The Weird Canadian

Cody Johnston
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

The old systems are failing. This is the show about who is building what comes next in AI — the systems, the culture, and the people shaping what changes next. The Weird Canadian is a podcast about practical, no-hype AI and the people building real things with it. Host Cody Johnston aka The Weird Canadian, a former government and fintech software developer turned independent builder in Lewisporte, Newfoundland, talks with founders, operators, engineers and skeptics about what to automate, what to keep human, and how to own your tools instead of renting your future from them. Expect honest long-form conversations on AI for small business, agents and human review, online trust and identity, indie building, and unconventional career paths, plus the occasional policy deep-dive when tech rules change what regular people can do. Two new episodes a week.

  1. 1d ago

    The Link That Isn't Zoom: Crypto Scams That Catch Careful People, with Dr. Daniel Daniel

    Read transcript Episode Notes The interview cuts out and the recruiter sends a new link. It isn't Zoom. Dr. Daniel Daniel describes fake job interview scams that start with a real-looking job ad on LinkedIn, run a first and second round of professional interviews, then "fix" a dropped call with a link that puts malware on your computer. Daniel knows how these scams feel from the inside. He's a Halifax dentist and dental educator who built a cosmetic and implant practice, then founded The Bitcoin Education Program. He'd read that you never give out your seed phrase. By his own account, a fake support agent spent 30 minutes helping him with a problem before asking for it. Something flagged, he handed it over anyway, and he watched his crypto leave his wallet. His warning is that the people running these scams are smart and patient, and that ignoring crypto won't keep you safe from them. He explains why he says scammers call your parents instead of you, the calendar invites he never accepts, and why he tells people to hang up and contact their bank through official channels when "the bank" calls. Cody and Daniel also talk through why Bitcoin exists, seed phrases and self-custody in plain English, the 2022 Emergencies Act bank freezes, why adults stop asking beginner questions, why you don't need to know how a car works to drive one, and why a dentist who was late to Bitcoin decided not to be late to AI. Chapters: 0:00 He knew better. A scammer got his keys anyway 1:03 From dentist to Bitcoin educator 2:12 The crypto truth nobody admits 4:33 Why Bitcoin exists: bank freezes and the blockchain 10:45 Self-custody, seed phrases and digital gold 15:30 Nobody was teaching Bitcoin, so he taught himself 18:45 The fake support call that took his seed phrase 20:59 Why scammers call your parents, not you 23:17 Fake calendar invites and LinkedIn job interview scams 26:01 Becoming a beginner and asking dumb questions 32:46 Digital ownership: you don't need to know how a car works 36:02 Late to texting, early to AI 38:55 Picking crypto and stocks by use case (not advice) 44:29 Robots, driverless cars and finding the balance Find Daniel: The Bitcoin Education Program: https://thebitcoineducationprogram.com Related reporting: BBC, "I lost my savings after a job interview scam" (September 2026): https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk3xd8j3k5o Join free on Patreon to follow along — nothing required to keep listening here: https://www.patreon.com/c/The_Weird_Canadian Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiT3cpyWP0 Episode partners: Efani, the secure mobile carrier built to stop SIM swaps. Use code WEIRDCANADIAN: https://www.efani.com/theweirdcanadian Async, the AI video editor I use: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn Disclosure: the Efani and Async links are affiliate links. The Weird Canadian earns a commission if you sign up through them. Context: this conversation reflects the speakers' views, and Daniel's scam account is his own. Cody and Daniel talk about assets they own or watch. Nothing in this episode is financial or legal advice. On the 2022 Emergencies Act: the Federal Court, and on January 16, 2026 the Federal Court of Appeal, found the invocation unreasonable and beyond the government's legal authority, with Charter breaches. On October 22, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear the government's appeal, so the question isn't settled. Corrections: in the segment on why Bitcoin exists, Daniel says the US dollar was backed by gold until 1974; the US ended gold convertibility in August 1971. He also flips the deposit insurance limits: FDIC insurance covers at least US$250,000 at each insured US bank, and CDIC covers eligible deposits up to $100,000 per category in Canada. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  2. 5d ago

    SIM Swap: He Did Everything Right and Still Lost His Number, with Mark Kreitzman

    Read transcript Episode Notes Mark Kreitzman had a carrier PIN, a SIM PIN lock and a rule that nothing on his account could change unless he was in a store with his passport and driver's licence. His number got moved anyway. He tells Cody how it happened: his phone going quiet on a desert highway between Phoenix and Tucson, a flood of password reset alerts once he reached his parents' Wi-Fi, and about 90 days to learn that a store employee in Memphis, Tennessee, had logged him as standing at the counter. He lives on the West Coast. Mark is General Manager at Efani, the secure mobile carrier he helped build after that SIM swap. He started at AT\&T and held security leadership roles at OpenDNS, Mobolize and Lattice Security, and lately he builds his own AI tools that scan company domains for the gaps attackers look for. His warning is that you don't have to be famous to be a target anymore. He says a $7 a month server and a few scripts can scan thousands of companies overnight and rank the easiest to break into, and that in his scans, companies people trust with their data keep failing basics like email spoofing protection and forgotten staging domains. He explains why he says carriers accept a small amount of SIM swap fraud, how Efani locks down a mobile account, and why you could lock your phone in a safe and still lose your number, because the change happens in the network. They also talk about scam compounds in Southeast Asia, where, Mark says, some workers are held like prisoners; the security.txt file that lets researchers report holes; device and browser fingerprinting; data deletion companies that play both sides; why he thinks AI means privacy is dead; why your phone number has a reputation score; and how to set up a secure phone with GrapheneOS, including two companies he recommends if you'd rather buy one set up with support. Chapters: 0:00 AI is choosing who gets hacked next 2:05 The truth the security industry won't admit 3:17 An AI scanner that finds who's easy to hack 5:46 How AI decides who's worth targeting 8:20 Email spoofing, phishing and forgotten staging domains 12:31 Scam compounds and the hack nobody could report 18:02 From AT\&T to email security 22:38 The SIM swap that started Efani 26:15 How Efani stops SIM swaps, and why carriers don't 30:59 Device and browser fingerprinting 35:56 Data deletion companies play both sides 40:08 With AI, privacy is dead, and your number has a score 48:04 Secure phones, GrapheneOS and why the network is the weak point 55:26 Final advice and how to find Mark Find Mark: Efani: https://www.efani.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kreitzman Mentioned in this episode: GrapheneOS: https://grapheneos.org Above Phone: https://abovephone.com Mark37: https://mark37.com Join free on Patreon to follow along — nothing required to keep listening here: https://www.patreon.com/c/The_Weird_Canadian Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/0gugHDov3dE Episode partners: Efani, the secure mobile carrier built to stop SIM swaps. Use code WEIRDCANADIAN: https://www.efani.com/theweirdcanadian Async, the AI video editor I use: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn Disclosure: Mark Kreitzman is General Manager at Efani, which sponsors this episode. The Efani and Async links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. Context: this conversation reflects the speakers' views. Mark's SIM swap account, his scan results and his descriptions of Efani and the carrier industry are his own and weren't independently verified. Nothing here is legal or financial advice. Correction: in the privacy segment, Mark says US data brokers are federally regulated and must delete your data within 7 days. There's no general US federal data broker deletion law. Under California's Delete Act, starting August 1, 2026, registered data brokers must check the state's deletion platform at least once every 45 days and process consumers' deletion requests. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  3. Oct 26

    AI Can Fake Anyone. How Do You Prove You're Real? Wes Kussmaul on Accountable Anonymity

