A Beginner's Guide to AI

• Forget ChatGPT - This AI Can Join Your Group Chat: The David Petrou Interview

  🎙️ He Taught AI How to Have Manners — Meet David Petrou of Continua AIWhat if your next group chat had an extra participant — one that listens, understands the social context, remembers what you said last week, and even knows when to stay quiet? In today’s episode, host Dietmar Fischer sits down with David Petrou, founder and CEO of Continua AI, to explore the emerging world of Social AI — intelligent agents designed not just to talk, but to collaborate inside group chats.David, formerly at Google and part of the original Google Glasses team, has spent decades thinking about how humans and machines interact. With Continua, he’s building the world’s first truly human-aware AI that can join your Discord, iMessage, or Google Message conversations and behave like a socially intelligent teammate. This isn’t a chatbot — it’s an AI that understands when to talk, when to listen, and when to help.📧💌📧 Get my NewsletterTune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: 👉 https://beginnersguide.nl📧💌📧Get ready for a deep dive into social intelligence, etiquette in AI systems, agentic actions, and the future of communication where AI participates naturally alongside humans.💡 What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy Social AI is the next big evolution beyond traditional chatbotsHow Continua trains AI to understand timing, tone, context, and social cuesWhy David believes text messaging with AI will reach a billion usersThe engineering challenge behind teaching AI “manners” and “machine etiquette”How AI group chat agents improve communication, planning, and collaborationThe real use cases: debugging code, planning trips, updating documents, running games, and summarizing informationHow Continua’s multi-model architecture orchestrates LLMs, fine-tunes, and intent classifiersWhy Social AI is surprisingly safe — and why today’s fears don’t match the technical realityThe leadership perspective: how to integrate AI thoughtfully without overwhelming teamsWhere Social AI is heading next: meetings, real-time participation, contextual computing, and agentic actions like shoppingThis episode is packed with insights for anyone interested in AI agents, human–AI collaboration, team communication, or the future of intelligent digital assistants.📌 Quotes from the Episode“We had to break the LLM’s brain and teach it social etiquette: when to talk, when to listen, and when to stay quiet.”“Traditional chatbots operate in single-player mode — Continua is built for multiplayer conversation.”“There are problems beyond our ability to solve directly — the real ingenuity is creating something that can learn how to solve them.”“Introducing a foreign intelligence into human group dynamics is one of the most fascinating problems in AI.”“Text messaging with AI will be the next form factor to hit a billion users.”“Language itself is the interface. You don’t need menus. You just tell the AI how you want it to behave.”⏱️ Chapters00:00 David Petrou’s Origin Story & Early Fascination with AI04:51 Why Social AI Matters: From APIs to Human-Aware Group Agents09:12 Teaching AI Social Etiquette: When to Talk, Listen, or Stay Quiet16:11 Inside Continuum: Multi-Model Architecture, Fine-Tuning & Real Use Cases24:05 Social AI in the Real World: Planning Trips, Debugging, Collaboration & Automation35:01 The Future of Social AI: Meetings, Agentic Actions, Leadership & Ethical Considerations🧑‍💼 About Dietmar FischerDietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to know how to get your AI or your digital marketing going, just contact him at argoberlin.com🔗 Where to Find the Guest: David PetrouWebsite: continua.aiLinkedIn: David PetrouInstagram: David Petrou🎵 Closing CreditsMusic credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

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• AI Won’t Replace You - But Bad Leadership Will: The Louisa Loran Interview

  Artificial Intelligence isn’t just reshaping technology — it is reshaping leadership.In this episode, former Google strategist Louisa Loran joins Dietmar Fischer to explore how leaders can adapt, evolve, and thrive in an age defined by rapid AI acceleration.Louisa shares her journey across Moët Hennessy, Maersk, and Google, revealing why the biggest barrier to meaningful AI adoption isn’t technology but leadership behavior, culture, and the willingness to unlearn. She explains why strategy must come before tools, how organizations waste months chasing the wrong use cases, and why AI doesn’t challenge culture — it scales it.---Newsletter:Tune in to get deeper insights and all episodes. Subscribe at beginnersguide.nl---This conversation offers a clear and practical blueprint for anyone leading teams, shaping strategy, or trying to stay relevant in an AI-enabled world.In this episode you will learn:How leaders can build an effective AI leadership mindsetWhy organizations waste time on “AI use-case lists”How generative AI distorted expectations across industriesHow to build a culture of curiosity rather than controlWhy middle management often resists AI transformationThe four elements of Louisa’s Leadership Anatomy frameworkHow Louisa uses three AIs as strategic thought partnersWhat AI literacy really means for modern organizationsHow Europe’s AI culture compares to the U.S.Quotes from the Episode:“AI doesn’t challenge culture. It scales it.”“If you don’t unlearn, you can’t lead.”“AI won’t replace you — but bad leadership will.”Chapters:00:00 Welcome & Introduction — Meet Louisa Loran00:37 How curiosity led Louisa from Moët Hennessy to AI and Google02:21 Early digital transformation and the roots of AI in logistics04:46 Why strategy comes before tools — the real AI leadership lesson07:15 The global “AI panic” and how leaders wasted 18 months on use-case lists09:42 Rediscovering critical thinking in the AI era11:56 Learning to lead through uncertainty and data discovery14:33 Building a culture of curiosity instead of control17:28 The leadership challenge: unlearning the habits of success20:14 Lessons from Google — when inefficiency is actually innovation23:01 How AI puts pressure on leaders and middle management25:47 The anatomy of leadership: eyes, lungs, arms, and spine29:42 Using three AIs as thought partners while writing a book33:11 What AI literacy really means in organizations36:18 Education, ethics, and the future of learning with AI39:22 The European AI mindset vs. U.S. drive42:15 Final insights: leading with clarity, courage, and curiosity43:37 Where to find Louisa Loran and her bookWhere to find the Guest:Website: LouisaLoran.comLinkedIn: Louisa LoranBook: Leadership Anatomy in Motion (wherever you buy your books)About Dietmar Fischer:Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer based in Berlin. If you want to get your AI or digital marketing moving, visit Argo.berlin.Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

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• AI Is Writing Books Faster Than You Can Make Coffee: The Rise of AI Slop

  📖 AI-Created Books: Chance or Threat?In this eye-opening episode of A Beginner’s Guide to AI, Professor GePhardT unpacks the fascinating, chaotic and sometimes alarming rise of AI-generated books. From Amazon’s restrictions on AI content to the ethics of machine-written storytelling, this episode dives deep into the future of publishing and what it means for readers, writers and creators.We explore how AI-written books are made, why platforms are overwhelmed and how readers can distinguish human creativity from machine-made text. You’ll hear surprising real-world cases, including the Clarkesworld shutdown and the now-infamous “82% AI-written” herbal remedy category on Amazon.📌 What you’ll learn:How AI book generation actually worksWhy AI is both a creative partner and a creative threatThe risks of misinformation in AI-written booksHow to spot an AI-generated bookWhy platforms like Amazon are tightening their rulesThe future of authorship in an AI-saturated world📧💌📧Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes — don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: beginnersguide.nl📧💌📧Quotes from the Episode“A book is more than content; it’s a relationship between the mind that wrote it and the mind that reads it.”“AI doesn’t dream, doubt or desire — it just predicts what comes next.”“AI can help creativity bloom, but it can also bury real voices under mountains of machine-written noise.”🧑🏻 About Dietmar FischerDietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to kickstart your AI or digital marketing journey, he’s your guy!You can find him at Argoberlin.com🎧 Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

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• The Terminator Movies: From Sci-Fi Nightmare to AI Safety Blueprint // REPOST

