The Artificial Human

What would make you want to exercise? Is it the thrill of being discovered as the next football legend? Or maybe the threat of a scary drill sergeant shouting at you?

Join Aleks and Kevin at the starting line, as they set out to discover how AI could help reshape your fitness goals. From what the high end athletes are using to track their progress and how that trickles down to everyday users, to how AI is levelling the playing field when it comes to scouting new talent. Plus, could an AI coach be just the thing to help with that pesky fleeting motivation?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

Haven’t had your A.I. question answered yet? We’re making up for it. Aleks and Kevin are in the hot seat for an episode dedicated to tackling the A.I. questions left in our inbox.

With insights from experts, and questions from you the listener, they'll cover everything from AI verbal abuse and how AI is being used on our streets, to how it can help with your overflowing inbox, and whether AI dreams like we do.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

As more and more of us use Ai chat bots inevitably people will start asking them about their problems. Aleks and Kevin ask if there's a risk they do more harm than good?

They talk to Ryan Broderick who turned to Ai when going through a rough patch with his mental health. He's now seeing a human therapist and has a fascinating perspective on the advice his chat bot gave him. But are the potential risks of using Ai as a support especially if its one not designed for that purpose? Zoha Khawaja has been studying people's use of Ai and explains the 'therapeutic misconceptions' users can be prone to.

Presenters: Alekes Krotoski & Kevin Fong

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask if espionage is about to be revolutionised by Ai. Around the globe intelligence agencies are getting excited about the potential of Ai. Not only in what we know its good at, crunching huge amounts of data looking for patterns but also in identifying and exploiting human weakness. Who might be turned to spy for you and how can they be manipulated. And when a spy is caught could an Ai in the interrogator’s ear help them spot telltale signs of lying by analysing micro-gestures, body temperature, perspiration?

Aleks speak with ex-CIA officer Peter Warmka about how his 30 years in the field is about to be replaced artificial intelligence without the need for an Aston Martin, dinner jacket or Walther PPK.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

When Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released their R1 model on the world it sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley. Out of nowhere was an AI that performed as well as any of big tech's products but had been built at a fraction of the cost and with a fraction of the resources.

Now the dust has settled they’re asking themselves whether the driving idea of bigger models, trained on ever bigger datasets still holds up. They're also asking if their business model of fiercely protecting the secrets behind how their technology works is the best way to innovate. DeepSeek is what’s called Open Source meaning that its creators have made the software available for others to study, use and modify. The race is on to see which of these approaches will dominate and see AI embedded into more and more of our lives.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

When a Norwegian man idly asked ChatGPT to tell him something about himself he was appalled to read that according to the chatbot he'd been convicted of murdering two of his children and had attempted to kill a third. Outraged, he contacted Open AI to have the information corrected only to discover that because of how these large language models work its difficult if not impossible to change it. He's now taking legal action with the help of digital civil rights advocate.

Its an extreme example of Large Language Model's propensity to hallucinate and confabulate, ie make stuff up based on what its training data suggests the most likely combination of words, however far from reality that might be.

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out exactly what your rights are and whether GDPR (general data protection regulations) are really fit for purpose in the age of genertive AI.

Presenters: Aleks Korotoski & Kevin Fong

Books are at the heart of an ongoing AI controversy with 7.5 million books being used to train AI without the authors’ knowledge or consent. So, should AI be allowed to steal books?

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong speak to award-winning author Kate Mosse about the growing debate over AI and authorship. They’ll also explore how the publishing industry is responding and whether AI systems have the legal right to absorb millions of books?

Plus, with AI generated books on the rise, could this technology ever truly replace human writers? What does the future hold for authors, readers, and the publishing world?

Presenters: Kevin Fong & Aleks Krotoski

Aleks and Kevin step into the world of actors “banking” their voices for use after death. With the help of AI your favourite actor can continue to appear on screen for years after they've gone. But what does that really mean? What’s a performance without the actor behind it?

Benjamin Field is the producer behind the AI Sir Michael Parkinson podcast, where the late interviewer talks to new guests thanks to AI technology. Benjamin explains how the technology works, and the ethical concerns that it poses. Plus he describes how he sees the technology as a way to create more work for actors.

Impressionist Alistair McGowan has portrayed everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to John Major to Boris Johnson. He explains that a voice is more than sound waves, but about soul, character and personal strength. Can those elements be replicated by AI? And do we want them to be?

Produced by Emily Esson

A BBC Audio Scotland production.

Ai is at a turning point, Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what direction it will take and who is advising the most powerful man in the world on what vision of AI to pursue?

There are numerous camps vying for President Trump's favour over how to develop Ai. There are those demanding that it be allowed to run free without the burden of innovation stifling regulation. Others still cling to the notion that the risks of rampant Ai still need to be curbed, while a third camp want to see 'big tech' working even closer with government to harness the power of this new 'wonder technology' and beat China both economically and in cyber security.

Who will be listened to, and what does it mean for the rest of a world that's a good deal more sceptical about the potential of Ai and its risks? Andrew Strait Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute helps Aleks and Kevin understand the various characters pushing their Ai agendas, while Nobel prize winning economist Daron Acemoglu explains the possible consequences of what's being proposed and how it is only a very narrow view of what Ai could be and how it could benefit mankind.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong explore our fears around AI, where they come from andwhether we're worrying about the right things?

Listener Paul asks 'if AI gets so smart wouldn't it realise it was a threat to society and switch itself off?' Its the stuff of Sci-fi fantasy, an artificial intelligence that gets so smart it decides it doesn't need humanity anymore. But if AI were ever to get that powerful and for many its a very big 'if' why would it want to do that? Kevin and Aleks speak to Dr Kanta Dihal who researches the stories we tell ourselves about technology and ask her why they seem to have become increasingly apocalyptic.

Do these far-flung futures distract us from much more immediate problems with AI and is that their purpose? Professor Michael Rovatsos explains the issues AI raises today and what’s being done counter them.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong