Is Life Better When AI Takes the Reins?

A note to listeners: The 4th and final installment of Searching for Mr. Deepfakes will be released on July 9th.

The AI revolution is here. It’s a part of every facet of our lives — or at least trying to be — from work, to dating, from parenting to how we spend our free time. But is life so much better when we let AI in?

Joanna Stern, longtime tech journalist and author of I Am Not a Robot, went all in on AI for a year to see if this technology could fulfill its promise. Over twelve months, Joanna had her mammogram read by AI, took a family vacation in a Waymo, and spent a weekend away with her AI boyfriend, Evan. What did Joanna learn from this year of AI? Host Laurie Segall sits down with Joanna to talk AI lovers, atrophy of the brain, and the impact — good and bad — AI can have on our health, relationships and life. The two tech journalists talk about what is lost with technological progress and what we should work to preserve. At the heart of this question is what, ultimately, will get us closer to our humanity. The answer may surprise you. Plus: they let ChatGPT simulate the entire interview. It was, to put it kindly, a book report.

Joanna Stern is the founder of of New Things, an independent media company, and author of I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to do (Almost) Everything.

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