Married to the Machine: Living with AI

Inform, Educate, and Entertain: Reith 2.0

Who remembers the BBC's Computer Literacy Project from the 1980s? It was created to help prepare people in the UK for the massive and widespread adoption of computers. And here we are, looking at the massive and widespread adoption of AI. Professor Dave has had a brilliant idea, and we are asking the BBC's new Director General, to consider it. Reith 2.0 - a large language model, made by a trusted institution, to equip the UK population with the right AI skills for the future. Further reading: Susbstack report. and any coverage https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/history Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power Recording, editing and mixing by Stephanie Power Music and additional material: Matt Power Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity. BBC Microcomputer Commercial: The Crowded Room from 1984, Directed by Terry Lovelock BBC Archive. Ceefax: A Communications Revolution 1975 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICoj8mxG0ww&t=1s Thanks to Mumsnet for permission to use part of the Rachel Reeves interview. https://www.mumsnet.com/i/rachel-reeves-mumsnet-asks

Inside The Misinformation Machine

In a departure from our usual style, we have devoted this episode to an interview with Sam Stockwell, Senior Researcher at the Turing Institute. He talks about the work of the Institute and a report they have recently written about how AI is used to spread misinformation after crisis events, like the Southport attacks. Futher reading: https://www.turing.ac.uk/news/new-report-calls-urgent-action-tackle-ai-information-threats-following-crisis-events Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power Music: Matt Power Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.

Anthropic vs The Pentagon: A Fight Over AI Guardrails

Anthropic has signed a deal, worth millions, with the US Department of Defense. But now Anthropic wants to impose red lines on the use of its AI. The response from President Trump? They're just a bunch of leftwing nutjobs. In episode nine, we imagine a 'liberal elite' AI trying to negotiate with an angry Government department that's just renamed itself the Department Of War. Are we in an AI existential crisis? Sketch written by Matt Power #AI #AIsafety

Searching For Green AI

Is it possible to measure how much energy, water and emissions are used to power your AI searches? Can you trust an academic report from Google? And why is the US Department of Defense getting into a row with Dario Amodei's Anthropic Further reading: https://arxiv.org/html/2508.15734v1 Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power Music and additional material: Matt Power Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.

What Is This Thing, Moltbook?

Something kicked off in late January. Moltbook - a social space for AI agents. Somewhere humans could, apparently, only observe. Is it really sci-fi adjacent? Prof Dave explains what appears to be going on. And we talk to the Leader of Barnsley Council, as it is crowned the UK's first Tech Town. Further reading: https://hai.stanford.edu/policy/simulating-human-behavior-with-ai-agents https://theconversation.com/uk bbc.com/news/articles/c8j3dvjld94o https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/liz-kendalls-speech-at-bloomberg Credit: Unison Ants and Bear ad: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2004/10/unison-kicks-off-one-in-a-million-recruitment-drive/ Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power Music and additional material: Matt Power Married To The Machine: Living With AI, is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. it is a non-commercial entity.