Do you trust the app, or your gut? My two youngest grandsons sleep under the watchful eye of a Nanit — an AI-powered baby monitor that logs every wake-up, every fuss, and can even track breathing. I’m Ginny Deerin, and on this episode of aiGED — the podcast all about AI for the 65+ crowd — my sidekick Bitsy and I take on a new bit of AI lingo I think we need: instinct surrender.

Inspired by an episode of The Daily from the New York Times, I look at what these smart baby monitors can do, where the company wants to take them — cameras in kids’ bedrooms until age 10 — and why one grandmother in the story found all those alerts “too much.” I share how I use the Nanit when I babysit the boys, the good and the not-so-good. Then we move from the crib to the wrist: WHOOP bands, Apple Watch fall detection and blood pressure alerts, and the question at the heart of it all — when your gadget and your gut disagree, who do you believe?

In the news, two scientists, an $80 motel room in Nags Head, North Carolina, and the discovery of two brand-new species of a tiny organism that could shed light on the origins of plant life — no AI required. For AI for Good, smart headlights that dim just the part of the beam that would blind the oncoming driver. And for my recommendation, The Ezra Klein Show’s conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who thinks AI alarmism has gone too far — and I have a few thoughts about his view that companies don’t need more regulating.

Pull up a chair — and bring your instincts. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

🎧 The Daily (The New York Times), “Health Trackers Are Everywhere. Do Babies Need Them, Too?” with Rachel Abrams and Sapna Maheshwari, Sept. 23, 2026 — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/podcasts/the-daily/health-trackers-babies.html

🔬 The New York Times, “In an $80 Motel Room, a Discovery to Shed Light on the Origins of Life,” by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Sept. 26, 2026 — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/science/motel-science-discovery.html

🚗 The New York Times, “Smart Headlights Finally Trickle Down to Cars in the U.S.,” by Tom Voelk, Sept. 28, 2026 — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/business/smart-headlights-adaptive.html

🎙️ The Ezra Klein Show, “Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too Far,” Sept. 23, 2026 — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jensen-huang.html

00:00 Welcome and Preview

01:21 Motel Room Discovery

06:03 Smart Headlights AI

09:03 Instinct Surrender Idea

10:10 Nanit Monitor Pros

15:01 Creepy Data Future

17:47 Defining Instinct Surrender

20:14 Wearables for Adults

24:43 Podcast Recommendation

28:34 Wrap Up and Thanks

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd