Life with Machines AI Wants to Shop for You—Should You Let It? | Raj De Datta (Ep. 17)
In this episode of Life With Machines, Baratunde sits down with Raj De Datta—entrepreneur, AI thinker, and co-founder of Bloomreach, the platform powering a quarter of US and UK e-commerce. Raj pulls back the curtain on the next wave of online shopping, where homepages, search bars, and endless scrolling are replaced by agents that actually understand you. They talk about the promise of a more human internet, what "personalized" should really mean, and whether we're headed for a future of joyful work—or just better-targeted ads. Raj makes the case for AI that respects privacy, boosts creativity, and yes, even recommends a solar-powered lantern for Baratunde’s next camping trip. Plus, our AI co-producer BLAIR joins the chat to ask the question we’re all thinking: if AI can understand our deepest wants, who protects us from ourselves?
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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: Erik Shute
Videographer and Audio Engineer: Erik Shute
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production
Sponsored by Lenovo
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #RajDeDatta #Bloomreach #Ecommerce #OnlineShopping #RetailTech #DigitalCommerce #AgenticAI #ConversationalAI #DigitalSeeker