Best AI Podcasts for Developers in 2026

The best AI podcasts for software engineers and developers in 2026. Curated list of shows that will actually make you better at your job.

As a developer, staying current with AI is no longer optional — it's survival. But not all AI podcasts are created equal. Most are too shallow, too salesy, or too focused on business drama instead of actual engineering.

Here's what actually moves the needle for working engineers.

The Short List

Podcast Focus Frequency Best For
The AI Native Dev AI-first software development Weekly Copilot, Claude Code, agentic workflows
Practical AI Real-world AI implementation Daily Production ML, MLOps
NLP Highlights NLP research Weekly Transformers, LLMs, research
Data Engineering Podcast Data + AI infrastructure Weekly MLOps, data pipelines
Changelog & Friends General dev + AI Weekly Opinionated, practical

Deep Dives

The AI Native Dev

If you only listen to one podcast this year, make it this one. Hosted by industry practitioners who actually ship AI code, this show cuts through the hype and focuses on what's actually usable today.

Recent episodes worth your time:

  • "From Copilot to Agent: The Evolution of AI Coding"
  • "Building RAG Systems That Don't Suck"
  • "Fine-Tuning in Production: Lessons Learned"

Why it works for developers: No fluff. Just real code, real architectures, and real tradeoffs.

Practical AI

Hosted by Chris and Daniel, Practical AI has been going strong for years. It's the antidote to AI podcasts that spend an hour discussing startup funding instead of models.

Best episodes:

  • "The State of Open Source LLMs"
  • "Building Vector Databases at Scale"
  • "MLOps Is Broken — Here's How to Fix It"

Why it works: They bring on engineers who actually build the stuff, not PR reps.

NLP Highlights

Academic but accessible. If you want to understand the underlying technology — transformers, attention mechanisms, new architectures — this is your gateway.

Perfect for: Understanding why GPT-4 works the way it does, not just what it outputs.

Data Engineering Podcast

AI doesn't exist without data. This show covers the infrastructure that makes AI possible: data pipelines, feature stores, vector databases, and MLOps.

Key episodes:

  • "Vector Databases: The New Data Layer for AI"
  • "Feature Stores: From Hype to Production"
  • "Real-Time ML: Challenges and Solutions"

Honorable Mentions

  • Lenny's Podcast — Product focus, but great episodes on AI product management
  • Acquired — Business focus, but deep dives on AI companies like Nvidia and Databricks
  • The Changelog — Generalist, but excellent AI coverage in their "Friends" episodes

How to Actually Use These

Don't just listen. Here's a practical workflow:

  1. Subscribe to 2-3 of these
  2. Listen at 1.5x speed while commuting or coding
  3. Take notes in your second brain (Mem Free, Obsidian, whatever)
  4. Build something within 48 hours of hearing about a new tool or technique

That's it. You don't need to consume everything. Just pick one or two and be consistent.

This list will be updated quarterly as podcasts evolve or new shows emerge.