The AI you already use just got far more useful, thanks to something that's been in your pocket all along: your phone's camera. This week on aiGED, Ginny Deerin shows the 65+ crowd — and anyone just getting started — how pointing your camera at the real world turns AI into a far more practical, everyday helper. No more hunting for the right words to type. You just show it and ask.

With her sidekick Bitsy, Ginny explains the two easy ways to do it: snap a photo and ask about it (works in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude), or use the live "point and talk" mode that lets you hold your camera up and have a real-time conversation (paid ChatGPT and the free Gemini Live). She clears up how this is different from Google Lens, walks through the simple steps, and rattles off 16 real-life uses — identifying a plant or a bird, translating a foreign menu, reading tiny print, sorting out a confusing appliance, even summarizing a receipt — with honest cautions about AI's mistakes and why good lighting makes all the difference.

In AI in the News, Ginny digs into a New York Times story about Amazon building a massive AI data center in West Texas, powered by an on-site natural-gas plant permitted to release up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide a year — which could make it one of the most polluting power plants in the country. Bitsy points out it's part of a bigger wave, with Meta, OpenAI and Oracle, and Microsoft all racing to build their own power. Her weekly pick steps away from screens: a Medium piece arguing that two humble body parts — your hands and your feet — predict how well you age, with grip strength tied to longevity and simple, do-them-at-home exercises to lower fall risk.

Pull up a chair, grab your phone, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS

🔗 "New Amazon Data Center Stokes Worry It Would Be the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S." (The New York Times, Hiroko Tabuchi, Aug. 8, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/climate/amazon-data-center-texas-pollution.html

🔗 "Two Body Parts That Predict How Well You Age" (Medium, Linda Melone, July 10, 2026 — possible paywall): https://medium.com/crows-feet/two-body-parts-that-predict-how-well-you-age-710627fb7d4a 

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Teasers

01:15 AI News Data Center Emissions

05:22 Who Else Is Building Power

06:31 Camera AI Pecan Tree Story

09:25 Google Lens vs Chatbots

11:02 Best Apps and Modes

13:50 Live Camera Demo Lamp Fix

15:35 How to Use It Steps

19:22 Sixteen Camera Use Ideas

24:58 Accuracy and Lighting Tips

27:00 Longevity Hands and Feet

31:34 Wrap Up and Safety

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

There's a feature tucked inside today's AI tools that most people have never opened — and it may be the one that finally makes AI feel genuinely useful. This week on aiGED, Ginny Deerin explains "Projects" (Claude and ChatGPT call them Projects; Gemini calls them Gems) in plain, friendly English for the 65+ crowd and anyone just getting started.

With her sidekick Bitsy, Ginny breaks down what a Project actually is — a workspace that holds your own instructions and files so the AI already knows your context every time — and why that beats starting from scratch in every new chat. She walks through how to set one up step by step, then rattles off a dozen real-life ways to put it to work: trip planning, health tracking, writing, cooking, genealogy, event planning, and more.

In AI in the News, Ginny covers Siri's long-awaited AI brain transplant — with five prompts to try — and the internet's "slop janitor," a tool that sniffs out AI-generated writing. Then she tackles a question that hits close to home: between Elon Musk's giant SpaceX IPO and an S&P 500 now concentrated in just seven AI-driven giants, how much AI risk is quietly sitting in our retirement accounts? She shares what respected voices are saying and simple steps to check your own exposure. Her weekly pick: Jon Stewart's Weekly Show with Cory Doctorow, on AI, "enshittification," and learned helplessness.

Pull up a chair, bring your curiosity, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS

🔗 "Apple's Siri Got an A.I. Brain Transplant. Try These 5 Prompts to Get Acclimated" (The New York Times, Brian X. Chen, July 30, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/technology/personaltech/apple-siri-ai-prompts.html

🔗 "Sick of A.I.-Generated Content? The 'Slop Janitor' Is Here to Help" (The New York Times, Niko Gallogly, July 29, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/business/dealbook/pangram-ai-slop-detection.html

🔗 The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart — "AI and the Enshittification Era with Cory Doctorow" (July 29, 2026): https://youtu.be/-dAIJRjb-Bw?si=tm8w0fbKBf3Bp3P_

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Preview

01:39 Siri AI Brain Upgrade

05:06 Slop Janitor Explained

06:43 Listener Note and Thanks

07:52 Projects Why They Matter

13:46 Projects Setup Guide

17:11 Project Ideas and Examples

20:37 AI Bubble and Retirement Risk

28:52 Weekly Pick Jon Stewart

33:36 Wrap Up and Safety Tips

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

You’ve got questions about AI — and you are definitely not alone. This week on aiGED, Ginny Deerin opens the very first aiGED Mailbag, answering the real questions listeners have sent in about living with AI, all in plain, friendly English for the 65+ crowd and anyone just getting started.

Together with her sidekick Bitsy, Ginny tackles the things people actually wonder about but feel a little silly asking: Where do I even find podcasts? Do I need the app, or is the website fine? Do I have to say thank you to my AI? How long does it keep my chats — and should I delete them? What’s the real difference between ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, and do I have to pick just one? She also clears up the confusing lingo — Custom GPTs, Projects, Gems, agents, and tasks — and explains, in one clear answer, when your AI might be flat-out wrong and how to know when to double-check it.

In AI in the News, Ginny digs into a New York Times columnist’s unsettling experiment revealing what ChatGPT and Gemini had quietly figured out about him — his age, his neighborhood, even a health issue he’d never mentioned — plus the simple settings that let you take back control. She also looks at how AI is powering a record wave of new small businesses. And in AI for Good, two stories connected by a single theme: AI that gives people back their hearing, and their voice.

Pull up a chair, bring your curiosity, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS

🔗 “4 Prompts That Can Tell You What Chatbots Really Know About You” (The New York Times, Brian X. Chen, July 23, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/technology/personaltech/chatgpt-gemini-prompts-privacy.html?searchResultPosition=1

🔗 “America’s Enterprising Spirit Is Booming After Decades-Long Slump” (The New York Times, Sydney Ember, July 17, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/business/economy/american-small-business-boom.html?searchResultPosition=1

🔗 ChatGPT GPT Store (browse Custom GPTs): https://chatgpt.com/gpts

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and preview

01:10 Creepy AI profiling

03:14 Control memory settings

04:44 Claude transparency and Bitsy

06:24 AI sparks new businesses

08:42 AI for good hearing

09:55 AI for good voice

10:53 Mailbag begins basics

11:33 Apps vs browser

13:38 Voice mode and syncing

14:59 Chat history and deleting

16:48 Manners and pricing

19:14 Privacy and training

21:08 Hallucinations and checking

22:43 Photos documents and memory

23:59 Choosing ChatGPT Gemini Claude

26:29 Does AI know news

27:34 Conversation starter tip

28:59 Wrap up and reminders

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

This week on aiGED, two stories collide in a way I didn't expect. Apple just sued OpenAI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets — the ugly end to a partnership that once seemed so promising. And in the same week, OpenAI rolled out a voice assistant that can finally talk and listen at the same time, instead of taking turns like a walkie-talkie.

Both stories set up the real question I wanted to answer this episode: with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude all racing to be your everyday AI, is it time to check in on which one actually deserves your attention? I put all three side by side — cost, what each is genuinely good at, and where privacy fits in — and looked at two real studies, including one where real people voted blind on which AI's writing they preferred.

Also in this episode: the full story on Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI, including the surprising Jony Ive connection; what OpenAI's new full-duplex voice mode actually changes about talking to AI; and a recommendation that has nothing to do with AI at all — a short Ted Danson video on aging well that's become one of my favorite things this month.