    Read transcript Episode Notes AI can fake anyone, and AI agents can pass as human. So how do you prove a real person sent the message that moves your money, and who answers when an AI agent gets it wrong? Cody puts that question to Wes Kussmaul. Wes launched the Kussmaul Encyclopedia in 1981, the online service that became Delphi, and sold Delphi to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1993. He founded The Authenticity Institute and wrote Quiet Enjoyment, a book about bringing accountability back to social media. His answer is accountable anonymity, and he explains it with a licence plate. Your plate makes you answerable on the road without telling strangers your name, and your identity only comes out when there's a reason, like a fender bender or a court order. Online, he says, you can prove you're a real, accountable person without handing your identity to every company you deal with. He walks through the system he's building: separate persona certificates for dating, work and everything else, an attestation officer who is the only one who knows who you are, and a central database in Geneva that holds no personal information, so even a dictator at gunpoint gets nothing from it. He says licensees are already building on it, from dating to hiring to signed content an audience can check against deepfakes. On AI agents, his rule is simple: any AI that can pass as a human needs a human conservator, a licensed professional who answers for what it does and can lose that licence. Cody says he doesn't see a way around it. They also talk about how Delphi handled anonymity in the '80s, when, as Wes tells it, even the DEA needed a court order to learn who was behind a username; his account of why UN member states shut down a global identity network he worked on; the City of Osmio and his question "who asked Microsoft to be our government?"; Optimocracy, where you only vote after you've done the homework; his argument for owning information about yourself; whether AI is conscious and whether software engineering as we know it is dying; how, in his telling, US encryption export rules handed Canadian companies an opening; Canada's Bill C-22; and why he thinks IT should be a licensed profession, like architecture. To go deeper, Wes suggests starting with the SHIPS videos (Solutions Hiding in Plain Sight) on the Authentiverse site. Chapters: 0:00 Proving you're real when AI can fake anyone 2:05 The truth the data industry won't admit 3:23 Social media in the '80s, before you were the product 7:51 From Delphi to the UN identity project nations killed 15:21 City of Osmio vs Microsoft's universal ID 19:23 Blockchain vs accountable anonymity: the licence plate model 22:16 Dating, hiring and signed content built on it 25:35 Multiple personas and attestation officers 29:14 An identity database with no identity in it 31:12 Optimocracy: no vote without the homework 34:50 Owning your own information 38:12 Is AI conscious? Is software engineering dying? 39:59 AI conservators: who answers for AI agents 43:24 Bill C-22, backdoors and licensing for IT Find Wes: Website: https://weskussmaul.com Authentiverse (start with the SHIPS videos): https://authentiverse.com The Authenticity Institute: https://www.authenticityinstitute.com City of Osmio: https://www.osmio.ch Optimocracy: https://optimocracy.org Join free on Patreon to follow along — nothing required to keep listening here: https://www.patreon.com/c/The_Weird_Canadian Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/xDvOkco0p7Q Episode partners: Efani, the secure mobile carrier built to stop SIM swaps. Use code WEIRDCANADIAN: https://www.efani.com/theweirdcanadian Async, the AI video editor I use: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn Disclosure: The Efani and Async links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. Context: this conversation reflects the speakers' views. Wes describes a system that he and his organizations build and license; his descriptions of it, its licensees and his history are his own account and weren't independently verified. Nothing here is legal advice. Correction: near the end, I say Bill C-22 makes every company build a backdoor into its systems. The version the House of Commons passed on June 18, 2026 lets the federal cabinet require "core providers", classes of service providers listed in the bill, to build access capabilities and keep some metadata for up to six months. It exempts them from any requirement that would create a "systemic vulnerability", and it says they can't be compelled to decrypt users' data unless the provider supplied the encryption and holds the keys. As of October 24, 2026, the bill is before a Senate committee and is not law. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  4. Oct 22

    Robotaxis Can Drive. Who Lifts the Wheelchair? Eric Mulvin on AI and the Work That Needs a Person

