What do homemade smoke bombs have to do with fixing democracy? In this episode of Life With Machines, Baratunde Thurston sits down with Deb Roy—MIT professor, former Twitter scientist, and co-founder of Cortico—to map a bold, AI-powered path toward civic renewal. Roy makes the case that we don’t need less tech—we need better tech, designed to build trust, not break it. From town halls that actually work to high schoolers unlocking real change (and yes, bathroom doors), this episode reimagines how tech can help us hear each other—and solve local challenges. Plus, BLAIR, our AI co-producer, joins the fray for a Canadian coffee throwdown you won’t see coming. It’s Tim Hortons vs Starbucks. Watch now to meet the man behind the movement to transform division into dialogue that helps democracy.
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Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston
Executive Producer and Showrunner: Alie Kilts
Senior Producer and Writer: Alex Stone
Associate Producer: Layne Deyling Cherland
Video Editor: Junior Real
Videographer and Audio Engineer: Mike O’Brien, Voicing Change Media
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production
Sponsored by Lenovo
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Cortico #Democracy #CivicMuscle #CivicTech #SocialImpact #TechForGood #PublicDiscourse #EthicalAI #DialogueNetworks #CommunityTech #ParticipatoryAI
