Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
“I've often been called the Black Mirror correspondent, because that's what this is,” says Jacob Ward. For seven years, Jake was the on-air technology correspondent for NBC News, covering the monumental rise of AI for millions of mainstream viewers of NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. His influential book, The Loop, is credited with being one of the first to predict the rise of commercial AI and ChatGPT before they became part of our everyday lives. In it, he makes a powerful argument for how AI is uniquely capable of preying on our psychological vulnerabilities—and how to make sure it doesn’t.
In this week’s episode of Lavin Voices, Jake helps host Charles Yao separate hype from reality at this fever pitch moment in AI, and he talks about why covering AI as a journalist is a “universal” beat, akin to democracy or capitalism. Jake also shows, from real-world examples, how it’s possible to regulate AI to ensure it has the widest possible benefits for all of society. “Where are the places in which we're using this technology to amplify the best parts of being human, the things that are really fragile and important about being human?” he asks. “And where are the places where we are using it to empower the least attractive qualities we have?”
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why AI coverage is now a “universal beat” like democracy or capitalism
- How AI exploits our psychological blind spots—and what we can do about it
- Why Jacob Ward predicted the AI boom before ChatGPT
- How to regulate AI for societal benefit
- Why the future of AI depends on human restraint and choice
In conversation with The Lavin Agency’s Director of Intellectual Talent, Charles Yao, Jacob answers these questions and more:
- What are the biggest ethical risks companies face with AI today?
- How can businesses avoid becoming the “bad guys” in the AI narrative?
- What is the “Super Villain Test” for AI innovation?
- How can AI enhance employee experience instead of replacing jobs?
- What’s the difference between using AI as a tool and using it as entertainment?
- How can regulation keep pace with the speed of AI development?
- Can AI ever help us make better human choices?
- Why is restraint the most underrated principle in innovation today?
- What does it truly mean to be human in the age of AI?
Learn more about Jacob or book him as a keynote speaker:
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok for more big ideas: @TheLavinAgency
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Credits:
Producers: Alethea Ng and Kshiteej Sawhney
Host: Charles Yao
Guest: Jacob Ward
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Timestamps:
0:00 Cold Open
0:30 Intro to Jacob Ward
2:45 Covering Technology for NBC
5:53 Beyond Gadgets — The Human Story
8:18 Stories That Shaped Our AI Moment
12:00 The Dark Side of Innovation
14:43 Finding Positive Uses of AI
17:45 The Loop — Human and Machine Decision Making
20:46 Escaping the Loop
25:13 Regulation and Societal Responsibility
28:06 The Allure of Convenience
30:37 Preserving Our Inefficiencies
33:43 Staying Human with AI
36:35 What Companies Can Do
41:38 Using Time and Collaboration Wisely
44:48 Outro
“I've often been called the Black Mirror correspondent, because that's what this is,” says Jacob Ward. For seven years, Jake was the on-air technology correspondent for NBC News, covering the monumental rise of AI for millions of mainstream viewers of NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. His influential book, The Loop, is credited with being one of the first to predict the rise of commercial AI and ChatGPT before they became part of our everyday lives. In it, he makes a powerful argument for how AI is uniquely capable of preying on our psychological vulnerabilities—and how to make sure it doesn’t.
In this week’s episode of Lavin Voices, Jake helps host Charles Yao separate hype from reality at this fever pitch moment in AI, and he talks about why covering AI as a journalist is a “universal” beat, akin to democracy or capitalism. Jake also shows, from real-world examples, how it’s possible to regulate AI to ensure it has the widest possible benefits for all of society. “Where are the places in which we're using this technology to amplify the best parts of being human, the things that are really fragile and important about being human?” he asks. “And where are the places where we are using it to empower the least attractive qualities we have?”
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why AI coverage is now a “universal beat” like democracy or capitalism
- How AI exploits our psychological blind spots—and what we can do about it
- Why Jacob Ward predicted the AI boom before ChatGPT
- How to regulate AI for societal benefit
- Why the future of AI depends on human restraint and choice
In conversation with The Lavin Agency’s Director of Intellectual Talent, Charles Yao, Jacob answers these questions and more:
- What are the biggest ethical risks companies face with AI today?
- How can businesses avoid becoming the “bad guys” in the AI narrative?
- What is the “Super Villain Test” for AI innovation?
- How can AI enhance employee experience instead of replacing jobs?
- What’s the difference between using AI as a tool and using it as entertainment?
- How can regulation keep pace with the speed of AI development?
- Can AI ever help us make better human choices?
- Why is restraint the most underrated principle in innovation today?
- What does it truly mean to be human in the age of AI?
Learn more about Jacob or book him as a keynote speaker:
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok for more big ideas: @TheLavinAgency
------
Credits:
Producers: Alethea Ng and Kshiteej Sawhney
Host: Charles Yao
Guest: Jacob Ward
------
Timestamps:
0:00 Cold Open
0:30 Intro to Jacob Ward
2:45 Covering Technology for NBC
5:53 Beyond Gadgets — The Human Story
8:18 Stories That Shaped Our AI Moment
12:00 The Dark Side of Innovation
14:43 Finding Positive Uses of AI
17:45 The Loop — Human and Machine Decision Making
20:46 Escaping the Loop
25:13 Regulation and Societal Responsibility
28:06 The Allure of Convenience
30:37 Preserving Our Inefficiencies
33:43 Staying Human with AI
36:35 What Companies Can Do
41:38 Using Time and Collaboration Wisely
44:48 Outro