    Read transcript Episode Notes Robotaxis can drive. Who lifts the wheelchair? Eric Mulvin runs a call center, and his answer sits at the center of this conversation: AI takes the easy work, and the work that needs a person grows. Eric is the CEO and co-founder of Pac Biz Outsourcing, a Phoenix company whose team in the Philippines provides 24/7 customer support for businesses in transportation, software and e-commerce. It started as the team answering calls for his Arizona taxi company. Before that, he worked the phones himself as a frontline agent at JPMorgan Chase and Yelp. He's a three-time ASU Sun Devil 100 honoree and hosts the podcast Unfinished Business with Eric Mulvin. Is AI replacing call center jobs? Eric says he just hired almost 60 people in a month. He tells Cody what he says to new hires: if all you do is copy and paste from ChatGPT, you've told him ChatGPT could do your job, so bring the HI, the human intelligence, to the AI. Many of his clients run non-emergency medical transportation, where drivers come into the home with a wheelchair or stretcher and take elderly and sick passengers to dialysis and doctor's appointments. Eric says he sees self-driving cars on his street in Phoenix, and he still expects those vehicles to need a person to load the passenger for a long while. They also talk about why Eric says many of his clients were 70 to 80% automated before ChatGPT and he still expects to create jobs, what happens when people can't work because ChatGPT is down, his worry that AI gets bent to the biases of whoever runs it, how a photo of his daughter's homework becomes a worksheet of 20 more practice questions, why people working from home still want coworkers, and the 50 conversations at a conference that changed his marketing plan. Cody shares why AI has made him more human. Eric closes with his advice for anyone thinking about starting a business: solve a real problem first, start small and fail fast. Chapters: 0:00 AI replacing jobs? This call center is still hiring 0:53 Meet Eric Mulvin 2:06 Call centers aren't ready for AI 3:35 What he tells new hires about AI 8:29 What not to automate: robotaxis vs. people 13:48 Can AI level the playing field? 20:11 Work ethic, high agency and ChatGPT outages 23:18 Kids, creativity and AI homework help 33:29 The market for human work 38:13 Why we still need coworkers 46:06 Level up people, not replace them 51:26 From call center agent to CEO 53:38 Solve a real problem first 59:56 Where to find Eric Guest: Eric Mulvin, CEO and co-founder, Pac Biz Outsourcing Pac Biz Outsourcing: https://pac-biz.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mulvin/ Unfinished Business with Eric Mulvin: https://pac-biz.com/unfinished-business-with-eric-mulvin/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizWithEric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizwitheric/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bizwitheric Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/mQEqyHTvy80 Episode partners: Async: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/the_weird_canadian Disclosure: The Async and PodMatch links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. This conversation shares experience and opinions. Eric's figures about his company, his clients and automation are his own account, and predictions about AI, robotaxis and jobs are the speakers' own. Correction: in the robotaxi segment, we put US road deaths at about 34,000 a year. NHTSA reports 39,254 deaths in 2024 and estimates 36,640 for 2025. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  5. Oct 19

    Driving Will Be Like Riding a Harley: Erika Debrah Reed on Self-Driving Cars and AI's Gift of Time

    Read transcript Episode Notes Will you still drive when your car can drive itself? Erika Debrah Reed thinks you'll be allowed to, but you won't have to. She expects human driving to end up like riding a Harley: something people do for fun, not to get to work. She also thinks AI's real payoff is time, if companies and people use it with intention. Erika began her career in civil engineering on highways and bridges, then moved into retail real estate after business school. Over 15 years she has gone from opening shopping centers to planning them as transportation hubs for self-driving cars, delivery robots, drones and electric planes. She tells Cody the truth she says retail won't admit: malls aren't dead. Her book, The Gift of Time, makes the case that AI can hand hours back to us, from chores and email to time stuck in traffic. She's optimistic that companies will cut hours instead of cutting people, though she says she hasn't seen hours drop yet. Cody shares why he left government: his reward for programming was more programming. They talk about Jamie Dimon's 3.5-day workweek prediction, why Erika thinks some companies blaming layoffs on AI have other problems, the three ways people tend to spend reclaimed time, and why she doesn't want a small group in Silicon Valley owning all the data. Then the road. Erika explains why she expects every car to go self-driving eventually and why fewer teens are getting licenses. Cody, who built an '83 El Camino with his grandfather and lives in rural Newfoundland, asks whether driver's licenses will disappear and floats autonomous RVs as homes. Erika closes with the AI assistant that texts her a daily plan for her household, and her advice: you are the author of your own life. Chapters: 0:00 AI should cut your hours, not your job 2:17 The truth retail won't admit: malls aren't dead 4:29 From highway engineer to retail strategist 5:42 Why she wrote The Gift of Time 7:10 Why she's an AI optimist 8:28 AI's biggest gift: your time back 11:23 Will companies cut hours or keep the gains? 14:38 Companies blaming layoffs on AI 15:25 How to use AI with intention 18:57 The AI future to avoid: who owns the data 21:54 Will every car go self-driving? 26:09 Will driver's licenses disappear? 29:53 How she uses AI: a household assistant by text 31:29 Where to find Erika and final advice Guest: Erika Debrah Reed Website: https://erikaintelligence.com The Gift of Time: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1968668284 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikadreed/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/erikaintelligence Mentioned in this episode: Ollie, the household AI assistant Erika uses: https://ollie.ai Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/yBjKtOKLKLc Episode partners: Async: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/the_weird_canadian Disclosure: The Async and PodMatch links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. This conversation shares experience and opinions. Predictions about self-driving cars, AI and work are the speakers' own. Correction: in the opening and again in the self-driving section, Erika says 63% of driver-age US teens aren't getting a license. Federal Highway Administration data for 2024 show about 60% of 18-year-olds and 69% of 19-year-olds hold one. The trend she describes is real: the share of 16- to 19-year-olds with a license has fallen since 2004. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  6. Oct 15

    AI Animation Gets You to 80%: Family Guy Storyboard Artist Patrick McCarthy on the Rest

    Read transcript Episode Notes Can AI animation get an independent creator to 80%? Patrick McCarthy thinks it can, for the concept. Getting to 100% still takes people. He's a self-taught animator and Family Guy storyboard artist, and his rule is simple: use AI to get an 80% concept out, so that when the money comes you can bring in the talent that finishes it. Patrick tells Cody how his Stewie Potter spec animation, a Family Guy and Harry Potter mashup, went viral and reached the show's team, how Family Guy turned him down twice anyway, and how he ended up there for what he says is now seven years. He explains why he thinks the entertainment industry isn't a meritocracy, and why animation is harder to fake. Then he walks through Paraland, the fantasy comedy world he's been building since 2011: three heroes based on himself, his wife and his best friend, a Seinfeld-style comedy that keeps escalating, and seasons with themed titles like Season of Doom. He wants it to feel like the Pokémon he grew up with, one world you watch, play and collect, so it's planned as an animated series, a VR game and a collectible toy game. He describes the 3D-printed prototype for the toy game and why he hired a 3D artist to get the character exactly right. On AI, Patrick thinks both camps in the online fight are wrong. He says AI is opening doors for independent creators that were closed five years ago, but it still drops too many small details for a finished product. He predicts AI video prices will rise the way Uber's did, and that in ten years most people will barely touch AI models. Cody, an AI optimist who runs a 3D print farm, pushes back with local models and home manufacturing. They also cover why VR is still in its arcade era, what Patrick thinks Meta should have done with Elder Scrolls 6, full-dive VR, Cody's AR game idea, what anime fandom gets right, and why the generational war is really old ideas against new ones. Chapters: 0:00 AI animation gets you to 80%. Then what? 1:14 Meet Patrick McCarthy 2:29 The truth animation doesn't want to admit 4:01 Hot take: meritocracy isn't possible 7:05 From viral spec animation to Family Guy 11:25 Has Family Guy gone on too long? 13:31 Disney, Doctor Who and losing the original heart 17:02 How to keep a story going across seasons 22:29 What is Paraland? 27:32 Patrick's Game of Thrones prequel 30:25 Why Paraland is more than an animated series 33:28 Why VR? 36:28 Why not Kickstarter: crowdfunding with Reg CF 38:33 How Paraland is funding the show 41:28 Fandoms that never get to build on their worlds 43:31 The life cycle of every entertainment medium 45:28 Where Meta went wrong with VR 48:00 The Oasis: the future of full-dive VR 52:42 Why is it so hard to get anything made? 55:28 AI gives creativity back to creators 57:00 An AR game alongside the show 1:00:00 What anime fandom gets right 1:02:01 The AI debate: an optimist's view 1:07:37 Big Tech, paywalls and the gatekeepers 1:12:28 Will regular people actually use AI? 1:14:32 Hot take: the generational war 1:17:33 Final advice and where to find Patrick Guest: Patrick McCarthy Paraland: The Prologue: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/paraland-the-prologue YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PatrickMcCarthyAnimations Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quirkykidani/ Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday with the people building what comes next. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/xAZLfNyUQS4 Episode partners: Async: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/the_weird_canadian Disclosure: The Async and PodMatch links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. This conversation shares experience and opinions. Patrick's views are his own and don't speak for Family Guy or its studios. Predictions about AI pricing, VR and the entertainment industry are the speakers' opinions. Patrick talks about his plans to raise money for Paraland through equity crowdfunding; that's his description of his plans at the time of recording, not an offer, and not investment advice. Contains explicit language. Chapter note (package only, don't paste): these times are the public YouTube chapters and line up with the local SRT within about 10 seconds. The candidate MP3 is the same length as the local render. Recheck them against the final Pinecast master. Drop the chapter block if the master's sponsor reads, cold open or ending differ. If you trim the Reg CF segment, the 36:28 and 38:33 chapters and everything after them will move. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  7. Oct 12

