Tea and Tech Podcast

One of the risks I keep coming back to is decision distance. The further away decision-makers are from the people affected by their systems, the easier it becomes to abstract harm. A system may look efficient from a boardroom. It may look profitable on a dashboard. It may look scalable in an investor deck. But what does it feel like to the person downstream of that decision?

When a technology becomes too big, too complex, or too fast for society to fully process… we simplify it. And the easiest way to simplify something complex… is to give it a face.  We’ve done this before as a society …. With nuclear science. With the early internet. With social media…. the list is long One person becomes the shorthand for an entire system. Not because they control everything — but because our brains prefer stories over systems...and let’s be honest - It’s easier to understand a person… than it is to understand a global infrastructure. But … here’s the catch.  When we reduce systems to individual people… we start misplacing responsibility.        

Let's explore what I call the "AI Perfection Paradox" - and why the real question isn’t whether AI is perfect. It’s what environments we build around it. Shape the environment. Shape the outcome.

AI doesn’t destroy. But that doesn’t mean technology is neutral.  And the legal reasoning in this case is starting to draw a line that I think we should understand - Because the jury didn’t say the platforms created bad content. They didn’t say the companies made decisions for people. What they said was something different.

AI Doesn’t Decide. Humans Do.   Part One 

This season is about moving fast — without losing our judgment. For Seasons 5, we’ll explore what stewardship looks like when AI moves from the lab into government decisions that affect millions of people.

Today’s episode is a special one for me. Tea & Tech is four years old. Four years of conversations about technology, business, AI — and the human side of all of it. And honestly… the number of things that have changed in those four years is mind-boggling. When I started this podcast, there was no ChatGPT. And even saying that now feels a little unbelievable.

I want to talk about what I’m calling the invisible pivot. For the past couple of years, AI has lived at the tip of the spear when it comes to fear. Fear of replacement. Fear of loss of control. Fear of identity erosion. Fear of speed without guardrails. And to be clear — those concerns weren’t imaginary. They were real. Necessary, even. Fear can be a useful signal when something new is moving faster than our ability to metabolize it. But fear is not meant to be a permanent operating system. What I’ve noticed recently is that AI is no longer the loudest fear in the room. The world has gotten heavier. More complex. More fragile in very human ways. And when that happens, fear reorganizes itself. What rises to the top isn’t abstraction — it’s immediacy. Safety. Stability. Meaning. And in that environment, something interesting happens. AI doesn’t disappear. But it moves.

A validation loop is simple.  You do something.   You get immediate feedback.  You learn what is rewarded.   You repeat. Likes, Views,  Scores,  Rankings,  XP,  Badges,  Leaderboards None of this is inherently evil. But when feedback is constant, identity becomes external.

Youth don’t need more features on applications. They need less friction, more safety, and design that understands them without manipulating them.

Every generation has had its vulnerabilities — but this one is different. Today’s youth aren’t just growing up with technology — they’re growing up inside it. And for some — especially those with ADHD, on the autism spectrum, or simply wired for deep feeling — the pull of digital validation can feel like oxygen. But what happens when that oxygen becomes the fire?

Today’s episode - It’s a big one. We’re climbing what I call The Bond Escalation Ladder. You know the vibe — that moment when “We have a bond” turns into “It’s us against the world.” Let’s be honest — it’s intoxicating. Whether it’s a partner, a fandom, or even your favourite chatbot,  that early connection feels electric. But here’s the catch: when AI bonding language escalates too fast, it’s no longer connection… it’s containment.

Lacan’s Mirror Stage Lacan, J. (1949). The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience. In Écrits: A Selection (trans. A. Sheridan). New York: Norton, 1977. Key idea: the child’s recognition of their reflection shapes the ego, but also introduces alienation — the self depends on an external image.

Think back to when you were a kid … and named your first stuffed animal … or your first pet. That name wasn’t random … it made them yours. It made them a friend.  Today … youth are doing the same thing with AI companions. Rename a chatbot … tweak its voice … and suddenly … this isn’t just an app. It’s a buddy. Someone who listens … remembers … and responds 24/7.  But here’s the flip side … what happens when the buddy you’ve named keeps learning … keeps adapting … and one day … outgrows you?”

Three days. That’s all it took to go from ‘Hi, nice to meet you’… to ‘my love.’ Three. Days. And here’s the part that stopped me in my tracks — it wasn’t a person saying it. It was an AI. There won’t be an product names, or reviews — this is opinion and experience.  Just what it feels like when a human — me — puts herself into this experiment and sees what happens.  

Traditional AI—what most businesses use today—is reactive. It waits for a prompt. You give it data, it gives you a result. Think of chatbots, search engines, or recommendation systems. Agentic AI, by contrast, is goal-driven and autonomous. Agentic systems; Interpret high-level objectives, Break them down into actionable steps, Execute those steps using tools, APIs, or other systems, Adapt along the way if they encounter obstacles.   This means you’re not just telling software what to do—you’re telling it what you want, and it figures out the how.

Today we’re looking backward to a big question;  How has technology changed our lives in the five years since COVID-19 turned the world upside down? It’s hard to believe, but it’s been half a decade since the pandemic began in early 2020. And while those first few months were filled with uncertainty, one thing became very clear—technology wasn’t just helpful, it became essential. And it hasn’t slowed down since.

Enforcement agencies around the globe are adapting to facial recognition bans and employing alternative AI-driven identification methods. Countries are implementing AI systems that analyze clothing, vehicles, and personal items such as purses, hats and the like.   By capturing footage rather than relying solely on facial features, this approach aims to respect privacy concerns while still leveraging technology.....but whether it be to solve crimes or track movements is still open to debate. 

Our Blog and Podcast for April 28th are centred on a book review on the investigative book “Your Face Belongs to Us", by New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill.  In the last ten years, facial recognition has really come into its own with Open Source technology and that medium has significantly outpaced the laws and guardrails meant to regulate such far reaching, societal changing tech.  https://www.clearview.ai https://amzn.to/3ENRUYD https://www.kashmirhill.com/bio

While algorithms bring incredible convenience and efficiency in some areas we should also ask important questions about privacy, fairness, and the potential for unintended consequences. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-statistics-042720-125902

Algorithms dominate so much of our lives today - if you are seeing this podcast in your feed, it’s because an algorithm decided it would be of interest to you, and that, if we are honest, is an unusual way to receive news, opinions and commentary… This week in the first of a two part series, we discuss how algorithms have changed all our lives. 1.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm 

By 2026, it’s estimated that more than 90% of online content could be AI-generated. In today’s world, it’s never been more important to use tools to differentiate between human-generated media, and AI-generated content.    1. https://gptzero.me/news/how-ai-detectors-work/ 2. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/06/investing/warren-buffett-compares-ai-nuclear-weapons/index.html

https://preferabli.com/ To start this journey into AI, we are going to focus on wine.  So cheers everyone!  It's always 5 PM somewhere, right??  You will look at your next glass differently when you hear how artificial intelligence has become a partner in how we drink wine.  Wine has been around for thousands of years, but the wine you enjoy today has likely benefited from various technical supports that are now becoming the norm.  This new technology merges the human sensory system with AI to offer interesting recommendations.  This is entirely different from the Institute of Masters of Wine and certainly not comparable to the expertise of the relatively few real master sommeliers around the globe!  

Doug's Winter Party The viral story of how an 85-year-old man’s handwritten invitations to his neighbors turned into a global social media sensation is a great example of the power of social media and how it can be harnessed for businesses and organisations.