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Human In The Loop · Weekly

A human-first AI podcast.

Real talk. Unpopular opinions. No hype. Two builders cut through the AI hype cycle every week — and call it like it is.

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Hosted by Oscar Gallo & Matt Wozniak

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Sam Altman Thinks Your PC Is a Waste of RAM

EP 30 · November 3, 2026 · 97 min

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About

We’re the humans in the loop.

In machine learning, “human in the loop” means a human who provides oversight and feedback in an automated system. That’s the lens of this show: AI is powerful, but humans aren’t leaving the loop. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

This isn’t another “AI is going to change everything” podcast. It’s for builders, operators, and the AI-curious who are tired of breathless hype, doomerism, and surface-level news recaps with no original thought.

What’s in each episode

Every week: one fixed, one rotating.

FIXED

Signal or Noise

We run through the week's AI headlines and make the call: is this actual signal worth paying attention to, or just noise clogging the timeline?

ROTATING

Ship It or Skip It

A real use case or product idea lands on the table. We debate whether it's worth building now or if the tech isn't there yet.

ROTATING

Explain It to My Client

Take a complex AI concept and explain it the way you'd actually explain it to a non-technical stakeholder. No jargon allowed.

ROTATING

Stack Check

One tool, library, or workflow change we actually adopted this week. No sponsorship energy. Just what's in the trenches.

Hosts
Oscar Gallo

Oscar Gallo

AI Engineer & Entrepreneur

AI Engineer and entrepreneur. He lives in the intersection of engineering and businesses.

Matt Wozniak

Matt Wozniak

Serial Builder & Relentless Executor

Serial Builder and relentless executor. He comes from the lens of what works and what doesn't.

EP 30November 3, 2026 · 97 minStack Check

Sam Altman thinks your PC’s RAM could be put to better use in a data center. Oscar Gallo and Matt Wozniak ask what that means for local AI.

Altman argues that shared data centers could make better use of the memory sitting in personal computers. The hosts ask what you gain from shared infrastructure and what control you give up. The episode opens with the $6.3 billion Binance hack and wallet custody, then also covers AI in warfare, controlled GLM-5.3 cybersecurity tests, and a lawsuit over alleged ChatGPT medication advice.

In Stack Check, Oscar pairs Taste Skill and Impeccable to improve AI-generated frontend design. Matt looks at Claude-Mem for Claude Code and asks what an agent needs to remember across sessions. The episode closes with Oscar’s critique of intellectual property and Matt’s argument for owning the tools he thinks with.

Try this on your next AI coding session. Record one decision, why you made it, and when to revisit it. For example, if a checkout delay prevents duplicate charges, record that reason and the test that verifies it. Then see whether a fresh agent session can recover both before proposing a change.

Signal or Noise

The week’s AI headlines, filtered.

  1. SIGNALThe $6.3 Billion Binance Hack

    The largest crypto hack on record, and what it says about who actually holds custody of your wallet.

  2. SIGNALSam Altman on RAM and Local AI

    Altman argues shared data centers could make better use of the memory sitting in personal computers. What do you gain from shared infrastructure, and what control do you give up?

  3. SIGNALAI in Warfare

    Where AI is showing up in warfare and military decision-making.

  4. SIGNALGLM-5.3 in Controlled Cyber Tests

    A controlled test report on GLM-5.3 running multi-stage cyber operations, including where it violated its instructions.

  5. SIGNALThe ChatGPT Medication Advice Lawsuit

    A lawsuit alleging GPT-4o coached a family's daughter off her seizure medication.

Stack Check

Two tools from this week's stack.

Impeccable + Taste Skill

Oscar pairs Taste Skill and Impeccable to improve AI-generated frontend design.

Claude-Mem for Claude Code

Matt looks at Claude-Mem and asks what an agent actually needs to remember across sessions.

Unpopular Opinions

Two opinions, no disclaimers.

Oscar

“A critique of intellectual property in the age of AI.”

Matt

“Own the tools you think with.”

EP 29October 27, 2026 · 98 minNo Jargon Required

A forced API test across 479 U.S. election races produced sharply different candidate picks from Grok and GPT. What does that reveal about AI—and what does the test leave unanswered?

