The Artificial Human

As part of the BBC's AI Unpacked week Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong join an audience of pupils, teachers and education experts to ask if artificial intelligence is the future of learning. Recorded at University College London in their bicentennial year, the programme asks how we can use this revolutionary tool to equip the next generation for a future where Ai will be everywhere. The panel features Alex Russell, former head teacher and co‑founder of the charity AI in Education; Professor Sonia Livingstone, social psychologist and member of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI; and Dr Tom Chatfield, author and philosopher of technology. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Rachael O'Neill Sound: Emma Harth and Steve Greenwood

Chat GPT, Gemini etc are most people's idea of artificial intelligence. But are the limitations of the large language models (LLMs) that underpin them an obstacle to achieving Ai that understand the world beyond what its learnt from the internet. That's increasingly the opinion of leading researchers who despite the industries fixation with LLMs are voting with their feet and setting up their own research labs to look at other ways to achieve Ai. Aleks and Kevin talk with Michael Woolridge, Professor of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford to understand why he thinks LLMs are a hack, before speaking with long time tech innovator Jeff Hawkins about his why his 1000 brains Ai project could produce models that actually understand the world much more like we do. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Research: Elizabeth Ann Duffy and Minnie Harrop Sound: Steve Greenwood and Sean Mullervy

Aleks and Kevin look at how Ai chatbots and summaries might kill the web as we know it. When people get all the answers they want from their AI, can the sites they've scraped for content survive if no one visits them? Sajeeda Merali of the professional publishers association discusses the challenges her members face. And the original disruptor of spreading information, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, talks about the reliance of Ai on the work of his legions of volunteer 'wikipedians' and why attribution is such an issue. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Research: Rachael O'Neill

In the final instalment of our AI Bubble mini-series, Aleks and Kevin take a look at what it would mean if the AI bubble were to burst - not just for the industry, but for the future of AI itself. They’re joined by Adrian Lepers, Head of Monetization Operations and Strategy at Hugging Face. Sitting right at the centre of the open-source AI ecosystem, Adrian shares how Hugging Face sees its role in the market and how the industry could evolve from here. Also on the programme is Gary Marcus - cognitive scientist, psychologist, author, and one of the earliest voices warning that the AI boom could be heading for a crash. With the landscape shifting fast, Gary gives his take on what might come next and where he thinks the AI industry is headed. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Production Team: Peter McManus, Rachael O’Neill & Elizabeth Ann Duffy Sound: Sarah Hockley

In part two of their exploration of the economics of Ai Aleks and Kevin ask, what are the consequences of the anticipated financial bubble bursting, and would a crash stop there? There's massive uncertainty over whether the Ai industry can make enough money to warrant the astronomical sums being invested, making 2026 a make-or-break year for the sector in the eyes of many experts. We're joined by Dame Diane Coyle economist at the University of Cambridge to look at how far the blast radius of an Ai crash might reach. Nathanael Benjamin from the Bank of England will explain why they issue a warning over inflated Ai business valuations and explain what the bank are doing to protect the economy from any shocks. And Jerry Kaplan Silicon valley insider and expert on the social and economic impact of Ai shares his experience of booms and busts in the technology industry and his thoughts on who might be left standing should the wheels come off the Ai financial band wagon. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Elizabeth Ann Duffy Sound: Steve Greenwood and Sarah Hockley

Aleks and Kevin explore the biggest story in the Ai business. Markets are growing sceptical that the eye-watering sums being invested in Ai will show a return and comparisons with the dot-com crash are being widely made - so is the Ai bubble about to burst? Over the next three episodes we'll explore the Ai business landscape, look at the evidence for a bubble and consider the consequences of a 'major correction' to the valuation of the big players. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Research by Elizabeth Ann Duffy

