Explain It Like I’m AI – Decoding AI – Without Panic, Beyond Hype is the title of the podcast created by Virginia Fidenti, Lorenzo Luccioli, Paolo Piccirillo, Luca Rebolino and Gayathri Santhosh, five PhD students from the University of Bologna’s International PhD College. The podcast is available on Spotify and other major streaming platforms. Across four episodes — two of which were recorded in English — artificial intelligence is explored from multiple perspectives: technical, semiotic, social and scientific. Today, AI is one of the most debated technologies, constantly in the spotlight and surrounded by uncertainty and questions. For this reason, the podcast aims to shed light on one of the most complex technological tools of our time. Through an in-depth exploration of the many facets of artificial intelligence, the series examines some of the most widely debated issues, outlining its capabilities, limitations and potential risks.
In the first episode, Paolo Torroni and Andrea Galassi, professors at the University of Bologna, explain what we really mean when we talk about AI, tracing its history from early breakthroughs such as Deep Blue and AlphaGo to today’s large language models, while also exploring the learning capabilities of artificial intelligence. The episode also highlights some of AI’s limitations, including so-called “stochastic parrots” and the hallucinations produced by language models, encouraging a more informed and responsible use of AI in everyday life.
The second episode features Claudio Paolucci, professor of Semiotics and Philosophy of Language at the University of Bologna, and explores the relationship between AI, language and creativity. The discussion challenges the widespread belief that artificial intelligence merely imitates human language and behaviour. Drawing on semiotic and philosophical perspectives, the episode examines how intelligent technologies such as language systems work and reflects on the growing hybridisation between humans and machines — a development that may prompt us to rethink concepts such as subjectivity, meaning and creative expression.
The third episode features Isabella Consolati, professor at the University of Turin, and Paola Rudan, professor at the University of Bologna, both specialists in the history of political thought. They discuss the social and political implications of artificial intelligence, examining how algorithms do not simply describe the world but also classify it, predict it and reproduce it. Reflecting on themes such as bias, prediction and automated decision-making, the episode explores the political role of AI, highlighting how it may contribute to increasing social inequalities and limiting our ability to imagine alternative futures.
In the fourth and final episode, Chiara Stuardi, a researcher in radio astronomy at the National Institute for Astrophysics, discusses how artificial intelligence is radically transforming scientific research and discovery. She explains how machine learning has become a valuable tool for decoding cosmic structures — without which many discoveries would not have been possible, given the vast amounts of data involved. The episode also explores the role of convolutional neural networks in research, as well as issues such as “black boxes” and the validation of AI-generated data.
The podcast concludes with a broader reflection on the role of artificial intelligence in scientific research: will AI become a powerful ally, capable of making science more accessible, or could it one day replace scientists, creating new barriers?
