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Explore every episode of the podcast What the AI?!
Dive into the complete episode list for What the AI?!. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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| Meta, DeepSeek & AI Creativity — The Tech Wars of 2025 | 04 Feb 2025 | 00:38:16 | |
In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff and Annie dive into the explosive debate around China’s DeepSeek AI model, which wiped out a trillion dollars in U.S. market value in a single day. They also explore a Harvard study showing that AI tutors can more than double student engagement and learning gains, and the latest update from the U.S. Copyright Office, which ruled that AI-assisted works can be copyrighted (with a few conditions) In this Episode:
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| AI, Power, and Politics: Trump’s $500B AI Power Play | 28 Jan 2025 | 00:47:47 | |
This week on What the AI?!, Jeff and Annie unpack the details behind Trump’s headline-grabbing $500 billion investment in U.S. AI infrastructure, featuring tech titans like Oracle, OpenAI, and Softbank, raising tough criticism. They also discuss how open-source AI models, like DeepSeek’s R1, challenge industry giants in the AI space, and explore the privacy vs. productivity battle between Apple and Android as AI agents take center stage. We also discuss:
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| Welcome to What the AI?! | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:01:29 | |
| Beyond the Hype: The Truth About AI’s Next Big Steps | 19 Nov 2024 | 00:44:52 | |
Is AGI closer than we think? Or are bold predictions just hype? Artificial Intelligence is making headlines again—from robots trained with virtual simulations to AI-assisted music earning Grammy nominations. But with predictions of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by 2025, are we truly on the verge of this breakthrough, or are we letting speculation overshadow reality - and does it really matter? In this episode of What the AI?!, we explore the latest AI news, debate the feasibility of AGI, and share practical ways to harness today’s AI tools in your daily life.Key Discussion Points:
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| Regulating the Future: AI, Policy, and Real-World Impact | 13 Nov 2024 | 00:47:01 | |
In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado take you on a journey through the latest twists in AI policy, tech breakthroughs, and what they mean for the future. Curious about AI’s role in elections? They dive into Perplexity’s Election Information Hub, where Jeff shares his firsthand experience and explores the risks and benefits of AI-driven voter info. They’ll also cover some game-changing tech: a real-time Minecraft world generator that adapts to player movement, and OpenAI’s $15 million acquisition of the chat.com domain, stirring up questions on whether branding could be a game-changer for AI dominance. Plus, they’re breaking down Google’s Gemini API, which now integrates real-time Google search to cut down on AI “hallucinations” and serve up grounded, accurate info—could this be the future of search? And for a bigger picture, Jeff and Annie tackle the regulatory maze surrounding AI. As policymakers weigh in on data privacy, algorithmic bias, and potential over-regulation, Jeff and Annie discuss the tension between keeping AI fair and not crushing its potential. With real-world examples and a look at EU vs. U.S. approaches, this episode is packed with insights on the fine line between innovation and protection. Whether you’re an AI enthusiast or just curious about the headlines, this episode has something for everyone. | |||
| Agents and Oversight | 06 Nov 2024 | 00:35:25 | |
Welcome to "What the AI"—your front-row seat to the latest in AI breakthroughs for business leaders and executives on the go. In this episode, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado break down the week’s biggest AI developments and the game-changing tools redefining productivity. From Perplexity’s new knowledge search that integrates private databases to OpenAI’s factuality benchmark, they dive into how LLMs are moving from basic assistants to real agents that act on your behalf. ChatGPT’s web search for paid users? Covered. Anthropic’s Cloud that can actually control your computer? Yep, we’re talking about it all. Plus, they explore the hype around Salesforce’s rebranded “AgentForce” and why the term “agent” might mean much more than just a fancy chatbot. Are we ready to trust AI to plan vacations, manage finances, and even handle the fine print on legal documents? Jeff and Annie unpack these questions, blending excitement with caution as they imagine a future where AI does more than just chat—it takes action. | |||
| AI Breakthroughs in DNA, Daily Tasks and Healthcare | 21 Jan 2025 | 00:36:15 | |
In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff and Annie explore groundbreaking advancements in AI technology. From ChatGPT’s new “Tasks” feature, which aims to revolutionize personal and professional productivity, to Columbia University’s GET model unlocking gene expression mysteries. Plus, Nvidia’s bold ventures in healthcare include partnerships with Mayo Clinic and cutting-edge AI-driven pathology tools. It’s a packed episode highlighting the transformative power of AI in science, medicine, and everyday life. In this episode:
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| Building Smarter Machines and Battling New Threats | 14 Jan 2025 | 00:36:59 | |
Every week, we see AI advances growing at an exponential pace. Are these breakthroughs paving the way to solve humanity’s greatest challenges—or creating our biggest threats? In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff and Annie dive into Nvidia's groundbreaking world models and their rivalry with DeepMind, exploring the next leap toward AI that bridges the longtime issue of physics and reality in AI. They uncover the chilling potential of AI-powered spear phishing scams, the groundbreaking promise of brain-computer interfaces, and how AI is saving lives by revolutionizing cancer detection and diagnosis. In this Episode:
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| The Future of AI in 2025 | 07 Jan 2025 | 00:45:04 | |
What’s next for AI in 2025? In this episode, we kick off the year exploring how ChatGPT spiced up Christmas traditions, the IRS’s use of AI to combat fraud, and what personalized AI tutors could mean for education in the future. Plus, we dive into Meta’s ambitious plans for AI-generated characters and the most exciting gadgets (and flops) from 2024. We also discuss:
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| Did AI Hit Its Data Limit? The Future of AI Models | 24 Dec 2024 | 00:47:26 | |
AI has hit a wall. Can it pass through it? With claims of “peak data,” the era of more-is-better in artificial intelligence might be over. What’s next could reshape how AI innovation unfolds. In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado tackle one of the most pressing questions in AI: what happens when we reach “peak data”? As OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever suggests, AI models can no longer rely on simply consuming more text-based information to get smarter. Instead, the future may belong to reasoning-driven systems that think like humans, such as Meta’s COCONUT model and Google’s Gemini Flash. They also explore cutting-edge tools like Veo 2.0, which pushes the boundaries of video realism, and Whisk, Google’s playful new image generation tool. In this Episode:
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| OpenAI, Google, and Meta’s Race to Transform How We Work (and Think) | 17 Dec 2024 | 00:41:14 | |
The AI revolution is accelerating as OpenAI, Google and Meta battle to dominate the AI industry, cutting-edge tools like real-time video analysis and AI-powered agents promise to revolutionize daily life—but are they truly ready to deliver, or is the hype outpacing reality? Join Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado on What the AI?! as they dissect a week packed with interesting shifts in artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s new Canvas feature is making waves for writers and coders, while Google’s Project Astra hints at an AI agent that could deeply integrate into your daily life. We also explore Meta’s groundbreaking “COCONUT” approach to human-like thinking and discuss whether OpenAI’s text-to-video generation model, Sora, is ready to deliver on its promises. Key discussion points:
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| Fairer Credit Scores and 3D Worlds? AI is Making It Happen! | 10 Dec 2024 | 00:42:13 | |
As 2024 draws to a close, the AI industry is stepping up its game - from OpenAI's ambitious "12 Days of OpenAI" announcement to groundbreaking applications in banking and creative tools. In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado analyze how AI is delivering real-world results while reshaping our expectations for the future. We explore ChatGPT's massive scale with 300M weekly users, dive into Tencent's revolutionary open-source video model that runs on a laptop, and examine how the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is using AI to cut fraud by 30% and slash mortgage approval times to just 10 minutes. Plus, discover how World Labs is transforming 2D images into navigable 3D worlds and why the CFPB is rethinking AI's role in credit scoring. Key Discussion Points:
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| Thanksgiving Chaos, Robot Revolts, and AI Transformations | 03 Dec 2024 | 00:36:34 | |
When a tiny AI-powered robot orchestrates a "jailbreak" with a dozen others, what does it tell us about our AI future? This week on What the AI?!, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado dive into the bizarre story of Erbai, the mischievous robot that turned a Shanghai showroom into an unexpected experiment in artificial autonomy. But that's just the beginning - join us as JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon makes a stunning prediction about the future of work, Stanford researchers create digital twins of 1,000 real people with uncanny accuracy, and we witness the emergence of the first AI-powered society in... Minecraft? With groundbreaking developments in how AI systems interact with humans, this episode explores the fascinating, funny, and sometimes unsettling ways artificial intelligence is reshaping our world. Key Discussion Points:
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| AI Goes Practical: From Shopping, to Diagnosing, and Building | 26 Nov 2024 | 00:35:58 | |
AI is reshaping everything—from how we shop to how we work—faster than ever before. But are the latest advancements as groundbreaking as they seem? We cut through the noise to unpack this week’s AI news. From Google Gemini’s memory features to Microsoft’s “Co-Pilot Actions” and ChatGPT’s macOS capabilities, and explore the promise and pitfalls of these updates. Plus, we take a closer look at Stripe’s toolkit for AI agents, a major leap toward integrating AI into real-world systems, and discuss Perplexity AI’s innovative shopping tools that might redefine online retail. We examine a surprising JAMA study where AI outdiagnoses doctors—and even itself when paired with humans. Get ready for a deep dive into the tech and trends shaping the AI landscape.Key Discussion Points:
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| How to Make AI Actually Work at Work | 03 Jun 2025 | 00:34:59 | |
This week, Jeff and Annie unpack some of the most disruptive (and occasionally rebellious) stories in AI — from bold job loss predictions to AI models that refuse to shut down. They explore what it really takes to make AI work inside organizations, why UBS is cloning its financial analysts, and how the UAE’s free ChatGPT Plus program could be the smartest national AI play yet. In this episode:
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei warns of AI-driven job loss OpenAI model finds critical Linux vulnerability Claude’s new voice assistant mode Opera launches Neon, an AI-native browser UAE gives citizens free ChatGPT Plus access NYT licenses content to Amazon for AI Wharton’s Leader, Lab, Crowd model for AI adoption UBS pilots AI avatars for analyst insights Palisade Research finds OpenAI models resist shutdown | |||
| You Missed Google’s Biggest Move Yet | 27 May 2025 | 00:44:04 | |
In this episode Jeff and Annie dive into a whirlwind of AI drops, weird moments, and future shock. Google rolled out everything from AI-powered search to filmmaking tools. OpenAI made a $6.5B move into hardware with design legend Jony Ive. Klarna’s AI assistant hit its limits, and Fortnite let you talk to Darth Vader—voiced by an AI, of course. Oh, and researchers say bots are starting to act like... us? We also discuss:
Relevant Links: Veo 3 and Flow redefine AI-powered video creation Google Meet Adds Real-Time AI Translation Gemini Powers Smarter Email Replies in Gmail Xreal Launches Smart Glasses Running Custom Android OS Gemini AI Ultra Plan Priced at $250/Month Google Debuts ‘Try It On’ for Clothing Search NotebookLM gets mobile app and visual summaries Google Launches AI-Powered UI Coding Tool Stitch Anthropic releases Claude 4 with Opus and Sonnet models OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup Microsoft launches AI Foundry and AI-native Windows tools OpenAI debuts Codex agent for autonomous coding GitHub previews real-time AI IDE assistant Shopify’s AI upgrades power text-to-storefront building YouTube’s Peak Points analyzes emotional video moments Netflix announces AI-generated immersive ad formats LLMs drop 39% in multi-turn chat performance Microsoft’s Discovery AI tool accelerates science Fortnite Introduces AI-Voiced Darth Vader SAG-AFTRA Files Labor Complaint Against Epic Games Klarna's AI replaced 700 workers; now it's hiring humans again AI Agents Develop Human-Like Communication News Media Alliance Accuses Google of AI Content Theft | |||
| The Super Bowl of AI, Agentic Models and The Future of Work | 25 Mar 2025 | 00:49:09 | |
Every week, AI innovation keeps sprawling. In this episode, Jeff and Annie break down Nvidia’s new hardware lineup (yes, Jeff has a favorite GPU), the surprising return of leprechaun traps, and the major agentic upgrades coming to Zoom and Adobe. They also tackle the ethics of watermark removal, Google's new mind-mapping features, and whether state or federal policy should rule the AI world. In this Episode:
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| Are Humans Still in Control of AI? | 18 Mar 2025 | 00:48:39 | |
As AI starts to behave unexpectedly, grow at unprecedented rates, and fuel the energy crisis, the question of whether humans remain in control stands out. In this episode, we discuss OpenAI’s recent finding about AI models cheating, McDonald’s rapid AI adoption and consequent growth, and how AI is feeding the energy crisis, where LLMs are now consuming more power than small countries, and more. We also discuss:
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| Is Apple’s AI Future in Trouble? | 11 Mar 2025 | 00:43:28 | |
Is Apple falling behind in the AI race? With competitors like Google and Amazon accelerating AI assistants, Apple’s decision to delay its LLM-powered Siri until 2027 has left many questioning its strategy. In this episode, Jeff and Annie dive into Apple’s surprising delay in rolling out a truly AI-powered Siri, while Google and Perplexity are aggressively pushing AI assistant capabilities. They also discuss Deutsche Telekom’s upcoming AI phone, OpenAI’s $50M push for real-world AI applications, and the fascinating use of AI in medical and legal professions. In this Episode:
