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Fraser Cain

Things Fraser Says on Podcasts

Founded the space news site Universe Today in 1999 and has run it as publisher since, on top of two decades of writing daily about astronomy and space exploration online. Also co-hosts the long-running Astronomy Cast podcast, working through the process and skepticism behind space journalism. Guested on The Space Madness Podcast to explain why he stops reading and rejects pieces once he notices patterns typical of AI-generated writing.

Where to Find Them

Fraser Cain writes Universe Today Podcast and writes Astronomy Cast . They have also been a guest on Skeptics Guide to the Universe (6 times) , Into the Impossible With Brian Keating (3 times) , The Lawfare Podcast , The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition , Doom Debates! and The Space Madness Podcast .

Recently: “Space Madness Podcast Episode 68: The Universe from Dial-up to Today” on The Space Madness Podcast (August 2026); “[Space Bites+] China Lands Its First Rocket // Two Asteroids // Milky Way's Bigger Than We Thought” on Universe Today Podcast (July 2026); “[Q&A+] Will The Sun Consume Earth After All?” on Universe Today Podcast (July 2026); “[Interview+] Getting to the Moon Is Much More Complex Than You Think” on Universe Today Podcast (July 2026); “[Q&A+] What's The Deal With Helium-3?” on Universe Today Podcast (July 2026); “[Q&A+] Will Earth's Iron Poison The Sun?” on Universe Today Podcast (July 2026).

What They Said

“if you didn't bother taking the time to write it, I don't want to read it.” — Fraser Cain, The Space Madness Podcast

Cain, who has been publishing space writing online for two decades, had just conceded that AI is a decent tutor if you want to understand a topic. His complaint is about reading it rather than learning from it: he says he abandons a post the moment he recognises the patterns, and this is the rule he lands on.

The Space Madness Podcast · 2026-08-24 Permalink → Listen →
The Space Madness Podcast Around 11:55 into the episode
Fraser Cain

…when someone does a good job of communicating that information in a human form and are rankled by the bland automated techno gibberish. So I think we're as long as like when the robots do our job better than we can, then there's a risk. But right now, I do not see that in the least. They are,

Jeff Nosanov

they

Fraser Cain

are laughably bad. Like this, and I don't know if what your experience is, but I'm like reading a post and I'm like, okay, this is, this was written by, by ChatGPT. I'm out. Right. I don't want to, I don't want to read another word of it because it's just like if you didn't bother taking the time to write it, I don't want to read it.

Jeff Nosanov

Yeah. You know, a couple of things come to mind. I wonder if people back in the 14th century when the printing press was invented were saying this thing is going to take the humanity out of whatever reporting, whatever newsletters, whatever reporting was done. I think we might have talked about…

Fraser Cain

I don't spend too much time trying to predict where it's going to go. I think it's it is right now it's it's just hot steaming garbage to read and it has been for its entire lifetime that it is it has gotten a better to be a better writer technically, but it is still awful to read. And you and as…

Jeff Nosanov

Sure. And I think it depends on what you're looking for. For example, if someone wanted to read the definition of space journalism, they could Google it and the AI would assemble a half-page definition with some examples. But presumably people are coming to this episode for the overt personal story…

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