Mar 28, 2025
Wired Differently: A Conversation with Annika Madejska on AI,
Neurodiversity, and Ethical Debt
When we spoke with Annika Madejska for our podcast, it was one of
those conversations that lingered long after we hit stop on the
recording. Thoughtful, sharp, and honest—Annika shared stories and
insights that connected the personal and the professional in a way
that just made sense. Especially when it comes to living with ADHD,
and how that overlaps with creativity, identity, and our evolving
relationship with technology and AI.
Neuro-spicy and Never Quite Fitting In
Annika calls herself “neuro-spicy.” It’s her way of naming
something many of us feel but don’t always know how to explain: the
constant dance of fitting in and not fitting in. She’s been
successful—really successful—but says she’s always felt like an
outsider. A misfit who learned to mask her differences, play the
game, and still quietly question the rules… well, maybe not so
quietly.
For Annika, growing up meant constantly sensing that something was
“off”—not in a bad way, but in a way that made her feel slightly
outside the group. She talks about being deeply insecure, a people
pleaser, even while coming across as strong and fearless. It wasn’t
until later in life that she was diagnosed with ADHD, and suddenly
all those quirks, all those intensities and obsessions, started to
make more sense.
And maybe that’s the paradox. You can be thriving in a system and
still not feel like you belong in it. You can be high-functioning,
even exceptional, and still feel like you’re not doing things the
“right” way.
Wired for Justice
One of the things that stood out in our talk was Annika’s deep
sense of justice—a drive she now knows is common in people with
ADHD. That strong inner compass, that feeling of “this isn’t
right,” has shaped her entire career. From journalism to design to
her current focus on AI ethics, Annika has always followed the
impulse to fix, to understand, to make things better. Even when it
wasn’t easy. Even when it got her into trouble.
She’s the kind of person who raises her hand and says, “Sure, I’ll
do it,” and then figures it out along the way. That mix of
impulsiveness and hyper-focus, as she describes it, has helped her
jump into the deep end again and again—especially in chaotic,
high-stakes environments. Where most people panic, she’s calm. It’s
not that she’s fearless. It’s that she’s used to navigating the
unknown.
The Ethical Debt of AI
And that brings us to AI. Anika has spent the last few years
knee-deep in conversations about ethics and technology. She coined
the term “ethical debt,” and it’s brilliant. Just like technical
debt in software—where shortcuts come back to bite you—ethical debt
builds up when we ignore the long-term moral consequences of what
we build.
She points out that the data we use to train AI is full of bias,
because history is full of bias. And when we build systems on top
of that data, without thinking critically about what we’re
amplifying, we’re creating technology that might
work—technically—but could be harming people in real ways.
And we don’t see it. That’s the problem. The harm is often
invisible. It’s like climate change or depression: easy to ignore
until it hits close to home.
So… What Do We Do?
Annika doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but she does have a
wish. She wants us to teach people—especially the next
generation—critical thinking. She wants us to stop taking
convenience for granted. To understand the cost of the tech we use,
not just in money or energy or data, but in values. In choices. In
trade-offs.
She reminds us that technology isn’t neutral. It’s always designed
by someone, for someone, with certain outcomes in mind. So we have
to ask: Who gets to decide? What are we optimizing for? And who
benefits?
The Bigger Picture
What I appreciated most about our conversation is how personal it
was. Annika isn’t talking about ethics in some abstract, academic
way. She’s lived it. Her work is shaped by her experiences as
someone who feels deeply, thinks fast, and questions
everything.
She’s someone who has learned to stop hiding parts of herself. To
show up fully, neuro-spicy and all. And in doing so, she gives
others permission to do the same.
So yeah, this episode is about AI. It’s about bias, and regulation,
and privacy, and the need to rethink our systems. But it’s also
about being human in a world that often asks us to be machines.
It’s about creativity, empathy, identity, and the power of asking
better questions.