The Artificial Intelligence Show

OpenAI just previewed GPT-5.6, but for the first time, the U.S. government is deciding who gets access to a frontier AI model. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput break down what they're calling the soft nationalization of artificial intelligence: a staggered, government-approved release, the Dean Ball essay responding to it, and what it means when Washington, not the labs, controls the most powerful models. Plus: OpenAI's new Codex research on agents at work, the looming question of Chinese models, and the data center backlash uniting both parties.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:54 — GPT-5.6 Begins Controlled Release

00:25:12 — Dean Ball Releases Essay on Critical Safety Actions

00:43:36 — How Agents Are Transforming Work: OpenAI's New Research

00:53:01 — Will the US Government Restrict Chinese Models?

00:59:54 — The Growing Data Center Backlash

01:05:09 — The $27M Proxy War Over Alex Bores

01:08:16 — More Google DeepMind Talent Woes

01:10:38 — The EU Act and Digital Sovereignty

01:13:56 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:20:05 — AI Product and Funding Updates

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Anthropic's most powerful models are still offline, and the U.S. government now wants a guarantee no lab can give. Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput unpack the ongoing export-control standoff, the Lutnick letter, and what it means for the models expected this week, then turn to Satya Nadella's "future of the firm" essay, the unsolved mess of AI pricing and usage limits, a wave of lab talent shakeups including Noam Shazeer's move to OpenAI, the G7 AI summit, Midjourney's leap into medical scanning, and research showing AI can out-persuade expert humans.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:44 — Anthropic vs. the White House

00:22:37 — Microsoft CEO on the Future of the Firm

00:34:37 — AI Pricing and Usage Strategy

00:56:04 — Noam Shazeer Joins OpenAI (and Other Major AI Hiring Updates)

01:04:57 — Trump's G7 AI Push

01:09:33 — Midjourney Launches a Medical Division

01:12:59 — AI Can Now Out-Persuade Expert Humans

01:17:00 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:22:12 — AI Product and Funding Updates

This week’s episode is brought to you by SiteImprove.

AI search is changing what it means to be discoverable. Siteimprove is the Agentic Content Intelligence Platform marketing teams use to track, optimize, and prove performance across both traditional and AI-driven search. From AEO visibility to content quality, Siteimprove helps you stay ahead of the shift. 

Start with a free AEO check at siteimprove.com/aipod.

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Seventy-one percent of professionals expect AI to eliminate more jobs than it creates — but only 20% worry about their own. In this AI Answers episode, Taylor Radey joins Paul and Mike to unpack that disconnect and nine other findings from the 2026 State of AI for Business report, drawn from 2,109 respondents.

From why CEOs rate themselves furthest ahead to why only 13% of organizations have the governance to scale, this is the data behind what's actually happening inside companies right now.

Download the full report at stateofbusiness.ai 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro 

00:05:05 — Top 10 Key Findings: Executive Summary 

00:12:56 — Did you use AI to build this report? 

00:14:26 — What remained uniquely human in the research process? 

00:17:25 — Is the 71% job elimination finding consistent across industries and company sizes? 00:19:16 — Why do 71% expect job loss but only 20% worry about their own job? 

00:23:30 — How do barriers to AI adoption change from piloting to scaling? 

00:28:56 — Only 13% have all four governance foundations, what's driving that? 

00:32:14 — Can governance actually accelerate AI adoption rather than slow it down? 

00:34:09 — 51% want training on AI agents, what does good agent governance look like?

00:39:15 — Are traditional role definitions changing because of AI? 

00:43:09 — Are CEOs really that far ahead on AI, or just overconfident? 

00:46:23 — How do you handle institutional resistance to AI? 

00:52:00 — How do you teach AI skills to people at wildly different levels? 

00:54:15 — How are companies addressing employee concerns about AI's environmental impact? 

00:58:09 — Which industries have the greatest growth opportunity in the age of AI? 

00:59:47 — Will AI progress past the barriers identified in the report? 

01:01:36 — What was the most surprising finding from this year's research? 

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

This episode is brought to you by AI for Business Bootcamp by SmarterX — a single-day event in Columbus, Ohio on July 16th, built for professionals and leaders ready to accelerate AI adoption and value creation. The day moves from a state-of-AI keynote into two hands-on workshops on AI productivity and AI innovation, and you'll leave with an actionable plan for yourself and your team. AI Academy members and groups get discounted pricing. Use code POD100 for $100 off your ticket. Learn more at SmarterX.ai/events.

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The U.S. government forced Anthropic to pull Fable 5 and Mythos 5 from general availability just days after they launched as the most capable models publicly available. Paul and Mike work through how it happened, Dario Amodei's policy essay, and the question every business leader should be sitting with: what do you build on when a model can be switched off?

Then it's OpenAI's confidential IPO filing, Apple's long-awaited Siri AI, the real economics behind your AI subscription, and a DeepMind paper on the road from AGI to ASI.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:20 — Claude Fable 5

00:27:38 — OpenAI Files for IPO

00:36:02 — Apple’s Siri AI Is Finally Here

00:44:02 — Is the Era of Affordable AI Over?

00:48:56 — Opendoor Ends Offshoring for AI-Native Workers

00:51:49 — From Prompts to Loops

00:57:48 — From AGI to ASI

01:03:07 — Europe 2031

01:06:53 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:11:12 — AI Product and Funding Updates

This episode is brought to you by AI Academy by SmarterX.

AI Academy is your gateway to personalized AI learning for professionals and teams. Discover our new on-demand courses, live classes, certifications, and a smarter way to master AI. Learn more here.

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Anthropic filed for an IPO and published a paper warning that recursive self-improvement may arrive faster than anyone is ready for. Paul and Mike break down both, then cover Trump's AI executive order, government stakes in AI labs, and the corporate scramble to control AI token costs.

Rapid fire: Apple WWDC previews, OpenAI's Codex-ChatGPT merger, Brockman's super PAC, AI rolling up the accounting industry, Stanford law professors losing to AI 75% of the time, and product updates from Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Anthropic.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

AI-Pulse Survey: Fill out this week’s AI-Pulse Survey here.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:53 — Anthropic IPO & Talks Recursive Self-Improvement

00:25:52 — Trump's AI Executive Order & Government Stakes in AI Labs

00:37:34 — The Soaring Cost of Intelligence, Part 2

00:57:34 — Apple WWDC

01:01:36 — OpenAI Is Merging Codex and ChatGPT

01:06:19 — OpenAI Distances Itself from Brockman's Super PAC

01:08:55 — AI Roll-Up Targets the Accounting Industry

01:12:23 — AI in Higher Education

01:16:29 — AI Use Case Spotlight

01:20:29 — AI Product and Funding Updates

This episode is brought to you by AI Academy by SmarterX.

AI Academy is your gateway to personalized AI learning for professionals and teams. Discover our new on-demand courses, live classes, certifications, and a smarter way to master AI. Learn more here.

Visit our website

Receive our weekly newsletter

Join our community:

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Looking for content and resources?

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