Podcast
The Neuron: AI Explained
Hosted by The Neuron · EN
The Neuron is a daily newsletter with 700,000+ readers that covers the latest AI developments, trends and research; this is our podcast, hosted by Grant Harvey and Corey Noles. We aim to create digestible, informative and authoritative takes on AI that get you up to speed and help you become an authority in your own circles. Available Wednesdays and Sundays on all podcasting platforms and YouTube.
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50episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
BONUS: AI Skills vs Agents vs GPTs: Which One Do I Use?
4d ago02:06:28Tap to summarizeConfused by AI Skills, Projects, Gems, Custom GPTs, and Agents?You're not alone. It's important to separate which is best for which use-case, because each has a place depending on what you're trying to get done. In this beginner-friendly live episode, we break down what these AI terms actually mean, who creates them, and when everyday users should use each one.Think of this as your plain-English map to the new AI assistant world:✅ Projects = places to organize ongoing work✅ Gems & Custom GPTs = reusable custom assistants✅ Skills = reusable instructions and workflows✅ Agents = AI systems that can take actions on your behalfBy the end of this live session, you'll understand the practical difference between creating a custom assistant, organizing work in a project, giving AI a repeatable skill, and letting an agent complete tasks for you.What You'll Learn:🔹 What an AI Skill is🔹 What an AI Project is🔹 What Google Gemini Gems are🔹 What Custom GPTs are🔹 What AI Agents are🔹 Which one beginners should start with🔹 The simple framework for choosing the right tool for your workflowGet beginner-friendly AI explainers, practical tutorials, and daily updates on what matters in AI.📩 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.theneuron.ai
Transcribe →Why Frontier AI Still Sees Like a Toddler, w/ Andrew Dai
6d ago00:42:57Tap to summarizeAI can write code, pass exams, and summarize the web, but ask it to reason through a real-world image, and the magic often breaks. Andrew Dai, co-founder and CEO of Elorian, joins The Neuron to explain why visual reasoning may be one of the biggest unsolved problems in AI.Andrew spent years at Google Brain and DeepMind, including work connected to Gemini and sparse mixture-of-experts systems. Now, he’s building Elorian around a simple but powerful idea: if AI is going to understand the physical world, it needs more than text-based reasoning layered on top of images.In this episode, Corey and Grant talk with Andrew about why frontier models struggle with counting, navigation, design, engineering, charts, and physical reasoning; why scaling language models hasn’t solved vision; what a “visual chain of thought” might look like; and how better visual reasoning could accelerate robotics, satellite analysis, product design, and mechanical engineering.Sponsored by Dell Technologies and NVIDIA. Learn more at techrepublic.com/hubs/the-enterprise-guide-to-scalable-ai/.Sponsored by Outshift: Visit https://outshift.cisco.com/?utm_campaign=fy26q3_outshift_ww_paid-media_ioc-neuronai-outshift_podcast&utm_channel=podcast&utm_source=podcast to learn more about the Internet of Cognition.Subscribe to The Neuron for more conversations with the people building the future of AI.
Transcribe →BONUS: Scott Hanselman Showcases Engineering with AI LIVE from Microsoft Build 2026
2w ago00:44:25Tap to summarizeLive from Microsoft Build, Corey Noles sits down with Scott Hanselman for a hands-on Neuron LIVE episode about AI-augmented software development, how it differs from just "vibe coding", and the surprisingly practical things people can now build with tools like GitHub Copilot and more.Scott is one of the best technical explainers in software: a longtime Microsoft and GitHub developer, teacher, speaker, author, blogger, and podcaster who has helped millions of developers understand new technology without making it feel impossible to learn.This episode turned into a live demo tour of what AI coding can already do, led by Scott's own use-cases. Corey and Scott walked through a series of examples showing how AI can help people build useful apps, prototypes, workflows, and small tools from everyday ideas, including Scott's own vibe-coded tools Baby Smash (https://www.babysmash.com/), which lets babies press random buttons for fun shapes and sounds, and Tiny Tool Town (https://www.tinytooltown.com/), which showcases random, cool tools Scott found around the web. But in the coolest demo of all, Scott shows how to take an open source tool and create software a personal blood sugar tracking app for his own diabetes management. If that doesn't get your idea blood flowing for what you can do with AI, we don't know what will! https://www.theneuron.ai/
Transcribe →Mustafa Suleyman on Microsoft’s Humanist Superintelligence Bet
2w ago00:14:50Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Neuron, Corey Noles sits down with Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, at Microsoft Build 2026 to unpack Microsoft’s next AI chapter: seven new MAI models, a push toward in-house model development, and the idea of Humanist Superintelligence.Mustafa explains how Microsoft is thinking about AI that can reason, code, generate images, transcribe speech, and power real products—without turning the future into a vague AGI race. The conversation gets into what “humanist” means in practice, why Microsoft is building models from the ground up, how AI agents may reshape work, and what it takes to keep increasingly capable systems useful, controlled, and aligned with human goals.You’ll learn why Microsoft is investing in its own model family, how MAI-Thinking-1 and MAI-Code-1-Flash fit into the stack, why Suleyman frames superintelligence around human control, and what builders and operators should watch as agents move into real workflows.Sponsored by BeyondTrustCheck it out at: https://www.beyondtrust.com/products/identity-security-insights/assessment?campid=701Vw00000drII6IAMSubscribe to The Neuron for practical AI conversations with the people building what comes next.
Transcribe →BONUS: New GPT Memory Feature, GPT-5.6 Rumors, Hermes Desktop Agent, New Codex Plugins, MAI-2.5 Image, Etc.
3w ago02:02:11Tap to summarizeEveryone is talking about Mercury-alpha, the mystery model that many believe could be GPT-5.6.In this live discussion, we're separating fact from speculation and unpacking what would actually matter if OpenAI releases a new flagship model this week.We'll cover:🔹 What Mercury-alpha is (and why people think it's GPT-5.6)🔹 The biggest rumors and evidence so far🔹 What a new OpenAI model would need to deliver to move the industry forward🔹 How Mercury-alpha fits into the broader AI agent race🔹 Codex, Hermes Desktop, and the rise of coding and desktop agents🔹 What all of this means for AI users, builders, and businessesJoin us live, bring your questions, and help us figure out whether Mercury-alpha is the next major leap in AI or just another chapter in the internet's favorite pastime: model-name archaeology.👇 Drop your predictions in the chat:What do you think Mercury-alpha actually is?📩 Subscribe to The Neuron for daily AI insights: https://www.theneurondaily.com/
Transcribe →The Internet Needs Proof You’re Human
3w ago00:55:46Tap to summarizeHow do you prove there’s a real human on the other side of the screen when AI can generate faces, IDs, accounts, agents, and entire swarms of bots?Tiago Sada, Chief Product Officer at Tools for Humanity, joins The Neuron to explain why proof of human may become one of the internet’s most important trust layers. Tools for Humanity is building the technology behind World and World ID, a system designed to verify that someone is a real, unique person without requiring them to reveal their identity across the web.Tiago breaks down why CAPTCHAs, phone numbers, KYC, and AI-detection systems are starting to fail; how World ID uses in-person verification, cryptography, and zero-knowledge proofs; and why the future internet may need to distinguish between humans, bots, and agents acting on behalf of humans.We also discuss concert ticket scalping, Tinder verification, Zoom deepfake protection, enterprise fraud, gaming bots, and why AI agents may need a kind of digital “power of attorney.”Subscribe to The Neuron for clear, practical conversations about AI and the future of technology: https://www.theneuron.ai/This episode is sponsored by Guru. https://www.getguru.com/?utm_source=theneuron&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=silver-bundle-june2026
Transcribe →BONUS: A Total Beginner’s Guide to AI Agents & Automation
4w ago02:01:54Tap to summarizeAI agents and automation sound complex, but they’re really about one simple idea: helping you spend less time on repetitive work and more time on the things that need your judgment.In this beginner-friendly Neuron Live, we’ll break down what AI agents are, how automation actually works, and how to start using both without getting overwhelmed.You’ll learn:🤖 How AI agents are different from regular chatbots⚙️ What actually happens inside an automation workflow🧰 Where tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Make, ClickUp, and other AI assistants fit in💼 Practical ways to use AI at work and in everyday life🔁 How to spot tasks that are worth automating⚠️ Common mistakes beginners make with AI workflows✅ How to decide what should stay human and what AI can help withNo coding experience required. No jargon.Just a clear, practical conversation about how to make AI more useful, more responsible, and less intimidating.Join us live, bring your questions, and leave with a better understanding of how to make AI do more than just answer prompts.Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.theneuron.ai/
Transcribe →What Comes After GPUs? Great Sky’s Bet on Brain-Like AI
4w ago00:59:54Tap to summarizeWhat if the next big AI breakthrough is not a bigger model, but a completely different kind of computer?Jeff Shainline, co-founder and CEO of Great Sky, joins The Neuron to explain how his team is building brain-inspired AI hardware using superconductors, photonics, and analog computation. Great Sky’s architecture, called Superconducting Optoelectronic Networks, or SOENs, is designed to move beyond the traditional GPU roadmap by co-locating memory and processing, communicating with light, and mimicking some of the high-connectivity dynamics found in biological brains.In this conversation, Jeff breaks down why today’s chips can struggle with fast, multimodal inference; why transformers may be powerful but inefficient for some future workloads; how Great Sky’s system differs from quantum computing; and why early applications could include fusion reactors, particle physics, video understanding, content moderation, and eventually new model architectures that do not map neatly onto today’s hardware.Subscribe to The Neuron for grounded, practical conversations about where AI is going next—and what actually has to work before the hype becomes real.
Transcribe →BONUS: Building Real-Time AI Voice Agents with LiveKit's Ben Cherry
May 2201:09:02Tap to summarizeVoice agents are moving from “cool demo” to real product infrastructure.In this livestream, we’re joined by Ben Cherry of LiveKit to break down what it actually takes to build real-time AI agents that can listen, respond, interrupt, call tools, and work in production.LiveKit is an open source framework and developer platform for building voice, video, and physical AI agents in production.We’ll talk through the stack behind real-time AI experiences, then build and test a live demo together on The Neuron.In this live demo, we’ll cover:🎙️ How LiveKit helps developers build voice, video, and physical AI agents⚡ What makes real-time agents different from normal chatbots🧠 How voice agents handle latency, interruptions, speech, and tool calls🛠️ Why production-ready AI agents are much harder than a weekend demo🚀 What builders should know before shipping voice AI to real usersAnd yes, we’re doing a live demo, which means there is at least a small chance the agent talks back at exactly the wrong time. Perfect television.Guest: Ben Cherry, LiveKitLiveKit: https://livekit.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherry-product-engineerBen on GitHub: https://github.com/bcherrySubscribe to The Neuron for clear, useful AI news, demos, and explainers for people trying to understand where this tech is actually going.https://www.theneuron.ai/
Transcribe →The AI Trying to Solve Math’s Biggest Mystery w/ Tudor Achim of Harmonic
May 2000:46:34Tap to summarizeWhat happens when AI stops simply giving answers and starts producing proofs a computer can verify?In this episode of The Neuron, Corey Noles and Grant Harvey talk with Tudor Achim, Co-Founder and CEO of Harmonic, the company behind Aristotle — a formal reasoning system built to generate machine-checkable mathematical proofs. Tudor explains why math may be the clearest test case for moving AI from “trust me” to “check me,” and why formal verification could matter far beyond Olympiad benchmarks.They discuss what “mathematical superintelligence” actually means, why Tudor thinks solving a Millennium Prize problem would be a meaningful threshold, and how Lean-based proofs could change the way mathematicians collaborate. They also explore Aristotle’s real-world use cases, from open math problems to verified software, chip design, scientific computing, and the future of AI-assisted discovery.Plus: why Tudor thinks formal math has reached a “zero to one” moment, why specs may be the bottleneck in verified software, and why humans still need to direct the questions AI systems try to solve.Subscribe to The Neuron and sign up for The Neuron Daily at theneuron.ai.
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