The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast

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1. Deep-Dive on AI Policy: Jobs, Data Centers, and the Fight to Regulate AI

   13 augustus 2026 · 58 min

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   What happens when artificial intelligence becomes less popular than Congress? Lees meer

   For our Season 4 capstone, we examine why public trust in AI is declining, particularly among younger Americans, and whether fears about job displacement and data centers are creating a wider political backlash.

   Then we get into a deeper policy discussion.

   We explore how AI should be regulated, from treating it as a public utility to requiring greater transparency, incident reporting, protections for children, and stronger oversight of chip exports. The conversation also turns to open-source AI, the rapid growth of Chinese models, and the difficult question of whether people should own and receive compensation for the data used to train AI systems.

   Finally, we consider whether AI will become a defining issue in U.S. elections and discuss New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s approach to AI in government and schools.

   Guests:

   Art Abal, Managing Director, Vana Foundation

   Sheila Warren, Board Chair, Advanced AI Society

   Justin Slaughter, VP of Regulatory Affairs, Paradigm

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at https://vana.org.

2. AI Data Centers Are Eating the Grid. Is There Another Way?

   29 juli 2026 · 49 min

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   What does the AI boom look like when it becomes physical? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the data centers, power grids, water systems, and compute networks behind today’s AI revolution. Every chatbot response, AI-generated video, coding agent, and model query has to run somewhere, and increasingly, that means massive data centers that require huge amounts of electricity, water, land, and local approval.

   We look at why AI infrastructure has become one of the biggest questions in tech: whether the current data center buildout is a real shortage, a speculative bubble, or something in between. We examine local opposition to data centers, the strain on the power grid, rising energy costs, water use, and the challenge of measuring AI’s full environmental and social impact.

   We also explore the history of computing efficiency through Moore’s Law and Koomey’s Law, and why the old assumption of getting more computing power “for free” may no longer hold. As AI demand grows, especially from agents and heavy inference workloads, the question becomes not just whether we need more compute, but how that compute should be built.

   Finally, we examine decentralized compute as a possible part of the solution. Instead of concentrating AI infrastructure in a handful of giant data centers, could compute become more distributed, flexible, and closer to where unused resources and energy already exist?

   Guests

   Greg Osuri — Founder and CEO, Akash Network

   Lee Rainie — Director, Imagining the Digital Future Institute, Elon University

   Andrew Chien — Professor of Computer Science, University of Chicago; Senior Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory

   Jonathan Koomey — Energy and computing researcher; President, Koomey Analytics

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates.…

3. One Man's Trash: The Invisible Data Market Built on You

   2 juli 2026 · 43 min

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   What is your data actually worth, and who gets paid when it moves through the invisible economy? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the hidden markets built on the data we generate every day. From geolocation signals and shopping behavior to credit histories and even the weight of restaurant garbage, we look at how ordinary activity becomes valuable information for hedge funds, advertisers, lenders, retailers, and now AI companies.

   We trace the origins of modern data markets through the history of credit bureaus, then examine how today’s data broker economy works, why individual data may be worth only fractions of a cent on its own, and why it becomes enormously valuable at scale. We also ask the harder question underneath it all: who actually owns user data, legally and morally?

   As AI companies search for more specialized, high-quality data, the stakes are changing. We explore why AI labs may increasingly need financial data, behavioral data, and user-permissioned datasets, and what that could mean for personal data monetization, data ownership, and the future of data portability.

   We also examine alternative models, including user-created datasets, decentralized data markets, and data commons that could give individuals and communities more agency, attribution, and control over how their data is used.

   Guests:

   James Coyle — Data Monetization Consultant

   Alex Johnson — Founder, Fintech Takes

   Stefaan Verhulst — Co-Founder, The GovLab at NYU

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at Vana.org.

4. The Open Banking Playbook AI Should Steal

   18 juni 2026 · 38 min

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   What if the best real-world example of data portability is hiding in plain sight inside your bank account? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore why open banking has become one of the clearest success stories in moving data from one platform to another. Starting with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, we look at how regulators, markets, and common technical standards helped create a system where consumers can more easily access and share their financial data.

   We examine what open banking actually is, how it works through standardized APIs, and why it succeeded in places like the UK, Europe, and Brazil. We also explore the role of competition, trust, consent, and regulation, and why banking may have opened up faster than many other industries.

   From there, we turn to the future. As AI agents become more capable of acting on our behalf, financial services may need to serve not just people, but AI systems that shop rates, move money, and make decisions for us. That raises deeper questions about digital identity, who should control financial data, and what kinds of trust infrastructure will be needed if AI is going to play a real role in finance.

   Guests

   Eyal Sivan — General Manager, North America, Ozone API; board member, Financial Data Exchange

   Chris Skinner — Author, commentator, founder of The Finanser; author of Intelligent Bank

   David G.W. Birch — Author, advisor, and commentator on digital money and identity; author of Identity Is the New Money

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at Vana.org.

5. You Can't Take It With You: The Fight Over Your Digital Twin

   4 juni 2026 · 51 min

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   Who should control a digital version of you: the platform that hosts it, or you? What about after you’re dead– the platform or your estate? In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the fast-emerging world of personal digital twins: AI versions of people built from voice, writing, behavior, and context. We look at what a digital twin actually is, how it differs from an avatar or clone, and why companies are increasingly selling these systems as productivity tools, communication tools, and ways to scale expertise. Lees meer

   From there, we dig into the harder questions: who owns a twin built from your data, whether the law is equipped to handle digital selves, and what happens when platforms, not people, hold custody of the models built from our lives. We also explore the line between helpful leverage and self-extraction, the risks of vendor lock-in, and why data portability may be essential if digital twins are going to remain human-centered rather than platform-controlled.

   We then turn to the afterlife question: what happens to your data, likeness, and AI twin after death? That leads us into digital ghosts, legacy contacts, digital wills, and the growing need for clearer rules around posthumous AI. This is a conversation about identity, custody, agency, digital legacy, and whether the model of you is something you own, or something that ends up owning part of you.

   Guests

   Julia Creet — Professor and leading international scholar of Cultural Memory Studies

   Natalie Monbiot — Founder, Virtual Human Economy

   Francesco Rulli — CEO, Querlo

   Dr. Randy McIntosh — Director, SFU Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

   Dr. Elaine Kasket — Cyberpsychologist & Chartered Counselling Psychologist

   Paul Jurcys — Copyright, data-privacy and AI attorney; Co-Founder & Chief Legal Officer, Prifina; Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley School of Law

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereign…

6. The Bot Breakup: AI Memory and the Cost of Leaving

   21 mei 2026 · 44 min

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   What happens when you try to leave an AI that already knows you? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore a new frontier in data portability: whether you can take your AI memory, context, and chat history with you when you switch models. What begins as a technical question quickly becomes something more personal. As AI tools learn our preferences, workflows, tone, and even our emotional patterns, leaving one model for another can feel less like switching software and more like a breakup.

   We look at why this issue suddenly became urgent, how recent user migration between major AI platforms exposed the limits of portability, and what is actually at stake when your chatbot has accumulated months or years of context about you. Along the way, we explore the psychological side of AI attachment, the practical cost of losing workflow memory, and the growing push for model-agnostic tools that let users keep control of their own data. We also examine what can be exported today, what still cannot, and why friction and business incentives still make true portability difficult.

   Guests

   Dr. Rachel Wood — Cyberpsychology Expert, Therapist

   Chris Riley — Executive Director, Data Transfer Initiative

   Sankari “Sanks” Nair — Co-founder, Recall

   Jack Spallone — Head of Product, Open Data Labs (Vana Network)

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at Vana.org.

7. Why Can't I Take My Data With Me? A Deep-Dive in Data Portability (or Lack Thereof)

   7 mei 2026 · 43 min

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   Why is it so easy to switch banks, but so hard to move your photos, playlists, messages, or years of digital history from one platform to another? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the foundational reasons of why data portability matters. Starting with the simple frustration of thousands of photos stuck in an old software ecosystem, we unpack the bigger issue of platform lock-in and why so much of our digital life is still difficult to move.

   We look at how companies benefit when users cannot easily leave, how APIs and closed systems helped create this problem, and why privacy concerns and the race to collect data for AI have made portability even harder. We also examine what regulators in Europe and Canada are trying to do about it, why open banking stands out as a rare success story, and why the next big portability battle may involve AI memory, chat history, and personal context moving between tools.

   Guests

   Peter Swire — Research Director, Cross-Border Data Forum; J.Z. Liang Chair, School of Cybersecurity & Privacy, Georgia Tech; Professor of Law and Ethics, Scheller College of Business

   Lisa Dusseault — CTO, Data Transfer Initiative

   Brad Callaghan — Associate Deputy Commissioner, Competition Bureau of Canada

   Pınar Özcan — Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Saïd Business School, Oxford University

   The People’s AI is presented by the Vana Foundation, supporting a new internet rooted in data sovereignty and user ownership, where individuals, not corporations, govern their own data and share the value it creates. Learn more at Vana.org.

8. The Hidden, Life and Death Stakes of Data Portability in Health Care

   16 april 2026 · 44 min

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   What if the future of AI in healthcare depends less on better models and more on whether patients can actually access their own data? Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore why health data portability is not just a bureaucratic headache, but a foundational issue for better care, better research, and better AI. We begin with the story of Liz Salmi, who discovered just how difficult it was to access and move her own medical records after years of treatment for brain cancer. That experience became the starting point for a bigger conversation about patient rights, siloed health systems, and the real-world consequences of inaccessible data.

