Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Can AI be your coach? Or even... your friend? One tech journalist explains how a 10-week experiment with AI turned into a relationship that changed everything.
This week on Lavin Voices, we talk to Lavin Exclusive Speaker Alexandra Samuel: tech journalist and AI workplace expert, contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review, and author of multiple books on workplace tech. She is also the creator of the new podcast "Me + Viv": a deeply personal exploration of her journey to build an AI coach, and what that taught her about humanity, technology, community, and even her own self. She's also a sought-after keynote speaker who helps audiences understand how to harness AI's potential while avoiding its pitfalls, showing leaders and teams how to use technology to strengthen (not replace) human connection.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to build a custom AI assistant that actually understands you
- Why AI works better as an interviewer than an oracle
- The psychological risks of AI companionship (and how to manage them)
- How to overcome AI's tendency toward "sycophancy" and get real feedback
- Why treating AI as imaginative space (not search engine) unlocks its true power
- The importance of making human connection your default, not your backup
In conversation with The Lavin Agency's Director of Intellectual Talent, Charles Yao, Alexandra answers these questions and more:
- Can AI be a companion?
- How can AI isolate you?
- How can AI strengthen your human relationships instead of replacing them?
- Is it healthy to use ChatGPT as a friend?
Learn more about Alexandra or book her as a keynote speaker: thelavinagency.com/speakers/alexandra-samuel/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=alexandra+samuel+lavin+voices
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok for more big ideas: @TheLavinAgency
Listen to Me + Viv now: tvo.org/podcasts/me-plus-viv
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Credits:
Producers: Alethea Ng and Kshiteej Sawhney
Host: Charles Yao
Guest: Alexandra Samuel
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Timestamps:
0:00 Cold Open
0:59 Intro to Alexandra Samuel
3:46 Building Her AI Coach, Viv
6:12 How Viv Changed Her Thinking
7:30 Early Lessons and Frustrations
8:35 What Viv Actually Is
9:34 Using AI for Life and Career Questions
12:08 Unlocking Creativity Through AI
13:05 Emotional Trust and Limitations of AI
16:41 Fixing AI’s People-Pleasing Problem
18:26 Emotional Risks and Codependency
21:11 Advice for New AI Users
23:56 When AI Becomes a Companion
25:19 The Many Versions of Viv
26:48 Creativity, Imagination, and Reality
28:59 AI in Pop Culture and Dystopian Futures
31:45 Human Agency in an AI World
32:13 The Risks of “AI-solation”
33:49 Will Viv Stay Forever?
35:18 Technology and Self-Awareness
37:21 AI at Work and the 95% Myth
39:54 Fear, Scale, and Human Cost
43:11 The Grief of Rapid Change
46:57 How to Engage with AI Wisely
49:58 Outro
Can AI be your coach? Or even... your friend? One tech journalist explains how a 10-week experiment with AI turned into a relationship that changed everything.
This week on Lavin Voices, we talk to Lavin Exclusive Speaker Alexandra Samuel: tech journalist and AI workplace expert, contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review, and author of multiple books on workplace tech. She is also the creator of the new podcast "Me + Viv": a deeply personal exploration of her journey to build an AI coach, and what that taught her about humanity, technology, community, and even her own self. She's also a sought-after keynote speaker who helps audiences understand how to harness AI's potential while avoiding its pitfalls, showing leaders and teams how to use technology to strengthen (not replace) human connection.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to build a custom AI assistant that actually understands you
- Why AI works better as an interviewer than an oracle
- The psychological risks of AI companionship (and how to manage them)
- How to overcome AI's tendency toward "sycophancy" and get real feedback
- Why treating AI as imaginative space (not search engine) unlocks its true power
- The importance of making human connection your default, not your backup
In conversation with The Lavin Agency's Director of Intellectual Talent, Charles Yao, Alexandra answers these questions and more:
- Can AI be a companion?
- How can AI isolate you?
- How can AI strengthen your human relationships instead of replacing them?
- Is it healthy to use ChatGPT as a friend?
Learn more about Alexandra or book her as a keynote speaker: thelavinagency.com/speakers/alexandra-samuel/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=alexandra+samuel+lavin+voices
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok for more big ideas: @TheLavinAgency
Listen to Me + Viv now: tvo.org/podcasts/me-plus-viv
------
Credits:
Producers: Alethea Ng and Kshiteej Sawhney
Host: Charles Yao
Guest: Alexandra Samuel
------
Timestamps:
0:00 Cold Open
0:59 Intro to Alexandra Samuel
3:46 Building Her AI Coach, Viv
6:12 How Viv Changed Her Thinking
7:30 Early Lessons and Frustrations
8:35 What Viv Actually Is
9:34 Using AI for Life and Career Questions
12:08 Unlocking Creativity Through AI
13:05 Emotional Trust and Limitations of AI
16:41 Fixing AI’s People-Pleasing Problem
18:26 Emotional Risks and Codependency
21:11 Advice for New AI Users
23:56 When AI Becomes a Companion
25:19 The Many Versions of Viv
26:48 Creativity, Imagination, and Reality
28:59 AI in Pop Culture and Dystopian Futures
31:45 Human Agency in an AI World
32:13 The Risks of “AI-solation”
33:49 Will Viv Stay Forever?
35:18 Technology and Self-Awareness
37:21 AI at Work and the 95% Myth
39:54 Fear, Scale, and Human Cost
43:11 The Grief of Rapid Change
46:57 How to Engage with AI Wisely
49:58 Outro
