In the first episode of ALGOpod, Gabriele de Seta is joined by Joan Mukogosi, where they talk about her essay "Strategic Knowledge. Teens use 'algorithmic folklore' to crack TikTok’s black box", which she co-authored with Ireti Akinrinade.

On the first episode of the new season, returning guest Gabriele de Seta joins Scott to talk about Algopod, the new series of podcast episodes that will be released as part of the new season of Off Center. We also hear some interviews that David and Benji, two middle school students who had their work week at the center, did with several people within the center's staff.

In the final AI Update of the season, Scott and Jhave talk about some of the ways in which AI is finding itself involved in research. They talk about some of the AI models that have been developed with research in mind as well as some of their own experiments with these models.

References:

Brain2Qwerty https://ai.meta.com/research/publications/brain-to-text-decoding-a-non-invasive-approach-via-typing/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Claude https://claude.ai/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Deep research. https://openai.com/index/introducing-deep-research/ Accessed March 11, 2025.

Eliot, George. 1879. “Impressions of Theophrastus Such” William Blackwood and Sons.

Perplexity deep research https://www.perplexity.ai/?model_id=deep_research Accessed March 11, 2025.

Rettberg, Scott. 2020. “Republicans In Love” https://eloconference2023exhibitions.wordpress.com/exhibition2_resistance/republicans-in-love/

On this episode Scott joins David Bithell overseas, at Southern Oregon University's Digital Media Center. They talk about digital performance, collaborative online music and digital puppetry.

References:

Bithell, David. Followers. 2017. http://www.davidbithell.com/followers.html

Bithell, David. Matters Dark and Luminous. 2023-Present. http://www.davidbithell.com/mattersdarkandluminous.htmlBithell, David. Subterranean. 2020. http://www.davidbithell.com/subterranean.html

Bithell, David. Windward. 2018. http://www.davidbithell.com/windward.html

In this week's AI Update, Scott and Jhave discuss some of the ways in which fascism reproduces itself, how AI could be used as a tool to facilitate it, and how those leading AI development have found themselves in positions of political power.

References:

Knausgård, Karl Ove. My Struggle. 2009-2011.

Watkins, Gareth. AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism. 2025. New Socialist. https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/

In this episode, Scott travels to Australia to talk with Tama Leaver at the Center of Excellence for the Digital Child. They discuss Tama's involvement with the Center, his research regarding generative AI, the ways in which children interact with AI and how they can be affected by them, as well as a recent ban to social media for all children under 16 in Australia.

References

Haidt, Jonathan. The anxious generation: how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. 2024. New York, Penguin Press.

Leaver, Tama, and Suzanne Srdarov. 2025. "Generative AI and Children's Digital Futures: New Research Challenges." Journal of Children and Media. 19 (1): 65-70. doi:10.1080/17482798.2024.2438679.

Ritchie, Hannah. Australia approves social media ban on under-16s. BBC News, Sydney. November 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9o

Jhave and Scott talk about simulated worlds or environments created with AI, considering what are the boundaries for artifical life.

In this episode we are joined by co-authors Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort to talk about their new publication Output: An Anthology of Computer Generated Text, 1953-2023. We learn about their path into digital poetry and the process of putting together this anthology.

References

Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne. 2019.Travesty generator. Noemi Press.

Bertram, Lillian-Yvonne and Nick Montfort. 2024.Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023. The MIT Press.

Gysin, Brion and Ian Sommerville. 1960.Permutation Poems.

H. Yngve, Victor. 1961.Random Sentences.

Knowles, Alison and James Tenney. 1967.The House of Dust.

Lutz, Theo. 1959.Stochastic Texts.

Montfort, Nick. 2017.The Truelist. Counterpath.

Montfort, Nick and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. 2003.The New Media Reader.

Nish-Lapidus, Matt. 2020.Work, Life, Balance.

Richardson, Leonard. 2013.Alice’s Adventures in the Whale.

Stiles, Sasha. 2021.Technelegy. The Black Spring Press Group.

Strachey, Christopher. 1953.Love Letters.