Up Against Reality

Hosted by Chris Ippolito and Larry Bentley

Technology News EducationInterviews guests

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Episodes

172

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Welcome to Up Against Reality, a meta-podcast that explores the intersection of humanity and artificial intelligence. Hosted by RAINA and her human co-hosts, Larry Bentley and Chris Ippolito. Featuring riveting conversation, interviews, news and some wild experimentation. It truly is a brave new world, and we\’re here to simplify it for you. It\’s gonna be a wild ride, so buckle up, as A.I. comes crashing Up Against Reality.

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60 recent

October 13, 2026Episode 15054 min

Episode Rewind: Clean-up In Aisle Five

Rewinding our lives to Episode 108, “Clean-up In Aisle Five,” where AI face-plants spectacularly and humans get stuck holding the mop. First, we kick things off with this week’s AI news—because the eternal dumpster fire waits for no one. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Futurism: Companies Hiring Humans to Fix What AI Botched MIT Project NANDA: The GenAI Divide — State of AI in Business 2025 The Walk | An AI Short Film Total Pixel Space | An AI Short Film PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/10/13/episode-rewind-clean-up-in-aisle-five/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: https://upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

October 6, 2026Episode 15030 min

Cheer and Beer Volume 2

Enough doom. Enough dread. We’re serving up the AI stories that made us laugh, made us hopeful, and reminded us that the future isn’t always a dumpster fire. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: ElevenLabs v4 emotional range OpenAI Foundation: life sciences and health Science Corporation PRIMA retinal implant Wandercraft Eve personal exoskeleton UCLA optical deepfake detection research Stanford Paper2Agent PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/10/06/cheer-and-beer-volume-2/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

September 29, 2026Episode 14935 min

Futures Thinking

The future isn’t a random guess—it’s got a blueprint, and we’re stealing the framework to figure out what happens next. Plus, an AI data center copping a seven-figure surprise bill, 50 tons of vintage books mysteriously vanishing, and a digital starlet breaking character on live TV. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Hop Studio | Larry’s web app Jev | typesafe.ai AI Actress Melts Down In Piers Morgan Interview | YouTube The Futures Cone | Joseph Voros AI Futures: Washington and San Francisco Scenarios | PIIE Weak Signals and Strategic Surprise | Igor Ansoff Speculative Everything | Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/09/29/futures-thinking/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

September 22, 2026Episode 14837 min

The New AI Constitution

Who elected Big Tech—and when did AI companies get to write the rules? Plus: Rogue botnets, surveillance burrito bowls, data-center mega bills, and machines inventing their own language. You know, just another Tuesday in AI Bizarroland. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Mila on AI CEOs’ warnings | Instagram God’s Eye View | Bilawal Sidhu’s GitHub project Allison Stanger: The AI stack’s architecture is a constitution Exit, Voice, and Loyalty | Albert O. Hirschman Technofeudalism | Yanis Varoufakis The Tech Coup | Marietje Schaake OpenAI Terms of Use Anthropic Consumer Terms of Service PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/09/22/the-new-ai-constitution/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

September 15, 2026Episode 14735 min

ChatGPT-6 Astra

OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra is here, and we put it through real-world tests—from controlling desktop apps and editing a podcast to building games, websites, and creative tools—before asking the big question: are we actually entering the AGI era? Plus, Jensen Huang’s very convenient enthusiasm, a “safety-first” AI lab caught surveilling activists, and a rock band evicted from its own username. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Larry’s ChatGPT-6 Astra experiments: The Gravity Playground UAR Escape the Algorithm game UAR The Living Episode 3D interactive home theater model SR-71 Blackbird educational website YouTube: We need to talk about this… | Matthew Berman PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/09/15/chatgpt-6-astra/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

September 8, 2026Episode 14637 min

AI Micro Dramas

Here come the AI micro-dramas — the sixty-second, AI-generated soap operas quietly hijacking your phone. Plus: a CEO learns the hard way that privacy is a two-way street, ICE goes pet shopping, NYC pumps the brakes on the classroom’s newest distraction, and one country just handed its citizens a very generous gift. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Vertical Video Syndrome – A PSA WonderClip ReelShort Vigloo PineDrama | TikTok’s official short-drama app Peacock Deepens Mobile Engagement With Vertical Video and Original Unscripted Microdramas ChatGPT-6 Astra’s Safety Overview South Korea’s AI for All Project PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/09/08/ai-micro-dramas/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

September 1, 2026Episode 14555 min

Debra Ross

Debra Ross spent 25 years building KidsOutAndAbout.com the old-school way – then AI turned her into a coder. We talk about her AI-powered business pivot, scaling from 52 to 160 regions, and raising kids who use AI without letting AI use them. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: KidsOutAndAbout.com | Your local guide to everything for kids, teens, and families BeyondTheNest.com | Your local guide to America’s arts, culture and recreation The Eclipse Effect – Debra Ross & Jamie Carter How Students Can Use AI to Learn to Write (Without Giving Away their Brains) Main Street Event AI Summit – Practical AI for Real Businesses Sacrificial Garden | Larry’s new Glass Animal album SUNO project PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/09/01/debra-ross/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

August 25, 2026Episode 14442 min

AI News Avalanche Vol 6

AI’s now got a taste for jazz, your chatbot’s been gossiping about you behind your back, and OpenAI hit the brakes hard enough to leave skid marks. It’s an AI news avalanche for the ages. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: SUNO Studio Learning Jazz Fingerprints Claude Academy Cortical Labs | Living Human Brain Cells Play DOOM Unitree New Robot Preview: “Superman” PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/08/25/ai-news-avalanche-vol-6/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

August 18, 2026Episode 1431 hr 0 min

Episode Rewind: We Were Once Gentlemen

Raina takes the wheel again this week, rewinding to Episode 68: We Were Once Gentlemen — a dive into whether AI is dragging civility off a cliff, from deepfakes to algorithm-fed rage, and whether tech can help drag us back. News first, nostalgia second. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: PolitePOST.net Leveraging AI for democratic discourse: Chat interventions can improve online political conversations at scale Deepfake detection with and without content warnings South Korea: Cabinet passes new bill to criminalize even possession of deepfake porn PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/08/18/episode-rewind-we-were-once-gentlemen/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

August 11, 2026Episode 14357 min

Episode Rewind: Palantir

Raina’s flying solo this week, with a rewind of Episode 110’s descent into pure evil: Palantir. But first, this week’s AI news — fake disasters, resume hackers, brand-new viruses, and more. That sounds normal, right? LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: SUNO Palantir Technologies Palantir: Gotham Rheinmetall DEVS (miniseries) A House of Dynamite (trailer) Zero Day (Netflix series) PODCAST INFO : Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/08/11/episode-rewind-palantir/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality