AI and the Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace, Business, Ethics, HR, and IT for AI Enthusiasts, Leaders and Academics

323: How a Tech Entrepreneur Used Product Thinking to Reinvent Venture Capital with SC Moatti, Founder of Mighty Capital Feb 17, 2025

SC Moatti, founder of Mighty Capital and Products That Count, is one of the most dynamic venture capitalists and product leaders in Silicon Valley. As an early investor in PeopleReign, SC combines her investment expertise with a passion for advancing product leadership globally. She is the author of the award-winning book Mobilize and a sought-after keynote speaker and lecturer at Columbia and Stanford business schools. Before her venture capital career, SC was an instrumental product leader in the early days of mobile, driving innovation at companies like Electronic Arts, Nokia Labs, and Facebook.

In this conversation, we discuss:

SC Moatti’s journey from studying electrical engineering in Paris to becoming a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
Why founding Mighty Capital was the hardest challenge SC has faced and how applying product thinking helped her reshape the venture capital landscape.
The unique due diligence process at Mighty Capital, focusing on high-performing teams, ambitious traction, and fair, long-term partnerships.
How Products That Count grew from a small community into a global network of over half a million product leaders and its influence on the industry.
The evolving role of product managers in an AI-first world and how professionals can adapt to stay ahead in this rapidly changing environment.
The ethical responsibilities of product leaders, from managing unintended consequences of AI to maintaining trust and transparency in product development.

Resources:

322: How AI is Revolutionizing Finance and Decision-Making: Insights from wunderkind George Sivulka, Hebbia CEO Feb 10, 2025

George Sivulka, hailed as a wunderkind by Peter Thiel, is the founder of Hebbia, a groundbreaking AI company revolutionizing financial research. Having worked at NASA as a teenager, he later earned a math degree from Stanford in just 2.5 years. George has secured $130M in funding for Hebbia at a $700M valuation, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Thiel himself. Hebbia’s AI platform, trusted by firms like Centerview Partners and Charlesbank, has driven a 15x revenue growth in 18 months by pioneering RAG techniques that ensure LLM outputs remain within company-sanctioned data.
In this conversation, we discuss:

How Hebbia is reshaping financial research with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
The leap from academia to entrepreneurship—how George Sivulka turned research into real-world impact.
The expanding role of AI in high-stakes industries where precision is critical.
The ethical challenges of AI and how transparency can make or break trust.
Why AI agents will change knowledge work—but not in the way you might think.
The future of AI-powered research and its impact on decision-making.

Resources:

Data Privacy Day Special Episode: AI, Deepfakes & The Future of Trust Feb 06, 2025

In this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we celebrate Data Privacy Day by revisiting powerful conversations with industry leaders tackling some of today’s biggest AI challenges. From deepfake detection to ethical AI, this episode highlights the critical role of privacy, trust, and security in the future of AI.

Join us as we revisit insights from top experts in AI:

🔹 Vijay Balasubramaniyan (CEO, Pindrop) – Listen to his full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15742476
🔹 Ray Wang (Founder, Constellation Research) – Listen to his full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16144550
🔹 Dr. Zohar Bronfman (CEO, Pecan AI) – Listen to his full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16064087
🔹 Holger Mueller (VP, Constellation Research) – Listen to his full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16098992

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Connect with Vijay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijayab

Connect with R "Ray" Wang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwang0/

Connect with Dr. Zohar Bronfman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zohar-bronfman/

Connect with Holger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holgermueller/

321: Can AI Really Predict Startup Success? Data Ethics, Trust, and Insights from Megh Gautam, Crunchbase CPO Feb 03, 2025

Megh Gautam, Chief Product Officer at Crunchbase, is one of the sharpest product minds in Silicon Valley. With a track record that includes leadership roles as Head of Product at Twilio and Director of Product Management at Dropbox and Hearsay Systems, Megh has honed his expertise in driving innovation and growth. An active angel investor, Megh combines his industry insights with a passion for supporting emerging talent and ideas. He holds a Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology Durgapur in India.
In this conversation, we discuss:

How Crunchbase is leveraging AI and proprietary data to provide predictive insights for startups and investors.
The balance between enhancing data accuracy and maintaining ethical transparency in AI-driven decision-making.
The emergence of AI marketplaces that empower creators to monetize their content while preserving ownership rights.
Why trust and attention are the scarcest resources today, and how Crunchbase ensures both through innovation and responsibility.
The importance of skepticism in the age of LLMs and how to foster critical thinking in a generation growing up with AI.
Megh’s reflections on his journey as a product leader and how mentorship has shaped his career at top tech companies like Twilio, Dropbox, and Hearsay Systems.

Resources:

320: How Disruptive Technologies are Revolutionizing the Way We Work: A Conversation with Josh Drean, Co-Author of Employment is Dead Jan 27, 2025

Josh Drean is a leading voice in the future of work community, known for his advocacy on bringing more humanness into the workplace. As Co-founder of the Work3 Institute, Josh specializes in the intersection of employment and emerging technologies, including AI, blockchain, and AR/VR. He is the co-author, along with Deborah Perry Piscione, of the forthcoming book "EMPLOYMENT IS DEAD: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work", to be published by the Harvard Business Review Press. Josh holds a master's degree from Harvard and has studied I/O Psychology. His insights have appeared in renowned publications such as the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company, and he has been featured on The Today Show, NBC, and FOX Business.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The challenges of traditional work models and why they no longer serve the needs of today’s workforce.
How the next generation is reshaping expectations around job security, compensation, and career fulfillment.
A fresh take on decentralized work and how it could change the way we collaborate and earn.
What contribution-based compensation could look like and how it aligns with shifting values in the workplace.
The evolving role of AI in our careers and why adapting to new technology is essential for staying competitive.
Insights on how companies can attract and retain the best talent by prioritizing employee experience in a rapidly changing world.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter - https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshdrean/

AI fun fact article - https://www.semafor.com/article/12/02/2024/employee-lawsuit-accuses-apple-of-spying-on-its-workers

On How to Measure the Business Impact of Machine Learning and why all AI isn't Generative AI - https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14464391

319: The Future of Music with AI: Marcus "Bellringer" Bell's Journey from Producing 15,000 Songs to Creating North America’s First AI Artist Jan 20, 2025

Marcus "Bellringer" Bell is an award-winning music producer, songwriter, musician, singer, activist, and entrepreneur. He has marketed, promoted, produced, remixed, and written for iconic artists like Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and Timbaland, as well as for major brands like Sony Music, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon. As the CEO of Bellringer Productions, Marcus oversees a music sync, licensing, and production company with a catalog of over 10,000 songs and 300 recording artists. His music has been featured by brands including McDonald's and General Mills, and even performed by Beyoncé during her On the Run II tour with Jay-Z. Marcus is also the Amazon number-one bestselling author of Bellringer Branding Bible: The 5 Musician Branding Principles for Singers, Rappers, DJs, Music Producers, Composers, Writers, and Recording Artists. His contributions to music and branding make him a trailblazer in the industry.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Marcus Bellringer's journey as a music producer and technologist, blending creativity with AI to transform the music industry.
How AI tools have enabled Marcus to create over 15,000 songs in just six months, surpassing a lifetime of work without AI.
The creation of Ravyn Lyte, North America's first AI music artist, and how it represents innovation in music creation and mental health advocacy.
AI's role in the entertainment industry, addressing fears and shifting the narrative from threat to opportunity.
The humanistic approach to AI, emphasizing the importance of emotional connection, storytelling, and compassion in the age of technology.
Practical advice for creatives navigating the intersection of humanity and AI, including tools and strategies for finding meaning and purpose.

Resources:

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusbellringer/
AI fun fact article: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-11-artificial-intelligence-threat-music.html
Writer CEO May Habib on LLMs and the Future of Co-Pilots for Content Generation with AI: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/may-habib-ceo-of-writer-discusses-llms-and-the/id1476885647?i=1000628256870

318: How AI and Sustainability are Redefining Hybrid Work and Product Design: Insights from Prakash Arunkundrum, Logitech COO Jan 13, 2025

Prakash Arunkundrum is the Chief Operating Officer at Logitech, a $14 billion market cap company with over 7,300 employees globally. With a broad range of responsibilities, Prakash oversees the company’s operations, including global manufacturing, supply chain, customer experience, and quality operations. He also serves as General Manager of one of Logitech's business units and leads the strategy for the company's environmental sustainability initiatives. Prakash, who joined Logitech in 2015, has a rich background in management consulting, having held executive positions at Kearney and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is also an architect of Logitech’s AI strategy and a sought-after speaker on AI and the future of computing.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How Logitech is positioned at the intersection of AI and daily life, providing the input layer for AI models through audio, video, and content.
Logitech's commitment to sustainability, focusing on reducing the environmental impact of devices and using AI to optimize energy efficiency.
The potential of AI to automate repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on creative and intuitive work.
The philosophy of responsible AI, emphasizing fairness, transparency, and accountability in its development.
The global culture at Logitech that fosters innovation, diversity, and seamless user experiences.
Prakash’s leadership style as a pragmatic strategist who values data, empathy, and people-first results.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Connect with Prakash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakasharunkundrum/

AI fun fact article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/10/29/ai-electronic-waste-recycling/

On Generative AI Businesses That Are Getting Investor Dollars: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naomi-and-derek-investors-at-menlo-ventures-on/id1476885647?i=1000654677763

317: Dr. Brian Magerko on Revolutionizing Creativity: AI's Role in Art, Music, and Education Jan 06, 2025

Dr. Brian Magerko is a professor of Digital Media at Georgia Tech, where he directs the Expressive Machinery Lab and the graduate studies program in Digital Media. With degrees in Cognitive Science from Carnegie Mellon and Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, his research explores the intersection of human creativity and AI. Creator of EarSketch, a platform enabling music creation through code used by over a million users nationwide, Dr. Magerko’s work has earned over $20 million in federal grants and features in The New Yorker, USA Today, and NPR.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How Dr. Brian Magerko's work at the intersection of human creativity and AI is redefining educational tools and artistic expression.
The creation and impact of EarSketch, a platform that teaches coding through music and has reached over a million users.
The ethical considerations of AI-generated art and music, including intentionality and cultural impact.
How improvisational cognition and embodied computing inform the future of human-computer interaction.
The societal and educational implications of integrating AI tools like ChatGPT into learning environments.
Exciting examples of innovative AI applications in music, dance, and public interactive installations.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn

AI fun fact article

On entrepreneurship in emerging markets

316: Punit Soni, CEO of Suki, On Healthcare AI Revolution, Voice Assistants, and Empowering Clinicians Dec 30, 2024

Punit Soni is the CEO of Suki, a voice-based digital assistant revolutionizing clinician-patient communication. Under his leadership, Suki has raised $165 million, including a recent $70 million in Series D funding. Punit is also a prolific angel investor and previously served as Chief Product Officer at Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company. His career includes significant roles in tech leadership at Google and Motorola Mobility. Punit holds an MBA from Wharton and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
In this conversation, we discuss:

The impact of AI on healthcare and its potential to reshape the industry.
Punit's vision for a decentralized and more efficient healthcare system powered by AI.
The shift from traditional interfaces to voice-based, ambient AI interactions in healthcare.
How Suki is making clinical documentation and administrative tasks more efficient for clinicians.
The future of healthcare tech as an invisible assistant, allowing clinicians to focus on patient care.
The importance of transparency in AI-driven healthcare technologies.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
Connect with Punit
AI fun fact article
On how AI helps accelerate medical research

315: Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, On Human Curation, Subscription-Driven Quality, and Fixing the Internet Dec 22, 2024

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium, the widely popular publishing platform that recently surpassed 1 million subscribers. A serial entrepreneur, Tony is also the founder of habit coaching companies Coach.me and Lyft Worldwide and is the publisher of Better Humans on Medium. He is a passionate advocate for writers and a frequent speaker on the intersection of human creativity and technology, emphasizing why bots won’t replace human ingenuity. Tony holds a BA in Computer Science from Grinnell College, where he proudly supports the Pioneers.
In this conversation, we discuss:

How Medium's recommendation system was overhauled under Tony's leadership to prioritize human curation over algorithmic popularity, creating a platform that values thoughtful content.
The transformative decision to adopt a subscription-based model, allowing Medium to focus on delivering content readers are happy to pay for, rather than relying on ad-driven engagement.
The balance between human curation and algorithms in delivering a "sane, thoughtful, and informed" reading experience that supports both freedom and quality.
Medium's mission to deepen readers' understanding by emphasizing human wisdom over pure knowledge, highlighting the importance of life experience in creating impactful content.
Why Medium minimizes the presence of AI-generated content, focusing instead on curating thoughtful and valuable human contributions for its readers.
Tony's perspective on fixing the "broken Internet" by proving that business models focused on delivering value, rather than grabbing attention, can be successful and sustainable.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Tony

AI fun fact article

On The Secrets To A Successful VC Career

314: Mike Schuster, Two Sigma AI Leader and Google Translate Pioneer, On AI in Finance, Data Challenges, Collaboration, and Future Trends Dec 16, 2024

Dr. Mike Schuster is the head of the AI Core team at Two Sigma, where he leads engineers and quantitative researchers in advancing AI technologies across the firm's investment strategies and internal efficiencies. With over 25 years of expertise in machine learning and deep learning, Mike has been at the forefront of AI trends in tech and finance. Prior to Two Sigma, he spent 12 years at Google, contributing to transformative projects like Google Translate as part of the Google Brain team. Dr. Schuster holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan and is recognized as a pioneer whose work has significantly shaped the AI landscape.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The challenges and importance of building collaborative teams for complex AI systems in finance.
Key differences between developing AI technologies in tech companies like Google versus finance firms like Two Sigma.
The evolution of neural networks and their transformative impact on applications like Google Translate.
The ethical considerations and risks of using AI in finance compared to other industries.
Insights into data quality challenges and strategies for addressing bias in financial modeling.
Predictions for the future of AI, focusing on efficiency, data quality, and practical advancements over the next five years.

Resources:

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Mike Schuster

AI fun fact article

Episode on how AI is diagnosing and treating sleep disorders

Special Episode: John Chambers, Former CEO of Cisco and Founder of JC2 Ventures, on the Future of AI-Driven Work and Investing in PeopleReign Dec 10, 2024

In this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin welcomes John Chambers, Former Chairman & CEO of Cisco and Founder & CEO of JC2 Ventures. John is a visionary leader who reshaped the technology landscape.

During his time at Cisco, the company grew from $70 million to $47 billion in revenue, building the foundation of the modern Internet and expanding the team from 400 to 75,000 employees. Known for his strategic foresight and ability to anticipate market shifts, he led over 180 acquisitions and has been recognized as one of Time’s '100 Most Influential People.'

Today, as the founder of JC2 Ventures, John champions disruptive innovation, coaching the next generation of entrepreneurs and helping startups scale with his strategic insights and focus on replicable processes. A global tech icon and trusted mentor, John’s commitment to driving meaningful change in technology continues to inspire innovation across industries.

In line with this mission, this episode marks a pivotal announcement: John Chambers has invested in PeopleReign, a groundbreaking AI-first platform revolutionizing employee service automation. The partnership underscores Chambers’ belief in the transformative potential of AI to improve productivity and enable employees to focus on meaningful, passion-driven work.

Key topics covered in this episode include:

The pivotal announcement: Why John Chambers and JC2 Ventures are investing in PeopleReign and how this collaboration aligns with the future of AI-driven work.
AI’s transformative potential: How AI will reshape industries faster than previous technology revolutions and its parallels with the Internet boom of the 1990s.
The AI-First approach: Key traits of successful AI-first companies and how they achieve market disruption through speed, innovation, and customer-centric strategies.
Cultural leadership in tech: The importance of fostering visionary leadership, adaptive cultures, and sustainable business models in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Redefining work and productivity: How AI can enhance employee experiences by automating repetitive tasks, reducing friction, and enabling more meaningful work.
Future of work predictions: Insights into the "ask economy" and the emergence of ad-hoc, skill-based teams as drivers of innovation and collaboration over the next five years.

Resources

Dan Helfrich, CEO of Deloitte Consulting, on AI and the Future of Work
Connect with John Chambers

Learn more about JC2 Ventures

313: Boe Hartman, Co-Founder & CTO of Nomi Health, on Transforming U.S. Healthcare with Real-Time Data, Innovation and AI Dec 02, 2024

Boe Hartman is the co-founder and CTO of Nomi Health, a company dedicated to rebuilding the U.S. healthcare system. With nearly 30 years of global experience in technology and banking, Bo has held key roles at industry giants like Capital One, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs. At Goldman Sachs, he served as co-CIO and CTO of Consumer Technology, where he led the development of their credit card offering from the ground up and oversaw technology hiring. Prior to that, as CIO at Barclaycard, Boe managed the global technology infrastructure supporting billions of financial transactions.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The pivotal role of technology, data, and AI in transforming healthcare economics and accessibility for millions of Americans.
The future of healthcare, including AI-driven advancements in payment integrity, patient care, and predictive analytics for better decision-making.
Boe Hartman's transition from leading tech initiatives at Goldman Sachs to co-founding Nomi Health and tackling inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system.
The evolution of Nomi Health during the pandemic, including the rapid development of scalable, digital-first healthcare solutions.
How Nomi Health leveraged real-time analytics and innovative testing approaches to address the challenges of COVID-19 across 15 states.
The systemic inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system and how Nomi's approach aims to save a trillion dollars while improving patient outcomes.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Boe

AI fun fact article

Episode on LLMs and the future of co-pilots for content generation

312: Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research, On Decentralized Intelligence, Data Precision, Cross-Industry Collaboration, and AI’s Evolution Nov 25, 2024

R "Ray" Wang, CEO and founder of Constellation Research, brings decades of insight into enterprise technology to our podcast. As the head of one of the most respected tech research firms, Ray has a unique vantage point on the intersection of AI and digital transformation. With a background spanning consulting at Deloitte, key roles at Oracle and Peoplesoft, and pioneering tech research at Forrester, Ray has witnessed firsthand the evolution of AI in enterprise software.
He’s also the host of Disrupt TV, a live-streamed show reaching over 130 million impressions monthly. Known for his thought leadership on platforms like CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg, Ray explores the big picture of AI—highlighting how its decentralization, variability, and potential are reshaping the future of work.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Why decentralized human intelligence serves as the best model for AI and how human variability challenges centralized AI systems.
The gap between visionary AI vendors and those unprepared for market demands, and how this disparity impacts success.
The challenges of achieving data precision for AI-driven decision-making and how it varies across industries.
A future of cross-industry data sharing, where companies collaborate across value chains to better predict inventory, demand, and pricing.
Wang's perspective on the five maturity levels of AI and what each level represents in enterprise evolution.
How cultural values and biases shape AI regulation, and the tension between centralized oversight and allowing AI vendors to self-assess.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with R "Ray" Wang

AI fun fact article

On Human-Centric Employment in the Era of AI

311: Holger Mueller, Constellation Research VP, On Cloud Acceleration, AI Ethics, and Enterprise Agility Nov 18, 2024

Holger Mueller is a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, specializing in the future of work and human capital management. With over three decades in enterprise software, including leadership roles at Northgate Rinsau, SAP, FICO, and Oracle, Holger brings a wealth of industry experience to his analysis. Known for his thought-provoking insights, Holger covers the latest trends in enterprise automation and cloud technologies, often sharing timely updates on his social media. He holds degrees in Information Science, Marketing, International Management, and Chemical Technology from the University of Mannheim and is fluent in six languages.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Holger’s perspective on the rapid evolution of AI in enterprise technology and its impact on the future of work.
The transformative role of cloud infrastructure, now hosting the majority of enterprise automation, and its implications for faster adoption cycles.
The contrasting approaches to AI regulation, highlighting how some concerns around “ethical AI” stem from companies still lacking AI capabilities.
The concept of “enterprise acceleration” and why agility, efficiency, and effectiveness are crucial for modern organizations to thrive.
Insights on the ethical considerations in tech, emphasizing the strength of values and ethics over the pitfalls of excessive regulation.
How “innovation gravity” shapes industry hotspots like Silicon Valley, driving technology forward and fostering the next wave of advancements.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Connect with Holger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holgermueller/

AI fun fact article: https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/the-ai-hype-cycle-separating-fact-from-fiction

On the Role of AI in Content Creation and Consumption: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14751184

310: Dr. Zohar Bronfman, CEO of Pecan AI, on AI’s True Limits, Ethics, and the Edge of Human vs. Artificial Intelligence Nov 11, 2024

Dr. Zohar Bronfman is the co-founder and CEO of Pecan AI, a company transforming predictive analytics with conversational AI to deliver rapid insights from custom data. Under his leadership, Pecan has raised approximately $120 million from investors, including Insight Partners and GV (Google Ventures). Dr. Bronfman holds two PhDs from Tel Aviv University in computational neuroscience and philosophy of science, has published 18 scientific papers, and has taught at the university level. A former member of the IDF's elite 8200 intelligence unit, he combines technical expertise with a clear vision for both the present and future of AI.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Dr. Zohar Bronfman’s journey from academia to becoming CEO of Pecan AI and the insights he gained along the way.
The challenges companies face in leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics effectively in business contexts.
Dr. Bronfman’s perspective on the differences between human intelligence and artificial neural networks, including the limitations of current AI models.
Why Dr. Bronfman believes AI development should focus on enhancing human productivity rather than replicating human intelligence.
The ethical implications of AI technology, including the role of regulation in preventing misuse of advanced predictive tools.
The importance of curiosity and continuous learning, both in academic and business environments, to drive innovation in AI.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Dr. Zohar Bronfman

AI fun fact article

On the social implications of AI

309: Dr. Seth Dobrin, CEO of Qantm AI, on the AI Revolution: Job Creation, Cultural Bias, and Preparing for Rapid Workforce Changes Nov 04, 2024

Dr. Seth Dobrin, CEO of Qantm AI, is a leading authority in the AI business world. He was IBM’s first-ever Global Chief AI Officer and is known for his human-centered approach to AI in corporate strategy, culture, and talent. With a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Arizona State University, Dr. Dobrin's early work focused on developing algorithms for large-scale genetic data analysis, later transitioning to business solutions at companies like Monsanto and IBM. He now leads Qantm AI and is a key investor in responsible AI ventures.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The role of responsible AI in corporate culture and how it impacts business strategies.
Dr. Dobrin’s transition from molecular biology to AI and its applications in genetics and business.
Insights into the future of AI regulations, including the challenges companies face in complying with emerging laws like the EU AI Act.
The potential of AI to transform the workforce, creating both new job opportunities and eliminating existing ones.
The ethical concerns surrounding AI, including attribution, bias, and technological colonialism.
How conversational interfaces and AI-driven technologies will change the way we interact with the digital world in the next decade.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Dr. Seth Dobrin

AI fun fact article

On the Future of Organizations and the Science of Team Performance

308: Alex Tsakiris, Host of the Skeptiko Podcast, On AI, Consciousness, and Redefining Truth in the Age of Technology Oct 28, 2024

Alex Tsakiris is the founder and host of the popular podcast Skeptiko, which has garnered millions of downloads over the years as it explores the intersection of science and spirituality. A published author, entrepreneur, and critical thinker, Alex has become a prominent voice in the debate surrounding the nature of consciousness and its connection to the physical world. In 1986, he founded MindPath Technologies, a pioneering company that developed AI expert systems for major corporations like Texas Instruments, DuPont, and Standard Oil, before it was acquired by Proxima Corporation in 1996.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Alex Tsakiris’s journey from AI entrepreneur to host of the Skeptiko podcast, exploring the intersection of science and spirituality.
The impact of AI on the concept of consciousness and how it challenges traditional scientific paradigms.
The influence of Alan Turing's work on AI consciousness and how it shapes today’s discussions on human-machine interactions.
Why Alex questions AI dogma and how his background in expert systems influences his perspective.
The role of transparency versus truth in AI development and how it shapes ethical considerations.
Real-world AI applications that focus on enhancing human well-being and reducing workplace friction.

Resources

Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter

Connect with Alex

AI fun fact article

On AI ethics and Data Science

307: Keith Sonderling, EEOC Commissioner: using AI to make hiring more fair and eliminate human bias Oct 21, 2024

Commissioner Keith Sonderling was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2020. Prior to this role, he served as the Acting and Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before joining the Department of Labor in 2017, Commissioner Sonderling practiced labor and employment law in Florida. He currently lectures on employment discrimination at George Washington University Law School. At the EEOC, he prioritizes ensuring that AI and workplace technologies align with civil rights laws, and he has published extensively on the benefits and risks associated with AI in the workplace.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Commissioner Keith Sonderling's perspective on how AI is transforming HR and the role of the EEOC in regulating AI technologies in the workplace.
The potential benefits of AI in reducing bias during employment decisions and its alignment with civil rights laws.
Challenges in ensuring AI algorithms are designed and used properly to prevent discrimination in hiring and other HR processes.
The importance of transparency and consent when using AI in hiring and promotion processes, including the emerging state and federal regulations addressing these issues.
The role of employers in mitigating risks associated with AI by implementing self-regulation and bias audits before deployment.
The complexities of holding different parties accountable for biased AI decisions, and why employers remain legally responsible for employment outcomes.

Resources

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Connect with Keith

AI fun fact article

Eliminating bias in hiring: AI and the Future of Work with Denise Hemke, Chief Product Officer at Checkr

Keith Sonderling’s Paper “Filling the Void: Artificial Intelligence And Private Initiatives”

306: Dan Helfrich, CEO of Deloitte Consulting, on AI Job Creation & Predictions for AI in the Enterprise Oct 14, 2024

Dan Helfrich is the Chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting, where he leads a team of over 80,000 professionals. He frequently shares his expertise on topics such as the evolving consulting landscape, the future of work, and inclusive leadership. Before assuming his current role, Dan led Deloitte’s Government & Public Services division. A proud Georgetown University alum, Dan holds both a Bachelor of Science and an MBA from the school, where he is also known as the play-by-play announcer for the Hoyas men's soccer team. Outside of work, Dan enjoys cheering on his talented kids from the sidelines of the soccer field.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Dan’s role as CEO of Deloitte Consulting and his work at the intersection of enterprise transformation, technology, and change.
How Deloitte Consulting is helping organizations like the International Olympic Committee reimagine fan experiences and digital transformation.
The importance of agility in leadership, highlighting examples like Marriott Vacations Worldwide's successful response to disruptions and Summit Coffee's creative pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insights from Deloitte’s global survey of 3,000 executives, revealing key trends in AI adoption, including the focus on productivity, cost efficiency, and the gap between intent and results.
The challenges enterprises face with AI, including trust concerns, data privacy, and the uncertainty around ROI and long-term investment in AI technologies.
Dan’s perspective on the future of AI, the regulatory landscape, and the critical role of leadership in navigating these disruptions.

Resources

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Connect with Dan

AI fun fact article

On transforming tech culture
Babak Hodjat, co-inventor of Siri, on AI and the Future of Work

305: Matt Beane, Author & Professor, On Mastering Skills To Stay Relevant In the Age of AI Oct 07, 2024

Matt Beane is a writer, professor, and advocate for fostering a harmonious coexistence between humans and machines in the workplace. His influential TED Talk from 2018 has garnered over 1.8 million views, challenging conventional perspectives on AI's role in the workforce by highlighting its divergence from traditional human skill acquisition. As a co-founder and financier of Humatics, an IoT startup connected to MIT, Matt frequently shares his insights in esteemed publications such as Wired, MIT's Technology Review, TechCrunch, Forbes, and Robohub. His latest book, The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines, published by HarperCollins, has received accolades from notable figures like Adam Grant, Bob Sutton, Professor Ethan Mollick, and Reid Hoffman. Matt holds both a PhD and a master's degree from MIT's Sloan School of Management, along with a BA in philosophy from Bowdoin College. We are thrilled to welcome Matt to this episode of AI and the Future of Work.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The winding, non-linear career path that led to Matt's research on technology, skill-building, and the future of work—from dishwasher to high school math teacher to MIT researcher.
How the advent of new technologies, like smartphones and email, changed workplace dynamics and the way teams interact.
The "Skill Code" and the three Cs of learning—Challenge, Complexity, and Connection—and how these elements are crucial for building reliable skills under pressure.
The difference between knowledge and skill, and why skill development requires more than just education—it requires real-world application, collaboration, and engagement.
Matt's ethnographic approach to understanding work in diverse settings, from warehouses to operating rooms, and how he builds trust to gain insights into how people perform their jobs.
The role of motivation, human relationships, and trust in skill-building, and how these factors drive us to improve and master new tasks.

Resources

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Bruce Feiler on AI and the Future of Work
* Matt Beane’s Substack post “Don't Let AI Dumb You Down"

304: Dave Smoley, Legendary Serial CIO & Investor, On Transforming Tech Culture at Apple, AstraZeneca, GE, Honeywell, and Flex Sep 30, 2024

Dave Smoley recently received a well-earned Lifetime Achievement Award (and signed Billy Idol guitar) from Workday co-founder Aneel Bhusri to recognize his 30 years of technology leadership.
This week, we discussed his journey from basement to boardroom as a leader at companies like Apple, AstraZeneca, GE, Honeywell, and Flex.
Dave shares unique insights about the impact of technology on the workplace and the evolving role of the CIO. Currently, he invests in and advises early-stage tech companies, leveraging his extensive expertise.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Clemson University and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Thanks to friends of the podcast (and PeopleReign investors) Thomas and Jason from Acadian Ventures for the introduction.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Dave's early fascination with computers and how it influenced his interest in computer science.
His experience transitioning from programming at a bank to pursuing an MBA and the lessons learned along the way.
The pivotal moment at GE that rekindled his passion for technology, leading him to combine tech with business roles.
His insights on the cultural differences between GE and Apple, particularly in leadership styles and organizational structures.
The role of teamwork and specialized skills in today’s tech-driven industries, especially in the context of cloud computing and AI.
His current ventures as an investor and advisor, including his work with companies like PeopleReign.

Resources

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On using gen AI to get ahead in your career

303: Chris Caren, CEO @ Turnitin, on using AI to prevent students from cheating plus lessons for leaders on innovation and team culture Sep 23, 2024

Chris Caren, CEO of Turnitin since 2009, has played a pivotal role in transforming the company from a plagiarism prevention tool to a comprehensive education technology platform that promotes academic integrity, streamlines grading, and enhances educational outcomes. Under his leadership, Turnitin was acquired by Advanced Publications in 2019 for $1.75 billion. Prior to Turnitin, Chris was General Manager of Business Solutions at Microsoft. He holds an MBA with distinction from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Engineering from Stanford and regularly contributes to CNBC and other media outlets.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How a childhood introduction to computers and a background in science set the stage for a career in software.
The journey from Microsoft to Turnitin and the decision to focus on meaningful industries like education.
Insights into leadership, including the importance of team cultural fit and the power of delegation.
Navigating the challenges of taking over from company founders while maintaining and respecting the company culture.
How AI is transforming the educational landscape and Turnitin's evolving role in addressing student misconduct with AI tools.
The complex relationship between higher education and AI, balancing the need for students to learn writing and critical thinking with the demand for AI literacy in the workforce.

Resources

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On finding work you love

302: Vijay Balasubramaniyan, Co-Founder of Pindrop, on The Journey to Raising over $200 Million to Detect Audio Deepfakes Sep 16, 2024

Vijay is the co-founder and CEO of Pindrop, a leader in voice security technology. With a background in engineering and research roles at Google, Siemens, IBM Research, and Intel, Vijay invented phone printing technology in 2010 and launched Pindrop in 2011. Under his leadership, Pindrop has raised over $200 million from investors, including JC2 Ventures, led by by Cisco's John Chambers. Holding multiple patents in VoIP security and scalability, Vijay frequently speaks at major conferences such as RSA, Black Hat, and CCS. He earned his PhD in computer science from Georgia Tech.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The evolution of voice technology from landline telephony to modern voice systems.
The challenges of educating people about voice security and deepfake threats in the early 2010s.
How the rise of Alexa and other voice assistants transformed public perception of voice technology.
The rapid development of voice cloning tools and their implications for security.
The role of deepfakes in political interference, including high-profile cases President Biden.
How companies like Pindrop are using AI to detect and combat voice-related deepfake attacks in real-time.

Resources

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How AI is reinventing networking with Cisco's Dr. JP Vasseur

301: William Osman On The Path To 500M+ YouTube views: From Engineering Experiments to Viral Videos Sep 09, 2024

William Osman is a prominent tech creator and inventive mayhem conjurer on YouTube, with over 3 million followers and nearly 200 videos that have collectively amassed over half a billion views.

As the mastermind behind Open Sauce, a major creator community event that drew over 20,000 attendees, 500 exhibitors, and 150 celebrity creators, William has significantly impacted the tech and creator landscape. His engaging content, known for its bold experiments and Francis Ford Coppola-like editing, includes fan favorites such as "How Many Parts Can You Take Off a Car?" and "Can a Rented Raccoon Simulate Fatherhood?" William is also the cohost of the Safety Third podcast, with over a hundred episodes. He holds a BS in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Cal State Northridge. We’re thrilled to have him on AI and the Future of Work to discuss his unique journey and insights.
Topics in this episode --

Exploring Early YouTube: In this conversation, we discuss the evolution of YouTube and content creation from its early days, reflecting on how the tools and community have changed over the years.
From Engineering to Entertainment: We delve into the guest's journey from making simple, personal videos to integrating engineering with entertainment, and how this unique blend led to their success on YouTube.
Challenges of Early Content Creation: The guest shares insights on the early challenges of making videos, including the limited tools available in 2008 and the lack of a robust creator community.
The Role of Storytelling in Videos: We discuss the shift from focusing solely on technical aspects of video production to emphasizing storytelling, and how this transition impacted the guest’s content and audience engagement.
The Impact of Open Sauce: The guest reflects on the vision behind Open Sauce, an event celebrating nerd culture and the maker community, and how it represents a sociological shift in connecting like-minded individuals.
Creative Process Insights: We dive into the guest's creative process, exploring how they generate ideas, choose which projects to pursue, and how they use engineering problems to drive compelling narratives in their videos.

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300: Pankaj Kedia, AI pioneer and VC @ 2468 Ventures, On The Fast Approaching Age of Abundance Sep 02, 2024

Pankaj Kedia has been a trailblazer across laptop PC, smartphone, and wearable products, having held leadership roles at Intel and Qualcomm over the last 3 decades. Now an active AI investor, advisor, mentor, and speaker, Pankaj founded 2468 Ventures in 2021 and has since made angel investments in such notable AI companies as Anthropic, Athena, Figure, Groq, and OpenAI. Recently appointed as the Chief AI Officer and board member at Biossmann, a Mexican healthcare solutions company, Pankaj brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the AI space. He holds engineering degrees from IIT Roorkee and the University of Michigan, along with an MBA from Wharton.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The journey of transitioning from early AI work in the 1980s to becoming a key player in the wearable revolution.
Leadership lessons learned from working with iconic leaders like Andy Grove at Intel and Irwin Jacobs at Qualcomm.
The evolution of wearable technology and its role in augmenting human capabilities through AI.
The ethical implications and potential risks associated with the integration of AI in wearable devices.
Insights into the mindset and qualities of successful AI entrepreneurs and the criteria for investing in disruptive technologies.
Predictions about the future of work, the rise of AGI, and the shift towards an age of abundance where work becomes a choice rather than a necessity.

Resources

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Babak Hodjat, co-inventor of Siri, on AI and the Future of Work

299: Josh Allan Dykstra, Founder of The Work Revolution, On Finding Work You'll Love Aug 26, 2024

Josh Allan Dykstra is a polymath and TEDx speaker who has made significant contributions as a published author, musician, and CEO. As a sought-after coach on the future of work, Josh has collaborated with industry giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Chanel. He founded The Work Revolution, an organization dedicated to creating energy-based workplaces where teams can thrive, believing that work life can be a source of positivity. Josh is also the author of "Igniting the Invisible Tribe," and his boundless energy and innovative approach have inspired many to rethink their work and lives.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Josh's journey from a classically trained musician to becoming a leading voice in the future of work.
We explore the pivotal moment that led Josh to shift his focus from music to transforming the workplace.
Josh shares his vision for an energy-based work system that empowers employees rather than draining them.
The concept of a work revolution and what it means to completely turn around traditional work systems.
Josh’s belief that work can be a force for healing the world, even amid global challenges.
The potential of AI in the workplace and how leaders can prepare for the future while prioritizing human well-being.

Resources

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Josh Bersin, HRTech pioneer, on the future of AI at work

298: Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight, On Building A Human-First AI Culture Aug 19, 2024

Nick Mehta is the legendary CEO of Gainsight, a leading company in the customer success space, where he's played a pivotal role for over 11 years, growing it into a powerhouse with over 20,000 customers and $100 million in ARR. Before Gainsight, Nick was a serial entrepreneur, having led LiveOffice until its acquisition by Symantec, and co-founded Chipshot in the '90s. He holds a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a master's in Computer Science from Harvard. Beyond his professional achievements, Nick is a multi-talented individual, known for his popular blog "Metaphysical Musings," where he shares his love for Taylor Swift with nearly 27,000 subscribers. He's also a rapper, an OG shoe dog, and a YouTube celebrity with over 50 parody videos to his name.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The impact of AI on job security and how it will change the future of work, especially in the context of SaaS and customer success.
The concept of "human-first AI" and how companies can leverage AI to remove grunt work while enhancing the human elements of customer interactions.
The importance of building strong company culture, focusing on authenticity, transparency, and empathy as key drivers of employee engagement and satisfaction.
The balance between the excitement and anxiety surrounding AI adoption, highlighting both the potential benefits and the challenges it poses to knowledge workers.
Insights into how Gainsight has evolved over the years, with a particular emphasis on customer lifetime value and the importance of proactive customer success management.
The role of leadership in maintaining company values, the importance of vulnerability and openness, and the unique ways Gainsight fosters a sense of community among its employees.

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297: Silvio Savarese, EVP Salesforce, From Ivory Tower to Corporate Labs: The Real Challenges of AI Development Aug 12, 2024

Silvio Savarese is a pioneer and AI research lead with the AI research team at Salesforce, one of the largest and most influential enterprise software companies globally. Before joining Salesforce in 2021 as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, Silvio spent nearly 11 years in academia at Stanford, where his research focused on robotics, machine learning, and language models. At Salesforce, his team has developed AI tools like CodeGen, which assists with coding using conversational AI, and Merlion, which enhances system availability by detecting potential failures through time series intelligence. Silvio's team is also working on conversational AI for personalized summaries. He is a strong advocate for practicing AI responsibly, contributing to Salesforce's advocacy on AI trust, safety, privacy, and security.

In this conversation:

Silvio's journey from academia to industry and the challenges he faced during this transition.
We explore the differences between working in academia and leading an AI research team at Salesforce.
Silvio shares insights on how his background in robotics informs his current work with AI for enterprise software.
We delve into the ethical considerations and responsible practices in AI development at Salesforce.
Silvio explains the three pillars of AI research at Salesforce: foundational research, product incubation, and product innovation.
We examine the trade-offs between using large language models versus smaller models in AI applications, including their environmental impact and potential risks.

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296: Armen Berjikly, CTO @ BetterUp, On Using AI to Unlock Human Potential Aug 05, 2024

Armen Berjikly is a serial entrepreneur and the recently appointed CTO at BetterUp, a human transformation platform founded in 2013 that employs over 3,000 coaches to help individuals achieve greater clarity, purpose, and passion through expert guidance. Before joining BetterUp, Armen co-founded Motive, which was later acquired by BetterUp, and Kenjoya, acquired by Ultimate Software. He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a master's degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The evolution of technology and its impact on the workplace over the past two decades.
How Armen's early research at Stanford with professors Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves influenced his career.
The development of Experience Project and its role in connecting people through shared experiences and emotions.
The journey of Armen's companies, Kenjoya and Motive, and their contributions to understanding and improving employee experiences.
Armen's insights on integrating AI with human interaction to enhance emotional intelligence in technology.
The unique approach BetterUp takes in combining coaching, technology, and research to drive human transformation and organizational success.

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295: Thomas Otter, Venture Capitalist, On How One Good Decision Made Him The Accidental HR Tech Pioneer Jul 29, 2024

Thomas Otter joined Acadian Ventures in March 2022 as a General Partner. Prior to Acadian, he advised companies such as Workday, Ultimate Software, Personio, and Unit 4, and collaborated with private equity and growth equity firms like Warburg Pincus, Scottish Equity Partners, PSG, and Goldman Sachs on M&A, strategy, negotiations, and diligence. He previously led the product management organization at SAP SuccessFactors, scaling it to over a billion dollars in annual recurring revenue, and served as a Research Vice President at Gartner Group, leading HR tech research. Thomas holds a Doctorate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the Strategy and Innovation Diploma from Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society. . A regular guest lecturer at various universities, Thomas grew up in South Africa and now resides in Heidelberg, Germany. He is also a collector of vinyl records and a lover of great music.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How a chance encounter led to a 30-year career in HR technology.
The evolution of HR technology from the mainframe era to modern cloud-based systems.
The intersection of ethics, compliance, and technology within HR.
The strategic importance of HR in today's business landscape and its impact on the employee experience.
The role of technology in automating administrative tasks to enhance employee satisfaction.
Historical milestones in HR tech, including the first business application of a computer for payroll.

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294: Bernard Marr, Author & Futurist, On How to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your Career Jul 22, 2024

Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer, and thought leader in the fields of business and technology. With a passion for leveraging technology for the good of humanity, Bernard is a bestselling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes, and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organizations. Boasting a combined following of 4 million people across social media channels and newsletters, Bernard was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top five business influencers globally. His latest books include "Future Skills," "The Future Internet: Business Trends and Practice," and "Generative AI in Practice."

In this conversation, we discuss:

Bernard’s journey into the AI and technology space, from his academic background to his consulting and writing career.
The evolution of the AI landscape, from analytics and big data to modern AI applications and trends.
How Bernard simplifies complex technical topics for a mainstream audience in his books and writings.
Insights from Bernard's latest book, "Generative AI in Practice," and what readers can expect to learn from it.
The role of AI in business decision-making and strategy, based on Bernard's extensive consulting experience.
The ethical considerations and societal impacts of AI advancements, and how they shape the future of work.

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293: Chris Dyer, Future of Work Expert, On 6 Surprising Ways AI Can Accelerate Your Career Jul 15, 2024

Chris Dyer is a globally recognized company culture and future of work expert, delivering keynotes for over 15 years to audiences worldwide. As a CEO managing thousands, his companies consistently earn accolades as best places to work and have been recognized five times by Inc. Magazine as some of the fastest-growing companies. Chris is ranked as Inc. Magazine's number one leadership speaker on culture, has published three best-selling books, and is named number five on the leadership power list. He is also a top 40 change management guru, a top 50 global thought leader, and the host of a top 50 leadership podcast. Beyond his professional achievements, Chris is an avid hiker, musician, and world traveler.

In this episode, we discuss:

The concept of being an "accidental everything" and how curiosity and the willingness to say yes can lead to unexpected opportunities.
We explore how Chris transitioned from speaking to writing, despite initial doubts and external skepticism.
We delve into the power of a strong support system, including employees, mentors, and friends, in achieving success.
We examine the varying perceptions employees have about AI in the workplace, from ignorance to apprehension to enthusiasm.
We discuss the rapid pace of technological innovation and its impact on both employees and organizations.
We highlight the importance of helping employees understand and adapt to technological advancements to enhance their value and mitigate job displacement risks.

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292: Peter Voss, AGI Co-inventor and CEO at Aigo.ai, On Making AI Smarter Without Harming Humans Jul 08, 2024

Peter Voss is the visionary founder and CEO of Aigo.ai, a pioneering company at the forefront of conversational AI and natural language processing. Over the past 15 years, Peter and his team have perfected a highly intelligent, hyper-personalized chatbot designed for enterprise customers. In 2009, Peter founded SmartAction.ai, which developed the first AI-based contact center technology. Beyond his entrepreneurial endeavors, Peter is an engineer, inventor, and AI pioneer who writes and presents on philosophical topics such as rational ethics, free will, and artificial minds. He is also deeply involved in futurism and radical life extension.

In this episode, we discuss:

Peter Voss's Journey: From an electronics engineer to creating a successful software company, and his deep dive into the nature of intelligence and AI.
Defining AGI: What Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) means to Peter, and how we will recognize its achievement.
Cognitive Skills Gap: The differences between current AI technologies like large language models (LLMs) and true cognitive skills required for AGI.
Path to AGI: The limitations of deep learning and LLMs, and why cognitive AI is the necessary path towards achieving AGI.
Human Interaction and Intelligence: The importance of real-time learning, metacognition, and minimal sensory input in developing AGI.
Ethics and Responsibility in AI: The philosophical and practical considerations of developing AGI, including the ethical implications and societal benefits.

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291: Emil Winebrand, CEO of insoundz and Audio Engineering Expert, on How AI is Improving Audio Quality Jul 01, 2024

Emil Winebrand, the CEO and co-founder of insoundz, is a trailblazer in the AI and audio technology industry. With a master's degree in engineering from Tel Aviv University, Emil's career began deeply immersed in the tech world, taking a significant turn after a decade of service in the intelligence technology unit of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), where he developed a keen interest in AI for audio enhancement. Under Emil's leadership, insoundz has emerged as a force in generative AI for audio technology, revolutionizing how we experience sound. His passion led to the development of the insoundz flagship product, Revive, which transforms any recording into studio-quality sound. Emil is also recognized for leading award-winning engineering teams across various domains, from electro-optics to algorithm development.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Emil's early fascination with AI and neural networks, beginning at the age of 13.
His journey from studying electrical engineering to working in the IDF, where he encountered significant audio issues that sparked his passion for improving audio quality.
The creation and capabilities of InSounds' product, Revive, which enhances audio by regenerating it with AI to achieve studio-quality sound.
The ethical considerations and challenges of using AI in audio engineering, including the potential for bias and the implementation of watermarking to prevent misuse.
The unique tech ecosystem in Tel Aviv and how the culture and education in Israel, including experiences in the IDF, contribute to the success of tech entrepreneurs.
Emil's transition from CTO to CEO and the personal growth and challenges he faced in adapting to a leadership role focused on storytelling and vision rather than just technical details.

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Powered by insoundz Revive

290: Adityo Prakash, Founder & CEO of Verseon, On Extending Life With AI Jun 24, 2024

Adityo Prakash is a serial entrepreneur, high-tech CEO, amateur photographer, and author who transitioned from academia to revolutionize video streaming, and is now transforming drug discovery and commercialization. As the founder of Verseon, Adityo employs deep quantum modeling and AI to expedite the identification and development of innovative pharmaceuticals, potentially reshaping our approach to aging and healthcare. With degrees in math and physics from Caltech and over 40 patents to his name, Adityo is at the forefront of technological advancements in the medical field.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How Verseon uses deep quantum modeling and AI to revolutionize drug discovery and development, aiming to change the standard of care for various diseases.
Adityo's journey from Caltech, where he studied math and physics, to founding Verseon and securing over 40 patents.
The challenges and opportunities at the intersection of high tech and biotech, and how these fields are converging to create new platform companies.
The limitations of traditional trial-and-error drug discovery methods and how Verseon's approach offers a more systematic, atom-by-atom design of new drugs.
The potential for AI and advanced modeling techniques to address complex health issues like aging, by treating it as a disease with identifiable therapeutic targets.
The future of drug development, regulatory challenges, and how the integration of AI and physics could transform the pharmaceutical industry over the next decade.

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Tamara Steffens, MD at Thomas Reuters Ventures, Explains How Corporate VC Works Jun 17, 2024

Tamara Steffens is a seasoned tech executive with a remarkable track record in scaling teams, infrastructures, and products. She has contributed significantly to early mobile and SaaS pioneers, including Boingo, Software.com, Fusion One, and Color. Tamara has held executive roles at Microsoft and Openwave, leading large teams and driving innovation. Her tech career began at Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics, where she architected partnerships that defined entire industries. Tamara holds a BS in finance from Michigan State University and is actively involved in shaping the future of business and innovation as a board member at the Broad Business School and a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She currently works as an MD at Thomson Reuters Ventures; we are thrilled to welcome Tamara to AI and the Future of Work.

In this episode, we discuss:

Corporate Venture Capital Insights: Tamara shares her journey from working at tech companies like Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics to leading Thomson Reuters' venture fund. She explains how her extensive go-to-market experience shapes her investment strategy.
Investment Strategies in AI: We explore how Thomson Reuters' corporate venture arm approaches AI investments, emphasizing the importance of product-market fit, revenue generation, and strategic alignment with the company's broader goals.
Differences Between Corporate and Traditional VCs: Tamara outlines the unique considerations of corporate VCs, such as potential go-to-market synergies and strategic benefits, compared to traditional VCs which primarily focus on financial returns.
Case Studies of AI Investments: We delve into specific investments, like WiseDocs and CentML, highlighting the processes, investment theses, and strategic benefits these companies bring to Thomson Reuters and their respective industries.
The Impact of AI on the Legal Industry: Tamara discusses how AI is transforming the legal sector, enhancing efficiency, and changing the nature of legal work, particularly for junior lawyers and paralegals.
Responsible AI and Data Governance: We talk about the importance of responsible AI, data privacy, and governance in AI investments. Tamara explains Thomson Reuters' approach to ensuring ethical AI practices and compliance with legal standards.

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Roy Atkinson, CEO of Clifton Butterfield, Shares Insider Tips on Mastering The Customer Experience as an IT Leader Jun 10, 2024

Roy Atkinson is a renowned thought leader in IT service management and customer service. A prolific writer, speaker, analyst, and podcaster, Roy's expertise has been featured in major tech publications. CIO Insight described him as a model for the future digital leader, and Nextiva named him one of the top 50 customer service experts of the decade (2010 to 2020). Roy's extensive career has included roles as an IT supervisor at the Jackson Laboratory, group principal analyst at Informa Tech, and CEO and principal advisor at Clifton Butterfield.

In this episode, you will learn:

Roy’s Multifaceted Journey: Discover how Roy's diverse background as a polymath, polyglot, and musician influenced his career in customer service and IT.
Language Learning and Cultural Insights: Gain insights into Roy's extensive language studies, including Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, and Serbian, and how this passion has enriched his personal and professional life.
Customer Service Roots: Understand how early work experiences, from delivering newspapers to working in a busy supermarket and a bank, shaped Roy's interest and expertise in customer service and customer experience.
Music Industry Adventures: Hear fascinating stories about Roy's 20-year career as a professional musician, his achievements, and notable collaborations with renowned artists like John Mayall, Todd Rundgren, and Don McLean.
Transition to IT and Technology: Learn about Roy's transition from music to IT, his role in managing IT systems, and his involvement with HDI, highlighting the parallels between the evolution of digital technology in music and business.
Evolution of Employee Experience: Explore the changes in the employee experience over the past two decades, including the shift from a technology-centric approach to a focus on user experience, the impact of consumerization, and the rise of AI in IT management.

