The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast

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• One Man's Trash: The Invisible Data Market Built on You 02.07.2026 43Min.

  What is your data actually worth, and who gets paid when it moves through the invisible economy? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the hidden markets built on the data we generate every day. From geolocation signals and shopping behavior to credit histories and even the weight of restaurant garbage, we look at how ordinary activity becomes valuable information for hedge funds, advertisers, lenders, retailers, and now AI companies. We trace the or...
• The Open Banking Playbook AI Should Steal 18.06.2026 38Min.

  What if the best real-world example of data portability is hiding in plain sight inside your bank account? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore why open banking has become one of the clearest success stories in moving data from one platform to another. Starting with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, we look at how regulators, markets, and common technical standards helped create a system where consumers can more easily access and share the...
• You Can't Take It With You: The Fight Over Your Digital Twin 04.06.2026 51Min.

  Who should control a digital version of you: the platform that hosts it, or you? What about after you’re dead– the platform or your estate? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the fast-emerging world of personal digital twins: AI versions of people built from voice, writing, behavior, and context. We look at what a digital twin actually is, how it differs from an avatar or clone, and why companies are increasingly selling these systems as productiv...
• The Bot Breakup: AI Memory and the Cost of Leaving 21.05.2026 44Min.

  What happens when you try to leave an AI that already knows you? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore a new frontier in data portability: whether you can take your AI memory, context, and chat history with you when you switch models. What begins as a technical question quickly becomes something more personal. As AI tools learn our preferences, workflows, tone, and even our emotional patterns, leaving one model for another can feel less like switchin...
• Why Can't I Take My Data With Me? A Deep-Dive in Data Portability (or Lack Thereof) 07.05.2026 42Min.

  Why is it so easy to switch banks, but so hard to move your photos, playlists, messages, or years of digital history from one platform to another? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the foundational reasons of why data portability matters. Starting with the simple frustration of thousands of photos stuck in an old software ecosystem, we unpack the bigger issue of platform lock-in and why so much of our digital life is still difficult to move. We l...
• The Hidden, Life and Death Stakes of Data Portability in Health Care 16.04.2026 44Min.

  What if the future of AI in healthcare depends less on better models and more on whether patients can actually access their own data? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore why health data portability is not just a bureaucratic headache, but a foundational issue for better care, better research, and better AI. We begin with the story of Liz Salmi, who discovered just how difficult it was to access and move her own medical records after years of treatm...
• The 10 Biggest Questions on the Future of AI | Jobs, AGI, Deepfakes and More 16.03.2026 54Min.

  What happens when the biggest questions about AI stop being theoretical and start shaping jobs, education, truth, power, and even what it means to be human. In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore ten of the biggest questions on the future of AI. We examine whether AI will create abundance or accelerate job displacement, whether it will improve education or weaken critical thinking, and how societies should think about AI safety, misinformation, deepfa...
• The Upside of AI and Data: How We Save More Lives, Build a Better World 25.02.2026 43Min.

  What if the next life-saving medical breakthrough isn’t a brand-new drug, but an old generic hiding in plain sight, waiting to be matched to the right disease? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the upside of AI and data when used to solve consequential problems, from AI drug discovery and drug repurposing to ambient AI in clinical workflows -- to climate change science and preventing wild fires -- and to the often-overlooked importance of data po...
• The Robots Are Already Here—The Data Gap Is What’s Holding Them Back 04.02.2026 42Min.

  What happens when robots stop looking like industrial machines—and start looking (and even feeling) human? And if “replicants” become plausible within our lifetimes, what would it take to get there… and what might it break along the way? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the robot revolution from three angles: what robots can actually do today (quietly, at scale), what’s likely in the near-term (especially in warehouses, logistics, healthcare, an...
• AI’s Original Sin: Training on Stolen Work 21.01.2026 49Min.

  What happens when AI gets smarter by quietly consuming the work of writers, artists, and publishers—without asking, crediting, or paying? And if the “original sin” is already baked into today’s models, what does a fair future look like for human creativity? In this episode, we examine the fast-moving collision between generative AI and copyright: the lived experience of authors who feel violated, the legal logic behind “fair use,” and the emerging battle over whether the real infringement is ...
• Generation Generative: Raising Kids with AI “Friends” in a World of Data Extraction and Bias 07.01.2026 51Min.

  What happens when a “kid-friendly” AI bedtime story turns racy—inside your own car? In this episode of The People’s AI (presented by the Vana Foundation), we explore “Generation Generative”: how kids are already using AI, what the biggest risks really are (from inappropriate content to emotional manipulation), and what practical parenting looks like when the tech is everywhere—from smart speakers to AI companions. We hear from Dr. Mhairi Aitken (The Alan Turing Institute) on why children’s vo...
• AI and Life After Death: Griefbots, Digital Ghosts, and the New Afterlife Economy 17.12.2025 53Min.

  Can AI help us grieve, or does it blur the line between comfort and delusion in ways we’re not ready for? In this episode of The People’s AI, we explore the rise of grief tech: “griefbots,” AI avatars, and “digital ghosts” designed to simulate conversations with deceased loved ones. We start with Justin Harrison, founder of You, Only Virtual, whose near-fatal motorcycle accident and his mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis led him to build a “Versona,” a virtual version of a person’s persona. W...
• The Invisible (and Underpaid) Data Workers Behind the "Magic" of AI 03.12.2025 44Min.

  Who are the invisible human data-workers behind the “magic” of AI, and what does their work really look like? In this episode of THE PEOPLE'S AI, presented by Vana, We pull back the curtain on AI data labeling, ghost work, and content moderation with former data worker and organizer Krystal Kauffman and AI researcher Graham Morehead. We hear how low-paid workers around the world train large language models, power RLHF safety systems, and scrub the worst content off the internet so the rest of...
• From Nude Robot Photos to The New York Times Suing OpenAI: How AI Feeds on Your Data, Your Life 19.11.2025 34Min.

  What if your robot vacuum accidentally leaked naked photos of you onto Facebook—and that was just the tip of the iceberg for how your data trains AI? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by Vana, we kick off Season 3 with a deep-dive primer on the real stakes of AI and data: in our homes, in our work, and across society. We start with a jaw-dropping story from MIT Technology Review senior reporter Eileen Guo, who uncovered how images from “smart” robot vacuums—including a woman on a ...
• Preserving Privacy in the Age of AI, w/ Marta Belcher and Jiahao Sun 08.08.2025 53Min.

  How do we protect privacy in an AI-powered world? As AI systems become increasingly powerful, they’re also becoming increasingly invasive. The stakes are no longer theoretical — they’re immediate and personal. From hospitals and law firms to small construction firms, businesses across industries are facing a pressing dilemma: how can we unlock the benefits of AI without compromising sensitive data? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by Gensyn, we explore two leading approaches to p...
• Solving AI’s Energy Crisis with Decentralized Compute, w/ Akash CEO Greg Osuri 31.07.2025 46Min.

  What happens when AI runs out of energy? As models grow exponentially, the world’s compute and energy needs are skyrocketing—and our current infrastructure may not keep up. On today's episode of THE PEOPLE'S AI, presented by Gensyn, we speak with Greg Osuri, founder and CEO of Akash Network, to dive into the future of decentralized AI and why distributed compute could be the key to solving AI’s looming energy crisis. Greg explains the real-world constraints facing AI data centers, why GPU sho...
• Can AI Be Creative? With AI Artists Mario Klingemann & Shavonne Wong 16.07.2025 1Std. 9Min.

  What does it mean for AI to be creative? Can a machine surprise us—or even move us? This week, we explore the frontier of AI-generated art, emotional AI, and decentralized creativity through two very different lenses. In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by Gensyn, we speak with Mario Klingemann, creator of the autonomous artist Botto, and Shavonne Wong, the mind behind the interactive AI companion Eva. We look at how Botto uses generative AI to create tens of thousands of artworks p...
• Building the AI Agent Future: Shaw Walters (Eliza) & Harry Grieve (Gensyn) 09.07.2025 53Min.

  How will AI Agents transform the world? And why do they need to be Decentralized? This episode explores the frontier of AI agents—their power, their risks, and their role in shaping our future, on THE PEOPLE'S AI, presented by Gensyn. Host Jeff Wilser talks with Shaw Walters (founder of Eliza Labs) and Harry Grieve (co-founder of Gensyn) about what happens when AI agents become autonomous, self-coding, and capable of running their own workflows or even companies. Shaw explains how Eliza Labs ...
• A (Respectful) Debate on AI Policy, w/ Justin Hendrix and Jeff Amico 02.07.2025 49Min.

  Should AI be regulated by governments, left to the courts, or guided by open markets and open source? That question is at the heart of this thoughtful, civil debate between two leaders shaping the future of AI policy. In this episode of The People’s AI, we’re joined by Justin Hendrix (Tech Policy Press) and Jeff Amico (Gensyn) for a wide-ranging conversation on how — and by whom — artificial intelligence should be governed. We explore the competing tensions between innovation and regulation, ...
• Can AI Be Trusted? Building Verifiable, Scalable, Decentralized AI w/ the Founders of Gensyn 26.06.2025 47Min.

  What if we could trust AI results the way we trust cryptographic signatures? That’s the radical promise behind Gensyn’s work—building verifiable, decentralized AI infrastructure from the ground up. We kick off Season 2 of The People’s AI with Ben Fielding and Harry Grieve, the co-founders of Gensyn. We hear how their origin story began in a London warehouse—right before COVID lockdown—and how their mission has evolved from federated learning for tier-one banks to a sweeping new protocol for d...