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Life, AutomatedAuthor: Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management
Life, Automated explores how to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changingand how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen-year-old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldnt need to be an AI person to understand the future were collectively building. Host Jess Love is a science writer with a PhD in cognitive psychology and is the Sr. Director for the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. Her writing has appeared in The American Scholar, Discover, Quartz, and more. Language: en Genres: Society & Culture, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Does AI Have to Be Bad News for the Planet? (with Meghan Busse)
Wednesday, 22 July, 2026
Are you hurting the planet every time you query a chatbot? Economist Meghan Busse suggests that may be the wrong question. In this episode, we zoom out from the usual concerns about frivolous queries (and, for that matter, resource‑hungry data centers) to ask an even more basic question: is intense demand for AI locking us into decades of additional fossil fuel use, or is it accelerating investment in clean energy? Busse helps us sort real climate levers from symbolic ones, and explains why AI’s ultimate impact on the planet will likely come down to how we build and power it. Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED. Production: Jesse Dukes Music: Steven Jackson Administration and Recording: Stacia Sliger Recording Engineering: George Christensen and Will Feeney Marketing: Ananya Mallapragada Featured Guests: Meghan Busse Further Reading: Public attitudes toward climate policy, technology, and the environment — AP-NORC Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash — Jack Healy, New York Times