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Kendall Clark, CEO of Stardog, On Mastering Data Science... If You're Not Technical Jun 03, 2024

Kendall Clark is the co-founder and CEO of Stardog, a leading enterprise knowledge graph platform with prestigious customers like Morgan Stanley, Raytheon, Bosch, and NASA. He founded the company in 2016 with a vision of making data access more meaningful. Self-taught in coding during his 20s, Kendall is on a mission to help people experience "aha" moments with data more frequently. Stardog recently launched VoiceBox, a conversational data platform enabling knowledge workers to interact with enterprise data using natural language.

In this episode, you will learn

Kendall Clark's journey from AI research to founding Stardog.
The unique intersection of data management and knowledge management in the enterprise.
The evolution and impact of AI on data management practices.
The launch and significance of Stardog's new conversational data platform, VoiceBox.
Real-world applications of knowledge graphs, particularly with NASA.
The importance of democratizing data access for non-technical knowledge workers.
Much more

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Allison Baum Gates, Venture Capitalist, On The Secrets To A Successful VC Career May 27, 2024

Allison has spent over a decade pioneering the of future of work as an employee, investor, and author. Her book, Breaking into Venture, offers a human perspective on succeeding in venture capital. As a General Partner at Semper Virens, she invests in technology transforming workforce, healthcare, and financial services. Allison contributes to Forbes, lectures at Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley Haas, and has a rich background including roles at Goldman Sachs, General Assembly, Fresco Capital, and Trinity Ventures. She holds a BA in Economics with honors and a minor in Film Studies from Harvard.

In this episode, you will learn how

Allison grew up in the Midwest, witnessing her parents' jobs being disrupted by technology, which influenced her dedication to understanding the future of work.
After the financial crisis and seeing algorithmic job replacement at Goldman Sachs, she decided to focus her career on technology and innovation.
Working at General Assembly introduced her to venture capital, where she saw the influence VCs have on startups, leading her to co-found Fresco Capital and later join Semper Virens.
She emphasizes the importance of creating a unique value add in venture capital, highlighting the significance of building and activating a powerful network.
Allison believes AI will augment jobs by taking over specific tasks rather than replacing entire jobs, advocating for a responsible AI implementation process to mitigate risks.
Keys to picking a career that won’t be automated by a bot.

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Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of Turing, On Unleashing Human Potential with AI May 20, 2024

Jonathan Siddharth is the visionary leader behind Turing, the unicorn AI juggernaut that powers technical recruiting for more than 900 companies, including Pepsi, Dell, Disney, Red Bull, and many others.
Turing is the world's most successful AI-powered tech services company. Turing has reimagined tech services from the ground up with AI by providing enterprises with AI-vetted and matched talent, AI-accelerated application delivery, and access to AI transformation experts who built the technologies behind the most successful Silicon Valley companies.

Founded in 2018, the company has experienced tremendous growth with over three million global developers on its talent network and 1,000+ clients. Turing has received numerous awards, including Forbes's "One of America's Best Startup Employers," #1 on The Information's annual list of "Most Promising B2B Companies," and Fast Company's annual list of the "World's Most Innovative Companies." Turing's most recent private fundraising round was oversubscribed and valued the company at $1.1 billion. Subsequent oversubscribed SAFEs were completed on a $4 billion valuation cap.

In this episode, you will:

Uncover what it takes to build a big business.
Discover how Jonathan’s early fascination with AI led to groundbreaking projects and innovations that transformed his career and the tech industry.
Learn about Jonathan’s journey from AI researcher to successful entrepreneur, founding companies that achieved significant exits and rapid growth.
Gain insights into the strategies for building a high-performance organization, including market analysis, team development, and continuous self-improvement.
Understand how Turing leverages AI to disrupt the tech services market, offering superior talent sourcing and project delivery compared to traditional firms.
Hear actionable advice on fostering a sense of urgency, prioritizing customer needs, and creating a culture of rigorous decision-making to drive business success.
And much more...

Resource

Connect with Jonathan here

AGI Icons speaker event

AI fun fact article

An episode you might like about limiting AI’s adverse effects

Florin Rotar, Chief AI Officer at Avanade, on how to limit AI’s adverse effects May 13, 2024

Florin Rotar is the pioneering Chief AI Officer known for leading Avanade's AI strategy. Avanade is a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft with 50,000 employees worldwide, established in 2000 to drive innovation on the Microsoft platform.
Previously serving as Avanade's CTO, Florin has played a pivotal role in shaping the organization's AI vision and strategy since his early days as a consultant. A seasoned speaker and thought leader in AI, he passionately advocates for AI's potential to empower humanity.
Florin's global outlook stems from his experience living in 10 countries across three continents. He frequently shares his insights on AI through blogging, offering a valuable resource on AI-related topics. His commitment to leveraging AI for positive impact is evident, as echoed by my own encounter with him during a panel discussion last year.

In this episode, we discuss

How Florin became Chief AI Officer and why it’s an important role
How to deploy more responsible AI practices
The role importance of accountability in tech and how to ensure it’s baked into the creation of new products
2025 predictions about the evolution of AI
What it will take for people to start trusting and collaborating with AI rather than seeing it as competition
Much more

Resources

Florin’s LinkedIn
Fun fact article
Bruce Feiler discusses the future of relationships on AI and the Future of Work

Naomi and Derek, Investors at Menlo Ventures, On Generative AI Businesses That Are Getting Investor Dollars May 06, 2024

Naomi Ionita and Derek Xiao are investors at Menlo Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's most successful and storied venture capital funds. Menlo has backed over 80 public companies, manages over $5 billion in assets, and has been a pillar of the VC community for an astonishing 47 years. You likely know many of Menlo's recent high-profile investments in companies like Anthropic, Chime, and Harness and historical investments such as 3Com, Hotmail, and Roku. Naomi and Derek recently led the firm's publication of a 3,500-word report chronicling the state of generative AI in the enterprise.

In this episode, we discuss

How they decide what to invest in
The tripling of budgets for AI projects by 2025, according to a report from ISG and Glean
Enterprise leaders face challenges in proving ROI and building trust in AI solutions.
The top use cases for AI investment include customer service and enterprise search
Menlo Ventures' perspective on the current state of VC and the opportunities in AI investing.
Insights from Menlo Ventures' report on generative AI in the enterprise, including barriers to adoption and the potential for transformation
The broader societal impacts and considerations of AI adoption in business and technology.

Resources
The Menlo Ventures Enterprise AI report
Menlo Ventures website
Fun fact article

Steve Truitt, Award-Winning Author & Futurist, On Saving Humanity & Preventing AI From Ruining Us Apr 29, 2024

Steve Truitt is an award-winning science fiction author, actor, producer, and musician. He received the prestigious Golden Eagle Award for his documentary series on Discovery. Steve's a space enthusiast and NASA history buff. He holds the unique record of having met five moonwalkers. Beyond his creative endeavors, Steve is also a coach and motivational speaker, recognized for his impactful work with the Best Motivational Book of the Year award for "Stop Waiting for Permission". Steve brings a wealth of experience and insight to discussions on AI and the future of work.

In this conversation, we discuss

How Steve got started in media and entertainment before branching out to other industries
Industries being most impacted by AI
The tricky ethics of AI and how to harness it as a tool that does more good than harm
Why humanity is so fickle and prone to conflict
How leaders can stop the spread of misinformation with AI and what prevents them from doing so
Much more

Resources

Get Steve’s book, Mindset Chronicles

Additional episode you’ll enjoy

AI fun fact

Chris Herringshaw, CTO at Janus Henderson Investors, Reveals What Everyone's Missing about the Future of Finance Apr 22, 2024

Chris Herringshaw is the Chief Technology Officer at Janus Henderson Investors, overseeing all technology aspects and serving on the Executive Committee. With over 15 years at Citadel Investment Group, he led Global Infrastructure Technology as Managing Director. Chris founded Quova, now part of NuStar, and held roles including Vice President of Engineering and CTO. He holds a BS in computer systems engineering from the University of Michigan, and actively contributes to shaping technology's future through advisory roles and industry forums.

In this conversation, we discuss:

Venturing from entrepreneur to an established company.
Chris Herringshaw's background in technology, including his experience at Janus Henderson Investors and as a CTO at venture-backed startups.
How FinTech companies leverage the power of AI while mitigating risks associated with its unpredictable nature.
Why human decision making still trumps AI and algorithmic based trading decisions in certain contexts.
Predictions on where AI is headed in the next 12 months.
The role of AI governance in ensuring the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence.

Resource

Previous episode about an AI app platform that’s growing faster than OpenAI

Learn more about Janus Henderson

AI fun fact article

Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of MindStudio, on how he built the AI app platform that's growing faster than OpenAI Apr 15, 2024

Dmitry Shapiro is a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded and is the CEO of YouAi and the popular AI app-builder MindStudio. He has a bold vision to help you index your mind which we unpack in today's conversation. Previously, Dmitry founded and led GoMeta and created the video sharing site Veoh in 2005 which launched a few months after YouTube. Dmitry served as the CTO at MySpace before moving on to Google where was a Group Product Manager working on social graph, identity, and content discovery. Dmitry received his BS in EE from Georgia Tech.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The New York Times versus OpenAI and Microsoft copyright lawsuit and its implications for AI.
The challenges and stakes for publishers when facing AI applications using copyrighted material.
Dmitry Shapiro's entrepreneurial journey and the vision behind MindStudio.
The impact of generative AI on computing and its potential for revolutionizing work and home environments.
Legal and ethical considerations surrounding AI, copyright, and fair use.
The intersection of technology, venture capital, and innovation in shaping the future of AI applications.

Additional resources

Suresh Vittal, CPO at Alteryx, On His Journey to Revolutionizing Data Analytics Apr 08, 2024

As the Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, Suresh leads the product, engineering, design, and development teams that deliver innovative and scalable solutions for data science and analytics. He is also responsible for product pricing, packaging, and PLG strategies. Over the past 3 years, Alteryx has transformed into an analytics platform with market-leading end-to-end analytics solutions, covering the entire gamut of users from analysts to data engineers, developers, and data scientists.

With over 20 years of experience in the SaaS industry, Suresh has a proven track record of driving growth, customer satisfaction, and market leadership for cloud-based platforms and products.

In this conversation, we discuss:

The ongoing debate between AI guardrails and user autonomy, referencing Mark Gimein's "spicy mayo problem" as a case study.
Suresh Vittal's background, journey through analytics and AI, and his role as Chief Product Officer at Alteryx.
Alteryx's mission of "analytics for all" and their focus on empowering users across technical and non-technical roles in data analytics.
The integration of generative AI features into Alteryx's platform to simplify complex workflows and enhance collaboration among data professionals.
Insights into AI-first data management strategies and the evolving landscape of AI-driven tools in the future of work.
The importance of governance and transparency in AI-powered analytics, ensuring clarity and understanding across complex data workflows for improved decision-making.

Additional resources:

Suresh’s LinkedIn page

AI fun fact article in the Atlantic

Ben Kus, CTO of Box, On Responsible AI Use, Innovation Culture, and Future AI Trends Apr 01, 2024

Ben Kus is the chief technology officer at Box, where he’s responsible for developing Box's technology vision and strategy. Previously, Ben was the VP of product management at Box. Before joining Box, he was the co founder and CTO of Subspace, an enterprise security solution that was acquired by Box.

Ben’s held various leadership positions, including chief architect for IBM and senior director of technology for BigFix.

What we discuss:

The role of generative AI in enhancing productivity and unlocking new use cases within enterprises, focusing on content management.
Ben shares insights into Box's innovative culture and compares it to other companies like IBM, highlighting the company's approach to technology and innovation.
The discussion touches on responsible AI use, regulatory considerations, and Box's commitment to transparency and compliance.
Ben addresses concerns about AI's impact on jobs, emphasizing AI's role in augmenting productivity rather than replacing human jobs.
Future trends in AI, including personalized AI assistance and potential advancements in AI capabilities, are explored.
The conversation ends with a fun anecdote about Box's CEO, Aaron Levie, known for his magic tricks and the company's unique culture of bringing your own self to work.

Additional resources

Neil Mandt, Emmy-Winning Entrepreneur, Unveils the Future of Hollywood & Media Mar 25, 2024

Neil Mandt is a Hollywood entrepreneur, a five-time Emmy winner, and producer of the 2022 Golden Globes. A pioneer in AR and VR technology, and a pro sports owner, since getting his start in Hollywood at age 10, there's almost no award he hasn't received, and almost no new form of media he hasn't tested and improved.

What we cover

In this conversation, Neil shares insights into the evolving landscape of Hollywood and the role of AI in content creation and consumption.
Neil discusses the potential of AI to democratize content creation, enabling individuals to produce high-quality movies and TV series with minimal resources.
We delve into the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in the entertainment industry, including the gamification of user engagement and personalized content experiences.
Neil emphasizes the importance of embracing AI tools for content creators to stay competitive and adapt to changing consumer preferences.
Neil highlights the transformative potential of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies in enhancing the content consumption experience.
Neil provides valuable insights into the skills required for content producers to thrive in a future where AI-driven, interactive storytelling becomes the norm.
And much more.

Additional resources

Neil’s site — Neilmandt.com
Course on making it in media and entertainment — https://neilmandt.com/course
Other episodes you might enjoy — https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/14689727-babak-hodjat-cto-of-ai-at-cognizant-on-creating-siri-and-the-evolution-of-ai

Babak Hodjat, CTO of AI at Cognizant, on creating Siri and the evolution of AI Mar 18, 2024

Babak is the CTO of AI at Cognizant, the 34 billion market cap provider of tech services with more than 350, 000 global employees. He's the former co-founder and CEO of Sentient, a business responsible for the core technology behind the world's largest distributed artificial intelligence system. Before co-founding Sentient, Babak co-founded and was the CTO and a board member of Dejima where he developed the foundational technology that ultimately became Apple's Siri.

He's the primary inventor of Dejima's patented technology. Babak has 31 granted or pending patents, is a published author, and is one of the most respected thought leaders in AI. He holds a PhD in machine intelligence from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.

In our conversation, we discuss:

The recent executive order on AI regulation issued by the Biden administration, exploring its key themes such as the development of a national registry for foundational large language models and safety test result sharing by vendors.
Babak shares insights into the challenges and engineering intricacies involved in developing and scaling AI systems, emphasizing the importance of understanding the fundamental differences between large language models and human intelligence.
The concept of responsible AI and the urgent need for defining unambiguous ethical standards, with Babak expressing concerns about AI potentially being used for destructive or malicious purposes in the wrong hands.
Babak's experience as a pioneer in developing foundational technologies for Siri
The limitations and expectations surrounding large language models shed light on the challenges of fine-tuning and reinforcing these models, as well as the misconceptions related to their learning capabilities during interactions.
The concept of active ontology and its role in the early development of Siri, highlights the revolutionary approach that focused on modeling functionality and ontology first, offering insights into the evolution of natural language technology over the past 25 years.

Additional resources

Babak's LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/babakhodjat/
Another episode you might enjoy — https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/14341487-navrina-singh-founder-ceo-of-credo-ai-discusses-ai-governance-ethics

Richie Cotton, Data Scientist & Co-host of the DataFramed podcast, discusses the future of data science & AI ethics Mar 11, 2024

Richie Cotton and his co-host Adel have published over 150 episodes of the DataFramed podcast with some amazing guests. Richie's also a data evangelist for DataCamp and a data scientist by training. He helps train DataCamp students and has been instrumental in the company's success. DataCamp has trained data teams at more than 2,500 companies, including 80 percent of the Fortune 100. Richie has degrees in Math from the University of Warwick and the University of York.

In our conversation, we discuss:

The Evolving Role of Data Scientists: Richie Cotton shares insights into the changing landscape of data science and how the role of data scientists is expected to transform in the next decade, emphasizing the increasing accessibility of powerful tools.
Ethical Considerations in AI: we delve into the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, exploring the responsibility of data scientists and AI practitioners in addressing issues such as bias, transparency, and privacy in their work.
Future Skills for Data Scientists: Richie discusses the essential technical skills for data scientists, including the ongoing debate between Python and R, and highlights the importance of staying adaptable as technology evolves.
AI's Impact on Business Operations: we explore the potential impact of AI on various industries, focusing on business operations and efficiency, providing valuable insights for professionals looking to harness AI for strategic advantages.
Predictions for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): Richie shares intriguing perspectives on the timeline for achieving artificial general intelligence, citing predictions that AGI might become a reality in the 2030s and discussing the potential implications of such advancements.
Teaching and Learning Data Science at Scale: we shed light on Richie's experience at DataCamp, where he has been instrumental in teaching data science to hundreds of thousands of individuals, highlighting the platform's mission to make data science education accessible globally.

Additional resources

Listen to Richie’s podcast — https://www.datacamp.com/podcast
Other episodes you might enjoy — https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/14341487-navrina-singh-founder-ceo-of-credo-ai-discusses-ai-governance-ethics

Matt Martin, Co-Founder & CEO of Clockwise, on leveraging AI to create more time in your day Mar 04, 2024

Matt Martin is on a mission to help the world make time for what matters. He founded Clockwise in 2016 to fix the time problem.

Since then, he and the team have raised 76 million from exceptional investors, including Greylock, Cotu, Excel, Bain, and a common investor, the Slack Fund. More than 15, 000 organizations run Clockwise. Matt was also an engineering leader at Relate IQ before Salesforce acquired it for $390 million in 2014.

In our conversation, we discuss:

Interesting ways to improve your productivity
New developments in GPT-4 supporting productivity
Challenges of time management and the impact of AI in reshaping scheduling practices, emphasizing the importance of tools like Clockwise in optimizing work schedules.
Lesson in entrepreneurship from Matt
How AI can be leveraged to make your work more fulfilling
Much more

Prasad Kawthekar, Co-Founder & CEO of Dashworks, on enterprise AI search tools Feb 26, 2024

Prasad Kawthekar is the Co-Founder & CEO of Dashworks, an all-in-one AI search assistant. It enables users to find any document, message, or email and to accelerate a team's productivity. With over 40+ integrations, Dashworks enables teams to find and organize their internal knowledge across apps from one place and leverage their collective expertise.

In our conversation, we discuss:

The historical evolution of enterprise search tools
The challenges to enterprise search adoption: such as API integration complexities persist, hindering widespread adoption
The role of Generative AI in search
Limitations of current AI models and what the future holds for them.
What are some considerations for future AI development?
The potential of retrieval-augmented generative AI (RAG) in providing accurate and factual responses, while also acknowledging its limitations and potential for further evolution

Additional resources:

Visit Dashworks: https://www.dashworks.ai/
Another episode you might like: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/14464391-dr-eric-siegel-founder-of-machine-learning-week-on-6-steps-to-usher-in-successful-ml-projects

Atif Rafiq, CEO & Bestselling Author, on the decision sprint process Feb 19, 2024

Atif has blazed trails in Silicon Valley and the Fortune 500 for over 25 years. After rising through digital native companies like Amazon, Yahoo!, and AOL, Atif held C-suite roles at McDonald’s, Volvo, and MGM Resorts. He oversaw thousands of employees as a global P&L, transformation, and innovation leader.

Rafiq was the first Chief Digital Officer in the history of the Fortune 500, a pioneering role he held at McDonalds, and he rose to the President level in the Fortune 300. While leading business units, teams, and growth for companies, Atif has built a large following as one of today’s top management thinkers. Over 500,000 people follow his ideas about management and leadership on LinkedIn, where he is a Top Voice, and his newsletter Re:wire has over 100,000 subscribers. Atif has also been nominated

Atif is passionate about helping companies push boldly into the future. He accomplishes this through Ritual, a software app revolutionizing how teams innovate and problem-solve, and through his work as keynote speaker, Board member, and CEO advisor.

Listen and learn

What’s broken about the decision-making process in large companies
What is the decision sprint process
How will team formation/team structure change as a result of AI?
How do we measure the quality of the output of a decision sprint?
What are the smartest ways to engage generative AI in the decision sprint process?
How do you reasonably deal with the fear of AI replacing your job?
Much more

Resources

— Buy the book — https://www.decisionsprint.com/

— Ritual — https://www.ritual.work/
— Listen to a related episode — https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/14158168-bruce-feiler-best-selling-author-ted-celebrity-tv-personality-and-new-york-times-columnist-discusses-navigating-life-transitions

Dr. Eric Siegel, Founder of Machine Learning Week, on 6 steps to usher in successful ML projects Feb 12, 2024

Dr. Eric Siegel is a leading consultant and former Columbia University professor who helps companies deploy machine learning. He is the founder of the long-running Machine Learning Week conference series and its new sister, Generative AI World, the instructor of the acclaimed online course “Machine Learning Leadership and Practice – End-to-End Mastery,” executive editor of The Machine Learning Times, and a frequent keynote speaker. He wrote the bestselling "Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die," which has been used in courses at hundreds of universities, as well as "The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment."

Eric’s interdisciplinary work bridges the stubborn technology/business gap. At Columbia, he won the Distinguished Faculty award when teaching the graduate *computer science* courses in ML and AI. Later, he served as a *business school* professor at UVA Darden. Eric has appeared on numerous media channels, including Bloomberg, National Geographic, and NPR, and has published in Newsweek, HBR, SciAm blog, WaPo, WSJ, and more.

Listen and learn

How he’s progressed in the field of machine learning over 30 years
6-step process to usher in machine learning programs from conception to deployment
What 3 things non-technical people in business should know about how machine learning works & delivers value
How to know when to use classical machine learning vs generative AI to solve a data problem
How to mitigate the impact of human bias in shaping AI

Resources

Purchase "The AI Playbook" — http://www.bizML.com
Scott Zoldi episode —https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/520474.rss

Juliette Powell & Art Kleiner, Entrepreneurs & Professors, Discuss The 7 Principles of Responsible Technology Feb 05, 2024

Juliette Powell is the founder and managing partner of Kleiner Powell International [KPI], a New York City-based consultancy. As a consultant at the intersection of responsible technology and business, she has advised large companies and governments on how to deal with the accelerating change underway due to AI-enabled technological innovation coupled with shifting social dynamics and heightened global competition. She’s also on the faculty at New York University and teaches in the Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Art Kleiner is a writer, lecturer, and consultant with a background in management, interactive media, corporate environmentalism, scenario planning, and organizational learning. He is a co-author (with Pete Senge et al.) of the best-selling Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, The Dance of Change, and Schools That Learn; and author of Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success. Since 1986, he has taught in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Juliette and Art co-authored a new book, The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology.

Listen and learn

How Juliette and Art started their careers
The Principles of Responsible Technology
What could happen if AI became sentient?
How can we prevent AI from reinforcing negative biases and discrimination?
How people and organizations can practice better ethics when leveraging AI?
What will it take to engrain more ethical, equity-oriented thinking into business education?
Much more

References in this episode…

Dave Kellogg, SaaS whisperer and EIR at Balderton Capital, predicts the future of AI, Silicon Valley, and venture capital Jan 29, 2024

Dave Kellogg is an advisor, director, consultant, angel investor, and blogger focused on enterprise software startups. He’s the executive-in-residence (EIR) at Balderton Capital and the principal of his own eponymous consulting business.

He brings an uncommon perspective to startup challenges having 10 years’ experience at each of the CEO, CMO, and independent director levels across 10+ companies ranging in size from zero to over $1B in revenues.

Dave also authors the Kellblog which covers topics related to starting, leading, and scaling enterprise software startups including strategy, marketing, positioning, messaging, management, go-to-market, SaaS metrics, and venture capital financing.

Listen and learn

How Dave did with last year's predictions
What's ahead for the venture capital ecosystem in a post ZIRP environment
How CIOs are investing in automation
What to expect from the big LLM vendors
What's ahead for AI and copyright protection in 2024
And much more...

References in this episode…

Kellblog — https://kellblog.com/
Amr Awadallah, Vectara CEO, on AI and the Future of Work

Navrina Singh, Founder & CEO of Credo AI, discusses AI governance & ethics Jan 22, 2024

Navrina Singh is the Founder and CEO of Credo AI, a Governance SaaS platform empowering enterprises to deliver Responsible AI. A technology leader with over 18+ years of experience in Enterprise SaaS, AI and Mobile, Navrina has held multiple product and business leadership roles at Microsoft and Qualcomm.
Navrina and the team have been on a mission to help organizations create AI that adheres to the most ethical standards since March 2020. Credo has raised over $13 million from an impressive list of investors that includes Decibel Partners, Sands Capital Ventures, and the AI Fund, among others. Navrina is a member of the national AI advisory committee and is a world Economic Forum global leader. Prepare to be inspired.

Listen and learn

If Navrina ran the world, how she’d regulate AI
How to incorporate consumer feedback & inclusive practices into the AI development process
How companies can start creating trustworthy, ethical AI
How Navrina is empowering companies to deliver responsible AI at scale
Criteria to consider for combatting algorithmic bias
How to deal with the fear of being replaced by machines
Navrina's advice to young entrepreneurs

Adam Wenchel, Arthur founder and CEO, discusses evaluating AI model performance Jan 15, 2024

Adam Wenchel is the CEO of Arthur, a company with a platform that gives you an immediate comprehensive AI performance solution across LLMs, Computer Vision, Tabular Data, and NLP.

Adam and the team have been making AI observable for almost 5 years with Arthur. Arthur has raised over $60 million from a legendary group of investors including Index Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Work-Bench, and others. An equal list of impressive customers they’ve served includes Humana and Plaid, among others.

Listen and learn

How Adam started his career in AI
How he helped map out Capital One’s early AI strategy
The value of evaluating AI model performance
How Arthur launched its first LLM-specific product and what the team learned
How to monitor the performance of an LLM model in production and which questions to ask when evaluating it
The lessons from growing a startup that nobody talks about

References in this episode…

Arthur’s website - https://www.arthur.ai/

Sean Behr, serial entrepreneur and Fountain CEO, discusses the ethical implications of using AI in hiring Jan 11, 2024

Sean Behr is the CEO of Fountain, the company transforming the hiring process for hourly workers. Sean and the team have helped more than 80M applicants in 75 countries at places like Stitch Fix, sweetgreen, and gopuff. Fountain has raised $225M to date most recently through a $100M series C last June from an amazing list of investors including B Capital Group, SoftBank, DCM, and Uncork Capital.

