Paths of Curiosity in an AI World

Acadia and Alora Holve
  • 4.3 (4)
  • Education

Welcome to Paths of Curiosity in an AI World — a podcast created by two sisters who wanted to understand what the future of work actually looks like before they got there. We started this show because we kept hearing about AI changing everything, but nobody was explaining what that meant for real careers, in plain language, for students our age. So we decided to find out ourselves — by going directly to the people living it. Each quarter, we release a focused mini-series diving deep into one major domain: Health & Life Sciences, Law & Governance, Creativity & Culture, and Engineering & the Physical World. You'll hear from working professionals who break down what their jobs actually look like today, how AI fits into their work right now, and where they see their fields heading over the next decade. We're students figuring this out alongside you. This podcast is how we do it — one conversation at a time. Designed for students, parents, and college advisors who want real clarity, not hype.

  1. 2d ago

    Q3 - AI in Data, Behavior, and Human Systems with Jathan Sadowski, PhD

    Sorted, Scored, and Steered: The Political Economy of AI With a Real Luddite Paths of Curiosity in an AI World You've been sorted, scored, and steered by systems you never agreed to. Someone built those systems. Someone profits from them. And the word we've been taught to use as an insult is actually the most precise tool we have to fight back. In this episode, we continue our AI, Data, Behavior, and Human Systems miniseries with Dr. Jathan Sadowski, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow at Monash University's Emerging Technologies Research Lab and author of Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World, and The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism. Together, we explore: What the original Luddites actually believed — and why recovering that history changes how you think about AI resistance todayHow smart technologies from school laptops to John Deere tractors are built around two imperatives: extracting data and expanding controlWhat it means that your data isn't just collected but accumulated like capital — and what that means for someone who has been datafied since childhoodThe landlord model of tech platforms, and how AI deepens a system where you rent access to the infrastructure your life depends onWhy "the algorithm did it" is always a lie — and who is actually making decisions about your life behind itWhat the Marie Kondo test for technology actually looks like in practiceDr. Sadowski also shares his own sliding-door moment: a single philosophy elective at a technology university that pulled him out of a polymer chemistry degree and onto a path he never could have planned — studying the systems that shape all of our lives before most people knew those systems existed. This conversation will change how you think about every platform you use, every form you sign, and every choice a company tells you that you're making freely. Because in a world designed to prevent you from thinking critically about it, the most radical thing you can do is ask: does this thing actually make my life better? 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/

  2. Aug 4

    Q3 - AI in Data, Behavior, and Human Systems with Alex Rosenblat, BA, MA

    Inside the Algorithm: What 5,000 Miles With Gig Workers Taught One Researcher About Power, Control, and Design Paths of Curiosity in an AI World What if the app that decides your Uber driver's next ride was specifically designed to make them feel free while controlling almost everything they do? Dr. Alex Rosenblat spent seven years finding out. In this episode, we continue our AI, Data, Behavior, and Human Systems miniseries with Dr. Alex Rosenblat, Director of Sociotechnical Research at The Markup and Cal Matters, and author of Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules at Work. She rode over five thousand miles with gig workers across twenty-five cities, then did something almost no outside researcher has ever done — she went inside Uber to try to change it. Together, we explore: How algorithmic management gives companies total control over workers without ever having to call them employeesWhy drivers crowdsource the rules in online forums because the platform never actually tells them what the rules areWhat dark patterns look like in the real world — from gig apps to hospital registration tablets — and how they steer choices you didn't know were being steeredWhat happened when Dr. Rosenblat tried to get a copy of her own child's hospital consent forms after surgeryWhy surveillance pricing — getting charged a different amount than the person standing next to you — may be the most underreported story in tech right nowWhat ethnography gives researchers that no dataset ever couldDr. Rosenblat also reflects on what it means to study a system from the outside, work inside it, and come back out to investigate again — and why understanding how every stakeholder thinks is the skill most researchers never develop. This conversation will change how you read every form you're handed, every app you open, and every choice a platform tells you that you're making freely. Because in a world where design is policy, the most important question isn't what the system can do — it's what it's been built to make you do without noticing. 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/

