Chapter 1: What unusual themes connect foot massage parties, otters, and AI?
You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. What do foot massage parties, otters, and AI robot tutors have in common? It all sounds a bit ridiculous, but I promise there's a through line.
In this first of its kind episode of TED Talks Daily, I am excited to share with you a special conversation I got to host with hosts of some of TED's other podcasts in the collective. Manoush Zomorodi of TED Radio Hour, Madhupe Akinnola of TED Business, and Sherelle Dorsey of TED Tech. So the four of us got to sit down together to reflect on the year that was and look ahead to 2026.
From pushing back against AI advances to sharing the TED Talks that inspired us, we discussed what we thought were some of the biggest news stories and ideas of the year and the lesser known insights that we wished got more attention. I'm so excited to share this one with you. Hope you enjoy. Hey, everyone. Welcome. I'm Elise Hu.
I'm a journalist, author, and the host of TED Talks Daily, and I'm here with the most incredible group of people and friends. I am with the hosts of some of TED's flagship podcasts. If each of you could say who you are and talk a little bit about your show, Madhupe?
I am Madhupe Akinnola. I am the host of the TED Business Podcast, where we talk about exciting ideas in business and share a TED Talk with you.
Sherelle? I'm Sherelle Dorsey. I am a journalist and author and the host of the TED Tech Podcast. We talk about everything that, you know, sits at the intersection of both technology and humanity, while also introducing talks that you may or may not have heard from the TED stage.
I'm Manoush Zomorodi. I host NPR's TED Radio Hour. And every week we take a number of talks and go behind the scenes to speak to people about the research that they're doing, how they've done the work that they've done and what they're thinking about in the future and hopefully make you think more expansively about the world.
Hello, everyone.
Yeah, it's so nice to be with you all. I know.
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Chapter 2: How did the guests reflect on the significant events of 2025?
I love it. That's so good. That's so good. OK, so for the last couple of years, I focused my birthday parties like not on big grand dinners and fancy outfits. It's been about play and like getting 30 and 40 year old people like to play. And so I had a thousand dollars to spend on a party. I would do another beat the bomb party.
party what's that and so you so you first of all you have to get dressed up in these hazmat suits and you split up into teams of two and you go into these dark rooms where you have to solve a puzzle in a certain amount of time and you gotta work together to solve the puzzle they're very tricky and you get a certain allotment of time for each room if you solve the puzzle early then you go into the next room and then you get to
come to my foot massage party. Exactly. Because, yes, because you've been working your brain and your body. You've got to go in and under lasers like Mission Impossible. And then at the end, when you have finished all the puzzles, you go into the last room, which is getting a robot through a maze, and you have to work together.
Now, you have all your time that you allocated throughout your puzzle solving, and that is the amount of time that you have to solve this last puzzle. If you do not solve it before the robot... gets to its destination, then the bomb goes off and you are splattered with spray paint. It is the coolest thing on the planet.
I had never heard of this before, but it's like bringing an escape room to your house.
Exactly.
Or a series of escape rooms to your house. Exactly.
So yeah, that's what I would spend $1,000 on. money well spent. All right. I'm not sure how I follow that, but I would say I'm a big believer in silence and slowing the mind down. So I would spend it on just doing a sound bath or something like that and folks getting together and just talking through the real stuff that's on their minds. So that's, I think, what I would spend.
But in my mind, I actually thought you said $100,000 and And I would also have people, fly everyone into some neat place and just have an artist that we love just perform. That was my also thing.
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Chapter 3: What icebreaker question sparked creativity among the hosts?
Yeah, I mean, I would say that I'm sure we're going to touch on AI a ton. So I'm not going to even talk about that in this conversation right here. But there's this New York Times article that came out towards the end of last year, beginning of this year about how CEOs are tripping.
And by that, they meant they're using psychedelics more to help them in terms of ego depletion and come up with new creative ideas and help them get unstuck. And I kind of felt like there are other ways than going on expensive retreats. to figure out how to address some of the big challenges that we're dealing with in society.
