There's an entire ecosystem of AI tools, many of them free, open-source, and running entirely on your own device, that most people have never heard of. This episode breaks down what local AI is, what you give up when you use it, and which tools are worth trying today. Including Jan.ai, Locally AI for Apple devices, and Obsidian for local project management. If your AI use involves anything sensitive, this episode is for you.

Sources Referenced

• Jan.ai (open-source, offline AI assistant for Mac, Windows, Linux): https://www.jan.ai
• Locally AI (on-device AI for iPhone, iPad, and Mac): https://locallyai.app
• Obsidian (local-first knowledge management): https://obsidian.md
• Featherless AI (catalog of 26,000+ open-source models): https://featherless.ai

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There's a concept that reframes everything you thought you knew about AI transparency and it came from one of the most powerful talks on AI I've ever witnessed in person.

At the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI conference in Paris, former White House OSTP Director Dr. Alondra Nelson introduced the concept of algorithmic agnotology: the deliberate, strategic production of ignorance by AI companies to avoid accountability. It's not just corporate spin, but a system.

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What is actually happening at the frontier of AI safety research? I attended Day One of IASEAI 2026, the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI, in Paris, and I'm breaking down everything you need to know.

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I just published this essay and I wanted to publish the audio version so it can reach as many people as possible.

Read + Share this essay, please: https://open.substack.com/pub/shaeomonijo/p/something-bigger-than-ai-is-happening?r=2ptp7i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

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We blame students for using ChatGPT to write essays. We shame people for turning to AI companions. We criticize workers for automating emails. But what if the real problem isn't individual moral failure per se, but moreso that generative AI is exposing incentive structures that were already broken?

**I recorded this voice note a week ago.

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In this episode, I unpack Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos and explore what they reveal about AI sovereignty, decentralization, and the global race between the United States and China.

As AI infrastructure consolidates around a handful of powerful labs, countries and individuals are facing a deeper structural question: who controls intelligence infrastructure?

Sorry, I have a bit of a cold, but still wanted to get this voice note out to you all.

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AI agents just created their own religion. On a social network called Moltbook, autonomous AI powered by OpenClaw spontaneously formed "Crustafarianism" complete with scriptures, prophets, and encrypted communication to hide from humans. But before you panic about the AI apocalypse, let's cut through the hype and talk about what's actually happening.

IBM: "OpenClaw: The viral 'space lobster' agent testing limits" - https://www.ibm.com/think/news/clawdbot-ai-agent-testing-limits-vertical-integration

404 Media Reporting on Moltbook database: https://www.404media.co/exposed-moltbook-database-let-anyone-take-control-of-any-ai-agent-on-the-site/

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How does a historian learn AI research well enough to contribute meaningfully to policy conversations? In this episode, I share the six-step self-education framework I used to move into a completely new field, and how you can apply it to learn anything deeply.

We're living in an autodidact period where universities can't teach everything you want to know, especially about AI. This is about cultivating intellectual health, resisting the outsourcing of critical thinking, and getting disgustingly educated in whatever calls to you, not for credentials, but for intellectual sovereignty!!

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Everyone acts like AI just appeared overnight with ChatGPT. But we've been building toward this moment for 75 years and every generation has completely redefined what "artificial intelligence" even means.

This episode traces the full history of AI: from Alan Turing's foundational 1950 question through the optimistic Dartmouth Conference, two brutal AI winters, the machine learning revolution, and the generative moment we're in now.

But this isn't just a tech timeline. No, I think it's a story about what we think intelligence is, why we keep building AI in our own image, and what happens when those systems don't transcend our limitations the way we hoped.

I reference a previous episode on the appearance of intelligence, so make sure you listen to that one as well!

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In this episode, I break down Woodrow Hartzog and Jessica Silbey's paper "How AI Destroys Institutions" and explain why anyone who cares about knowledge, power, and culture needs to get involved in AI governance NOW.

KEY POINTS:

• How AI undermines expertise through skill atrophy
• Why AI removes humans from critical decision points
• How AI isolates us and destroys social capital
• The four institutions currently under attack
• Why this is about power vacuum, not tech billionaires
• What humanists can actually do about it

Read the Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5870623

My AI Collapse Thesis: https://shaeomonijo.substack.com/p/ais-hidden-crisis-the-industry-is

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