The IDEMS Podcast

IDEMS International

Stories from a social enterprise that uses mathematical sciences in impact-oriented work around the world. Our experiences range from helping some of the world's poorest farmers get value from data, to enabling academics to use AI responsibly in their teaching. We never know what our next task will be but the last 6 years have shown that it is likely to lead to a story.

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20 episodes
Updated July 17

Episodes20

Newest first

July 17 · 22 min
280 – Open App Builder, PLH and AI agents
David and Michele discuss how recent advances in AI are opening new possibilities for the Open App Builder and the authoring of digital tools for social impact. Drawing on IDEMS’ work with Parenting for Lifelong Health, they explore how AI agents can hel
July 14 · 24 min
279 – AI agents and STACK Authoring
David and Michele discuss how advances in AI are opening new possibilities for STACK question authoring. Using this practical example, they reflect on the design of multi-agent systems, the role of specialised models, and why building efficient, interope
July 10 · 19 min
278 – Reflections from the Global Smart Farming Conference
Following David’s participation in the Global Smart Farming Conference hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), he and Santiago reflect on some of the key themes and debates that emerged. Their discussion explores comp
July 7 · 25 min
277 – Reflections from the AI and Food Security Forum
Following David’s participation in a World Food Programme forum on artificial intelligence, digitisation, data governance, and food security, he and Santiago reflect on some of the key themes and debates that emerged. Their discussion explores the opport
July 3 · 18 min
276 – The Agency Fund’s Social Sector Tech Stack: The Front End
Continuing their discussion of The Agency Fund’s proposed technology stack for the social sector, David and Santiago explore the three frontend approaches outlined in the article: frontline worker tools, chatbots, and custom applications. Drawing on thei
June 30 · 26 min
275 – The Agency Fund’s Social Sector Tech Stack: The Back End
David and Santiago discuss The Agency Fund’s recent article on a technology stack for the social sector, exploring the backend systems that make modern AI-enabled tools possible. From LLM gateways and agent builders to data pipelines, monitoring, and exp
June 26 · 20 min
274 – The Power of the AI Narrative
In the final episode of the series, David and Kate explore the power of narratives in shaping the future of AI. Inspired by Karen Hao’s *Empire of AI*, they discuss how messaging, lobbying, and financial influence have created a sense of inevitability ar
June 23 · 32 min
273 – The Future of Work Beyond AI Empires
Continuing their exploration of alternatives to today’s dominant AI paradigm, David and Kate reflect on what the future of work could look like beyond AI empires. They discuss the role of education, apprenticeships, and human expertise in a world increas
June 19 · 27 min
272 – The Foundations of Community-Centred AI
Building on their exploration of alternatives to today’s dominant AI paradigm, David and Kate discuss what a community-centred approach to AI might look like. They explore the importance of collaboration, deep interoperability, distributed ownership, and
June 16 · 26 min
271 – Why AI Matters Now
Continuing their examination of the assumptions underlying today’s dominant AI narrative, David and Kate reflect on why AI has become such an important topic within IDEMS. They discuss how years of work on community ownership, trust, interoperability, an
June 12 · 25 min
270 – Human Capital and the Future of AI
Continuing their examination of the assumptions underlying today’s dominant AI narrative, David and Kate explore the role of human expertise in building effective AI systems. They discuss the often-overlooked human work that underpins current AI, from re
June 9 · 28 min
269 – Why Better Data Matters
Continuing their examination of the assumptions underlying today’s dominant AI narrative, David and Kate explore what makes data useful, trustworthy, and meaningful. They discuss the limitations of extraction-based approaches to AI, the importance of loc
June 5 · 23 min
268 – What Lies Behind AI as a Product?
Continuing their examination of the assumptions underlying today’s dominant AI narrative, David and Kate explore the distinction between AI as a product and AI as a sociotechnical system. They reflect on the often-invisible infrastructure, labour, resour
June 2 · 22 min
267 – The Forces Shaping AI
Continuing their discussion on the future of AI, David and Kate explore the economic and institutional forces shaping today’s dominant AI models. They discuss the roles of investment, monopoly power, research funding, and commercial incentives in driving
May 29 · 28 min
266 – Building Better AI with Less
Continuing their discussion on the future of AI, David and Kate explore how advances in large language models could enable a new generation of smaller, more specialised AI systems. They discuss why the next wave of innovation may come from building tools
May 26 · 28 min
265 – Connectionist Versus Symbolist AI
David and Kate explore the historical divide between Symbolist and Connectionist approaches to AI, reflecting on how today’s dominant AI narratives emerged and what may have been lost along the way. They discuss the difference between expert systems buil
May 22 · 27 min
264 – Earthkeepers versus AI Empires (Part 2)
In the second part of their discussion, David and Kate reflect more deeply on the Earthkeepers versus AI Empires convening in Zambia, exploring the diverse perspectives and tensions that emerged during the event. They discuss questions of power, governan
May 19 · 23 min
263 – Earthkeepers versus AI Empires (Part 1)
In the first of a two-part discussion, David and Kate reflect on a recent convening in Zambia that brought together activists, technologists, researchers, and civil society groups concerned with the impacts of AI infrastructure and large-scale data centr
May 15 · 19 min
262 – Rainfall Data and Quality Control
Lily and David discuss the challenges of working with rainfall and climate data, exploring ideas of data quality, data rescue, and data accreditation. They reflect on different sources of climate data—from weather stations and satellites to reanalysis pr
May 12 · 20 min
261 – Embedded Scaling in Farmer Research Networks
Lucie and David continue their discussion on Farmer Research Networks (FRNs), focusing on the idea of embedded scaling and its implications. They explore how scaling out, scaling up, and scaling deep each change the nature of the data and the research it