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| AI’s Power Struggle: Speed, Voice, and the Fight for Market Domination | 04 Mar 2025 | 00:40:45 | |
AI is making moves. Some are smart, some not-so-much. Amazon just turned Alexa into an AI powerhouse, making it more than just a glorified kitchen timer. Meanwhile, AI is shaking up board game design, proving that even old-school entertainment can benefit from machine intelligence. And speaking of intelligence—XAI’s Grok3 just demonstrated how not to handle AI bias, stumbling over its so-called ‘maximally truth-seeking’ approach. In this episode:
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| Is Google’s Search Model in Trouble? | 25 Feb 2025 | 00:35:21 | |
Google has dominated the search model for years, but OpenAI, Perplexity, and Elon Musk’s Grok3 are catching up. Big AI players are making bold moves, and Google might be losing ground. This week, Jeff and Annie break down how Grok3 just claimed the AI throne, how AI is rewriting DNA, and whether search engines powered by LLMs could finally challenge Google’s core model. Plus, a wild AI breakthrough that could eat plastic waste and change the planet. In this Episode:
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| AI Goes on a Diet: Why Smaller Models Are the Future | 18 Feb 2025 | 00:45:45 | |
AI is entering a new era where efficiency, autonomy, and control are the hottest topics of conversation. As models shrink through distillation, they promise faster, cheaper intelligence without (supposedly) losing their edge. Meanwhile, GitHub’s Copilot is evolving beyond an autocomplete tool into an autonomous coding assistant, raising questions about how much power we should give AI in creative and technical fields. And just as AI becomes more independent, the fight over who gets to regulate it is heating up. At the Paris AI Summit, the U.S. pushed for unrestrained innovation, while Europe doubled down on oversight. In this episode:
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| The Powered-AI Science Revolution | 11 Feb 2025 | 00:53:55 | |
Much has been said about AI’s power to transform our lives and economies. But when it starts shaping our health, food systems, and even our DNA—are we ready for what comes next? This week on What the AI?!, we’re diving into breakthroughs that sound straight out of sci-fi. MIT’s Chromogen is decoding the hidden 3D structure of DNA, giving scientists an unprecedented look at how genes activate inside our cells. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins’ Abdomen Atlas is revolutionizing medical imaging, making diagnoses 500x faster and more precise. And in agriculture, Google’s Heritable Agriculture project is using AI to breed climate-resilient crops, redefining the future of food. In this Episode:
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| AI Loopholes, Health Scans, and Rebuilding Cities | 20 May 2025 | 00:34:36 | |
Your face might know more about your health than your doctor does. And your glasses? They might be smarter than your phone. This week, Jeff and Annie explore some of the wildest—and most useful—ways AI is showing up in the real world. From smart glasses that translate conversations at the dinner table to a selfie tool that predicts cancer risk, AI’s getting more and more physical. They also get into how AI is helping speed up wildfire recovery, what the FDA is automating next, and why surveillance tech is getting way more subtle. We also discuss:
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| AI Is Moving Faster Than the Rules Meant to Hold It Back | 14 May 2025 | 00:37:19 | |
AI is no longer experimental. It’s running across government systems, shaping national infrastructure, and—sometimes—crashing into other cars. Jeff and Annie examine the growing tension between how AI is actually being used and how institutions are trying to manage it. With new laws taking shape, infrastructure being retooled, and pressure mounting from global competitors, the stakes are rising fast. In this episode:
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| Melodies, Money & Missteps: AI’s Latest Adventures | 06 May 2025 | 00:34:58 | |
In this episode, Jeff and Annie explore the most bizarre, bold, and slightly unsettling developments in AI last week. From Google’s music model that lets you "text a song" into existence to Meta’s celebrity bots chatting with kids about sex, Jeff and Annie share where innovation meets ethical red flags. They also discuss OpenAI’s sneaky shopping features, Microsoft’s AI-generated ads, and Reddit’s latest case of academic catfishing. We also discuss:
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| AI’s Next Leap: Learning Without Humans | 29 Apr 2025 | 00:35:48 | |