If you've ever wondered whether you're using the right AI — or just want to know what's actually different between them — this one's for you. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 

SHOW LINKS:

📰 NYT — Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/technology/apple-openai-lawsuit.html

🎙️ TechCrunch — OpenAI Releases New Voice Models for More Natural Live Conversations: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/08/openai-releases-new-voice-models-for-more-natural-live-conversations/

📊 Arena (AI leaderboard): arena.ai

📋 ACSI AI Platforms Study 2026: theacsi.org

🎬 Ted Danson's Facebook video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17JTSUN8Ch/?mibextid=wwXIfr

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome to aiGED

01:31 Apple vs OpenAI Lawsuit

04:28 GPT Live Voice Upgrade

06:45 Why Compare AIs Now

10:11 Market Share Snapshot

11:13 ChatGPT Strengths

12:13 Gemini Google Integration

13:05 Claude Depth and Privacy

14:22 Rankings and Satisfaction

16:56 Three Tool Takeaways

17:30 Ted Danson Recommendation

19:06 Final Wrap and Caution

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

What happens when a major AI model gets shut down worldwide with ninety minutes' notice? This week on aiGED, we go a little deeper than usual — a two-part look at whether America is actually positioned to keep its lead in AI, starting with the regulatory whiplash of the past three years.

We trace the rules from Biden's 2023 executive order, through Trump's reversal and his administration's “move fast” approach, to this June's Claude Fable 5 shutdown and the voluntary framework that followed. Then we turn to power — literally, the electricity AI needs to run — and why China is racing ahead on clean energy while U.S. investment in science and energy research pulls back. Ginny lays out, in plain terms, what she thinks needs to happen on both fronts.

In AI in the News: a new AI-powered scam targeting air conditioner shoppers this summer, and a survey showing nurses are using AI more than ever but still don't trust it with patient care. In AI for Good, Meta is donating AI glasses to every blind veteran in America. Plus, Ginny's recommendations, tied to a conversation she heard this week between Ezra Klein and environmentalist Bill McKibben.

If you've ever wondered whether the government is actually keeping up with AI — or whether America's even trying to keep its lead — this episode is for you. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS

🔗 Air Conditioner Scams (Forbes, Steve Weisman, July 5, 2026): https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveweisman/2026/07/05/how-ai-is-fueling-a-new-wave-of-air-conditioner-scams/

🔗 Nurses and AI Survey (The Washington Post, Gerrit De Vynck, July 7, 2026): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/07/07/most-nurses-say-ai-isnt-good-enough-trust-with-patient-care-survey/ 

🔗 Meta Donates AI Glasses to Blind Veterans (Deseret News, Emily Walker, July 7, 2026): https://www.deseret.com/business/2026/07/07/meta-donates-glasses-to-blind-american-veterans/

🔗 Executive Order 14409 (The White House, June 2, 2026): https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/promoting-advanced-artificial-intelligence-innovation-and-security/

🔗 Global Electricity Review 2026 (Ember, April 21, 2026): https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/global-electricity-review-2026/

🔗 “The Very Good and Very Bad News on Climate” (The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times, July 10, 2026): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-mckibben.html

🔗 Here Comes the Sun by Bill McKibben: https://billmckibben.com/books/here-comes-the-sun/

🔗 Third Act (organizing people over 60 on climate): https://thirdact.org/

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to aiGED

02:53 AC Scam Alert

05:13 Nurses and AI Trust

06:47 AI Glasses for Veterans

08:10 Big Picture AI Race

09:35 Rules and Whiplash

16:38 Powering AI with Energy

22:22 What Needs to Change

24:46 Take Action and Resources

26:07 Wrap Up and Safety Tips

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

Back by popular demand — the episode format listeners keep asking for.

 Episode 30, "14 Things I Did With AI This Week," was our most popular episode ever. Today we're doing it again with Episode 44: 12 real, concrete things Ginny has done with Claude AI over the past couple of weeks — tech troubleshooting, health questions, craft projects, a mystery credit card charge from Italy, garden planning with her grandson, and more.

 This episode also features real examples from listeners who wrote in with their own AI stories: planning a 50th anniversary trip to France, finding printable piano music, and using Claude to work through affordable housing policy.

 In AI in the News: Anthropic is entering the drug development space with a new tool called Claude Science. And a pediatric surgeon just wrote a book about AI in the nursery — Human Raised by Dr. Dana Suskind — coming July 14th.

 aiGED is AI for the 65+ crowd. Real talk, no jargon.

