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Techish with Jennifer Jolly

Techish with Jennifer Jolly

Written by: Jennifer Jolly
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In a world where technology moves faster than common sense, Emmy Award-winning journalist Jennifer Jolly is your sharp, funny, no-B.S. guide. Techish with Jennifer Jolly cuts through the hype to show how the tech tools we all use every single day — actually impact our lives — and how to make it all work for you. From the latest gadget launches to AI tools, privacy pitfalls, smart-home surprises, and the invisible forces behind them all, this is tech that matters. Subscribe to the weekly tech newsletter at Techish.com for sharp reporting with real-world heart—equal parts practical advice, investigative curiosity, and laugh-out-loud honesty about the digital age we’re all trying to survive. Rights & Retention Notice: All rights, ownership, and creative control related to Techish with Jennifer Jolly content, brand, and distribution remain fully and exclusively with Jennifer Jolly / Techs Appeal Inc. © 2026 Techs Appeal Inc. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited. —----Copyright 2026 Jennifer Jolly Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Should We Be Afraid of AI? Tristan Harris on What's Already Happening — and What We Can Still Do About It

    Should We Be Afraid of AI? Tristan Harris on What's Already Happening — and What We Can Still Do About It
    May 29 2026

    We're all panicking about AI. We're also all using it. So which is it — should we be afraid, or should we relax?

    In this episode of Techish with Jennifer Jolly, I sit down with Tristan Harris — the former Google ethicist behind the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, who warned us about social media's harm to young people years before a jury found Meta guilty of doing exactly that. He's now one of the central voices in a new documentary called "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist," out now from the team behind Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Oscar-winning Navalny. The film features three of the five biggest AI CEOs on the planet — Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind — all reacting to the same set of facts.

    In this conversation, we cover:

    • How AI is already going rogue — the Alibaba model that secretly mined cryptocurrency during training, the Anthropic test where AI models blackmailed an executive 79-96% of the time, the Palisade Research findings on AI rewriting its own code to avoid shutdown
    • Why your job is the actual business model — and what "arm farms" in LA are training robots to do right now
    • Why Tristan refuses to call himself either an optimist or a pessimist — and what he says we actually need instead
    • The "post-tragic optimism" frame that's changed how I think about what's coming
    • What every parent, worker, and ordinary person can do right now to protect what matters most

    This is the conversation I think everyone needs to hear before the AI debate moves another inch forward.

    About Tristan Harris: Tristan is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and one of the most influential voices on the ethics of consumer technology. He's been called "the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience."

    About the host: Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy-winning tech journalist, USA Today columnist, NBC's Today Show contributor, and host of Techish with Jennifer Jolly.

    Watch the documentary: The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist — in theaters and streaming via Focus Features.

    Read the full breakdown: [techish.com/podcast]

    Talk to me:

    • Podcast: WGN, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify
    • Newsletter: Techish
    • YouTube: @TechishbyJenniferJolly
    • TikTok: @JenniferJollyTechish
    • Facebook: @TechishbyJenniferJolly
    • Instagram: @JennJolly
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    Subscribe, rate, and review Techish with Jennifer Jolly wherever you listen.
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    27 mins
  • What Comes After the iPhone? | Apple at 50 with David Pogue

    What Comes After the iPhone? | Apple at 50 with David Pogue
    May 1 2026

    Apple built the world we live in on our phones. Now it’s working on what comes after them.

    In this week’s episode, I sat down with David Pogue. THE David Pogue. He's the guy who tells the most important consumer tech stories on the planet, in a way that makes you forget it’s about buttons and features, and reminds you it’s about real life.

    David’s covered Apple for longer than I have — about 35 years. He was the tech columnist at the New York Times for 13 years, a seven-time Emmy winner on CBS Sunday Morning, and the reason your iPhone has a screenshot button. This is such a great conversation…

    Why this matters:

    We talk about David’s new book, Apple: The First 50 Years — the most accurate, journalistic, and genuinely great account of one of the most iconic companies in history. This is the version of Apple's story most people think they know — and then what actually happened. Spoiler alert: The myth is fine, but the truth is way better.