And I'm actually very open to all types and forms of self-knowledge and whatever it takes, I'm okay with. But I do feel like we always go externally to kind of get clarity, but there's so much internally where we can go. And so there was something about that that I just felt we needed more of.
Wait, so you're saying they were dropping acid? Is that what you're talking about? Or ketamine or whatever else? Isn't that an attempt to go more internally, though?
So yes, I do think it's an attempt to go more internally, but I just feel like that as the panacea is not, it's not sustainable and it's not accessible to everybody. So I'm not saying that it's a terrible idea. I'm just saying that, you know, I pushed back a little bit on it.
And sometimes I think we forget about ways that are really around us and leveraging the people around us to go internally more. The community. your employees, your colleagues, and all that. And I also think that, you know, our leaders are people that we look up to and respect and admire. And if there are also more accessible forms of going internally, then I want role models of that too.
Interesting.
Manoush, what did you want to push back on this year? Well, what made you raise an eyebrow?
Well, you know, so many things, gosh. But I would say for me, I had this really great conversation with Victor Riparbelli. He owns an AI avatar company where you can create a video with an extremely lifelike looking avatar who will, you know, give instructions to your entire employees about, you know, how to use a piece of equipment.
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Chapter 4: What major ideas emerged from the TED Talks discussed?
And her whole thing is, you know, yes, there's government dysfunction and shutdowns are in the news and layoffs, federal layoffs. But in the United States, there's a movement back to the states where AI actually exists. This is the best use case example possible. The boring grunt work that we don't have enough people to do, that nobody wants to do, is like filling out forms.
Let's actually get people their benefits instead of making them fill out 10 different, 20 different forms. So my hope, I'm staying optimistic on this one, is that AI gets applied efficiently and cuts down on red tape and that the states take back some of the power of just making our lives run more smoothly.
Yeah, I like that.
You're here to that.
Look at those lofty goals. I love it. I love it. You know, from my vantage point, we have so much more, but people are so unhappy. So unhappy. In every industry, people are unhappy. And so my hope is that organizations will work harder on trying to have those types of leaders that inspire you and think about the whole person and how to really help people operate in their purpose.
in a way that will make people feel like they're making a difference and that their work matters and that they're cared for and cared about. And so, yeah, I mean, it's contingent on humans. to be able to relate to others in a way that makes them feel all the joy that there is to experience in this beautiful life. And instead, we're not having that.
And so I just, I feel like what's the point of leadership if you're not able to help somebody feel better about themselves, feel better about their work, feel better about the difference they're making in the world. So that's my hope.
Are you talking to people and like CEOs and telling them like, come on, get it together?
To the extent that I can, that's one of the things I do. But I don't also want to just wait on the CEOs. Leadership can come from anywhere. And so I'm trying to instill my students with that knowledge so that they can also help those ahead of them who are more senior to them embody some of that philosophy. Because the young folks are getting it. They get it so much more right now.
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Chapter 5: How do the hosts view the impact of AI on education and society?
Because all the books are about kids and screen time.
Okay, so I'm going to... Put in a plug here, Elise, my book's coming out next year, and I have an entire chapter about older adults and their relationship with their technology. But the interesting thing is there is burgeoning research into some technology, depending on what they're doing. You know, sharing AI slop with their busy daughters doesn't count.
But if they're learning to use new tools, digital tools, there actually is some evidence linking that to diminished dementia.
Yeah.
So I think with all of our conversation, it's like tech is like, you know, it's not good. It's not bad. It's a tool. It's like it's good and bad. It's morally neutral.
Exactly.
And well, is it morally neutral? I'm not sure about that anymore. However. I think you make such a good point. And I think so many older adults are lonely and technology is their way of staying connected to family, to the world. And so how do we help them use it in ways that, you know, are supportive of their mental acuity as opposed to draining of it?
I love that.
Can you give us a preview of the chapter? Well, I can actually. Well, this won't come as a surprise. Sitting in front of the TV passively for 12 hours a day. Bad. Like really, really bad.
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