AIBIO is partnering with Artificially Ever After, a podcast that aims to demystify AI, to produce a special series of six episodes on AI in the biosciences. In this edited interview, Charlie Harrison (AIBIO) speaks with Kieren Sharma, co-host of the Artificially Ever After podcast, the show’s origins, its unique approach to AI communication, and the upcoming bioscience episodes.
Charlie Harrison: Let’s start with some background. For anyone who hasn’t come across Artificially Ever After before, what’s the podcast all about?
Kieren Sharma: The idea behind the podcast is to demystify AI concepts and promote broad AI literacy. We want to communicate sometimes quite technical topics in a way that’s accessible and entertaining. So each episode focuses on a different application of AI – from healthcare to warfare to job automation. We split the show into segments: we start by setting the scene and explaining why the topic matters, then we dive into the technical side, followed by a break with some AI fun facts. After that, we get into ethical and societal questions, and finally, we speculate about where the technology might be heading.
Charlie: What inspired you to start the show?
Kieren: It came out of conversations I was having at home with my housemate and co-host Riku. We’re both AI researchers, and we were constantly talking about what AI means for society. I was already thinking about doing something educational – maybe a university module – but podcasts felt more flexible and fun. I suggested it to Riku, he’s a great communicator and also one of the smartest people I know, he really understands the technical details, and he was keen. We weren’t sure anyone would want to listen, but eventually we just hit record. One of the early episodes was literally recorded on my phone!
Charlie: How has it evolved since then?
Kieren: We’ve now released more than 25 episodes. Originally they came out monthly, but now we alternate long-form episodes with shorter 15-minute ones every fortnight. The short ones tend to focus on timely topics – new releases or controversies. The long ones are more structured and thematic.
Charlie: How do you come up with the topics for new episodes? Do you ask ChatGPT?
Kieren: No! Sometimes for titles, but they’re always terrible, very cliche. In the beginning, Riku and I were just closely following what’s current and letting the latest news dictate what we covered. We recently made an episode where we interviewed members of the public and used the live recordings. That gave us a really different perspective to what we were expecting, especially from the kids! So now we’re trying to be more audience-led. But we’re never short of ideas – you should see our list of topics!
Charlie: Can you say more about what you were expecting, and how you were surprised?
Kieren: Mainly people were much more pessimistic than us! They were worried about the environmental impacts, the copyright infringements, that sort of thing. Even when we prompted for positive things, we were surprised that people had quite narrow views of what AI could deliver. Riku and I are both AI advocates – we both think that AI can benefit society in massive ways, but we’re also both extremely cautious and aware that it has to be developed in a very conscious way.
Charlie: Let’s talk about the new series in collaboration with AIBIO. What sparked that?
Kieren: We’d always wanted to cover AI in the biosciences, and we always knew it would take more than one episode – it’s such a huge and rapidly evolving space. When we connected with the AIBIO network, it seemed like a great opportunity to dive deeper and tap into the experiences of people using AI in labs, clinics, and research institutions.
Charlie: What can listeners expect from these bioscience-focused episodes? What are you planning to cover?
Kieren: We plan to make six episodes. We’ll start with an overview, and cover the origin story of AI in biology – how these previously disparate fields of computational and biological sciences came together. Then we’ll talk about genetics and genomics – DNA and the language of life. We wanted to do a whole episode on AlphaFold, which is a few years old now but still one of the most impressive and impactful applications of AI out there. Then we’ll look at pharmaceuticals and drug design, and finally ecology and the environment. We’ll stick to our usual format and be super-focussed on the applications, and we hope to interview some experts from the AIBIO network too.
Charlie: What are the topics that you’re personally the most excited about? In biosciences or more broadly?
Kieren: Well AlphaFold is a great example. It fundamentally changed what humanity can do. Also I think large language models like ChatGPT, and generative AI in general, has got to a state that’s way more impressive than anyone could have predicted, mostly by scaling up the computing power. Then another really impressive project in the biosciences is Evo-2, which is essentially a massive language model for generating whole genomes. Models like this can find and utilise patterns on a scale that humans aren’t capable of understanding.
Charlie: Do you think AI could change the nature of scientific discovery itself?
Kieren: I think we’re already heading that way. AI can propose hypotheses, design experiments, even write up findings. We’re not far off from AI acting as a kind of principal investigator. That raises big questions around authorship, accountability, and reproducibility.
Charlie: Any final thoughts about what you’re hoping this collaboration with AIBIO will achieve?
Kieren: I hope it opens up the conversation. AI is already part of bioscience research, but a lot of people feel shut out of that world because of the jargon or the hype. We want to show that it’s not magic. It’s tools, data, and decisions—and everyone has a stake in how we use them.
The first episode in the AIBIO podcast series will be available soon. Follow AIBIO and Artificially Ever After on your preferred podcast platform or visit artificiallyeverafter.com for more updates.