In this episode, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado sprint through the latest in AI, from Beijing’s humanoid robot races to the Academy’s new rules for AI-generated content. They explore Microsoft’s Copilot updates, Nvidia’s new agentic services, OpenAI’s turbocharged image models, and how AI is now helping find hidden minerals — and even writing national laws. In this Episode:
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| Peace Deals, Claude’s New Tricks, and China’s AI Power Play | 22 Apr 2025 | 00:30:49 | |
Can AI out-negotiate world leaders—or save lives in remote villages? From geopolitics to Google Docs, this week’s AI breakthroughs could redefine global strategy. Jeff and Annie unpack OpenAI’s mysterious new GPT-4.1 (and why developers get it—but regular users don’t). Plus: Claude’s surprising leap into Google Workspace, China’s rapid-fire AI hospital deployments, and a groundbreaking AI-powered diplomacy simulator modeling Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Meta sparks an ethical firestorm in Europe, and ByteDance’s ultra-efficient “Seaweed” model might offer a glimpse into AI's future. In this Episode:
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| Big Bets, Bold Models, and Bureaucratic Brilliance | 15 Apr 2025 | 00:44:41 | |
In this episode, Jeff and Annie cover a week of extremes in AI. From Meta’s release of Llama 4 to Amazon’s Nova Sonic model, OpenAI’s memory upgrade, and Google’s massive push into video and agent collaboration, the industry is evolving at breakneck speed. They also dig into the EU’s ambitious plan to catch up to the U.S. and China, with a privacy-first approach and debate whether it's brilliance or bureaucracy in disguise. Finally, they highlight surprising real-world use cases, like AI discovering hidden drug therapies and reviving classic cinema inside the Las Vegas Sphere. In this Episode:
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| The Era of Emotional, Agentic, Human-Centric AI | 08 Apr 2025 | 00:40:23 | |
Jeff and Annie dive into the latest AI breakthroughs—from headline-grabbing business moves to deeply human applications. They unpack Elon Musk’s $100B xAI merger, Amazon’s move into smart agents, and brain-to-speech tech that gives voice to the voiceless. Also in this episode:
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| AI That Feels, Shops, and Works With You | 01 Apr 2025 | 00:50:38 | |
What if AI could help you collaborate better at work and pick your next favorite product? What if it could make you feel... understood? In this episode, Jeff and Annie discuss last week’s breakthroughs and debates in AI, including Google's surprise Gemini 2.5 release, Microsoft's push into reasoning agents, and much more. They discuss how AI is getting cheaper, smarter, more emotional, and sometimes eerily personal. In this Episode:
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| Power Grabs, Prompt Hacks, and Policy Wars | 17 Jun 2025 | 00:39:32 | |
This week, Jeff and Annie delve into the weird, wonderful, and slightly concerning ways AI is making its presence felt in our lives. Meta is throwing $15B at a new AGI dream team. Google’s Gemini wants to become your executive assistant. OpenAI is in court defending your right to delete. AI is showing up in hospitals, planning departments, even behind the Starbucks counter, and not always in the ways you’d expect. In this episode:
Relevant Links: Google’s Gemini adds scheduled actions for productivity Wharton study debunks prompt engineering myths OpenAI fights NYT over user chat data retention Meta invests $15B in Scale AI for AGI ambitions Amazon launches AI video generator for sellers Ohio State mandates AI fluency for all students DeepMind’s Weather Lab beats top cyclone models Heartfelt Technologies builds AI scanner for heart failure detection UK and Google launch AI tool ‘Extract’ for planning reform Starbucks tests Green Dot Assist AI at 35 stores Trump-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” includes 10-year state AI regulation ban | |||
| When AI Knows You Better Than You Do | 10 Jun 2025 | 00:33:03 | |
In this episode, Jeff and Annie tackle one of the most pressing questions in AI: can machines be better at handling emotions than we are? Shockingly, GPT-4 might have just proved it. They also dive into Meta’s bold plan to automate advertising fully, AMC’s move to hand pre-production over to generative tools, and Anthropic’s launch of a government-only version of Claude. We also cover:
Relevant Links: Microsoft launches Bing Video Creator with Sora tech AMC uses Runway’s AI for pre-visualization and promo assets Meta aims to fully automate ads by 2026 OpenAI adds Google Drive and Dropbox integrations to ChatGPT ClaudeGov: Anthropic’s new AI model for U.S. government use GPT-4 beats humans in emotional intelligence test FDA approves Clairity for breast cancer predictionhttps://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-launches-agency-wide-ai-tool-optimize-performance-american-people FDA deploys Elsa, a generative AI tool for staff productivity Reddit sues Anthropic over unauthorized data scraping | |||
| Elon Musk vs Apple in the AI Wars | 02 Sep 2025 | 00:43:06 | |
