Generative AI 101
Welcome to Generative AI 101, your go-to podcast for learning the basics of generative artificial intelligence in easy-to-understand, bite-sized episodes. Join host Emily Laird, AI Integration Technologist and AI lecturer, to explore key concepts, applications, and ethical considerations, making AI accessible for everyone.
Episodes

Tuesday Aug 12, 2025
What’s the Difference Between AGI and Superintelligence?
Tuesday Aug 12, 2025
Tuesday Aug 12, 2025
AGI can do anything you can, write, reason, crack jokes, without being told how. Superintelligence can do all that and make you look like a potato with Wi-Fi. In this episode, host Emily Laird breaks down the real meaning of these two buzzwords, why even the experts can’t agree, and how the biggest AI players, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, Meta, and xAI, are racing to build them. Whether it’s curing cancer, boosting productivity, or accidentally turning off the internet, we’re here to separate hype from reality before the machines do it for us.Join the AI Weekly MeetupsConnect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about AGI vs Superintelligence.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Monday Aug 11, 2025
The One About ChatGPT-5
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
OpenAI’s GPT-5 isn’t just an upgrade, it’s a whole crew of AIs working together. One’s fast, one’s a deep thinker, and a couple work the cheap shifts, all coordinated by a smart “router” that picks the right brain for the job. It’s breaking records in math, coding, and reasoning, slashing hallucinations, and even scheduling your meetings. The Pro version handles monster problems in seconds, while all versions get built-in web search, vision, and real task execution. The model menu is gone, GPT-5 just figures it out for you.Join the AI Weekly MeetupsConnect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about OpenAI's GPT-5.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Wednesday Aug 06, 2025
Google DeepMind: A Mini Origin Story
Wednesday Aug 06, 2025
Wednesday Aug 06, 2025
What do you get when you mix a chess prodigy, a neuroscience detour, and a borderline obsession with solving intelligence? Google DeepMind. In this episode, host Emily Laird goes into the mind (and muscles) behind modern AI, aka Demis Hassabis. From teaching AIs to dominate in Go and StarCraft to solving protein folding and launching the Gemini models, DeepMind isn’t just flexing, it’s reshaping the future. If your chatbot had a Nobel Prize and a gamer tag, it’d be this.Join the AI Weekly MeetupsConnect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Google DeepMind.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Tuesday Aug 05, 2025
Kimi K2 & the Continuation of the Great AI Arms Race
Tuesday Aug 05, 2025
Tuesday Aug 05, 2025
Meet Kimi K2! Join host Emily Laird as she explores the trillion-parameter powerhouse from Shanghai-based Moonshot AI that's throwing elbows at GPT-4.1, Gemini, and Claude 4. With a Mixture-of-Experts brain, a freakishly long memory (128K tokens), and the power to write code, run commands, and basically do your job better than you, this isn’t your average chatbot. It’s a business-savvy, open-source disruptor priced like street food but cooking with Michelin fire. Oh, and it’s backed by Alibaba and Tencent. Translation: the AI arms race just got very real—and very Chinese.Join the AI Weekly MeetupsConnect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Kimi K2.