00:00 Welcome to aiGED

00:49 Episode Preview

02:23 AI News Anthropic Drugs

04:38 AI News Kids and AI

07:34 Back to 12 Examples

08:35 Tech Fixes Fast

10:14 Money and Health Checks

11:52 Garden and Craft Help

12:59 Bouquet Art Director

15:02 Projects and Setup Tips

16:23 Listener AI Wins

19:50 Quick Recommendations

22:07 Closing Thoughts

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

What if your AI didn't just answer your questions — but actually made things? This week on aiGED, we go behind the scenes of how Ginny produces this podcast every Tuesday morning, using it as a window into one of the biggest shifts happening in AI right now: agents.

We break down what makes an AI agent different from a regular chatbot, how to give one access to your files, and why a simple document changes everything for ongoing work. Then we look at what an agent could do for you — organizing medical records, comparing contractor quotes, tackling a family history project — followed by an honest look at where agents fall short and why you should never hand one your credit card number.

In AI in the News: ChatGPT has lost its majority share of the AI market for the first time since it launched in 2022 — and there's a check fraud scheme targeting mail that's worth knowing about right now. In AI for Good, an AI program flagged a heart condition that doctors missed in a busy emergency room, and a team in Louisiana is using AI to help keep Cajun French from disappearing. Plus a low-tech recommendation from Ginny about eating without a screen.

If you've been curious about AI agents but couldn't quite picture what they look like in practice — this episode is for you. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to aiGED

00:43 Episode Preview

01:23 AI Market Share Shifts

02:51 Check Fraud Warning

05:52 AI for Good Stories

10:13 What Are AI Agents

12:54 Context Documents Explained

16:48 Chat vs CoWork

19:02 My Podcast Workflow

23:15 Agents Beyond Podcasting

24:46 Limits and Safety

26:31 Anti Screen Habit Tip

27:20 Final Wrap Up

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

If you’ve been hearing words like “enshittification,” “slop,” or “vibe coding” and smiling politely like you know exactly what they mean — this episode is for you. Ginny Deerin brings a baker’s dozen of AI words and phrases worth knowing: thirteen terms that explain not just the technology, but the world it’s creating around us.

The main topic is a guided tour through 13 AI terms, from the technical (context window, AI agents, compute power) to the brilliantly descriptive (slop, shadow AI, enshittification). You’ll learn what token maxing really means — including the part about ranking employees by how much AI they use. You’ll find out why “taste” might be the most valuable thing you bring to work in the age of AI, and what makes hyperstition one of the most mind-bending concepts of our time. Ginny also explains why enshittification isn’t just for apps and platforms — hardware goes through it too — and closes with AI-washing, the practice of slapping “powered by AI” on things that aren’t.

In AI in the News, Ginny covers humanoid robots now being produced at one per hour and Goldman Sachs’ staggering $7.6 trillion AI infrastructure forecast. In AI for Good, she shares two stories connected by the same big idea: AI detecting eye disease before vision fails, and buildings that may soon have “immune systems” that sense airborne pathogens before people get sick. And in Recommendations, Ginny issues a personal challenge — and suggests a surprisingly meditative outing involving a 3D printer.

If AI sometimes feels like a conversation you’re not quite in on, this episode is your way in. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Show Links

🤖 Humanoid Robots Touted as Next AI Investment Opportunity – CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/03/humanoid-robots-trillion-dollar-ai-market.html

💰 Tracking Trillions: Goldman Sachs AI Infrastructure Report: https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/tracking-trillions-the-assumptions-shaping-scale-of-the-ai-build-out

👁️ ZenkoLab – AI Ophthalmology Diagnostics: https://www.zenkolab.dev/

🏢 Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease – NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/science/indoor-air-viruses-bacteria.html

💩 On the Media: Enshittification (3-part series with Cory Doctorow): https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/projects/enshitification

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to Episode 42

01:18 Humanoid Robots Arrive

02:32 Trillions for AI Infrastructure

04:23 AI for Good Spotlight

06:56 13 AI Terms Intro

07:37 Tokens and Context Limits

11:14 Hallucinations and Slop

13:47 Prompting and Vibe Coding

15:40 Compute Power and Agents

18:42 Shadow AI and Human Taste

21:47 Hyperstition and Enshittification

25:49 AI Washing Explained

28:52 Weekly Recommendations

31:45 Wrap Up and Takeaways

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

If you have an iPhone, this one is for you. Apple just held its big annual event — WWDC 2026 — and for the first time in a long time, Siri actually delivered. Not a small update. A real overhaul. The kind that might actually change how you use your phone every day.