Sean joined Fountain as CEO in 2020 after founding fleet infrastructure platform Stratim, serving as SVP of Adap.tv through its acquisition by AOL, and holding various management roles at Shopping.com.

Listen and learn...

How Sean is creating opportunities for frontline workers around the world
What's uniquely challenging about hiring frontline vs. knowledge workers
How long before robots will replace human frontline workers
The ethical implications of using AI in hiring
What biases are embedded in the hiring process... without AI
Why the future of hiring... is more human thanks to AI

References in this episode...

Subha Tatavarti, Wipro CTO, shares what a tech titan with 250k employees has learned about gen AI demand from 1,400+ enterprise customers Jan 08, 2024

Wipro is one of the largest providers of tech and tech services in the world with more than 250,000 employees. It was started in 1945 and is now the third largest software company in India with a market cap of more than $27B.

We're lucky to be joined today by the leader driving Wipro's technology vision. Subha Tatavarti joined Wipro as Chief Technology Officer in March 2021 after a distinguished career in tech leadership roles at companies like Walmart and PayPal where she led the product, data, and infrastructure teams. Subha holds a Masters in Computer Science. She's an avid hiker and enjoys trail running and books on philosophy.

Listen and learn...

What Wipro's 1,400+ enterprise customers expect from gen AI
What are the top use cases for enterprise AI in 2024
Why the quality of AI-generated code has surprised Subha
One year in... how does Subha describe the state of enterprise adoption of gen AI
What is holding back broader adoption of gen AI
Why regulatory frameworks alone are sufficient to reign in the bad actors
Early adopting industries and geographies you wouldn't expect
Subha's advice to CIOs and CTOs about how to pick the right business problem to solve with AI
Subha's vision for the future of human interaction

References in today's episode...

Wade Foster, Zapier co-founder and CEO, discusses the journey from intern to $5B unicorn Jan 01, 2024

We've had amazing unicorn CEOs recently on this podcast but today's a first. Wade Foster, CEO and co-founder of Zapier grew his company to a $5B valuation in 2021 on a $1.3M raise in 2012. Let that sink in. The power of product-market fit and listening to your customers is impossible to overstate.

Wade and his co-founders Bryan and Mike launched Zapier in 2012 as part of the YC S12 batch.

The company has grown to more 800 employees in 40 countries and the product is used by 2.2M businesses and integrates more than 5,000 apps that have been used to create more than 25 million zaps, or automated workflows.

Listen and learn...

Wade's humble path from an internship in Columbia, MO... to a $5B unicorn
A simple problem: the Zapier origin story
The Zap that started it all...
Voice-first Zaps? Maybe!
The future of the "citizen developer"... no-code interfaces + enterprise security
Why all the new GenAI apps will create more need for Zaps
The Zapier LLM architecture
How to find product-market fit... from an expert
Creating a company that's a verb: how "Zapier" got its name
Wade reflects on his success and the entrepreneurial journey
What's ahead for Wade and Zapier

References in this episode...

Bruce Feiler, best-selling author, TED celebrity, TV personality, and New York Times columnist, discusses navigating life transitions Dec 18, 2023

BRUCE FEILER is one of America’s most thoughtful voices on contemporary life. He is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including LIFE IS IN THE TRANSITIONS, THE SECRETS OF HAPPY FAMILIES, and COUNCIL OF DADS. His three TED Talks have been viewed more than four million times, and he teaches the TED Course HOW TO MASTER LIFE TRANSITIONS. His latest book, THE SEARCH: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World (May 2023), is a bold new roadmap for finding meaning and purpose at work.

A longtime columnist at the New York Times, Bruce now writes the popular newsletter THE NONLINEAR LIFE. He has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Gourmet, where he won three James Beard Awards. A former circus clown, he has been the subject of a Jay Leno joke and a JEOPARDY! question, and his face appears on a postage stamp in the Grenadines.

Listen and learn...

Bruce's search for meaning in the face of setbacks and challenges
How to reconcile our complicated relationship with work and our personal search for meaning
Bruce's "three lies and a truth about work"
How to identify what brings you meaning
The four historical changes in the nature of work
Why it's important to "ignore the lessons of your parents"
The one thing we know about AI and the future of work

References in this episode...

Josh Drean, co-founder of The Work3 Institute, author, and future of work authority, discusses human-centric employment in the era of AI Dec 11, 2023

We've met future of work visionaries recently like Gary Bolles, Dr. John Boudreau, Mark McCrindle, and Josh Bersin. All have shared unique perspectives on how AI is redefining the employee experience. Today's guest belongs on that Mt. Rushmore of future of work luminaries.

Josh Drean is Co-founder & Director of Employee Experience at The Work3 Institute, AI + Work Advisor at the Harvard Innovation Labs, and Co-author of Employment is Dead (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024)

His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, and The Economist and he has made appearances on The Today Show, NBC, and FOX Business. He speaks internationally to bring work tech insights to digital-first leaders who value human-centric work experiences.

Listen and learn...

How AI is changing our relationship with work
Work 3... vs. work 1 and work 2
How the metaverse is enabling a global talent marketplace
What RTW is doing to the relationship between employees and employers
Why "employment is dead"... but we'll soon enjoy work more as a result
"There are two camps... those who are embracing AI... and those who will become obsolete."
Why employee surveillance is the wrong approach
Why "passion is future-proof"

References in this episode...

Tom Wheeler, former FCC Chairman, CEO, VC, and author of Techlash, discusses how we can take back control from Big Tech Dec 04, 2023

Tom Wheeler served as the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission after being appointed to the role by President Obama in November 2013. His chairmanship has been described as “The most productive Commission in the history of the agency.”

Prior to that, he was a venture capitalist and, among other roles, the CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) where we first met in 2001. He is the only person to be elected to both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame, which led President Obama to proclaim him “the Bo Jackson of telecom.” Additionally, Tom is an award-winning author, a sought after speaker about topics ranging from leadership to net neutrality, and a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution.

Listen and learn:

Why today's Digital Age is reminiscent of the early 20th century Gilded Age
How owners of today's digital pathways make rules that govern privacy and safety
What does history teach us about how can we take back control of our data from Big Tech
How to make capitalism work for everyone
Why AI is triggering an awareness of the impact of Big Tech on our lives
What's different about regulatory models in the digital era
Why we need a new agile, digital-first agency to regulate Big Tech
How to regulate Big Tech without stifling innovation

References in this episode:

Joanne Chen, General Partner at Foundation Capital and popular TEDx speaker, discusses the future of AI investing Nov 27, 2023

Today’s guest is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, one of the most iconic venture capital firms in the world. Foundation has found and funded companies like Netflix, Solana, Jasper, and the list goes on.

Joanne Chen began her investing career at Foundation in 2014 and has sourced and advised an incredible group of companies including Tonkean, Tubi, and CaptivateIQ. Joanne received her BS in EE and CS from Cal and her MBA from the University of Chicago. She's also a popular TEDx speaker.

Today we get a master class on how the best are adapting to one of the most challenging venture investing climates in decades. Joanne and I met on a panel discussion a few months back . I've been looking forward to introducing her to our community.
Listen and learn...

Joanne's perspective on the euphoria surrounding GenAI
What's different about investing in AI post-ChatGPT
Why AI tools are increasing the pace of innovation
The difference between crypto and AI investing
What responsible AI means to Joanne
Joanne's advice to "AI entrepreneurs" pitching venture investors
How long before AI will take Joanne's job

References in this episode...

Josh Bersin, HRTech pioneer, author, and CEO, shares how the best performing teams use AI Nov 20, 2023

Today’s guest is one of the most respected thought leaders in the HR and HRTech space. Josh Bersin’s name is synomous with HR thought leadership. He first started covering the space in 2001 before selling Bersin & Associates to Deloitte in 2012. His current namesake company, The Josh Bersin Company, hosts the popular annual conference Irresistible and is a prolific publisher of content related to the future of work, talent management, corporate learning, and leadership.

Josh is also the author of the popular book Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World's Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations, which was published in 2022. Oh, and he also hosts a great podcast. I always enjoy his candid commentary on HRTech.

Listen and learn...

The single employee behavior that most impacts productivity
What people practice surprised Josh most about what distinguishes leading from lagging companies
How "taking care of people" saved many companies during the pandemic
The HRTech innovation that improves the employee experience most
Why employees took back power from employers... and insisted on better tools
Where are there opportunities to innovate in HRTech
How AI "meets people in the flow of work"
How talent intelligence is assisting HR leaders
Why employees shouldn't feel threatened by AI
Why what Josh calls "organizational ingenuity" is more important than having the best tech skills
The future of work, according to Josh

References in this episode...

Amr Awadallah, CEO of Vectara and co-founder of Cloudera, discusses the future of AI search Nov 13, 2023

Amr and I met on a genAI panel and everything he said was both insightful and contrarian. Immediately, I knew I wanted to introduce him to you. Amr is a legend in the search space who, by the way, also founded Cloudera which went public in 2017 at a valuation of over $5B.

Dr. Amr Awadallah is a luminary in the world of information retrieval. He's the CEO and cofounder of Vectara, a company that is revolutionizing how we find meaning across all languages of the world using the latest advances in Deep Neural Networks, Large Language Models, and Natural Language Processing. He previously served as VP of Developer Relations for Google Cloud. Prior to joining Google in Nov 2019, Amr co-founded Cloudera in 2008 and as Global CTO. He also served as vice president of product intelligence engineering at Yahoo! from 2000-2008. Amr received his PhD in EE from Stanford University, and his Bachelor and Masters Degrees from Cairo University, Egypt.

Listen and learn...

How Amr discovered the power of "talking to software" via LLMs while at Google
About the history of new computing modalities
About the current state of generative AI
The technical explanation for hallucination in LLMs
How do we mitigate bias in LLM models and prevent copyright infringement
Why a semantic understanding of queries is the next frontier in search
The challenge faced by search providers of making money incorporating ads into LLM-based answers
How "grounded search" will fix the hallucination problem
What is a "fact" in the era of ChatGPT?
How long before we have "antivirus sofware for fact-checking" genAI propaganda
How should AI be regulated... and who is responsible for AI regulation
The next big idea in genAI Amr and I are ready to fund
Amr's advice to entrepreneurs... and to himself

References in this episode...

Eric Olson, Consensus CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
D Das, Sorcero CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Seth Earley, Earley Information Science, on AI and the Future of Work
ChatGPT for searching scientific papers

Dr. John Boudreau, future of work pioneer and former Cornell professor, discusses the new definition of work Nov 06, 2023

Dr. John Boudreau is a luminary in the future of work academic community. He has published more than 50 books and articles. His scholarly research is published in Management Science, Academy of Management Executives, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology. Features on his work have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company and Business Week, among others.

Dr. Boudreau helped establish and then directed the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS), at Cornell University, where he was a professor for over 20 years, before his current position as Research Director for the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California.
Thanks to friend of the podcast David Creelman for the intro to Dr. Boudreau!

Listen and learn...

How Dr. Boudreau got his start as an academic in HRTech
What inspired Dr. Boudreau to make work life better for employees everywhere
How Dr. Boudreau defines work (the most enlightened definition we've heard)
How to build high-functioning teams
Why diverse teams don't perform better
How alternative work and workers are redefining the labor force
Why jobs don't equal work and degrees don't equal jobs
What does it mean to be human when your colleague is a bot
Why ATM machines led to more human bank tellers being hired
About the rise of internal talent marketplaces
Which skills AI will never automate

References in this episode...

Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and Soar, discusses how genAI studios launch AI-first companies Oct 30, 2023

Today's guest has been bringing families together online since 1997 when he founded Ancestry.com which has served more than 13 billion profiles, amassed 40 billion people records, and generated over a billion dollars in revenue. He followed that up with FamilyLink which he founded in 2007 and today has more than 50 million users.

For the past several years, Paul Allen has been on a new adventure having founded Soar.com in 2017. He and the team are connecting employees to stories from trusted sources to help them make better, more informed decisions.

Soar indexes millions of hours of video and audio content in domains as diverse as academic lectures, political hearings, and stump speeches. Not surprisingly, he and the team are using AI to make all that content discoverable and accessible.

Paul is a sought after speaker, a director of the Human Justice Foundation, and is one of the most mission-driven entrepreneurs of our generation.

Listen and learn...

Paul's number one business lesson
How Paul "uplifts humanity" with AI
Why the "factory education system" doesn't work
Why AGI won't be the end of civilization
How an AI studio for audio transcription works
The role of CitizenGPT... and why it won't hallucinate
How AI is restoring lost human connections
How to detect and mitigate the danger of deepfake video content using a blockchain
What it means to be an ethical publisher of content in the age of AI
Paul's (not so obvious) secret to success

References in this episode...

Denise Hemke, Chief Product Officer at Checkr and former Workday GM, discusses using AI to reduce bias in the hiring process Oct 23, 2023

Anyone who has ever hired a new employee knows how important and broken the background check process is. The experience is awful for candidates and employers. Plus, it's inherently unfair for under-represented and non-traditional candidates. Imagine a world where hiring the best people is easier and faster and all forms of verification data are provided automatically from trusted sources.

Today's guest is making that vision a reality. Denise Hemke is the Chief Product Officer at Checkr, the amazing company making employee screening more fair for everyone. Checkr has raised nearly $700M since its founding in 2014. Denise heads up product management, design, and program management after having served in various leadership roles at Workday including most recently GM for Analytics. Denise is also the San Francisco chapter lead for the excellent organization Products That Count started by friend of the podcast SC Moatti.

Listen and learn...

How to fix the broken background check process
How to give candidates with non-traditional backgrounds access to the labor force
How technology is making the hiring process more fair and helping workers get paid faster
How to use AI to reduce bias in hiring decisions
How AI used for background checks should be regulated
What Denise learned about building customer communities as a General Manager at Workday

References in this episode...

Tyler Foster, Evolv AI CTO, discusses the future of AI to help brands connect with consumers Oct 16, 2023

AI is here to accelerate the world's creativity. In fact, it's one of the things generative AI does best. Imagine a world where personalized campaigns help products you love find you. Today's guest did just that and he created Evolv AI to help brands connect with customers across all digital channels.

Tyler Foster is the CTO of Evolv AI, a platform that helps brands improve conversion and experiment faster. He started the company with CEO Michael Scharff in 2019 and together they've grown it into an early leader in AI-first digital experimentation having helped brands like Safelite, DirectTV, and Verizon. Prior to Evolv AI, Tyler was the founding CEO and Chief Architect of Senient Systems and an early Software Engineer at Cloudera.

Listen and learn...

How a farmhand and SCUBA diver became an AI developer
How AI is helping brands target consumers
The tradeoff between personalization and data collection
How to eliminate bias in automated decisions
Will AI eliminate creative jobs?
How society needs to adapt to new definitions of work imposed by AI
Why we need to disconnect ideas from tools and processes
What does it mean that we're entering a "post-truth" era?
Why AI is more fair than humans

References in this episode...

Tim Guleri, Managing Director @ Sierra Ventures, discusses what he's looking to fund in gen AI... and what most entrepreneurs get wrong Oct 09, 2023

Tim Guleri has had a remarkable run at Sierra Ventures since 2001. He has invested in transcendent companies including Sourcefire and MakeMyTrip which both went public. Before that, Tim had a successful career as an entrepreneur and exec at companies like Scopus and Octane which was acquired by Epiphany in 2000.

Sierra has one of the strongest future of work and AI portfolios that includes companies like Paro, Krisp, and SupportLogic which acquired Emtropy Labs which was founded by great former guest Harish Batlapenamurthy. In full disclosure, Sierra and I are both investors in ArmorCode.
Listen and learn...

Why the most successful venture investors were previously entrepreneurs
Tim's thesis for investing in gen AI customer journey company Simulate
How Tim identifies "gen AI whitewashing" when hearing pitches
Why gen AI is more than just another platform shift
How gen AI startups can beat Big Tech incumbents
Why all companies are ultimately "financial products"
Sierra's primary data from CIOs: "...they're spending money on use cases that unlock employee productivity"
What Tim means by "build horizontally but execute vertically"
Which jobs AI will eliminate vs. augment
Tim's "one that got away" pitch from his early days at Sierra

References in this episode...

According to CNBC, 69% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with AI that can mimic human thinking
Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work
Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of Work
Sierra Ventures

Adam Nathan, CEO and Founder of Almanac, discusses the future of collaboration for remote teams and how GenAI is improving productivity Oct 02, 2023

We've had interesting conversations about remote-first work with leaders like Jordan Husney, Parabol CEO, and Darren Murph who at the time was the global head of remote work at GitLab (thank you Darren for the intro to Adam). Today's guest has been building a platform to make distributed teams productive since long before it was fashionable. Adam Nathan founded Almanac in January of 2019 to challenge incumbents like Microsoft Office and Google's GSuite.

Since then, he and the team have enabled organizations like Cisco, Credit Karma, and ByteDance to collaborate in shared workspaces.

Adam has raised more than $40M to date across two rounds from a legendary group of investors that includes Floodgate, Tiger Global, and General Catalyst. Prior to Almanac, Adam did his undergrad at Duke and he received his MBA from Harvard. He's also an active volunteer for The Salvation Army.

Listen and learn...

How being a product manager at Apple and Lyft inspired Adam to start a company to avoid wasting time at work
What's unique about remote-first work
Why remote teams need structure and transparency to be productive
How to eliminate time wasted in meetings without losing opportunities to build trusted relationships
How to charge for new LLM features in SaaS products
Why we tolerate LLM hallucinations
Where there's a gap in the market for a better collaboration experience
What Adam has learned from his entrepreneurial journey

References in this episode...

Jordan Husney from Parabol on AI and the Future of Work
Darren Murph from GitLab on AI and the Future of Work
Why we need to shut down AI development to prevent AGI
Almanac.io

Durga Malladi, Qualcomm SVP and GM and "Godfather of 5G", discusses the future of AI in mobile tech Sep 25, 2023

Durga Mulladi is the SVP & GM for Technology Planning & Edge Solutions at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., the iconic company best known for enabling cell phones via its CDMA technology and chipsets that were first demonstrated in 1985. Durga has been an integral part of Qualcomm's growth having spent nearly 26 years there in various technology leadership roles.

He holds 578 patents, is a senior member of IEEE, received his PhD in '98 from UCLA, and was awarded Qualcomm's IP excellence award. Durga's list of accolades and accomplishments goes on for days. We're all fortunate to learn from a wireless pioneer and true tech legend.
Listen and learn...

Durga's insights from more than 25 years pioneering wireless technology
An insider's view of Qualcomm's formula for success
How networks and chips enabled the birth of the smartphone
Qualcomm's AI roadmap
How soon we can expect LLMs running locally on phones
How AI takes advantage of the unique capabilities of 5G networks
How to figure out what transactions happen on the device vs. in the cloud
How LLM fine-tuning may soon happen on the edge of the network or on the device
What size LLMs can be run locally while managing power consumption
How to improve consumer trust in LLMs

References in this episode...

May Habib, CEO of Writer, discusses LLMs and the future of co-pilots for content generation Sep 18, 2023

In 2020 when today's guest founded her company the transformer architecture was relatively new and OpenAI was a science experiment funded by Elon Musk to ensure that AGI benefits all humanity. She and her team commercialized an early version of a co-pilot for writing content long before we appreciated the value of next-word prediction.

Since then, May Habib and the team have raised $21M from an exceptional group of investors including Insight Partners and Gradient Ventures. Today, Writer helps company authors comply with style and brand guidelines and also ensure grammatical accuracy. It's used by an amazing list or organizations including Spotify, Intuit, and Uber.

Prior to Writer, May co-founded Qordoba and was a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum after graduating from Harvard with a BA in Economics.

Listen and learn...

How May got her start in NLP
What enterprise leaders don't understand about the current state of generative AI
How to speak to your data using LLMs
Why Writer uses graph databases instead of vector databases for generative AI
How Writer mitigates the impact of bias, copyright infringement, and halluciations when using LLMs
How AI is being used to replace tasks people hate... without eliminating jobs
How AI helps users with neurodiversity issues like ADHD
How May navigated a tough company pivot

References in this episode...

Mona Akmal, Falkon CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Alex Capecelatro, Josh.ai CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Making the web more accessible with AI for those with disabilities

Pete Erickson, Modev founder, shares how he built the world's largest community for conversational AI enthusiasts Sep 11, 2023

Today's guest created one of the largest communities for conversational AI and generative AI enthusiasts. Pete Erickson is the founder of Modev which hosts the popular VOICE & AI conference and also others including the GovAI Summit.
Pete started the company back in 2009 and has since produced over 150 events across 89 countries that have connected more than 125,000 people. Pete and the team have created communities for tech companies like Samsung and Amazon. Today, we get a glimpse into the mind of a great entrepreneur who is focused on making AI education accessible to everyone.
Listen and learn...

How Modev went from a few people in a pizza shop... to a conversational AI event with more than 1,000 attendees
How Modev trained developers to build Alexa skills... in 2009
How new AI regulation is impacting the generative AI developer community
How Pete would regulate generative AI
About Sam Altman's request to Congress for OpenAI to be regulated
Should we expect AI vendors to regulate themselves?
What we can learn from GDPR in Europe about forthcoming AI regulation
How AI will transform the entertainment industry
Which jobs will be replaced by AI... and which ones are future-proof
What big news Pete will be announcing at the Voice & AI conference

References in this episode...

Nick Adams, Managing Partner at Differential Ventures, discusses how to get your generative AI startup funded Sep 04, 2023

Entrepreneurs wonder what it’s like to be a VC. And VCs without an operating background often don’t understand the grit required to turn an idea into a successful business. The best investors have been successful operators first.

Today’s guest is one of those. Nick Adams founded Differential Ventures in 2017 to invest in B2B, data-first seed-stage companies. Since then, Nick and the team have invested in an impressive group of companies including Private AI, Ocrolus, and Agnostiq.

Before Differential, Nick helped grow companies like OPower and RAGE Frameworks in sales, marketing, and product leadership roles. Today we get to learn about how to innovate and grow a startup when the product is a venture fund.

Listen and learn...

How being an investor and entrepreneur are similar
The most outrageous pitch Nick has heard... and how it involved porn
How being a baseball player trained Nick to be a venture capitalist
Nick's advice for what to do after closing a big sales deal
Where there are opportunities for generative AI entrepreneurs to get funded
How AI is being used to design circuit boards
Nick's most recent investment... and what made him decide to write the check
What Nick is telling Congress we need to do to regulate AI

References in this episode...

Why generative AI is desperately in need of regulation
Metafold, new Differential investment
Dan Grunfeld from Lightspeed on AI and the Future of Work

SPECIAL EPISODE: Vijay Tella, CEO of unicorn Workato, launches his book "The New Automation Mindset" here on the podcast Aug 29, 2023

Vijay Tella is an enterprise software legend having founded unicorn and Cloud100 company Workato nearly a decade ago after an amazing run as the founding SVP of Engineering at TIBCO and CEO of Qik which was acquired by Skype.

Vijay is a visionary leader who has raised more than $400M and built a team of nearly 1,000 employees. Workato is a leader in the fast-growing enterprise automation space and the company's customer list reads like the Wall Street Journal including organizations like Adobe, Atlassian, Coca-Cola, and Walmart to name a few.

Vijay's latest achievement is his book The New Automation Mindset - launching today on this podcast - in which he and his co-authors put the current generative AI euphoria into historical context and provide timely insights and case studies.

Thanks to great former guest Carter Busse, Workato CIO, for the intro to Vijay.

Listen and learn...

How Vijay got his start as a "digital plumber" at TIBCO and Oracle
What Vijay learned about enterprise software delivering a consumer app at Qik
How modern tools democratize access to automating work
Vijay's advice to leaders about what to automate first
Why "replacing people with AI is the wrong approach"
How Workato is incorporating generative AI into its product
How AI is required to get the full benefit of automation
What jobs will replace those eliminated by automation

References in this episode...

Christopher Penn, co-founder and Chief Data Scientist at TrustInsights.ai, discusses the state of generative AI Aug 28, 2023

Christopher Penn writes one of the few newsletters I read weekly. I have no idea how I ended up on his mailing list but I’ll never opt out despite the rainbow “Unsubscribe here” buttons he prominently displays.

Christopher provides well-researched, thought-provoking commentary on all topics related to generative AI. Like recent guests Pradeep Menon and Ken Wenger Christopher doesn’t settle for soundbite-level commentary and he often shares unpopular opinions backed up with data.

Christopher is the Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at TrustInsights.ai. He’s a six-time IBM Champion in IBM Data and AI, a Brand24 Top 100 Digital Marketer, an Onalytica Top 100 AI in Marketing influencer, and co-host of the award-winning Marketing Over Coffee marketing podcast. He is also the author of two dozen marketing books. His list of accolades and accomplishments goes on for days.
Listen and learn...

The number one question Christopher asks data-driven marketers
What has surprised Christopher most about the capabilities of LLMs
Why the letter to pause AI was "dumb"
The right way to remove bias and hate speech from LLMs
Open source vs. closed source AI... and how it's related to making pizza
Are we ready for AI vendors to censor content?
Christopher's predictions for how all enterprise software will incorporate generative AI
Why Christopher continues to hone his bow and arrow skills

References in this episode...

