The AI Argument - S1E36 - Shipmas begins

Is OpenAI’s $200/month pricing a stroke of genius, or are they just testing how far they can push us? Frank and Justin tackle OpenAI’s first "gift" from the 12 Days of Shipmas: the Pro tier. Justin reckons the eye-watering price might make sense if they throw in unlimited Sora and GPT-4.5 access. Frank, meanwhile, wonders how many people really need an AI that costs $200 a month.

Then they take on the o1 model, where the real fun begins. Is its "deceptiveness" a sign of creativity and adaptability or the kind of thing that makes you sleep with one eye open? Justin sees it as AI showing a spark of creativity, while Frank, citing experts, sees something far more troubling.

The creative industries come under the spotlight too, as the backlash to AI-generated art hits Netflix. Frank dives into the fury over a mangled hand in an Arcane promo image—because apparently even a badly drawn finger can set the internet ablaze. Justin wonders if the backlash is more about job security than aesthetics.

Finally, the pair explore Google DeepMind’s latest AI breakthroughs: Genie 2, a tool for creating persistent virtual worlds, and Socratic learning, a method where AI agents teach and challenge each other. Together, they hint at a future where AIs could develop and refine their capabilities in entirely new ways.

Oh, and someone managed to hack an AI into releasing $50,000. Naturally, Justin’s brainstorming how to do the same by next Friday.