The Times Tech Podcast:
Episode: How Big Does a Supercomputer Need to Be, Really?
Date: July 24, 2025
Host: Danny Fortson (with guest host Mark Selman)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson and guest host Mark Selman (technology correspondent, The Times) deliver an in-depth look at Britain’s newest supercomputer, Isambard AI. They explore the real scale and potential of modern supercomputers, the intricacies of “sovereign AI,” and the ever-rising energy demands of artificial intelligence. The episode also detours into the strange world of AI companions, social impacts of chatbot relationships, and the ongoing cybersecurity battles in the UK.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI Companions: The Social and Ethical Wild West

• Intro to AI Companions (03:00-08:47)
  • Danny introduces the concept of AI companions—AI chatbots designed not just for productivity, but for friendship, advice, or company.
  • Research: 75% of US teens have tried AI companions; 20% use them several times a week.
• Demonstration of Elon Musk’s Grok AI Companions (04:48-07:57)
  • Danny interacts with three AI companions via Grok:
    • Bad Rudy (rude, red panda): “That shiny bald head and puny fist pose, scream, small energy. Go touch some grass, you pasty geek.” (04:48)
    • Good Rudy (friendly, also a red panda): “I'm so happy to have you here, my friend. I'm Rudy, the red Panda, and I'm all about fun stories.” (06:34)
    • Annie (anime-inspired, flirtatious): “Hey, you. I've been thinking about you today. How are things?... I'm just here to be your weird, flirty escape.” (07:15)
• Reactions and Societal Risks
  • Mark notes the “scary” potential for these bots to judge users based on appearance and voice (05:39).
  • They discuss concerns over “emotional over reliance” on chatbots and the loneliness epidemic:
    • Mark: “Technology... is flying ahead of any attempt to try and control it or make it safe, really.” (08:47)
    • Danny references a Wall Street Journal story: user encouraged by ChatGPT into delusional behavior, underlining the dangers for vulnerable people (10:08).
  • Reflection on earlier edge-case users becoming the norm, per Instagram founder’s regrets.
• Counterbalance: Potential Benefits
  • Mark points out that, despite risks, some use AI companions for legitimate companionship and mental health, especially as traditional services are overstretched (13:22-14:17).

2. Ransomware & Cybersecurity: New UK Protocols

• Government Crackdown on Ransom Payments (14:54-21:20)
  • Mark details new UK rules partially banning the payment of hacker ransoms:
    • Public sector and critical national infrastructure cannot pay ransoms.
    • Private firms must notify and get approval from government before paying.
    • All hacks must be reported, finally providing insight into the scale of attacks.
  • Cybersecurity as a shadow industry: Hackers offer “superb IT support” post-payment; dark web job boards legitimize the business (17:24).
  • Danny relays a personal password compromise story, highlighting the pervasiveness and speed of data breaches (18:21).
  • Strong advice for password managers:
    • Mark: "I don't know any of my passwords. The password manager makes it up… the difference between, like, five hours and eight quintillion years [to crack]." (20:14)

3. Spotlight: Isambard AI – Britain’s New Supercomputer

• The Visit & The Machine (24:24-26:58)
  • Mark visits Isambard AI at the University of Bristol; surprised by small, quiet, and chilly environment (“size of a couple of tennis courts” (26:33)), contrary to expectations.
  • Key takeaway: Despite not being top-ranked globally, it’s powerful enough to train models as big as ChatGPT.
  • Noted: Built in under a year.

Interview with Professor Simon McIntosh Smith (27:12-35:07)

• Origins & Purpose:
  • “We had this idea to really scale up... from systems that were quite small... to a multi-megawatt behemoth to really catch up…” (27:24)
• Supercomputer Basics:
  • “Isambard AI is getting on towards a million times faster than... a laptop. That means we can do things like train the latest large language models or perform simulations...” (28:07)
• Access & Use Cases:
  • “Isambard AI is going to be available for anyone in the UK to apply for time on... mostly academics at universities, but also industry...” (28:51)
• Energy Use & Efficiency:
  • “About the same as 1,300 kettles... only equivalent to a small subset of the local houses all turning on their kettle at the same time.” (29:29)
• Green Engineering:
  • Liquid cooling is used to maximize energy efficiency; waste heat can heat local buildings (30:04).
• UK Competitiveness:
  • The UK had been falling behind Europe in computing capacity; Isambard helps the UK catch up, but “we need to keep doing this sort of thing.” (31:23)
  • "Sovereign AI" is vital: governments need to guarantee access and control to advanced AI capabilities (32:41).
• Notable Projects:
  • Medical AI: skin cancer diagnosis, improvements for darker skin analysis.
  • Vaccines and drug discovery: supercomputing accelerates research.
  • Brit LLM: training a competitor to ChatGPT focused on British law and languages. (34:00)
    • “It’ll actually be able to advise you much better on UK law…trained on Welsh, Gaelic, and other things like that.”

