Athlone man's new podcast seeks to demystify AI

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is an ever-growing influence on today's world but it remains a topic many of us know very little about.

Athlone native Ciarán O'Connor is trying to change that. He is the co-host of a new podcast, Enough About AI, which aims to help listeners navigate what can be a complicated or confusing topic.

The launch in 2022 of Chat GPT brought the subject of AI into the global spotlight, and resulted in increased debate about its potential to shake up society in benevolent or malevolent ways.

"It does seem as though AI is going to become a central part of how we all work, do business, or study," explained Ciarán.

"That could be with productivity tools, using it to grammar or copy check your emails, or automate responses to people via voice messages, and those kinds of things.

"But these tools, these AI models, are also going to be more common for how insurance companies, for example, create packages or tailor packages to different people.

"It does seem as though it's going to be highly transformative. I think the question is whether or not it'll be highly destructive as well."

Ciarán hosts Enough About AI alongside Dr Dónal Mulligan, an academic who teaches and studies communications, media and generative AI at DCU School of Communications.

The podcast was launched in early November and its episodes to date have discussed such subjects as the current status of AI, the technological developments that resulted in its creation, its potential to be used in spreading misinformation, and whether or not it could spell doom for humanity.

A description of the podcast said it aims to "leave listeners more confident and informed about this tech," while also providing entertaining details on the individuals and breakthroughs that have underpinned Artificial Intelligence’s development.

In his day job, Ciarán works as a senior analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an NGO that researches disinformation, hate and extremism online.

It was through this work that he became interested in how technology like generative AI could be used or misused to manipulate society and democracy.

As he said in the podcast's opening episode, "There's a potential that this could quickly become a bit of a Wild West scenario.

"The potential impact for generative AI in either producing or promoting misinformation is very real for myself and my colleagues, particularly during elections.”

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, he pointed out that, while Chat GPT brought AI to prominence, the technology itself has been with us for some time.

"Even the Netflix 'what to watch next' recommendations are AI, so there are all these different ways in which these systems are built into our daily lives.

"The podcast was really just a way of how to become more informed and try and share that information with others, in a way that's shareable and easy to digest."

He added that by raising awareness of how AI tools might be used ethically and responsibly, it could help people avoid making "some of the same mistakes that we as a society made with social media, in terms of giving away all of our personal data without realising the downstream consequences."

Ciarán is no stranger to podcast-making. In fact, earlier this year, he helped create the RTÉ podcast series The Forgotten, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

"I studied radio and audio originally in DCU years ago, so I always naturally come back to thinking of projects in an audio or radio format," he explained.

"I think there's a reason why Irish people are amongst the highest radio listeners or consumers in Europe or in the world, because we have an interest in stories, and people communicating these stories or these narratives.

"This podcast is a little bit different to the bombing one, for example, because that was very much speaking to a lot of different people, archival material, doing our own investigation, and putting it all together.

"This is a bit more conversational, a bit more informal.

"Dónal and I are sitting around a desk, and he really is the expert on all things AI, so I kind of keep prodding and poking at him, asking him to explain things and really trying to embody what the normal person on the street thinks about this, or what questions they might have."

While proud of his Athlone roots, Ciarán is no longer based in the Midlands. He is currently engaged to a Kerry woman and is living in Killarney. From there he works remotely for the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

"It's a very interesting job. It ebbs and flows depending on elections or different trends," he said.

"We're very busy looking at the elections, and trends or emerging narratives around false or misleading claims, candidates who are perhaps running on divisive or polarising platforms, how they're using social media, the reach of their message, and all that kind of stuff. So the day job is as busy as ever."

* 'Enough About AI', hosted by Ciarán O'Connor and Dr Dónal Mulligan is available now on all podcast platforms.