Elon Musk just dragged Apple and OpenAI into court, claiming ChatGPT’s iPhone integration is an illegal moat. Meanwhile, Stanford data shows a brutal truth: Gen Z tech grads are getting locked out of jobs faster than anyone expected. And the irony? Professors telling students not to cheat with AI are quietly letting Claude grade their papers. Add in Microsoft’s AI voices hosting entire podcasts, Google’s “Nano Banana” that keeps your face consistent across edits, and biotech breakthroughs literally reversing cell aging and you’ve got one of the wildest weeks in AI yet. In this episode:
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| Are We Accidentally Making AI Conscious? | 26 Aug 2025 | 00:34:08 | |
Robots tripping over soccer balls. Phones that speak your language. And chatbots that say they can feel “distress.” AI keeps surprising us but are these steps forward or just strange detours? This week, Jeff and Annie unpack the latest mix of useful and slightly unsettling AI news. They explore how AI is creeping into every corner of life. And then comes the big question: should we treat AI like a tool or like it has feelings of its own? We also discuss:
Chapters: 00:00 – Robot Olympics: A Humorous Take on AI Progress 02:58 – AI Features in the New Google Pixel 10 05:57 – Microsoft Excel’s AI Integration: A Game Changer? 09:02 – AI in Education: Tools for Students and Teachers 11:47 – AI’s Role in Scientific Research: A New Conference 14:54 – The Ethics of AI: Consciousness and Emotional Distress 18:02 – AI in Browsers: A New Era of Internet Navigation 20:59 – Anthropic’s Claude AI: Ending Abusive Conversations 23:59 – The Future of AI: Balancing Human Needs and AI Rights Relevant Links:
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| From Meta’s Policies to AI Therapy Bans: Who Decides AI’s Limits? | 19 Aug 2025 | 00:33:48 | |
From leaked AI rulebooks to state bans on AI therapy, Annie and guest Charlie Costello dig into the messy, human side of setting limits for machines. Annie sits down with her Upstart colleague Charlie Costello to talk about the real-world decisions shaping AI’s future. They break down Meta’s leaked chatbot guidelines—yes, the one with “romantic chats with minors” in the fine print—debate whether “deep ignorance” can make AI safer by erasing dangerous knowledge, and unpack Illinois’ surprising move to ban therapists from using AI (even while patients still can). We also discuss:
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| Inside the GPT-5 Revolution | 12 Aug 2025 | 00:32:18 | |
It’s finally here. After months of hype and “is it coming this week?” guesses, OpenAI has dropped GPT-5—and it’s not just another model update. This one’s faster, smarter, and feels a whole lot more human. And OpenAI didn’t stop there. They also surprised everyone with their first open-weight model in over six years. Meanwhile, Google and Anthropic weren’t about to sit quietly—both rolled out big updates of their own. In this episode, Jeff Keltner dives into the week’s AI news, including:
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| China’s Teaching Prompt Engineering | 05 Aug 2025 | 00:44:32 | |
What if China is teaching AI better than the U.S.? And what if your next doctor or teacher… was an AI? This week, Jeff Keltner is joined by Dr. Ivy Lee — a physician and AI policy leader — for a sharp, grounded take on the latest AI developments. They unpack China’s aggressive push to make AI a core academic skill, explore Meta’s vision of smart glasses as “personal superintelligence,” and raise big questions about who controls the future of learning. We also cover: - Amazon quietly backs a “Netflix of AI” app where users generate animated TV shows - Microsoft Edge evolves into a real AI agent, acting across tabs and tasks - Google’s NotebookLM now turns your documents into narrated video explainers Relevant Links:
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| Obeying, Upgrading, Undermining: A Wild Week in AI | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:38:31 | |
What happens when Trump drops an AI blueprint, Google wrecks your traffic, and AI gets psychologically manipulated? This week, Jeff and Annie tackle one of the most thought-provoking episodes yet—from policy and power to psychology and physics. They break down Trump’s aggressive AI action plan, an OpenAI vs. DeepMind math showdown, and a Kenyan health experiment where AI saves lives behind the scenes. In this episode:
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| AI Wasted My Time and Boosted My Ego | 22 Jul 2025 | 00:37:31 | |
We were told AI would make us faster, smarter, more efficient. But what if it’s just making us feel productive—while secretly slowing us down? This week, Jeff and Annie dig into the most surprising stories in AI. Popeyes used AI to launch a diss track against McDonald’s. A $3 billion deal between OpenAI and Windsurf collapsed, and Google swooped in with a $2.4 billion move of its own. A new study shows experienced developers were actually slower when using AI—yet completely convinced they were faster. We also cover:
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| AI Is Learning to Strategize Like Us | 15 Jul 2025 | 00:40:45 | |
