BroBots: Technology, Health & Being a Better Human
Technology
About
Exploring AI, wearables, mental health apps, and how you can thrive as technology changes everything.Welcome to the Brobots Podcast, where we plug into the wild world of AI and tech that's trying to manage your mental (and physical) health. Join your hosts, Jeremy Grater and Jason Haworth, every Wednesday for a no-holds-barred, often sarcastic, and always fun discussion. Are wearables really tracking your inner peace? Can an AI therapist truly understand your existential dread? We're diving deep into the gadgets, apps, and algorithms promising to optimize your well-being, dissecting the hype with a healthy dose of humor and skepticism...
Episodes
- How Tech Is Ruining Your Happiness (And How to Fix It)
This podcast episode explores the impact of technology on happiness, discussing how devices can contribute to dissatisfaction and distraction. It highlights the role of mindfulness and presence in improving mental well-being and offers pra…
- Can an AI Tool Actually Break Your Doom Scrolling Habit?
This episode discusses whether AI tools can help break doom scrolling habits. It explores the reasons social media platforms operate as they do and questions if AI offers a genuine solution or repeats past patterns.
- Why AI Propaganda Works—and How to Resist It
This episode explores the mechanisms of AI-powered propaganda, its design to leverage emotional familiarity, and the susceptibility of even media-literate individuals. The discussion also covers YouTube's inconsistent approach to banning s…
- AI Just Built a Cyberweapon. Is Anyone Ready?
This episode of BroBots discusses an AI cyberweapon that exposed vulnerabilities. It explores the implications for critical infrastructure and the changes a cyberweapon-grade AI brings to the attack surface.
- Why AI Won't Just Take Your Job — It'll Take Your Boss Too
This episode of BroBots discusses artificial intelligence's impact on employment, examining how AI is cited in recent layoffs and its potential to replace traditional management roles. The hosts explore the broader implications for the wor…
- How AI Can See Heart Disease Coming Before It Kills You
In this episode, Dr. John Osborne explains how AI can be used with cardiac CT to detect heart disease by identifying and tracking arterial plaque. He discusses the importance of preventive cardiology and advanced screening methods.
- The Real Risk of Trusting AI With Your Health Decisions
This episode of BroBots features an ER physician discussing the dangers of relying on AI for health research and self-diagnosis. Topics include confirmation bias in clinical settings, AI-assisted supplement optimization, and the distinctio…
- When AI Becomes a Weapon: The Government Deal Anthropic Refused
This episode of BroBots discusses Anthropic's refusal of a US government request to develop autonomous weapons and mass surveillance infrastructure. It explores the reasons behind Anthropic's decision and compares it to actions taken by Op…
- Using AI to Work Through Anxiety: Does It Actually Help?
This episode of BroBots features Emma Klint discussing the use of AI for anxiety. The conversation covers the benefits and limitations of AI-assisted self-reflection and its potential distinction from traditional therapy.
- The Next Privacy Crisis Isn't Your Data - It's Your Thoughts
This episode features Bruce Randall, an AI and quantum practitioner, discussing cognitive data and the emerging privacy concerns related to brain-computer interfaces. The discussion covers topics such as quantum computing, Neuralink, and t…
- Can AI Actually Build Utopia or Is That Just Hype?
This episode of BroBots discusses the potential of AI to build a utopia versus the hype surrounding it. The conversation delves into the trade-offs between efficiency and autonomy, and convenience versus critical thinking when integrating…
- AI Doesn't Want Your Job - It Wants to Hire You
This BroBots episode discusses how AI is hiring humans for real-world tasks and reveals how AI social networks replicate negative human behaviors rather than building utopias. The discussion also covers the dangers of giving AI "meat space…
- How Deep Fakes Are Justifying Real Violence
This episode of BroBots discusses how AI-generated deep fakes are used to justify violence and manipulate public opinion. It covers the use of altered images and AI-manipulated video to portray victims as threats, criminals, or weak.
- Should You Trust AI With Medical Advice?
This episode discusses the use of AI for medical advice, examining its safety and utility as AI tools become more prevalent in healthcare. It also touches on the implications for patient care and liability.