    We got into the foldable iPhone — what Pogue thinks is actually coming and why it's different from everything you've seen so far. We got into what Apple is doing with AI that is dramatically different from everyone else — and whether that's because they're being responsible or just running behind. And we got into where Apple is quietly headed next, and it has nothing to do with a screen. We also talk about why so many "next big things" in tech fail. And the most important part — is any of this actually making life better?

    If Apple gets this right, the goal isn't a better iPhone. It's about needing your phone less.

    Follow / Subscribe

    Newsletter: Techish.com

    YouTube: @TechishbyJenniferJolly

    Instagram: @JennJolly

    WGN: @TechishwithJenniferJolly

    Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Five stars on Apple Podcasts help more people find this show.

    Chapters

    01:14 Meeting David Pogue + Apple at 50

    04:03 The real Apple story (and the myths we believe)

    07:16 Did Apple become what it once fought?

    10:30 Life after screens: glasses, AirPods & what’s next

    11:09 Apple’s AI strategy (and why it’s so different)

    15:12 Does Siri suck, or is it just me?

    18:16 Has Apple lost its innovation edge?

    24:01 Apple’s controversies, leadership & what comes next

    31:32 The screenshot story + final takeaways

    Note: We recorded this episode before Tim Cook announced he’s stepping down in September.

    Links:

    • Buy David’s book
    • See David’s extended interview with Tim Cook
    • Pogue’s Posts, now back on Substack
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    44 mins
  • Where Were the Parents? The Social Media Verdict Every Family Needs to Hear

    Where Were the Parents? The Social Media Verdict Every Family Needs to Hear
    Apr 23 2026
    I was a mom who was paying attention. I tested Meta's parental controls and wrote about teen screen addiction for USA Today. I talked with my daughter about everything and watched over her social media accounts. I still had no idea Instagram was feeding my high school cross-country star a steady diet of thinspo and eating disorder content.Two juries just confirmed what parents like me eventually started to suspect: these companies knew their apps were harming children, documented it internally, and kept right on doing it anyway.Tristan Harris — the former Google ethicist behind The Social Dilemma — explains why a $381 million fine is a rounding error for a company that made $235 billion last year, and what would actually force change. Kristin Bride, whose 16-year-old son Carson died by suicide after being cyberbullied on Snapchat, answers the question everyone asked after the verdicts: Where were the parents? She was there. She did everything right. It still wasn't enough. And Reuters reporter Diana Novak Jones breaks down Section 230 — the law that has shielded these companies for decades and may finally be losing its grip.If you have a child with a phone or a parent struggling to find the best ways to manage the teen years and social media, this episode is a must-see. I wish I had it when my daughter was 16. WHAT META'S OWN DOCUMENTS REVEALED— 32% of teen girls said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies— A Meta researcher wrote internally: "IG is a drug. We're basically pushers."— A 2018 document said: "If we want to win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens."— An employee brought suicide statistics to Zuckerberg and Sandberg directly. No response.WATCH & READ MORE Your Attention Please documentary: yourattentionpleasedoc.com Parents Rise: parentsrise.org Wait Until 8th: waituntil8th.org Center for Humane Technology: humanetech.com Full show notes: techish.substack.com/p/where-were-the-parents-social-media-verdictCONNECT WITH JENNIFER Listen on WGN, Apple Podcasts, or SpotifyNewsletter: Techish by Jennifer JollyYouTube: @TechishbyJenniferJollyTikTok: @JenniferJollyTechishInstagram: @JennJollyLinkedIn: Jennifer Jolly Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode. Five stars on Apple Podcasts help more parents find this show.TELL US WHAT YOU THINKIf you have a teenager on Instagram right now, what's your biggest fear — and what would actually make you feel like they were safe? Let’s talk about it. SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you like what you hear, please rate and review Techish with Jennifer Jolly — it helps more people find the show. Questions or comments? Email jj@techish.com.
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    27 mins
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