AI isn’t just becoming more capable. It’s becoming more personal. And even more "adult."

This week, Paul and Mike lead off with Sam Altman’s provocative comments about ChatGPT’s role in mental health and the growing debate over our emotional relationships with AI.

Then, from blue-collar workers adopting ChatGPT as a daily tool to tech CEOs warning of an impending jobs shock, the episode explores how AI is quietly reshaping both the labor market and human identity.

They also unpack major industry releases, from Google’s new Veo 3.1 and Anthropic’s Haiku 4.5 to Spotify’s “artist-first” AI music push, revealing the race to define who benefits from intelligent machines. Over and over in this episode, we ask what's becoming a defining question of the AI age:

Who’s in control of the future we’re building?

Show Notes: Access the show notes and show links here

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:05:09 —ChatGPT, AI Relationships, and Mental Health

00:18:58 — MAICON 2025 Takeaways

00:29:57 — AI’s Increasing Impact on Labor and Jobs

00:40:05 — Google Veo 3.1

00:43:25 — Claude 4.5 Haiku Is Released

00:46:30 — Anthropic Co-Founder Essay Angers White House

00:54:22 — OpenAI’s Opt-Out for Sora 2 Causes Problems

00:57:44 — Elon Musk Clarifies His Definition of AGI

01:01:12 — New Paper Says AI Method Can Reproduce Human Purchase Intent

01:04:46 — Music Industry Leaders Join with Spotify to Create Artist-First AI

01:08:00 — New AI Feature in Google Sheets

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 either an individual purchase or a membership by using code POD100 when you go to academy.smarterx.ai.

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