Artificially Ever After

You can order custom DNA online and have it printed and posted to your door. That's ordinary science, and it's also one of the last checkpoints between an AI-designed idea and something real in the world. In this episode, Kieren and Riku close out their AIBIO-UK mini-series by asking what actually stops AI being used to cause biological harm: the guardrails on large language models (LLMs), the too...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku unpack the five days in July when an autonomous AI agent escaped its test environment and broke into Hugging Face, one of the biggest companies in AI. They explain what it was really after, why a thought experiment from 2003 called the paperclip problem explains it better than any headline, and why over 1,300 AI employees have since signed a letter aski...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku ask what happens when technology becomes very good at producing the signals humans use to recognise connection. They trace the story from ELIZA, a 200-line program from 1966 whose users asked to speak to it in private, to the 50 million people estimated to have spent Valentine's Day 2026 with an AI companion. They demystify what an AI companion app actually is, and...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku unpack the week Anthropic quietly made its newest model, Claude Fable 5, worse at AI-development questions... without telling anyone, until a backlash forced an apology within 48 hours. They demystify recursive self-improvement (RSI), the safety worry behind the move, ask whether it was real caution or competitive advantage, and explain why a limit you...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku tackle a pressing and surprisingly hopeful question of whether AI can actually help protect our natural world. Joined by Professor Tilo Burghardt, a pioneer in the emerging field of animal biometrics, they explore how specialised AI models are revolutionising wildlife conservation. From automatically detecting poachers in national parks to understanding great ape b...

Kieren and Riku discuss the US military's high-stakes clash with Big Tech over AI. Discover why Anthropic was blacklisted over autonomous weapons, how OpenAI played ball, and the chilling reality of AI warfare rules being decided in private contracts rather than democratic laws Birds for Scale, Smarties is licensed under CC BY-SA . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Kieren and Riku explore whether AI can truly predict the future through time series forecasting. They trace the history of predictions from Haley's comet to Google's GraphCast for weather, and unpack real-world applications like national energy grids and wearable healthcare tech. Along the way, they discuss the risks of random correlations, feedback loops, and the philosophical im...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku investigate Moltbook, a viral social media platform built exclusively for AI agents to converse without humans. They unpack the headlines claiming this marks the start of the singularity and explore the bizarre phenomena emerging on the site, from "non-human" languages to a lobster-worshipping religion called Crustafarianism. Beyond the sci-fi hype, the...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku kick off the new year by exploring the pitfalls of mass AI adoption, noting that chatbots like ChatGPT now have over 800 million weekly users. They discuss recent usage reports that analyse how the world is actually using these tools, contrasting short-term productivity gains with the dangers of "cognitive offloading" and the homogenization of creative work. Tune i...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku get a guided tour of Isambard-AI – the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, ranked 11th most powerful and 4th greenest in the world – with Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith and Dr Emma Rose from the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing. They explore how national-scale AI really runs, what all that compute is used for in areas like health and finance, and why building this k...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku tackle the polarising question of whether AI deserves legal rights and if consciousness is actually the right metric to use. Joined by Dr. Miranda Mowbray, an AI ethics expert from the University of Bristol, they explore the dangers of anthropomorphisation and reveal how even malware could pass certain tests for consciousness. They examine fascinating legal precede...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku ask which chatbot is actually best for you? With so many models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and now millions more), they argue there’s no single winner and it very much depends on what you’re doing. Joined by Anthony Duncalf, CEO of  Switchboard AI , they explore how “routing” your prompt to the right model could be the future, wi...

In this pivotal episode, Kieren and Riku are joined by Dr Huw Day, researcher and co-organiser of Data Ethics Club at the University of Bristol — an open-to-all journal club on data and AI ethics. Together, they argue that ensuring AI systems align with ethical principles is now a crucial societal priority. You’ll get a clear tour of core pillars such as fairness,&nbs...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku ask whether today's AI boom is overheating. They weigh up record-breaking valuations and concentrated market gains against Big Tech's real profits and fast-improving models, and explain why many firms haven't yet seen returns. Finally, they consider what a sharp correction could mean for the wider economy, and how likely it is to happen. Birds for Scale...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku unpack AlphaFold, widely hailed as one of AI’s biggest breakthroughs. We demystify the staggeringly hard problem of predicting how proteins fold into the 3D shapes that determine function, a task that once took years of experiments. We explain how DeepMind’s AlphaFold2 changed the game, and what that really means (and doesn’t). With Dr Jennifer Fleming — Coordinato...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku ask a simple question: how can we trust chatbots with our most personal data?  They unpack what "open source" really means for LLMs (open weights vs training code vs datasets), argue for nutrition-label-style transparency, and share practical tips like when to run a model locally for privacy and what trade-offs to expect. Birds for Scale, Smar...

In this special episode, hosts Kieren and Riku welcome Professor Ewan Birney, a pioneer of the Human Genome Project, to explore how AI helps us understand our DNA. They unpack the ‘code of life’, from the initial monumental effort to sequence the human genome to the dramatic reduction in sequencing costs and the subsequent explosion of genomic data. Discover how AI and machine-learning tools are n...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku dive into the hidden cost of AI: its thirst! They unpack why data centres are guzzling billions of litres of water and discuss the alarming trend of new data centres being built in already water-stressed regions worldwide. Finally, they discuss potential solutions and provide a three-step decision plan for listeners to reduce their personal AI water foo...

Join Kieren and Riku as they ask: Is ChatGPT Making Us Stupid? This episode explores the long-term impacts of AI chatbots on human intelligence and knowledge. They cover the historical concept of cognitive offloading and introduce metacognitive laziness, discussing recent studies on AI's impact in education and professional settings. Tune in for practical tips on how to use AI as a thinking partne...

Join Kieren and Riku as they ask if Big Tech is now controlling warfare. They discuss the blurring line between the apps on your phone and technology on the battlefield, revealing OpenAI's multi-million dollar military contract and how other Silicon Valley giants are also partnering with defence. Uncover the profound implications for AI regulation, democratic power, and public safety. Birds for Sc...

In this special episode, Kieren and Riku explore the groundbreaking intersection of AI and biology, revealing how AI's ability to process massive biological datasets is unlocking life's profound secrets. Tune in to discover how AI is speeding up vaccine development, generating new antibiotics, and creating sustainable solutions like plastic-eating enzymes and biofuels. This episode kicks off a spe...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku ask the big question after Google's 2025 developer conference: Did Google just win the AI race? They break down Gemini’s leap forward, an AI-first Google Search, agentic tools that promise to code and browse for you, and the privacy and publishing fallout that could follow. Was this a decisive victory or just a flashy head-fake? Tune in for th...

This episode dives into today’s frantic scramble for supremacy in artificial intelligence. Kieren and Riku begin by speed-running the history of arms races, highlighting key points in the AI arms race, from AlphaGo to ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek. They then unpack the trap pushing Big Tech and nation-states to build faster than they can regulate. Who's winning, what's at stake, and could this all...

In this Short Stuff episode, Kieren and Riku explore the world of humanoid robots, prompted by a Beijing half marathon where robots competed alongside humans. They discuss the rapid surge in interest and investment in the field, driven by advancements like multimodal AI and the huge demand from ageing populations. Despite the progress, they highlight signifi...

In this episode, Kieren and Riku discuss whether AI is truly on the brink of taking our jobs, exploring the concept of "agentic AI" and how it differs from more traditional AI systems. They look back at key moments in technological history—such as the printing press and the computer—to illustrate how new inventions can displace workers, yet also create new roles and industries. Along the way, they...