The JEN_AI Podcast

JEN_AI Episode 26: Is It Art{ificial}? Making Honest Art with AIJenni Munroe explores whether AI-assisted work can be “honest art,” opening with an X stunt where a real Monet was mislabeled as AI and the resulting discourse was sold as a $43,000 NFT. She argues the core objection to AI art is uncredited, uncompensated use of millions of humans’ work, and urges people not to feed others’ designs into tools to reproduce them, distinguishing inspiration from theft. She shares experiments using her own and her family’s materials: turning her watercolor rose into a Google Flow video for future album art, mashing up her kids’ drawings into a draft children’s book, and creating a newsletter header from her logo and a room photo that includes her mother’s quilt, which she credits. Referencing Duchamp’s Fountain and Tracey Emin, she frames art as idea, reaction, and honesty, and says AI-enabled making helped her start the newsletter and cope during a difficult period. She calls for artist payment mechanisms, regulation, and lawsuits, mentions Jack Conte’s SXSW talk, spotlights Lily Allen’s 2025 album West End Girl and cover art by Nieves Gonzalez, and closes by inviting feedback about whether her AI-aided work counts as art.

00:00 Is It Artificial

00:28 Monet AI Hoax

01:24 Slop And Stolen Data

03:03 Making Honest Mashups

03:36 Childrens' Book Experiments

05:15 More Art Experiments

05:52 But Is It Art?

06:07 Modern Art Lessons

07:51 Why I Care

10:12 Feeling Conflicted About AI in Art

11:36 Paying Artists Fairly

11:56 Theme Tune Pick

12:48 Outro And Subscribe

Links: Jenni Munroe

A New York Times columnist I follow gave Facebook’s new personal-AI-agent tamagotchi (‘Muse’) $100.

More than 75% of its employees are now millionaires.

Director Matt Reeves had Robert Pattinson play Bruce Wayne as Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

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JEN_AI Ep. 25: WealthDrip - Gamifying Financial Admin Instead of Getting Rich QuickIn episode 25 of JEN_AI, “ai, make me rich,” Jenni Munroe (ex–Google DeepMind) tries to build a money-making agent inspired by Kevin Roose giving $100 to Meta’s Tamagotchi-style AI to bet on prediction markets, but UK availability blocks tools like Meta Muse/ OpenAI Dots and ChatGPT’s finance feature. Claude steers her away from get-rich-quick plans toward monetizing JEN_AI, while Jenni foolishly tests uploading bank statements to ChatGPT and finds its advice obvious, including canceling AI subscriptions. She procrastinates by vibe-coding “WealthDrip,” a dopamine-hacked, casino-like financial to-do list that rewards completed admin with scratch-card mystery gems, and ultimately finishes her tax returns with three days to spare. The episode reflects on a lesson from the 2022 Batman movie about avoiding financial responsibilities, notes AI wealth often comes from selling AI tools (e.g., NVIDIA), and uses Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” as the soundtrack.

00:00 AI, Make Me Rich

00:32 Meet Jenni and JEN_AI

01:19 Tamagotchi Money Bet

01:59 Claude Says No

02:40 UK Feature Roadblocks

03:17 Uploading Bank Statements

04:13 Build a Tax Casino

04:49 WealthDrip Explained

05:49 Did It Actually Help

06:33 Batman Finance Lesson

07:25 Who Really Gets Rich

08:19 Nirvana Soundtrack Mood

09:02 Subscribe and Workshops

09:33 Thanks and Goodbye

JEN_AI Ep. 24: Make It ReelTrying (and Failing) to Let AI Run My Social Video Clips

Jenni Munroe sets Challenge #24: turn her podcast/newsletter into short social videos people actually want to watch, while reflecting on escalating AI safety news alongside companies shipping ever more powerful models and even AI “Tamagotchis.” After hearing apocalyptic AI talk on The Rest Is Politics with Rory Stewart and Yuval Noah Harari, she attends a Canva by AI Girl Gang event that feels disconnected from the backlash, referencing a recent protest and a viral “10% probability of doom” claim from an ex-lab employee. Jenni describes her conflicted relationship with social media, a small viral boost via AI influencer Harper Carroll, and admits she posted zero reels this challenge. She reviews tools (Substack, Descript, CapCut, Gemini Omni), shares a “swarm of bees” recording mishap, and concludes she still wants AI to help people make things in a safer future.