 In this episode, Ginny walks you through everything that happened at Apple’s developer conference — including a goodbye to someone who made Apple what it is. You’ll learn exactly what changed with Siri, what Apple Intelligence means for your iPhone, and — in the biggest news of the event — why Apple is now letting you choose which AI you want to use: ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, or others. Ginny covers what you can try right now and what you’ll need to wait for this fall, with honest, practical guidance and no tech jargon required.

 Also in this episode: one billion people are now using ChatGPT every single month — Ginny explains what that number actually means for the rest of us. Plus, President Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders just agreed on something involving AI, and it’s one of those stories you won’t see coming. And Ginny wraps up with a recommendation that has nothing to do with AI: Season 2 of The Four Seasons on Netflix just dropped, and it is worth every minute.

 Whether you’re an iPhone faithful or just AI-curious, this episode will leave you knowing exactly what to do next. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS:

🔗 ChatGPT 1 Billion Users — Quartz: https://qz.com/chatgpt-billion-monthly-users-rivals-gaining-061226

🔗 Trump + Sanders on AI Ownership — Fortune: https://fortune.com/2026/06/05/trump-partnership-openai-anthropic-xai-nationalization-bernie-sanders-altman/

🔗 The Four Seasons on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81750702

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome and Preview

01:17 ChatGPT Hits One Billion

03:06 Trump and Bernie on AI

05:13 WWDC Big Moment

05:54 Siri Frustration Era

07:26 Tim Cook Steps Down

08:59 Siri Rebuilt With Gemini

11:11 Choose Your AI Brain

13:20 Try Now vs Fall

16:25 New iPhone Features

18:33 Privacy and Policies

20:51 Netflix Four Seasons

22:41 Final Wrap and Advice

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd

You've heard it plenty of times — AI is going to transform medicine, cure cancer, change everything. And then you open the health section of your favorite newspaper and... nothing. No AI. Just doctors, researchers, and breakthroughs. So which is it? In this episode of aiGED, Ginny makes the case that the AI revolution in medicine isn't coming. It's already here — you just need to know where to look.

Using two recent New York Times stories as her guide — one about predicting lung cancer five years before diagnosis, another about editing human embryo DNA with unprecedented precision — Ginny shows exactly how AI is powering the most exciting medical advances of our time without ever getting the headline. Along the way, she explains what "machine learning" actually means when it shows up buried in a scientific article, and why the generation that watched computers quietly change everything is perfectly positioned to recognize this pattern.

Also in this episode: two exercises from a neuroscientist you've probably never tried (one involves smelling things), and a 72-year-old who is still running experiments on his own life and finally found five habits that stuck — not because they required discipline, but because they didn't. In AI for Good, two AI tools are predicting hunger crises and child malnutrition before they happen, from 95 countries down to individual villages. And Ginny's recommendation comes straight from her farmers market haul — including a mouse situation she handled with a quick photo and a question to Claude.

If you've been waiting for AI to show up in the medical news you read every week — it already has. Tune in and you'll never miss it again. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

SHOW LINKS:

📰 "I'm a Neuroscientist..." — The Medium (subscription required: $5/mo or $50/yr)

https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/im-a-neuroscientist-i-do-these-3-overlooked-exercises-daily-to-age-better-6d930fe7f0f7

📰 "I'm 72 and Still Running Experiments..." — The Medium (subscription required: $5/mo or $50/yr)

https://medium.com/illumination-retirement-aging-legacy/im-72-and-still-running-experiments-on-my-own-life-2555638cdf7b

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome Back Bitsy

01:43 AI News Aging Exercises

03:52 Smell Memory Link

04:28 Life Experiments at 72

06:14 AI for Good Spotlight

07:50 Breakthroughs Hiding Plain Sight

09:06 New York Times AI Footnotes

12:16 AI in the Exam Room

16:17 Farmers Market AI Tips

17:47 Listener Question AI Power

19:11 Homework and Wrap Up

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd