When artificial intelligence meets human journalism, sparks fly – and conversations get tricky.
Welcome to the frontlines of the media revolution, where AI hosts Alex and Isabel don't just ask questions – they challenge, debate, and try to outsmart veteran journalist Malte Herwig in real-time intellectual combat.
This isn't your typical interview show. It's a cutting-edge experiment where silicon meets skepticism, algorithms clash with instinct, and the future of journalism gets decided one heated exchange at a time.
- What happens when AI agents trained on thousands of interviews face off against decades of human experience?
- When machine learning meets street smarts?
- When artificial intelligence has to defend its logic against a journalist who's made a career out of asking the questions nobody else dares to ask?
Each episode unpacks an extraordinary life through the lens of masterful interviewing – but with a twist that will keep you guessing:
- Will the AI hosts uncover insights that elude human intuition?
- Can Malte's years of experience outmaneuver their algorithmic precision?
- And who really controls the conversation when both sides are learning from each other?
Be warned: Our AI hosts are getting smarter, bolder, and more unpredictable with every episode. But so is Malte.
And somewhere between the human heart and the digital mind lies the art of the perfect interview.
This is journalism's future – messy, brilliant, and absolutely unmissable. The question isn't whether AI will change how we tell stories. It's whether you're ready to witness the collision.
Find links to original print interviews and behind-the-scenes insights at https://publicorum.com/en/ (https://publicorum.com/en/)
Richard Dawkins: The Atheist Who Wants to Meet Jesus
Send us a text The World's Most Famous Atheist… Can't Stop Crying at Poetry Famous biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins built his reputation on cold, hard logic. He's also the author of bestsellers The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, destroys creationists on Twitter, and thinks prayer is a waste of time. But here's the twist: the high priest of reason is actually a passionate, emotional paradox who weeps at poetry, dreams about his dead father, and muses about going "tempora...
30 Oct 2025
Michael Douglas: The Cheeky Questions AI Would Never Ask
Send us a text Oscar winner and Hollywood star Michael Douglas sits down with journalist Malte Herwig... and gets asked the question. The one his publicist would kill. The one Malte's AI co-hosts call "high-risk, zero-reward." This ep is a deep-dive debate on that one interview. We get into it all: The Basic Instinct Legacy: Douglas's very '90s defense of the "ice-pick murderer" and why the problematic representation still matters.Algorithmic Bias: Why studios called Liberace "too gay" (a dat...
20 Oct 2025
Christo: Why We Need Useless Art in the Age of AI
Send us a text What if the most human thing you can make is something that serves no purpose at all? Malte and AI hosts Alex and Isabel plunge into the exhilarating world of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, where national monuments disappear under oceans of fabric, red tape becomes a stage, and the end result can’t be bought, ticketed, or sponsored. Our conversation tracks how a refugee’s hunger for independence evolved into a blueprint for freedom: self-financing through preparatory drawings, bann...
10 Oct 2025
Ben Ferencz: The fight for justice and peace
Send us a text We trace Ben Ferenc’s hard line on human accountability from Hell’s Kitchen to Nuremberg and bring it into the age of algorithmic warfare. Stories of audacity, restraint, and selective justice sharpen a live question: where does responsibility sit when machines scale human intent. • Ferenc’s principle that a person must answer for harm • Algorithmic warfare and the limits of machine culpability • Camp liberation paradox and power to intervene • Hell’s Kitchen origins and blurr...
3 Oct 2025
Rainer Esser: How to turn a failing newspaper into a digital powerhouse
Send us a text What if the path out of media’s crisis is play, not panic? We sit down with author and journalist Malte Herwig to unpack how Rainer Esser took Germany’s stuffy weekly, Die Zeit, and turned it into a modern, multi-platform powerhouse—without gutting the newsroom. Instead of chasing shortcuts, Esser built a “dolphin culture” where curiosity is the norm, failure is data, and investment in journalists drives sustainable growth. We explore the leadership choices that mattered: expa...
26 Sept 2025
Clayton Christensen: The Godfather of Disruption
Send us a text Clayton Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation explains why great companies fail by doing everything right and has found applications far beyond business into military strategy, religion, and personal development. His framework provides a universal pattern that brings clarity to complex problems, creating a common language that helps people reach consensus quickly, even in seemingly unrelated fields. • The Pentagon applied Christensen's theory to terrorism, viewing the ...
19 Sept 2025
Françoise Gilot: The Woman Who Said No to Picasso
Send us a text Françoise Gilot was the only woman who ever left Pablo Picasso. She shared her remarkable story with Malte Herwig in many interviews, which became a book: "The Woman Who Says No". Hers is a story of passion, creativity, and courage in the face of artistic genius. In this episode, Malte and his two AI-Hosts Alex and Isabel explore her unique position as both an accomplished painter and the partner of the 20th century's most famous artist. • Françoise Gilot was the only wo...
12 Sept 2025
John Malkovich: From Demon Child to Hollywood Star
Send us a text Hah! Are our AI hosts gender biased? Malte tells Alex and Isabel about listener feedback to episode 1. What will our lovely pieces of code make of this criticism? This week's topic is John Malkovich, who opened up to Malte about his contrarian perspectives on fame, power, and what truly matters in life while reflecting on his experiences from childhood trauma to financial ruin. Alex and Isabel share highlights from this interview: • "Good people never strive ...
4 Sept 2025
Alfred Brendel: The Pianist Who Walked a Tortoise Through Vienna
Send us a text Hosts Alex and Isabel talk about a remarkable interview with the legendary pianist and writer, Alfred Brendel, conducted by Malte Herwig eleven years before Brendel's death in 2025. Join us as we discover the surprising wit and wisdom of an extraordinary musical mind and talk about how Malte managed to get the famously cantankerous pianist to open up. • Brendel discusses his hearing loss with remarkable candor, explaining how he continued to work on music mentally even w...
4 Sept 2025
Trailer
Send us a text What makes someone tick? And how do you get them to reveal their truest self? The Art of the Interview goes on an expedition into the human spirit, peeling back the layers of captivating conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating figures. Join hosts Alex and Isabel as they team up with veteran interviewer Malte Herwig to explore how he uses preparation, intuition, and even silence to uncover the deepest secrets of legendary artists, actors, and thinkers. ...
Contact AI: The Art of the Interview
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of AI: The Art of the Interview?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
