What if one of the oldest stories in Western literature is also one of the earliest stories about artificial intelligence?

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has brought new attention to Homer's epics — but they're only the beginning of a much longer story about intelligent machines.

In this Season 14 finale, historian of science Professor Elly R. Truitt (University of Pennsylvania) traces that story from Homer's self-navigating ships and golden handmaidens, through the bronze giant Talos of wider Greek myth, to the mechanical courts of Baghdad and Byzantium, medieval Europe, and today's anxieties about AI. Along the way: what these machines reveal about slavery and servitude in the societies that imagined them, and why — as Truitt argues — a technology that further concentrates power in the hands of people who already have it was never actually revolutionary.

In this episode of Age of AI, we speak with Branka Panic about the first-ever UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, where representatives from nearly 170 countries gathered in Geneva to discuss the future of global AI policy. Drawing on her firsthand experience at the conference, Branka explains what happened beyond the official speeches, why many participants questioned whether the event truly fostered dialogue, and what the discussions revealed about the growing divide between AI leaders and the Global South.

We explore the challenges of building international consensus, the findings of the UN's new Scientific Panel on AI, and whether global institutions can keep pace with one of the fastest-moving technologies in history. If AI is reshaping the world, who gets to write the rules?

Links:

• Global Dialogue on AI Governance
• AI For Good Summit
• Geneva Digital Week
• AI For Peace
• Twenty-nine countries sign agreement to establish global AI cooperation body

AI may appear immaterial, but the cloud has a physical footprint. In this episode of Age of AI, Ford Copple joins us to discuss the data centers behind artificial intelligence, including their economic benefits, energy and water demands, local impacts, and the policy choices communities face as AI infrastructure expands.

Links:

• Building a Human-Centered
  Digital Future
• Sutherland Institute releases AI data center research in new series on technology policy
• https://www.datacenterpolicy.com

In this episode, Medlir is joined by Clara Long, a human rights lawyer turned democracy strategist and co-lead of BLOOM. We discuss why public deliberation matters in an age of polarization and disinformation, how technology can support rather than replace civic judgment, and what it takes to help communities reason and decide together across difference.

• Bloom Project
• AI & Our Communities
• AI and the Future of Our Communities
• The American Public Trust

In this episode, host Medlir Mema sits down with Adam Billen, Co-Executive Director of Encode, to examine a surprising shift in U.S. AI policy. They discuss the Trump administration's recent efforts to establish a federal framework for frontier AI models, expand AI's role in national security, and limit state-level regulation. The conversation explores what these developments reveal about Washington's evolving approach to artificial intelligence, the changing relationship between government and AI companies, and the challenges of balancing innovation and security in the age of AI.

Links:

• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/promoting-advanced-artificial-intelligence-innovation-and-security/
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-11/
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/eliminating-state-law-obstruction-of-national-artificial-intelligence-policy/
• https://encodeai.org

Michael Toscano joins Age of AI to discuss Pope Leo XIV’s first AI encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. The conversation explores human dignity, digital dependency, family life, AI personhood, and why the Vatican believes the future of artificial intelligence is ultimately a question about what it means to be human.

Links:

• https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html
• https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
• https://ifstudies.org/family-first-technology-initiative
• https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/high-tech-low-play-the-life-of-american-children
• https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html
• https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/idols-of-the-valley

AI is supposed to make marketing easier. So why are so many companies more confused about their messaging than ever? In this episode, Medlir talks with Josh Porter — author of The Last Human Marketer — about what he calls "drowning in automation": the paradox where scaling content and tools produces less clarity, not more. Josh makes the case that human judgment in positioning isn't a legacy constraint — it's a competitive edge. He also introduces the "Customer Connect Code," his framework for translating complex AI products into language that actually lands with buyers.

Link:

• The Last Human Marketer

To open Season 14 of Age of AI, and to mark the podcast’s 5-year anniversary, we are joined by Dr. Valerie Hudson for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, governance, and the future of political order. Drawing on her decades of work at the intersection of international relations and emerging technology, Dr. Hudson reflects on how we arrived at this moment, the risks of concentrated technological power, and what a more democratic future for AI might require.

Links:

• The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance
• Opinion: The reckoning that came for social media will come for AI and prediction markets, too
• Opinion: Our tech lords have plans for us, and they’re chilling
• Opinion: The irony of Anthropic’s stand
• Perspective: Both Democrats and Republicans oppose a ban on state AI regulation. Why is it still being considered?
• An Avoidable Apocalypse
• Artificial Intelligence And International Politics

Special Announcement: the AI Ethics and Governance Institute is organizing the AI Law & Governance Conference (ALGO 2026), an immersive executive program taking place September 8-10, 2026, in Istanbul, Turkey. Organized in collaboration with two leading AI law firms, Kirton/McConkie and Clarion AI Partners, the program is designed for lawyers, corporate governance officials, government officials, and graduate students. For more information, please visit the AI Ethics and Governance Institute website: aegixinstitute.org