    Will AI Take My Job? Who Gets Cut First, with Architect Beau Dromiack

    Read transcript Episode Notes Will AI take my job? Architect Beau Dromiack has a specific answer: in his view, the middle goes first. Template work, where the architect mostly adapts a design someone else already made, is the most exposed. Complex work that depends on people, judgment and craft is the safest. Beau is a principal architect at WMA Architects in Phoenix, working on semiconductor cleanrooms, advanced manufacturing and research labs. He teaches architecture at Arizona State University's The Design School and wrote The Craft Advantage and Super-Architect. He tells Cody about getting his start through vocational school, starting at a firm the Monday after the person at his new desk was fired for bad lettering, and why he thinks the profession lost its craft when the tools sped up. Then he lays out three turning points for architects: the move to digital tools, AI taking over template work within about five years (by his estimate costing those architects 50 to 70 percent of the fee), and a future where AI-graded documents could stand in for the architect's seal. He isn't against any of it. His firm already runs its documents through Claude for quality control and uses AI meeting notes, and his warning is about the intoxication of convenience: letting AI do the thinking until your own skills fade. Cody and Beau also cover AI use in architecture school, testing designs while you draw them, cookie-cutter buildings, AI for people with great ideas who never thought of themselves as writers, Beau's take on data center water and power fears, why he thinks AI has to stay open, and why lifelong learners are the ones who last. Chapters: 0:00 Will AI take my job? Who gets cut first 0:56 Introducing Beau Dromiack 2:33 The truth architects don't want to admit 3:24 From vocational school to architecture 4:42 Fired for bad lettering 8:05 How speed eroded the craft 9:03 A minivan traveling at Mach 2 11:07 The Super Architect: care, skills, integration 13:05 You still need to know what you're doing 15:51 Are students using AI to skip learning? 18:44 Designing and testing in parallel 23:52 Three inflection points for architects 27:24 Is cookie-cutter architecture sad? 31:11 Craft at every level of architecture 32:58 The intoxication of convenience 36:48 AI turns ideas into output 41:13 Data centers: water and power myths 45:50 Why AI should stay open 50:51 Earning our place in the future 54:01 Lifelong learners survive 55:23 How Beau's firm uses AI day to day 57:25 Start with AI meeting notes 1:00:16 Where to find Beau Guest: Beau Dromiack Books and site: https://dromiackinvention.com WMA Architects: https://www.wma-phx.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beau-dromiack-aia-dbia-ncarb-scup-310747124/ Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday with the people building what comes next in AI. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/GGyyKUY-xHU Episode partners: Async: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/the_weird_canadian Disclosure: The Async and PodMatch links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. This conversation shares experience and opinions. Job, fee and timeline predictions are Beau's forecasts, and his views on data centers and AI regulation are his own, not independently verified findings. It isn't career, legal or engineering advice. If you use AI meeting notes, follow the consent and privacy rules that apply to you. Contains explicit language. Chapter note (package only, don't paste): these times come from the public YouTube description and line up with the local SRT within a few seconds. The candidate MP3 is the same length as the local render. Recheck them against the final Pinecast master. Drop the chapter block if the master's sponsor reads or ending differ. The "Data centers: water and power myths" chapter title is the public one; "fears" would be safer wording if you want to soften it. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