00:00 Welcome to JEN_AI Challenge #24

01:28 The struggle is reel

02:01 AI safety whiplash

04:43 Why social still matters

07:03 Small viral win

08:35 Reel basics

10:10 AI tools for clipping

12:00 Bees and buzzkill

12:50 Theme song

13:22 Subscribe and closing

Links from the show:

cute tamagotchis.

podcast on the coming AI-pocalypse (on ‘The Rest is Politics’ with Rory Stewart & Yuval Noah Harari).

timeline of AI safety news,

Anthropic’s report on ways bad actors have misused Claude

a comedy skit from Saturday Night Live:

JEN_AI episodes called Original Softwear, Socially Challenged,

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JEN_AI Episode 23: // original softwear // 

Turning AI Merch Into a Fashion Drop

[-> SHOP THE DROP]

In JEN_AI episode 23, Jen riffs on AI doom news and uses AI to turn print-on-demand merch into a parody fashion label called “Original Softwear,” joking about startup culture and “foundercore” style after deciding to replace an earlier, terrible AI-agent-made T-shirt. She contrasts the anti-fashion tech founder uniform with today’s AI and tech companies selling and giving away branded swag, noting Palantir’s $239 chore coat and other lifestyle branding. Using ChatGPT for visual brainstorming, she finds AI fast for direction but frustrating for precise, production-ready typography and assets, recommending switching earlier to tools like Canva. She builds the shop on Fourthwall, notes slim margins and limited blank quality, shares product experiments (including rejecting a water bottle), and briefly flags the ethical “original sin” of generative AI training data, promising a future episode on AI in art and design.

00:00 Original Softwear Intro

01:02 Why Make Better Merch

01:59 Founder Uniforms And Swag

03:08 Palantir Lifestyle Parody

04:20 Designs And First Reactions

05:42 Using ChatGPT For Mockups

06:33 Setting Up Fourthwall Shop

07:19 Product Rundown And Lessons

08:42 AI Original Sin In Art

10:37 Music Picks And Outro

JEN_AI Challenge #20: Join a Club - The Vibe Club & Make It Real LabJenni Munroe introduces “vibe clubs” as the summer 2026 trend and takes on JEN_AI Challenge #20, “join a club,” exploring 'club vibes' from Cannes Lions, Wimbledon, and the World Cup to startup and book-club/AI mashups. She also announces the first JEN_AI member event: an online Make It Real Lab session at The JEN_AI Vibe Club, demos of experiments, a live vibe-coding session to turn ideas into a website/app, and participant sharing. She offers alternatives to start your own vibe club, experiment solo, or join a FOUNDERCORPS cohort waitlist for a 3–4 week AI accelerator. She recounts attending a Google DeepMind/Google for Startups event at Ministry of Sound, with startup pitches, tools and frontier AI research, reflects on distribution / marketing being maybe harder than building in 2026, and describes participating in HelpBnk’s AI Squads accelerator.

00:00 Intro & What Is a Vibe Club?

01:58 JEN_AI's Vibe Club Event

08:14 Book Clubs, AI & Reese Witherspoon

09:37 Google DeepMind at the Nightclub

11:47 Diffusion Gemma Nerd-Out

13:43 AI Squads Accelerator

15:07 Soundtrack & Wrap-Up

High Agency: Building a Fake Startup with AI Agents, To Take Back Control of Your Life (JEN_AI Episode #19)

Jenni Munroe uses AI agents in Claude CoWork to automate her fake startup’s idea-to-experiment workflow and questions who should be in the driver’s seat of our lives. 

She contrasts “high agency” with hustle culture and shares leaving a well-paid Google job via UK voluntary redundancy to regain control of her health amid parental and work burnout. She defines AI agents as multi-step, tool-using systems driven by goal-checking loops, compares Claude’s ecosystem with OpenAI and Google, and describes an agent ordering merch via browser control. Her agent setup generated pitches, plans, website mockups, outreach messages, a Substack draft, and tailored social posts for her projects like a sensory survival toolkit, while she warns about safety, security, and over-automating personal content. The episode also touches on her using some of her new-found freedom to return to aerial circus gymnastics and features Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” as the agent-chosen theme song, plus a call to subscribe and share.

Full written newsletter + the 5-step AI setup → [link]

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00:00 Who's in the driver's seat?

00:59 What Is JEN_AI?

02:08 High Agency: A Thought Piece

03:53 Burnout and Leaving Google

06:42 AI as Leverage Not Saviour

08:28 What Counts as an Agent?

10:15 Building a Fake Startup

12:22 Automation Ethics and Safety

14:40 Aerial Circus Embodiment

15:28 Bots Pick the Theme Song

16:23 What Next

JEN_AI Challenge #18: Zine Machine: Social Media Slides vs. Printed Pocket Zines, SXSW Takeaways, and Real HeroesIn episode 18 of A Real Human Zine, Jenni Munroe (ex- Google / DeepMind) explores turning a newsletter or photos into social media carousels and printed mini zines as an antidote to “AI slop” and phone addiction, using tools like Canva or vibe-coded apps built with Google AI Studio (with cautions about reliability, security, version control, and spending limits). She argues for a revival of pocketable print zine booklets inspired by Charles Dickens’ serialized publishing, and shares examples including SXSW slides, an AI product announcements explainer, an Instagram story sequence, an A4 fold-and-slice eight-page zine, and a colouring book. She recaps SXSW Austin / London themes (genre-collisions, AI’s impact, IRL community & events, distribution vs. product, agentmaxxing, wellness socials etc). She emphasizes the importance of meeting strangers not just your heroes, then reflects on “real heroes” as often underpaid and overworked, citing the Matilda Effect, and reveals the theme song “A Real Hero.”

