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 

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