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Connections

An astrobiologist doubts AI’s capacity to think

A bald man with a bushy grey beard is sitting in front of a microphone at a table in a radio talk studio and wearing eyeglasses and a light blue button-down shirt.
WXXI News
Adam Frank on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, October 5, 2026.
WXXI News

Adam Frank has spent his career examining the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Now he turns his gaze to the question of just how intelligent AI can be.

Frank thinks most of the conversation about AI is misguided, and that it should be thought of as a software product before anything else.

This hour, we examine his fresh insight into what has become a heated public conversation.

In studio:

  • Adam Frank, Ph.D., author and Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.