Podcast
Married to the Machine: Living with AI
Everywhere you look right now, people are whispering (or shouting) about AI—sometimes like it’s the future of humanity, sometimes like it’s the end of the world. Stephanie Power, a journalist with a nose for a story, and David Reid, a professor who has been working in this field for a really long time, are here to cut through the noise. Together , they’ll explore how AI is already changing our lives, answering your questions, and considering what it all means for our jobs, our planet, and—yes—our politicians. Did we mention we are married? Think thoughtful chat without the jargon, Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy meets Tomorrow's World, aimed at Gen X and Millennial listeners who want the inside track. It’s smart, it’s curious, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. WARNING: There may be bickering. Email us at married2themachine@gmail.com
- Episodes
- 18
- Releases
- Every two weeks
- Typical length
- 30 min
- On air since
- 2025
- Latest episode
- 1 month ago
Episodes
18 episodes, from the first
Season 1
-
6 min
Why are we making this? Trailer
Episode 1
Show notes
Intro taster episode for new series answering your questions on Artificial Intelligence
Presented by Stephanie Power and David Reid, Professor, Artificial Intelligence and Spatial Computing
Recorded and edited by Stephanie Power
Sound design by Matt Power
Thanks to BBC Sound Archive and IBM for sound effects. And Gemini 2.5 for our third presenter, the AI
-
19 min
How Did We Get Here?
Episode 2
Show notes
Presenters: Stephanie Power and Professor David Reid
Recording and Mixing: Stephanie Power
Music and sound design: Matt Power
Thanks to the BBC Sound Effects Archive
This podcast is in proof-of-concept stage and is currently non-commercial.
Clip credits: Boys From The Blackstuff, BBC, 1982
BBC News Margaret Thatcher, 'No, No, No' House of Commons 1990
Sinclair ZX80 advert
-
30 min
How many Rs in Strawberry?
Episode 3
Show notes
AI actors, politicians, hallucinations and how schoolkids could work with large language models (without cheating)
Presented by Stephanie Power and Professor David Reid
Concept, recording, and editing: Stephanie Power
Sound design and music composition: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
Credits:
Particle 6, AI Comedy Sketch, BBC Sound Effects Archive, Mark Sewards MP (AI Assistant) Neural Voice, The AI Guy created by Google Gemini TTS, BBC Newsnight - Michael Howard and Jeremy Paxman (1997), Salman Khan: Brave New Words - How AI Will Revolutionize Education (And Why That's A Good Thing) Allen Lane.
-
29 min
Backroom boys and girls
Episode 4
Show notes
Married To The Machine looks at how AI is impacting you in the real world. Designed for GenX listeners - those who need to know about AI, especially at work, this episode looks at the UK/US tech prosperity deal, the environmental impact of data centres - how much drinking water do you use posting those pics of your dog with human teeth? One listener asks if AI will take all creative jobs, and a mutiny is in the offing, with the AI presenters, even though they only started this week!
Music, sound design and jokes by Matt Power
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Thanks to Eddie Mair for the Pepsi question
BBC Sound Archive
This is a non-commercial news podcast.
-
30 min
Are We There Yet, Hal?
Episode 5
Show notes
Professor David Reid, Stephanie Power and the AI Guy discuss scraping authors' creative works to train machines. With a new feature, 'Professor Dave Predicts' we talk about how far we are from AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, which is when AI can do EVERYTHING we can.
Concept, recording and editing: Stephanie Power
Sound design and jokes: Matt Power
Power Productions Ltd
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
Credits: BBC Sound Effects Archive. AI Guy created by Google Gemini TTS.
-
34 min
You're Not My Daughter, You're An AI
Episode 6
Show notes
AI Workslop is costing businesses thousands, according to a report by Stanford University and Better Up. We explain what workslop is. And Prof Dave gives us an idiot's guide to deepfakes.
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
recording and editing: Stephanie Power
sound design and jokes: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a new podcast, in proof-of-concept phase.