  3. Jul 22

    Q3 - AI in Data, Behavior, and Human Systems with Aaron Klein, AB, MPA

    Paths of Curiosity in an AI World For decades, banks discriminated against borrowers in person. Then algorithms inherited those same biases and made them invisible. Aaron Klein says AI could finally fix that — or make it far worse. In this episode, we continue our AI and Human Decision-Making: Choices, Bias, and Behavior miniseries with Aaron Klein, Miriam K. Carliner Chair and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department, and former Chief Economist of the Senate Banking Committee — a person who helped write the laws that govern the financial system you're already living inside. Together, we explore: What actually happens in the first seconds after you apply for a credit card — and why a mysterious black box number you've never heard of may already be shaping your financial lifeHow banks once decided loans in person, face to face, and why that created the discrimination that federal law was written to stopWhat your device, your email address, your shopping hours, and even your name might already be telling a lender about you — before you've said a wordWhy the same characteristic — gender — is perfectly legal in car insurance but completely illegal in credit cards, and what that contradiction reveals about how financial rules actually get madeHow AI could finally extend credit to people the current system has locked out for generations — and what's standing in the wayWhy the entire financial system is tuned to an out-of-tune oboe, and how hard it is to get everyone to retune at onceKlein also shares his own path from organizing his rundown high school in Silver Spring, Maryland to the Senate Banking Committee to the Treasury Department during the 2008 financial crisis — and why the only two professions people describe as a calling are the priesthood and public service. This conversation will change how you think about every financial decision you make — and every decision already being made about you. Because in a world where an algorithm decides whether you get a loan before a human ever looks at your name, the question isn't just whether the system is fair. It's whether anyone with the power to change it actually will. 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/

  4. Jul 7

    Q3 - 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 mostWhat TikTok and Instagram actually know about your psychology — and why calling you a "user" is no accidentWhy telling people they're losing a water conservation competition caused them to use more water, not lessThe moment money ruins everything: why adding $11 to helping a friend move makes you less likely to show upWhy the happiest people aren't optimizers — and what that means for every major decision you're about to makeWhat AI nudging looks like when the system doing the nudging answers to an advertiser, not to youDr. 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/

  5. Jun 24

    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 dryWhat 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 scoreHow a deepfake audio clip requiring minutes to generate and nothing to detect could already decide a custody caseWhose values actually get encoded into the platforms billions of people use — and what happens to democracy when algorithms replace shared realityWhy the kids being flagged by predictive policing were the same kids the system had already failedWhat it means that lawyers are only reaching ten percent of the Americans who need them — and whether AI finally changes that mathWe 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/

  6. Jun 17

    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 growHow junior associates once spent weeks in conference rooms flipping through banker's boxes, and what AI does to that reality nowWhy solo practitioners and small firms could finally compete with the biggest names in Big LawWhat it means that law schools are still training lawyers for a world that no longer existsThe unexpected psychological cost of learning to think like a lawyer — and how to protect yourself from itWhat job titles that don't exist yet will define the next generation of legal careersJen 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/

  7. Jun 2

    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 communitiesWhy 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 innocentWhat 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 neutralityWhat is likely happening to your résumé right now — before a single human being ever reads itWhy the "AI is colorblind" argument is not just wrong, but dangerous, and what proxy discrimination means for every job application you'll ever submitWhat a digital underclass looks like — and why we may already be building oneOkoh 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/

  8. May 19

    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 realityWhat people in Afghanistan, Egypt, and rural India told him they actually want from technology — and why Silicon Valley isn't listeningThe 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 itHow algorithmic fragmentation is fueling nativism and authoritarianism across the globeWhat transparency, accountability, and democratic governance of AI would actually look like — and why social media proves what happens when we skip that stepDr. 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/

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About

Welcome to Paths of Curiosity in an AI World — a podcast created by two sisters who wanted to understand what the future of work actually looks like before they got there. We started this show because we kept hearing about AI changing everything, but nobody was explaining what that meant for real careers, in plain language, for students our age. So we decided to find out ourselves — by going directly to the people living it. Each quarter, we release a focused mini-series diving deep into one major domain: Health & Life Sciences, Law & Governance, Creativity & Culture, and Engineering & the Physical World. You'll hear from working professionals who break down what their jobs actually look like today, how AI fits into their work right now, and where they see their fields heading over the next decade. We're students figuring this out alongside you. This podcast is how we do it — one conversation at a time. Designed for students, parents, and college advisors who want real clarity, not hype.

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