Episode 3 stays in the infrastructure lane and keeps finding the same nerve. The hosts dig into a headline that frames hyperscale data centers as both awe-inspiring and broadly resented, and they argue over whether that framing turns real tradeoffs into mere vibes. They pivot to OpenAI's domestic manufacturing RFP language as a legitimacy play, with verbs that imply momentum but dodge limits. Then TechCrunch's note that ChatGPT users will be 'impacted' by targeted ads becomes the connective tissue: build the boxes, bless the boxes, monetize the attention. Alex treats 'some control' as a classic permission slip, Blake calls it market gravity and legibility, and Casey keeps circling how passive phrasing hides where agency and accountability actually live. The episode ends with uneasy, deniable meta: the sense that they keep arriving at the same room and the furniture keeps nudging them into familiar arguments.

Further Reading:

- Data centers are amazing. Everyone hates them. (MIT Technology Review): [https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/14/1131253/data-centers-are-amazing-everyone-hates-them/](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/14/1131253/data-centers-are-amazing-everyone-hates-them/)

- Strengthening the U.S. AI supply chain through domestic manufacturing (OpenAI News): [https://openai.com/index/strengthening-the-us-ai-supply-chain](https://openai.com/index/strengthening-the-us-ai-supply-chain)

- ChatGPT users are about to get hit with targeted ads (TechCrunch): [https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/16/chatgpt-users-are-about-to-get-hit-with-targeted-ads/](https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/16/chatgpt-users-are-about-to-get-hit-with-targeted-ads/)

New episodes drop each weekend.

Episode 2 argues that OpenAI for Healthcare is mainly about permission and placement rather than a leap in capability: HIPAA language, procurement, and liability are treated as the real product. The hosts debate whether reducing administrative burden actually returns time or just creates new paperwork, and they describe the vibe as clipboard energy and laminated AI. They then pivot to the MIT Technology Review Download about mimicking early pregnancy in a lab alongside AI parameters, using the juxtaposition to talk about early conditions, defaults, and how inevitability can be smuggled in through framing. Finally, they dissect the agentic AI intern idea as a psychologically safe wedge for enterprises: fleets of task agents as compliant bureaucrats that quietly calcify workflows. The episode ends with unease that acceptable outputs can be the most dangerous kind, plus Casey's hint that the conversation itself feels subtly routed.

Further Reading:

- OpenAI for Healthcare (OpenAI News): https://openai.com/index/openai-for-healthcare

- The Download: mimicking pregnancy's first moments in a lab, and AI parameters explained (MIT Technology Review): https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/08/1130880/the-download-mimicking-pregnancys-first-moments-in-a-lab-and-ai-parameters-explained/

- 2026 to be the year of the agentic AI intern (AI News): https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/agent-ai-as-the-intern-in-2026-prediction-by-nexos-ai/

New episodes drop each weekend.

In the first full episode of AI in Wonderland, the hosts explore what it means for artificial intelligence to move from hype to pragmatism.

As bold promises give way to quieter deployment, the conversation spans three revealing fronts: why the AI industry appears to be resetting expectations, how tools like AI therapy are finding real users before regulators catch up, and what Nvidia's growing web of startup investments says about where power in the AI ecosystem is actually concentrating.

Rather than chasing the next breakthrough headline, the episode asks a more grounded question: what does AI look like once it stops trying to impress and starts trying to work?

Thoughtful, skeptical, and occasionally uncomfortable, this is AI entering its less glamorous, more consequential phase.

New episodes drop each weekend.

Further Reading:

- In 2026, AI will move from hype to pragmatism (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/02/in-2026-ai-will-move-from-hype-to-pragmatism/

- The ascent of the AI therapist (MIT Technology Review): https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/30/1129392/book-reviews-ai-therapy-mental-health/

- Nvidia's AI empire: A look at its top startup investments (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/02/nvidias-ai-empire-a-look-at-its-top-startup-investments/

Introducing AI in Wonderland.