Thanks to:
Nationwide Building Society for use of their ad, RTE, Better Up, BBC Sound Archive, Jordan Peele
https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2025/1026/1540488-deep-fake-concerns/
-
34 min
Artificialis Intelligentsia: Prof Dave's Vision for AI In Schools
Episode 7
Show notes
The Department for Education has comissioned a review into the schools curriculum. But have they done enough on AI? The Prof thinks not.
And we try to work out what AI the Ministry of Justice is planning to use to stop prisoners going AWOL.
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording and Editing: Stephanie Power
Sound Design and Jokes: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, in proof-of-concept phase.
Further reading:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report
https://research.google/blog/introducing-nested-learning-a-new-ml-paradigm-for-continual-learning/
-
25 min
Bad Vibes
Episode 8
Show notes
Vibe Coding was the Collins Dictionary 2025 'word' of the year. But what is it? Who coined the phrase? And what are the pitfalls of using vibe coding for digital creation?
In this bonus episode, we answer all those questions, and wonder if the former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police understands what AI is.
Further reading:
https://blog.tenzai.com/bad-vibes-comparing-the-secure-coding-capabilities-of-popular-coding-agents/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/beginner-vibe-coding-apps-cursor-replit-hands-on/
Academic paper from Massey University, NZ; Wuhan University, China; Polytechnique Montreal, Canada: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05239
The 70 30 problem explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvZGJVAZwr0&t=271s
Andrej Kaparthy Vibe Coding Tweet: https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383?lang=en
The paper that suggests vibe coding slows developers down, METR: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.09089
An alternative viewpoint:
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power
Music and additional material: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI, is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
Credits: BT advert 'Ology' 1988, The IT Crowd 'The Internet Is Coming' Retort for Channel 4, 2013
-
38 min
What Is This Thing, Moltbook?
Episode 9
Show notes
Something kicked off in late January. Moltbook - a social space for AI agents. Somewhere humans could, apparently, only observe. Is it really sci-fi adjacent? Prof Dave explains what appears to be going on.
And we talk to the Leader of Barnsley Council, as it is crowned the UK's first Tech Town.
Further reading:
https://hai.stanford.edu/policy/simulating-human-behavior-with-ai-agents
https://theconversation.com/uk
bbc.com/news/articles/c8j3dvjld94o
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/liz-kendalls-speech-at-bloomberg
Credit: Unison Ants and Bear ad: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2004/10/unison-kicks-off-one-in-a-million-recruitment-drive/
Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio.
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power
Music and additional material: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI, is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. it is a non-commercial entity.
-
29 min
Searching For Green AI
Episode 10
Show notes
Is it possible to measure how much energy, water and emissions are used to power your AI searches? Can you trust an academic report from Google? And why is the US Department of Defense getting into a row with Dario Amodei's Anthropic
Further reading:
https://arxiv.org/html/2508.15734v1
Some of our sketch voices and the AI Guy are created using Google AI Studio.
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power
Music and additional material: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof-of-concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
-
3 min
Anthropic vs The Pentagon: A Fight Over AI Guardrails Trailer
Episode 11
Show notes
Anthropic has signed a deal, worth millions, with the US Department of Defense. But now Anthropic wants to impose red lines on the use of its AI. The response from President Trump? They're just a bunch of leftwing nutjobs.
In episode nine, we imagine a 'liberal elite' AI trying to negotiate with an angry Government department that's just renamed itself the Department Of War.
Are we in an AI existential crisis?
Sketch written by Matt Power
#AI #AIsafety
-
27 min
Inside The Misinformation Machine
Episode 11
Show notes
In a departure from our usual style, we have devoted this episode to an interview with Sam Stockwell, Senior Researcher at the Turing Institute.
He talks about the work of the Institute and a report they have recently written about how AI is used to spread misinformation after crisis events, like the Southport attacks.
Futher reading: https://www.turing.ac.uk/news/new-report-calls-urgent-action-tackle-ai-information-threats-following-crisis-events
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording, editing and mixing: Stephanie Power
Music: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
-
24 min
Inform, Educate, and Entertain: Reith 2.0
Episode 12
Show notes
Who remembers the BBC's Computer Literacy Project from the 1980s?
