A billion-dollar check from Disney. A federal crackdown on state AI laws. And a new model from OpenAI that beats human experts 71% of the time.

In Episode 186, Paul and Mike unpack the release of GPT-5.2, Disney’s strategic pivot to license its IP for Sora, and President Trump’s executive order designed to accelerate "American AI dominance" at all costs.

Plus: Is the future of data centers in space? Why is Microsoft Copilot struggling in the enterprise? And a look at Time’s "Architects of AI."

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:03:46 — AI Pulse

00:06:27 — GPT-5.2 and OpenAI Turns 10

00:22:43 — Disney-OpenAI Deal

00:32:41 — Trump Executive Order to Override State AI Laws

00:44:17 — OpenAI State of Enterprise AI Report

00:53:03 — Google Cloud ROI of AI Reports

00:56:14 — Microsoft Lowers AI Sales Expectations

01:02:14 — TIME Person of the Year: The “Architects” of AI

01:06:08 — The Economics of AI and Data Centers in Space

01:14:31 — Shopify SimGym

01:18:37 — Research on Teen AI Usage

01:21:11 — OpenAI Certifications

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

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What happens when AI stops being a tool and starts reshaping every task inside your company? 

In this AI Answers episode, Paul Roetzer and Cathy McPhillips go through audience questions on where AI jobs are really heading, how agents and “AI ops” are emerging, and what to expect as reasoning models accelerate into 2026.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:03:55 — What AI Positions are in demand for professionals who are not coders? How can skill sets be presented to hiring managers? 

00:08:49 — What are the top AI concepts that organizational communicators need to know?

00:10:56 — What should I focus on in AI?

00:13:21 — What do you think would be a good area to focus on as someone trying to break into the AI industry?

00:16:15 — Would you recommend prioritizing 'Generative' use cases or 'Predictive' use cases to achieve the quickest win?

00:18:45 — What’s the most innovative way to get started? Do we need a certain level of data hygiene first, or can AI help clean and organize the data as we go?

00:23:55 — Can you talk about what to be aware of and best practices for sourcing use cases?

00:28:25 — What is the best way to introduce AI tools to a technical/industrial workforce without causing 'replacement fear'? 

00:30:47 — What would you say to people who are trying to move beyond the mechanical use of AI and actually trust the technology enough to use it in meaningful ways?

00:34:20 — How do you see AI-driven search tools impacting traditional search engines?

00:36:43 — As generative AI matures, what’s the next significant shift?

00:41:04 — Do companies understand AI well enough before reducing their human workforce?

00:45:51 — What are the main factors that could slow down the advancements of AI?

00:49:11 — As AI systems move toward recursive self-improvement, what guardrails are needed to ensure they aren’t learning from a distorted or incomplete view of the world?

This episode is brought to you by Google Cloud: 

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

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OpenAI has officially declared a "Code Red," reportedly delaying future product launches to frantically shore up ChatGPT against a resurgent Google. This defensive pivot comes just as Google unveils Gemini 3 Deep Think and Workspace Studio, powerful new tools that allow users to build autonomous agents without writing a single line of code.

On this week’s episode, Paul and Mike analyze this shift in power and explore the industry's quiet preparation for "recursive self-improvement," a near-future where AI models evolve without human intervention. They also discuss the backlash over OpenAI’s ad tests, major leadership shakeups at Apple, and Anthropic’s race to the public markets.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:03:03 — AI Pulse

00:07:54 — OpenAI Code Red

00:16:28 — Google Releases

00:28:59 — AI Industry Preps for “Recursive Self-Improvement”

00:42:32 — OpenAI Slammed for Ads

00:47:20 — Apple Talent Shakeups

00:51:22 — Anthropic IPO and AI Interviewer

00:59:42 — Jensen Huang Rogan Interview

01:06:04 — Perplexity Lawsuits

01:09:33 — Meta Acquires Limitless

01:12:39 — Pope Weighs In on AI

01:16:53 — Data on AI Job Cuts

01:20:50 — Data on AI and Parenting

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. You can get $100 off an individual purchase or a membership by using code POD100 at academy.smarterx.ai.

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Is the "AI Bubble" real? We analyze "The Big Short" investor Michael Burry’s bet against the industry. Mike and Paul also break down MIT’s "Project Iceberg," which suggests 11.7% of the workforce is already exposed to replacement, and a new McKinsey report on the 7x growth in demand for AI fluency. Plus, Claude Opus 4.5, Artificial Superintelligence, political divides over AI, and more in our rapid-fire section.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:19 — AI Pulse

00:08:04 — MIT Study: AI Can Already Replace 11.7% of US Workforce

00:23:55 — Is There an AI Bubble?

00:33:24 — Political Divides Over AI Are Getting Worse

00:40:27 — ChatGPT Turns 3

00:46:59 — Claude Opus 4.5

00:49:19 — ChatGPT Shopping Research

00:52:30 — Google Encroaches on Nvidia’s Chip Dominance

00:55:58 — Suno Embraces Training on Licensed Music

00:58:48 — Insurers Retreat from Covering AI Risks

01:02:21 — Dwarkesh Podcast with Ilya Sutskever

01:08:41 — “AI 2027” Revises Forecasts to 2030

01:12:26 — The Thinking Game and AlphaFold

01:18:38 — DeepSeek V3.2

01:20:27 — Runway Gen-4.5

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. You can get $100 off an individual purchase or a membership by using code POD100 at academy.smarterx.ai.

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Google released Gemini 3, its most advanced model yet, along with Nano Banana Pro, a leading image generation and editing model.

On this week's episode, Paul and Mike go deeper on those topics and other top news this week, including GPT-5.1 Pro, controversy around a popular AI book, Nvidia earnings, and more.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:03:32 — AI Pulse Survey

00:08:42 — Gemini 3

00:18:11 — Nano Banana Pro

00:26:06 — GPT-5.1 Pro

00:28:54 — Nvidia Earnings

00:36:14 — Nvidia, Microsoft Invest in Anthropic

00:40:28 — OpenAI Board Member Controversy

00:42:43 — AI Gets More Political Over State-Level Regulations

00:47:22 — AI Super Pac Flexes Its Muscles

00:49:40 — Karen Hao Book Controversy

00:54:19 — New Jeff Bezos AI Startup

00:56:38 — Amazon Gives Rufus Rave Reviews

00:59:18 — AI Gets Further Embedded Into Education

01:01:34 — Entry Level Unemployment

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. You can get $100 off an individual purchase or a membership by using code POD100 at academy.smarterx.ai.

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AI literacy is becoming essential across every organization, but most leaders are still figuring out how to measure it, teach it, and communicate its value. 

In this episode of AI Answers, we dig into questions about emerging AI skills frameworks, why literacy matters for every employee, how to talk about risk and responsible AI guidelines, and what to do when teams resist training or demand proof before pilots begin.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:33 — Question #1: Have any AI literacy frameworks emerged that help assess and track employees’ AI skills?

00:09:45 — Question #2: How important is it for all employees to develop basic AI literacy? 

00:12:34 — Question #3: How can leaders articulate the business value of investing in AI literacy when stakeholders aren’t yet convinced it matters?

00:14:27 — Question #4: What’s the most effective way to help senior executives understand the risk of not having AI guidelines in place?

00:16:36 — Question #5: When companies start drafting responsible AI guidance, do you recommend formal “policies,” more flexible “guidelines,” or something in between? 

00:20:00 — Question #6: Many teams love the idea of AI but resist assessments, training, or structured onboarding. How can leaders overcome that resistance?

00:23:15 — Question #7: How should organizations respond when proof is demanded before pilots have happened?

