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Episode 536

536: Decisions, Microsoft-Decision-1, Decisions

October 12th, 2026

39 mins 55 secs

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About this Episode

This week we look at decision models, which have gone from a novelty to something every AI lab is now building. We start with a practical detour: where do you actually sell a high-end Mac mini these days? We compare local marketplaces and eBay, and the trust tradeoffs that come with each. Then we come back to decision models and explain why Jev got us interested in them again. We cover Microsoft's Decision One and what makes it notable: its benchmarks and its speed. We also walk through how decision models work in practice for games, robotics and structured control. Finally, we explain why small fine-tuned models matter for robustness, for running locally and for a future beyond chat. We wrap up with what all this means for local AI hardware and how we use OpenRouter in our workflows. Plus: a teaser for next week's Microsoft hardware discussion.

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Machine transcription available on http://mergeconflict.fm

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