AI, (Some) Strings Attached

AI: Farewell for Now

Elena closes out Season 1 of AI and Me with a reflection on what she heard and learned across conversations with eleven different people. She revisits some of the threads that kept emerging, including what it means when we outsource thinking to machines, what happens to art and meaning-making when AI enters the picture, and why more information doesn’t automatically get us closer to the “truth.” She also makes a case for something that came up in nearly every episode: that as AI mediates more and more of our lives, the antidote might just be more of the real world — real places, real people, real conversations, unfiltered. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elenadyp.substack.com [https://elenadyp.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

AI, (Some) Strings Attached

Elena sits down with her friend Philip, a Juilliard-trained cellist, producer, and one half of the Grammy-winning duo Arkai, to talk about creativity, technology, and what makes music feel human. Philip traces how Arkai evolved from a violin and cello into a full cinematic soundscape. They dig into AI tools that enhance what artists already do and generative AI platforms like Suno that raise thornier questions about authorship, training data, and cultural saturation. Philip’s take is cautiously hopeful, but he doesn’t sugarcoat what’s at stake for artists along the way. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elenadyp.substack.com [https://elenadyp.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

AI and the Art of Many Things

Elena catches up with her friend Anand, a product manager, software engineer, and serial startup founder who’s been working with AI and machine learning since before most people had heard of ChatGPT. They trace the arc of the technology — from early completion models and tiny context windows to a world where a single engineer can juggle five applications at once — and dig into what “agentic AI” actually means and why so many enterprise implementations stall or fail. Anand also reflects on what it takes to build a startup and leaves listeners with a simple challenge to keep experimenting, because the model you tried a year ago is not the model you’d be trying today. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elenadyp.substack.com [https://elenadyp.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Teaching in the Age of AI

Elena sits down with her friend Gabriela, a 3rd grade teacher in Brooklyn, for a candid conversation about what AI is doing to education, from lesson planning tools and DOE recommendations to the deeper worry that outsourcing thinking to machines means nothing actually sticks. Gabriela also reflects on AI as the latest chapter in a longer history of ed tech and whether human teachers will become a luxury only the rich can afford. The conversation turns to art and originality — why finding out something was AI-generated feels like a betrayal and what it means that we’ve built something with no “love” behind it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elenadyp.substack.com [https://elenadyp.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

A Brave New World with AI

Elena sits down with her friend Ariel, a writer and book publishing professional, to talk about what AI means for artists and the written word. They explore why Ariel keeps AI out of her own creative practice, the ongoing copyright battles over AI training data, and what’s at stake for authors, translators, and creatives across industries. The conversation also touches on the human cost of training AI models, the ethics of moving fast to build powerful technology, and what a legendary Go player’s inexplicable winning move says about human ingenuity. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit elenadyp.substack.com [https://elenadyp.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]