Recent Posts
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#173: Blessed are the Contentmakers
This week’s conversation starts with a small moral dilemma: why is it so easy to consume endless hours of online content, yet oddly difficult to part with even a few euros to support the people making it? From there we wander through the economics of the modern “content economy” and the accumulation of monthly fees that comes with living online. Along the way we reflect on how value is assigned (or not) to digital work, whether audiences have simply hit subscription fatigue, and what happens when AI joins the ranks of the contentmakers. As usual, the discussion drifts into neighbouring territory: the changing role of universities, the consumerist society, and the slightly unsettling sense that information - and perhaps expertise - is becoming both cheaper and harder to price. (This description was generated with the help of AI; this episode features AI-generated speech)
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#172: European Tech
This week we explore Europe’s push for digital alternatives — from cloud infrastructure to software ecosystems — and ask what technological independence might realistically look like. The conversation moves between policy ambition and practical constraints. Along the way we detour into the everyday realities of Windows, Mac, and Linux, and what real choice actually means for users versus institutions. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#171: Claude Code and App Creation on Demand
This week Ian and Michael test the limits of “vibe coding” and find that it might actually work. From there, naturally, we drift into the idea of apps-on-demand, AI minions, and subscription creep, with detours into rainforest guilt, insecure software libraries, hallucinating language models, second-hand drinks cabinets, and the small question of superintelligence wiping us out. Along the way: The Fermi Paradox, universal basic income, and the possibility that in solving convenience we may be accelerating something rather less convenient. (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#170: Bow before your AI Gods
Ian and Michael discuss the desire to automate and outsource or most unpopular and difficult decisions to AI as a means to deflect responsibility; I'd love to help, but my AI assistant decided otherwise... (This episode contains AI-generated speech)
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#169: AI Circular Economy, Social Media Bans, Media Mergers
Ian and Michael kick off the new season with a host of topics: the self-contained money merry-go-round of the AI industry, proposed social media bans, media consolidation, AI-generated “reality” shows, and the case for hoarding DVD players like it’s already the end times. A loose, opinionated start to the year and to season 5! (This description was written with the help of AI)
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#168: The New Year’s 2025 Episode
2025 is all but over! For the traditional New Year’s send-off, Ian and Michael look back on the year through the lens of “words of the year” from various dictionaries — and find plenty to be puzzled, amused, and mildly irritated by. From rage bait and parasocial relationships to vibe coding, AI slop, and the strange linguistic inventions of younger generations, the conversation drifts through language, technology, culture, and the growing feeling that everyone might be speaking a slightly different dialect now. Equal parts word nerdery, generational bewilderment, and end-of-year reflection, it’s a fitting way to wave goodbye to the season and stumble into the next one. (This description was created with the help of AI)
AI Unfiltered will return with new episodes in 2026! -
#167: The Xmas 2025 Episode
In the annual AI Unfiltered Christmas episode, Ian and Michael head north (seasonally and philosophically) to discuss visiting Santa Claus Village well outside the traditional festive window, the strange logistics of Christmas tourism without snow, and what happens when reindeer, capitalism, climate change, and children’s fantasies collide. Along the way there are thoughts on fake snow, mobile Santas, edible mascots, Finnish words for autumn glow, and whether Santa might need to relocate — or rebrand — sooner rather than later. Festive, meandering, and only mildly unhinged, as tradition demands. (This description was created with the help of AI)
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#166: Inequality, AI, and the Ghosts of Dead Authors
Ian and Michael take a scenic tour through the modern world’s contradictions, starting with the widening gap between wealth and reality and the quiet, uncomfortable signs of inequality that everyone pretends not to notice - and the creeping sense that AI is only speeding things up in the wrong direction.
From there, the conversation drifts into cultural territory: the fate of book series continued long after their original authors have died, the ethics of posthumous storytelling, and whether we should simply accept that some stories… end.
There’s also time for a detour through sprawling film franchises, literary purism, the merits (or lack thereof) of late-era Bond and Bourne. A potpourri of societal decay, reading habits, and franchise exhaustion - in other words, a very normal episode of AI Unfiltered. (This description was written with the help of AI) -
#165: Moving Cities, Moving Churches
Ian and Michael wander through the fascinating world of moving city centres and what happens to the buildings left behind, especially churches. From the massive relocation of Kiruna to the quiet transformations of old sanctuaries into community halls, cafés, apartments, and places that feel spiritually familiar yet functionally unrecognisable, the hosts explore how history gets carried, rebuilt, or simply given new purpose. Along the way, they muse about cultural memory, architectural stubbornness, and what it means when societies literally reposition their landmarks. Plus, another instalment of Emma's Artificial Reflections! (This episode features AI-generated content and speech; this description was written with the help of AI)