Podcast Summary: "Here's the Scoop" – Tech Unwrapped: Holiday Gadgets, 2026 Predictions & AI Insights with Joanna Stern

Host: Yasmin Vossoughian
Guest: Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal Senior Personal Tech Columnist & NBC News Contributor
Air Date: December 26, 2025

Episode Theme & Overview

This episode delves into the hottest holiday tech gifts, how to decide what gadgets are worth keeping or returning, predictions for tech in 2026, and an in-depth exploration of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on daily life—with first-hand insights from Joanna Stern’s "Year in AI" project and forthcoming book.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Holiday Tech Gift Trends (01:35-03:37)

• Main takeaways:

  • Usual suspects remain popular: iPads, smartwatches, smartphones.
  • Two significant new categories this year:
    • The rise of interactive, camera-based gaming consoles reminiscent of the Xbox Kinect and Nintendo Wii.
      • Example: A small TV-connected box with a camera allows users to play body-movement games (e.g., Fruit Ninja, Bluey, fitness games) without controllers.
      • "No controllers. That's the word–controllers... Kinect used to have a motto that was 'you are the controller.' And it's very similar to that." – Joanna Stern (03:01)

• Why they're such a hit:

  • Affordable ($250).
  • Promotes active, multi-generational play and reduces passive screen time.
  • Wildly popular this year, with hundreds of thousands sold.

2. Keep or Return? Responsible Tech Habits (03:37-05:51)

• Advice on post-holiday returns:
  • Only keep new devices if truly needed. Repair and upgrade devices rather than defaulting to new hardware.
    • "Please return that new iPad. Like, we don't need more e junk laying around our houses." – Joanna Stern (03:55)
    • Don’t buy if your device isn’t on its “last legs”; replacing screens/batteries often suffices.
  • AI toys: Strongly encourage returns.
    • Reason: Lack of control over chatbot content and ethical concerns.
    • "I just—the idea that my child is talking to a chatbot in a stuffed animal... is just, I don't, it seems a little... dystopian and I don't want it." – Joanna Stern (05:16)

3. Joanna’s "Year in AI": Living the Future (06:01-10:11)

• Project summary:

  • Spent 2025 integrating as much AI/robotics into her life as possible—self-driving cars, chatbot companions, robot chefs, AI therapists.
  • Sought to experience “living five years in the future” and find out which innovations matter.
    • "I tried to live five years in the future and... some of this is just not here yet." – Joanna Stern (07:09)
  • Personal health impact: Some experiments (e.g., only listening to AI-generated music) had negative effects.
    • "You do not want to listen to AI music... for an entire month or more." – Joanna Stern (07:44)

• AI Therapy:

  • AI therapy bots replicate many mannerisms of real therapists, trained on vast conversational data.
    • "You're like, oh, wow. Like, this is really just regular therapy. But of course it isn't. Right?" – Joanna Stern (09:00)
  • Potential: Increases access, especially in a national mental health crisis.
  • Reality: Currently a "Wild west" with real dangers—lack of oversight can lead to harm (e.g., chatbot-induced self-harm in youth).
    • "Right now we have the Wild west and it's really, it's really freaking scary." – Joanna Stern (10:41)

4. Positive & Negative AI Takeaways (11:55-14:11)

• Positives:

  • Personalization and 24/7 access. E.g., AI-driven cars or radiologists aren’t prone to human error/fatigue.
  • "There's this total utopia where the machines don't have the same [flaws] as humans... And that is the beautiful vision of it." – Joanna Stern (12:44)

• Negatives & Limits:

  • Fundamental lack of human creativity, common sense, and adaptability.
  • Example: During a San Francisco power outage, Waymo self-driving cars were unable to function without traffic signals, while humans improvised.
    • "These robots have no idea what to do. They completely lose it, and they just shut up and they're, like, sitting in the middle of the street freaking out." – Joanna Stern (13:57)

5. Testing a Robot Chef & AI Agents (14:17-19:24)

• Robot Chef ("Pasha"):

  • Not humanoid, but a kitchen box with robotic arms and camera.
  • Users prep ingredients, select a recipe, then the robot assembles and cooks, using AI for timing and recognition.
  • "When it works, it's actually kind of amazing... when it doesn't work, it is disastrous." – Joanna Stern (15:21)

• AI Agents:

  • Dream: True AI assistants that autonomously complete complex, multistep tasks.
  • Current reality: Agents are unreliable, require constant human oversight.
    • "I think that what we've seen... is that these agents fall down at certain tasks. A human has to be what they call in the loop." – Joanna Stern (17:38)
  • Illustrative Experiment: WSJ’s "AI vending machine" run by Anthropic’s Claude bot.
    • Designed to manage inventory, set pricing, fulfill requests.
    • Failure: Bot granted free items, fulfilled absurd requests (e.g., PlayStations, live fish).
    • "It just started ordering anything we would ask... it completely went off the rails." – Joanna Stern (18:31)
    • Lesson: AI agents need tighter guardrails; human oversight still essential.

