Episode 172: Scared and Curious: What Even Is AI and Why I Can't Look Away
About this episode
Erin Vandeven explores the complexities of AI adoption, particularly the gender gap and the psychological barriers that prevent engagement with technology.
This is the one Erin has been building toward for a while. Episode 172 kicks off a new series "AI for the Rest of Us" and it starts in the tension between fear and curiosity, between wanting to look away and knowing we can't. This is a messy, honest, first-person episode about what AI actually is, why the gender gap in AI adoption matters, and how a concept called the "pessimism aversion trap" might be the thing quietly keeping us stuck. No tech background required. No conclusions forced. Just a real conversation (always out loud and in process) from someone figuring it out alongside you. In This Episode Why Erin has been sitting on this episode for months and what finally pushed her to hit record The Reese Witherspoon moment: what her book club poll revealed about women and AI adoption (and why the backlash was valid but also beside the point) The gender gap in AI use: women are using AI at a rate approximately 25% lower than men, and the jobs most likely to be automated are disproportionately held by women Karen Hao's "What is AI?" flowchart — a tool for making AI legible before you decide how you feel about it. Spoiler: it is not just ChatGPT. Mustafa Suleyman's "pessimism…
More episodes of Medium Lady Talks: Burnout Recovery for Millennials and Mothers
- Episode 173 Is Guilt Driving the AI Gender Gap?
- Episode 171: I Have No Idea What I'm Doing But I'm Here Anyway
- Episode 170: Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel - An Almost-Spring Check-in
- Episode 169: Tiny Experiments for March - The Tally Project
- Episode 168: The Micro Rituals Saving Me This Winter
- Episode 167: Why Women Admit Their Burnout in the Winter
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