Nick and Raal explore the widening gap between AI promise and AI governance, from AGI hype cycles to environmental costs, burnout culture, vibe coding, and Generative UI. They map out the risks for high-compliance maritime operations, unpack shifting IT budgets, and end by celebrating 50 years of dynamic positioning.

• 00:00 Introduction and early conversations

• 02:07 AI in maritime: key insights from the webinar

• 04:52 Why problem-first thinking matters

• 06:39 The role of champions in tech adoption

• 08:35 Navigating hype vs. reality in AI

• 10:36 Cynicism in maritime technology buying

• 12:18 AI’s economic impact and governance concerns

• 13:47 AI meets compliance: risks for shipping

• 15:25 Burnout, ethics, and the human cost of AI

• 16:41 Understanding AGI and its implications

• 19:46 The US–China race for AI dominance

• 21:34 Environmental concerns of AI infrastructure

• 23:45 The regulatory vacuum around AI

• 25:52 The age of, and pressure on AI developers

• 27:56 Polarised visions of AI’s future

• 27:57 The need for global AI governance

• 28:50 Generative UI: a new frontier

• 31:38 What AI means for maritime tech’s future

• 37:07 Real-time voice generation and personalised learning

• 39:54 The evolution of maritime software

• 42:25 Customisation vs. standardisation

• 44:17 The risks of software updates in high-risk operations

• 45:11 Vibe coding: democratised development

• 49:42 Quality and governance in AI-generated code

• 54:21 Maritime IT budgets: trends and insights

• 01:04:02 Celebrating 50 years of dynamic positioning

Links:

• ‘It’s going much too fast’: the inside story of the race to create the ultimate AI - The Guardian
• Thetius IT Cost and Performance Benchmarking Club (paywall)

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This episode is brought to you by Sedna, the intelligent email platform built for the shipping industry. Sedna turns high-volume communication into structured, auditable workflows that improve efficiency, compliance, and collaboration across fleets and offices.
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In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris dig into the growing complexity of reporting, data standards, and tech overload across the maritime industry. They open with OrbitMI’s new vessel reporting and analysis tool, designed to show shipowners how well their data aligns with industry standards, and why fragmented reporting regimes continue to frustrate crews and operators alike. Nick outlines how standardisation-by-nudging may work better than forcing a single format, especially when many operators still juggle five or six noon-report variations at once.

The discussion then broadens into digital stress, fragmented workflows, and tech fatigue. Drawing from ISWAN and broader workplace studies, Raal highlights how over-digitisation, poor UX, and under-supported rollouts are increasing workload, reducing wellbeing, and even pushing some seafarers to consider leaving the profession. Nick argues that many of these issues could be avoided if IT leaders spent more time observing how systems are actually used on board, especially by engineers carrying the heaviest reporting burden.

They also explore whether seafarers should understand more of the underlying data and system logic behind modern tools, much like navigators once have to deeply understand GPS after early incidents involving false positions.

The pair discuss the limits of innovation capacity, the risks of too-frequent standard updates, and why eight different software systems on a ship, each with different menus and interfaces, inevitably overwhelm crews.

From there, Nick brings two standout stories:

Steelcorr's AI-powered paint maintenance app, now rolling out with Ardmore, which uses smartphone photos to detect rust, predict biofouling, and optimise paint consumption, potentially saving money, time, and workload on one of the most labour-intensive deck tasks.

Olympic Subsea’s extraordinary 83% emissions reduction, achieved by combining batteries with advanced digital tools to run far fewer generators during dynamic positioning. While limited to offshore vessels, the result hints at what’s possible when digital optimisation, electrification, and real-time power management converge.

Episode Partner

This episode is brought to you by Sedna, the intelligent email platform built for the shipping industry. Sedna turns high-volume communication into structured, auditable workflows that improve efficiency, compliance, and collaboration across fleets and offices. Learn more at sedna.com.

In this episode, Nick Chubb and Raal Harris return from CrewConnect Global in Manila, reflecting on the strange, dreamlike week of long-haul travel, jet lag, and big maritime conversations. Nick opens with a gripe: the rising narrative that Gen Z has no attention span and needs TikTok-style micro-training. They challenge the myth, arguing it’s patronising, inaccurate, and dangerous for a safety-critical industry, especially when young seafarers are delivering some of the most impressive, high-quality presentations in the sector, including a standout IMEC cadet-led cyber-risk session.

The conversation shifts to seafarer representation in corporate leadership, sparked by Splash’s new Seafarers Report. Nick and Raal explore ideas like putting active seafarers on company boards, sending executives to sea annually, and building more authentic two-way engagement. They share examples from across the industry, including Bjorn Højgaard’s recent time onboard and BSM’s mixed-seniority innovation retreats, as well as reflections on culture, transparency, and why long voyages reveal the “real” shipboard experience more than CEO photo-ops.

They then discuss the OSM Thome merger, Tommy Olofsen’s new leadership role, and the growing shift among PE-backed ship managers toward diversified service portfolios as technical management alone reaches its scaling limits.

Finally, Raal introduces the episode’s big idea: digital twins of people, not ships. From startups like Vivien and Expertwin to Zoom’s CEO imagining AI replicas attending meetings, they unpack the ethics, risks, and potential benefits of capturing organisational knowledge. Nick wrestles with the tension: while knowledge retention and process capture could genuinely strengthen maritime businesses, AI “clones” risk destroying autonomy, degrading decision-making, and blurring personal IP.

The pair debate creativity vs. infinite-game decision-making, authenticity, AI-generated “likeness marketplaces,” and the slippery slope between helpful augmentation and Black Mirror-style identity capture.

Episiode Partner

This episode is brought to you by OrbitMI. In shipping, fuel is money — and OrbitMI helps you use less of it. Built for the Connected Maritime Era, Orbit’s AI-powered optimisation tools improve routing, speed management, and emissions performance to deliver smarter voyages, stronger margins, and greener operations.
Learn more at orbitmi.com/connected-maritime-era