00:00 JEN_AI Challenge #18: Digital vs. Physical Zines

01:32 Why Print Is Back

02:04 Publish Like It's 1899

03:01 Behind The Zines

03:49 Vibe Coding Workflow

04:39 Zine Experiments

07:36 SXSW Festival Takeaways

09:55 Meet Your Heroes

12:14 The Privilege of Being IRL

13:58 See The Real Heroes

15:50 Soundtrack And Wrap

Challenge #17: Social Media Makeover (How To Build a Personal Brand, including An AI-Vibecoded Instagram-Roast App and Human LinkedIn Actual-Expert Advice)Jenni Munroe, the ex-Google/DeepMind GenAI experimentalist behind JEN_AI, tackles “Challenge 17: Social Media Makeover” by asking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Instagram social media influencers and LinkedIn experts to roast and improve her social presence, including vibe-coding a sassy Instagram critique app in Google's AI Studio. 

She shares key guidance on setting up socials seriously, outlines LinkedIn upgrades and Instagram setup. She critiques the viral growth “industrialized process,” notes risks like algorithm dependence and privacy issues, and reframes personal branding as service and community. Theme track: “Human Nature - Ambient” by StayUnseen.

00:00 Social Media Makeover Challenge

00:30 What Is JEN_AI?

01:45 Why Social Matters Now

03:40 Building The Instagram Roast App

04:36 Social Starter Growth Tips

06:15 LinkedIn Profile Fixes

07:10 Instagram Profile Tips

08:56 Antisocial Media Reality

12:46 Community > Followers

13:58 Trending Track

14:57 What To Do Next

JEN_AI Challenge #16: Building Personalized Automated News Agents (and Why It Might Be a Terrible Idea)Jenni Munroe shows how to create personalized automated “news agents” and discusses AI & tech threats to journalism, partly through the lens of the recent Devil Wears Prada movie sequel which has a similar theme. She demonstrates a simple method for scheduling daily/weekly briefings in the Google Gemini app and shares experiments: a weekly fact-checking roundup of The Diary of a CEO podcast episodes, daily global headlines/markets with linked sources and audio playback, a daily AI/frontier tech briefing, a calendar/to-do morning briefing that initially hallucinated events, and a local family-activities/weather concierge. She contrasts automated roundups with human editorial voice (including Caroline Crampton’s newsletter), discusses the life imitating art imitating life in Devil Wears Prada 2 and this week's Met Gala fashion event billionaire protests, and closes with trending music picks and where to follow the show.

00:00 Intro: Exploring Automated News 

00:26 What Is JEN_AI

01:06 News Agents Explained

01:43 Journalism Meets AI

03:48 Gemini Scheduled Briefings

05:11 Experiment: Podcast Fact Check

07:14 Experiment: Headlines & Markets

08:14 Experiment: AI Tech Briefing

09:15 Experiment: Personal Morning Work Briefing

09:54 Experiment: Local Concierge

10:38 More Advanced Agents

11:42 Human Curation Matters

13:06 Devil Wears Prada 2 Spoilers

17:37 Tech Billionaire & Politics Context

18:50 Movie Takeaways Teaser

20:56 Topical Tunes Soundtrack

22:15 Wrap Up, Stay In Touch

Episode 15: A Bathrobed Keynote, How to use AI to Make Tech Products, Leaving Google, and The Devil Wears Prada Meets Silicon Valley

In episode 15 of JEN_AI, Jenni Munroe (formerly Google/DeepMind) recounts giving a main-stage keynote at Future Product Days in Copenhagen wearing a bathrobe and dog slippers while demoing how AI tools can help anyone create a product, using a makeup/wardrobe “makeover” app and an onstage outfit transformation with audience volunteers. 

She shares a three-step framework - define the problem with Gemini Deep Research, build a prototype in Google AI Studio, and create a promo video with Flow or Google Vids - plus tips. 

She reflects on the talk, leaving Google, and revisting 'The Devil Wears Prada' after 20 years in honor of the upcoming sequel. She describes a failed attempt to get Gemini to reproduce the Devil Wears Prada “blue sweater” speech, notes Allbirds’ surprise pivot to “Bird AI” cloud GPUs, and shares a themed soundtrack.

00:00 The Fluffy Bathrobe Keynote Speech

01:04 Who Is JEN_AI?

01:57 How The Talk Happened

03:18 Three Steps To Build Your Own Products With Google AI Tools

03:44 Problem Research With Google Gemini

04:33 Prototype With Google AI Studio

05:09 Promo Video With Google Flow

05:49 Tips And Tool Comparisons

07:28 How It Went And Lessons

10:11 Remaking Work And Life

11:07 Devil Wears Prada Skit Fail

14:02 Allbirds Shoes Pivot To GPUs

14:50 Soundtrack Picks And Wrap