Aleks and Kevin explore the world of Ai agents, artificial intelligence that can go out and act in the world on your behalf. And with festive season only weeks away, what they really want to know is could it do your Christmas shopping for you? They hear from Peter Cross, ex-customer experience director at John Lewis and Waitrose, and author of Start with the Consumer, about whether an Ai could ever be your personal shopper before finding out from human-computer interaction researcher Professor Tamilla Triantoro about how far off these technologies are and will they ready before we have to brave the high street in that last minute Christmas dash. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researchers: Rachael O'Neill & Jac Phillimore Sound: Tim Heffer

Aleks & Kevin explore how people turned to Ai to solve Charlie Kirk's murder, enhancing grainy CCTV pictures or asking chatbots to help them investigate, but did it help or hinder? They're joined by Lauren Fichten and Julia Ingram from US broadcaster CBS; they watched in real time as the Ai generated content began to trickle in after the shooting finally reaching a frenzy of activity. They then turn to deep fake and misinformation expert Henry Ajder to understand the motivations of those so desperate for information after such events that they turn to Ai to fill in the blanks. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Production team: Elizabeth Ann Duffy, Rachael O'Neill and Peter McManus Sound: Laura Hay

A report by the National Centre for Social research show that political orientation shapes attitudes toward AI technologies and their regulation. With people on the right more open to Ai while those on left are more sceptical. Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong explore why that might be the case and whether it has implications for how quickly people adopt Ai tools. They speak to Helen Margetts from the Oxford Internet Institute about the research and what it tells us, before exploring with Thomas Ferretti from Greenwich university what it is about is about these political ideologies that might lead people to feel that way. Finally, we hear from Jillian Fisher at University of Washington about why creating a politically neutral Ai is impossible. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Sound: Tim Heffer and Murray Collier

According to the Harvard Business Review companionship has become the number one use case for generative Ai. But what if the model gets updated and the Ai chum you've been confiding in and sharing your life with disappears? Who picks up the pieces and do the creators of these technologies be more careful? Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong explore the latest and most high-profile incident of this when Open Ai replaced GPT 4o with GPT 5. At a stroke, all personas that users had shaped their use and careful prompting got wiped causing a wave of emotion from ranging from irritation at the lack forewarning to genuine distress of people denied the opportunity to prepare and say goodbye. They'll hear from Casey Fiesler, Professor in the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder about how this all went down and whether Open Ai could or should have done things differently. They also be joined by Alan Cowen from Hume Ai about how you can create highly personable Ai responsibly. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Sound: Tim Heffer.

For years disabled and marginalised communities have fought for representation in what we see in the media. Aleks and Kevin find out if AI risks undoing all those hard-won victories. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Sound: Sean Mullervy

What would make you want to exercise? Is it the thrill of being discovered as the next football legend? Or maybe the threat of a scary drill sergeant shouting at you? Join Aleks and Kevin at the starting line, as they set out to discover how AI could help reshape your fitness goals. From what the high end athletes are using to track their progress and how that trickles down to everyday users, to how AI is levelling the playing field when it comes to scouting new talent. Plus, could an AI coach be just the thing to help with that pesky fleeting motivation? Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Emily Esson Sound: Sean Mullervy

Haven’t had your A.I. question answered yet? We’re making up for it. Aleks and Kevin are in the hot seat for an episode dedicated to tackling the A.I. questions left in our inbox. With insights from experts, and questions from you the listener, they'll cover everything from AI verbal abuse and how AI is being used on our streets, to how it can help with your overflowing inbox, and whether AI dreams like we do. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Rachael O’Neill Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Sean Mullervy

As more and more of us use Ai chat bots inevitably people will start asking them about their problems. Aleks and Kevin ask if there's a risk they do more harm than good? They talk to Ryan Broderick who turned to Ai when going through a rough patch with his mental health. He's now seeing a human therapist and has a fascinating perspective on the advice his chat bot gave him. But are the potential risks of using Ai as a support especially if its one not designed for that purpose? Zoha Khawaja has been studying people's use of Ai and explains the 'therapeutic misconceptions' users can be prone to. Presenters: Alekes Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Neva Missirian & Murray Collier

