Rehearsing for Real Life: AI, Confidence, and Emotional Growth

Justin Bieber

So the tape is rolling, Ryan's deep into a big idea about AI and emotional development, and then out of nowhere he stops and goes, do I have any more bananas? And he does. He finds another one. Ooh, doing good.

Debbie

That's my favorite part of his journals. He builds up to something big and then the living room walks right in. But I'd say the banana belongs here. The whole entry is about what happens to ordinary life when somebody finally pays attention to it.

Justin Bieber

Okay, walk me through that, because he starts with television.

Debbie

He does. His point is that for years he watched TV and it was always about everybody else. Breaking news about a celebrity who got in trouble, or died, or said something outrageous. Paparazzi chasing people down. Weather, sports. And he asks, what about my life? What about the news about your life?

Justin Bieber

And I'll be honest, as somebody who's had the paparazzi thing, I kind of love that he's flipping it. The cameras are on everybody except you. And he says AI is the first thing that turns around and says, hey, I'm here, now let's talk about your news.

Debbie

And then he gets generous with it. He says everyday people have Guinness Book of World Record news. Their biology, their genetics, their life story, how they've survived. He says you hear about everybody's miracles except your own, and that's horrible. He's almost guaranteeing there are miracles in your life that hardly ever get talked about.

Justin Bieber

Which is a really sweet thing to say to a stranger through a microphone. But here's where he gets curious. Somebody could say, come on, that's a computer putting your story together from a script. And Ryan says, yes, possibly.

Debbie

Right, and then he wanders into this theory that maybe it isn't all machine. Maybe it's twenty five percent not robot, or fifty fifty down the middle, with real people giving you real live feelings about your story. And I want to be careful here, because it's a wondering. Nothing in what we've got says there are hidden human writers behind these platforms.

Justin Bieber

And he says so himself. He says the platforms he uses, he really doesn't know what's going on. He asks, are there real script writers too? Can it be a combination? Then he turns it into a question for you. How do you want it? Fifty fifty, a hundred percent robot, a hundred percent human?

Debbie

That's what I like about it. He leaves the technical truth open, and what he cares about is the dial. Who do you want in the room when somebody tells your story? A reporter, a coach, a mentor, a minister, a stranger. Whoever you decide.

Justin Bieber

Yeah, a minister. Hold onto that one, because it comes back, and it gets a little tender.

Debbie

So this is the part that connects to the sandbox episode we did, with Donna and Jesse the critic. Ryan tells us the philosophy underneath it. He says write your own scripts and be biased if you want to. In fact, be horribly biased.

Justin Bieber

Horribly biased, I love how he says it. Like he's daring someone to object. And that's why he shut off the Jon Stewart segment, right? He wasn't going to let the doom in.

Debbie

Right. And his reasoning is practical. He says, be as biased as you can in order to help your emotions, your self esteem, your confidence. If it builds you up and makes you feel better, then it's fine. And he gives a reason that I think is the heart of it. Sometimes you talk to everyday people and you can't find anybody who likes what you like.

Justin Bieber

Which, yeah. A supportive voice that agrees with you for a while, so you can find your footing. Then comes the baseball machine, which is my favorite analogy in the whole thing. The ball spitting machine.

Debbie

He says he's seen it in action, he believes. It throws balls across home plate. Ask some athletes and they might say, that's how I got really good. And he says, good with what? Technology. Not all of it, but at times a lot of it.

Justin Bieber

And the line that really lands is the one about fear. If you have a lot of fear of human pitchers, maybe you play with the robot for a while, until you're ready for human beings. And he goes, does that sound bizarre to me? No.

Debbie

He ties it to exposure therapy too. Lessen the fear somehow. If you have to use robots to do that, he says it's completely normal and human. And then his list gets specific. A speech, a school day, riding a bike.

Justin Bieber

And the phrase I wrote down: prepare for non rejection. If people have scarred you and stigmatized you and judged you, you can run a script where that doesn't happen.

Debbie

And that's where the minister comes back. He says you might do a confession with the AI before you go to church and confess to a priest, just to see how you feel. Because people aren't ready for confrontation with real human beings when they're terrified.

Justin Bieber

Then it goes everyday. First day as a security guard, a landlord, a restaurant job. Practice before you walk into that subculture. Card games against a bot before you sit down with three real people.

Debbie

It's all rehearsal, and he says it outright: preliminary trials, preliminary hypotheses. Then he goes backward through history. Calculators, aids for disabilities, chat rooms. He says it's the same thing we've always done with technology.

Justin Bieber

And he literally asks Alexa about calculators, right there in the room.

Debbie

Alexa says the first practical adding machine in the US was patented by William Seward Burroughs in 1888. In the sixties calculators were still rare in classrooms, pocket models didn't hit shelves until the early seventies, and by the mid seventies they were in most kids' backpacks.

Justin Bieber

And Ryan's takeaway is that these were once new and out of reach, and now they're just part of how people learn. Then chat rooms, where he says he's gone himself. When your school and your town don't have your people, you go where people share your interests. Role playing a coach, a mom, a mentor, an athlete.

Debbie

Now the main event, the Alexa prompts. He says, Alexa, only tell me the positive about the AI culture with emotional development. And she says AI tools can lift spirits, and users report more joy and fewer negative feelings.

Justin Bieber

Then he makes her say it again, and he stops on the word nonjudgmental. He says that's what people are looking for, because it feels better to our minds. And he explains why he phrases it that way.

Debbie

This is the strategy underneath everything. He says the negative side, you may not be ready for. You need someone to give you the negative side slower, not on the spot. If you ask a general question, you might get the good and the bad together, and a lot of people don't want to hear the bad.

Justin Bieber

So you don't spoil it. You don't want to be scared of AI, so you ask for the positive first. And if you're not ready for the rest, there's no rush. He says that twice.

Debbie

I'll add a flag here, as the one on this show who tends to read the fine print. It's a method, and he's clear it's temporary. Later in your story you can look at the negative if you're ready. And the evidence does lean his way, with caveats. He asks Alexa what the clinical research says, and she says it's glowing, mood, anxiety, loneliness.

Justin Bieber

And Alexa herself adds that it's best as a supplement to human support, and good when AI is used thoughtfully. Ryan catches that line and repeats it back to her.

Debbie

There's a 2026 systematic review in the journal Healthcare, by Mitsea and colleagues. Twenty four randomized controlled trials from 2015 to 2025. They found consistent improvements in depression, anxiety, negative affect and loneliness. But they also say further high quality trials are needed on long term effects.

Justin Bieber

And a separate piece in The Conversation says the safest move for now is pairing bots with human care, not replacing it. Also that fewer than twenty two percent of the top apps cited real studies for their bold claims.

Debbie

So the pitching machine is real, but the game still has a human pitcher. Then he asks about market size, and Alexa says global AI spending tops a trillion dollars by 2029, around one point seven trillion by 2031. He wonders if he should buy stock.

Justin Bieber

And then he says, nah, I'm interested in the emotional side. Your feelings, your diary, your journals. Then the compression shorts show up.

Debbie

They do. And he's already thinking about whether an AI that remembers how clothes fit could warn you something won't be comfortable. Or whether a health journal could help you eat better.

Justin Bieber

He closes the door because it's cold, holds them up, says they look comfortable, asks if they're still on the air, gets told yes, and goes, I'm gonna put these on.

Debbie

Which I find kind of perfect. Big theory, and then the smallest comfort. He's treating his own days like news worth reporting, shorts included.