Enough About AI

Dónal and Ciarán are back to discuss some of the various costs of AI, as we reach the middle of 2026 and see the AI valuation bubble and its associated hype continue to expand. In this episode, the focus is on data centres - especially in Ireland - as well as a range of the costs of AI that demand our attention at a time when the focus is usually on the opportunities instead. Topics in this episod...

Dónal and Ciarán return for a new year of new updates and new concerns in the world of Generative Artificial Intelligence. Again for 2026, the podcast will provide roughly quarterly updates on major themes and topics and this Spring episode covers recent news and connects with older themes and conversations. Topics in this episode " BUBBLEWATCH " - new precarious developments in the mass...

Dónal and Ciarán return with more " Bubble Watch ", reporting on the latest expansion in valuations, hype, and attempts to find new ways to commercialise AI. Among those potential avenues to income, they discuss emerging AI robots, OpenAI's decision to allow AI erotica for adults, and the push to get AI into education - as well as the associated concerns. This last quarterly update...

Dónal and Ciarán explore the increasingly looming questions about the overinflation of the major AI companies' valuations and the anxiety about whether we are in a bubble - and what might happen if it pops. Relevant to their discussion of the need for AI models to keep the hype levels high, they discuss the muted reception to the release of ChatGPT-5 and some of the emerging strategies to mak...

Dónal and Ciarán continue the 2025 season with a second quarterly update that looks at some recent themes in AI development. They're pondering doom again, as we increasingly grapple with the evidence that AI systems are powerfully persuasive and full of flattery at the same time as our ability to meaningfully supervise them seems to be diminishing. Topics in this episode Can we see how reason...

Dónal and Ciarán start a new season for 2025, with a slight change in format to bring you roughly quarterly updates on the themes and topics required to help you know enough about AI. This first episode of 2025, recorded in mid February, gives a summary of what's happened since last November and answers some of your submitted questions. (Thanks for those!) Topics in this episode We can't...

Dónal and Ciarán discuss the ways - both real and imagined in fiction - that AI could bring about civilization-ending doom for us all. What can we learn from how sci-fi has treated this topic? What are the distant and nearer potential dooms, and what can we do now, apart from saying thanks to ChatGPT? Oh, and note that listening to this episode may drastically affect your life and cause a future p...

Dónal and Ciarán discuss some of the concerns about misinformation and disinformation that have emerged with the rise of impressively capable GenAI models, and provide some detail on what their effects might be. They discuss the calls for regulation and how this has begun to take shape in the EU, Ireland,  and elsewhere. Topics in this episode What are the implications for misinformation inherent...

Dónal and Ciarán discuss the vast ocean of data that Large Language Models (LLMs) depend on for their training, covering some of the issues of access to that data and the biases reflected within it. This episode should help you better understand some aspects of the AI training process. Topics in this episode What data is being used to train models like ChatGPT? What are "supervised" or &...

Dónal and Ciarán talk you through everything that's emerged since capable Large Language Models entered the chat a few years ago - up to late 2024, at least! This episode covers the companies, models, and tools that have become central to contemporary GenAI, and will broaden your understanding of where things are beyond ChatGPT. Topics in this episode What are Transformer models and why are t...

Dónal and Ciarán go back, back, back to see how the long history of computing machines connects to the AI revolution we're in now. Topics in this episode How far back does the history of humans building machines to aid our thinking go? Why are  French weaving machines and alcoholic poet's daughters involved? How does the history of computing go through County Cork in the 1800s? Who are T...

Dónal and Ciarán start the series with some explainers that should help you sound much more knowledgeable discussing the state of contemporary AI at your next dinner party. Topics in this episode What is AI? Why has it seemed to appear so recently and become so important? What's the difference between AI and GenAI? What is ChatGPT and how do models like it work? What are the other important A...