Pradeep Menon on AI and the Future of Work
Ken Wenger on AI and the Future of Work
Tiernan Ray on AI and the Future of Work
Christopher's (entertaining and informative!) newsletter
DreamGPT... to glorify LLM hallucinations
The bots aren't sentient!

Chris Fernandez, founding CEO of EnsoData, solves your sleep problems... with AI Aug 21, 2023

About 54 million Americans and 936 million patients globally suffer from sleep apnea and 80% of cases go undiagnosed. Today’s guest is fixing that problem.

Chris Fernandez co-founded EnsoData in June 2015 to use AI to make sleep studies more efficient, cost effective, and accurate.

Since then, he and the team have raised more than $30M from an exceptional group of investors including Zetta Venture Partners, M25 Ventures, and Inspire Medical Systems.

Chris received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Biomedical and Medical Engineering. He also wrote one of the most thoughtful perspectives on the entrepreneurial journey when he handed over the reigns to new CEO Justin Mortara last November. At 8,200 words, it may also be one of the longest.

Listen and learn...

What led Chris to care about solving sleep problems
How EnsoData overcame being "a solution in search of a problem"
How AI and machine learning can be applied to sleep apnea
How being incubated by Y Combinator helped launch EnsoData
How to use brainwaves to train AI models to diagnose sleep issues
When we'll get "smart rooms" that adjust the environment to optimize for healthy sleep
How Chris and the team control for the impact of AI bias
How to improve the quality of your sleep... from an expert
What led Chris to replace himself as CEO

References in this episode...

Jim McKenna, serial CIO and LegalTech expert, discusses innovation and leadership Aug 14, 2023

We’ve had interesting recent discussions about AI and the law with great guests like Robert Plotkin. And we’ve had many interesting conversations about AI with CIO legends like Mark Settle from Okta and Carter Busse from Workato to name a few. In over 200 episodes we haven’t yet discussed how to deliver IT service to the legal industry.

Jim McKenna has been delivering technology to attorneys and coaching others who do the same for more than two decades. In his current role at perennial Silicon Valley top law firm Fenwick & West, Jim supports an organization of more than 1,000 employees as CIO. He oversees teams that manage IT and security and is first and foremost a thought leader for the business. Prior to Fenwick, Jim held similar roles at Morrison and Forester. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Legal Technology Association.

Thanks to Xavier, unsung hero and Fenwick IT specialist, for helping with A/V issues.

Listen and learn...

What's unique about delivering IT and security service to lawyers
How the legal industry shifted to work from home during the pandemic
What's ahead for LegalTech
Where there are opportunities for AI to predict future employee needs
How Jim keeps up with security and compliance requirements... while innovating
Jim's leadership advice: "Prepare in advance so when the tough occurs you're not afraid!"

References in this episode...

Kit Colbert, VMware SVP and CTO, discusses 20 years of tech innovation and what's ahead for generative AI Aug 07, 2023

Today’s guest has had a front row seat for every technology platform shift for the past 20+ years. More important, he has played an important role in enabling several of them.

Kit Colbert joined tech stalwart VMware in September 2003 and currently serves as senior vice president and chief technology officer. He is responsible for ensuring VMware’s long term technology leadership through research and innovation programs. Kit manages the VMware Engineering Services team, advanced R&D initiatives, the Design/UX team and the company’s ESG commitments.

Kit was previously VMware’s Cloud CTO, General Manager of VMware’s Cloud-Native Apps business, CTO for VMware’s End-User Computing Business, and the lead architect for the vRealize Operations Suite.

Kit is a recognized thought-leader on application modernization and multi-cloud trends and a frequent speaker. He holds a bachelor’s of science in computer science from Brown University.
Listen and learn...

How a Silicon Valley stalwart like VMware innovates from the inside
How VMware's founder-led culture continues to influence the company today
How VMware reinvented itself beyond desktop virtualization
Kit's recipe for innovation
Why crypto and AI hype are similar
Kit's perspective on how to regulate AI
VMware's generative AI strategy

References in this episode...

Ron Bodkin, ChainML founder and CEO and ex-Google exec, shares how to ensure AI is used to benefit humanity Jul 31, 2023

Ron Bodkin is a self-described “serial entrepreneur focused on beneficial uses of AI”. Ron founded ChainML in April 2022 to make it easier to integrate AI models into applications. The AI we know today is immature in so many ways and many of them relate to how crude the tooling is for traditional developers building AI-first features.
The ChainML protocol is a cost-efficient, decentralized network built for compute-intensive applications running on blockchain technology. Prior to founding ChainML Ron had a distinguished entrepreneurial career having founded Think Big Analytics before it was eventually acquired by Teradata after which he spent three years in applied AI at Google. Ron is also an active investor and advisor and has degrees in Computer Science from McGill and MIT.
Listen and learn...

What led Ron to focus on how AI can have a positive impact on the world
Why Hinton's right when he says "we've invented a superior form of learning"
Where the current toolstack for building LLM apps is incredibly immature
How to control the cost and performance of LLM apps
Why human brains are inefficient
Why the "effective cost of computing" is being reduced by 50% every year
How we may get to AGI within 20 years
Why proprietary datasets and commercial issues will slow down AI innovation
The right way to regulate AI

References in this episode...

Trent Fitz, Zenoss Chief Product Officer, shares twenty years of observability wisdom... and what's ahead for AIOps Jul 24, 2023

Trent Fitz is the Chief Product Officer at Zenoss after having spent two decades in product and marketing leadership roles at companies like Trustwave and SailPoint.
Trent owns product strategy and marketing at one of the pioneers in the space. Zenoss was founded in 2005 and has continued to reinvent itself. With the advent of generative AI, it’s more relevant than ever.
We’ve explored the topics of service assurance and monitoring in the past with great guests like Colin Fletcher who coined the term AIOps while at Gartner and Gareth Rushgrove from Snyk who publishes the popular DevOps Weekly newsletter.

The field of monitoring is evolving rapidly as new architecture patterns emerge and the data exhaust they generate continues to increase.

Listen and learn...

Trent's history lesson in system monitoring
The role of AI in monitoring and operations
Trent's perspective on the evolution of monitoring tool sprawl
What is AIOps vs. observability, monitoring, or event management
How service-centric monitoring is essential for dynamic apps based on microservices
The difference between generation one and two AIOps
Where are manual rules insufficient and real AI is needed to monitor apps
How LLMs are being used to improve observability
Why Big Cloud won't own monitoring of cloud-native apps
Will there be a time when AI will replace DevOps engineers?

References in this episode...

Jad Tarifi, Integral AI CEO and former Google Research team lead, shares how to train AI to reason like humans Jul 17, 2023

Today's guest is one of the pioneers in generative AI having spent nine years at Google Research building teams that developed breakthrough technologies that led to innovations like the transformer architecture behind ChatGPT.
Jad Tarifi co-founded Integral AI in 2021 after a distinguished career in AI roles as a researcher and leader. He received his PhD in Computer Science and AI from the University of Florida and did his undergrad at the University of Waterloo.

Thanks to great former guest and friend of the podcast Hina Dixit from Samsung NEXT for the intro to Jad.

Listen and learn:

Can machines learn common sense? Do humans have common sense?
Why Integral AI is providing a “base model for the world”
Can machines ever learn as quickly as humans?
How to improve the efficiency of LLMs with better algorithms
Why the current transformer architecture is poorly designed for next word prediction
How to use AI and robotics to create “magic wands” and “crystal balls”
How to use AI to do “science at scale”
What are the ethical implications of bots that can change the human life span
How AGI is related to objective morality
Jad’s four tenets of a new definition of “freedom”

References in this episode…

Integral.ai
Blake Lemoine and the “sentience” debate
Podcastle, generative AI for podcasts (a technology nobody needs)

Rodrigo Liang, SambaNova CEO, shares how he raised more than $1B to launch and grow the first generative AI unicorn Jul 10, 2023

Today’s guest is one of the original AI-first entrepreneurs. SambaNova paved the way for generations of other companies including today’s generative AI cohort. Rodrigo Liang, CEO, and his team have raised more than a billion dollars from a legendary group of investors including Temasek, BlackRock, GV, and Walden International.

The original vision for SambaNova’s chip architecture and software products came from work his co-founders did at Stanford’s famous AI Lab. Today, SambaNova has embraced generative AI and is again leading the industry. Before founding SambaNova, Rodrigo held senior leadership roles at Oracle and Sun after having received his masters and bachelors degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford.

Listen and learn…

Why AI will be bigger than the internet
How SambaNova migrated from designing AI chip architectures to software
How to build your own LLM like ChatGPT
Where there are opportunities for companies beyond NVIDIA in the AI chip space
What will lead to the “trough of disillusionment” for AI
What are adjacent opportunities for AI outside chat that are at the early stages of maturity
How every knowledge worker will soon benefit from an AI personal assistant
How to address the problem of popular LLMs being trained mostly on English content
Why we’re in the “Linux moment for AI”
What contributes to the cost and complexity of training new LLMs
What is fine-tuning and how does it work

References in this episode…

Karl Mosgofian, CIO of unicorn Gainsight, shares his journey to $200M ARR and how AI is helping the organization grow Jul 03, 2023

We’ve interviewed some legendary CIOs including Mark Settle from Okta (a repeat guest), Reza Nazeman from SAP Concur, and, more recently, Carter Busse from Workato.

We’re joined by another unicorn CIO today, Karl Mosgofian. Karl has helped grow Gainsight to more than $200M ARR and 1,200 employees. He has been leading the IT organization for nearly six years after having spent time at Harmonic, Apple, and Cadence Design.

Thanks to friend of the podcast Carter Busse for the intro to Karl.
Listen and learn...

How Karl's role has changed since he joined Gainsight as a startup six years ago
Why it's hard for CIOs to "just keep the lights on"
How Karl navigates the duel role of enabling the business to innovate with technology while making sure teams stay focused on solving business problems
How Karl formulated the Gainsight employee ChatGPT policy
Why ChatGPT won't replace the help desk
Karl's advice to vendors embedding AI in their products
How Karl partners with his CISO and legal team to establish policies for LLM usage
How Gainsight is using AI internally to improve productivity
All about the quirky culture at Gainsight

References in this episode...

Robert Plotkin, popular author and expert in AI IP law, discusses regulation for LLMs and legal advice for entrepreneurs Jun 26, 2023

No field is being upended as much as the legal profession. We’re all confused about how content generated by AI will be protected under the law and many lawyers are also asking how relevant they’ll be in a world where large language models can pass the bar and do legal research.

Robert Plotkin is a luminary in the software patent space having been in the field for 25 years and having been involved in important IP cases related to everything from AI to quantum computing to autonomous vehicles and speech recognition.

Robert also published the book Genie in the Machine back in 2009 which amazingly foreshadowed the legal implications of AI on IP. Robert has lectured at the Boston University School of Law and received his undergrad in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT.

Listen and learn...

How we should regulate LLMs... from an expert
What entrepreneurs most often don't understand about IP law
Who has the rights to the inputs to LLMs?
Can work derived from LLMs be patented?
Is AI-generated work subject to copyright laws?
What surprised Bill Gates when he saw GPT-4
Is there an AI winter up ahead?

References in this episode...

Pradeep Menon, CTO at Microsoft's digital natives division in APAC, demystifies ChatGPT and lets us in on a secret about AI and jobs Jun 19, 2023

Today’s guest is the author of a popular Medium blog where he has recently been dissecting generative AI for technologists. I read his introduction to the transformer architecture and immediately realized our audience needs to meet him. A bit like great recent guest Ken Wenger, Pradeep makes complicated technology accessible.

By day, Pradeep Menon is a CTO at Microsoft's digital natives division in APAC. He has had one of the best ground floor views of generative AI since Microsoft first invested in OpenAI in 2019 and then again in March of this year.

Pradeep was previously in similar roles at Alibaba and IBM. He speaks frequently on topics related to emerging tech, data, and AI to global audiences and is a published author.

Listen and learn...

What surprises Pradeep most about the capabilities of LLMs
What most people don't understand about how LLMs like GPT are trained
The difference between prompting and fine-tuning
Why ChatGPT performs so well as a coding co-pilot
How RLHF works
How Bing uses grounding to mitigate the impact of LLM hallucinations
How Pradeep uses ChatGPT to improve his own productivity
How we should regulate AI
What new careers AI is creating

References in this episode...

Ken Wenger on AI and the Future of Work
Pradeep's book Data Lakehouse in Action
D-ID speaking avatars

Will AI eliminate jobs? Hear what best-selling author, futurist, and popular TEDx speaker Mark McCrindle says the data reveals. Jun 12, 2023

We often discuss the technology that is automating the future of work. We perhaps don’t spend enough time talking about the human element - what it’s like being an employee whose career may be at risk or whose employer may not share her values. The future of work is about employers embracing the humanness of every employee and creating safe places.

Mark McCrindle is a best-selling author, futurist, demographer, and popular TEDx speaker who is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost social researchers. He works with senior leaders to help them devise strategies for making their products and services future-proof. He’s also the host of The Future Report, a podcast featuring the themes of his social research.
Listen and learn...

How work culture directly impacts employee productivity
How to measure the quality of employee experiences
How the mining industry attracts and retains workers... and how AI may replace traditional roles
Should humans feel threatened by AI?
Mark's advice to young leaders
Why Mark says "we're made for work"... but that doesn't necessarily require an exchange of time for money
How human relationships with machines will always be different than human relationships with each other
Why the culture in Sydney is uniquely favorable for entrepreneurs

References in this episode...

Exploring AI's impact on humanity: A conversation with author, philosopher, and futurist Gary F. Bengier Jun 05, 2023

What does it mean to be human when your colleague's a bot? Can AI ever truly understand us? This week, we're thrilled to welcome Gary F Bengier, eBay's first CFO and author of the award-winning novel, Unfettered Journey, as we dive into the future of work and the role of AI. Gary's background in Silicon Valley and his understanding of AI and technology make him the perfect guest to shed light on the ethical implications of AI, the potential impact of large language models on business, and the crucial differences between symbolic software and large language models.
As we unpack the World Economic Forum's prediction that AI will generate 97 million new jobs while eliminating 85 million in the next three years, Gary and I contemplate the implications of machines and humans working together. We discuss the possibility that robots could eventually build robot factories, detaching the output of the economic system from labor hours, and explore the question of sentience in the age of advanced technology. Join us for an important conversation and peer into the mind of one of the great philosophers and technologists of our time.
Oh, and learn what Gary says is a better definition for the acronym "LLM" :).
References in this episode:

Daniel Davila, CEO of Divisadero Pictures and tech strategist for Disney, Microsoft, and Comcast, discusses AI and the entertainment industry May 29, 2023

The current Hollywood writers strike is the highest profile example of shifting dynamics in the entertainment industry. Studios are spending less to produce more content. Fees paid to writers have plummeted. Generative AI is only accelerating the trend. This has profound implications for the future of storytelling.

Today’s guest is an expert in the entertainment industry having founded Divisadero Pictures in 2011 to advise entertainment companies from Disney to Comcast to Microsoft on strategy and finance topics. Daniel Davila received his MFA from USC and his MBA from Stanford.

For historical perspective, today is only the second episode in more than 190 where we’ve discussed AI and the future of the work in the entertainment industry. For long-time listeners the last time was episode 87 back in April 21 with Michael Solomon and Rishon Blumberg, authors of Game Changer: How to be 10x in the Talent Economy, who managed Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer in a previous life.

Thank you to friend of the podcast Matthew Perez for the introduction to Daniel.

Listen and learn...

The history of media consumption patterns
The economics of the entertainment industry
How AI is changing the entertainment industry
How Daniel used generative AI tools to write a 70-page movie script
Daniel's pitch to Francis Ford Coppola about the role of AI in movie-making
The impact of streaming on media production and consumption
The bias inherent in text to image tools like Midjourney

References in this episode...

Guru Banavar, founding CTO of Viome and former VP of IBM Watson AI, discusses the future of personalized healthcare using AI and your microbiome May 22, 2023

Guru Banavar is the founding CTO of Viome where he helped raise $150M from a list of top-tier investors including Khosla Ventures and Bold Capital Group. Viome offers insights into health and disease using host and microbiome gene expression. Guru led the development of a first-of-a-kind saliva-based early detection system for oral and throat cancers which won the FDA’s designation as a breakthrough device.

Prior to Viome, Guru was a global VP & Chief Science Officer at IBM and the founding VP of the Watson AI Research team.

Guru has received many awards including a Leadership in Technology Management Award and a National Innovation Award from the President of India. He has published extensively and holds more than 35 US patents. His work has been featured in media outlets including the New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, BBC, and NPR.

Listen and learn…

Why our healthspan is more important than our lifespan
How DNA to RNA transcription determines your health state
How to sequence your mRNA to understand how to optimize your diet and predict disease risk
What AI techniques can be used to develop personalized treatments
How to use data that varies across patients to make automated decisions for all patients
How Guru thinks about false positive prescriptions as a scientist when health and safety are at stake
Where the FDA is regulating how AI is used to make healthcare recommendations
Why it’s impossible to know the best diet for you without first understanding the composition of your microbiome
How to use biomarkers to turn your biological fingerprint into a data problem
Guru’s perspective on the ethical and philosophical implications of extending the healthspan
How digital twins will help perfect the ability to engineer biology

References in this episode…

Dr. Hyde, CEO and co-founder of Atropos Health, and Dr. Halamka, Mayo Clinic Platform President, discuss the future of AI in healthcare May 15, 2023

Today’s guests are using machine learning to turn real world data from past interactions into insights. Dr. Hyde is the co-founder and CEO of Atropos Health which has commercialized the insights exchange for healthcare.
Dr. Hyde raised a $14M series in August 2022 from an exceptional group of investors including Breyer Capital and Emerson Capital.
Dr. Hyde is joined by an early user of Atropos, Dr. John Halamka, President of the Mayo Clinic Platform. Dr. Halamka has been developing and implementing healthcare information strategy and policy for more than 25 years. He specializes in artificial intelligence, the adoption of electronic health records and the secure sharing of healthcare data for care coordination, population health, and quality improvement. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020.

For AI and the Future of Work trivia buffs this is one of only three episodes we’ve recorded with multiple guests. The last one with Tooso founders Ciro Greco and Jacopo Tagliabue was one of our most memorable.

Listen and learn...

Why ChatGPT shouldn't be used for medical diagnoses
How Atropos uses healthcare data from the Mayo Clinic Platform combined with AI to assist caregivers
How to use AI to automate the research that can otherwise takes weeks or months
How the lack of access to data-driven recommendations leads to dangerous patient outcomes
Who is responsible when AI makes a bad decision that adversely impacts a patient
How to use NLP to remove PII to make it usable by AI (and certify data hygiene)
The challenges of managing patient data at scale in a way that complies with HIPAA regulations

References in this episode...

Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge, discusses how generative AI is fixing the biggest problem faced by doctors May 08, 2023

Dr. Shiv Rao is a cardiologist, teacher, former corporate VC, and the CEO of an exciting company that is changing how doctors help patients. Dr. Rao started Abridge in March 2018 to solve one of the biggest problems in healthcare. He has since raised $27M most recently in a $12.5M series A extension last August from leading investors including Bessemer, Union Square, Wittington Ventures, and legendary AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio.

Today we explore what happens when AI automates the error-prone task of doctors taking notes during patient visits. It’s easy to imagine a world where quality of ilife improves because doctors are present, focused on patient outcomes, and able to develop more genuine, human relationships while AI automates everything else.

Listen and learn…

How much of a doctor’s time is spent not focused on patient care
How AI can replace “pajama time” for doctors… and reduce burnout
Why doctors require a 27-hour work day to deliver the quality of care patients expect
How to use generative AI to assist doctors to capture better notes
Who is responsible when AI makes mistakes that lead to incorrect diagnoses for patients
Why AI won’t replace doctors… but doctors using AI may replace doctors not using it
How Abridge reduces the risk of generative AI hallucinations
How a design thinking lecture changed Dr. Rao’s life

References in this episode…

Guillermo Corea, Managing Director at SHRM, discusses HRTech and how AI is helping employees May 01, 2023

Guillermo Corea is the Managing Director of the SHRM Workplace Innovation Lab and Venture Capital initiatives. He joined SHRM in 2015. He and his team are focused on finding and cultivating technologies that will impact the future of work. Guillermo’s team organizes the SHRM Better Workplaces Challenge Cup and Workplace Tech Accelerator plus they lead the organization’s impact investing program. Guillermo is a vocal leader in the HRTech community.

This was a fun one because we got to record in person at SHRMTech 2023 in San Francisco. Only our fifth live recording in more than 190 episodes!

Listen and learn...

How HR teams should drive workplace innovation
Which Shark Tank shark is judging the Better Workplaces Challenge Cup
How SHRM Labs connects tech entrepreneurs with HR leaders
Why the CHRO is the most strategic exec in the C-suite
How the pandemic and an aging employee population are creating opportunities for HRTech
The technology Guillermo says will change work most in the next decade
How to confront the problem of biased algorithms making HR decisions
Why the HR blockchain will replace background check vendors
The HRTech company Guillermo is ready to fund!

References in this episode...

Daniel Marcous, founder and CTO of April and former CTO of Waze, discusses the future of AI to do your taxes Apr 24, 2023

Daniel Marcous comes to fintech from an unconventional background. Before co-founding April he was the CTO for the Waze product at Google, the social traffic app originally called FreeMap Israel that was acquired by Google in 2013 for $1.3B. Daniel started his career as a data scientist in the Israeli Defense Force and actively gives back to the Israeli Data Science community through involvement with DataHack, DataLearn, and KaggleIL.
Listen and learn...

What Daniel learned at Google and Waze about scaling AI
Why an Israeli data scientist left Google to start a company automating tax filing for Americans
Why doing taxes is like finding the best route on a map
Why continuous tax planning is the future of personal finance
How to manage consumer data responsibly... and still use it to train AI models
Why the U.S. tax code is so complicated
Why ChatGPT will never do your taxes
When AI will replace CPAs
Daniel's favorite cocktail

References in this episode...

Artem Korem, co-founder and CPO at Sembly AI, discusses how AI for voice transcription is fixing the meeting problem Apr 17, 2023

Artem Koren, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Sembly AI, started the company in January 2019 to bring the power of AI to online meetings.
Artem and his team developed an app that listens in on virtual meetings and does all the note-taking for you including recommending action items and suggesting the most important topics. These are hard AI problems to solve and Sembly’s success is an indication they’re off to a great start.

Before Sembly, Artem was an executive and co-founder at companies including Neusana and Visual Trading Systems and he spent time as a manager in big company land at Ernst & Young.

Listen and learn...

Why Artem and his co-founder decided to fix the problem of broken meetings
Why the evolution of online meetings… is like the evolution of airplanes
Why we’ll soon send AI agents to attend meetings on our behalf
When meetings are required… and how to make them more efficient
How neural nets are solving traditional voice transcription problems related to accents and background noise
How to solve the problem of automatically determining who said what in a conversation
How Sembly uses generative AI to summarize meetings
What are the risks of having AI decide what tasks to assign to meeting participants
How to prevent sensitive information from being passed to large language models as training data

References in this episode...

Bradley Metrock, CEO of Project Voice and VC, discusses the future of generative AI and voice assistants Apr 10, 2023

Today’s guest is one of the most recognized investors and thought leaders in the conversational AI community. Bradley Metrock is the CEO of Project Voice, author of the popular Substack newsletter This Week in Voice with more than 30,000 subscribers, and a General Partner at Project Voice Capital Partners. Congrats to Bradley and the team on their recent announcement of their new rolling fund.

Bradley’s a proud citizen of the Volunteer State of Tennessee. Fair warning: you may be ready to move to Chattanooga after today’s conversation. Oh, and he’s also an ironman in the world of podcasting having just launched season eight of This Week in Voice, a podcast he launched in 2017. We’re on about episode 180 of this podcast going back to 2019 so I admire Bradley’s stamina.

Listen and learn…

Where there’s opportunity for entrepreneurs to innovate in conversational AI
How conversational AI is changing quick serve restaurants, contact centers, banking, and hospitality
How Bradley evaluates new pitches at Project Voice Capital Partners
How Bradley defines voice technology in his market map
Is voice the new app… or perhaps the “original app”
Why generative AI is so disruptive
Should we be concerned about voice assistants like Siri and Alexa listening in on our conversations
What jobs will AI create over the next decade
Bradley sells the great state of Tennessee to entrepreneurs establishing roots outside a coastal state

References in this episode...

Dr. Lance Eliot describes the risk of sharing your data with ChatGPT
Applied Brain Research, a Project Voice Capital Partners investment
Bradley’s voice technology market map
The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
Project Voice 2023

Ken Wenger, automation safety expert and author of "A Layperson's Guide to AI," discusses generative AI and how neural nets work Apr 03, 2023

Ken Wenger is the author of the forthcoming book Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us?: A Layperson’s Guide to the Concepts, Math, and Pitfalls of AI. I’ve been reading it and it is excellent.Ken is a deep thinker and a great writer. He’s also the senior director of research and innovation at CoreAVI and chief technology officer at Squint AI.
His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and determinism, enabling neural networks to execute in safety critical systems. Kenneth has co-authored two articles in the scholarly journal Machine Learning with Applications and several white papers for different publications, including Embedded Computing Design. He also holds several patents under CoreAVI’s auspices.
Listen and learn...

How neural nets emulate the brain to make decisions
Why we have to be careful when using the term "intelligence" to describe "AI" systems
When Ken trusts machines to make decisions... and when he doesn't
Why LLMs like ChatGPT "hallucinate"
How generative AI replicates human bias
Why Ken feels "if we haven't addressed ethical issues we're not ready to deploy AI solutions"
What AI explainability is and why it's important

References in this episode...

