AI: Tools or Gods?

Caroline De Cock, LL.M.

What happens when we stop treating AI as a force of nature and start treating it as what it is: a political choice? AI: Tools or Gods? is a podcast about the stories we tell about artificial intelligence and why they matter. Each episode, host Caroline De C**k talks with researchers, lawyers, policymakers, and advocates who are building a more grounded, democratic alternative to the dominant AI narrative. No prophecies. No panic. Just honest, rigorous conversation about power, accountability, and what technology is actually for. A companion to the book AI Tools, Not Gods (BTF Press, 2026, foreword by Brewster Kahle) and a production of information labs.

Episodes

  1. AI: Tools or Gods? | Is the AI doom narrative a Western export? - Part 1 (ft. Payal Arora)

    21h ago

    AI: Tools or Gods? | Is the AI doom narrative a Western export? - Part 1 (ft. Payal Arora)

    Part 1 of this two-part podcast explores the growing divide between Western fears of AI and the more optimistic, practical ways technology is being used across the Global South. The conversation challenges dominant narratives around AI, arguing that digital tools can empower people, create opportunities, and expand global connection when approached with creativity, agency, and human-centered thinking rather than fear and restriction. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning GuestPayal Arora is a digital anthropologist and Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University. She has spent two decades doing fieldwork in some of the places the AI conversation most rarely reaches: factory towns, slums, townships, and favelas across India, Brazil, China, South Africa, and the Middle East. She is the author of The Next Billion Users and From Pessimism to Promise, both grounded in that fieldwork, and Forbes named her the next billion champion and the right kind of person to reform tech. Her work has been cited by many thousands of researchers, read across many thousands of classrooms, and it makes one of the most uncomfortable arguments in contemporary technology studies: that the story we tell about AI being dangerous is not a neutral observation. It is a story shaped by where you stand. 🔗LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/payalarora 🔗Website: payalarora.com

    23 min
  2. AI: Tools or Gods | Who benefits from the hype? (ft. Maria Sukhareva)

    May 19

    AI: Tools or Gods | Who benefits from the hype? (ft. Maria Sukhareva)

    The dominant narrative around AI suggests that the public simply misunderstands the technology — that better education will eventually align expectations with reality. But what if the hype is not a misunderstanding at all? In this episode, we examine the growing gap between what AI systems can actually do and what companies, investors, and public figures claim they can do. We discuss AI agents, hallucinations, enterprise failures, regulation, AGI narratives, and why both hype and backlash risk damaging serious AI research and practical applications. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning About The Guest Maria Sukhareva has been working in natural language processing since 2008, long before AI became a mainstream headline topic. She is a Principal AI Expert at a DAX company and the author of AI Realist, a newsletter focused on evidence-based analysis of AI systems, their limitations, and their real-world applications. Maria is one of the clearest voices in the field arguing for treating AI as a serious technical discipline rather than a speculative ideology. 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msukhareva 🔗Website: https://www.airealist.org 🔗Substack: https://msukhareva.substack.com

    34 min
  3. AI: Tools or Gods? - Trailer

    Episode 1

    AI: Tools or Gods? - Trailer

    Here's what you can expect from the AI: Tools or Gods? Podcast. AI: Tools or Gods? is launching soon as a new podcast examining how “god-like” narratives around AI shape our laws, culture, and future.

    1 min

Trailer

About

What happens when we stop treating AI as a force of nature and start treating it as what it is: a political choice? AI: Tools or Gods? is a podcast about the stories we tell about artificial intelligence and why they matter. Each episode, host Caroline De C**k talks with researchers, lawyers, policymakers, and advocates who are building a more grounded, democratic alternative to the dominant AI narrative. No prophecies. No panic. Just honest, rigorous conversation about power, accountability, and what technology is actually for. A companion to the book AI Tools, Not Gods (BTF Press, 2026, foreword by Brewster Kahle) and a production of information labs.

Information

  • Creator
    Caroline De Cock, LL.M.
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Caroline De Cock, LL.M.
  • Show Website
    AI: Tools or Gods?