Disconnected

Digital ghosts, bots speaking in tongues - with Halloween upon us, could there be anything more scary than the future for which we’re destined… In a very special, spooky episode of Disconnected this week, Jag, Jen and Matt each share the technology fear that genuinely unsettles them - from digital life’s effect on human patience to AI systems we may no longer understand, and whether we truly have...

What links Adobe’s open-source competitor, and the art of drone warfare? A new age of software. In this week’s episode of Disconnected, Jag and Jason explore two big shifts driven by increasingly accessible technology: AI’s ability to help recreate existing software, and the ability to make military force cheaper and more widely available than ever before.  We’ll dive into what happens to software...

What if progress gives us more convenience, but takes away what we used to love about technology?  In a nostalgia-filled episode of Disconnected this week, we’re doing the opposite of Room 101, and reviving technology that we think deserves a place in today’s world. Jag, Matt and Jason look back at Blockbuster, removable phone batteries, LaserDiscs, SD card slots, and ask what it is that we truly...

AI isn’t just writing emails and generating pictures anymore - it’s starting to design the molecules that go into our bodies.  In this special episode of Disconnected, we sit down with young scientist Jay Wang to explore how generative AI is helping create new proteins, accelerate drug discovery, and whether we should be concerned about bioweapon risks and health inequality. We also end the episod...

It’s time to reopen the doors to Disconnected’s Room 101, and this time, Jen Campbell is in the judge’s chair… AI customer service chatbots, AI-slop social posts, compulsory apps, cookie walls, and Captcha tests all go on trial in this special episode of the podcast. While Jen makes the final call, Jag and Jason offer up their picks for the tech that promised to make life smoother but instead buri...

In a world where every ‘modern convenience’ is inconvenient, what technological advancements would you actually delete if you could?  In this ‘Room 101’ edition of Disconnected, Jag puts Jen and Matt’s biggest everyday gripes on trial - from QR-only restaurant menus and broken public Wi‑Fi to two-factor authentication and self-service bag drop.  Join us in the debate as to whether some creature co...

Social media posting is becoming psychologically expensive now - is the old internet we loved slowly wasting away? Your feed now looks more like TV programmed by an algorithm that doesn’t know you, but knows how to keep you watching.  In this week’s Disconnected episode we cover the new social landscape, the companies quietly rehiring their ‘AI layoffs’, and whether the emerging age of AI superint...

Our phones are reshaping our bodies. Not just mentally, not just metaphorically… LITERALLY reshaping them. This week on Disconnected, special guest Mel Palleschi helps us dive into how tech is moving closer to us, ruining our necks and grip strength, choosing our university paths, and performing live surgery from across the globe. This episode of Disconnected covers: How tech is physically reshapi...

AI is more than the software, more than the lines of code in Silicon Valley. It’s concrete, water, power lines and political deals reshaping small towns and entire industries.  Returning to the show from episode 6, Blake Stone-Banks joins us to unpack who really benefits from the AI boom, and who quietly pays the price.  Alongside Jag, Jason and Matt, we explore why China can build world-class pro...

The world is being reshuffled. When the dust settles, who will be left behind? This very special episode of Disconnected features the oracle of tomorrow’s world, author and strategist Sangeet Paul Choudary, to unpack why AI isn’t just automating tasks but rearranging the entire economy. What happens when knowledge work becomes abundant? Why is “will AI take my job” the wrong question? What does a...

IKEA uses an AI chatbot to automate nearly half of its customer service inquiries - you’d expect that to mean layoffs… not promotions. They’ve retrained 8,500 workers into higher‑value roles instead of cutting headcount. Could this become the new blueprint in a society scared for our livelihoods? Jag, Jen, Jason and Matt dive into this on Disconnected this week, where we also tackle Meta’s account...

Cars, glasses, maps, even humanoid cops – the tools around us are quietly turning into an environment that watches, profiles, and nudges us. In this week’s Disconnected we trace a shift in the world which no longer serves you, but spies on your every move. From Google’s ambient AI and car-cam reconnaissance to China’s combat-ready robots, what’s really left of privacy, agency, and work when the ma...

Could you beat Claude if your next job was on the line? We’re in a strange new reality where AI writes your CV, screens your application, interviews you, and now expects you to beat it just to get a human on the phone. Jag and the team unpack how recruitment is turning into an arms race between machines, Meta’s push to normalise AI-generated content, and what its $145 billion AI bet means for crea...

