AI Truth Serum – Details, episodes & analysis

Are we going to lose our minds to artificial intelligence? Cognitive offloading is the biggest bogeyman in AI right now. And with good reason - it took us 10 years to realize what social media had done to our brains, and by then it was too late.

New studies from MIT say ChatGPT power users have decreased brainwave activity – and are showing signs of dependence. So can we use AI without giving up our cognitive skills? How do we “borrow 30 points of IQ” from AI without losing our minds completely?

Greg speaks with Dr. Sahar Yousef, cognitive neuroscientist and lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and one of the world’s leading experts on cognitive training and the science of productivity. Sahar shares what we can learn from the research, what's she's seeing in the lab, and how she's handling AI with her students. How can we use AI for our benefit, and what's on the line?

Episode links:

Dr. Sahar Yousef's website

MIT/OpenAI study on ChatGPT power users

TechPolicy report on AI addiction

Researchers propose Gen AI Addiction Syndrome

Welcome to AI Truth Serum, your antidote to the hype and doom of AI. Join veteran tech CEO Greg Shove as he speaks with AI experts and industry leaders about the real-world impact of AI on our lives.

Tune in and learn how to thrive in the age of AI. You’ll get practical information about AI’s impact, actionable insights, and honest punchy commentary from the people building the future.

Find AI Truth Serum on YouTube: @AITruthSerum

At a time when AI narratives are being pushed by board rooms and C-suites, how big is the present moment, really? Investor Juliet Bailin, venture partner at Kindred Capital, joins Greg to give a bird's eye view of the changing AI economy.

Are we in a bubble that’s going to burst, or a boom that will carry us forward – and which companies will successfully make the jump to the future? Greg gets some Canadian founder therapy along the way.

Links:

Juliet's LinkedIn

Kindred Capital

Arsenal F.C.

AI is driving an arms race in classrooms, but what about the tech’s potential to give individualized instruction? What other ways might new technology change how we learn for the better? What’s ahead for the education tech landscape?

Claire Zau, venture partner at GSV Ventures and author of the AI & Education newsletter, specializes in educational technology investment. She joins Greg from New York to discuss what’s next for education.

Episode Links:

Claire's newsletter AI & Education

Claire's Instagram Zauey Talks

GSV Venture's website

It’s been a big year for fake news. So this New Year’s Eve, we look back at the hype, pitches, and rumors about AI we’ve heard in 2025, and Greg shares his predictions for 2026.

And are we in a bubble? There may be a few, but there’s more to the story. If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s another year of AI’s presence growing in our lives.

This episode has presentation visuals on YouTube.

Business strategist and best-selling author Sangeet Paul Choudary joins Greg to discuss why AI is such a big deal for corporate structures and platforms. 

As AI requires organizations to fundamentally rethink how their structures work, it enables savvy competitors to exploit new operating paradigms. And as these tools allow users to cross traditional work boundaries, the impacts of AI to knowledge work promise to be many.

How will new efficiencies change client demands, and how will firms and individuals structure their work? What should we do when the AI bubble bursts? Sangeet shares what he tells execs and heads of state, and discusses ideas from his book Reshuffle.

Episode links:

Sangeet’s LinkedIn

Platform Thinking Labs

Sangeet’s Substack