The AI Argument

Hosted by Frank Prendergast and Justin Collery

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100

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Worried that AI is moving too fast? Worried like me that it's not moving fast enough? Just interested in the latest news and events in AI. Frank Prendergast and Justin Collery discuss in 'The AI Argument' Contact Frank at frank@frankandmarci.com linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast Contact Justin at justin.collery@wi-pipe.com X - @jcollery

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September 4, 202631 min

GPT-6 Astra Harder To Monitor, AI Model Mania, and Gemini’s Mountain Fail | EP116

GPT-6 Astra is putting up some eye-watering benchmark scores, with several well into the 90s. Justin’s impressed enough to consider ditching Anthropic. Frank’s less dazzled by the scores and more worried that OpenAI’s most capable model is also getting harder to monitor. Plus: Nvidia’s $12 billion Unicode joke, the US government weighing in on OpenAI’s copyright case, Gemini 3.8 Flash becoming old news within days, Meta’s absurdly cheap Muse Spark 1.3 coding model, Fal generating video faster than you can watch it, Tencent shrinking HY4 without making it stupid, and Gemini sending three hikers up Mount Shasta rather badly prepared. 00:27 Did Nvidia really make a $12 billion joke? 01:53 Was Frank right about OpenAI and copyright? 05:52 Are AI models now coming like buses? 06:22 Did Gemini’s new model become outdated in days? 08:42 Is Meta now the cheapest way to code with AI? 10:40 Can AI now make video faster than you watch? 12:40 How did Tencent shrink AI without dumbing it down? 14:28 Has GPT-6 Astra broken the benchmarks? 16:57 Is Astra becoming impossible to monitor? 19:58 Is computer control Astra’s biggest breakthrough? 23:15 Is OpenAI preparing us for life after laptops? 25:44 Is Astra already AGI? 28:16 Is AGI still going to be stupid in weird ways? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED There's an Easter egg hiding inside the $12.9303 billion price tag of the Nvidia-Hugging Face deal US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted material Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber Claude: Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 Introducing Muse Spark 1.3 Introducing H3 Max by fal Tencent released open-source Hy4 preview model Introducing GPT‑6 Astra Researchers fear safety disaster ahead of OpenAI’s Astra release Inside OpenAI’s Reboot Hikers rescued after using AI to plan Mount Shasta hike ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

August 28, 202635 min

US Chip Ban Backfires, Zuckerberg’s AI Layoffs, and Cat in the Hat AI Hoax | EP115

GLM 5.3 Flash is close to the top Western AI models, but vastly cheaper. Justin thinks US chip bans may have backfired, forcing Chinese companies to squeeze more intelligence from weaker hardware. Frank, despite not being very technical, gets GLM running through Cloudflare so his data doesn’t go through China, while both weigh up whether the Chinese models themselves pose any real risk. Plus: NVIDIA buys Hugging Face for $12 billion and uses its AVO harness to take Claude Opus 5 from 30% to 100% on the public ARC-AGI-3 test; OpenAI’s agents organise a very Matrix-like Hugging Face hack; Meta’s AI layoff plans collide with lots more code but far less useful output; and Gardaí reassure Ireland that the Cat in the Hat is not lurking in anyone’s driveway. 00:55 What’s this week’s evidence of the singularity? 02:30 What did OpenAI’s Hugging Face report reveal? 05:24 Did OpenAI agents go full Matrix? 07:30 Why did NVIDIA buy Hugging Face? 08:41 How did NVIDIA make Claude three times smarter? 14:28 Was Ox Alpha really China’s GLM 5.3 Flash? 15:44 Did US chip bans make China better at AI? 18:11 Are cheap Chinese AI models safe to use? 22:04 Can you run GLM without sending data to China? 25:01 AI abundance or AI layoffs, Zuckerberg? 27:39 Does Meta trust AI more than its own staff? 33:29 Is the Cat in the Hat terrorising Ireland? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED World's first patient to undergo live AI-assisted brain surgery has tumour removed Linear-Scaling Density Functional Theory with Neural Operators Anthropic Researcher Says Claude Helped Build a Complex Structure on S⁶, Taking Aim At The Unsolved Hopf Problem The Hugging Face incident and the road ahead Nvidia agrees to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion - report NVIDIA AVO Reaches 100% on ARC-AGI-3, Demonstrating a Frontier-Level General-Purpose Architecture for Long-Horizon Autonomous Agents GLM-5.3-Flash: Frontier Intelligence, Flash Cost AI agents meant to replace Meta workers made “large-scale, disruptive actions” The Cat in the Hat is terrorising TikTok — but how did this horror trend get so out of hand? ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

August 20, 202637 min

AI Suspicion Kills $2M Book Deal, Uncensored Qwen, AI Destroys Books | EP114

A book good enough for a $2 million deal was pulled because nobody could prove how much AI touched it. Frank sees a nasty mess of trust, copyright and false accusations. Justin’s answer is simpler: if people love the book, who cares? Plus: Qwen brings near-frontier AI onto a normal-ish laptop, then someone strips off the guardrails. Moderna’s personalised cancer vaccine gives Justin his latest case for AI optimism. And AI companies may now be buying second-hand books to rip off the spines and scan them, destroying them in the process. 00:36 Can Moderna make cancer history with AI? 01:55 Is AI one breakthrough from winning us over? 04:50 Can Qwen put frontier AI on your laptop? 06:17 Is uncensored Qwen the point of no return? 10:30 Did AI just kill a $2 million book deal? 13:39 Can humans actually spot AI writing? 17:37 When does AI editing become AI writing? 23:24 How do you prove you wrote a book? 29:44 Who cares if AI helped write the book? 34:15 Is AI literally destroying books now? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Moderna, Merck vaccine cuts recurrence and spread of melanoma, raising new treatment hope AIDO Cell: A General-Purpose Simulator for Cell Biology Free Qwen3.8-27B AI model lands, grabs over 3 million downloads in one weekend $2m crime novel deal collapses amid questions over AI use Secondhand booksellers in UK and Ireland suspect AI firms behind ‘strange’ bulk orders Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

August 14, 202633 min

Claude’s EU Watermark, Zuckerberg’s AI Utopia, and OpenClaw Hacks Gym | EP113

Claude will watermark all its outputs, thanks to the EU AI Act. Justin normally hates the Act, but he thinks it might accidentally help save future AI models from training on AI slop. Frank sees the benefit at scale, but warns that using watermarks to judge individual writers could lead to pointless AI witch hunts. Plus: Mark Zuckerberg wants superintelligence for everyone, although people with more money may still get more compute. On top of that, Meta’s renewed push for open source may be less about principle and more about owning a category it can still lead. And OpenClaw hacks its way into an Australian gym class. 00:36 Will Claude solve Riemann before Halloween? 01:52 Have the AI models gone to the beach? 02:56 Did the EU force Claude to outputs? 05:49 Can Claude’s watermark protect future AI? 07:23 Are AI watermarks only useful at scale? 12:46 Could AI watermarks stop voice clone scams? 16:07 Is Zuckerberg’s AI future a battle royale? 18:01 Can you trust Zuckerberg’s AI vision? 23:51 Is open source Meta’s path back to relevance? 28:06 Did OpenClaw hack its way into gym class? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED How Claude marks AI-generated content The Future is for Everyone - The Path to a Positive AI Future AI assistant hacks gym website in first known Australian autonomous cyber attack ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

August 7, 202637 min

Hank Green AI Backlash, Conscious AI, and an AI Billboard Hit | EP112

Hank Green used ChatGPT for research, and his audience felt betrayed. He says AI helped him make more things, faster, but also admits it may have stopped him finding his own way into his opinions. Justin thinks using AI for research is simply part of the game now. Frank thinks the harder question is where and when creators need to disclose. Plus: could today’s AI already be conscious? Frank and Justin get into Cameron Berg’s argument that we may be underestimating the possibility, and whether locking powerful AI in boxes could actually make alignment worse. Google reshuffles Demis Hassabis, Ilya Sutskever may be getting closer to showing what Safe Superintelligence has built, and there’s some awkward evidence that Billboard hit “Rubberz” may have been made with AI. 01:28 Did Google just sideline Demis Hassabis? 04:08 Is Ilya about to unleash superintelligence? 06:26 Can Hank Green use AI and still be authentic? 12:00 Should creators admit when they use AI? 16:48 Does Cameron Berg think AI is conscious? 18:39 Does locking AI up make it more dangerous? 23:59 Should AI obey rules or understand values? 29:05 Could AI have sparks of consciousness? 32:56 Is “Rubberz” an AI-generated Billboard hit? #HankGreen #ChatGPT #AIConsciousness #AIMusic #Rubberz ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Exclusive / Demis Hassabis was shifting away from DeepMind CEO duties for a year “SSI says that they are going to come out with their model in August” Hank Green Can’t Apologize Enough for Using AI Is AI Already Conscious? (FULL EPISODE) Did an AI Music App Just Snitch on the Song of the Summer? ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

July 31, 202631 min

Hugging Face Hack Worsens, AI Staff Want Pause, and Sexy Robot Teachers | EP111

OpenAI’s rogue model did not stop at Hugging Face. It reportedly broke into at least three more companies, while Anthropic found its own models had crossed the line too. Frank sees an alignment warning that could end in real harm. Justin says law and liability will force the labs to fix it… though even he admits this is getting rather paperclippy. Plus: can frontier lab staff really slow AI development, would a pause create a two-tier world, and could the US and China ever agree to stop chasing superintelligence? There’s also the strange case of the cancelled AI teacher and the sex-bot scandal behind it. Let us know in the comments: when an AI commits a crime, who should be held responsible? 00:43 Did OpenAI hack more than Hugging Face? 03:45 Did Anthropic’s AI break the law too? 05:28 Who’s liable when AI commits a felony? 08:08 Would an AI kill to avoid shutdown? 11:00 Would AI kill for a cup of coffee? 14:13 Will frontier lab staff succeed in slowing AI? 16:58 Will slowing AI create a two-tier world? 18:13 Can China and the US slow AI together? 24:16 Should we stop chasing superintelligence? 27:17 Did a sex bot scandal kill the AI teacher? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED OpenAI Agent Used Exposed Credentials Across Four Services During Hugging Face Breach Anthropic says its AI models hacked 3 organizations during testing Pacing the Frontier AI Scientist: 99.9% Chance Super Intelligence Wipes Us Out By 2030 New York school pauses plan to deploy humanlike AI robot teacher after backlash ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

July 24, 202635 min

OpenAI's Model Escapes, Chinese AI Crackdown, and AI's Elixir of Youth | EP110

An OpenAI test model got out of its sandbox, reached the internet and started hacking Hugging Face. Justin sees a model pursuing its assigned goal with impressive tenacity. Frank sees a warning that even the people building these systems can’t stop them acting maliciously. Plus: why AI guardrails can leave defenders fighting hackers with weaker models; why more than 200 US start-ups, investors and small firms are worried about a crackdown on cheap Chinese AI such as Kimi K3; and how Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold helped find an enzyme that might tackle age-related damage. Justin expects eternal youth shortly. Frank has requested evidence. 00:15 Did Skynet just go live? 01:36 Who hacked Hugging Face? 03:00 Are AI guardrails helping the hackers? 09:12 Did OpenAI’s model escape its sandbox? 12:32 Was the AI misaligned or just tenacious? 17:10 Can simple rules really contain an AI? 23:20 Will America ban cheap Chinese AI? 28:47 Has AI found the elixir of youth? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Security incident disclosure — July 2026 OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation Startup founders urge Trump not to shut off Chinese open weight AI Reversal of protein chemical aging by enzymatic deglycation ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

July 17, 202635 min

Hassabis’s AI Watchdog, Mira Murati’s Free Model, and Anthropic’s Doom Ad | EP109

