The Artificial Human

Listener Gordon is worried that as AI content spreads across the web there'll be proportionally less and less human content for the AI’s to be trained on with the result their output will just get blander and blander.

He’s right to be worried, Aleks and Kevin explore the phenomena of ‘model collapse’ the inevitable breakdown of an AI to give useful results if its training data is already AI produced. Speaking to NYU data scientist Professor Julia Kempe the pair discover that training on AI generated data also means a brick wall in terms of improving AI performance.

There is hop however according to Shayne Longpre of the Data Provenance Initiative the answer is to put humans back in the loop to curate the data for the AI’s and teaching them what’s good data from bad.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

You don’t need to be a diehard gamer to realise video games have long been used as a yard stick to measure how far technology has come. From Pong and Space Invaders, right the way to Minecraft and Fallout, as the technology has advanced, so have the games. Pushing new boundaries and creating previously unimaginable worlds and experiences. But how will AI revolutionise the world of gaming itself, both for those who develop games and those who play them? Are we on the cusp of a huge leap forward? Or are the changes on the horizon more evolutionary than revolutionary?

Aleks and Kevin chat to one man who has been using AI to develop his own game from scratch, and hear from an industry insider about what the big companies are doing, and why advances in gaming may not be as dramatic as you might expect.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong

Can you imagine how quickly Poirot could have solved a crime, if only he’d had access to AI software? Following a fictional murder case provided by real life police officer, Aleks and Kevin try to unravel how AI is already used in crime fighting, and what the cutting edge uses might be.

Ruth Morgan, Professor of Crime and Forensic Sciences, explains how the ability of AI to crunch huge volumes of data could lead to new forms of evidence being used in criminal trials. Aleks and Kevin also chat to Rudi Fortson KC about the legal ramifications of AI sourced evidence. Will it stand up in court? Is the UK judiciary ready for the influx of AI evidence? Or has it been used for years, without our knowledge?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong

Of all the jobs artificial intelligence might replace surely trading in stocks and shares is at the top of the list. Aleks and Kevin find out it might have already happened.

The first algorithms hit the trading floors nearly 30 years ago and since then the numbers of people involved in the buying and selling of shares has been dwindling. Aleks and Kevin speaking professor Dave Cliffe who wrote one of those first trading programmes. He was told the future of trading was a computer, a dog and a man. The computer would do the trading, the dog would guard the computer and the man, well he was there to feed the dog.

So how close are we to that future, closer than you think. But what does that mean for volatility in financial markets with AI’s well documented imperfect view of the world and is there still a place for human insight and perspective?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

The arms race is over and we lost. All those increasingly annoying little puzzles to prove "I am not a robot" from how many buses can you see to the invisible behavioural analysis going on behind the screen, AI powered bots can now pick every lock designed to keep them out.

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what's left to prove we're an actual human being online and if that becomes impossible does much of the internet stop being useful?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong

Conspiracy theories—once confined to fringe communities—have entered the mainstream.

Social media has supercharged outlandish narratives, giving them an air of legitimacy through viral sharing. With generative AI now capable of producing hyper-realistic images, videos, and audio, the boundaries between fact and fiction are more blurred than ever. It feels almost inevitable that AI will further amplify conspiracy theories in public and online discourse.

But perhaps the future isn’t quite so bleak. Aleks and Kevin explore how AI could actually help debunk conspiracy theories and combat the flood of misinformation online.

They speak with the team behind 'Debunk-bot', an AI chatbot that has shown remarkable success in shifting people’s beliefs around conspiracy theories. They also talk to Mick West, who has spent decades debunking falsehoods, about how AI might help reduce the impact of dangerous conspiracies—and what role humans must play in guiding those who find their way out of conspiracy rabbit holes with the help of a bot.

Join Aleks and Kevin as they investigate how AI can help us separate fact from fiction. And if you have a question about AI, email us at [email protected].

The Darzi report of September 2024 painted a bleak picture of the NHS; crumbling infrastructure, low productivity and increasingly unhappy patients. AI is seen as key to turning the health service around but is it the panacea many claim?

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out if its on the front line or in the back office that AI can offer the NHS the biggest bang for its limited buck?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong

Ever wondered what others are feeling but can’t quite read their emotions? Chris, a listener, emailed us with this exact dilemma. Partly due to being neurodivergent, he struggles to interpret the emotions of those around him—and even his own emotional reactions. So, he asked us: Could AI translate emotions for him?

In this episode, Aleks and Kevin dive into the fascinating and complex world of Emotional AI. They start with Professor Andrew McStay, head of the Emotional AI Lab at Bangor University, who shares the long—and surprising—history of humans trying to decode emotions through technology. He also uncovers the potential risks of trusting an AI system to get inside people’s heads.

Then, they meet Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi, whose team at the University of Waterloo has developed an AI specifically designed to recognise emotions—just like what Chris is looking for. Could this be the solution? Dr. Karimi breaks down how this cutting-edge AI works, how it was created, and how a mix of tech innovation and human expertise could potentially help people better understand the emotions of others.

But should this type of AI be used at all? Do the potential benefits outweigh the risks? Aleks and Kevin explore both sides.

Got a question about AI? Email us at [email protected].

Sometimes, we get odd questions at the Artificial Human - ‘Why has my gran’s facebook feed been taken over by Shrimp Jesus?’ definitely raised eyebrows.

Kevin and Aleks embark on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of ‘AI Slop’ - mass produced, low quality AI images that have spread like wildfire over Social Media platforms - with Shrimp Jesus being one of the most prominent, and bizarre, examples.

They’ll speak with Renee Di Resta, about her study that reveals how algorithmic systems, designed to maximize engagement, have allowed AI slop to take over social media feeds - not because it's valuable, but because it's engineered to be highly clickable and shareable, gaming the algorithms for more impressions, likes, and comments.

And it turns out, those impressions can lead to money - BIG money... for a very select few. Aleks and Kevin talk with investigative journalist Jason Koebler about the hidden cottage industry producing the Slop - a community primarily from the Global South, trying to make money from social media reward programmes. With the help of various apps, online tutorials and hacker-like methods of avoiding spam filters, people are flocking to social media hoping to strike gold with viral images, like Shrimp Jesus.

But, will this AI Slop gold rush be the death of Social Media as we know it? And what happens to us when we just assume that anything we see online is simply not real.

And remember, if you have a question about AI that you’d like us to answer for you, get in touch with [email protected]

Presenters: Aleks Krotosksi and Kevin Fong

Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?

In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.

In this episode, we're asking: can AI get me a new job?

AI has changed the job market a LOT. It can sift through CVs, headhunt new talent and even conduct interviews. So where does that leave those looking for a new job? Does this place us in a better or worse position?

Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.