Monday Aug 04, 2025
Perplexity's Comet Browser & the Rise of AI Browsers
Monday Aug 04, 2025
Monday Aug 04, 2025
Chrome is toast (ok, probably not). Or at least, it might be if Perplexity’s Comet Browser has anything to say about it. In this episode, host Emily Laird breaks down how Comet is trying to outsmart your current browser by acting like a hyper-organized, AI-powered sidekick that shops for you, books your flights, and maybe even watches The Bachelor. But before you burn your bookmarks, we’re also talking sky-high pricing, early beta chaos, and the looming "AI Browser Wars" that have Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI on high alert. This isn’t your dad’s browser, it’s Jarvis, if Jarvis were a little unstable and cost $200 a month.
Learn More about the Perplexity Comet BrowserJoin the AI Weekly MeetupsConnect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Perplexity's new Comet browser.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Wednesday Jul 30, 2025
Meta's Billion Dollar UpScale
Wednesday Jul 30, 2025
Wednesday Jul 30, 2025
Meta just dropped $14.3 billion to buy half of Scale AI and hired their CEO like it was a fantasy football draft. In this episode, host Emily Laird unpacks why Mark Zuckerberg raided Scale AI’s pantry for top talent, including Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman, and what it means for Meta’s new Superintelligence Lab. It’s part billion-dollar power play, part Avengers-style recruitment, and a giant signal that in 2025, labeled data and elite researchers are Silicon Valley’s new gold.Connect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Meta's new acqui-hire of Scale AI.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Tuesday Jul 29, 2025
Zuck to the Future: Meta's Superintelligence Lab
Tuesday Jul 29, 2025
Tuesday Jul 29, 2025
Meta just rage-quit its own AI strategy and rolled out the Superintelligence Lab, because nothing says "totally under control" like consolidating teams under Zuck himself. In this episode, host Emily Laird breaks down Meta’s big bet on AGI, its new Avengers-style AI dream team (including Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman), and the Manhattan-sized data centers designed to power it all. With billion-dollar budgets, 9-digit salaries, and a dash of sci-fi ambition, is this Meta’s masterstroke or Metaverse 2.0 with fancier buzzwords? Spoiler: Yann LeCun still isn’t sold.Connect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Meta's new Superintelligence Lab.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Monday Jul 28, 2025
OpenAI’s Agent: What It Is, What It Does, and Why It’s a Big Deal
Monday Jul 28, 2025
Monday Jul 28, 2025
OpenAI’s Agent isn’t here to make small talk. It’s here to get stuff done, like your caffeinated intern who never sleeps, never eats, but still can’t log into your Gmail. In this episode, host Emily Laird breaks down what the Agent actually is, how it turns ChatGPT into a hands-on digital assistant, and why Sam Altman is calling this “the feel of AGI” while also slapping a giant experimental label on it. You’ll learn what this thing can really do, where it crashes into walls, and why it might be the messiest, most exciting step yet in the AI arms race.Connect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about OpenAI's new Agent release.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Wednesday Jul 23, 2025
AI: The Ozempic of Corporate America
Wednesday Jul 23, 2025
Wednesday Jul 23, 2025
Corporate America’s on Ozempic, and the side effect is mass layoffs. In this episode, host Emily Laird slices into the juicy mess of the AI-powered corporate slim-down brought to you by a fantastic article by the WSJ. Turns out your boss doesn’t hate you, he just read a memo that said a chatbot is cheaper. From Amazon’s Andy Jassy preaching lean teams like it’s a TED Talk for sociopaths, to Walmart quietly firing 100,000 people while raking in billions, we unpack how generative AI is becoming the CFO’s new best friend. Less staff, more spreadsheets, and absolutely no chill. The Wall Street Journal Article (subscription required, sorry!)Connect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about AI & jobs and no I'm not getting off this soapbox anytime soon.
Connect with Emily Laird on LinkedIn

Tuesday Jul 22, 2025
Andy Jassy & the AI Workforce Purge
Tuesday Jul 22, 2025
Tuesday Jul 22, 2025
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy just dropped a memo that’s equal parts pep talk and pink slip warning: AI is amazing, and it’s coming for your job. In this episode, host Emily Laird breaks down how Amazon is unleashing AI agents like digital Avengers to automate the mundane, boost efficiency, and quietly make some roles...disappear. We unpack what it means to “adapt or become the next Blockbuster,” why passive-aggressive robots are the future of your Slack channel, and how to become an AI-literate teammate before your digital coworkers outpace you.Check out the Jassy Memo (seriously, read it, sport).Connect with Us: If you enjoyed this episode or have questions, reach out to Emily Laird on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more insights into the evolving world of generative AI. And remember, you now know more about Andy Jassy's memo and a leaner future workforce.

Lecturer + Speaker
Transform your business with Emily Laird's captivating presentation on Generative AI. An AI expert and dynamic speaker, Emily breaks down complex concepts with ease and entertainment. Perfect for businesses and organizations eager to discover AI's potential.







