Married to the Machine: Living with AI

Who remembers the BBC's Computer Literacy Project from the 1980s?It was created to help prepare people in the UK for the massive and widespread adoption of computers. And here we are, looking at the massive and widespread adoption of AI. Professor Dave has had a brilliant idea, and we are asking the BBC's new Director General, to consider it. Reith 2.0 - a large language model, made by a trusted institution, to equip the UK population with the right AI skills for the future. Further reading: Susbstack report. and any coveragehttps://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/historyPresenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording, editing and mixing by Stephanie PowerMusic and additional material: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity. BBC Microcomputer Commercial: The Crowded Room from 1984, Directed by Terry LovelockBBC Archive. Ceefax: A Communications Revolution 1975 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICoj8mxG0ww&t=1sThanks to Mumsnet for permission to use part of the Rachel Reeves interview. https://www.mumsnet.com/i/rachel-reeves-mumsnet-asks

In a departure from our usual style, we have devoted this episode to an interview with Sam Stockwell, Senior Researcher at the Turing Institute. He talks about the work of the Institute and a report they have recently written about how AI is used to spread misinformation after crisis events, like the Southport attacks. Futher reading: https://www.turing.ac.uk/news/new-report-calls-urgent-action-tackle-ai-information-threats-following-crisis-eventsPresenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording, editing and mixing: Stephanie PowerMusic: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.

Anthropic has signed a deal, worth millions, with the US Department of Defense. But now Anthropic wants to impose red lines on the use of its AI. The response from President Trump? They're just a bunch of leftwing nutjobs. In episode nine, we imagine a 'liberal elite' AI trying to negotiate with an angry Government department that's just renamed itself the Department Of War. Are we in an AI existential crisis?Sketch written by Matt Power#AI #AIsafety

Is it possible to measure how much energy, water and emissions are used to power your AI searches? Can you trust an academic report from Google? And why is the US Department of Defense getting into a row with Dario Amodei's AnthropicFurther reading:https://arxiv.org/html/2508.15734v1Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording, editing and mixing: Stephanie PowerMusic and additional material: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.

Something kicked off in late January. Moltbook - a social space for AI agents. Somewhere humans could, apparently, only observe. Is it really sci-fi adjacent? Prof Dave explains what appears to be going on.And we talk to the Leader of Barnsley Council, as it is crowned the UK's first Tech Town. Further reading:https://hai.stanford.edu/policy/simulating-human-behavior-with-ai-agentshttps://theconversation.com/ukbbc.com/news/articles/c8j3dvjld94ohttps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/liz-kendalls-speech-at-bloombergCredit: Unison Ants and Bear ad: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2004/10/unison-kicks-off-one-in-a-million-recruitment-drive/Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording, editing and mixing: Stephanie PowerMusic and additional material: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI, is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. it is a non-commercial entity.

Vibe Coding was the Collins Dictionary 2025 'word' of the year. But what is it? Who coined the phrase? And what are the pitfalls of using vibe coding for digital creation?In this bonus episode, we answer all those questions, and wonder if the former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police understands what AI is.Further reading:https://blog.tenzai.com/bad-vibes-comparing-the-secure-coding-capabilities-of-popular-coding-agents/https://www.zdnet.com/article/beginner-vibe-coding-apps-cursor-replit-hands-on/https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/01/02/a-new-worst-coder-has-entered-the-chat-vibe-coding-without-code-knowledge/Academic paper from Massey University, NZ; Wuhan University, China; Polytechnique Montreal, Canada: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05239The 70 30 problem explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvZGJVAZwr0&t=271sAndrej Kaparthy Vibe Coding Tweet: https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383?lang=enThe paper that suggests vibe coding slows developers down, METR: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.09089An alternative viewpoint: https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/i-literally-just-said-vibe-coding-was-gone-then-cursor-2-0-dropped-e3a10695cbf3Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording, editing and mixing: Stephanie PowerMusic and additional material: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI, is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.Credits: BT advert 'Ology' 1988, The IT Crowd 'The Internet Is Coming' Retort for Channel 4, 2013

The Department for Education has comissioned a review into the schools curriculum. But have they done enough on AI? The Prof thinks not. And we try to work out what AI the Ministry of Justice is planning to use to stop prisoners going AWOL. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerRecording and Editing: Stephanie PowerSound Design and Jokes: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, in proof-of-concept phase. Further reading:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-reporthttps://research.google/blog/introducing-nested-learning-a-new-ml-paradigm-for-continual-learning/https://moj-analytical-services.github.io/splink/index.htmlhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/deputy-prime-minister-announces-new-measures-to-bear-down-on-releases-in-error-and-keep-public-safe

AI Workslop is costing businesses thousands, according to a report by Stanford University and Better Up. We explain what workslop is. And Prof Dave gives us an idiot's guide to deepfakes. Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Powerrecording and editing: Stephanie Powersound design and jokes: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a new podcast, in proof-of-concept phase. Thanks to:Nationwide Building Society for use of their ad, RTE, Better Up, BBC Sound Archive, Jordan Peelehttps://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2025/1026/1540488-deep-fake-concerns/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1KWpoX9Hk

Professor David Reid, Stephanie Power and the AI Guy discuss scraping authors' creative works to train machines. With a new feature, 'Professor Dave Predicts' we talk about how far we are from AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, which is when AI can do EVERYTHING we can. Concept, recording and editing: Stephanie PowerSound design and jokes: Matt PowerPower Productions LtdMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity. Credits: BBC Sound Effects Archive. AI Guy created by Google Gemini TTS.

Married To The Machine looks at how AI is impacting you in the real world. Designed for GenX listeners - those who need to know about AI, especially at work, this episode looks at the UK/US tech prosperity deal, the environmental impact of data centres - how much drinking water do you use posting those pics of your dog with human teeth? One listener asks if AI will take all creative jobs, and a mutiny is in the offing, with the AI presenters, even though they only started this week! Music, sound design and jokes by Matt PowerPresenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie PowerThanks to Eddie Mair for the Pepsi questionBBC Sound ArchiveThis is a non-commercial news podcast.

AI actors, politicians, hallucinations and how schoolkids could work with large language models (without cheating)Presented by Stephanie Power and Professor David ReidConcept, recording, and editing: Stephanie PowerSound design and music composition: Matt PowerMarried To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity. Credits:Particle 6, AI Comedy Sketch, BBC Sound Effects Archive, Mark Sewards MP (AI Assistant) Neural Voice, The AI Guy created by Google Gemini TTS, BBC Newsnight - Michael Howard and Jeremy Paxman (1997), Salman Khan: Brave New Words - How AI Will Revolutionize Education (And Why That's A Good Thing) Allen Lane.

Presenters: Stephanie Power and Professor David ReidRecording and Mixing: Stephanie PowerMusic and sound design: Matt PowerThanks to the BBC Sound Effects ArchiveThis podcast is in proof-of-concept stage and is currently non-commercial.Clip credits: Boys From The Blackstuff, BBC, 1982BBC News Margaret Thatcher, 'No, No, No' House of Commons 1990Sinclair ZX80 advert

Intro taster episode for new series answering your questions on Artificial IntelligencePresented by Stephanie Power and David Reid, Professor, Artificial Intelligence and Spatial ComputingRecorded and edited by Stephanie PowerSound design by Matt PowerThanks to BBC Sound Archive and IBM for sound effects. And Gemini 2.5 for our third presenter, the AI