ΑΙhub.org
 

The Machine Ethics podcast: AI fictions with Alex Shvartsman


by
19 June 2024



share this:


Hosted by Ben Byford, The Machine Ethics Podcast brings together interviews with academics, authors, business leaders, designers and engineers on the subject of autonomous algorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and technology’s impact on society.

AI fictions with Alex Shvartsman

This episode we’re chatting with Alex Shvartsman about our AI future, human crafted storytelling, the generative AI use backlash, disclaimers for generated text, human vs AI authorship, practical or functional goals of LLMs, changing themes in science fiction, a diversity of international perspectives and more…

Listen to the episode here:


Alex Shvartsman resides in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Kakistocracy (2023), The Middling Affliction (2022), and Eridani’s Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Over 120 of his stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, etc. He won the WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a three-time finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.

His translations from Russian have appeared in F&SF, Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Analog, Asimov’s, etc. Alex has edited over a dozen anthologies, including the long-running Unidentified Funny Objects series.


About The Machine Ethics podcast

This podcast was created and is run by Ben Byford and collaborators. The podcast, and other content was first created to extend Ben’s growing interest in both the AI domain and in the associated ethics. Over the last few years the podcast has grown into a place of discussion and dissemination of important ideas, not only in AI but in tech ethics generally. As the interviews unfold on they often veer into current affairs, the future of work, environmental issues, and more. Though the core is still AI and AI Ethics, we release content that is broader and therefore hopefully more useful to the general public and practitioners.

The hope for the podcast is for it to promote debate concerning technology and society, and to foster the production of technology (and in particular, decision making algorithms) that promote human ideals.

Join in the conversation by getting in touch via email here or following us on Twitter and Instagram.




The Machine Ethics Podcast

            AUAI is supported by:



Subscribe to AIhub newsletter on substack



Related posts :

AI pioneers

From teaching machines to teaching people: an interview with Michael Littman

  29 Oct 2026
AI Pioneer Michael Littman reflects on the evolution of reinforcement learning, the power of science communication, and how generative AI is changing the way we teach and learn.

From lab to life: Why translating AI advances to the real world is a major challenge

  28 Oct 2026
Systems that perform well in controlled lab settings often fall short when deployed in homes, in hospitals or on city streets.

Researchers get AI ‘drunk’ to expose new cyber security risks in chatbots

Fine-tuning large language models using drunken text makes them more likely to leak secrets and answer harmful questions.

AI is creating jobs as well as erasing them – but how rewarding are they?

  26 Oct 2026
One area of increased employment is in people “cleaning up” after LLMs, or quality controlling them.

How AI changes human decision-making

  23 Oct 2026
AI can identify patterns that people miss and bring new information into decision-making. However, this does not automatically lead to better decisions.

Competing in RoboCup@Home and winning the 2026 best paper award: an interview with Raphael Memmesheimer

  22 Oct 2026
Hear more about Raphael's research and his involvement in the RoboCup@Home league.

AI is distorting archaeology and flattening Indigenous Knowledge

While AI can help archaeologists, it can also spread pseudoscientific claims and false histories, stripping Indigenous Knowledge of context, consent and community control.

ACM SIGAI Autonomous Agents Award 2027 open for nominations

  20 Oct 2026
Nominations are solicited for the 2027 ACM SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award.


↑


AUAI is supported by:







Subscribe to AIhub newsletter on substack




 















©2026.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence