Iliana Grosse-Buening has spent her career at the intersection of responsible technology, human flourishing, and ethics. From building educational technology across 45 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to leading DeeplyHuman and running the Youth Imagination Lab, she has been asking one foundational question: What does good AI look like — and if human flourishing is the goal, what needs to change? In this conversation with Rebecca Rutschmann, she unpacks what lies underneath the endless ping-pong between utopian promises and existential dread: a profound crisis of agency. Drawing on Kim Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model, cognitive metaphor theory, and insights from global youth surveys across 68 countries, Iliana makes a compelling case for narrative leadership — why the stories we consume about AI are invisible infrastructure, and how we can move from paralyzing fear to actionable, intentional design. She's not an alarmist. She's an architect of human agency. And her closing conviction? We don't have a technology problem; we have an imagination and agency problem — and the pathways to shape it are ours to build. Iliana Grosse-Buening has spent her career at the intersection of responsible technology, human flourishing, and ethics. From building educational technology across 45 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to leading DeeplyHuman and running the Youth Imagination Lab, she has been asking one foundational question: What does good AI look like — and if human flourishing is the goal, what needs to change? In this conversation with Rebecca Rutschmann, she unpacks what lies underneath the endless ping-pong between utopian promises and existential dread: a profound crisis of agency. Drawing on Kim Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model, cognitive metaphor theory, and insights from global youth surveys across 68 countries, Iliana makes a compelling case for narrative leadership — why the stories we consume about AI are invisible infrastructure, and how we can move from paralyzing fear to actionable, intentional design. She's not an alarmist. She's an architect of human agency. And her closing conviction? We don't have a technology problem; we have an imagination and agency problem — and the pathways to shape it are ours to build. What you'll take away: * Why asking "What does good AI look like?" must happen before we build, not after * How the endless ping-pong between AI utopia and existential dread creates a paralyzing crisis of agency * What Kim Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model teaches us about fear, control, and constructive action * Why language and metaphors ("AI arms race", "tsunami") act as invisible infrastructure that strips our sense of choice * What young people in the Youth Imagination Lab and across 68 countries are seeing that tech executives miss * How leaders and coaches can practice narrative agency and leave every room with more clarity, not less * Why asking "What does good AI look like?" must happen before we build, not after * How the endless ping-pong between AI utopia and existential dread creates a paralyzing crisis of agency * What Kim Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model teaches us about fear, control, and constructive action * Why language and metaphors ("AI arms race", "tsunami") act as invisible infrastructure that strips our sense of choice * What young people in the Youth Imagination Lab and across 68 countries are seeing that tech executives miss * How leaders and coaches can practice narrative agency and leave every room with more clarity, not less Resources & Links: Riane Eisler's Work on Partnership Systems IEEE Global AI Systems Flourishing Initiative Edelman Trust Barometer Martin Seligman & Positive Psychology (PERMA Mode) Mariek van den Abeele & Digital Well-being ("Taken-for-grantedness") Deeply Human (London in the Loop survey) Iliana on LinkedIn Viva La Coaching
