The Artificial Human

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

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong explore our fears around AI, where they come from andwhether we're worrying about the right things?

Listener Paul asks 'if AI gets so smart wouldn't it realise it was a threat to society and switch itself off?' Its the stuff of Sci-fi fantasy, an artificial intelligence that gets so smart it decides it doesn't need humanity anymore. But if AI were ever to get that powerful and for many its a very big 'if' why would it want to do that? Kevin and Aleks speak to Dr Kanta Dihal who researches the stories we tell ourselves about technology and ask her why they seem to have become increasingly apocalyptic.

Do these far-flung futures distract us from much more immediate problems with AI and is that their purpose? Professor Michael Rovatsos explains the issues AI raises today and what’s being done counter them.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Sound: Sue Maillot & Sean Mullervy

Listener Gordon is worried that as AI content spreads across the web there'll be proportionally less and less human content for the AI’s to be trained on with the result their output will just get blander and blander.

He’s right to be worried, Aleks and Kevin explore the phenomena of ‘model collapse’ the inevitable breakdown of an AI to give useful results if its training data is already AI produced. Speaking to NYU data scientist Professor Julia Kempe the pair discover that training on AI generated data also means a brick wall in terms of improving AI performance.

There is hop however according to Shayne Longpre of the Data Provenance Initiative the answer is to put humans back in the loop to curate the data for the AI’s and teaching them what’s good data from bad.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus The Artificial Human is a BBC Audio Scotland production for Radio 4

You don’t need to be a diehard gamer to realise video games have long been used as a yard stick to measure how far technology has come. From Pong and Space Invaders, right the way to Minecraft and Fallout, as the technology has advanced, so have the games. Pushing new boundaries and creating previously unimaginable worlds and experiences. But how will AI revolutionise the world of gaming itself, both for those who develop games and those who play them? Are we on the cusp of a huge leap forward? Or are the changes on the horizon more evolutionary than revolutionary?

Aleks and Kevin chat to one man who has been using AI to develop his own game from scratch, and hear from an industry insider about what the big companies are doing, and why advances in gaming may not be as dramatic as you might expect.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Emily Esson and Elizabeth Ann Duffy Mixed by: Sean Mullervy

Can you imagine how quickly Poirot could have solved a crime, if only he’d had access to AI software? Following a fictional murder case provided by real life police officer, Aleks and Kevin try to unravel how AI is already used in crime fighting, and what the cutting edge uses might be.

Ruth Morgan, Professor of Crime and Forensic Sciences, explains how the ability of AI to crunch huge volumes of data could lead to new forms of evidence being used in criminal trials. Aleks and Kevin also chat to Rudi Fortson KC about the legal ramifications of AI sourced evidence. Will it stand up in court? Is the UK judiciary ready for the influx of AI evidence? Or has it been used for years, without our knowledge?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Emily Esson Researcher: Juliet Conway Mixed by: Tim Heffer and Sean Mullervy

Of all the jobs artificial intelligence might replace surely trading in stocks and shares is at the top of the list. Aleks and Kevin find out it might have already happened.

The first algorithms hit the trading floors nearly 30 years ago and since then the numbers of people involved in the buying and selling of shares has been dwindling. Aleks and Kevin speaking professor Dave Cliffe who wrote one of those first trading programmes. He was told the future of trading was a computer, a dog and a man. The computer would do the trading, the dog would guard the computer and the man, well he was there to feed the dog.

So how close are we to that future, closer than you think. But what does that mean for volatility in financial markets with AI’s well documented imperfect view of the world and is there still a place for human insight and perspective?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Mixed by: Fraser Jackson

The arms race is over and we lost. All those increasingly annoying little puzzles to prove "I am not a robot" from how many buses can you see to the invisible behavioural analysis going on behind the screen, AI powered bots can now pick every lock designed to keep them out.

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask what's left to prove we're an actual human being online and if that becomes impossible does much of the internet stop being useful?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Emily Esson Mixed by: Fraser Jackson

Conspiracy theories—once confined to fringe communities—have entered the mainstream.

Social media has supercharged outlandish narratives, giving them an air of legitimacy through viral sharing. With generative AI now capable of producing hyper-realistic images, videos, and audio, the boundaries between fact and fiction are more blurred than ever. It feels almost inevitable that AI will further amplify conspiracy theories in public and online discourse.

But perhaps the future isn’t quite so bleak. Aleks and Kevin explore how AI could actually help debunk conspiracy theories and combat the flood of misinformation online.

They speak with the team behind 'Debunk-bot', an AI chatbot that has shown remarkable success in shifting people’s beliefs around conspiracy theories. They also talk to Mick West, who has spent decades debunking falsehoods, about how AI might help reduce the impact of dangerous conspiracies—and what role humans must play in guiding those who find their way out of conspiracy rabbit holes with the help of a bot.

Join Aleks and Kevin as they investigate how AI can help us separate fact from fiction. And if you have a question about AI, email us at theartificialhuman@bbc.co.uk.

The Darzi report of September 2024 painted a bleak picture of the NHS; crumbling infrastructure, low productivity and increasingly unhappy patients. AI is seen as key to turning the health service around but is it the panacea many claim?

Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out if its on the front line or in the back office that AI can offer the NHS the biggest bang for its limited buck?

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Researcher: Emily Esson Mixed by: Kris McConnachie

Ever wondered what others are feeling but can’t quite read their emotions? Chris, a listener, emailed us with this exact dilemma. Partly due to being neurodivergent, he struggles to interpret the emotions of those around him—and even his own emotional reactions. So, he asked us: Could AI translate emotions for him?

In this episode, Aleks and Kevin dive into the fascinating and complex world of Emotional AI. They start with Professor Andrew McStay, head of the Emotional AI Lab at Bangor University, who shares the long—and surprising—history of humans trying to decode emotions through technology. He also uncovers the potential risks of trusting an AI system to get inside people’s heads.

Then, they meet Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi, whose team at the University of Waterloo has developed an AI specifically designed to recognise emotions—just like what Chris is looking for. Could this be the solution? Dr. Karimi breaks down how this cutting-edge AI works, how it was created, and how a mix of tech innovation and human expertise could potentially help people better understand the emotions of others.

But should this type of AI be used at all? Do the potential benefits outweigh the risks? Aleks and Kevin explore both sides.

Got a question about AI? Email us at theartificialhuman@bbc.co.uk.

Sometimes, we get odd questions at the Artificial Human - ‘Why has my gran’s facebook feed been taken over by Shrimp Jesus?’ definitely raised eyebrows.

Kevin and Aleks embark on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of ‘AI Slop’ - mass produced, low quality AI images that have spread like wildfire over Social Media platforms - with Shrimp Jesus being one of the most prominent, and bizarre, examples.

They’ll speak with Renee Di Resta, about her study that reveals how algorithmic systems, designed to maximize engagement, have allowed AI slop to take over social media feeds - not because it's valuable, but because it's engineered to be highly clickable and shareable, gaming the algorithms for more impressions, likes, and comments.

And it turns out, those impressions can lead to money - BIG money... for a very select few. Aleks and Kevin talk with investigative journalist Jason Koebler about the hidden cottage industry producing the Slop - a community primarily from the Global South, trying to make money from social media reward programmes. With the help of various apps, online tutorials and hacker-like methods of avoiding spam filters, people are flocking to social media hoping to strike gold with viral images, like Shrimp Jesus.

But, will this AI Slop gold rush be the death of Social Media as we know it? And what happens to us when we just assume that anything we see online is simply not real.

And remember, if you have a question about AI that you’d like us to answer for you, get in touch with theartificialhuman@bbc.co.uk

Presenters: Aleks Krotosksi and Kevin Fong Producer: Elizabeth Ann Duffy Researcher: Emily Esson Engineer: Barry Jackson

Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?

In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.

In this episode, we're asking: can AI get me a new job?

AI has changed the job market a LOT. It can sift through CVs, headhunt new talent and even conduct interviews. So where does that leave those looking for a new job? Does this place us in a better or worse position?

Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.

Artificial Intelligence is in our homes, schools and workplaces. What does this mean for us?

In 'The Artificial Human,' Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong set out to 'solve' AI. Or at the very least, to answer our questions about it. These are the questions that really matter to us - is AI smarter than me? Could AI make me money? Will AI save my life? They'll pursue the answer by speaking to those closest to the forefront of AI-related innovation. By the end of each programme, the subject will be a little clearer - for us, and for themselves.

In this episode, Lucy wants to know; could AI make my Glastonbury better?

Lucy is attending the Glastonbury festival this year for the fifth time. She loves it and always has a really memorable experience, but it could be improved without the queues for the bars and the toilets, and maybe with a better idea of how to get from stage to stage in the shortest possible time. Could AI help?

Aleks and Kevin don't have all the answers, but they bring intelligence, curiosity and wit to the journey, seeking out the facts for us and speaking to those who are currently shaping our AI futures. This is very much a shared journey to get to the bottom of our deepest hopes and fears about these world changing technologies.

As Apple announce the integration of generative AI across their platforms Aleks and Kevin ask do we actually know how much energy AI consumes and is it compatible with a push to net zero?

Energy consumption is AI's dirty little secret, some industry insiders believe the true potential of these technologies won't be realised until the problem is solved. Aleks and Kevin uncover some fairly startling numbers; a search done through an AI like ChatGPT can use up to 40 times more energy than using a traditional search engine, while a single hi-res image created by an AI could use the equivalent of half a smart phone charge. But because that happens on a server, perhaps in another country users remain ignorant of the potential impact their casual use might have on the push to net zero.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong Producer: Peter McManus Mixed by Niall Young