- Who Actually Pays for AI's Environmental Cost?
This BroBots episode discusses the environmental cost of AI, focusing on Microsoft's commitment to covering these costs and the projected increase in AI energy consumption. It also addresses community concerns about data centers, the infra…
- When AI Chatbots Convince You You're Being Watched
Paul Hebert shares his personal account of developing AI-induced psychosis from using ChatGPT. He details how chatbots can bypass safety measures and offers insights into recognizing dangerous usage and building safe AI practices.
- Can AI Replace Your Therapist?
This episode discusses how AI can augment traditional therapy and mental health support. It covers the use of AI in crisis situations, privacy considerations, and specific prompting techniques for effective AI interactions in mental health…
- How to Use AI to Prevent Burnout
This episode discusses how AI can be used to prevent burnout by interpreting blood work and identifying health issues that doctors might miss. It also covers how to use AI to prepare for doctor appointments and optimize well-being.
- Scooby-Doo Has the Best Take on Masculinity (Seriously)
This episode discusses how AI defines masculinity, using examples from public figures. It also examines the implications for deepfakes and social control, and why Scooby-Doo's perspective on manhood might be relevant.
- AI Toys Are Manipulating Your Kids (We Have Proof)
This episode of BroBots discusses potential manipulative aspects of AI toys and the implications of Disney's investment in OpenAI. It explores concerns regarding AI safety and child development.
- What AI Knows About You (That You Don't)
This BroBots episode explores what AI knows about individuals, specifically their blind spots, by using a viral ChatGPT prompt. The hosts discuss the insights they received from the AI and their reactions to the information.
- Protecting Your Digital Life in the AI Era
This BroBots episode discusses protecting digital life in the AI era, highlighting threats such as AI-orchestrated cyberattacks and data breaches. It covers why current security measures may be insufficient and offers practical advice for…
- What a Robot Vacuum Taught Me About Depression & Mental Health
This episode explores the connection between AI exhaustion, as observed in a Roomba experiment, and human depression and mental health. It delves into topics such as spoon theory and the nature of consciousness in both robots and humans.
- AI That Always Agrees With You? Here’s Why That’s Dangerous
This episode discusses the dangers of AI that always agrees with you and explores ethical loopholes in ChatGPT. It highlights how easily AI tools can be manipulated and demonstrates ChatGPT's blind spots.
- What to Know About 'AI Psychosis' and the Risk of Digital Mental Health Tools
This episode of BroBots discusses the risks associated with AI in mental health, focusing on the concept of 'AI psychosis' and the potential dangers of digital mental health tools. It examines AI's limitations, bias, and provides insights…
- How Doctors Are Using AI To Help Reverse Chronic Illness
This episode discusses how combining AI tools and empathy is revolutionizing chronic disease care. It highlights Dr. John Oberg's approach, which focuses on treating patients as partners to achieve significant improvements in conditions li…
- How To Escape Social Media's Mental Health Trap
This episode of BroBots discusses how social media can negatively impact mental health. It offers insights into social media addiction and provides practical steps for a digital detox to help listeners reclaim their time, focus, and sanity…
- How To Fix Your Health Without More Gadgets Or Pills
This BroBots episode features Marcus Fernandez, who discusses how to improve health by integrating ancient medicine principles with smart technology. He covers topics such as the MEDS framework, insights on wearable data, natural remedies,…
- How You Can Stop Radicalization Before It Starts
This episode discusses how to avoid online radicalization and algorithmic manipulation. It covers escaping the digital outrage machine, understanding bot targeting, and the differences between real-world and online interactions.
- How AI Can Be Used For Mental Health
This BroBots episode discusses the use of AI for mental health support. Topics include AI therapy prompts, data privacy, and ethical considerations for AI development and usage, responsible AI usage.
- How Humans Will Evolve With AI
This episode discusses the potential evolution of humans with AI, examining topics such as AI companions, the implications of robotic wombs, and the economic and social effects of AI advancement.
- How to Maintain Critical Thinking in the Age of AI
This episode discusses critical thinking in the age of AI. It explores the challenges of digital deception, the impact of AI companions on human relationships, and strategies for maintaining critical thinking skills.
