Why human connection requires friction, empathy, and accountability.

I have real concerns about AI, and one of my biggest is what happens when we start treating it like a person—especially a friend.

My guest, Sarah Baldeo, is a neuroscientist and the author of 100 Ways to Future Proof Your Brain in the Age of AI. She has spent more than 20 years working at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, so I wanted to bring some of my biggest worries about AI and human connection directly to her and I appreciated her treating my concerns with seriousness and respect. My biggest takeaway remains the same: we need to be very careful not to confuse something that can imitate human connection with the real thing.

We discussed:

• What happens when we ask AI what to say to a grieving friend instead of working through our own empathy
• Why AI can feel like the “perfect friend”—always available, agreeable, and unlikely to make us uncomfortable 
• Why real friendship requires disagreement, reciprocity, boredom, and sometimes friction
• The risks of outsourcing too much of our emotional and cognitive processing
• Why I’m especially concerned about teenagers growing up with generative AI
• How Sarah believes AI can actually be used to challenge our thinking rather than replace it
• My deep concern that we need to be very careful about confusing something that can imitate human connection with the real thing! 

MEET SARAH BALDEO:

Sarah Baldeo, PhD (c), Executive MBA, is a bestselling author, neuroscientist, AI futurist, TED speaker, and CEO of ID Quotient Advisory, whose work explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping human cognition, executive judgment, and leadership decision making and what that means for how we connect, trust, and relate to one another; she is also the world’s foremost doctoral researcher on AI and cognition. She is the author of 100 Ways to Future-Proof Your Brain in the Age of AI, and has been featured on CBC News, CTV, NBC, SiriusXM, and Yahoo Finance. A global keynote speaker with more than 1,300 appearances across North America and Europe, Sarah advises organizations on the future of human intelligence in the age of AI. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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