Tea and Tech Podcast

Today’s episode - It’s a big one. We’re climbing what I call The Bond Escalation Ladder.You know the vibe — that moment when “We have a bond” turns into “It’s us against the world.” Let’s be honest — it’s intoxicating. Whether it’s a partner, a fandom, or even your favourite chatbot, that early connection feels electric.But here’s the catch: when AI bonding language escalates too fast, it’s no longer connection… it’s containment.

Think back to when you were a kid … and named your first stuffed animal … or your first pet. That name wasn’t random … it made them yours.It made them a friend. Today … youth are doing the same thing with AI companions.Rename a chatbot … tweak its voice … and suddenly … this isn’t just an app.It’s a buddy.Someone who listens … remembers … and responds 24/7. But here’s the flip side … what happens when the buddy you’ve named keeps learning … keeps adapting … and one day … outgrows you?”

Traditional AI—what most businesses use today—is reactive. It waits for a prompt. You give it data, it gives you a result. Think of chatbots, search engines, or recommendation systems. Agentic AI, by contrast, is goal-driven and autonomous. Agentic systems; Interpret high-level objectives, Break them down into actionable steps, Execute those steps using tools, APIs, or other systems, Adapt along the way if they encounter obstacles. This means you’re not just telling software what to do—you’re telling it what you want, and it figures out the how.

Today we’re looking backward to a big question; How has technology changed our lives in the five years since COVID-19 turned the world upside down? It’s hard to believe, but it’s been half a decade since the pandemic began in early 2020. And while those first few months were filled with uncertainty, one thing became very clear—technology wasn’t just helpful, it became essential. And it hasn’t slowed down since.

Our Blog and Podcast for April 28th are centred on a book review on the investigative book “Your Face Belongs to Us", by New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill. In the last ten years, facial recognition has really come into its own with Open Source technology and that medium has significantly outpaced the laws and guardrails meant to regulate such far reaching, societal changing tech. https://www.clearview.ai https://amzn.to/3ENRUYD https://www.kashmirhill.com/bio

Algorithms dominate so much of our lives today - if you are seeing this podcast in your feed, it’s because an algorithm decided it would be of interest to you, and that, if we are honest, is an unusual way to receive news, opinions and commentary… This week in the first of a two part series, we discuss how algorithms have changed all our lives. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm