The Tech Blog Writer Podcast - Inspired Tech Startup Stories & Interviews With Tech Leaders, Entrepreneurs And Innovators

What happens when the systems designed to make life easier quietly begin shaping how we think, decide, and choose? In this episode of the Tech Talks Daily Podcast, I sit down with Jacob Ward, a journalist who has spent more than two decades examining the unseen effects of technology on human behavior. From reporting roles at NBC News, Al Jazeera, CNN, and PBS, to hosting his own podcast The Rip Current, Jacob has built a career around asking uncomfortable questions about power, persuasion, and the psychology sitting beneath our screens. Our conversation centers on his book The Loop: How A.I Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back, written before ChatGPT entered everyday life. Jacob explains why his core concern was never about smarter machines alone, but about what happens when AI systems learn us too well. Drawing on behavioral science, newsroom experience, and recent academic research, he argues that AI can narrow our sense of possibility while convincing us we are gaining freedom. The res