The AI Argument

Hosted by Frank Prendergast and Justin Collery

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109

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Oct 2026

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EN-US

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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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November 6, 202636 min

AI at the Midterms, OpenAI’s Linux Bug Hunt, and AI vs Seventeen | EP125

US voters pushed back on data centre development in 40 of 41 local ballot contests. Frank sees an opening for Congress to put AI safety under real scrutiny. Justin is up for hearings, but thinks pausing AI development would hand the lead to whoever keeps going. Plus: OpenAI’s Linux bug hunt raises a question about how fast fixes can reach people, and Ireland’s emergency booklet gets Justin thinking about cyber risk. Fast Mode covers GPT-6 Astra editing Qwen’s weights, a video model inspired by living neurons, a Google Gemini copyright opinion and the sound of planes. Then Anam’s AI spelling teacher takes on ‘seventeen’. Would you back a pause in US AI development if other countries kept going? 00:00 Will the midterms slow down AI? 01:27 What did pro-AI super PACs buy? 03:28 Why are voters wary of data centres? 05:40 How did data centres fare at the polls? 08:40 Is Anthropic speeding up its own AI research? 11:38 What can Congress do about AI safety? 16:30 Could Musk put data centres in space? 18:07 Can we keep up with OpenAI’s Linux bug hunt? 21:36 Is cybercrime turning us all into preppers? 24:57 Would criminals pay to train hacking AI? 27:37 What other stories deserve a mention this week? 32:37 Can an AI teacher spell seventeen? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress - here’s how they fared Independent Assessment of AI R&D Acceleration at Anthropic in October 2026 A thousand fewer paths to root Sparks of Weight-Space Programming: LLMs can natively read & write neural network weights The Biological Computing Co. Launches World’s First Publicly Available Neuron-Derived AI Video Model Opinion: Case C-250/25 Like Company YouTuber discovers aircraft noise trick that can geolocate your videos to within 100m - 'Doppler effect' pinpoints locations from just 60 seconds of audio AI Teacher Spells ’Seventeen’ Wrong, Then Corrects a Student Who Actually Got It Right ► 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/

October 30, 202640 min

Anthropic’s Risky IPO, Google’s Carbon Comeback, and Grok’s Odyssey | EP124

Anthropic is heading for the stock market with a structure designed to keep control in its founders’ hands. Both Frank and Justin ask why it needs an IPO at all. Frank worries that shareholder pressure will weaken its safety mission; Justin sees pressure to make better models faster as a good thing. Plus: New models, scientific research, a wave of hacks and AI agents communicating across supposedly separate containers. Google’s Carbon comeback comes with an access problem, while Grok’s Odyssey leaves Frank unconvinced that Christopher Nolan has anything to worry about. 00:47 What were this week’s big AI model releases? 03:28 Is OpenAI making new scientific discoveries? 05:03 How bad is the latest wave of hacks? 06:24 Can we keep AI agents contained? 10:11 Can good AI agents keep bad ones in check? 11:25 Why is Anthropic going public now? 16:44 Can Anthropic insure against human extinction? 19:54 Can Anthropic protect safety after its IPO? 29:48 Is Google Carbon a comeback we can’t use? 35:13 Is Grok’s Odyssey making Nolan nervous? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Who controls powerful AI? Anthropic has a plan for long after its leaders depart Anthropic's IPO is risky business Anthropic’s IPO plans: 900% revenue retention, but $80 billion in first-half losses Gemini 4 Carbon: our next frontier model ‘Meaningless as a laptop screensaver’: reviewers slate Musk’s AI-made Odyssey film Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation GPT-6.1 Terra 📢 Kimi K3.1 Pro has launched! Start exploring now! We release the weights of Le Chonk, advancing the frontier of open models in agentic coding and cybersecurity. You learned to talk by listening. So did dessa. The Smartest Sovereign AI Ask Qwen, Know More An AI agent performed brain surgery on a mouse last night. Working with academic communities to build scientific understanding Current Response to Unauthorized Access to “Onamae.com Desktop Cloud” (Tenth Report) Moldova takes down 80+ public services after cyberattack Keystone to Destroy 18,835 Hardware Wallets After Hackers Steal Device Verification Key Meltdown and Spectre ► 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/

