Show Notes
13% of US teens used AI for schoolwork in 2023. 26% in 2024. 54% in 2026. The Pew Research curve that quadrupled in three years. And 72% have tried AI companions. A third have chosen AI over humans for serious conversations (Common Sense Media 2025).
Episode 3 of Are We Cooked? is the most important episode of Season 1. The kid question is permanent. The brain finishes wiring at 25. What happens between now and then can't be undone.
Anurag Sharma walks through: - The Pew 2026 + Common Sense 2025 stats that should keep parents up at night - The optimist case: AI as the great educational equalizer (Gates Foundation, Bloom's 2-Sigma, Khanmigo data) - The pessimist case: the shortcuts that rewire cognition and the loneliness that AI companions are accelerating (Haidt, Turkle, CMU retention data) - What both sides miss, including the parenting question nobody is answering - The split Anurag is watching with kids he knows, friends' children, the next generation coming into the workforce - Three sharper questions for any parent, educator, or anyone who cares about what humans become
Not a hype show. Not a doom show. A thinking show. We don't hand you the answer. We hand you a sharper version of the question.
Are kids cooked? You decide.
CHAPTERS:
[00:00] The Curve That Quadrupled [00:41] Meet Your Host [01:49] Why Kids, Why Right Now [03:41] The Optimist Case [07:41] The Pessimist Case [09:56] What Both Sides Miss [12:09] Are We? You Decide.
More from Are We Cooked?
220 million cumulative downloads of AI companion apps by mid-2025. 88% year-over-year growth. The largest platform, Xiaoice in China, has 660 million users. And 72% of US teens have tried AI companions; a third have chosen AI over humans for serious conversations.
99% of creative professionals are using generative AI. 88% say it ships faster. 87% say it improved quality. So why is freelance writing income on Upwork down 32% year-over-year, the largest decline of any category?
16,000 American jobs. Erased by AI. Every single month for the past year. 192,000 jobs in 12 months. Not a forecast. A payroll measurement (Goldman Sachs, April 2026).
300 million jobs globally exposed to AI. 192,000 American jobs already erased in 12 months (Goldman April 2026). And nobody is being honest about what it actually means.
Your job. Your kids. Your relationships. The way you write. The way you fall in love. The way you think.