  8. Oct 8

    What Not to Automate With AI, with Gabe Arnold

    Read transcript Episode Notes If every decision in your business still waits on you, AI won't fix that on its own. Cody talks with Gabe Arnold, CEO of Simple Operations, about what small businesses shouldn't automate, and what has to be in place before AI is actually useful. Gabe has been an entrepreneur for about three decades. He built a seven-figure remodeling company, lost it to bankruptcy when the 2007-2008 credit crunch hit his clients, rebuilt with a marketing agency, and now helps expert-led founders build companies that don't stall waiting on the owner. His take on AI is practical. It's a strong assistant when it has clear rules and a mess when it's turned loose. Go-to-market calls and decisions about people's roles stay human. At the centre of the conversation is the founder bottleneck: how expert knowledge gets stuck in one person's head, what that costs a team in waiting time and payroll, and how to get it out by documenting how you make decisions and giving people principles over policies. Cody and Gabe also cover AI following the social media playbook, whether open source changes that, vibe coding and the future of developers, the human skills that matter more now, the models Gabe actually uses, generative AI and creativity, and why taste, curiosity, and craft are making a comeback. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 1:03 Introducing Gabe Arnold 2:11 The truth his industry won't admit 3:09 What AI can realistically do today 4:20 Which decisions should stay human 5:28 Big companies vs. small businesses 6:40 Will we ever own our own AI models? 7:51 Getting knowledge out of the founder's head 10:13 Principles, policies and employees with agency 11:46 Gabe's story: construction, bankruptcy and starting over 13:30 Why AI follows the social media cycle 16:30 Does open source change anything? 19:20 Vibe coding and the future of developers 24:47 The skills humans will still need 28:56 Why people still want humans 31:07 Gabe's favourite AI models and the "origins theory" 36:11 Where AI should go from here 38:21 Generative AI and creativity 39:33 What Gabe is waiting for 44:18 Will people who don't use AI fall behind? 47:34 Craft is making a comeback 48:42 How to develop taste 50:11 What about people who aren't curious? 52:42 Simple Operations and final thoughts Guest: Gabe Arnold Simple Operations: https://simpleoperations.com Business Marketing Engine: https://businessmarketingengine.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabearnold/ Follow The Weird Canadian in your podcast app for new conversations every Monday and Thursday with the people building what comes next in AI. Episodes and more: https://theweirdcanadian.ca Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/AFs_M-QchTI Episode partners: Async: https://async.com/?ref=zjdlyzn PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/the_weird_canadian Disclosure: The Async and PodMatch links are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through them. This conversation shares experience and opinions. It isn't legal, HR, or privacy advice or a promise of business results. If you record calls, follow the consent and privacy rules that apply to you. Contains explicit language. Support The Weird Canadian by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/the-weird-canadian This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

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About

The old systems are failing. This is the show about who is building what comes next in AI — the systems, the culture, and the people shaping what changes next. The Weird Canadian is a podcast about practical, no-hype AI and the people building real things with it. Host Cody Johnston aka The Weird Canadian, a former government and fintech software developer turned independent builder in Lewisporte, Newfoundland, talks with founders, operators, engineers and skeptics about what to automate, what to keep human, and how to own your tools instead of renting your future from them. Expect honest long-form conversations on AI for small business, agents and human review, online trust and identity, indie building, and unconventional career paths, plus the occasional policy deep-dive when tech rules change what regular people can do. Two new episodes a week.

Information

  • Creator
    Cody Johnston
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    175
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025–2026 Cody Johnston
  • Show Website
    The Weird Canadian