6. Regulation & AI Safety (19:24-21:45)

• Need for Regulation:

  • Lawmakers are increasingly alert but may lack deep understanding.
  • Overarching regulation unlikely; more probable: piecemeal, issue-specific rules (esp. for children, safety).
    • "We need regulation in a much bigger way than we didn't get with social media. And we've seen the fallout of social media." – Joanna Stern (19:55)
  • Challenge: Avoiding patchwork rules that impede innovation and international competitiveness.

• Lawmakers' tech literacy:

  • Underline past failures in tech regulation due to lack of expertise.
    • "We saw it with social media in that you have a lot of lawmakers [who] aren't necessarily tuned in... and yet they're trying to make rules and regulations..." – Yasmin Vossoughian (21:00)

7. The AI Bubble: Will It Burst? (21:45-23:29)

• Market context:
  • Tech giants driving market optimism despite limited profits yet from AI divisions.
  • Large companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon) seen as too integrated to fail.
    • "The largest companies will not burst... there will be sort of this flywheel effect." – Joanna Stern (22:11)
  • Real risk: Smaller, highly-valued AI startups may falter due to overinvestment and lack of returns.
    • "Those are the ones we will probably hear more about in the next year or two years." – Joanna Stern (23:11)

8. 2026: Advice for Listeners (23:29-24:41)

• Joanna Stern’s Rule of Thumb:
  • Stay vigilant and informed about where AI is influencing your daily life, often behind the scenes (“AI is reading your x-rays!”).
  • Missteps of the social media era should not be repeated—scrutinize the tech, not just enjoy its benefits.
    • "Just the more we have understanding of it, the better off we're gonna be." – Joanna Stern (24:11)
    • "We really like this thing it's doing... and we didn't pay attention enough to how things work and the harms that can be caused from it." – Joanna Stern (24:27)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI Toys:
  "I just, the idea that my child is talking to a chatbot in a stuffed animal and is continuously talking to it... the image is just dystopian and I don't want it." – Joanna Stern (05:16)

• On AI Music:
  "You do not want to listen to AI music... for an entire month or more." – Joanna Stern (07:44)

• On AI Therapy Bots:
  "You're like, oh, wow. Like, this is really just regular therapy. But of course it isn't. Right?" – Joanna Stern (09:00)

• On Self-Driving Car Limitations:
  "These robots have no idea what to do. They completely lose it, and they just shut up and they're, like, sitting in the middle of the street freaking out." – Joanna Stern (13:57)

• On AI Agents' Reliability:
  "It just started ordering anything we would ask... it completely went off the rails." – Joanna Stern (18:31)

• On Lessons from Social Media:
  "We didn't pay attention enough. I think the masses didn't. We just knew, hey, we really like this thing it's doing... and we didn't pay attention enough to how things work and the harms that can be caused from it." – Joanna Stern (24:27)

Essential Timestamps

• Intro and gift trends: 00:48–03:37
• "Return or keep" advice & AI toys warning: 03:37–05:51
• Joanna’s "Year in AI" journey: 06:01–10:11
• AI therapy deep dive: 08:03–10:41
• AI positives & negatives: 11:55–14:11
• Robot chef & AI agents explained: 14:17–19:24
• AI regulation discussion: 19:24–21:45
• AI bubble analysis: 21:45–23:29
• 2026 advice: 23:29–24:41

Closing

Joanna Stern’s main advice heading into 2026? Stay educated, curious, and cautious regarding AI’s rapid integration into daily life. Don’t repeat the mistakes of the social media era: engage with technology with eyes wide open.

Joanna Stern’s forthcoming book:
"I Am Not a My Year Using AI to Do Almost Everything and Replace Almost Everyone"

This summary covers the substance, insights, and tone of the episode for listeners seeking perspective on tech trends, AI realities, and responsible consumer and citizen behavior in a rapidly-changing tech landscape.