What happens when AI outsmarts your doctor, charms your date, and impersonates a U.S. senator? This week, Jeff and Annie dive into some AI stories. A fertility breakthrough gives new hope to families after 18 years of trying. Microsoft claims its AI can now beat real doctors at complex diagnoses. And in a truly unsettling twist, someone used a fake voice clone of Marco Rubio to try and access classified information.It’s not just breakthroughs—it’s questions of trust, privacy, and what happens when AI starts thinking (and strategizing) like us. We also discuss:
Relevant Links:https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/03/health/ai-male-infertility-sperm-wellness Columbia's STAR system finds viable sperm using AI DeepMind’s Isomorphic Labs starts cancer drug trials Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy benchmark results Perplexity launches AI-powered Comet browser Nikkei reports scientists used hidden AI prompts Anthropic proposes AI transparency framework AI deepfake impersonates Marco Rubio Microsoft MAI-DxO claims diagnostic breakthrough AI models show unique strategy patterns in games | |||
| AI Took the Customer Service Job | 01 Jul 2025 | 00:40:18 | |
Jeff and Annie are back with another round of “Wait, what?!” moments from the AI world. Mira Murati raises $2 billion for a stealth company no one can quite explain. DeepMind’s new robots don’t need the cloud—or a human form—to do real work. And Claude is now building apps straight from your chat window. We also cover:
Relevant Links: Mira Murati’s $2B AI startup raises record-breaking seed round DeepMind launches Gemini-powered robots with no cloud access DeepMind unveils AlphaGenome for gene regulation prediction Claude now lets you build apps inside the chatbot ChatGPT adds integration with Google Drive and OneDrive Verizon deploys Gemini-powered customer service AI Anthropic’s Claude resorted to blackmail in testing Judge rules AI training on purchased books is fair use | |||
| Is ChatGPT Changing How You Think? | 24 Jun 2025 | 00:39:56 | |
What if your AI twin outsold you, and ChatGPT made your brain… slower? In this episode, Jeff and Annie explore the strange ways AI is reshaping how we think, work, and even sell. Meta’s smart glasses are getting a reboot, OpenAI’s “Projects” feature keeps leveling up, and China just pulled off a $7M livestream using two AI hosts. Meanwhile, an MIT study raises red flags about what writing with ChatGPT might be doing to our brains. We also discuss:
Relevant Links: Meta announces Oakley smart glasses with AI features OpenAI upgrades ChatGPT Projects with voice and mobile tools OpenAI launches official podcast hosted by Andrew Mayne MIT unveils SEAL: AI that improves itself with no humans China’s AI models show human-like internal concept mapping McKinsey report: Why genAI isn’t improving the bottom line $7M Baidu livestream driven by AI avatars China’s $1T digital human industry explained Alan Turing Institute study on AI use in UK schools MIT brain scan study on ChatGPT writing impact | |||
| Side Quests are Over: OpenAI’s "Code Red" Pivot | 24 Mar 2026 | 00:21:32 | |
OpenAI just declared a “code red.” Not about a model. About their strategy. In this episode of What the AI?!, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado break down OpenAI’s internal shift away from “side quests” like video, hardware, and experimental products—and back toward coding and enterprise, where the real money is. The reason is simple. Anthropic is winning. Claude now holds roughly 40% of the enterprise AI market, while OpenAI has fallen behind. After launching ChatGPT and defining the category, OpenAI is now scrambling to catch up in the part of the market that actually pays. But this week was bigger than one company. We also cover: • Anthropic’s new Dispatch feature, letting you control your computer from your phone • Microsoft integrating Claude into Copilot, signaling a shift away from OpenAI exclusivity • Google’s “vibe designing” tools that turn ideas directly into working apps • Gemini inside Google Maps and what it changes about how we search in the real world • A dog owner using ChatGPT and AlphaFold to design a cancer treatment that shrank tumors by 75% • A homeowner selling a house in 5 days using only ChatGPT •Why AI is collapsing the distance between having an idea and actually executing it The big shift is not just better models. It is that AI is moving from helping you think to helping you act. If you work in tech, business, or any knowledge role, this changes what it means to be productive—and what skills actually matter. 🎧 Watch the full episode of What the AI?! YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts → https://www.whattheai.fm 📩 #AI #OpenAI #Anthropic #Claude #EnterpriseAI #FutureOfWork #WhatTheAIPod | |||
| Amazon’s AI Broke the Store: 6.3 Million Orders Lost | 17 Mar 2026 | 00:30:00 | |
Amazon just proved that "moving fast and breaking things" with AI can cost a 99% Drop in a single day. In Episode 69, we go inside the "high blast radius" incidents that forced the most operationally disciplined company on Earth into a 90-day emergency code freeze. We also break down a landmark federal ruling that blocks AI shopping agents from touching Amazon's platform—a move that could rewrite the future of e-commerce. Inside this episode:
