Q2 - Power, Law, and Civic Life: When Algorithms Govern Your Life Miniseries Recap

Q2 - AI in Data, Behavior, and Human Systems with Syon Bhanot, PhD

Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Every cafeteria, every app, and every website you use today was designed to push you towards a decision before you even knew you were making one. And the people who built it? They're not thinking about you. In this episode, we kick off our AI and Human Decision-Making: Choices, Bias, and Behavior miniseries with Dr. Syon Bhanot, Associate Professor of Economics at Swarthmore College and Senior Researcher at MIT's Applied Cooperation Team, whose field experiments with governments, cities, and international organizations — including the World Bank and the U.S. Federal Government — have changed how millions of people save, conserve, and make decisions about their own lives. He is the recipient of the 2024 Exeter Prize for his research on attention and decision-making. Together, we explore: * How a text message and a wristband made people two-thirds more likely to finish tuberculosis treatment in Kenya — and what that tells us about why we fail to do even the things that matter most * What TikTok and Instagram actually know about your psychology — and why calling you a "user" is no accident * Why telling people they're losing a water conservation competition caused them to use more water, not less * The moment money ruins everything: why adding $11 to helping a friend move makes you less likely to show up * Why the happiest people aren't optimizers — and what that means for every major decision you're about to make * What AI nudging looks like when the system doing the nudging answers to an advertiser, not to you Dr. Bhanot also shares his own winding path from a year at a refugee camp in Kenya to stumbling into microeconomics in grad school to running experiments that shape federal policy — and why the best metaphor for a career is surfing, not planning. This conversation will change how you think about every choice you make — and every choice that's already being made for you. Because in a world where algorithms, platforms, and institutions are all nudging you somewhere, the question isn't just whether you're being influenced. It's whether anyone nudging you actually has your interests in mind. Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosity Website: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/ Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosity X: https://x.com/PathsCuriosity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/

Q2 - Power, Law, and Civic Life: When Algorithms Govern Your Life Miniseries Recap

AI, Power, and the Laws That Haven't Caught Up Yet: A Miniseries Recap Paths of Curiosity in an AI World A 17-year-old boy had never been arrested. Never charged with anything. Never convicted of anything. But he was in a secret intelligence file, flagged by an algorithm as likely to become a criminal — and officers were showing up at his door before he had done a single thing wrong. This is one story from one county. Seventeen thousand kids had their data in that system. In this recap episode, Alora and I revisit all six conversations from our AI, Power, Law, and Civic Life miniseries — and ask what they add up to. Together, we work through: * Why winning a landmark Supreme Court case on digital privacy didn't actually close the door — and how law enforcement found a workaround before the ink was dry * What algorithmic wage discrimination means for anyone who has ever picked up a gig shift, and why there is currently nothing stopping platforms from using a desperation score * How a deepfake audio clip requiring minutes to generate and nothing to detect could already decide a custody case * Whose values actually get encoded into the platforms billions of people use — and what happens to democracy when algorithms replace shared reality * Why the kids being flagged by predictive policing were the same kids the system had already failed * What it means that lawyers are only reaching ten percent of the Americans who need them — and whether AI finally changes that math We also trace the career paths of all six guests, because none of them were straight. A field organizer who became a Supreme Court advocate. A clinical psychologist who went back to law school in her thirties. An engineer who spent six months on the Silk Road with cassette tapes and came back asking different questions entirely. The combination that feels random right now might be exactly what makes you irreplaceable later. This conversation is for anyone who has spent this quarter wondering where they fit in a field being rewritten in real time. Because the legal frameworks for the AI era are being written right now. The tools that courts will use are being designed right now. The policy decisions are being made right now. By people — which means students who are curious have a place in this. Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosity Website: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/ Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosity X: https://x.com/PathsCuriosity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/

When Algorithms Govern Your Life with Jennifer Leonard, JD

AI, Access, and the Future of Law: Why This Might Be the Best Time Ever to Become a Lawyer Paths of Curiosity in an AI World What if the biggest crisis in American law is also its greatest opportunity? Right now, less than ten percent of Americans who need a lawyer can actually get one. Jennifer Leonard thinks AI might finally change that. In this episode, we continue our AI, Power, Law, and Civic Life miniseries with Jen Leonard, founder of Creative Lawyers and former Chief Innovation Officer at Penn Carey Law School, where she taught generative AI in law practice and design thinking to future lawyers and Wharton executives alike. She has spent her career asking one question the legal profession has been slow to answer: why does a system built to serve people reach so few of them? Together, we explore: * Why AI won't replace lawyers — and why the number of lawyers might actually grow * How junior associates once spent weeks in conference rooms flipping through banker's boxes, and what AI does to that reality now * Why solo practitioners and small firms could finally compete with the biggest names in Big Law * What it means that law schools are still training lawyers for a world that no longer exists * The unexpected psychological cost of learning to think like a lawyer — and how to protect yourself from it * What job titles that don't exist yet will define the next generation of legal careers Jen also shares her own winding path from a law firm she didn't love to building something entirely her own, and why the best career advice she never got was simply: don't be afraid to take the risk. This conversation will change how you think about law school, legal careers, and what it means to build a profession around access rather than exclusivity. Because in a world where AI can finally put a lawyer in everyone's pocket, the real question isn't whether the legal profession will survive — it's who it will finally be built to serve. Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosity Website: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/ Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosity X: https://x.com/PathsCuriosity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/

Q2 - Power, Law, and Civic Life: When Algorithms Govern Your Life with Clarence Okoh, JD

Paths of Curiosity in an AI World What if the police showed up at your door — not because of anything you did, but because an algorithm predicted you might? That's not a dystopian novel. It already happened to 17,000 children in a Florida school district. And most of them never knew why. In this episode, we continue our AI, Power, Law, and Civic Life miniseries with Clarence Okoh, Senior Attorney for Civil Rights and Technology at Tectonic Justice, co-founder of the NOTICE Coalition, and former civil rights litigator at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, whose work exposing algorithmic injustice in schools, hiring, and courts has shaped policy at the state and federal level. Together, we explore: * The Florida school district that secretly built predictive criminal profiles on thousands of children using their grades, attendance records, and abuse histories — and used those profiles to harass families out of their communities * Why facial recognition in schools isn't just inaccurate — it's unconstitutional, and how error rates as high as 85% mean the student flagged is almost certainly innocent * What Ruha Benjamin's "New Jim Code" actually means: how AI encodes the same racial hierarchies as Jim Crow — but hides them behind the appearance of neutrality * What is likely happening to your résumé right now — before a single human being ever reads it * Why the "AI is colorblind" argument is not just wrong, but dangerous, and what proxy discrimination means for every job application you'll ever submit * What a digital underclass looks like — and why we may already be building one Okoh also shares his own path from a fourth-grader in Alabama who wanted to be both a Supreme Court Justice and the head of NASA, to one of the country's most urgent voices at the intersection of civil rights and emerging technology — and why the most important thing he learned was that the jobs worth doing often don't exist yet. This conversation will change how you think about every system quietly scoring you. Because in a world where algorithms decide who gets housing, who gets hired, and who gets policed — the question isn't just whether the system is biased. It's whether anyone is allowed to find out. Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosity Website: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/ Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosity X: https://x.com/PathsCuriosity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/

Q2 - Power, Law, and Civic Life: When Algorithms Govern Your Life with Ramesh Srinivasan, PhD, MS

Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Every time you open TikTok or YouTube, a system you didn't choose has already decided what you're going to believe today. And the people who built it? They're not thinking about you. In this episode, we continue our AI, Power, Law, and Civic Life miniseries with Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor at UCLA and founder of the Digital Cultures Lab, whose research on algorithms, power, and democracy has taken him to nearly 80 countries and into conversations with the White House, the European Union, and governments across four continents. Together, we explore: * Why no algorithm is neutral — and what it actually means when a platform claims to just show you "what you like" * How the same platform can present two students sitting next to each other with completely different versions of reality * What people in Afghanistan, Egypt, and rural India told him they actually want from technology — and why Silicon Valley isn't listening * The bait and switch at the heart of the data economy: why these platforms would be worth nothing without your data, and why you've never been paid a cent for it * How algorithmic fragmentation is fueling nativism and authoritarianism across the globe * What transparency, accountability, and democratic governance of AI would actually look like — and why social media proves what happens when we skip that step Dr. Srinivasan also shares his own non-linear path from college radio DJ to Stanford engineer to globally recognized scholar and activist, and why the most important thing he ever learned was to stay true to who he is as a human being first. This conversation will change how you think about every feed, every recommendation, and every platform that claims to know you. Because in a world where algorithms decide what's real, the question isn't just what you're being shown — it's who decided you should see it, and why. Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow's careers through the lens of AI Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosity Website: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/ Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosity X: https://x.com/PathsCuriosity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/