Artificial intelligence has moved from a niche technical field to a force shaping how we work, communicate and even participate in democracy. As governments and organisations increasingly rely on automated systems in the name of efficiency and convenience, questions about trust, transparency and public understanding have become impossible to ignore. What does it mean for everyday life when decisions that affect us are mediated by technologies most people (including the people who created them) don’t fully understand?

In this episode, I speak to Dr Susan Oman, Senior Lecturer in Data, AI and Society at the University of Sheffield. Susan’s research explores how data and evidence operate in practice, and what this means for policy areas such as well‑being, loneliness, inequality and class. Together we unpack the public’s uneasy relationship with AI, and the democratic implications of experiments like the AI avatar launched by Mark Sewards MP. From dystopian parallels to the realities of digital public engagement, Susan offers a grounded and nuanced perspective on what happens when technology starts to stand in for human judgement and understanding.

Produced by the Bloomsbury Institute London.

Technology has transformed almost every aspect of modern romance, but for many disabled people, the digital world can be both a gateway to connection and a barrier to it. Dating apps promise opportunity, yet often overlook the needs of those who rely on them most. At the same time, our online lives have reshaped how we think about infidelity, financial imbalance, and even the boundaries of flirting.

To explore these questions, I speak to writer and broadcaster Rob Crossan, who has spent over two decades covering travel, culture and disability affairs. Drawing on his personal experiences as a visually impaired man navigating the dating world, Rob offers a candid and funny account of how technology can help, and hinder, the search for intimacy. They discuss everything from accessibility failures in app design, to the emotional politics of digital temptation, to why going analogue sometimes feels like the only option when looking for love.

Produced by the Bloomsbury Institute London.

Gossip, since our pre-tribal dawn, has been a useful way of regulating social standings and ensuring community cohesion. In the online social media and dating app sphere, however, all this has changed, with men and women responding to this new age differently. Some women are finding online spaces becoming increasingly misogynistic and threatening, with some men finding themselves excluded and frustrated.

Today’s guest, Dr Jenny van Hooff, is a sociologist at Manchester University specialising in personal life and contemporary intimacies. Dr van Hooff’s research explores the dynamics of couple relationships, love, commitment, infidelity, and break-ups across different stages of life, including examining the significance of friendships and the experiences of dating app users.

She co-directs the Contemporary Intimacies, Sexualities, and Genders Research Group, an interdisciplinary network that investigates the evolving landscape of personal relationships and intimacies. The Research Group challenges how we think about intimate relationships, gender relations, eroticism and sexuality to advance social justice. Jenny’s current projects focus on midlife intimacy, relationship breakdown, and digital dating practices. Dr van Hooff wrote a 2013 book entitled: Modern Couples?: Continuity and Change in Heterosexual.

In the episode we reference the books The Value of Others and Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Produced by the Bloomsbury Institute London.