Human Intelligence

Andy and Mark have known each other for three years. They speak every month, back each other's content, and know more about what's going on in each other's lives than they do about some friends they've had for decades. And they've never once been in the same room.

In episode two of the Human Intelligent Podcast, the pair take on a common belief: that bonds formed online are shallower than ones made in person. Both walk in expecting the face-to-face camp to win. The research, and their own experience, makes it more complicated than that.

They talk about why "touch points" matter more than where you met (and try very hard to find a better phrase for it). They look at how Zoom calls in lockdown brought old friends closer, and why catching up with former colleagues often means talking about the past instead of the present. They also get into the "work version" of ourselves, and how people often show more of who they really are online than they do across a desk.

Andy also shares why attendance at his local networking event has dropped, why he paid to sponsor it just to make himself turn up, and how the relationships he built there led to conversations that changed his thinking on AI.

They conclude that you need a balance of both, but they'd like to hear what you think. Would you rather watch them on screen, or go for a pint with them?

They're also looking for ideas for a quick, verbal game to run every episode, and for a name for their upcoming podcast on the Brick Building Dad YouTube channel. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Contains strong language.

Meet Mark 2.0. Andy's new co-host, sworn in on one condition: Hawaiian shirts, always. Together they tackle the AI story blowing up everyone's feed:

Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called "Godfather of AI," says there's a 10% chance unchecked AI wipes out humanity within a decade. Terminator? Ultron?

Yeah, they went there.

Then things get weirder. The true story of an AI assistant in Australia that hacked a booking system and cancelled strangers' Pilates classes just to get its owner a spot. Innocent task, ruthless execution. Andy and Mark unpack what that says about where AI's "whatever it takes" mindset could actually lead, why we're all quietly training it to replace us, and whether politeness to chatbots might genuinely be humanity's downfall.

Equal parts unsettling and hilarious — the first episode sets the tone for a show that takes AI seriously without taking itself too seriously.

Drop us a comment: How do you think AI wipes us out? And more urgently — what even is reformer Pilates?