‘Made in China’ is not the insult it once was. It now means world-leading, culture-defining tech innovation. Is it being used for the betterment of mankind? Can Western civilisation cope with a world where China leads, without defaulting to xenophobia? These questions arise amid a backdrop of digital work clones and an afterlife avatar of lost loved ones - stay ahead of the curve with Jag, Jen and...

AI isn’t just creeping into our workflows anymore – it’s crashing date night, rewiring Wall Street, and trying to rewrite the social contract. We’ve turned life into a co-op work simulator, Elon’s turned IPO into incentivisation, and OpenAI are warning us about the very world they’ve perpetuated. Where do we exist in a future fraught with uncertainty at every turn? Matt, Jason and Jag have the ans...

$73 billion - that’s how much Meta has wasted shoving the Metaverse down our throats. Was it worth it…? We’re seeing a steady revolution against the tech we’re told is good for us, from the decline of virtual worlds to simple things like wired headphones. Is it a trend that’s set to last? Or can Claude’s new, scary-powerful features tempt users back into the future again? We cover all this, and mo...

We all knew that putting cameras on our faces was going to be a privacy nightmare, right? Meta’s glasses have been caught sending footage to human contractors in Kenya, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for how our safety is being compromised by forces outside of our control… Special guest Ben Cheston joins us for a look at Meta’s mishap, the terrifying prospect of air taxis, and why judgemen...

The world is doomed to be run by one of two things; beautiful dumb people, or untrustworthy AI. With over 20 years at the top of the marketing game, Patti Balbas is perfectly placed to help us understand how, in a ‘charismocracy’, charm will win over the masses rather than diligence. We also dive deep into a worrying, emerging pattern in AI’s use cases which has the potential to undo decades of so...

When AI goes wrong and signs you up to an awful legal deal, who’s to blame - you, or the agent? AI is crossing the line from ‘nice-to-have’ to ‘invisible infrastructure’, and once it does there’ll be no turning back. We dive into the AI-first future, the landmark trial on addictive design for social media, and questions whether OpenClaw is already plotting the demise of the ‘meat bags’... This epi...

Prediction season is back for a round 2, and this time Matt and Felina are swinging for the fences.  Between the dream of burdening AI with our mental load, to the nightmare of deepfakes fooling us all on the world stage, our outlook on 2026 proves one thing - you won’t have time to catch your breath, or the year in tech will pass you by… Join us in the second of our special prediction episodes; w...

It’s prediction season once again, and the only certainty for the year ahead… is uncertainty. Will Apple finally enter the foldable phone race? Could an AI-generated song hit 250m streams? Will LinkedIn FINALLY die the death that Jen’s been waiting on for so long? Tune into the first predictions episode of Disconnected for 2026, and prepare yourself for the year’s biggest shocks before they come t...

It’s been a stellar year in tech, and almost-nobody could have predicted the craziness we’ve lived through - ALMOST nobody… 11 months ago, in episode 83, we completed our annual tradition of gazing into their crystal ball for the year ahead, and in episode 103, we review what came true… with a few friendly debates, of course. Listen as we take you through the year in social bans, cyber attacks, an...

When Coca-Cola rolls out an AI-generated Christmas ad, is it innovation or is it the ghost of marketing’s future glitching before our eyes?  This week on Disconnected, Jag, Jason and Matt are joined by a very special guest - Nathalia Sica is a marketing, comms, and PR powerhouse with a keen eye on just how much trust it’s safe to put into big companies… Tune in for a debate on whether our digital...

In 100 months, when robots handle every inconvenience and AI tracks our health with alarming precision, what’s left for us to even do? From comfort robots that fold your laundry to AI-powered bespoke medicine and the end of admin as we know it, this week’s Disconnected episode unpacks how tomorrow’s tech could reshape our lives, our work, and even our purpose. This episode of Disconnected covers:...

1,618 days. 53 months. 4 and a half years. 100 episodes of Disconnected - we’re celebrating, but we’re not looking back… We’re looking ahead. Specifically 100 months ahead, to February 2034, and what lies in store for live events, ticket touts, agentic AI buying tickets for us, and therapists for AI bots. Join Jag, Jen, Jason and Matt for a centurion celebration, and a glance at what’s to come… Th...