  // This is a repost of a great episode - and why, you ask yourself, did he not publish a new episode? Because you are nearly the only one listening to my podcast on the Thanksgiving weekend 😂The Terminator films have profoundly shaped how society thinks about artificial intelligence. This episode analyzes concepts like artificial general intelligence through the lens of Skynet, the malevolent AI in the movies. We explore real-world AI safety research inspired by cautionary sci-fi narratives. The episode prompts a thoughtful examination of how we can develop advanced AI that enhances humanity rather than destroying it. With ethical, responsible innovation, we can steer the future toward an AI-enabled world that benefits all.📧💌📧 Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to ⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠.📧💌📧About Dietmar FischerHost of Beginner’s Guide to AI. Economist and digital marketer helping teams turn AI from hype into workflows.Training, talks, and courses with thousands of participants. 🎙️Go to ⁠argoberlin.com ⁠to see how we can help you!This podcast was generated with the help of artificial intelligence. We do fact check with human eyes, but there might still be hallucinations in the output.Music credit: "Modern Situations by Unicorn Heads"

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• Democratizing AI: How Nebius Is Making AI Infrastructure Accessible for Everyone

  In this episode of A Beginner’s Guide to AI, host Dietmar Fischer talks with Roman Chernin from Nebius, about how AI democratization is reshaping the enterprise world. Roman reveals what it really takes to move from prototype LLMs to reliable, scalable AI platforms - and why most companies don’t need to train their own models to harness AI’s potential. 📧💌📧 Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes - don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: ⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠ 📧💌📧From his early years at Yandex, where machine learning quietly powered maps and search, to helping Nebius build global AI infrastructure, Roman’s story is a blueprint for how cloud platforms can make AI accessible to everyone. He explains how Nebius Token Factory enables businesses to deploy AI applications fast, how to navigate the minefield of compliance and cost, and why real success in AI comes from better collaboration and iteration — not from “being a genius.” 🚀 Key HighlightsWhat democratizing AI means for modern enterprisesWhy infrastructure scaling 10× a year forces constant reinventionHow Nebius bridges the gap between OpenAI and open-source ecosystemsMaking AI usable for non-technical teams through better developer experienceWhy Europe still has a chance to catch up in the AI raceHow AI changes leadership, creativity, and collaboration💡 Quotes from the Episode“The goal isn’t to build more data centers - it’s to make AI usable for people who aren’t AI experts.”“You don’t need your own LLM. You need a problem to solve - and the right infrastructure to do it.”“If you want to scale a system ten times, you don’t fix it - you rewrite it.”“Compute is becoming the new electricity, but we don’t want to be just a utility company.”“The real bottleneck isn’t GPUs - it’s making AI usable, compliant, and cost-efficient for real businesses.”“We can’t forbid AI use; it’s already here. The real challenge is helping society adapt fast enough.”🧾 Chapters00:00 Introduction - Welcoming Roman Chernin to the show00:28 Why AI? Roman’s early journey and Yandex years01:24 What Nebius does: Building AI infrastructure for builders03:02 The challenge of scaling AI infrastructure 10× per year05:06 From utility computing to full-stack AI platforms07:15 Why developer experience matters for AI growth09:45 How enterprises move from OpenAI to open-source models12:10 Compliance, data sovereignty, and enterprise security14:55 Cost, latency, and optimization challenges in AI scaling16:50 Which industries are adopting AI fastest18:40 Democratizing AI for mid-sized businesses19:35 Nebius Token Factory: Enabling custom AI APIs22:14 Open-source vs closed models - the real trade-offs26:03 The U.S. vs. European AI market and regulation31:20 How governments can drive AI demand (not just infrastructure)33:58 How AI changes leadership, creativity, and collaboration37:40 Why iteration beats genius - and how AI accelerates it38:56 Roman’s personal “wow moment” with AI video generation40:55 The real risks of AI - and how fast society must adapt43:35 Final thoughts and where to find Nebius and Roman Where to Find Roman Chernin and NebiusNebius WebsiteNebius Token FactoryRoman Chernin on LinkedInMusic Credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

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