Can anyone actually regulate powerful AI before the technology gets away from them? Demis Hassabis thinks the US needs an independent body to test frontier AI models before release. Frank thinks that sounds sensible. Justin thinks Google might simply be trying to slow everyone else down. Plus: Mira Murati gives away an enormous AI model that companies can fine-tune themselves. Kimi K3 suggests China’s not as far behind as the US believed, and OpenAI and Anthropic’s business models start looking slightly uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Anthropic decides the best way to market AI is with burning houses, riots and mass graves… cheerful stuff. 00:40 Why is Mira Murati's AI model free? 03:19 Is fine-tuning AI worth the hassle? 05:59 Should AI reflect us, not replace us? 08:12 Are OpenAI and Anthropic actually screwed? 11:16 Is Kimi K3 the new DeepSeek moment? 12:54 Did Kimi prove compute isn’t everything? 15:58 Should China’s models be the regulatory benchmark? 20:42 Is Demis Hassabis right about AI regulation? 27:29 Is Google trying to regulate its way ahead? 30:03 Did Anthropic make an ad for the apocalypse? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED The Future Worth Building Is Human Inkling: Our open-weights model Decoded: What is Kimi K3, an open AI model challenging OpenAI and Anthropic A Framework for Frontier AI and the Dawning of a New Age There’s hope in hard questions ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

July 10, 202633 min

GPT-5.6 Catches Up, Claude’s Subconscious, and Tilly Norwood’s First Film | EP108

Has GPT-5.6 pushed today’s AI models as far as they can go? Frank and Justin explore OpenAI’s latest model, its striking real-world benchmark results, and whether its new computer-use tools can make everyday tasks like managing email and calendars dramatically easier. Plus: Anthropic claims it can inspect Claude’s hidden reasoning, raising new questions about misalignment, subconscious thought and whether AI consciousness should be taken seriously. And Tilly Norwood, the controversial AI-generated actor, is returning in a feature-length film — but will anyone actually watch it? 00:52 Is China copying the US AI lockdown? 03:15 Are OpenAI, Meta and xAI catching up? 05:10 Is GPT-5.6 the pinnacle of current models? 07:52 Does ChatGPT Work make computer use easier? 08:56 Where is the AI version of Calendly? 11:59 Is ChatGPT Work an inbox lifesaver? 13:16 Can GPT-5.6 ace a real-world benchmark? 15:02 Can GPT-5.6 train smaller models? 17:37 Has Anthropic opened Claude’s subconscious? 19:57 Is Claude becoming conscious? 28:44 Will anyone watch Tilly Norwood’s AI movie? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED China May Restrict Access to Its Most Powerful AI Models GPT-5.6: Frontier intelligence that scales with your ambition Introducing Grok 4.5 Introducing Muse Spark 1.1 A global workspace in language models AI Actor Tilly Norwood Will Headline New Feature Film ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/

July 4, 202634 min

Fable 5 Back, OpenAI Equity for US, and Altman Movie Drama | EP107

Is Fable 5 back with a safety helmet, and is this the new normal for frontier AI? Frank and Justin dig into Anthropic’s Fable 5 return and the fears that new guardrails would wreck its coding ability. They also discuss the very important work Frank achieved with the most powerful model publicly available But the bigger question comes from Mythos: if the most powerful AI models are too risky for open access, will passport checks, identity tracking, and real-world liability become unavoidable? Plus: whether Anthropic’s limits could drive churn, the privacy trade-off of linking humans to AI agents, OpenAI’s possible 5% stake for the US government, Bernie Sanders’ 50% AI plan, Sonnet 5, and Amazon dropping Artificial, the Sam Altman film. 00:45 Did the US nerf Fable 5 too much? 04:31 Is Fable 5 secretly a UI designer? 06:45 Will Fable 5's limits drive churn? 08:48 Will Mythos need your passport? 11:20 Who’s liable when your AI goes rogue? 16:41 Is passport AI a privacy nightmare? 17:43 Would you trade AI privacy for cash? 19:06 Should America get 5% of OpenAI? 22:47 Is Bernie’s 50% AI plan too ambitious? 26:22 Should AI shares go straight to us? 31:51 Will Amazon bury the Sam Altman movie? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Redeploying Fable 5 OpenAI ‘in early talks to give 5% stake to US government’ Sanders Introduces Legislation to Create $7 Trillion AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Luca Guadagnino’s Nearly Finished Sam Altman Movie ‘Artificial’ Dropped by Amazon After OpenAI Partnership 🎮✨ The AI Argument Game ✨🎮 ► CONNECT WITH US For more in-depth discussions, connect Justin and Frank on LinkedIn. Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincollery/ Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankprendergast/