TED Tech

From Hotmail to Yahoo! to AOL instant messenger, online chat space has transformed throughout the years. Now, there’s Chat GPT, Claude, Gemini, and more AI agents vying for your attention. In today’s episode, Sherrell shares two talks, first featuring Steve Huffman, the co-founder of Reddit, on the platform’s model for a better internet. Then a talk from internet culture writer Michael Sun on how you can recapture the joy of the early internet.

Talks featured

Reddit's model for a better internet | Steve Huffman

How to recapture the joy of the early internet | Michael Sun

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Does AI pose a threat to democracy? Law professor Lawrence Lessig dissects how this emerging technology could influence democratic institutions, warning that we’ve already passed a point (before superintelligence or AGI) that deserves a lot more attention. After the talk, Sherrell reflects on the importance of media literacy and the need to remain vigilant and engaged to defend our democracy.

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We're fast approaching a world where widespread, hyper-realistic deepfakes lead us to dismiss reality, says technologist and human rights advocate Sam Gregory. What happens to democracy when we can't trust what we see? Learn three key steps to protecting our ability to distinguish human from synthetic — and why fortifying our perception of truth is crucial to our AI-infused future.

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"Democracy is more fun and inviting when you take it into your own hands," says creator and activist Sofia Ongele. Sharing how she's using coding and social media to defend democracy, Ongele invites us to identify our own creative superpowers — whether it's community organizing, making music or telling stories — and use them to cause a ruckus and bring movements to life.

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No one truly understands AI, not even experts, says Helen Toner, an AI policy researcher and former board member of OpenAI. But that doesn't mean we can't govern it. She shows how we can make smart policies to regulate this technology even as we struggle to predict where it's headed — and why the right actions, right now, can shape the future we want. After the talk, Sherrell expands on what’s needed to ensure that AI aligns with the best interests of humanity, without stifling innovation.

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We don't have to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of technological progress, says social technologist Divya Siddarth. She shares how a group of people helped retrain one of the world's most powerful AI models on a constitution they wrote — and offers a vision of technology that aligns with the principles of democracy, rather than conflicting with them.

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When James G. Robinson's son Nadav was born with a rare heart defect, he feared the worst. What he didn't anticipate were the moments of unexpected wonder. In this profound talk, Robinson traces five years of impossible medical odds, a genetic discovery so strange it felt like fate ... and how grateful he is to have experienced it all. His story is a vivid reminder of what it means to be human — an inexplicable gift, however fleeting.

And stick around after his talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas he shared on stage and beyond.

This is the last episode in a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

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We have more data than any generation in history, yet reality has never felt harder to grasp. Artist Yiyun Kang is on a mission to translate the invisible crises of our time — from vanishing fresh water and collapsing ecosystems to the black box of AI — into physical experiences that people can feel. Art isn’t a luxury, she says. It’s essential to understanding and acting on our biggest problems.

And stick around after her talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas she shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode six of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age

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What if GLP-1s like Ozempic could do more than just tip the scales? Physician Dhruv Khullar traces the winding path of the "moderation molecule" — from a discovery in Gila monster saliva to a potential diabetes medication and addiction treatment — and how they could quiet the relentless noise of craving. The most surprising effects of GLP-1s may not be in the gut, but in the brain. And stick around after his talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas he shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode five of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Genome researcher Michael Snyder believes health wearables, such as smart watches and glucose monitors, can transform medicine, shifting from reactive to predictive. (In fact, he's such a big fan of these devices that he wears eight of them every single day.) From spotting an illness days before symptoms appear to helping prevent the onset of diabetes, learn why the future of health care may be on your wrist. And stick around after his talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas he shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode four of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if doing your chores were as easy as flipping a switch? In this talk and live demo, roboticist and founder of 1X Bernt Børnich introduces NEO, a humanoid robot designed to help you out around the house. Watch as NEO shows off its ability to vacuum, water plants and keep you company, while Børnich tells the story of its development — and shares a vision for robot helpers that could free up your time to focus on what truly matters.

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Would you swallow a micro-robot? In a gutsy demo, physician Vivek Kumbhari navigates Pillbot, a wireless, disposable robot swallowed onstage by engineer Alex Luebke, modeling how this technology can swiftly provide direct visualization of internal organs. Learn more about how micro-robots could move us past the age of invasive endoscopies and open up doors to more comfortable, affordable medical imaging. After the talk, Sherrell reflects on how these kinds of innovations could impact the future of diagnostics for everyone.

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Would you tango with a robot? Inviting us into the fascinating world of dancing machines, robot choreographer Catie Cuan highlights why teaching robots to move with grace, intention and emotion is essential to creating AI-powered machines we will want to welcome into our daily lives.

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More than a decade ago, roboticist Dennis Hong debuted a new generation of cutting-edge robots. Now he's back to reveal how his lab at UCLA has eclipsed its own achievements with a fleet of wildly advanced and delightful humanoid robots. Part demo, part time capsule, part glance into the future, Hong brings you into the excitement and potential of the next evolution in robotics engineering.

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What if robots could build and optimize themselves -- with little to no help from humans? Computer scientist Emma Hart is working on a new technology that could make "artificial evolution" possible. She explains how the three ingredients of biological evolution can be replicated digitally to build robots that can self-assemble and adapt to any environment -- from the rocky terrain of other planets to the darkest depths of the ocean -- potentially ushering in a new generation of exploration.

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What good is a vaccine people don't trust? Immunologist and TED Fellow Kizzmekia Corbett co-developed the first COVID-19 vaccine to enter clinical trials — but she'll tell you that making the vaccine was never the hardest part. The real obstacle is the gap between scientists and the people who have honest questions about the shots they're being asked to take. She shares a refreshing approach for taking on vaccine inquisitiveness and ensuring that humanity is ready for the next pandemic. And stick around after her talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas she shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode three of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning - this episode contains mention of suicide and severe depression.

For years, the warning has been: smartphones are destroying a generation. But developmental psychologist Candice Odgers says that decades of data on teens tells a different story — violence, alcohol use and pregnancy are at historic lows, and research shows social media may not actually be the culprit for mental health problems. Hear her analysis of what’s really troubling kids these days, and why banning them from online spaces may make things worse. And stick around after her talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas she shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode two of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can a five-minute walk change how you feel all day? Exercise scientist Keith Diaz shows how your body is built for the kind of movement that modern life has quietly erased — and suggests something refreshingly doable: making time for small doses of movement sprinkled throughout the day, as a way to boost your brain and body. And stick around after his talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas he shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode one of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manoush Zomorodi, host of TED Radio Hour, takes over as guest host ofTED Talks Daily this week to answer a timely question: What does it mean to be human right now, as technology reshapes everything around us? She brings together seven thinkers — scientists, doctors, parents, an artist — to wrestle with how we stay connected to ourselves, and our bodies, in a world that keeps pulling us away. First up, Manoush is joined by Elise Hu to dig into the ideas that are going to be explored this week. They discuss her new book, Body Electric, which explores the hidden health costs of our sedentary lifestyle, and what we can all be doing to reverse the damages.

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Algorithms and AI don’t show us reality, but that doesn’t stop people from treating ChatGPT and online bots as our personalized therapists, travel planners, and editors. In this episode, Sherrell is sharing two talks on how AI is changing the way we’re influenced. From shaping our language to becoming “middle managers of our own thoughts,” these speakers ask what happens when we offload critical thinking to a machine.

Talks featured

Why are people starting to sound like ChatGPT? | Adam Aleksic

How to stop AI from killing your critical thinking | Advait Sarkar

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