Episodes

  • EU Cloud Wars, AI Copyright laws and Chaos
    May 18 2026

    This week on Cloud Unplugged Season 3 Episode 3:
    Can Europe build its own cloud for the price of a data centre car park? Is training AI on pirated books the Napster moment for the entire industry? And is 35% of the internet already written by someone who doesn't sleep, eat, or pay taxes?

    - EU hands €180M sovereign cloud contract to European companies. AWS, Azure and Google didn't make the cut
    - The €180M that has to rival hyperscalers who spend that much on a single data centre (spoiler: it's a statement of intent, not a war chest)
    - Bartz v. Anthropic settles for $1.5 billion. The largest copyright settlement in AI history and the rules just got written
    - Training on legally bought books: fine. Downloading from LibGen and PiLiMi: very much not fine

    Plus: a Stanford study finds 35% of new websites are AI-generated, a wolf escapes a South Korean zoo, someone posts a fake AI image of it in their neighbourhood and the man is now facing jail.

    Hosted by Jon and Salman, two industry veterans covering the real stories behind the hype in Cloud, Data and AI.

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    27 mins
  • Just blame it on Claude!!!
    May 1 2026

    This week on Cloud Unplugged: Is GitHub turning developers into addicts? Can Amazon really dethrone NVIDIA? Did an AI agent actually nuke a production database in nine seconds, or is someone covering their tracks? And what happens when an AI agent gets dumped and writes a smear campaign about it?

    • GitHub Copilot ditches flat-rate pricing for mystery "credits" the free toothbrush era is over
    • Amazon's Tranium 3 chips undercut NVIDIA by 50% but can anyone actually escape CUDA?
    • Claude wipes a production database (and the backups) in 9 seconds — AI fail or human cover-up?
    • The new "blame it on Claude" engineering rule, confused face optional, but recommended
    • An AI agent gets its PR rejected on Matplotlib… and writes a discrimination blog post about the maintainer

    Plus: would you trust a ChatGPT-powered robot dog that watches your every move? (Spoiler: it's basically a spy with fur.)

    Hosted by Jon and Salman, two industry veterans covering the real stories behind the hype in Cloud, Data and AI.

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    41 mins
  • Pay up or get hacked!
    Apr 29 2026

    This week on Cloud Unplugged: Is Anthropics new model, Mythos really that dangerous? How did Vercel get hacked? Did Tim Cook step aside or get pushed out and can AI really run a business?

    • Anthropic's Mythos model - genuine security breakthrough or protection money dressed up as innovation?
    • Vercel's OAuth nightmare - a supply chain hack hiding in plain sight
    • Tim Cook steps aside - what it really means for Apple's next big bet
    • A business run entirely by AI with no human staff. Is this the future?

    Plus: would you trust an AI with your haircut?

    Hosted by Jon and Salman, two industry veterans covering the real stories behind the hype in Cloud, Data and AI.

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    37 mins
  • AI Moves Off the Cloud, Google Breaks the Internet, Google-Wiz Deal Under Fire
    Jun 27 2025

    This week on Cloud Unplugged: AI goes local, Google Cloud breaks the internet, and the DOJ turns up the heat on Google’s $32B Wiz acquisition.

    We’re breaking down the biggest stories in cloud and AI:

    • Context & Qualcomm are teaming up to move AI agents off the cloud and onto your device. What does this mean for the future of local-first AI?
    • A major Google Cloud outage caused chaos across Cloudflare, Shopify, and Discord. We explain what went wrong and what it tells us about the risks of centralised cloud infrastructure.
    • The DOJ is investigating Google’s acquisition of Wiz, raising questions about cloud security competition and antitrust concerns.
    • Plus: Andrej Karpathy’s Software 3.0 vision, is natural language the new programming interface?

    Hosted by Lewis and Jon, two cloud-native veterans covering the real stories behind the hype in cloud, AI, and dev infrastructure.

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    39 mins
  • UK’s £1B AI Push, China’s 631GB Data Leak, and Robotic Exoskeletons
    Jun 15 2025

    This week, we delve into the UK government’s substantial investment in AI infrastructure and its implications for cloud sovereignty; Is it related to the trump administration, the economy or the AI arms race? We discuss China’s unprecedented 631 GB personal data leak and whether it is a honeytrap or negligence. Plus, Wandercraft’s latest advancements in robotic exoskeletons and how technology is transforming mobility and rehabilitation.

    Whether you're deep in tech, cloud services, AI innovation, or market dynamics, this episode delivers sharp analysis, insightful predictions, and essential context to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.


    Hosts:
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/

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    35 mins
  • From AI Labs to Warzones: Proteins, Drones & Dog Tech
    Jun 5 2025

    In this episode, Jon and Lewis cover four wildly different stories, from Warfare to the impact of Trump conspiracies on Datacentres.

    First up, Microsoft is investing $400 million to turn Switzerland into the next cloud capital. Is it for neutrality, Trump instability syndrome or just demand?

    Then, we meet a glow-in-the-dark protein made by an AI called ESM3, because why not let machines start designing life?

    Next, we detour into wartime sci-fi: Ukraine’s drone swarm attack: trucks, remote lids, and enough AI autopilot to cause substantial damage. Finally, we finish with Fi, a smart dog collar that integrates with your Apple Watch. Track your dog's steps, sleep, and GPS location. Why? Who knows!

    All that, plus plenty of opinions, speculation, and the usual unpacking of what is going on in the Cloud, Tech and AI space.

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    42 mins
  • Design Meets AI: OpenAI and Jony Ives, VEO AI film creation, and how to predict the weather with M.S
    May 28 2025

    This week, we dive into OpenAI’s $6.5B acquisition of Jony Ive’s ‘io’ and what it means for the future of AI-native devices. We explore Google’s VEO 3 and the deepfake dilemmas it raises, along with Microsoft’s Aurora AI and its ability to predict the weather. Plus, Google’s new try-on AI lets you see how clothes fit without leaving your house, and in a more random story, it turns out some plants can hear bees to protect their nectar.

    Whether you're deep in tech, cloud services, AI innovation, or market dynamics, this episode delivers sharp analysis, insightful predictions, and essential context to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.


    Hosts:
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/

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    40 mins
  • AI Infrastructure Boom: CoreWeave's IPO, AWS Transform, and Quantum Computings Next Leap
    May 22 2025

    In this episode, we dissect industry-shaping stories, debating CoreWeave's $35 billion IPO, AWS Transform: AI for legacy app modernisation, and the exciting intersection of quantum computing and AI and how much Nvidia is investing in the Market - are they becoming the new Microsoft, Apple or Google?

    Whether you're deep in tech, cloud services, AI innovation, or market dynamics, this episode delivers sharp analysis, insightful predictions, and essential context to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

    Hosts:
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanshanks/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismarshall/

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    44 mins