Technology futurists tell us that one day we'll be able to plug our brains into a computer and download the complete knowledge of humanity. Until that day comes, putting headphones in your ears and listening to podcasts is the next best thing. There are a plethora of good podcasts on data science, machine learning and AI. They can teach basic concepts to the uninitiated or go right into the detail of the latest research. Below are the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis and would recommend you take a look at.

This Week in Machine Learning and AI¶

This long running and popular podcast goes wider and deeper into Machine Learning and AI than any other podcast on this list. Host Sam Charrington interviews everyone he can get his hands on in the field, from cutting edge researchers to business leaders. Episodes are 45 minutes to an hour and get right into the detail on the topic of the week. Topics can be narrow fields of research, such as a new framework for training data creation, to broad topics like AI ethics. Some episodes are aimed squarely at technical experts, whereas others are fine for a general audience. Whatever your level of experience, an episode a week of this will keep you right up to date on everything you want to know in the field.

Making Sense with Sam Harris¶

While 'Making Sense' (formally 'Waking Up') isn't an AI podcast per se, there are a number of episodes with leading personalities in the field and, to be frank, it's probably the best general science and philosophy podcast going around. Host Sam Harris interviews computer science legend Judea Pearl about the science of Cause and Effect, The leading thinkers on the problem of AI Alignment (Nick Bostrom, Stuart Russell, Eliezer Yudkowsky & Max Tegmark) and has other episodes covering AI in medicine, the implications of our digital lives, ethical technology... the list goes on. Episodes can be over three hours long, but every one of them will draw you in and push the limits of your worldview.

DeepMind: The Podcast¶

This slick podcast from DeepMind, the Google owned company famous for AlphaGo and other successes in deep reinforcement learning, has eight easy to digest episodes targeted at a non-initiated audience. Topics include game-playing AI, Intelligent Robots as well as the aforementioned AlphaGo agent. This a good podcast for people new to the topic, but the brilliant AlphaGo documentary on Netflix is probably an even better place to really get you excited about the promise and challenge of AI.

Data Framed by DataCamp¶

DataCamp is a learning platform for Data Scientists, and the Data Framed podcast is a great learning aid for Data Science students. Host Hugo Bowne-Anderson, whose enthusiasm is either infectious or irritating depending on your disposition, helps an audience new to the field to understand the applications, challenges and careers paths for data science. Interludes also cover basic technical best-practices and tool-tips in Python or R. If you're learning Data Science this podcast will turn your commute into a coding lesson.

Data Futurology¶

An Australian take on data science podcasting with global reach, Data Futurology has an engaging style. Episodes are typically 40 minutes to an hour and include interviews with guest data scientists and researchers, covering their career path into the field and how they or their business are applying ML and AI day to day. These are interspersed with episodes in which the host, Felipe Flores, will cover a topic in a more instructive style.

Data Skeptic¶

Data Skeptic is similar to This Week In Machine Learning and AI but is, in my opinion, a little more hit-and-miss; good episodes are excellent but some others are a bit rambly. Episodes are a bit shorter than the other podcasts listed here, often 20 minutes to half an hour. A huge breadth of topics are covered; sometimes through guest interviews and sometimes with host, Kyle Polich, alone. There’s an informative series on Natural Language Processing, deep dives into Markov Models, Bayesian Models, Recurrent Neural Networks.. the list goes on.