Tea and Tech Podcast
Tune in for conversations around technology and society in the time it takes to have a cup of tea In Omnia Paratus
Episodes
AI has a trust problem—and the guest list matters.
This week, artificial intelligence news moved so quickly that almost anything I wrote in the morning risked becoming historical fiction by dinner.
But beneath the individual headlines, one much larger story is taking shape.
It is not simply a story about artificial intelligence becoming more capable.
There’s been a lot of conversation in the AI community lately about slowing down.
And whenever I hear that phrase, I have to admit, I struggle with it a little.
Because I’m not convinced that “slow down” is actually the thing we’re trying to solve for. ….
We talk about guardrails all the time in artificial intelligence.
Put guardrails around the model. Put guardrails around the data. Put guardrails around what the system can do.
And generally, I'm in favour of them.
But this week, something happened that made me realize there is a question underneath all of that safety language that w...
In 2024, the AI company Anthropic began an internal operation called Project Panama. Court records later revealed that the company purchased millions of second-hand books in large batches. The bindings were removed, the pages were scanned at industri...
Last season, we spent time exploring RAI - Relational Abundant Intelligence - and the idea that our future with artificial intelligence cannot be built only around capability….It must also be built around relationship.
Around trust, around responsibility….and around the human beings affected by the systems we create.
This season, I want to move that conversation into governanc...
Relational Abundant Intelligence....
Because when we say Relational Abundant Intelligence, we are making a statement that relationship—not intelligence itself—should be the organizing principle.
And that is a subtle but very profound shift.
Most of the conversation today is framed as a relationship between two separate categories:
Artificial intellige...
I don't worry that AI will become more human. I worry that it will become an increasingly accurate reflection of us. And if that's true... then perhaps the most important governance decision we'll ever make isn't about the technology. It's about the culture we build around it
So maybe the question for this next era is not only, “Can we build more intelligent machines?”
Maybe it is, “Can we build more humane conditions around intelligent machines?”
Can we design systems that reduce unnecessary cognitive load instead of adding to it?
Can we create information environments that help people orient rather than spiral?
Can leaders communicate with enough clarity that people do not have...
We’ve talked about the messy middle - that space where technology is advancing faster than the structures around it.
But the messy middle isn’t just technical. It’s emotional.
People are trying to understand what AI means for their work… their identity… their place in the world.
And when those questions don’t have clear answers&h...
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 e...
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 ...
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 ca...
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 feedb...
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?
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