PITHY CYBORG

// WHO IS BEHIND THIS THING //

Hi. I am Mike D. I'm a nerdy tech journalist and AI educator from Greater Boston. I write a newsletter called Pithy Cyborg, which is basically me losing my mind over AI in a way I try to make digestible for other people who are also losing their minds over AI. We are a nerdy little community who follow AI news. And I love every single one of you in a parasocial way I will never fully admit to.

The newsletter covers everything from large language model architecture to AI policy and regulation, from the messy realities of AI societal impact to the surprisingly emotional question of what it means to be a human being. I try to make heavy topics feel approachable. I do not always succeed. I try anyway.

The podcast happened because writing to thousands of people every week started to feel one-directional in a way that bothered me. I wanted a voice in the conversation, literally. And yes, I am fully aware that a newsletter nerd who reads AI governance papers for fun probably should not be podcasting. I cannot help it. So I started narrating.

I will be honest: I am not great at voice-overs. I fumbled through the first dozen episodes and I still cringe at my own recordings sometimes. But something unexpected happened. It made me a better writer. It made me a sharper editor. And it kept me closer to the ideas I care most about: AI transparency, AI governance, the question of who holds the power when the systems get smarter than the people running them. So I kept going. I cannot imagine stopping now, even if I still suck, lol.

The societal impact of AI keeps me up at night. This podcast is what I do with all that energy instead of losing my mind and staring at the ceiling.