00:26:29 — Question #8: Are there organizations successfully using a single overarching KPI to measure the impact of AI? 

00:28:20 — Question #9: What’s your advice for getting data, governance, and access into shape so AI can actually deliver results? 

00:32:48 — Question #10: How close are we to real enterprise adoption of AI Agents, and what should organizations be preparing for now?

00:38:39 — Question #11: Have you had a chance to use GPT-5.1 yet? 

00:42:10 — Question #12: As generative AI reshapes search, what should marketers know about the shift from SEO to GEO? 

00:45:39 — What do you think organizations should keep an eye on in the next few months?

This episode is brought to you by Google Cloud: 

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/  

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OpenAI has released GPT-5.1, a controversial new AI app is bringing people back from the dead, and there's a big debate in AI about very different belief systems.

On this week's episode, Paul and Mike go deeper on those topics and other top news this week, including political backlash to AI, the first AI-orchestrated cyberattack, an AI-generated song topping the charts, and much more.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

00:00:00 — Intro

00:03:59 — AI Pulse

00:06:41 —GPT-5.1

00:14:51 —Controversial New AI Product Brings Back the Dead

00:22:09 — Beliefs vs. Fundamental Truths

00:39:39 — Increasingly Negative Public Moods Towards AI

00:46:36 — First Reported AI-Orchestrated Cyberattack

00:51:33 — AI-Generated Country Song Tops Billboard Charts

00:58:43 — Cursor Raises $2.3 Billion, Valued at $29.3 Billion

01:01:13 — Parallel Raises $100 Million to Build Web for Agents

01:03:34 — Yann LeCun Leaving Meta

01:07:47 — NotebookLM Adds Deep Research

01:10:24 — McKinsey State of AI Report

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. You can get $100 off an individual purchase or a membership by using code POD100 at academy.smarterx.ai.

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OpenAI is drawing fire after its CFO hinted the company might want a government "backstop" for its massive infrastructure costs. And Microsoft has published a new manifesto pledging to build "humanist superintelligence" that keeps humans in control.

This week, Paul and Mike talk about those stories and more, including Google's new paper on the future of AI in learning, new data that shows AI is driving layoffs, and the backlash against Coca-Cola's latest AI-generated holiday ad.

This week's episode also covers a feud between Amazon and Perplexity over AI shopping agents, a shocking deposition from Ilya Sutskever about OpenAI's internal power struggles, and much more.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 — Intro

00:09:09 — OpenAI Draws Fire for Comments About Government Backstop

00:23:02 — Microsoft’s Humanist AI Manifesto

00:38:36 — Google AI and the Future of Learning

00:48:28 — Data Shows AI Is Driving Layoffs

00:52:43 — Coca-Cola’s AI Christmas Ad Generates Controversy

00:57:46 — Amazon and Perplexity Feud Over Agent

01:03:18 — Ilya Sutskever Deposition

01:08:48 — Apple Nears Google Deal

01:11:56 — AI Companies Are Going on the PR Offensive

This episode is brought to you by MAICON On-Demand. 

This year’s top breakout sessions and keynotes are now available on-demand. If you missed MAICON 2025 or want to relive some of your favorite sessions, now you can watch them on-demand at any time. Use code AISHOW50 to save $50. Learn more here.

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OpenAI says it's aiming to build a totally automated AI researcher by 2028...

And it has completed its transition from non-profit to for-profit company, paving the way for an eventual IPO.

This week, Paul and Mike talk about those stories and more, including a warning from the Fed chair about AI's impact on hiring, a new index measuring how well agents do remote work, and Nvidia's $5 trillion valuation.

This week's episode also covers a new report on corporate AI adoption from Wharton, the concerning rise of AI "nudify" apps, and much more.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Click here to take this week's AI Pulse.

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:48 — OpenAI Sets Automated AI Researcher Goal

00:18:06 — OpenAI Completes Restructuring and Eyes IPO

00:31:49 — Is AI Responsible for a New Wave of Layoffs?

00:41:45 — Remote Labor Index Project

00:47:46 — Mercor Quintuples Valuation

00:52:40 — Nvidia Valuation

00:56:54 — Wharton AI Adoption Report

01:02:01 — Nudify Apps and Public Figures Getting Deepfaked

01:06:55 — Google Labs Introduces AI Marketing Tool

This episode is brought to you by MAICON On-Demand. 

This year’s top breakout sessions and keynotes are now available on-demand. If you missed MAICON 2025 or want to relive some of your favorite sessions, now you can watch them on-demand at any time. Use code AISHOW50 to save $50. Learn more here.

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In this episode of AI Answers, Paul Roetzer and Cathy McPhillips answer the complex, and often uncomfortable questions shaping the future of AI. From the moral framing of “good” versus “evil,” to the technical risks of viruses, misinformation, and intellectual property, the discussion unpacks what it really means to use AI responsibly in a world moving faster than regulation or understanding.

Along the way, Paul and Cathy discuss fact-checking AI, the emerging need to authenticate synthetic content, and keeping a human-centered role in creation and communication.  

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:31 — Is AI good or evil?

00:08:51 — Is AI a vector for viruses or trojans?

00:11:13 — If we’re using AI information, can we be sued if AI is pulling intellectual property?

00:13:10 — Is there one AI company that’s more ethical than others?

00:16:10 — Someone told me to add a prompt to ‘exclude hallucinations’ to avoid problems. Is that accurate?

00:18:03 — Is it helpful to use one AI tool to fact-check another? 

00:20:08 — Will there ever be a way to definitively identify AI-created videos? 

00:23:39 — Where do you decide where the human stays front-facing, like the podcast or webinars? 

00:29:18 — What books do you recommend reading to learn more about Gen AI? 

00:30:52 — My organization is focused on what not to do with AI. But I think we should also communicate what to do. What do you think about that balance?

00:34:18 — As a Director of Learning and Development, who’s doing AI in L&D right?

00:36:47 — Is there an AI concept for retirees that can help manage issues like healthcare decisions or transfer of wealth?

00:41:51 — It’s estimated Spotify has 100 million songs, and 75 million are AI-generated. Should Spotify and other streaming platforms flag this content as AI?

00:46:47 —  Do you have any moments from 2025 that you want to, that you've been thinking about over the past few weeks?

This episode is brought to you by Google Cloud: 

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

Learn more about Google Cloud here: https://cloud.google.com/  

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OpenAI just entered the browser wars. And it's already getting messy.

This week, Paul and Mike talk everything ChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's agentic AI browser...including its glaring security issues. 

This week's episode also covers a new letter advocating a pause on the development of superintelligence signed by an eclectic group of celebrities and public figures.

Not to mention, we talk about Amazon's robot-driven layoffs, an Ohio bill that aims to ban human-AI marriages, new data on how many teens have romantic relationships with AI (hint: it's more than you'd expect), and much more.

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:56 — ChatGPT Atlas Release

00:16:17 — ChatGPT Atlas Security Concerns

00:26:19 — Statement on Superintelligence Campaign

00:43:18 — Anthropic Plays Defense

00:50:14 — Amazon’s Robot Workforce

00:56:16 — Meta AI Layoffs

00:59:23 — OpenAI Controversy Over Suicide

01:02:26 — Ohio Bill Would Ban AI Marriages & High Schoolers Romantic Relationships with AI

01:08:03 — OpenAI Tries to Automate Junior Banker Work

01:10:43 — Sora 2 Roadmap

01:14:01  — Tesla Autonomy

This episode is brought to you by MAICON On-Demand. 

This year’s top breakout sessions and keynotes are now available on-demand. If you missed MAICON 2025 or want to relive some of your favorite sessions, now you can watch them on-demand at any time. Use code AISHOW50 to save $50. Learn more here.

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