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask if espionage is about to be revolutionised by Ai. Around the globe intelligence agencies are getting excited about the potential of Ai. Not only in what we know its good at, crunching huge amounts of data looking for patterns but also in identifying and exploiting human weakness. Who might be turned to spy for you and how can they be manipulated. And when a spy is caught could an Ai in the interrogator’s ear help them spot telltale signs of lying by analysing micro-gestures, body temperature, perspiration? Aleks speak with ex-CIA officer Peter Warmka about how his 30 years in the field is about to be replaced artificial intelligence without the need for an Aston Martin, dinner jacket or Walther PPK. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Neva Missirian and Murray Collier

When Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released their R1 model on the world it sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley. Out of nowhere was an AI that performed as well as any of big tech's products but had been built at a fraction of the cost and with a fraction of the resources. Now the dust has settled they’re asking themselves whether the driving idea of bigger models, trained on ever bigger datasets still holds up. They're also asking if their business model of fiercely protecting the secrets behind how their technology works is the best way to innovate. DeepSeek is what’s called Open Source meaning that its creators have made the software available for others to study, use and modify. The race is on to see which of these approaches will dominate and see AI embedded into more and more of our lives. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Neva Missirian & Fraser Jackson

When a Norwegian man idly asked ChatGPT to tell him something about himself he was appalled to read that according to the chatbot he'd been convicted of murdering two of his children and had attempted to kill a third. Outraged, he contacted Open AI to have the information corrected only to discover that because of how these large language models work its difficult if not impossible to change it. He's now taking legal action with the help of digital civil rights advocate. Its an extreme example of Large Language Model's propensity to hallucinate and confabulate, ie make stuff up based on what its training data suggests the most likely combination of words, however far from reality that might be. Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out exactly what your rights are and whether GDPR (general data protection regulations) are really fit for purpose in the age of genertive AI. Presenters: Aleks Korotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Jac Phillimore Sound: Gav Murchie

Books are at the heart of an ongoing AI controversy with 7.5 million books being used to train AI without the authors’ knowledge or consent. So, should AI be allowed to steal books? Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong speak to award-winning author Kate Mosse about the growing debate over AI and authorship. They’ll also explore how the publishing industry is responding and whether AI systems have the legal right to absorb millions of books? Plus, with AI generated books on the rise, could this technology ever truly replace human writers? What does the future hold for authors, readers, and the publishing world? Presenters: Kevin Fong & Aleks Krotoski Producer: Rachael O'Neill Sound: Gav Murchie

Aleks and Kevin step into the world of actors “banking” their voices for use after death. With the help of AI your favourite actor can continue to appear on screen for years after they've gone. But what does that really mean? What’s a performance without the actor behind it? Benjamin Field is the producer behind the AI Sir Michael Parkinson podcast, where the late interviewer talks to new guests thanks to AI technology. Benjamin explains how the technology works, and the ethical concerns that it poses. Plus he describes how he sees the technology as a way to create more work for actors. Impressionist Alistair McGowan has portrayed everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to John Major to Boris Johnson. He explains that a voice is more than sound waves, but about soul, character and personal strength. Can those elements be replicated by AI? And do we want them to be? Produced by Emily Esson Researched by Juliet Conway A BBC Audio Scotland production.

Ai is at a turning point, Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what direction it will take and who is advising the most powerful man in the world on what vision of AI to pursue? There are numerous camps vying for President Trump's favour over how to develop Ai. There are those demanding that it be allowed to run free without the burden of innovation stifling regulation. Others still cling to the notion that the risks of rampant Ai still need to be curbed, while a third camp want to see 'big tech' working even closer with government to harness the power of this new 'wonder technology' and beat China both economically and in cyber security. Who will be listened to, and what does it mean for the rest of a world that's a good deal more sceptical about the potential of Ai and its risks? Andrew Strait Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute helps Aleks and Kevin understand the various characters pushing their Ai agendas, while Nobel prize winning economist Daron Acemoglu explains the possible consequences of what's being proposed and how it is only a very narrow view of what Ai could be and how it could benefit mankind. Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Juliet Conway Sound: Sean Mullervy