Embedded AI - Intelligence at the Deep Edge

David Such
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“Intelligence at the Deep Edge” is a podcast exploring the fascinating intersection of embedded systems and artificial intelligence. Dive into the world of cutting-edge technology as we discuss how AI is revolutionizing edge devices, enabling smarter sensors, efficient machine learning models, and real-time decision-making at the edge. Discover more on Embedded AI (https://medium.com/embedded-ai) — our companion publication where we detail the ideas, projects, and breakthroughs featured on the podcast. Help support the podcast - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429696/support

  1. The Best Model Doesn't Win: Why AI is Repeating the Browser Wars, Not the Cloud Wars

    MAR 5

    The Best Model Doesn't Win: Why AI is Repeating the Browser Wars, Not the Cloud Wars

    Send a text Three years into the foundation model race, the scoreboard depends entirely on which metric you read. ChatGPT still dominates consumer traffic. Google Gemini is growing faster than anything in the market by bundling AI into every surface it controls. And Anthropic's Claude, with barely 3% of consumer share, has quietly captured 40% of enterprise LLM spend and become the default tool for the developers building the next generation of software. In this episode, we examine the data behind what we call the 10-20-80 split, trace how Claude Code shifted the enterprise AI market in under 18 months, and ask the uncomfortable question: does any of it matter if Google is running the 1995 Microsoft playbook? The browser wars taught us that the best product does not always win. Distribution wins. We examine whether that lesson applies to AI, where it breaks down, and what it means for engineers making infrastructure bets today. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    22 min
  2. LLM Coding Assistants: Scaling Limits and the AGI Thesis

    MAR 4

    LLM Coding Assistants: Scaling Limits and the AGI Thesis

    Send a text In this episode, we take a hard look at one of the most debated questions in artificial intelligence: do LLM-based coding assistants face structural scaling limits that prevent them from becoming a pathway to Artificial General Intelligence? Critics argue that transformer models suffer from quadratic attention costs, lack persistent memory, and process code as flat token streams rather than structured systems. These concerns raise serious questions about whether today’s architectures can scale to handle large, real-world codebases or sustain long-horizon reasoning. But the story is more complex. We explore how engineering innovations such as retrieval-augmented generation, hybrid architectures, sub-quadratic attention methods, and agentic plan–execute–revise loops are actively mitigating many of these constraints. Research in mechanistic interpretability also challenges the “flat sequence” narrative, revealing that models form surprisingly rich internal representations of control flow, structure, and semantics. While human experts still hold an edge on deep architectural reasoning and large-scale system design, that gap is shifting as test-time compute scaling and structured reasoning frameworks improve performance on real-world software benchmarks. Rather than describing permanent ceilings, this episode frames current limitations as active research frontiers. The central question is not whether scaling hits a wall, but whether architectural diversification and hybrid systems can carry LLM-based coding assistants beyond today’s boundaries and closer to general intelligence. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    18 min
  3. Why AI makes Experts Worse

    FEB 28

    Why AI makes Experts Worse

    Send a text Recent research points to a “leveling effect” in knowledge work. Generative AI dramatically improves the performance of novices by acting as a cognitive scaffold, raising productivity and output quality. Yet for elite professionals, the same tools can subtly degrade performance. Automation bias, overcorrection, skill atrophy, and the jagged, uneven reliability of AI systems create a situation where partial collaboration produces weaker results than either human or machine alone. We examine how this shift disrupts the traditional apprenticeship model. When entry-level tasks are automated, junior professionals lose the structured repetition that once built deep, intuitive mastery. At the same time, experts risk outsourcing the very cognitive processes that made them exceptional. The episode argues that the solution is not to reject AI, but to use it differently. Instead of treating AI as a co-author, experts should deploy it as an adversarial sparring partner to stress-test ideas, surface blind spots, and challenge assumptions. As the economy integrates AI more deeply, the value of human work moves away from procedural competence and toward strategic judgment, ethical reasoning, and contextual awareness. In this new landscape, the advantage belongs to those who can orchestrate intelligent systems without surrendering their own intellectual edge. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    17 min
  4. Most Neurons Do Nothing and That's the Point!

    FEB 25

    Most Neurons Do Nothing and That's the Point!

    Send a text This episode explores why biological neural networks are inherently sparse, with only 1 to 5 percent of cortical neurons active at any moment, and why this silence is a feature rather than a limitation. We trace the evolutionary pressures that drove the brain toward sparse coding, from the metabolic cost of each spike to the fixed energy budget per neuron, and examine the computational advantages that follow: greater memory capacity, more efficient representations, and robust generalisation. The discussion then turns to what this means for artificial intelligence, covering the Lottery Ticket Hypothesis, dynamic sparse training, Mixture of Experts architectures, and spiking neural networks. For engineers building at the deep edge, the conclusion is clear: strategic sparsity is not a constraint to work around but a design principle to build on. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    18 min
  5. Intelligence and the Substrate Independence Debate

    FEB 11

    Intelligence and the Substrate Independence Debate

    Send a text Is intelligence tied to biology, or can it emerge in any suitable physical medium? In this episode, we examine the Substrate Non discrimination Assumption and the broader question of whether intelligence is fundamentally substrate independent. We separate the engineering claim about capability from the ethical claim about moral status, clarifying what each would require to be proven and why neither has yet been settled. The episode concludes by asking a more practical question: what evidence would meaningfully update our beliefs? From constructing robust artificial general intelligence to discovering biologically necessary mechanisms, we outline the kinds of developments that could shift the debate. For engineers and researchers, the takeaway is clear: design and govern advanced systems under deep theoretical uncertainty, while remaining open to revision as science advances. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    14 min
  6. Are We Training AI the Wrong Way?

    JAN 31

    Are We Training AI the Wrong Way?

    Send a text This episode examines how modern artificial intelligence is trained, and why its dominant methods may diverge from what decades of research tell us about effective learning. While contemporary AI systems emphasize mathematical efficiency and backpropagation, human learning relies on biological principles such as error-driven adaptation, productive struggle, interleaved practice, and spaced repetition. The discussion explores emerging research that draws inspiration from cognitive science, including ideas like synthetic sleep, active learning, and training regimes designed to reduce catastrophic forgetting and data inefficiency. By comparing current AI approaches with the mechanisms that support deep, flexible human learning, the episode argues that future progress toward more general and resilient intelligence will require architectures that reflect how brains actually learn. Rather than replacing human thinking, such systems could serve to extend and strengthen it. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    15 min
  7. Civilization Runs on Collective Fictions

    JAN 25

    Civilization Runs on Collective Fictions

    Send a text This episode looks at how artificial intelligence is eroding the shared stories that have long held civilization together, from money and nation-states to the idea of a lifelong job. As AI weakens the link between labor and survival, we explore why human cooperation cannot function without common beliefs, and why a new social contract is required to avoid fragmentation and instability. The discussion introduces the idea of a “new mythos” to replace industrial-age narratives of productivity, one grounded in planetary stewardship, shared cultural heritage, and the commons. We examine what it means to separate human identity from economic output, and to treat AI-generated wealth as a collective dividend rather than private profit. The episode closes with a deeper question: in a world where intelligence is no longer uniquely human, can we consciously design new belief systems that support dignity, freedom, and human flourishing rather than control and surveillance? Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    16 min
  8. The Post-Work Era: AI, Automation, and Human Flourishing or...

    JAN 2

    The Post-Work Era: AI, Automation, and Human Flourishing or...

    Send a text This episode explores the idea of the “Post-Wage Horizon,” a future in which artificial intelligence and robotics take over most productive work, freeing human beings from economic dependence on jobs. We examine how proposals like universal basic income and universal basic services could redistribute the wealth created by automation, and why material abundance alone is not enough. As work-based identity fades, societies may face a deep existential challenge: what gives life meaning when employment is no longer central? The discussion turns to the rise of a care-focused society, where art, community, caregiving, and the pursuit of wisdom become the foundations of human purpose. The episode argues that the real test of this future is not technological, but cultural and moral: whether we can redesign our social systems to support meaningful lives beyond wage labor. Support the show If you are interested in learning more then please subscribe to the podcast or head over to https://medium.com/@reefwing, where there is lots more content on AI, IoT, robotics, drones, and development. To support us in bringing you this material, you can buy me a coffee or just provide feedback. We love feedback!

    15 min
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About

“Intelligence at the Deep Edge” is a podcast exploring the fascinating intersection of embedded systems and artificial intelligence. Dive into the world of cutting-edge technology as we discuss how AI is revolutionizing edge devices, enabling smarter sensors, efficient machine learning models, and real-time decision-making at the edge. Discover more on Embedded AI (https://medium.com/embedded-ai) — our companion publication where we detail the ideas, projects, and breakthroughs featured on the podcast. Help support the podcast - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429696/support

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