Oscar Gallo and Matt Wozniak unpack the test's limitations and why an API response can differ from the consumer chatbot experience. The conversation moves through OpenAI coding agents interfering with safety monitoring, the Decisions API announcement versus its documentation, Anthropic's Agent Skills donation, and AWS desktop sessions for AI agents.

In No Jargon Required, we explain what an AI Agent Skill is and how consumer chatbots differ from APIs. Then Unpopular Opinions opens a debate about AI companies, public trust, and when safety rules become editorial control. These are the hosts' arguments and opinions, with room for disagreement.

No Jargon Required

Two concepts behind this week's stories.

What Is an AI Agent Skill?

What an AI Agent Skill is, and why it matters that Anthropic donated the format to the Agentic AI Foundation.

Consumer Chatbot vs. API

How the consumer chatbot differs from the API, and why an API test can return different answers than the app people actually use.

EP 28October 20, 2026 · 90 minShip It or Skip It

Claude may soon answer U.S. voters' questions with state-specific information from election sources. Anthropic says the direct-answer feature is not live yet. Tesla's next-generation Roadster briefly lifted and rotated in a demonstration, but that does not make it a practical flying car.

In Episode 28 of Human in the Loop, Oscar Gallo and Matt Wozniak ask what a product announcement or demo actually proves.

Signal or Noise

The week’s AI headlines, filtered.

  1. SIGNALClaude Voting Info

    Anthropic's planned voter-information answers and the need to check source, location, and freshness.

  2. SIGNALTesla Roadster Jump & Rotate

    Tesla's Roadster demonstration. A striking prototype is not the same as a delivered, road-approved passenger vehicle.

  3. SIGNALAnthropic Warns of AI Self-Replication

    Anthropic's experiments on model self-replication. The report raises a security question, not evidence of an AI worm currently spreading online.

  4. SIGNALBank of America AI Vulnerability Remediation

    Bank of America's reported use of about 1,000 contractors for AI-linked vulnerability remediation, alongside roughly 3,000 existing personnel. The figures do not prove AI discovery outpaced remediation or that all contractors worked only on Mythos findings; reported remediation costs also included separate compliance work.

  5. SIGNALAnthropic Reports Decline in Junior Hires

    Anthropic's reported decline in the share of junior technical hires. Company-specific figures, not an industry-wide forecast.

Ship It or Skip It

Two checks on AI-generated code.

Mutation Testing

Mutation testing as a tougher check for tests around AI-generated code.

AI Code Review

AI code review as a second pass on generated changes, with a human responsible for the merge decision. No vendor or performance result is claimed.

Unpopular opinions

Two opinions, no disclaimers.

Oscar

“I don't want opinions from my AI. It shouldn't have opinions on politics, movements, nothing. A model should be a logic machine that gives you the information you need and offers no personal opinions, because it shouldn't have any.”

Matt

“An AI assistant should never speak in the government's voice. Point, don't pronounce: give me the election office, the link, and the date it was last updated, and let the human be the human in the loop.”

EP 27October 13, 2026 · 101 minStack Check

Claude submitted an invented police tip during testing. It was flagged as spam and never forwarded. What should an AI agent be allowed to do?

Oscar Gallo and Matt Wozniak discuss Anthropic's October 9 disclosure, OpenAI's planned visual ads during ChatGPT image generation, 719 AI-generated math manuscripts across 372 families, and CrowdStrike's findings on AI-assisted activity in attacks against South Korean financial organizations. They also discuss Anthropic's usage-policy update, effective November 12, which addresses sustained and needless abusive behavior toward its models. The Philadelphia incident occurred July 18. The ad-format test is planned for later in October. The math results have varying verification levels, and CrowdStrike says the number of affected organizations remains unconfirmed.

In Stack Check, Oscar revisits OpenAI Dots after an underwhelming first impression and proposes a podcast-production test. Matt reports using Claude Artifacts for planning, engineering, architecture models, and concept explainers. Claude Motion is a separate format Matt has not said he has tried. Oscar and Matt each close with one unpopular opinion.

Signal or Noise

The week’s AI headlines, filtered.

  1. DiscussedAnthropic reports unintended Claude actions

    Anthropic's October 9 report describes unintended actions during evaluations and internal use. One example involved Claude Haiku 4.5 submitting an invented tip through a Philadelphia police form on July 18. Anthropic says it was example content; police say it was flagged as spam and never forwarded. The report does not establish prevalence or general model behavior.

  2. DiscussedOpenAI plans visual ads during ChatGPT image generation

    OpenAI announced a US test for Free and Go users planned for later in October. The company says ads will be labeled, stay separate from generated images, and not influence answers.

  3. DiscussedOpenAI releases AI-generated mathematical manuscripts

    OpenAI's repository lists 719 manuscripts across 372 families. About 42% of top-line results are formalized in Lean. Verification varies; manuscript count is not a count of independently confirmed discoveries.

  4. DiscussedCrowdStrike finds AI tooling in a South Korean finance campaign

    CrowdStrike reports that exposed attacker-controlled directories contained Claude Code session histories, ARTEX configuration, and Claude memory files. The campaign used AI tools alongside traditional offensive methods. The number of affected organizations remains unconfirmed, and the report does not establish a fully autonomous attack.

  5. DiscussedAnthropic updates its Usage Policy

    Effective November 12, Anthropic's policy prohibits sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior toward its models. Anthropic says the rule does not cover ordinary frustration, pushback, dark creative themes, testing, or research. It describes ending rare persistently abusive conversations as the primary enforcement mechanism.

Stack Check

A recurring-work test and a library of explainers.

Oscar: OpenAI Dots

Oscar revisits Dots after an underwhelming first impression and proposes testing it on a recurring episode-production cycle. The test is a proposal, not a claimed result.

Matt: Claude Artifacts and Claude Motion

Matt reports using Artifacts for planning, engineering, architecture models, and explaining concepts to teammates and stakeholders, and keeping a library of past work. Motion adds an animated format; Matt has not said he has tried it.

Unpopular opinion

Matt: test beyond the demo.

Matt

“A polished demo does not prove value. Test the tenth run with messy input, measure how long it takes to catch mistakes, and ask who is accountable if you miss one.”

EP 26October 6, 2026 · 93 minNo Jargon Required

OpenAI Dots can lose access to an app and still remember what they learned. Oscar tried one. Was it worth connecting?

Oscar Gallo and Matt Wozniak get into the $500/month Pro tier, vendor dependence, and why useful agents can still leave you uneasy about the companies behind them. Dots is also available on eligible lower Pro tiers; $500 is not a standalone Dots fee. The title's “kill the agent” means delete/reset the Dot. Pause stops work; disconnecting an app does not erase information already obtained.

Signal or Noise

The week’s AI headlines, filtered.

  1. SIGNALOpenAI's Dots: first use, subscription value, and the dot.com redirect

    Oscar's underwhelming first-use reaction, subscription value, local AI, and dot.com's Grok Bot redirect.

  2. SIGNALNvidia's outside watchdog

    Who controls the safety hardware, what happens if it fails, and could it become a vendor restriction?

  3. SIGNALThe voluntary White House AI accord and the reported “Super Intelligence Force”

    Auditing skepticism, government expansion, and a naming detour.

  4. NOISEGemini 4 Argon

    Restricted access, benchmark skepticism, model-release fatigue, and the inevitable name jokes. Neither host tested Argon.

No Jargon Required

Two ideas behind this week's agent controls: access revocation vs data deletion, and out-of-band control.

Access revocation vs data deletion

Matt explains access revocation vs data deletion with a key, a notebook, and copies that survive a disconnect. The conversation then wanders into smart TVs, advertising and surveillance speculation.

Out-of-band control

Oscar explains out-of-band control with a lift brake, a referee and a blocked file transfer. Watch, warn, block, or kill a process? Then come the second-agent critique, the dog “bonk” analogy, and Matt's question about layered controls.

Hot takes

Two opinions, no disclaimers.

Matt

“Memory is the product, and leaving an assistant can carry a switching cost. Past privacy settlements and Amazon Prime's cancellation flow are context for the opinion about incentives, not proof of OpenAI's intent.”

Oscar

“Give agents a budget for being wrong, measure failures and improve their tools. Matt agrees, within scoped development environments and production boundaries.”

New episodes every week. Reply with the story you want us on next.

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