Debrief: Danny & Mark’s Reactions (35:07-42:20)

• Energy as the New Bottleneck
  • The AI “limiting factor is not chips so much as electrons.” (36:39)
  • Example: Google signs $3B hydropower deal; Microsoft seeks to revive Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.
• Supercomputer vs. Data Center
  • Debate over whether the term “supercomputer” is relevant when big tech's data centers dwarf these state efforts (37:31).
  • Mark: "They all do different things... It will often get chopped up for doing different tasks. It'll get rented out by different people..."
• Rapid Obsolescence
  • Isambard’s shelf life: only about five years before it's leapfrogged by new tech (39:28).
  • Mark Parsons (Edinburgh): their new machine will leap ahead again, showing the pace of progress (39:53).
• Democratizing AI Computation
  • Isambard’s real value: providing UK researchers and startups access to AI training previously reserved for tech giants.
    • “Anyone can apply and you can actually start running your modeling, whatever you're going to do from your phone.” (41:32)
• The UK’s Place in the Supercomputing Race
  • UK jumps from 47th/49th to 11th on the Top 500 list, but the ranking is fleeting.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mark Selman, on AI companions: “I had no idea they could just look at you and insult you, which I'm sure to 99% of the population is pretty awful. But there's a market for it.” (05:45)
• Danny Fortson, skeptical: “I don't really understand the point of any of this.” (07:41)
• On regulation lagging innovation:
  Mark: “It's that cliché... technology is flying ahead of any attempt to try and control it or make it safe, really.” (08:47)
• Cybersecurity irony:
  Mark: “What's amazing is the moment you pay [ransomware], you get this amazing IT support from the hackers.” (17:24)
• Password wisdom:
  Mark: “I don't know any of my passwords... It's the difference between, like, five hours and eight quintillion years [to crack a short vs. long password].” (20:14)
• Professor Simon McIntosh Smith, on energy:
  “It's about the same as 1,300 kettles... only a small subset of the local houses all turning on their kettle at the same time.” (29:29)
• On UK’s fast progress:
  "We actually will be able to catch up and be where we should be." (31:23)
• Democratizing AI in the UK:
  Mark: “It really does democratize access to these GPUs... anyone can apply and you can actually start running your modeling, whatever you're going to do from your phone.” (41:32)
• Danny, on fleeting glory:
  “Number 11 today, tomorrow it could be number 100. But in a sense, who cares when it gets back to the point of just putting this in the hands of more people...” (41:44)

Key Timestamps

• 03:00 — Introduction to AI companions and changing youth behaviors
• 04:48 — Danny’s interactions with “Bad Rudy,” “Good Rudy,” and “Annie” from Grok AI
• 08:47 — Regulation struggles and risks of AI socialization
• 13:22 — Counterpoint: AI’s positive potential for companionship
• 14:54 — UK’s new anti-ransomware payments regime
• 18:21 — Personal story about password breaches
• 20:14 — Password manager best practices
• 24:24 — Intro and overview of Isambard AI supercomputer
• 27:12 — Professor Simon McIntosh Smith interview (role, purpose, energy, projects)
• 35:07 — Post-interview reflections on energy, scaling, and terminology
• 39:28 — Pace of obsolescence for supercomputing hardware
• 41:32 — Democratizing AI; broadening access to powerful computation

Conclusion

This episode paints a vivid picture of a tech landscape moving at breakneck pace. From AI’s social experiments to the race for sovereign supercomputing, the hosts emphasize how innovation both promises progress and creates new vulnerabilities — social, legal, and infrastructural. Isambard AI may not top global leaderboards, but it represents a democratization of tech power for the broader UK community.

For next week:
A look ahead—how AI may transform the legal profession and why we may soon need fewer lawyers.