Issue 327: We're off to see the AI agents

Pay no mind to the man behind the curtain! At least, that’s how it usually goes when you think about the software and systems that keep the internet running. But this week, we’re pulling back that curtain. On the pod, we’re joined by Cult.Repo producers Emma Tracey and Josiah McGarvie to talk documenting the people and communities behind the major open-source projects that all our software relies on. Speaking of communities, Mike Swift from Major League Hacking spoke with us about building entry points for early-career devs through hackathons.

And what feels more like some Wizard of Oz trickery than the AI systems we know and (sort of) love? On the blog, Reweaver.ai’s Jonathan Gordon wries about the black box that is AI, and why the “magic” of these tools needs the real work of humans. Plus, Chase Roossin and Steven Kulesza from Intuit chat with us about what it takes to get multiple AI agents to work together (spoiler: you don’t have to be a wizard to do it).

Plus, there’s no place like home! I mean, that’s the place we get to go on the internet and read cool stuff, right? Good thing we’ve got plenty of fantastic and bizarre conversations from around the web this week. We’ve got the story of cocaine-fueled salmon, Pythagoras in Egypt, Minecraft servers on 1960s UNIVACs, aborted space missions, and so much more. No need to follow that yellow brick road to read any of them. We have all of those stories, links, and questions (oh my!) ready for you down below.