Welcome to The Immersive Lens - the show where emerging tech meets creativity, education, and real-world impact. Hosted by Paul Engin (Professor of New Media) and Dave Ghidiu (Professor of Computer Science) at Finger Lakes Community College, this podcast dives into the technologies and creative innovations reshaping how we live, work, and learn - from AI and augmented reality to the future of media, design, and learning.

Topics Covered:

As artificial intelligence rapidly transitions from cloud-based novelties to deeply integrated, everyday tools, understanding its trajectory has never been more crucial. In this episode, Paul and Dave dive into the "big idea" of localized and autonomous AI, unpacking how technologies like local Large Language Models (LLMs), AI-driven agency, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) are reshaping our digital interactions. From the semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup to the power of generating custom interfaces on the fly, this conversation highlights the real-world applications that are fundamentally changing the way we process information, secure data, and interact with both the physical and digital worlds.

Paul and Dave bring a balanced, tech-literate perspective to the table, examining both the incredible potential and the practical hurdles of these emerging systems. They debate the fascinating implications of running AI locally on our devices for better privacy and speed, while also cautioning against the vulnerabilities of social media AI bots being tricked into resetting passwords. Ultimately, their verdict is that the future of AI isn't just about massive cloud computing; it's about personalized, highly specialized, and accessible tools that empower individuals to control their own data and build custom workflows, fundamentally shifting the power dynamic from big tech to the everyday user.

Toy Story 5 Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c51ND9Hdbw0

Semi-automated offside technology - https://inside.fifa.com/innovation/innovating-the-game/semi-automated-offside-technology

Secret sensor hidden inside World Cup ball @cleoabram - https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZxct3VokWY/

NHL Hockey Puck - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoxTrax

Hackers likely hijacked over 20,000 Instagram accounts with Meta’s AI chatbot - https://www.theverge.com/tech/945658/meta-ai-support-chatbot-exploit-instagram-accounts

General AI vs Domain specific AI - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d_wPok9DcUY

Paul's Presentation (HTML) - https://www.flcc.ai/events/convening/2026/llm/local_llm_presentation.html

itty bitty site - https://itty.bitty.site/

NotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com/

NVIDIA DGX Spark - https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/products/workstations/dgx-spark/

Google AI Edge Gallery - https://developers.google.com/edge/gallery

LM Studio - https://lmstudio.ai/

Ollama - https://ollama.com/

Comfy - https://comfy.org/

Gemini Daily Brief - https://gemini.google.com/personalization-settings

Gemini Scheduled Actions - https://gemini.google.com/scheduled

Claude Co-work - https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-cowork

Microsoft Scout - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2026/06/02/introducing-microsoft-scout-your-always-on-personal-agent/

Hermes - https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/

Mentions: @Meta @instagram @Apple @Microsoft @Sephora @Google @Raspberry_Pi @OpenAI @Pixar

FLX AI Hub: https://www.flcc.edu/ai/

FLCC New Media: https://newmedia.csc.flcc.cloud/

#LocalLLM #NotebookLM #AIAgents #RAG #SportsTech #DataSovereignty #MachineLearning #TechNews #DataPrivacy #FutureOfWork #AI #EdTech #GenerativeAI #HigherEd #Podcast #FLCC #NewMedia #TechTrends #TechHistory #TheImmersiveLens

Recorded at Finger Lakes Community College in the heart of New York’s Finger Lakes region.

https://www.flcc.edu/

https://www.theimmersivelens.com/

Stay curious. Stay connected.

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