It was created to help prepare people in the UK for the massive and widespread adoption of computers.
And here we are, looking at the massive and widespread adoption of AI.
Professor Dave has had a brilliant idea, and we are asking the BBC's new Director General, to consider it. Reith 2.0 - a large language model, made by a trusted institution, to equip the UK population with the right AI skills for the future.
Further reading: Susbstack report. and any coverage
https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/history
Presenters: Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
Recording, editing and mixing by Stephanie Power
Music and additional material: Matt Power
Married To The Machine: Living With AI is a news podcast, currently in proof of concept stage. It is a non-commercial entity.
BBC Microcomputer Commercial: The Crowded Room from 1984, Directed by Terry Lovelock
BBC Archive. Ceefax: A Communications Revolution 1975 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICoj8mxG0ww&t=1s
Thanks to Mumsnet for permission to use part of the Rachel Reeves interview. https://www.mumsnet.com/i/rachel-reeves-mumsnet-asks
-
28 min
AI May Take Our Jobs, But It Will Never Take Our Chocolate
Episode 13
Show notes
Professor Dave and Stephanie spend a couple of days at the CIPD (Chartered Institute Of Personnel and Development) Future of Work Festival. We talk to festival goers, Giovanni Luperti, the founder of Humaans, and David D'Souza, Director of Profession at CIPD, and we get our headshots done!
Recording and mixing by Stephanie Power
Music by Matt Power
-
43 min
Electric Dreams: In Conversation With Eugene Evans
Episode 14
Show notes
When we first started this podcast, I asked Prof Dave how, growing up in 1970s Toxteth and at a school that didn't even offer O levels, he'd got into computing in the first place.
He said it was through computing magazines, but also because of a growing gaming industry in Liverpool.
We found one of those games makers, Eugene Evans. And he agreed to talk to us.
You know the history of Liverpool and football, Liverpool and music. But this story about a group of young men and boys making games and money (for a while at least) in the 80s, is not so often told.
Special thanks to the National Video Game Museum in Sheffield, for supporting this episode.
Recording and editing by Stephanie Power
Music and mixing by Matt Power
Further reading: Replay by Tristan Donovan
Further viewing: Commercial Breaks: The Battle For Santa's Software (BBC 1984)
An audio cue sheet is available on request.
-
34 min
Lights, Camera, Algorithm?
Episode 15
Show notes
In Autumn 2025, a TV production company called Particle 6, caused a bit of a storm by launching Tilly Norwood into the world. Young, attractive, eloquent? Tilly could be the acting world’s hot new thing. Tilly is an AI, and the industry wasn’t happy.
Prof Dave and `Steph meet Eline van der Velden, the creator of Tilly Norwood, to find out what it was like dealing with that reaction, where the TV and film industry is heading, and what the plans are for Tilly and the 'Tillyverse' now.
Recording and editing by Stephanie Power
Theme music by Matt Power
Tilly Norwood Take The Lead, Particle 6 Productions: https://youtu.be/G7V2Biy3omw?si=56Yqls85TQeHIJJU
-
37 min
Bobbi: Policing's New AI Assistant
Episode 16
Show notes
This is the last episode in our first season of Married To The Machine, and for it, we have been speaking to Tom Boyd at Thames Valley Police, about a world first. An AI powered chatbot called Bobbi (see what they've done there).
Our dramatic scene is taken from a real text exchange with AI Bobbi.
This series is created and produced by Stephanie Power
Music and scenes by Matt Power
Presented by Professor David Reid and Stephanie Power
-
34 min
AI on the agenda: A day at Labour Conference
Episode 17
Show notes
Professor Dave and Steph spend a day at Labour Party Conference, to find out what people are saying about AI.
Interviews with Social Market Foundation, Tony Blair Institute, Oxford Dynamics and the TUC.
Recording, editing and mixing by Stephanie Power
Music composed by Matt Power
Tech News lists
More Tech News shows picked out from the charts
More in Tech News
Placed highest on Apple Podcasts' Tech News chart right now
