Topic: Digital Wellness

Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard, discussed the necessity of private sector ingenuity and capital in addressing global social and economic needs. He highlighted partnerships with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, specifically mentioning a "therapeutic accelerator." Banga emphasized the use of data and analytics to direct human activity and the importance of building trust between the public and private sectors.

Former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris argues that tech companies are fundamentally misaligned with democracy because their business models rely on maximizing user attention. The hosts discuss the "drug dealer" irony of tech companies providing tools to help users spend less time on their platforms.

Google introduced "Digital Well-being" features in Android P, including a dashboard to track app usage and a "Shush" gesture that enters Do Not Disturb mode when the phone is flipped. These features are framed as tools to help users find balance, but analysts suggest they provide Google with even more granular data on user engagement and receptivity to marketing.