third camp want to see 'big tech' working even closer with government to harness the power of this new 'wonder technology' and beat China both economically and in cyber security.Who will be listened to, and what does it mean for the rest of a world that's a good deal more sceptical about the potential of Ai and its risks? Andrew Strait Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute helps Aleks and Kevin understand the various characters pushing their Ai agendas, while Nobel prize winning economist Daron Acemoglu explains the possible consequences of what's being proposed and how it is only a very narrow view of what Ai could be and how it could benefit mankind.Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Sean Mullervy