Hosts Shouvik Das and Leslie D'Monte pondered: if Leonardo da Vinci or Picasso were alive today, would they be just as unnerved by AI as many artists are now? It’s a question worth asking, especially when tools like ChatGPT can now generate stunning images in the signature style of Studio Ghibli with a single prompt. The hosts have previously discussed Ghibli’s sudden rise in cultural popularity, but the recent release of this image-generation feature has reignited deeper conversations about art, ownership, and the role of the artist in an age where style can be replicated with a click. When it becomes this easy to reproduce the visual language of a globally loved, legacy studio, what does that mean for originality—and more importantly, for artists?

But then we take a turn into something more personal: the way people, especially Gen Z, are starting to open up to voice assistants and chatbots—not just to set reminders, but to actually talk. About their thoughts, their stresses, and their feelings. Is this a new form of therapy? Or are we just getting lonelier?

Along the way, we also chat about Photoshop getting easier to use, washing machines that claim to be “smart,” and why everything from TVs to water filters now comes with a chip that talks back. Spoiler alert: we’re not totally sold on it.

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