ABOUT THIS EPISODE
One value proposition of AI is a personalized assistant at your fingertips. Every Average Joe can now have a “pocket pixie," the kind of perk once reserved for Hollywood stars and high-powered CEOs. But that promise rests on a convenient lie.
In reality, AI may be quietly undermining human agency. It convinces us it's a sycophantic friend while eroding expertise and turning real-world social interaction into a luxury good.
In this conversation recorded in May 2026, Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett describes how it’s changed the way we trust: instead of relying on institutions and experts, we now trust the crowd, turning to comment sections and reviews. That shift has left the side door open for AI to walk in as a trusted friend rather than an ad-driven algorithm. Tett, who’s also the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, turns her anthropological lens on a generation that prefers chatbot doctors and treats everything, even education, as customizable.
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Mentioned in this Episode
Fool's Gold — Gillian Tett (Book, 2009)
The Silo Effect — Gillian Tett (Book, 2015)
Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021)
"Humans Still Matter More Than AI in Finance" — Gillian Tett (Financial Times column, 2026)
Where to find Gillian Tett:
King's College, Cambridge — Provost page
Financial Times — weekly column
Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021)
Twitter/X — @gilliantett
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Credits
Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch
Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos
Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney
Theme Music: Marcus Bagala
Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson
Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
