TED Tech AI is changing how we talk and think. How can we stop it? with Adam Aleksic and Advait Sarkar
Apr 10, 2026
Advait Sarkar, a Microsoft AI and design researcher focused on human–AI interaction, urges tools that preserve critical thinking. Adam Aleksic, an etymologist and creator, explores how algorithms reshape language and spread slang. They discuss how AI and platforms alter thought patterns, accelerate slang diffusion, manufacture niche identities, and how design can protect deliberate thinking.
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How Unalive Entered Classrooms Overnight
- Middle schoolers adopted the euphemism unalive after TikTok suppressed 'kill', creating a new everyday word.
- Aleksic surveyed 1,000+ middle school teachers and found unalive used in essays and classroom discussions as a softer term for death.
Creators Game Repetition To Hijack Trends
- Viral memes and trending audio amplify slang because creators deliberately reuse trending tags to game the algorithm.
- Aleksic uses the Rizzler song and cottagecore examples to show repetition-for-reward turns niche words into mass identity labels.
Harmless Memes Can Normalize Dangerous Jargon
- Algorithmic communities can transmit harmful ideologies by normalizing jargon from extremist groups into meme contexts.
- Aleksic traces 'pilled' and 'sigma' slang back to incel rhetoric that then spreads innocuously via jokes and memes.