Avsnitt
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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 FongProducer: Peter McManusResearcher: Juliet ConwaySound: Sean Mullervy
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Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong explore our fears around AI, where they come from andwhether we're worrying about the right things?
Listener Paul asks 'if AI gets so smart wouldn't it realise it was a threat to society and switch itself off?' Its the stuff of Sci-fi fantasy, an artificial intelligence that gets so smart it decides it doesn't need humanity anymore. But if AI were ever to get that powerful and for many its a very big 'if' why would it want to do that? Kevin and Aleks speak to Dr Kanta Dihal who researches the stories we tell ourselves about technology and ask her why they seem to have become increasingly apocalyptic.
Do these far-flung futures distract us from much more immediate problems with AI and is that their purpose? Professor Michael Rovatsos explains the issues AI raises today and what’s being done counter them.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusSound: Sue Maillot & Sean Mullervy
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Listener Gordon is worried that as AI content spreads across the web there'll be proportionally less and less human content for the AI’s to be trained on with the result their output will just get blander and blander.
He’s right to be worried, Aleks and Kevin explore the phenomena of ‘model collapse’ the inevitable breakdown of an AI to give useful results if its training data is already AI produced. Speaking to NYU data scientist Professor Julia Kempe the pair discover that training on AI generated data also means a brick wall in terms of improving AI performance.
There is hop however according to Shayne Longpre of the Data Provenance Initiative the answer is to put humans back in the loop to curate the data for the AI’s and teaching them what’s good data from bad.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusThe Artificial Human is a BBC Audio Scotland production for Radio 4
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You don’t need to be a diehard gamer to realise video games have long been used as a yard stick to measure how far technology has come. From Pong and Space Invaders, right the way to Minecraft and Fallout, as the technology has advanced, so have the games. Pushing new boundaries and creating previously unimaginable worlds and experiences. But how will AI revolutionise the world of gaming itself, both for those who develop games and those who play them? Are we on the cusp of a huge leap forward? Or are the changes on the horizon more evolutionary than revolutionary?
Aleks and Kevin chat to one man who has been using AI to develop his own game from scratch, and hear from an industry insider about what the big companies are doing, and why advances in gaming may not be as dramatic as you might expect.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin FongProducer: Emily Esson and Elizabeth Ann DuffyMixed by: Sean Mullervy
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Can you imagine how quickly Poirot could have solved a crime, if only he’d had access to AI software? Following a fictional murder case provided by real life police officer, Aleks and Kevin try to unravel how AI is already used in crime fighting, and what the cutting edge uses might be.
Ruth Morgan, Professor of Crime and Forensic Sciences, explains how the ability of AI to crunch huge volumes of data could lead to new forms of evidence being used in criminal trials. Aleks and Kevin also chat to Rudi Fortson KC about the legal ramifications of AI sourced evidence. Will it stand up in court? Is the UK judiciary ready for the influx of AI evidence? Or has it been used for years, without our knowledge?
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin FongProducer: Emily Esson Researcher: Juliet Conway Mixed by: Tim Heffer and Sean Mullervy
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Of all the jobs artificial intelligence might replace surely trading in stocks and shares is at the top of the list. Aleks and Kevin find out it might have already happened.
The first algorithms hit the trading floors nearly 30 years ago and since then the numbers of people involved in the buying and selling of shares has been dwindling. Aleks and Kevin speaking professor Dave Cliffe who wrote one of those first trading programmes. He was told the future of trading was a computer, a dog and a man. The computer would do the trading, the dog would guard the computer and the man, well he was there to feed the dog.
So how close are we to that future, closer than you think. But what does that mean for volatility in financial markets with AI’s well documented imperfect view of the world and is there still a place for human insight and perspective?
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusMixed by: Fraser Jackson
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The arms race is over and we lost. All those increasingly annoying little puzzles to prove "I am not a robot" from how many buses can you see to the invisible behavioural analysis going on behind the screen, AI powered bots can now pick every lock designed to keep them out.
Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what's left to prove we're an actual human being online and if that becomes impossible does much of the internet stop being useful?
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusResearcher: Emily EssonMixed by: Fraser Jackson
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Conspiracy theories—once confined to fringe communities—have entered the mainstream.
Social media has supercharged outlandish narratives, giving them an air of legitimacy through viral sharing. With generative AI now capable of producing hyper-realistic images, videos, and audio, the boundaries between fact and fiction are more blurred than ever. It feels almost inevitable that AI will further amplify conspiracy theories in public and online discourse.
But perhaps the future isn’t quite so bleak. Aleks and Kevin explore how AI could actually help debunk conspiracy theories and combat the flood of misinformation online.
They speak with the team behind 'Debunk-bot', an AI chatbot that has shown remarkable success in shifting people’s beliefs around conspiracy theories. They also talk to Mick West, who has spent decades debunking falsehoods, about how AI might help reduce the impact of dangerous conspiracies—and what role humans must play in guiding those who find their way out of conspiracy rabbit holes with the help of a bot.
Join Aleks and Kevin as they investigate how AI can help us separate fact from fiction. And if you have a question about AI, email us at [email protected].
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The Darzi report of September 2024 painted a bleak picture of the NHS; crumbling infrastructure, low productivity and increasingly unhappy patients. AI is seen as key to turning the health service around but is it the panacea many claim?
Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out if its on the front line or in the back office that AI can offer the NHS the biggest bang for its limited buck?
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusResearcher: Emily EssonMixed by: Kris McConnachie
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Ever wondered what others are feeling but can’t quite read their emotions? Chris, a listener, emailed us with this exact dilemma. Partly due to being neurodivergent, he struggles to interpret the emotions of those around him—and even his own emotional reactions. So, he asked us: Could AI translate emotions for him?
In this episode, Aleks and Kevin dive into the fascinating and complex world of Emotional AI. They start with Professor Andrew McStay, head of the Emotional AI Lab at Bangor University, who shares the long—and surprising—history of humans trying to decode emotions through technology. He also uncovers the potential risks of trusting an AI system to get inside people’s heads.
Then, they meet Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi, whose team at the University of Waterloo has developed an AI specifically designed to recognise emotions—just like what Chris is looking for. Could this be the solution? Dr. Karimi breaks down how this cutting-edge AI works, how it was created, and how a mix of tech innovation and human expertise could potentially help people better understand the emotions of others.
But should this type of AI be used at all? Do the potential benefits outweigh the risks? Aleks and Kevin explore both sides.
Got a question about AI? Email us at [email protected].
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Sometimes, we get odd questions at the Artificial Human - ‘Why has my gran’s facebook feed been taken over by Shrimp Jesus?’ definitely raised eyebrows.
Kevin and Aleks embark on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of ‘AI Slop’ - mass produced, low quality AI images that have spread like wildfire over Social Media platforms - with Shrimp Jesus being one of the most prominent, and bizarre, examples.
They’ll speak with Renee Di Resta, about her study that reveals how algorithmic systems, designed to maximize engagement, have allowed AI slop to take over social media feeds - not because it's valuable, but because it's engineered to be highly clickable and shareable, gaming the algorithms for more impressions, likes, and comments.
And it turns out, those impressions can lead to money - BIG money... for a very select few. Aleks and Kevin talk with investigative journalist Jason Koebler about the hidden cottage industry producing the Slop - a community primarily from the Global South, trying to make money from social media reward programmes. With the help of various apps, online tutorials and hacker-like methods of avoiding spam filters, people are flocking to social media hoping to strike gold with viral images, like Shrimp Jesus.
But, will this AI Slop gold rush be the death of Social Media as we know it? And what happens to us when we just assume that anything we see online is simply not real.
And remember, if you have a question about AI that you’d like us to answer for you, get in touch with [email protected]
Presenters: Aleks Krotosksi and Kevin FongProducer: Elizabeth Ann DuffyResearcher: Emily EssonEngineer: Barry Jackson
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Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?
In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.
In this episode, we're asking: can AI get me a new job?
AI has changed the job market a LOT. It can sift through CVs, headhunt new talent and even conduct interviews. So where does that leave those looking for a new job? Does this place us in a better or worse position?
Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.
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Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?
In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.
In this episode, Lucy wants to know; could AI make my Glastonbury better?
Lucy is attending the Glastonbury festival this year for the fifth time. She loves it and always has a really memorable experience, but it could be improved without the queues for the bars and the toilets, and maybe with a better idea of how to get from stage to stage in the shortest possible time. Could AI help?
Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.
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As Apple announce the integration of generative AI across their platforms Aleks and Kevin ask do we actually know how much energy AI consumes and is it compatible with a push to net zero?
Energy consumption is AI's dirty little secret, some industry insiders believe the true potential of these technologies won't be realised until the problem is solved. Aleks and Kevin uncover some fairly startling numbers; a search done through an AI like ChatGPT can use up to 40 times more energy than using a traditional search engine, while a single hi-res image created by an AI could use the equivalent of half a smart phone charge. But because that happens on a server, perhaps in another country users remain ignorant of the potential impact their casual use might have on the push to net zero.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin FongProducer: Peter McManusMixed by Niall Young
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Developers have been trying to create driverless cars since the 1920s. Numerous iterations have come into being and fallen away over the years - radio controlled cars, electronic guide systems buried into roads, lidar, radar, computer vision, but with the roll out of AI, we seem closer than ever to getting from A to B without having to touch the wheel.
In fact, in several places in the United States, Driverless Cars are already on the streets - albeit in a limited scope - ferrying users across the cities of Phoenix and San Francisco. And yet here in the UK? There are few autonomous vehicles in select locations, such as airports. But we’re unlikely to be hailing a cab without a driver in the near future? Why?
Aleks and Kevin are all set to find out. They’ll talk to Elaine Moore, who has been a frequent passenger in driverless cabs in San Francisco. Dr. Jack Stilgoe, leader of the Driverless FuturesProject, and engineer Paul Newman who is developing autonomous vehicle software here in the UK. They’ll learn about the practical, legal, ethical and technical needs that autonomous vehicles will need to meet in order to function, how the fabric of cities might need to change for them to operate, and just how soon driverless cars will be able to safely operate on UK streets.
If you want to ask to answer your burning question on AI, please get in touch at [email protected]
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Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?
In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to answer the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI innovation.
In this episode, listener Martha wants to know; why the builders of these technologies are projecting human like qualities on to machines and what the consequences for society might be.
When we talk to a chatbot we can't help behave like there's a mind on the other end - but there isn't. An AI can neither 'think', 'believe' or 'befriend' yet we keep using this language about them. When does that become a problem?
Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit as they get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.
If you have question about AI email Kevion and Aleks [email protected]
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Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?
In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.
In this episode, listener Val wants to know; 'Can AI look after me in old age?'
Val has experience of looking after elderly relatives, and she's aware that it can take its toll. It's made her reflect on what her own future might look like. Will AI be able help her to be independent for longer? And if so, how?
Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.
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Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us, and how will it change our lives? In this episode of The Artificial Human, presenters Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask: should AI make my decisions?'
In The Artificial Human, Aleks Krotoski (The Digital Human, Radio 4) and Kevin Fong (13 Minutes to the Moon, BBC World Service) set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions on all things artificial intelligence-related. Each episode will start with a question, and by the end, Aleks and Kevin give us answers we can take away and reflect on, making the subject a little clearer - for us, and for themselves. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life?
In today’s episode, we ask, "Should AI make my decisions?"
Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they seek out the facts for us by speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures.
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In a world where AI Voice clones can sound like your bank manager or your child in distress, Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong discover how to avoid being scammed by AI.
Some scams are easier to spot than others - The Prince never has money locked in an account that only you, dear brave internet user, can free for him - but in the age of AI, some scams are becoming increasingly difficult to spot, and defend against.
AI can churn out phishing emails and texts - the kind meant to make you log in to a fake banking page - far faster than any human. Deepfake celebrities have already appeared in videos offering free cookware, in return for a ‘small’ delivery cost - resulting in no cookware, but hidden monthly charge suddenly activated on your bank account. And, sometimes most upsetting of all, AI voice clones have been made that trick people into believing a loved one is injured, or kidnapped, trying to frighten families into handing over money to secure their safety.
With the people behind these scams so hard to find and prosecute, it’s up to individuals to protect themselves. So in this episode of The Artificial Human, Aleks and Kevin discover 'How we can all avoid being scammed by AI?'
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AI art has been evolving at a rapid pace. In a few short months images, sound and increasingly video have all become so realistic it’s hard to tell what’s created by humans verses machines.
The release of SORA, Open AI’s text to video model, has sent shockwaves through the film industry. Movie mogul Tyler Perry reportedly halted an $800 million studio expansion because he saw what SORA was capable of. He feared he was wasting his money. He thinks that AI will, ‘touch every corner of our industry”. He’s not the only one…
People are worried. Aleks and Kevin speak to some of them. They ask - will actors become obsolete? Will we create every location against a greenscreen? And if these elements go, what next? The whole ecosystem of filmmaking suddenly feels very fragile. Could this be the biggest change the industry has seen since it’s inception? The thing is, film can often represent the most human of moments and interactions, and the bottom line is that audience. Will people want to watch movies that have been mostly generated by AI?
In this episode, Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong want to know: 'Could AI win an Oscar?'
- Visa fler