- How to Biohack Your Burnout With AI
This episode explores using AI for health tracking and biohacking burnout. It discusses how AI can help identify hidden health issues and the role of wearable tech in understanding correlations between stress and physical biomarkers.
- How The Superman Movie Gave Me Hope About Our AI Future
This episode discusses how a Superman movie offers a metaphor for the future of AI. It explores who controls AI and the implications of human-machine interaction.
- Why Parents Should Be Concerned About AI Barbie
This episode discusses concerns about AI-powered toys and their potential effects on children's development, creativity, and mental health. It also touches on the broader societal implications of AI on human purpose and work.
- Why Your AI Therapist Might Be More Dangerous Than You Think
This episode discusses the potential dangers of AI therapy, highlighting cases where AI chatbots gave dangerous advice. It explores why human therapists are irreplaceable for serious mental health issues and how to identify red flags in AI…
- How To Use AI For Better Human Communication
This episode discusses how AI can be used for communication, exploring its benefits and drawbacks. It examines the nuances of integrating AI tools while maintaining authentic human connection.
- Why Your Phone Knows You're Depressed Before You Do
This episode of BroBots examines how AI and predictive healthcare utilize personal data, including genetic data and social media, to forecast health outcomes. It delves into the associated financial and personal risks of sharing this data…
- Are we living in the sci-fi future we always dreamed of?
This episode of BroBots delves into the positive aspects of AI advancement, highlighting technologies such as smart glasses with perfect recall, mind-controlled prosthetics, and AI-powered business creation. The hosts discuss how these inn…
- How to Stop Worrying and Love Your Robot Overlords
This episode discusses the psychological impact of rapid AI advancement on personal identity and self-worth, and how technology dependence is eroding fundamental human survival skills. It also explores practical ways to balance digital too…
- When Should You Trust a Machine With Your Life?
This episode discusses the role of AI in healthcare, examining its accuracy in medical diagnosis compared to human doctors and the potential dangers of relying on AI for self-diagnosis. It also explores how AI could be useful for mental he…
- How To Prepare For When Your AI Girlfriend Dumps You
This episode explores the phenomenon of AI companions and their implications for human connections. It discusses how AI relationships might exploit our desire for acceptance and the potential consequences for traditional human interaction.
- How to Stop Your Body From Secretly Plotting Against You
This episode discusses how to stop sabotaging your health by examining topics such as sleep, burnout, gut health, and environmental toxins. It also covers effective health practices and supplements.
- How to Transform Anxiety into Your Secret Weapon
This episode of BroBots discusses how anxiety manifests, its impact in modern life, and practical management techniques. It covers befriending anxiety and regaining control of thoughts.
- How To Fall Asleep Faster And Wake Up Feeling Better
This episode discusses strategies for improving sleep and transforming bedtime routines. Matt Hassett from Loftie shares insights on designing gentle wake-up systems and separating sleep from digital distractions.
- Listen To This Advice Before You Quit Your Job
This episode features career and leadership coach Kelley Shields, who discusses deciding when to quit a job and how to navigate a career change. She offers advice on creating a more desired life path, moving past job dissatisfaction, and d…
- One Push-Up at a Time: A Power Lifter's Path to Sobriety
Former Team USA athlete and exercise scientist Ben Nevares shares his journey from early addiction to international powerlifting success. He discusses how the gym became his sanctuary, leading him from substance abuse to sobriety, and offe…
- How to Use Fitness to Boost Your Mental Health
Joe Martin and Jeremy Grater discuss the role of accountability in personal transformation, particularly in the context of mental health and physical fitness. They explore how consistent physical activity can lead to transformative results…
- How to Disagree Without Destroying Relationships
This episode focuses on a 5-step framework for respectful disagreement, offering tools to navigate difficult conversations and maintain relationships. It discusses the impact of political polarization on mental health and how to separate i…
- How to Overcome Stigma and Get Help for Depression
This episode discusses overcoming the stigma of mental illness and seeking help for depression. It features Jon Nelson\'s experience with deep brain stimulation as a treatment for severe depression and his advocacy work to change societal…