In The Loop

The world of software and technology is undergoing a massive shift—and AI agents are at the center of this revolution. In this episode of In The Loop , Jack Houghton dives into how vertical AI agents, like OpenAI’s deep research agent and Perplexity, are changing the game by consolidating complex workflows into single, powerful agents. Imagine replacing an entire stack of SaaS tools with one AI-dr...

In this episode, I reflect on an incredible conversation between Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Dwarkesh Patel on the Dwarkesh Podcast—and trust me, there’s a lot to unpack. Nadella offers a refreshing and sometimes critical take on the current AI boom, challenging our obsession with AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) as the ultimate benchmark of success. I dig into some big-picture quest...

We tend to think that technological progress is inevitable. But history tells a different story—one where innovation isn’t just about power but about accessibility. Just as computers needed intuitive interfaces to move from clunky calculators to the personal devices we use today, AI now faces a similar roadblock. The challenge isn't just building more powerful models—it's designing experie...

AI agents are everywhere—but what do they actually do? If you thought AI agents were about to run your life, automate every task, and independently manage your business… you might be disappointed. But make no mistake—agentic AI is the future. In this episode, I cut through the hype and break it all down in plain, no-nonsense terms: ✔️ What AI agents really are (and what they’re not) ✔️ How they wo...

DeepSeek just shook up the AI world. They’ve released an open-source AI model that—on paper—rivals the best from OpenAI and Google. But here’s the kicker: they claim to have trained it for just $5.6 million —a fraction of what U.S. labs spend. Even crazier, inference costs are so low that some developers are running 200,000 API calls for just $50 . If this is true, it’s not just a big deal—it’s a...

Introducing: In The Loop. A semi weekly analysis on AI news, research and breakthroughs. All in just 20 minutes.  In each episode, Jack Houghton delivers a quick rundown of the week’s most important AI news—so you stay on top of the field without endless scrolling or reading.  Jack takes a deeper look at influential essays and simplifies complex research papers, helping you understand and apply th...