Episode 5: From Puppets to Pixels: Learning from Sesame Street's Playbook for the AI Revolution
What does a healthy digital life look like for a child? As AI and algorithm-driven content reshape our world at a dizzying pace, parents are left wondering how to keep up. In this episode, host Rob Hughes sits down with Michael Preston, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, for a wide-ranging conversation recorded recently in Abu Dhabi.
Michael shares insights from his career at the intersection of education and technology, drawing on the foundational principles of Sesame Street—where every product is built on a "whole child" perspective. They explore what it means to design technology with kids, not just for them, and why the best feedback often comes from unexpected "aha" moments during co-design.
Join them as they tackle the big questions: How do we balance the attention economy with a child's well-being? What are the real risks and rewards of AI in education? And what is the single most important thing parents can do to navigate this new digital reality with their children? This is an essential conversation for anyone invested in shaping a future where technology serves, rather than replaces, our humanity.
Produced by Early Ideas Limited, who are building Tandem.
Podcast music by Tibor Miklos.
