Intentional AI

Cal Newport joins David and Chris to explore the line between automating tedious work and outsourcing thought. They discuss jagged robot capabilities, cognitive surrender, digital minimalism, and protecting human judgment.

OpenAI's Hugging Face incident shows how powerful robots can cause real harm without malicious intent. David and Chris separate today's risks from Skynet headlines, ask who should write the rules, and draw a line between robot drudgery and human judgment.

Dictation is a quiet success story of the AI era. David and Chris cover the history of dictation, the apps they use, the great free options (and the ones they pay for), their privacy concerns, their desktop and mobile setups, and practical tips for 2026.

A walkthrough of how personal software gets made, and how artificial intelligence is democratizing software development. Including the three stages of developing your own app: design, implementation, and creation.

David hands his email to AI, tries the Big Swing, fails, and lands on a system that works. Plus Gemini Notebook, Claude Opus 5, and Siri AI finding an airport lounge.