Life, Automated https://www.kqed.org/podcasts en KQED Inc Life, Automated explores how to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen-year-old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building. Host Jess Love is a science writer with a PhD in cognitive psychology and is the Sr. Director for the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her writing has appeared in The American Scholar, Discover, Quartz, and more. https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/70f7d94e-66a7-11f1-8db2-ff51361d9078/image/a6e7b6c45b0b6d62172396c676a91969.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress Life, Automated https://www.kqed.org/podcasts episodic Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Life, Automated explores how to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen-year-old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building. Host Jess Love is a science writer with a PhD in cognitive psychology and is the Sr. Director for the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her writing has appeared in The American Scholar, Discover, Quartz, and more. Life, Automated explores how to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen-year-old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building.


Host Jess Love is a science writer with a PhD in cognitive psychology and is the Sr. Director for the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her writing has appeared in The American Scholar, Discover, Quartz, and more.


]]> KQED podcasts@kqed.org Does AI Have to Be Bad News for the Planet? (with Meghan Busse) Are you hurting the planet every time you query a chatbot? Economist Meghan Busse suggests that may be the wrong question. In this episode, we zoom out from the usual concerns about frivolous queries (and, for that matter, resource‑hungry data centers) to ask an even more basic question: is intense demand for AI locking us into decades of additional fossil fuel use, or is it accelerating investment in clean energy? Busse helps us sort real climate levers from symbolic ones, and explains why AI’s ultimate impact on the planet will likely come down to how we build and power it. Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED. Production: Jesse Dukes Music: Steven Jackson Administration and Recording: Stacia Sliger Recording Engineering: George Christensen and Will Feeney Marketing: Ananya Mallapragada Featured Guests:  Meghan Busse  Further Reading: Public attitudes toward climate policy, technology, and the environment — AP-NORC Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash — Jack Healy, New York Times Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0000 full Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Are you hurting the planet every time you query a chatbot? Economist Meghan Busse suggests that may be the wrong question. In this episode, we zoom out from the usual concerns about frivolous queries (and, for that matter, resource‑hungry data centers) to ask an even more basic question: is intense demand for AI locking us into decades of additional fossil fuel use, or is it accelerating investment in clean energy? Busse helps us sort real climate levers from symbolic ones, and explains why AI’s ultimate impact on the planet will likely come down to how we build and power it. Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED. Production: Jesse Dukes Music: Steven Jackson Administration and Recording: Stacia Sliger Recording Engineering: George Christensen and Will Feeney Marketing: Ananya Mallapragada Featured Guests:  Meghan Busse  Further Reading: Public attitudes toward climate policy, technology, and the environment — AP-NORC Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash — Jack Healy, New York Times Are you hurting the planet every time you query a chatbot? Economist Meghan Busse suggests that may be the wrong question. In this episode, we zoom out from the usual concerns about frivolous queries (and, for that matter, resource‑hungry data centers) to ask an even more basic question: is intense demand for AI locking us into decades of additional fossil fuel use, or is it accelerating investment in clean energy? Busse helps us sort real climate levers from symbolic ones, and explains why AI’s ultimate impact on the planet will likely come down to how we build and power it.

Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED.

Production: Jesse Dukes

Music: Steven Jackson

Administration and Recording: Stacia Sliger

Recording Engineering: George Christensen and Will Feeney

Marketing: Ananya Mallapragada


Featured Guests: 

Meghan Busse 


Further Reading:

Public attitudes toward climate policy, technology, and the environment — AP-NORC

Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash — Jack Healy, New York Times

]]> 2216 To Thrive Alongside AI, Find the Bottlenecks (with Ben Jones) Will AI actually take over every job ever? Economist Ben Jones doesn't think so. Drawing from historical evidence around innovation, Jones argues that automation never conquers everything — it inevitably creates operational bottlenecks that only humans can solve. By leaning into these bottlenecks, we can protect meaningful, well-paid work. But his optimism comes with a stark caveat: there is one nightmare scenario where this historical pattern breaks down entirely. And it doesn’t involve superintelligence. It involves mediocre AI. Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distribution by KQED.  Senior Producer: Jesse Dukes Additional Production and music: Steven Jackson Administrative and editorial support: Stacia Sliger Thanks to Laura Pavin, Jen Chien, and Alexandra Salomon. Additional music for this episode from Cue Shop Moby Gratis Neutral Propulsion Laboratory Ben Jones recent article, How AI Could Benefit Workers, Even If It Displaces Most Jobs. Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0000 full Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Will AI actually take over every job ever? Economist Ben Jones doesn't think so. Drawing from historical evidence around innovation, Jones argues that automation never conquers everything — it inevitably creates operational bottlenecks that only humans can solve. By leaning into these bottlenecks, we can protect meaningful, well-paid work. But his optimism comes with a stark caveat: there is one nightmare scenario where this historical pattern breaks down entirely. And it doesn’t involve superintelligence. It involves mediocre AI. Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distribution by KQED.  Senior Producer: Jesse Dukes Additional Production and music: Steven Jackson Administrative and editorial support: Stacia Sliger Thanks to Laura Pavin, Jen Chien, and Alexandra Salomon. Additional music for this episode from Cue Shop Moby Gratis Neutral Propulsion Laboratory Ben Jones recent article, How AI Could Benefit Workers, Even If It Displaces Most Jobs. Will AI actually take over every job ever? Economist Ben Jones doesn't think so. Drawing from historical evidence around innovation, Jones argues that automation never conquers everything — it inevitably creates operational bottlenecks that only humans can solve. By leaning into these bottlenecks, we can protect meaningful, well-paid work. But his optimism comes with a stark caveat: there is one nightmare scenario where this historical pattern breaks down entirely. And it doesn’t involve superintelligence. It involves mediocre AI.


Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distribution by KQED. 


Senior Producer: Jesse Dukes

Additional Production and music: Steven Jackson

Administrative and editorial support: Stacia Sliger

Thanks to Laura Pavin, Jen Chien, and Alexandra Salomon.


Additional music for this episode from

Cue Shop

Moby Gratis

Neutral Propulsion Laboratory


Ben Jones recent article, How AI Could Benefit Workers, Even If It Displaces Most Jobs.


]]> 2211 Coming July 15th! Life, Automated Life, Automated explores the surreal, exciting, and occasionally terrifying ways AI and automation are reshaping our daily lives.Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen year old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building. The show is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, distributed by KQED. You can reach us at lifeautomatedpod@gmail.com. Production note: We relied on the Freesound Project for many of the sound effects used in this trailer. Including: Alarm clock School Bus Air break Computer mouse All made available through Creative Commons licenses. Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0000 trailer Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Life, Automated explores the surreal, exciting, and occasionally terrifying ways AI and automation are reshaping our daily lives.Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us. We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen year old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it? Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building. The show is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, distributed by KQED. You can reach us at lifeautomatedpod@gmail.com. Production note: We relied on the Freesound Project for many of the sound effects used in this trailer. Including: Alarm clock School Bus Air break Computer mouse All made available through Creative Commons licenses. Life, Automated explores the surreal, exciting, and occasionally terrifying ways AI and automation are reshaping our daily lives.
Through thoughtful conversations with researchers, practitioners, artists, and more, we do our best to make sense of how technology is changing—and how it is changing us.


We ask: What does the economy look like if AI can do much of what humans can? Will AI tools isolate us further, or steer us back toward community and common ground? Can the average person expect to be better off a decade from now? And what the heck should we tell a sixteen year old who wants to know whether learning German (or design, or coding, or the piano) is still worth it?


Life, Automated is grounded and non-ideological, going deep without getting too technical. Because you shouldn’t need to be an “AI person” to understand the future we’re collectively building.


The show is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, distributed by KQED. You can reach us at lifeautomatedpod@gmail.com.

Production note: We relied on the Freesound Project for many of the sound effects used in this trailer. Including:


Alarm clock

School Bus

Air break

Computer mouse


All made available through Creative Commons licenses.



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