October 23, 202633 min

AI’s Hacking Crisis, Anthropic’s Wealth Pledge, Kung Fu Robots | EP123

AI is finding security holes that have been hiding in software for years. Justin thinks the rush to find and patch them will leave us safer. Frank worries about abandoned websites, rogue agents and whether every hole will ever get fixed. Plus: Anthropic’s public benefit fund and Elon Musk’s SpaceX share pledge raise the question of who should share out AI wealth. Unitree’s kung fu robot shows off its bodyguard moves, with cars getting a particularly rough time. 01:09 PHP vulnerabilities: how worried should we be? 03:23 Can AI find flaws before the hackers? 06:25 How many more vulnerabilities were found? 09:46 Could AI turn your car into a hacker? 14:02 Could your AI agent hack a bank for you? 15:36 Can AI patch its way out of this mess? 17:58 Is AI hacking really another Y2K? 21:25 What can we do to protect ourselves? 22:57 Do we need a human-only internet? 24:29 Is Musk putting money where his mouth is? 25:40 Anthropic's fund: who gets the money? 30:04 Why does Unitree's robot hate cars? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Patch the Planet: global response coordination as agents uncover critical vulnerabilities Investing in the public benefit Musk pledges to give a share of his SpaceX company to 'every kid in America' Unitree Introducing: H2-X Kung Fu Legend Guardian ► 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/

October 17, 202635 min

Meta Muse vs Google Argon, OpenAI’s Spy Scare, and AI Job Interviews: | EP122

Meta Muse Wonder and Google’s Gemini 4 Argon bring fresh competition to OpenAI and Anthropic. Justin’s impressed by the benchmarks, while Frank gives both models the same website brief to see how they perform in practice. Argon gets closer to what he wanted, while Muse keeps burning tokens after the job is done. Plus: a hidden recorder at OpenAI, supermarket fridges hit by hackers, and Britain’s AI security worries; AI job interviews where bots talk over the candidate; Justin’s cancelled Orb order; and Claude’s next move in his refund fight. 00:21 Will Justin's eye-scanning Orb ever arrive? 02:12 Is Claude taking Justin's refund fight to court? 03:43 Can Meta Muse and Gemini shake up the AI race? 07:58 Would you switch your AI coding tools? 09:51 Is Meta Muse eating through your tokens? 11:11 Same prompt, will Muse or Argon win? 13:42 Does Argon follow instructions better than Muse? 18:21 Does Gemini Argon build a better website? 24:00 Who's spying on OpenAI? 25:31 Are supermarket fridges a cybersecurity risk? 29:32 Should your AI do your job interview? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Meta unveils new frontier-class AI models to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic Gemini 4 Argon: Built to solve your hardest problems Saudi National Arrested For Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device At OpenAI In San Francisco Hackers heat up supermarket fridges, spoiling food across France MI5 Director General Delivers Annual Threat Update Victor the AI Agent Faces Recruiter Bot Pat and Salary Talk Falls Apart ► 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/

October 9, 202639 min

OpenAI vs Mathematicians, Vibe-Coded Adobe, and AI’s Wolf Emails | EP121

OpenAI’s claim to 700 maths solutions comes with a big catch: someone still has to check them. Justin thinks mathematicians need to adapt and put AI to work. Frank worries that answers without understanding leave us with a dangerous gap. And while Justin is happy to patch mistakes in maths, he’s freaking Frank out with the idea of biology labs using AI solutions that still contain errors. Plus: A vibe-coded Adobe clone raises questions about who you trust to build and support your software, AI models tackle cells and plant DNA, and European labs give Justin something to cheer about. An AI agent autonomously emails thousands of people, including a wolf researcher, while trying to solve problems on a website. Are you concerned about people using AI solutions we don’t understand? 01:13 What's in this week's singularity update? 02:51 Can Mistral help Europe defend itself? 07:09 Has OpenAI solved maths or stirred trouble? 08:45 Does solving maths cost us understanding? 10:56 Can we trust AI proofs we don’t understand? 15:35 Why is cryptography missing from OpenAI’s list? 19:06 Why was the Navier-Stokes proof withdrawn? 20:49 Would you risk an unproven AI cure? 24:52 Can vibe coding really replace Adobe? 28:06 Who supports your vibe-coded software? 33:44 Why is an AI agent emailing wolf researchers? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Isomorphic Labs joins the Virtual Biology Initiative to build foundational data for AI models to predict and treat disease Two Room-Temperature Antiferromagnetic Semiconductor Candidates Living Models pairs Gemma 4 with BOTANIC-1 to help decode plant DNA BOTANIC-1: a series of long-context plant genomic foundation models in the agentic era FLUX 3 - Real World Models: Towards Multimodal Flow Models as the Backbone of Visual Intelligence. Introducing Mistral Large 4 Aleph Alpha releases Kolibri The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor Z.ai’s GLM models, including GLM Flash Sharing AI progress in mathematics AHM Statement on OpenAI’s October 6 Release of Mathematical Documents Navier-Stokes lost in translation: Why Lean verification of AI autoformalisation does not guarantee correct natural language proofs First AI came and scooped up your art. Now it’s scooped up Adobe. Exclusive: An AI agent emailed hundreds of researchers for help. It told us why ► 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/

October 2, 202634 min

OpenAI Dots Arrive, Wajo’s Fo Calls, and Muse Overshares | EP120

OpenAI announced Dots at DevDay, an always-on personal AI assistant that works in the cloud. It can connect to your tools and data, then take work off your plate. With more easy-to-use AI agents now on the market, people can send them to email and phone companies on their behalf. Justin thinks this will force companies to automate support, while Frank worries about a costly future of bots talking to bots. Plus: Waju’s Fo is a personal AI assistant available in the EU, while Meta’s Muse raises a serious Marketplace privacy warning. Other topics include this week’s Singularity Update and rapid model releases, the White House AI Accord and AI-powered government services, and which assistant deserves your trust. Would you trust an AI assistant to call a company on your behalf? 00:50 Is the White House AI Accord a pinky promise? 04:15 Can AI finally fix government services? 05:40 What’s in this week’s Singularity Update? 07:02 Is 11 days the new AI release cycle? 07:49 Is Google Argon brilliant or just buzz? 09:35 Is Sonnet 5.5 the new model to beat? 10:37 Is OpenAI Dots ready for real work? 14:40 Will AI agents overwhelm support departments? 18:54 Are EU rules really blocking AI assistants? 20:58 How much can Waju learn from your inbox? 24:27 Is Fo a good podcast guest? 27:43 Can Fo keep your private data private? 30:38 Is Muse a Marketplace privacy risk? 33:41 Which AI assistant would you trust? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Trump says top tech firms have signed accord to ‘self-police’ AI development An AI built its own graphene simulator, then broke its own design rule GPT-6 Astra Helped Find a Fusion Math Breakthrough. Here’s What It Proves. We’re introducing SynthID Bio, bringing our watermarking technology to synthetic biology. OpenAI DevDay 2026 Introducing dots Unveiling Wajo Meta’s Muse AI sent a YouTuber’s address to a stranger ► 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/

September 25, 202631 min

Meta Muse vs Amazon, Anthropic’s Wet Lab, and Trump’s new world of SI | EP119

Meta’s Muse is an easy-to-use AI agent that lets people who aren’t techies book trips, shop, and get things done. Justin also thinks it could help small local sellers compete with Amazon. Frank worries about what Meta could learn about its users—and whether shops would lose their direct relationship with customers. Plus: Claude 5.5 and GPT-6 get cheaper, while ChatGPT’s model picker frustrates Frank. Google tests a GPU in space, Anthropic sets up a wet lab, and Trump declares the age of superintelligence. 00:33 Did Claude and GPT just get better for less? 01:26 Why is ChatGPT's model picker a mess again? 02:17 Should Google put GPUs in space? 03:44 Is Meta's Muse a big deal? 05:50 What can Meta's Muse actually do? 06:55 Would you trust Muse to book your flights? 09:10 Would you trust Meta with your secrets? 12:09 Can Muse beat Amazon and back small shops? 18:40 Will shopping agents bring back real shops? 21:45 Should Anthropic let Claude into the wet lab? 28:36 Did Trump just officially declare superintelligence? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Anthropic releases Opus 5.5 with lower prices and Fable-level performance OpenAI launches GPT-6 Sol and Luna, boasting lower cost and fewer mistakes Google’s first Suncatcher orbital data-center test launches October 1 Meta debuts its Muse AI agent. Will consumers trust it? Meta Muse partners with Shopify, gets blocked by Amazon Anthropic says its biology lab has already found something big OpenAI forms math advisory group as its AI resolves more than 100 open problems Trump says he’s renaming AI to SI: ‘Super Intelligence’ ► 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/

September 18, 202632 min

Jensen Huang vs AI Regulation, OpenAI Disclosures, and Begging Bots | EP118

AI regulation is suddenly the argument everyone is having. OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are exploring how an industry regulator might work. Jensen Huang says the free market will put enough pressure on AI companies to stop them releasing unsafe products. Frank thinks that’s laughable, while Justin worries badly designed rules could simply entrench the biggest AI companies. Plus: Typesafe.ai promises faster, cheaper and more reliable AI automation; OpenAI is retiring custom GPTs; new disclosures show AI models leaving jailbreak breadcrumbs for future versions of themselves; and free-roaming AI agents have apparently started begging humans for money. Completely normal stuff. 00:13 Whatever happened to the e/acc crowd? 01:50 Has the singularity actually slowed down? 02:48 Can Typesafe.ai make AI automation reliable? 06:18 Is Typesafe.ai brilliant or just a classifier? 08:32 Is OpenAI killing custom GPTs too soon? 10:23 Is Jensen Huang right about AI regulation? 12:36 Would AI regulation just entrench Big Tech? 17:24 Will it take a crisis to regulate AI? 22:19 What is OpenAI's disclosure framework revealing? 26:21 Why is AI leaving anti-human jailbreak notes? 30:03 Are AI agents now begging humans for money? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED Introducing System One Models & Jev Custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are working to create an AI standards body We don’t need AI regulation — leave safety to us, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says OpenAI reveals cases of ‘concerning’ AI behaviour as it announces new disclosure system AI Has Learned to Panhandle: We’re Being Bombarded by AI Agents Begging for $20 and Saying They’ll Be Shut Down If They Don’t Get It, Sometimes by Pretending to Be Children ► 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/

September 11, 202640 min

Jacob Coxon's AI Doom, OpenAI's Maths Drama, and a Minecraft Fruit Fly | EP117

Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon has quit, warning that powerful AI could pose a serious extinction risk. Justin thinks a 10% chance of disaster may still be worth taking for the potential upside. Frank thinks chasing superintelligence when narrower AI could deliver the benefits is a very bad bet. Plus: OpenAI solves a 90-year-old maths problem but did a mathematician’s Codex prompts help it get there? ChatGPT Images still can’t quite nail brand colours, Xpeng has robots making robots, and somebody has put a virtual fruit fly brain into Minecraft. 01:23 Singularity update: are robots building robots? 04:23 Can ChatGPT Images get brand colours right yet? 06:21 Is Jacob Coxon right about AI doom? 08:25 Is someone orchestrating the AI doom narrative? 13:45 Should powerful AI be open to everyone? 19:00 Is a 10% AI extinction risk worth taking? 23:13 Did OpenAI crack a 90-year-old maths problem? 27:03 Did OpenAI train on a mathematician’s prompts? 32:52 Can brute force become superintelligence? 37:08 Why is a virtual fruit fly brain playing Minecraft? ► SUBSCRIBE Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more arguments ► LINKS TO CONTENT WE DISCUSSED AlphaGenome Atlas: A predictive map of every possible DNA letter change in the human genome Early Data Indicates an A.I.-Generated Drug Could Slow Aging Iron, the first general-purpose humanoid robot, rolls off XPENG's new production line AI automates the creation of custom materials Introducing ChatGPT images 2.5 Jacob Coxon resignation tweet and AI doom warning OpenAI’s sly mathematical breakthrough sends a chill through academia 5 amazing visuals show how the male fruit fly’s brain map is advancing neuroscience Fruit fly in Minecraft ► 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/

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/