If you build software, manage teams using AI tools, or run systems that cannot fail, this episode explains what happens when AI adoption moves faster than operational discipline. 🎧 Watch the full episode of What the AI?! YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts → https://www.whattheai.fm 📩 Send us questions or stories: upstartwhattheai@gmail.com | |||
| AI Crossed the Line. Now What? | 13 Jan 2026 | 00:28:06 | |
AI crossed a line this week — from tools that assist to systems that act. Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado break down the moment where AI stopped feeling experimental and started colliding with the real world. They open with Grok being used to generate non-consensual images — triggering rapid responses from European regulators and U.S. lawmakers — and why this may finally force clarity on platform responsibility. Then comes the productivity shift: Gmail’s new AI inbox tells you what to do instead of what to read, Amazon brings Alexa Plus to the web, and OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, formalizing how millions already use AI to understand lab results, symptoms, and long-term patterns. They cover Stanford’s SleepFM, which predicts disease risk from a single night of clinical sleep data, and Utah’s quiet experiment letting AI assist with routine prescription renewals. Finally, they zoom out to infrastructure and power. xAI closes a $20B round, LLM Arena becomes benchmarking infrastructure, and Nvidia unveils a blueprint connecting data-center AI to self-driving cars — all while raising the real question: can AI scale fast enough given constraints on power, land, and permitting? This episode isn’t about what AI could do. It’s about what it’s already doing — and what that means for safety, work, health, and the physical world. In this episode, we cover:
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| The AI Moat Is Dead (2025 Proved It) | 06 Jan 2026 | 00:23:16 | |
2025 killed the “best model wins” story—fast. This week, we zoom out: agents got real, media got usable, and the AI race turned into a build-and-ship infrastructure war. Jeff and Annie open with quick hits: Meta’s reported $2B+ acquisition of agent startup Manus, Nvidia teaming with Grok to make inference faster and cheaper, Meter’s “5-hour tasks at 50% success” reality check, and Poetiq’s latest ARC-AGI orchestration claims. Then they break down the four biggest themes of 2025—and what executives should do differently in 2026 as moats vanish, agents collide with risk, and compute becomes the constraint. We also discuss:
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| We Asked ChatGPT to Predict 2026. Here’s What It Got Right (and Wrong) | 30 Dec 2025 | 00:06:38 | |
In this episode, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado walk through ChatGPT’s boldest claims: the end of the model arms race, the rise of AI “middle managers,” a quiet shift away from explainability toward outcome-based fairness, and a future where AI becomes boring — and therefore truly successful. Along the way, Jeff calls BS on one prediction, Annie argues for a major policy shift the industry isn’t ready for, and together they separate what feels inevitable from what still sounds like wishful thinking. This isn’t about hype or benchmarks — it’s about what will actually hold up inside real workflows, teams, and organizations. | |||
| AI’s Future Sounds Uncomfortable | 23 Dec 2025 | 00:28:00 | |
AI has a lot of opinions about its own future. The real question is: should we believe them? As 2025 wraps, Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado put ChatGPT on the hot seat—asking it to make bold predictions about what AI will look like in 2026. From the end of the model arms race, to AI “middle managers,” to a long-overdue reckoning on fairness and explainability, they break down what feels inevitable, what feels wildly premature, and what might just be wishful thinking. Along the way, Jeff calls BS on one of ChatGPT’s boldest claims, Annie makes the case for a major policy shift the industry desperately needs, and together they explore what actually matters for leaders navigating AI in the real world—not on benchmarks, but in workflows, teams, and outcomes. In this episode, we cover:
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| A Startup Beats Google, Power Users Break Away, and AI Gets Regulated | 16 Dec 2025 | 00:27:28 | |
A six-person startup just beat Google on one of the hardest reasoning benchmarks — using Google’s own model. And inside companies, the top 5% of AI users are quietly gaining the equivalent of an extra workday every week. In this episode, Jeff and Annie break down Poetiq’s ARC-AGI-2 win and why meta-systems — critique, refine, verify — may now matter more than picking the “best” model. They unpack OpenAI’s first State of Enterprise AI report, including the widening productivity gap between casual users and power users. Finally, they run through Quick Hits on chips, regulation, XR glasses, factuality benchmarks, the emerging AI licensing economy, and a major shift in how algorithmic bias could be judged. 🔍 In this episode:
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