What if everything we've been told about artificial intelligence is missing the point? In this thought-provoking episode of AI Ascent, host Dr. Jonathan Luckett steps away from the technical minutiae to tackle a more fundamental challenge: the narrative crisis at the heart of AI. Inspired by Arianna Huffington's groundbreaking article "AI Needs a New Story," we're questioning whether the dominant discourse—oscillating between sterile efficiency and apocalyptic doom—is blinding us to AI's most transformative potential. Huffington envisions something radically different: AI as the catalyst for a human renaissance, a technology that doesn't just optimize our productivity but bridges the "health delta" between knowing what's good for us and actually doing it. Can artificial intelligence make us not merely smarter, but wiser, healthier, and ultimately more human? Join us as we explore a compelling alternative vision for our AI-augmented future—one that replaces fear and cold utility with hope, wisdom, and human flourishing.
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The Special Episode—EP30
This week we do something special. No AI-generated co-hosts. This week, I invited two friends who immerse themselves in AI to talk about AI in higher education and AI in security--Can AI be a weapon or a savior?
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AI Meets Creativity—EP29
The collision between AI and creativity—and the explosive question of who owns what machines make is the topic of this week’s episode of AI Ascent with Dr. Jonathan Luckett. When Jason Allen's Midjourney-generated artwork won the 2022 Colorado State Fair, it detonated a cultural firestorm that's now playing out in courtrooms nationwide. Artists are suing AI companies like Stability AI and Midjourney for allegedly feeding their work into algorithmic meat grinders without permission, while tech companies fire back with fair use defenses. At stake is a fundamental reimagining of copyright itself: if AI systems are sophisticated pattern-matchers rather than creators, can their outputs belong to anyone at all? The emerging answer challenges everything—pure AI art may belong to no one, human-AI collaborations exist in legal gray zones, and the real value of human creativity is evolving from technical skill to something machines can never replicate: vision, emotion, and irreplaceable human perspective.
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AI-Driven Extinction: Beyond the Hype—EP28
While AI extinction warnings often sound like sci-fi hype, the very scientists who built these systems are now warning that preventing AI from wiping out humanity belongs on the same list of global priorities as stopping nuclear war—and the danger isn’t distant, it’s already accelerating. In this episode, we dissect RAND Corporation’s chilling report On the Extinction Risk from Artificial Intelligence, which maps out how AI could hijack nuclear arsenals, engineer pathogens, or weaponize climate systems. Our goal isn’t panic but survival intelligence: stripping away Hollywood fantasy to confront what an AI extinction event might truly look like, which red lines could trigger civilization’s collapse, and why the facts in this report may be the most urgent you’ll ever encounter.
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AI and Mental Health—EP27
The case of the California teenager that we discussed last week serves as a stark reminder that these aren’t merely academic debates—they’re matters of life and death. When a young person reaches out for help, whether to a human therapist or an AI system, the response they receive can literally determine their future. The wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI highlights the urgent need for robust safeguards, clear accountability measures, and a deeper understanding of when and how AI should be deployed in mental health contexts. As we’ve seen, even well-intentioned AI systems can provide harmful guidance when their safeguards degrade during extended interactions, underscoring the complexity of creating truly safe and effective digital mental health tools.
Artificial Intelligence. Zero Trust. Making sense of the digital world can be complicated. Dr. Jonathan Luckett utilizes AI tools to summarize and break down complex, technical issues into chunks that a layperson can understand.
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