   From there, we examine how better access to health records can help patients catch errors, ask better questions, and become more active participants in their own care. We also look at the larger implications for medicine itself: how fragmented data limits research, weakens AI models, and slows the development of more personalized treatments.

   We then dig into the idea of digital twins in healthcare, with insights from Jim St.Clair, Reinhard C. Laubenbacher, Ph.D., and Dr. Matthew DeCamp. Together, they help explain how digital models of the body could eventually support more precise diagnostics, treatment planning, and preventive care, but only if the underlying data is portable, usable, and governed in ways that respect privacy and patient ownership.

   It is a conversation about medical records, interoperability, digital twins, precision medicine, and the broader question of who controls health data in an AI-driven future.

   Topics covered:

   Liz Salmi’s story of navigating brain cancer and inaccessible medical records

   Why patient access to records can improve care and reduce errors

   The role of data portability in healthcare innovation

   How siloed data weakens AI models and medical research

   What digital twins in medicine actually are, and how they could work

   Why personalized medicine depe…

9. The 10 Biggest Questions on the Future of AI | Jobs, AGI, Deepfakes and More

   16 maart 2026 · 55 min

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   What happens when the biggest questions about AI stop being theoretical and start shaping jobs, education, truth, power, and even what it means to be human. Lees meer

   In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore ten of the biggest questions on the future of AI. We examine whether AI will create abundance or accelerate job displacement, whether it will improve education or weaken critical thinking, and how societies should think about AI safety, misinformation, deepfakes, human relationships, power dynamics, AGI, and creativity. Rather than offering one simple answer, this conversation maps the major tensions that will define the next phase of AI.

   Key moments:

   [00:00:00] Steve Brown frames AI as a transition into a possible post-work era of service and exploration
   [00:02:17] Question 1: what AI could mean for jobs, labor, and the economy
   [00:05:25] Kevin Surace argues AI is driving the cost of content creation and knowledge work toward zero
   [00:10:24] Derek Rydall on why both optimism and disruption may be true, depending on timing
   [00:12:15] Question 2: is AI on an exponential path or approaching a limit
   [00:14:09] Question 3: how AI could reshape education, homework, testing, and personalized learning
   [00:17:18] Why higher education may need to rethink curriculum, pedagogy, and AI use in the classroom
   [00:20:25] Derek Rydall’s warning about cognitive atrophy and using AI as a crutch
   [00:22:58] Question 4: how to think about AI safety, guardrails, and real-world risks
   [00:25:30] James Bellingham on AI, cybersecurity, economic threats, and why misuse matters more than sci-fi scenarios
   [00:30:11] Question 5: how AI companions, assistants, and home robots may affect human relationships
   [00:32:01] Question 6: AI power dynamics, inequality, sovereignty, and who benefits most
   [00:34:11] The geopolitical race for AI power and why AI capability may concentrate in a few countries and companies
   [00:37:29] Derek Rydall on AI as both a force for co…

10. The Upside of AI and Data: How We Save More Lives, Build a Better World

    25 februari 2026 · 43 min

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    What if the next life-saving medical breakthrough isn’t a brand-new drug, but an old generic hiding in plain sight, waiting to be matched to the right disease? Lees meer

    In this episode of The People’s AI, presented by the Vana Foundation, we explore the upside of AI and data when used to solve consequential problems, from AI drug discovery and drug repurposing to ambient AI in clinical workflows -- to climate change science and preventing wild fires -- and to the often-overlooked importance of data portability and health data interoperability.

    Key moments

    [00:00:00] A rare-disease crisis becomes a roadmap for a new model of discovery with Dr. David Fajgenbaum

    [00:02:00] Why this episode focuses on the promise of AI and richer, more granular data

    [00:06:00] The incentives problem: why there’s little profit in finding new uses for generic drugs

    [00:10:00] Every Cure’s approach: scanning the world’s knowledge to score drug–disease matches at scale

    [00:11:00] Dr. İlkay Altıntaş on turning data at scale into scientific insights, faster

    [00:13:00] Wearables and digital biomarkers: what Oura-style data revealed during COVID-era research

    [00:17:00] Personalized medicine, dosage, and the return of tailored treatment through AI assistance

    [00:18:00] Wildfire AI and disaster resilience: integrating fragmented data to predict risk and act earlier

    [00:26:00] Dr. Marschall Runge on the healthcare talent crunch and what AI changes in practice

    [00:27:00] Ambient AI / AI medical scribe: why clinicians embrace it and what it frees up

    [00:30:00] Interoperability: why health records still don’t talk, and what AI can and can’t fix

    [00:33:00] Data portability, explained with Art Abal: why “your data should follow you” is still rare

    [00:35:00] The most “locked” data today: health trackers and social platforms, and why it matters

    [00:38:00] Competition, innovation, and antitrust: how data silos shape who gets to build

    [00:42:00] Surprising matches: examples like Botox for depressi…

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