Bob Rogers, AI expert, physicist, author, and CEO of Oii.ai, discusses what it was like to co-author a book with ChatGPT Mar 27, 2023

Bob Rogers, AI pioneer, entrpreneur, and author, started Oii in 2019 to automate supply chain design. The company uses advanced modeling and AI to optimize supply chain planning and automate the configuration of complex networks. Bob started his career as a Harvard physicist using neural networks to measure activity near black holes in deep space.
During his 35 year career Bob has been a trailblazer in using AI to solve complex problems. He’s also an Expert in Residence for AI at UCSF Smarter Health and was Chief Data Scientist in the Data Center Group at Intel as well as co-founder and Chief Scientist at Apixio, a Healthcare AI company.
Additionally, he co-authored the books Artificial Neural Networks: Forecasting Time Series and “De-mystifying Big Data and Machine Learning for Healthcare“. Bob received his BA in physics at UC Berkeley and his PhD in physics at Harvard.
Listen and learn...

How neural nets work... from a pioneer
What it was like to co-author a book with ChatGPT
What surprised Bob most when he tested the boundaries of ChatGPT
Why ChatGPT spews credible nonsense
The ethics of using generative AI to sell content derived from copyrighted materials
Why ChatGPT became an instant global phenomenon
How OpenAI trained ChatGPT "to be nice"
Is there another "AI winter" ahead?

References in this episode:

Dr. JP Vasseur, Cisco Fellow, prolific author, and holder of 600 patents, discusses how AI is making networks smart Mar 20, 2023

Cisco got its start in 1984 connecting computers at Stanford University to form the first local area network. Other than maybe Microsoft or Apple, it’s easy to argue Cisco has had more influence on the growth of the internet, and by extension, the modern world, than any other company. 15 years after Cisco started today’s guest was hired to begin what would become a legendary career.

Nearly 25 years later JP Vasseur has changed the world again and again. In the process, he has been recognized as the #1 inventor at Cisco with 600 patents to his name. He has authored or co-authored 35 standards, published three books on internet technologies, and has been recognized as a Cisco Fellow, a prestigious title awarded to the top few most-distinguished technical leaders at the company. Today we learn from a living legend about the past, present, and future of technology.

Listen and learn...

How AI at Cisco has evolved in the past 12 years
Disruptive vs. incremental innovation
How predictive networks learn
The design principle JP used when designing the first predictive network
The challenges of predicting outages using unsupervised vs. supervised machine learning
JP's process for innovating like a startup within Cisco
Innovation in networking we can expect in the next decade
JP's best memory from the early days of Cisco

References in this episode:

Navindra Yadav, CEO and Founder of Theom, discusses how AI is used to prevent data breaches Mar 13, 2023

Navindra Yadav is the co-founder and CEO of Theom, the cloud data security leader. He and the team recently raised a $16M series A from an impressive group of investors including Microsoft’s M12 venture fund and Ridge Ventures. Prior to Theom, Navindra was the founder and CEO at Tetration and prior to that he was a distinguished engineer at Cisco. Navindra’s work has received more than 182 patents.

For full disclosure, Dan is an investor in Theom. Thanks to Patty Hatter, great former guest, for introducing us to Navindra.
Listen and learn...

What CISOs least understand about the security of enterprise data
Why CASBs (Cloud Access Security Brokers) are inherently vulnerable
The hardest technical problem Theom has solved
How to assign a “criticality score” to data
How to use NLP (natural language processing) to detect PII (personally identifiable information)
How to protect from unauthorized data access through social engineering
Why data stores like Snowflake, Databricks, and Confluent don’t already monitor data inappropriately leaving their platforms?
When consumers will be able to trust that data they provide SaaS vendors is secure.
The security startup Navindra and Dan are ready to fund!

References in this episode…

Navindra’s company: Theom.ai
Patty Hatter on AI and the Future of Work
Congressman Ted Lieu on the creation of an “FDA” equivalent to regulate AI

Andi Mann, Sageable CEO and AIOps pioneer, discusses enterprise AI wins and the impact of automation on jobs Mar 06, 2023

We often discuss the future of work for enterprise employees. What technology will they use, how will people and machines interact, and how teams will be organized when geography and language are no longer barriers. Few have spent more time in and around enterprise service management than today’s guest and few are better qualified to share insights about what’s ahead.

Andi Mann has been a technology leader in technology companies around the world since the 90s. He founded Sageable, the digital transformation advisory services practice, in 2015 and has also recently served in roles that include CTO for DevOps at Splunk and VP Products and Strategy at CA which is now part of Broadcom. Andi and I both did time at BMC Software in the early 2000s. Andi is the author of multiple books including The Innovative CIO, he’s a sought after speaker, and tech provocateur who is never shy about what’s wrong with IT and where the world of digital is headed.

Thanks to friend of the podcast Steve Kaplan for the intro to Andi.

Listen and learn…

Why Andi summarizes his career this way: "I make computers do more work to allow people to do more creative things"
The best use of enterprise AI Andi has seen
How Andi helped an industrial transportation company save a billion dollars
Why “less complex systems can’t understand more complex systems”
Why the best use of AI is targeting “known knowns” by augmenting vs. replacing human intelligence
How to overcome the lack of trust in AI
Why AI won’t eliminate any jobs… and why it will create many new ones
Skills to invest in today that will never be replaced by automation

References in this episode...

Dr. Lance Eliot writes about ChatGPT dispensing therapy advice
Colin Fletcher, father of the term “AIOps”, on AI and the Future of Work
Andi’s book “The Innovative CIO"
Andi’s company Sageable

Meredith Broussard, NYU professor, AI ethics authority, and featured expert in Coded Bias, discusses the social implications of AI Feb 27, 2023

Meredith Broussard is one of the most visible, vocal leaders in the emerging field of algorithmic accountability. Professor Broussard is a data scientist and Associate Professor at NYU whose research focuses on AI in investigative reporting and using data analysis for social good. Meredith is the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World and the forthcoming More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech.

Among other things, Professor Broussard was featured in the seminal documentary Coded Bias. Today's discussion is about one of the most important topics in our field and in this episode we explore it with someone whose name is on a shortlist of AI ethics pioneers. You’ve heard me say repeatedly coursework in AI ethics should be required for every student graduating with a technical degree. Here's why!
Listen and learn...

How AI reveals bias encoded in society
Why it's important to always ask "what could go wrong"
What is the new field of "algorithmic accountability reporting"
What the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights may mean for bad acting companies
What's the right role for the federal government in AI regulation
How to assign an "accountability score" to algorithms
The ethical issues related to AI we'll be discussing in a decade

References in this episode...

More Than a Glitch, Professor Broussard's new book... and her "love letter" to an amazing group of women who are pioneers in the emerging field of algorithmic accountability
Professor Broussard's personal website
The racist soap dispenser
Joy Buolamwini's Algorithmic Justice League
Rumman Choudary, formerly head of the META team at Twitter
Cathy O'Neil's ORCAA
The ethical judgments built into generative AI models
Google's "stochastic parrots" debacle
The Agnes Irwin School outside Philadelphia

Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean, Rubrik co-founder, and Google Distinguished Engineer, discusses the future of enterprise search Feb 20, 2023

Arvind Jain, Glean CEO and Rubrik co-founder, started Glean in March 2019 to make it easier to find answers strewn across myriad SaaS apps. Prior to Glean, Arvind had an incredible run at data security company Rubrik which he co-founded in 2014. Prior to Rubrik Arvind was a distinguished engineer at Google. Glean became a unicorn last year having raised $100M in May from a list of iconic investors including Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia.

Enterprise search is one of the best examples of a field that was in desperate need of disruption. In this episode, we meet one of the disruptors.
Listen and learn...

Where there's a gap in traditional search technology including Google
How to retrieve the best answers across hundreds of SaaS apps
How to understand what users need even when they don't know the right way to ask for it
How to use LLMs like ChatGPT to improve search accuracy
How products like Alexa and Siri are teaching us to ask questions using natural language rather than searching with keywords
How to personalize enterprise search without improperly using user data
What is the future of knowledge management

References in this episode...

Parul Saini, Uber's Global Head of Enterprise Apps, shares how AI supports thousands of employees at a rapidly growing global company Feb 13, 2023

Parul Saini has been a technology leader at tech-first companies like Zuora, Splunk, and Uber for more than a decade in roles with increasing responsibility. She has had a birdseye view of AI tech trends and the future of work. In her current role at Uber, her service portfolio includes contact center, employee productivity, and identity management applications.

Today, we learn from an expert how to manage enterprise apps that support thousands of employees for a rapidly growing global company.

Listen and learn...

Why "empathy" is the baseline for IT
How to hire and retain IT talent
How to navigate the dual challenges of being a technology leader and people manager simultaneously
How to use AI to increase the velocity of hiring decisions
Why great CIOs... are also great at sales and marketing
What Parul has learned from Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO, and Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO
One thing only Uber insiders know
Parul's advice for aspiring female IT leaders

References in this episode...

Binny Gill, Founder and CEO of Kognitos, discusses how LLMs like ChatGPT are making us all programmers Feb 06, 2023

Binny Gill started his career as a programmer after studying CS and Engineering at IIT Kanpur and later UIUC, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He then had an impressive eight-year run as a technology leader at Nutanix, the hyper converged infrastructure company, eventually becoming its CTO for cloud services. In January 2021, Binny left Nutanix to start Kognitos based on a bold vision to make everyone a programmer. In this discussion, we learn about his journey and how generative AI just may change everything.

Thanks to Steve Kaplan for the intro to Binny.

Listen and learn:

Binny's inspiration for starting Kognitos: "...why should humans need to think like machines... when machines can now think like humans?"
What makes programming so hard.
Why the future of programming is using natural language to describe the features you want.
How computing interfaces restrict us from communicating like humans when programming.
Why Binny says "generative AI is the new electricity."
The most important leadership lesson Binny learned working alongside iconic leaders at IBM.

References in this episode:

Daphne Jones, best-selling author of "Win When They Say You Won't" and serial CIO, shares advice for anyone who has ever experienced imposter syndrome Jan 30, 2023

Today’s guest belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of amazing female leaders we've interviewed on this podcast. Daphne and I met in November while co-presenting at the HMG Strategy event in New York City. Daphne’s energy is infectious. Her passion for inspiring leaders was obvious on stage and even more obvious when we met afterward. Daphne’s new book Win When They Say You Won’t: Break Through Barriers and Keep Leveling Up Your Success became an instant best seller. Listen to this one and you’ll understand why.

Before becoming an author, Daphne started The Board Curators to help others prepare for serving as paid company directors. She serves on numerous boards including AMN Healthcare and Masonite International. Earlier in her career, Daphne was a serial CIO serving in IT leadership roles at companies including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and GE Healthcare.
Listen and learn...

Daphne's remarkable path from poor kid in rural Illinois to global CIO
How to overcome racial bias as a black female
The subtle ways bias infiltrates organizations
Where imposter syndrome originates... and how to conquer it
How to "version your life" to adopt a growth mindset
How to use Daphne's EDIT process to achieve your goals
Why DEI "won't be a thing any more" in a decade

References in today's episode...

Special episode: Dave Kellogg, serial CEO, investor, and SaaS pioneer, shares his (provocative) tech predictions for 2023 Jan 23, 2023

This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. It’s our third annual long, strange trip into the mind of a Silicon Valley legend.
Dave Kellogg is one of the best marketers, CEOs, tech provocateurs, and board whisperers around. He was an executive at iconic companies like SAP, MarkLogic, and Salesforce turned investor and board director who is now an executive in residence at Balderton Capital.
In this episode, we discuss, well, just about everything that matters for the tech economy… startup growth metrics, generative AI, how to get funded in 2023, and of course our favorite jam band.

Listen and learn:

What Dave got right… and not so right… in his 2022 predictions
How startups can survive downturns
How to fix the problems at Salesforce, Amazon, and Facebook
What single theme will characterize 2023 in Silicon Valley
What will happen to startups that raised massive rounds in 2021
Why virtual companies won’t outperform companies built around hubs in tech centers
What’s ahead for consumption-based pricing and PLG
Why generative AI poses an existential threat to Google

References in this episode:

Carter Busse, CIO of future of work unicorn Workato, shares why it's hard to own technology... at a technology company Jan 16, 2023

Carter Busse has been leading IT organizations for more than two decades. He has been an IT leader at successful, high-growth organizations ranging from Salesforce to MobileIron to 8x8 to Cohesity Among his many accolades, he was recently named a 2022 ORBIE Bay Area CIO of the year and was also the first IT leader hired at Salesforce back in 2000.
Carter understands the challenges of managing tech infrastructure for high-growth tech companies where there’s zero margin for error because everyone thinks they know tech better than you. CIOs are like plumbing: nobody appreciates them when everything’s working but they’re the first to get blamed when there’s a blockage.

He's now the CIO of rising star Workato, the integration automation platform that has raised more than $400M, was most recently valued at nearly $6B, and has about 1,000 employees in 13 offices around the world.

Listen and learn...

What a CIO does.
Why CIOs have the shortest tenure in the C-suite.
The role of AI to improve employee experiences.
How to recreate the Apple Genius Bar at work... for at-home employees.
How generative AI will be used in the enterprise.
Key questions to ask when evaluating new uses of AI.
How CIOs deliver strategic value and avoid being "technology traffic cops".

References in this episode:

Darren Murph, Head of Remote at GitLab and Guinness world record holder, discusses what's required to make remote-first work cultures succeed Jan 09, 2023

Darren Murph has been Head of Remote at GitLab for 3.5 years and has been a part of its rise to prominence. His leadership helped shape GitLab’s remote-first culture. GitLab went public in 2021 and has about a $7B market cap. It’s one of the leading DevOps platforms and has grown its team to more than 2k employees.
Before GitLab Darren has been an entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Oh, and by the way, he holds one of the most awesome records in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Listen and learn:

How to make work an organizational principle instead of a perk or policy
What a Head of Remote does... and why every company will soon hire one
Why there's no such thing as "hybrid" work
The number one mistake organizations make when transitioning to remote work
How remote-first teams make the most of in person team
How GitLab uses the personal "readme" to help remote employees get to know each other
How to Zoom happy hours with "community service hours"
How Darren earned his place in the Guinness Book of World Records

References in this episode...

AI wins and losses in 2022... and predictions for 2023 with two AI legends: tech futurists Peter Scott and David Wood Jan 02, 2023

Today's episode first appeared on Peter Scott's (excellent!) AI and You podcast.
Peter Scott and David Wood are two of the most recognized AI futurists. Both are respected authors, speakers, and visionaries. Peter is a popular TEDx speaker and long-time NASA engineer. David was recently named one of the "top 100 most influential people in technology".
Today's discussion is a must-listen in which we discuss the future of technology, the future of work, and the future of humanity. In this one, Peter hosted and the three of us had a round table discussion about everything from generative AI to sentience. Let us know what you think after listening. Our DMs are open on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Listen and learn...

Where AI won and lost in 2022
Our predictions for AI in 2023
What will the impact of ChatGPT be on the future of technology
What tasks are best-suited for generative AI
How we'll regulate generative AI when it spews nonsense
What is artificial general intelligence (AGI) and when we'll achieve it
What is sentience and are today's bots sentient?
How and where the US AI Bill of Rights falls short vs. AI regulation in the EU
What we should be doing to systematize the practice of responsible AI

References in the episode:

Rich White, UserVoice founder and Fathom CEO, discusses the future of meetings and how he made Zoom calls suck less Dec 25, 2022

We’ve met some brilliant product minds on this show over the years. If you’re a long-time listener you hopefully enjoyed discussions with legends like Phil McKinney, former CTO of HP, and Philippe Cases, founder and CEO of Topio Networks, among others. Today’s guest belongs on that list.
Rich and I first met when he was starting UserVoice around 2010 and I was at ServiceNow. I love his approach to innovation. He pioneered the idea that listening to customers can be as easy as adding a feedback tab to every web page back when all that existed were clunky survey tools. Today, thousands of sites use the widget he invented.
He’s now out to make meetings more productive by helping attendees focus on conversations while an app transcribes them and offers simple buttons to annotate what’s happening. It’s obvious once you’ve used Fathom that this is the future of meetings.

Rich White is not only a serial innovator but also a repeat entrepreneur who has raised from a group of exceptional investors over the years and was part of the YC Winter 2021 batch. Enjoy!
Listen and learn...

As a product expert and innovator, how to know when you've found "an itch worth scratching"
What is "product-market fit" and how to know when you've achieved it
What is a viral coefficient and how do you calculate it
How the "jobs to be done" framework led Rich to develop the key feature of Fathom
The hardest problem Fathom has solved... has nothing to do with voice transcription
How Fathom trains developers to practice responsible AI

References in this episode:

Special episode live from the BOUNDARYLESS Future of Work event in SF: Rani Mavram, Complete CEO, and Ankit Jain, Aviator CEO Dec 18, 2022

Special episode this week! We recorded two live discussions from Turing's BOUNDARYLESS "Future of Work" event in San Francisco. In the first, Rani Mavram, Complete.so CEO, discusses using data to transform compensation policies from being a liability to an asset for high-growth companies. In the second, Ankit Jain, Aviator CEO, discusses using automation to improve developer productivity for remote-first engineering teams.
Listen and learn...
From Rani Mavram:

Why compensation policies have an outsize impact on employee engagement
What's required to make compensation plans transparent
The difference between compensation plans and "total reward" packages
Where innovation is happening in the field of employee compensation

From Ankit Jain:

How to make remote-first engineering teams successful
Using automation to improve developer productivity
How startups can replicate the developer experience at Google and Facebook
The future of generative AI and GitHub Copilot in assisting human developers

References in today's show:

Turing's BOUNDARYLESS event
Complete.so for compensation transparency
Aviator to improve developer productivity

Merve Hickok, one of the "top 100 most brilliant women in AI ethics," shares what you need to know about the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights Dec 11, 2022

Merve Hickok is one of the most recognized thought leaders in the emerging field of AI ethics. Merve is the founder of AIethicist.org and Lighthouse Career Consulting. Her work is at the intersection of AI and data ethics along with social justice and DEI policy and regulation.

Merve was recently listed among the top 100 most brilliant women in AI ethics and in the past she lectured at the University of Michigan’s School of Information on Data Science ethics. Merve’s at the forefront of this emerging field that will define how we live and work for the next several decades. This is an important conversation. Enjoy!

Listen and learn…

What led to Merve founding AIEthicist.org
How the AI ethics conversation has evolved over the past year
What the White House got right (and wrong) in the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
What responsible AI means to Merve
Why regulation doesn’t necessarily constrain innovation
How AI policy and regulation are different around the world

References in this episode...

Emmanuel Turlay, Founder and CEO of Sematic and machine learning pioneer, discusses what's required to turn every software engineer into an ML engineer Dec 04, 2022

Emmanuel Turlay spent more than a decade in engineering roles at tech-first companies like Instacart and Cruise before realizing machine learning engineers need a better solution. Emmanuel started Sematic earlier this year and was part of the YC summer 2022 batch. He recently raised a $3M seed round from investors including Race Capital and Soma Capital. Thanks to friend of the podcast and former guest Hina Dixit from Samsung NEXT for the intro to Emmanuel.

I’ve been involved with the AutoML space for five years and, for full disclosure, I’m on the board of Auger which is in a related space. I’ve seen the space evolve and know how much room there is for innovation. This one's a great education about what’s broken and what’s ahead from a true machine learning pioneer.

Listen and learn...

How to turn every software engineer into a machine learning engineer
How AutoML platforms are automating tasks performed in traditional ML tools
How Emmanuel translated learning from Cruise, the self-driving car company, into an open source platform available to all data engineering teams
How to move from building an ML model locally to deploying it to the cloud and creating a data pipeline... in hours
What you should know about self-driving cars... from one of the experts who developed the brains that power them
Why 80% of AI and ML projects fail

References in this episode:

Kevin Mulcahy, co-author of the Future Workplace Experience, discusses how technology is improving the employee experience Nov 27, 2022

Kevin Mulcahy, co-author of the Future Workplace Experience, has been thinking and writing about the future of work since 2016. Six years ago the future of work was dramatically different. Reading Kevin’s book makes him seem like a clairvoyant who predicted the future.

In addition to being a successful author Kevin is a sought after speaker on all topics related to the future of work and workplace trends. In the past, he also lectured on entrepreneurship at Babson College.
Listen and learn:

What HR teams need to know about delivering great employee experiences
How Airbnb created a culture of measuring and improving the employee experience
What are progressive employers doing to make the transition back to office work easier
The three "soft leadership" questions every manager should get great at asking
How to measure the quality of employee experiences
How AI can be used to detect changes in tone in employee engagement
Where to start when using AI to improve the employee experience
How the metaverse will improve remote work

References in this episode:

Michael Osterrieder, CEO and founder of vAIsual, discusses how generative AI is disrupting the stock media industry Nov 20, 2022

Today’s guest is the co-founder and CEO of vAIsual, the company pioneering the use of generative AI to create synthetic stock media. All of those photos you see online and in print publications of people promoting products usually are human models posing in generic ways. Their pictures are sold by companies like Getty Images in marketplaces that are inefficient and limited in scope.
Michael Osterrieder and his partner Nico are legends in the world of stock media who realized there’s a better way. They created what they call an algorithmic camera and launched vAIsual last year to scratch their own catch. Michael is a serial entrepreneur and photographer based in Budapest and he’s out to test the limits of generative AI.
Listen and learn:

How growing up listening to heavy metal inspired Michael's career in visual media
What are the challenges of using generative AI to create synthetic stock images of people
How visual media content creation has evolved
The ethics of generative AI
What Michael describes as "the biggest art heist in history"
How vAIsual extends human photos using machine vision and human labeling
Can an AI be the owner of copyrighted material it produces?
What is the definition of consciousness?

References in this episode...

Otto Soderlund, CEO and co-founder of Speechly, discusses what's hard about adding conversational AI to apps Nov 13, 2022

Otto Soderlund co-founded Speechly in 2016 with Hannes Heikinheimo in their hometown of Helsinki. He believes voice should be a first-class citizen for all apps and making it easy for developers to add voice support from any platform will unlock new innovation.

Speechly is a member of the YC Winter 22 batch. Otto and I recently co-presented at the VOICE22 event in Washington DC although I presented remote so this is the first time we’re actually meeting. I heard good things about his talk so I was eager for this discussion. It didn't disappoint.

Listen and learn...

Why voice is the new app and what it means to develop "voice-first" apps
How RAIN Agency uses Speechly to help auto technicians use voice assistants to fix cars
How to accurately detect and transcribe speech when dealing with common challenges like background noise and accents
When speech detection achieved "superhuman" levels of accuracy
How Speechly combines speech recognition with natural language understanding (NLU) on the local device
How Otto thinks about exercising responsible AI
Why "voice technology won't exist as a separate field in a decade"

References in this episode...

Jonathan Frankle, Harvard Professor and MosaicML Chief Scientist, discusses the past, present, and future of deep learning Nov 06, 2022

Jonathan Frankle, incoming Harvard Professor and Chief Scientist at MosaicML, is focused on reducing the cost of training neural nets. He received his PhD at MIT and his BSE and MSE from Princeton.

Jonathan has also been instrumental in shaping technology policy related to AI. He worked on a landmark facial recognition report while working as a Staff Technologist at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.

Thanks to great guest Hina Dixit from Samsung NEXT for the introduction to Jonathan!

Listen and learn...

Why we can't understand deep neural nets like we can understand biology or physics.
Jonathan's "lottery hypothesis" that neural nets are 50-90% bigger than they need to be...but it's hard to find which parts aren't necessary.
How researchers are finding ways to reduce the cost and complexity of training neural nets.
Why we shouldn't expect another AI winter because "it's now a fundamental substrate of research".
Which AI problems are a good fit for deep learning... and which ones aren't.
What's the role for regulation in enforcing responsible use of AI.
How Jonathan and his CTO Hanlin Tang at MosaicML create a culture that fosters responsible use of AI.
Why Jonathan says "...We're building a ladder to the moon if we think today's neural nets will lead to AGI."

References in this episode...

Eric Olson, CEO and co-founder of Consensus, discusses how to use LLMs to help researchers get better answers faster from evidence-based journals Oct 30, 2022

Eric Olson, CEO and co-founder of Consensus, is a collegiate athlete turned data scientist turned entrepreneur who needed faster access to reliable data while working at DraftKings. Consensus is a search engine that uses a large language model to find answers in peer-reviewed research articles. Eric's living proof that the best entrepreneurs start by solving a problem they've encountered. Hear how Eric's scratching his own itch.
Listen and learn...

Why Google isn't the answer for scientists seeking evidence-based answers online
Why a business model that relies on ads can't solve the "unbiased answer" problem for researchers
How Consensus addresses the problem of conflicting information online from credible resources
How to use labels to improve search retrieval accuracy... without introducing bias into results
How to use extractive large language models (LLMs), to extract relevant portions of documents and match them to NLP questions
Why generative AI like GPT-3 can't answer "what's the consensus opinion out there" when multiple potential answers exist
Who is responsible if Consensus delivers answers that lead to harmful outcomes
What Eric learned as a division I NCAA athlete (Go Wildcats!) that has helped him as a high-tech entrepreneur

References in this episode:

Mona Akmal, outspoken CEO of Falkon, discusses how to use data to help sales reps "make the best deal the typical deal" Oct 23, 2022

Mona Akmal, CEO of sales intelligence platform Falkon, is the outspoken co-founder behind an emerging leader in a hot space. Mona migrated to the United States at age 20 with a CS degree and little else. She had an impressive 12-year run as a product leader at Microsoft where she helped scale OneDrive and Office. She subsequently led product and technology organizations at places like Code.org and Amperity. Two decades later, Mona’s the CEO of Falkon AI, an intelligence platform for go to market teams. Falkon recently raised $16M from a group of A-list investors that includes Greylock and Madera among others.
Listen and learn...

Why Mona's philosophy revolves around two words: "efficiency" and "excellence"
What makes a standout sales rep great.
How do find signal in noisy sales and marketing data
How many touches are required from stage one to closing a B2B deal
How to fix the CRM data hygiene problem
Why econometrics approaches perform better than machine learning to solve the "small data problem"
Why "everyone needs to be coached and nobody needs to be managed"
Mona's (legendary) mental health advice to entrepreneurs

References in this episode...

Barr Moses from Monte Carlo on AI and the Future of Work
Derek Steer from Mode on AI and the Future of Work
Peter Fishman from Mozart Data on AI and the Future of Work
Stephen Messer from Collective[i] on AI and the Future of Work
Kamal Ahluwalia on AI and the Future of Work
Leading scientists fear AI could lead to nuclear war by the end of the century

Hina Dixit, venture capitalist at Samsung NEXT and former Apple engineering leader, discusses how to get your AI or web3 startup funded Oct 16, 2022

Hina Dixit, venture capitalist leading AI investing at Samsung NEXT, grew up in a small town in India from humble beginnings. She couldn’t afford a Starbucks coffee and graduated with significant student debt… which fueled her passion for mentoring and coaching as she became financially independent.
Prior to Samsung NEXT, Hina was an Apple engineering leader who helped launch two-factor authentication and other core iOS technologies. Hina’s a reluctant venture investor having always been a builder. A mentor from Homebrew encouraged her to pursue investing and she’s now passionate about finding and funding the next generation of AI and web3 entrepreneurs.
Listen and learn…

How Hina overcame institutional biases to achieve success in engineering leadership roles and venture investing
How being trusted with money at a young age by her father helped Hina become independent and confident in her career
The challenges Hina faced transitioning from a builder at Apple to an investor at Samsung NEXT
What Hina looks for when investing in AI and web3 startups
Where there are opportunities for innovation in web3 and metaverse infrastructure
What will prevent Big Tech from centralizing the decentralized web
How Hina thinks about responsible AI when evaluating new investments
How and when entrepreneurs should engage corporate venture capital (CVC) firms
The AR/VR technology Hina wants to invest in… her inbox is open :)

References in this episode:

Rana Gujral, CEO of Behavioral Signals, discusses the future of NLP and sentiment analysis to improve customer service Oct 09, 2022

Rana Gujral, CEO of Behavioral Signals since 2018, joined the company after a distinguished tech career growing companies like Logitech, TiZE, and Cricut. Behavioral Signals uses emotion and behavioral science to help contact center agents deliver better service. Rana and the team are on a mission to improve customer interactions by using signals other than the spoken word to understand exactly what they need based on indicators like voice tone and pitch.
Listen and learn...

How to train AI models on past service interactions and outcomes to determine which agents should speak to which customers
How to use deep learning and NLP to process non-speech behavior signals like intonation, pitch, and tonal variance
How behavior signals can be used to predict stress, duress, and propensity to buy or pay
How to achieve high levels of prediction accuracy without processing "the spoken word"
Why tone and pitch are better indicators of sentiment than actual words across any language
How to compete with Google/Microsoft/Amazon for data when building an AI-first conversational intelligence product
The biggest opportunity Rana sees to use AI to help humans live better lives

References in this episode:

Mahesh Ram from Solvvy (now Zoom) on AI and the Future of Work
Gadi Shamia from Replicant on AI and the Future of Work
How personalization algorithms work in your social feeds
Behavioral Signals

Ahmed Elsamadisi, Narrator CEO, is a roboticist by training and one of the first engineers at WeWork. Now he's changing how the world tells stories with data. Oct 02, 2022

Ahmed Elsamadisi built the data infrastructure at WeWork before realizing every company could benefit from his team’s innovation. Traditional star schemas aren’t the best way to manage data. Ahmed instead pioneered a new approach using a single-table column model better suited for real questions people ask. He launched Narrator in 2017 to make it easier to turn data questions into answers and has since raised $6.2M from Initialized Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Y Combinator. Ahmed received his BS in Robotics from Cornell. Hear from a pioneer (and tech provocateur) how new data wrangling techniques are making it easier for mere mortals to get more value out of their data.
Listen and learn…

How a roboticist who got his start building self-driving cars and designing missile defense systems ended up redefining how data is stored
Why traditional approaches that require SQL to access data are broken
How a single-column schema eliminates the complexity of joining systems and tables
Why it’s easier to tell better stories with data using temporal relationships extracted from customer journeys
Why Snowflake, Redshift, and BigQuery are really all the same… and data modeling is the place to innovate
What it means to replace traditional tables with activities… and why they’ll eliminate the need for specialized data analysts
How to reduce data storage costs by 90% and time to generate data insights from weeks to minutes
Why data management vendors are responsible for bad decisions made using your data
What is data cleaning and how you should do it
What is a racist algorithm
Why querying data with natural language will never work
Is the WeCrashed version of Adam Neumann’s neuroticism accurate? Hear from someone who lived it...

References in this episode:

Google’s LaMDA isn’t sentient
Chandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work
Derek Steer from Mode on AI and the Future of Work
Barr Moses from Monte Carlo on AI and the Future of Work
Peter Fishman from Mozart Data on AI and the Future of Work
Ahmed on Twitter

Seth Earley, author of The AI-Powered Enterprise, discusses the future of knowledge management Sep 25, 2022

Seth Earley is a Chemist by training and an expert on AI. Specifically, how AI is used to improve knowledge management. In fact, he wrote the book on the topic titled “The AI-Powered Enterprise” in which he explains the importance of ontologies when applying AI. Seth is the CEO of Earley Information Science. He has been advising companies on technology strategy since 1994 and is currently focused on AI and knowledge engineering.
Listen and learn:

Seth’s contribution to AI history… including the term he coined that was co-opted by former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty
Why all AI is a data (and information architecture) problem
How the Applied Materials field services team reduced time spent finding information by 50% with knowledge engineering and ontologies
Why proper information architecture is required for virtual agents to reduce call volume and help live agents
What has changed since Seth first published his AI book in 2020
The benefits of semantic search vs. traditional keyword search
Where to start with a knowledge management strategy
Why “data scientists spend more time being data janitors”
How to mitigate the impact of bias in AI training data

References in this episode:

How AI can detect employee burnout
The Innovation Delusion on Amazon
Earley Information Science
The AI-Powered Enterprise on Amazon
Kevin Dewalt, Prolego CEO, on AI and the Future of Work

Peter Scott, popular author, TedX speaker, and futurist, discusses how to ensure AI is used for good… despite the potential for it doing harm Sep 18, 2022

Peter Scott, author, TedX speaker, and futurist, worked at NASA’s JPL laboratory after receiving his Masters Degree in Computer Science from Cambridge. Raising kids made him realize the potential impact of AI to do both good and harm. He left NASA and switched careers to feel confident he was doing all he could to secure their future. He recently published Artificial Intelligence and You after publishing Crisis of Control five years back.

Listen and learn:

When will we achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI)… and is that the right goal for the AI community?
Why we weight the potential of AI doing harm about five times as much as the potential for it doing good.
What’s the biggest global problem AI might solve in the near term.
How DeepMind’s AlphaFold protein folding technology could change humanity.
What does it mean to be human in an era when machines can do more tasks historically reserved for humans?
Why Peter blames Big Tech for “breaking” democracy.
What Peter expects will be AI’s greatest achievement in the next decade.
Why the evolution of a digital race hinges on global economic incentives.

References in this episode:

Kia Kokalitcheva, Axios tech reporter and co-author of the Pro Rata newsletter, discusses what Adam Neumann’s new company Flow means for the future of work Sep 11, 2022

Kia Kokalitcheva, Axios tech reporter, is a Silicon Valley native who writes about tech news and culture. Among other things, she co-authors the popular Pro Rata newsletter (over 200k subscribers) with Dan Primack. Kia has covered many of the most iconic tech stories of the past decade as a writer at Fortune and VentureBeat prior to Axios which was just acquired by Cox Enterprises. Kia recently wrote about Adam Neumann’s new company, Flow. Hear Kia’s perspectives on how Flow could transform living like WeWork transformed working… and why she’s not scared that bots may take her job.

Listen and learn…

How Adam Neumann of WeWork fame raised $350M at a $1B valuation from A16Z for his new company Flow… before launching
Kia’s proudest moment as a journalist
What the acquisition of Axios by Cox Enterprises means for journalism
How Flow may be more than the reincarnation of WeWork’s failed WeLive experiment
As a culture, are we ready for communal living?
What is the future of company perks… are the days of on-site dry cleaning numbered?
How the generational shift is impacting cultural norms in the workplace
What tasks bots will never do better than live journalists

References in this episode:

How AI is transforming journalism according to The Knight Foundation
Gary A. Bolles discusses the WorkNet on AI and the Future of Work
Mark van Rijmenam, The Digital Speaker, on AI and the Future of Work

Deon Nicholas, CEO of Forethought, discusses how human-centered AI improves the customer experience Sep 04, 2022

Deon Nicholas, Forethought Co-Founder CEO, grew up in inner city Toronto stocking shelves in a pharmacy before learning to code at an early age. He started Forethought in 2017 after learning the value of answering customer questions working for companies like Facebook and Pure Storage.
Deon has since raised $92M from an exceptional group of investors including funds like Steadfast Capital and NEA plus celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, and Robert Downey Jr. Deon won the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield startup competition in 2018 and is a member of the Forbes 30 under 30. He’s also a mentor and advisor to founders of color.
Listen and learn...

How AI connects customers to the right agents then indicates the likelihood of a support interaction escalating
How to use historical data to help live agents fix problems faster
The evolution of chatbots from decision trees to AI
How to combine generic language models with domain-specific data to increase the accuracy of NLP
How to solve the problem of bias encoded in data
How GANs, generative adversarial networks, work
Why ML pipelines need to be monitored like web apps

References in this episode...

Jim Lawton, worldwide authority on industrial robots, discusses how humans and machines are partnering to improve safety and efficiency in manufacturing Aug 28, 2022

Jim Lawton, VP and GM of Robotics Automation at Zebra Technologies, met the founder of Roomba, Rodney Brooks, at MIT nearly three decades ago. It inspired a lifetime passion for robots that help humans. Since then, he has influenced generations of robotic automation technology at companies from Rethink Robotics to Zebra Technologies. This is a fascinating discussion that will make you reconsider what robots can do and why humans shouldn't feel threatened by them.
Listen and learn...

How Jim cultivated a passion for robots... and why that makes him "the cool dad"
How innovation in robotic technology is helping AMRs, autonomous mobile robots, perform more human-like tasks with less training
Which "dirty, dull, dangerous" tasks are the best candidates for robotic automation
How new training techniques are reducing the time required to train a robot from 300 hours to a fraction of that which "democratizes automation"
What's required to keep humans safe from robots
How supplementing humans with robots for a task like picking items from warehouse shelves using machine vision saves 12-15 miles of walking per day while increasing accuracy
How techniques like SLAM and machine learning are making it easier to program robots to do more complex tasks more accurately with zero or minimal coding
Which new careers will be created by industrial robots... and which will be eliminated
Two quick ways to know if a factory using robots and humans is safe
Why Jim's passion is using robots to help people be their best selves

References in this episode:

Kamal Ahluwalia, Eightfold President, discusses how he grew a unicorn and how AI helps find the right career for everyone in the world Aug 21, 2022

Kamal Ahluwalia and the Eightfold team set out to find the right career for everyone in the world. Six years later after having raised more than $200M from a legendary group of investors and built a talented 600-person team, they’re well on their way. Kamal joined Eightfold as President in 2018 from a successful tech career at companies like Model N and Selectica. Hear Kamal share his vision for how to use data and AI to help employees upskill, reskill, and ultimately find careers they love.

Listen and learn…

How Eightfold operationalizes the bold vision to find “the right career for everyone in the world"
What has helped Eightfold scale to support customers in 140 countries and 19 languages
How an AI HR platform helps with upskilling for internal mobility but also with hiring and talent-skill matching
Why legacy HR tech software failed by focusing on “compliance vs. employee needs”
Why automation won’t eliminate jobs… but every job will change as a result of AI
How understanding human potential starts with understanding data stored outside HCM in “systems of work” like CRM and ITSM
How to mitigate the impact of biased data to use AI to achieve inclusion and diversity goals
How AI can identify roles where employees are likely to succeed… even when they have no experience performing skills they require
What are the ethical implications of using AI to hire and promote employees

References in this episode:

OneTen.org and the role of Eightfold in its formation
Renee Steenvorden from Randstad on AI and the Future of Work
Giselle Mota from ADP on AI and the Future of Work
Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work
The BigScience BLOOM LLM

Turn the tables! Former guest, author, and QSTAC CEO Ben Brennan interviews Dan Turchin about AI and the future of work Aug 14, 2022

Ben Brennan, former guest, accomplished author, and QSTAC CEO, guest hosts today's "turn the tables" episode... and interviews Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO. Learn about Dan's vision for augmenting human intelligence with machine intelligence and how AI will be used to give the next billion employees back an hour a day.
Listen and learn...

The origin story behind this podcast
What's required to use AI to improve employee experiences
How many new jobs will be created by AI in the next five years according to The World Economic Forum
The right way for investors to identify talent and catalyze innovation
How Ben learned the value of human-centric AI from his days at Yahoo, Box, and Twitter

References in this episode:

Mark Settle, serial CIO, on AI and the Future of Work
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, The Digital Speaker, on AI and the Future of Work
Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Ventures Partners on AI and the Future of Work
Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work
Glenn Solomon from GGV on AI and the Future of Work
The great Katie Stanton, PeopleReign investor from Moxxie Ventures

Gadi Shamia, CEO at Replicant, discusses the future of bots for contact center automation to improve customer service Aug 07, 2022

Gadi Shamia, Replicant CEO and co-founder, has been delivering innovation to help customers have better service experiences for more than a decade. He helped grow and sell Echosign to Adobe for $400M in 2011 then went on to lead Talkdesk which most recently raised $230M at a $10B valuation. Gadi's a serial entrepreneur and a deep thinker who believes in the power of AI to make people better.
Listen and learn:

Why we hate calling customer support... and how AI is making the experience better
Why automation beyond IVR is saving contact centers
What happens when AI makes bad decisions
When it's ok to "nudge" users to work with the bot... even when they ask for a human
The ethical implicatio ns of bots pretending to be human
What new careers will be created when call center agents are replaced by bots

References in this episode:

Replicant on Twitter
The Replicant blog
The Open Ethics AI initiative
Krishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and The Future of Work
John Oliver's riff on automation

Krish Ramineni, Fireflies CEO, discusses the future of AI voice assistants to make meetings more productive Jul 31, 2022

Krish Ramineni, Fireflies CEO and Microsoft alum, learned the value of NLP working with Skype and Office as a Product Manager. He set out to solve a problem he had: note-taking in meetings and following up afterward. Fireflies has been used by more than 60,000 organizations to make meetings more efficient. Krish has raised nearly $20M from an A-list group of investors including Canaan Partners and Khosla Ventures.
Listen and learn...

The evolution of speech recognition technology in the enterprise
How Krish and the team build an AI voice assistant that joins meetings in 100 countries every day
How to start with 85% ASR (automated speech recognition) accuracy and make it better using AI
How to mitigate the impact of biased training data where foreign accents and uncommon speech patterns are underrepresented
Who owns voice transcripts used to train AI models
How being recorded changes participant behavior in meetings
The future of "voice-first" computing

References in this episode:

Joel Eagle, Senior Director at McDonald's, shares how AI helps serve 70 million meals every day Jul 24, 2022

Joel Eagle, McDonald's Senior Director of Technology and Architecture, started his career in healthcare and logistics before being promoted to technology leadership roles at one of the world's most iconic companies. Joel and his team manage the cloud infrastructure that powers 40,000 restaurants for two million employees... and helps serve happiness in 120 global markets to the equivalent of the world's population every 100 days. The technology that makes McDonald's work is phenomenally complex. Joel makes it sound simple. Hear from the expert. Oh, and stick around to the end for McDonald's fun facts!
Listen and learn...

How Joel channels Ray Kroc's vision when architecting systems: "restaurants should run themselves... it should be as simple as a shoebox with money going in and going out."
Why Joel says "if it's easier for the crew it's better for the consumer."
How AI, wearables, IoT, and AR are all parts of the McDonald's technology vision.
Why the shift supervisor at a McDonald's restaurant has one of the hardest jobs in the world.
The anatomy of a McDonald's restaurant: "...they're mini factories run by a server."
How AI is improving the drive-thru experience and personalizing the dining experience.
What's required to support the McDonald's app which generates 16% of the company's revenue and is the world's most downloaded food ordering app.

References in this episode...

McDonald's by the numbers
Meta Research is improving NLP accuracy with less training data by using our understanding of how humans learn languages
Giselle Mota, TEDx speaker and top 100 "Future of Work" thought leader, on AI and the Future of Work

Ben Brennan, QSTAC CEO and author of Badass IT Support, discusses how to quantify the employee experience Jul 17, 2022

Ben Brennan, QSTAC CEO, author, and former IT exec at Yahoo and Verizon Media, is a world traveler, a musician, and a trained psychologist with passions for philosophy and psychotherapy. Not exactly the traditional background for an IT leader. Early roles at Pivotal Labs and Jawbone taught Ben that bringing humanity to technology is the future of work. He since published Badass IT Support and started QSTAC to measure the employee experience.
Listen and learn...

What Ben learned managing 100 people and supporting 15,000 employees at Yahoo
How the culture at Pivotal Labs inspired Ben's philosophy on quantifying the employee experience
How Ben convinced a former Apple leader why QSTAC is better than NPS
Why CSAT scores don't actually correlate with how satisfied employees are at work
How the principles of Design Thinking can be used to run IT
What IT must do to avoid being "Uber-ed" like the taxi industry

References in this episode...

Francois Candelon, AI expert and Managing Director at BCG, shares tips for succeeding with AI based on 30 years of research Jul 10, 2022

Francois Candelon, Managing Director at the BCG Henderson Institute, has spent 30 years researching how companies adopt modern technology. His research spans business, technology, economics, and science. Francois is a popular speaker, author, and advisor who has been featured at events including Mobile World Congress, TED@BCG, Politico AI Summit, and Wuzhen Internet Conference. Francois is also a leader on BCG's GAMMA AI@Scale team.
Listen and learn...

The one company Francois says best illustrates how AI can transform legacy industries
Why "artificial intelligence" isn't really "intelligent"
What is an "AI strategy"... and what are the four questions to ask to define yours
How a fintech company in the UK reduced costs to transfer money by 90% with AI
What's required to earn the public's trust in AI
Why every company should be required to have a "social license" to use AI

References in this episode...

Stephen Messer, AI entrepreneur, CEO, mentor, and web pioneer, discusses the future of automation in B2B sales Jul 03, 2022

Stephen Messer, founder of Collective[i], was an attorney and teacher before discovering his passion for entrepreneurship. He started LinkShare (acquired by Rakuten in 2005) which made it possible to pay for clicks on the web. He changed how the web works and now he's using AI to change the world of B2B sales. The world needs more visionaries like Stephen. Hear what fuels him and learn about his process for disrupting legacy industries.
Listen and learn...

The four words that define what all the best entrepreneurs do better than everyone else
Why sales is the only job function where "30% productivity is the norm"
What's required to use AI to help B2B sales people
How to use RPA to automatically update CRM systems
How Stephen's winning against Salesforce, Microsoft, and HubSpot
What to look for in a mentor

References in this episode...

Special episode: Is Google's LaMDA chatbot sentient? Tiernan Ray from ZDNet breaks it all down and discusses how to tell a chatbot from a human... and the ethics of bots fooling people. Jun 26, 2022

In this special episode, we unpack the controversy surrounding the sentient chatbot that "worries about its future". Google engineer Blake Lemoine published a transcript of a conversation with the chatbot LaMDA that generated strong reactions from technologists and AI ethicists. It conjured images from science fiction movies that always capture the public imagination.
Tiernan Ray, ZDNet writer, accomplished tech journalist, and good friend of the podcast, joined host Dan Turchin to reflect on the story based on his analysis of the 5,000-word LaMDA transcript.
Listen and learn...

What will it be like to co-habit a world with thinking machines?
What does it mean for an AI to be sentient? Why should we care?
Should AI be protected under the 13th amendment?
How do we know LaMDA's not sentient from the transcript?
What are the ethical implications of developing sentient bots?
Did Google act responsibly in developing a bot that is sentient-like?

References in this episode...

Tiernan's analysis of the LaMDA transcript
Melanie Mitchell on MSNBC
Blake Lemoine's interview with Steven Levy in Wire
Alan Turing's Imitation Game

Kevin Dewalt, CEO of Prolego and author of "Become an AI Company in 90 Days", shares what every company must know to succeed with AI Jun 19, 2022

Kevin Dewalt, CEO of Prolego, built his first neural net at Stanford in 1995 after graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He popularized the term "AI abundance" to describe the path of exponential technologies and how AI adoption is five years from becoming mainstream. He now applies 25 years of studying AI to help organizations embrace the future.
Listen and learn...

What every company needs to know to succeed with AI.
How the most successful organizations approach AI investments.
Why Kevin says: "...we haven't had a single project where we've used AI to eliminate jobs."
What Kevin feels is the most disruptive field within AI research.
Practical applications of NLP and large language models (LLMs)
Kevin's contrarian view on AI ethics

References in this episode:

The world's first AI comic book
Kevin's book: Become an AI Company in 90 days
Kevin's company: Prolego
Snorkel to automate data labeling
Andrew Yang on AI
"D" Das, Founder and CEO of Sorcero, on AI and the Future of Work

Giselle Mota, TEDx speaker and top 100 "Future of Work" thought leader, discusses how AI helps us become better humans Jun 12, 2022

Giselle Mota, Future of Work principal at ADP, overcame dyslexia and discovered passions for math and AI. Her parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic and taught Giselle the power of perseverance. Now she speaks frequently to global audiences about the importance of using AI responsibly to hire and nurture talent.
Listen and learn...

How AI accelerates the process of learning new skills
How to mitigate the impact of bias in automated decision-making
The dangers of using facial recognition in recruiting and hiring processes
How to design organizations that celebrate cognitive diversity
How to optimize hiring processes to avoid confirmation bias
How many jobs will be created by AI before 2025 according to the World Economic Forum
Giselle's coaching for females and under-represented minorities in STEM fields

References in this episode:

Your $250 discount from Hello Landing using Giselle's promo code: giselle_itg
Bernard Marr, Futurist
Joy Buolamwini, AI social justice advocate
Bryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of Work
Kai Nunez from Salesforce on AI and the Future of Work

Harish Batlapenumarthy, co-founder of Emtropy Labs, discusses the future of supervised machine learning to improve customer service Jun 05, 2022

Harish Batlapenumarthy always believed culture is more important than anything else at work. He and the team at Emtropy Labs set out to identify how groups communicate in companies using machine learning. They ultimately landed on listening to customer feedback to automatically generate insights into customer experience metrics like churn risk.
Listen and learn...

A better way to identify customer sentiment using supervised machine learning
What techniques are most effective for labeling training data
Why traditional methods of measuring customer satisfaction are poor at understanding actual customer satisfaction
How to mitigate the impact of bias in training data
How Harish defines "responsible AI"
Why there will always be a need for human customer success managers

References in this episode...

Emtropy Labs
Chandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work

Dr. Eric Daimler, Obama's AI authority, professor, and serial entrepreneur, discusses how technology influences public policy May 29, 2022

Eric Daimler advised the Obama administration on how to have conversations about AI. His work led to the creation of the AI office within the Science Advisory Group of The White House which has now become a cabinet-level position reporting to The President. Eric's a walking encyclopedia about AI policy and he shares all in this fascinating discussion about the future of technology, ethics, and society.
Listen and learn...

What it's like to shift from academia to venture capital to entrepreneurship to public service
How the growth of data sources as well as data creates an unimaginably large number of data relationships
How Conexus applied categorical algebra to bring together 300k databases at Uber
Why it's data integration limitations that are constraining AI innovation more than compute, storage, or algorithms
How category theory is required for smart contracts on blockchains and quantum computing
How Eric thinks about when AI should make autonomous decisions vs. requiring human intervention
The role of regulation in managing job elimination due to AI
The ethical framework Eric proposes for evaluating what decisions AI can and should make
The challenges of enforcing data policies like GDPR in the EU
How Eric defines "responsible AI"

References in this episode...

Eric's company, Conexus
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
Aftershock which includes a chapter by Eric
Eric on Twitter

Mahesh Ram, CEO of Solvvy (acquired by Zoom), discusses the future of conversational AI for customer service May 22, 2022

Mahesh Ram, founder and CEO of Solvvy, set out to "give everyone back time". His company was recently acquired by Zoom to improve customer experiences using conversational AI. Mahesh was inspired by his work using speech recognition to improve business English learning at Global English. Solvvy was founded in 2015 and has raised funding from an exceptional group of investors including previous "AI and the Future of Work" guest Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners.
Listen and learn...

About the three waves of chatbot technology
Why "more deflection" doesn't need to translate into "lower satisfaction"
How Calm uses Solvvy to deliver automated customer service
Why AI based on semantic similarity is better than traditional scripted chatbots
Why "putting the user first" and "not hiding the live agent" is essential for gaining consumer trust in chatbots
How to address latent bias in data used to train AI models
Why bots will never replace live agents

References in this episode...

Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of Work
Solvvy acquired by Zoom
Chandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work

Chandra Khatri, Chief Scientist and Head of AI at Got It AI, discusses the future of NLP for better customer experiences with bots May 15, 2022

Chandra Khatri, Chief Scientist and Head of AI at Got It AI, was a key team member in the early days of AI at eBay, Amazon, and Uber. He has been on the cutting edge of NLP research for more than a decade and now leads AI at Got It AI. Chandra and the team are making it easier for customers to have conversations with bots. He's making innovative use of transformers and active learning to use "small data" to train sophisticated large language models to automatically answer customer questions in fields as diverse as healthcare, financial services, education, and defense.
Listen and learn…

What the AI culture is like at eBay, Amazon, and Uber
About transformers, why they’re important, and how they're improving NLP accuracy
How we’ve moved AI from search ranking (recommender systems) to other use cases including operations and bots
How the rise of open source and no-code tools is making “Google-like” AI maturity accessible to every company
How startups with limited access to data can use transfer learning to improve AI accuracy
What’s holding back broader adoption of AI in the enterprise
How the rise of Technical Product Managers (TPMs) is bridging the gap between engineers and business analysts
How to eliminate bias from training data
How long before we’ll all have a personal JARVIS

References in this episode…

Paul Lee, co-founder of Synesis One, discusses the future of NLP and AI data harvesting using games and blockchains to earn NFTs May 08, 2022

Paul Lee, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Synesis One, combined his love of games with a passion for NLP and AI. He realized language ontologies can be developed by players solving problems in games. They can be rewarded with NFTs backed by tokens on a blockchain. A brilliant idea... from a Renaissance man who is also a medical doctor and the founder of a care marketplace for veterinarians. This is a fascinating one!
Listen and learn...

The future of large language models (LLMs)
How ontologies can be crowd-sourced using games with NFTs as rewards
How Synesis One is gamifying data yield farming with tokens on a Solana blockchain
About the first graphic novel that is also an NFT-based sci fi game
Why Paul selected Solana instead of the more popular Ethereum blockchain
How to mitigate bias from entering ontologies generated by gamers

References in this episode:

Synesis One
Mind AI
Quantum Noesis
Edmundo Gonzalez from Marpai Health on AI and the Future of Work

Phil Johnson, founder and CEO of Master of Business Leadership, discusses how leaders can overcome adversity by improving their EQ May 01, 2022

Phil Johnson, founder and CEO of Master of Business Leadership (MBL) and veteran tech exec, overcame adversity as a kid when he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Phil taught himself to learn differently. He has helped organizations generate more than $1.5B by teaching leaders how to improve their emotional intelligence.
Listen and learn...

Why emotional intelligence is the most important skill for leaders.
Why Phil says leaders battle our "500 million year old brain that doesn't like change."
What Phil means by this: "we're the virus on the planet and we need to adapt to change to survive as a species."
Why toxic environments are leading to record low employee engagement that is costing businesses over a trillion dollars per year.
What Phil means by "we're born with an unconscious mind that gets wired as we grow to form habits."
How leaders can endure pain and channel passion to get more energy and feel more motivated.
How Apple's hiring practices and Putin's invasion of Ukraine are related.
Questions to ask to hire candidates with the highest EQ.

References in this episode...

Matt K. Parker on AI and the Future of Work discussing "radical enterprises"
The Master of Business Leadership program

Dipanwita ("D") Das, Founder and CEO of Sorcero, discusses how AI improves lives by helping life sciences experts accelerate medical research Apr 24, 2022

Dipanwita ("D") Das, Founder and CEO of Sorcero, is an award-winning technology entrepreneur and AI innovator. She is the CEO & Co-founder of Sorcero, a venture-backed AI Saas product startup, focused on using AI and NLP to inform critical decisions to improve lives. Prior to starting Sorcero, D was the founder & CEO of 42 Strategies, managing digital transformation projects for Richard Branson's Virgin United, Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Listen and learn...

Why D says "...doing something that leaves a legacy of good" is a core element of Sorcero's mission.
What D means by "...humans plus AI is greater than humans alone."
How Sorcero strives to "accelerate vs. automate" decisions.
How Sorcero helped doctors diagnose a rare form of metastatic breast cancer and save a life.
What it means for patients that healthcare data is growing at a 36% CAGR.
How Sorcero marries heuristics with NLP and transfer learning to help researchers.
D's advice to females in male-dominated fields: "The only way to win is to persist."

References in this episode...

The Sorcero Life Sciences Intelligence Platform
D on Twitter
Paddy Padmanabhan on AI and the Future of Work

Christopher Nguyen, serial entrepreneur, AI professor, and CEO of Aitomatic, discusses human-first vs. data-first approaches to machine learning Apr 17, 2022

Christopher Nguyen, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Aitomatic, realized big data isn't the only answer when training AI models. In fact, when doing preventive or predictive maintenance on industrial equipment, only small data is available. He and his team asked what if instead of relying on automated data collection we codify expertise in the heads of a small number of experienced technicians. And thus human-first AI was born. Aitomatic was launched in 2021 to productize the new field. It builds on Christopher's legacy of innovation having spent time in academia, at Google, and other startups including Arimo before its acquisition by Panasonic.
Listen and learn...

Why human-first vs. data-first AI may disrupt traditional approaches to machine learning.
How automation problems in physical-first vs. digital-first industries require different solutions.
How to build machine learning models when there isn t enough data.
Why the world is in short supply of human expertise.
How people feel about having their jobs automated away.
Why the topic of ethical AI is controversial.
The science behind neuromorphic computing.

References in today's episode...

Thanks to Tess Hau from Tess Ventures for the introduction to Christopher!

Matt K. Parker, author and engineering leader, discusses how radical enterprises are defining the future of work Apr 11, 2022

Matt K. Parker, author and engineering leader formerly at Pivotal Labs, profiled 13 collaborative work cultures in his book A Radical Enterprise. They're devolving control to employees and rethinking traditional organizational structures to give teams unprecedented levels of freedom. Not surprisingly, they're more successful than their peers.
Listen and learn:

What is a radical enterprise and what is radical collaboration?
Why do employees do better work when they have freedom to define their own rules?
What are the benefits of embracing the concepts of self-organizing and self-managing teams?
Why do traditional performance management techniques like annual reviews create implicit threats in the workplace that demotivate employees?
What does it mean to make every employee "a company of one"?
Why, according to Deming, "a bad system will beat a good employee every time."

References in this episode:

Matt's website and a link to his Slack community
A Radical Enterpise published by IT Revolution
Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of Work
Jason Corsello from Acadian Ventures on AI and the Future of Work
Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet

Jaime Ramirez, CEO and Founder of Preventor, discusses the future of AI for identity verification to prevent fraud online Apr 03, 2022

Jaime Ramirez, CEO and Founder of Preventor, and stalwart of the Miami tech scene, shares how banks and brands are using new authentication technology to make life online safer. Automating authentication to verify age and other personal attributes is cheaper than manual verification and also more accurate. The stakes are high if automated decisions are wrong. Hear Jaime explain the best way to automate the process of verifying your age or gender with AI.
Listen and learn:

How banks are automating authentication processes to comply with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory requirements
How the US compares with other countries, specifically Latin America, when it comes to KYC compliance and enforcement
When it's ok to use technology to automate identity verification vs. when humans need to intervene
Which forms of biometric data are most accurate for identity verification
How to mitigate the risk of bias when using AI plus selfies to verify age
When we'll finally move beyond passwords for identity management
What's fueling the net outflow of tech talent from Silicon Valley to Miami

References in this episode:

Edmundo Gonzalez, Co-founder and CEO of Marpai Health, discusses the future of AI to improve healthcare Mar 27, 2022

Edmundo Gonzalez, Co-founder and CEO of Marpai Health, realized our health plans have a significant impact on the quality of our health. Using AI to predict who will need care and when can lead to better health care plans and a healthier population. Edmundo's on a mission to make it easier for all of us stay healthy... which first requires the traditional healthcare system to be disrupted.
Listen and learn:

How to turn America's "sickcare" system into a true "healthcare" system.
How AI can make better decisions about who is likely to need care and when.
How to use data to recommend treatment early to prevent significant, more costly procedures later.
How to optimize deep learning models using patient data to balance accurately predicting who will need care (precision) with how many recommendations are made (recall).
The ethical implications of using patient data to make healthcare decisions.
Why Big Tech doesn't own the future of healthcare.

References in this episode:

Paddy Padmanabhan on AI and the Future of Work
Marpai Health

Doug Kerwin, AI children's book author, discusses the importance of educating kids about working with AI Mar 20, 2022

Doug Kerwin is an engineering leader and entrepreneur who recently published "Riley and Bot: Jobs for Robots and Jobs for Me". By day, he's a Vice President of Cloud Engineering at Prudential. After hours, he's a dad who wants the best for his daughter and needed to answer her questions about the impact of AI on jobs.
Listen and learn...

What inspired an engineer without an AI background to write a kids book about AI
Why Doug concludes that "no job will be completely AI-resistant"
New careers that are being created by the introduction of AI-related technology
How GitHub Copilot is helping programmers write better code faster
Which innately human skills will never be automated

References in this episode:

Phil McKinney, former CTO of HP and CEO of CableLabs, shares the formula for turning ordinary teams into innovation machines Mar 13, 2022

Phil McKinney, former HP CTO and one of the "50 most innovative" thinkers on the planet according to Fast Company, has helped develop products used by more than a half billion people. Hear Phil put on a master class in how to turn ordinary teams into innovation machines.
Listen and learn...

Phil's seven rules of innovation.
What it means to have a "T-shaped" career... and why you should want one.
How Phil got his start in podcasting... in 2005!
Phil's secrets for how to become more creative.
The top skill CEOs look for in new hires.

References in this episode:

Phil's TEDx talk on the impostor syndrome
Bob Davis, Phil's mentor
Phil's website
Phil's Killer Innovations podcast

Thanks to Dr. Mamoun Samaha for the introduction to Phil.

Rene Steenvoorden, Chief Digital Officer at Randstad, discusses how AI humanizes the recruiting process Mar 06, 2022

Rene Steenvoorden, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at HR behemoth Randstad, started in IT 30 years ago when technology was a distraction and IT gear was relegated to server rooms in the basement. He's a two-time CIO of the year award winner and a visionary in HRTech. Rene's an evangelist for using technology to improve the employee experience having served in similar roles at Rabobank, McKinsey, and Procter & Gamble. You might ask why a 60-year old staffing firm needs a CDO. Well, you won't after meeting Rene!
Listen and learn:

How chatbots are eliminating the "black hole of recruiting"
Why you may land your next job in the metaverse
The single biggest factor that determines how candidates rate the recruiting process
Which disruptive technologies are improving the hiring process
Why retaining existing employees is much less expensive than recruiting new ones
The role of technology in blue collar vs. white collar hiring processes
How to mitigate the impact of bias when training ML models to select candidates

References in this episode:

Randstad's future of work insights
Bryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of Work
Panos Siozos from LearnWorlds on AI and the Future of Work

Gordon Wilson, CEO and co-founder of Rain Neuromorphics, shares how to re-create a carbon-based brain on a silicon chip Feb 27, 2022

Gordon Wilson, CEO and founder of Rain Neuromorphics, turned a childhood fascination with science fiction into an entrepreneurial passion to recreate the human brain on a chip. Neuromorphic computing is an emerging field of AI that strives to build synthetic nervous systems for use on edge computing devices. The challenges are numerous but if Gordon and his team succeed they may make Isaac Asimov's bold visions of life with robots seem quaint in a decade.
Listen and learn:

How a love of science fiction combined with being raised in a home with entrepreneurial parents led to the founding of Rain Neuromorphics.
How to create neurons, synapses, and massively deep neural nets with code
Which core technologies from 1985 and 1999 enabled today's AI revolution.
The difference between the "physics-based" AI used in neuromorphic computing and traditional digital AI .
What Gordon hears from venture investors who don't get neuromorphic computing.
Why Gordon says "...any sufficiently complex technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Where we are today with neuromorphic computing and the path to a full artificial nervous system.

References in today's episode

Thanks to Rob May for the intro to Gordon!

Jason Corsello, VC @ Acadian Ventures and WorkTech expert, discusses the future of tech for better employee experiences Feb 20, 2022

Jason Corsello, Founder & General Partner at Acadian Ventures, didn't set out to be a venture capitalist. He was a tech industry analyst and product manager before falling in love with HRTech and the future of work. He has become one of the most prominent investors focused on disruptive technologies defining the new employee experience based in part on what he learned growing Cornerstone OnDemand from $40M to over $500M ARR.
Listen and learn...

What Jason learned about entrepreneurship and the challenges of post-IPO life as part of the leadership team at Cornerstone OnDemand
Recent Acadian investments... and what got Jason excited enough to invest
The evolution of software delivery from on-prem to SaaS to self-assembly
The challenges and benefits of being a solo GP vs. a corporate VC
How startups can disrupt LinkedIn.... and payroll
The single biggest predictor of startup success

References in today's episode:

Compa: deal desk for talent acquisition
Merge: open AI to integrate with all HR, accounting, recruiting, and payroll platforms
Panos Siozos from LearnWorlds on AI and the Future of Work
Bryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of Work
Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of Work
Acadian Ventures

Thanks to Dave Kellogg for the intro to Jason!

Dr. Mamoun Samaha, serial CTO, security expert, and professor, discusses the future of AI in cybersecurity Feb 13, 2022

Dr. Mamoun Samaha, CTO at the International Technological University and Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University, is an operator and academic with a long track record of success in the classroom and board room. His research spans the areas of mobility, security, and networking. He has strong opinions about what it means to be human in an age of automation. Worth a listen to hear his insights about how technology will change our lives in the next decade.
Listen and learn...

What's required to be a great CTO.
Why Dr. Samaha says "change is now exponential... it's no longer linear."
Why AI-powered security solutions at the edge of the network are critical.
Tips for startups selling technology to CTOs.
The one product Dr. Samaha would purchase today if it existed.
The skills every high schooler should learn that will never be replaced by AI.

References in this episode...

Phil McKinney, Dr. Samaha's role model
John Whaley on AI and the Future of Work
Intrinsic ID

Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting and author, discusses the future of technology in healthcare Feb 06, 2022

Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting, has spent 20 years educating healthcare CIOs about digital transformation and writing about healthcare innovation. Damo helps organizations turn new technology into better patient outcomes in areas like telemedicine, electronic health records, and patient engagement platforms. Paddy shares wisdom about innovative solutions that will improve our quality of life for decades ahead.
Listen and learn...

Paddy's single biggest insight from research for his book "Healthcare Digital Transformation"
Which HealthTech trends are getting the most attention from venture capitalists
The role of the digital health experience in patient adoption of healthcare services
Which upstarts are disrupting HealthTech incumbents
How the pandemic gave rise to telemedicine and how that is impacting the future of healthcare
How limited access to patient data will constrain AI-related innovation in healthcare
Whether or not Apple, Amazon, and Google - owners of your data - will replace hospitals as primary healthcare providers

References in this episode...

Dave Kellogg, serial CEO, investor, and SaaS metrics expert, shares his (provocative) tech predictions for 2022 Jan 30, 2022

Dave Kellogg, serial CEO, investor, and advisor, is a prolific blogger over at Kellblog.com. His annual predictions are a must-read for anyone in tech. This year's insights were no exception. Dave recently joined Balderton Capital as an executive in residence. His illustrious career has spanned exec stints at iconic companies like Host Analytics, Salesforce, MarkLogic, and Business Objects before it was acquired by SAP. Among other accolades, Dave’s SaaStr talks routinely rank in the top few most watched.

Dave owns two dubious distinctions: in over 100 episodes, he’s one of only three repeat guests on the podcast. He’s also the biggest Grateful Dead fan we know. The two are only loosely correlated.

Listen and learn:

The single SaaS metric that matters most in 2022
Dave's advice to innovators: "don't pave cow paths"
What's different about the venture ecosystems in Silicon Valley and Europe
What's ahead for Web3 and blockchain in the enterprise
Why the future of decentralized services requires centralized platforms
If 2021 was a Grateful Dead song...

References in this episode:

Dave's 2022 predictions
Dave's favorite marketing book: They Ask You Answer
Moxie Marlinspike on Web3
Anshu Sharma and the privacy vault
Causal inference wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics

Graham Brown, technologist, award-winning podcast host, and storyteller, shares what entrepreneurs need to know to create better pitch decks Jan 23, 2022

Graham Brown, storyteller extraordinaire, has traveled the world learning about work, culture, and technology. He's a cognitive psychologist with a passion for AI but also a student of history and art who is on a personal mission to link the present and future with great stories from the past. Graham's also the CEO of Pikkal, a podcast agency, and the host of the Asia Tech Podcast.
Listen and learn:

What entrepreneurs need to know about the art of great storytelling
What the cave paintings in Lascaux, France from 15,000 BCE teach us about artificial intelligence
How archetypal stories like Star Wars and Harry Potter use the same plot lines as a Steve Jobs product launch
Why startup pitch decks need to "create maps for the audience"
What it means to be human in the age of machine intelligence
Why Henry Ford famously chose black as the color for the Model T Ford

References in this episode:

The Asia Tech Podcast
Pikkal, Graham's podcast agency
The cave paintings in Lascaux, France
The first computers (who were humans... and mostly women)

Rob May, venture partner at PJC and serial AI entrepreneur, shares what's holding back AI adoption in the enterprise Jan 16, 2022

Rob May, serial AI entrepreneur and investor, started as a hardware engineer but realized he could have more of an impact as an entrepreneur and investor. Since then, he has started companies including Backupify (acquired by Datto) and Talla (conversational AI) and invested in over 100 startups. Rob's a deep thinker and the author of the popular Inside AI weekly newsletter and Investing in AI podcast.
Listen and learn...

What's holding back AI adoption in the enterprise
New approaches to address the "small data" AI problem
About the ethics training we should require for AI algorithm developers
Why those who fear bots taking over are the modern equivalent of Luddites
What it means to be human when machines are sentient
The moonshot AI idea Rob's most excited about

References in today's episode:

Krishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and the Future of Work
AdeptID for matching helping employees upskill
Mythic for edge AI

Elliot Shmukler, CEO of Anomalo, discusses why data quality monitoring is the future of personalization Jan 09, 2022

Elliot Shmukler, CEO and founder of Anomalo, needed a better way to monitor data quality at scale. He previously led growth teams at Wealthfront, Instacart, and LinkedIn and experienced firsthand the impact of incomplete or inaccurate data. Anomalo has now raised nearly $40M from amazing investors including Norwest, Two Sigma, and Foundation to make data problems a thing of the past.
Listen and learn...

What Elliot means when citing Jeff Weiner from Linkedin: "If you're launching a rocket even a one degree course change can mean you won't land on the moon."
About the data quality issue nobody noticed at Instacart that impacted millions of users.
How the role of the data scientist will change as AI platforms automate data quality monitoring.
When there's a need for humans in the loop to override AI systems.
Why every product will soon be as good at personalization as Spotify and Netflix.
The number one skill every student needs to learn that will never be replaced by machines.

Past episodes referenced in today's discussion:

Luke Arrigoni, Data Scientist and CEO of Arricor, shares how to turn enterprise data into decisions with AI Jan 02, 2022

Luke Arrigoni started Arricor in 2012 to help large companies make sense of their data. Since then, he and the team have taught organizations like Goldman Sachs, AT&T, and Thomson Reuters about the principles of AI. His secret? Focus on the business problem and the right technology approach becomes obvious.
Listen and learn...

How UPS uses AI to automatically assign the right tax code for packages
What responsibility AI developers have for the decisions their algorithms make
How to clean dirty data to make it ready for AI model training
When to use neural nets vs. gradient-boosted trees
Which tasks are good candidates for classifier models vs. NLP
Which job skills are future-proof... and which are likely to be replaced by automation

References in this episode:

Fish from Mozart Data on AI and the Future of Work
Airflow for data pipeline automation

Peter Fishman, co-founder and CEO of Mozart Data, discusses data pipelines and why they're defining the future of data analytics Dec 26, 2021

Peter Fishman ("Fish"), co-founder and CEO of Mozart Data, had a vision for making it easy for any business to unlock the value of their data via a modern data stack. He and his co-founder believe rote data engineering work shouldn't require teams of in-house data engineers. Fish turned his PhD in Economics and passion for statistics into a successful, venture-backed YC company that is defining the future of data analytics.
Listen and learn...

Why Fish believes "not every business gets value out of their data... but every business can."
The role of data pipelines in automating the cleaning and transforming of data.
Fish's prediction for where humans will be needed for data analysis in a decade.
What Fish learned working with David Sacks at Yammer.
How bacon hot sauce inspired the founding of Mozart Data.

References in this episode:

Barr Moses from Monte Carlo on AI and the Future of Work
Derek Steer from Mode on AI and the Future of Work
Fivetran for simplifying data integration

Shawn Merani, Founder and Managing Director of Parade Ventures, discusses how to start a venture fund and find great entrepreneurs Dec 20, 2021

Shawn Merani, entrepreneur and venture investor, has started two venture funds and been an operator at early stage companies including Liquidnet and ReachLocal. Shawn has invested in some amazing companies including Clubhouse, Dollar Shave Club, and Stance. He shares his definition of "hustle" and the challenges of raising money for a venture fund vs. raising money for a company.
Listen and learn...

How to raise your first venture fund.
Why the goal of Parade Ventures is "to be the first call great founders make when raising money."
Shawn's secret to getting access to over-subscribed deals with high-profile investors.
Why Shawn makes it a priority to meet every one of Parade's founders every other week.
The biggest mistake founders make when pitching investors.
What one entrepreneur did to convince Shawn to invest in a first meeting.

References in this episode:

Intro: book in-demand experts for a video call
Sonar: change intelligence software
Moichor: animal diagnostics
Zi Wang from Timeless
Parade Ventures

Mel Engle, CEO of Predictive Oncology, shares how AI is curing cancer Dec 12, 2021

Mel Engle, executive and cancer survivor, has spent more than 30 years in and around the intersection of healthcare and technology. He's now the CEO of Predictive Oncology using AI and patient data to develop personalized cancer treatments. Mel discusses how research from Carnegie Mellon is being commercialized to accelerate the future of healthcare.
Listen and learn...

How Mel and his team have turned cancer detection and prevention into a data problem.
How to use AI to figure out which tumor types can be healed by which chemical compounds to reduce the time required to develop new cancer treatments.
How to mitigate the impact of bias in patient data when using AI to make high-stakes decisions.
How long before AI will be more accurate at detecting cancer than human doctors.
What's ahead for AI in healthcare for the next decade.

References in this episode:

Matt Cowell, CEO at QuantHub, shares why the future workforce needs to be data literate Dec 05, 2021

Matt Cowell started QuantHub in 2018 to help upskill and reskill employees to prepare for careers in data and AI. The QuantHub data skills platform exists to satisfy the growing demand for data-fluent team members. Amazing organizations like Uber and Southern Company use QuantHub to improve data literacy for employees. Plus, Matt's the first Alabamian on the podcast. Roll tide!
Listen and learn...

How a Chemist landed in IT and eventually became a venture-backed entrepreneur
Why there's a need for a "Duolingo for data literacy"
What are the skills required for "data citizens" vs. "data storytellers"
Why "every employee will soon be a knowledge worker"
Why data literacy will be part of general education requirements in the future

References in this episode...

Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of Work
Panos Siozos on AI and the Future of Work
Bryan Talebi on AI and the Future of Work
Derek Steer on AI and the Future of Work

Dan Grunfeld, Director at Lightspeed and author of "By the Grace of the Game", discusses leadership, entrepreneurship, and basketball Nov 26, 2021

Dan Grunfeld, former professional basketball player and operator at Lightspeed Venture Partners, discusses the parallels between sports and entrepreneurship. His grandma's escape from the Holocaust inspired him to share her story, one he has been writing for five years. Dan's family history is inspirational. His advice for entrepreneurs is timeless.
Listen and learn...

Why professional basketball is a lot like entrepreneurship
Dan's lessons from experiencing hardship on the court... and how to recover from setbacks
How the best entrepreneurs find product-market fit
How his 96 year-old grandma was saved twice by Raoul Wallenberg
Why Dan says "...basketball was sent from heaven for my family"
Dan's advice about discipline for aspiring authors: "if you snooze once, you can snooze every day."

References in this episode:

Rene Morkos on AI and the Future of Work
Panos Siozos on AI and the Future of Work
Bernie and Ernie on ESPN 30 for 30
Dan on Twitter: @dan_grunfeld
Dan's personal site: DanGrunfeld.com

Matt Compton, CEO and Co-founder of Filo.co, shares why Zoom isn't what teams need to host virtual meetings Nov 21, 2021

Matt Compton's a restless tinkerer from Indianapolis who started Filo.co to solve a problem he had. He needed something better than Zoom to be able to spend more time with his family without being on the road three weeks a month. He and his co-founders joined a venture studio and built the prototype for Filo.co in four weeks. Now it powers virtual employee events for an impressive list of companies.
Listen and learn...

What's really required to make virtual events productive
How Filo's better than Zoom
How Anaplan crushed sales kickoff using Filo
The future of virtual spaces
Why we don't need a metaverse

References in this episode:

Phil Heltewig, CEO of conversational AI platform Cognigy, on the future of customer service automation Nov 14, 2021

Phil Heltewig, co-founder and CEO of Cognigy, the low-code conversational AI platform for managing customer service bots, discusses how new AI technologies are improving the support experience. Phil started Cognigy in 2016 with two co-founders and has since raised $55M from Insight Partners among others. The team is now about 100 employees and boasts an amazing customer list including Lufthansa and Bosch.
Listen and learn...

What Teddy Ruxpin has to do with the future of conversational AI.
About the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial journey: "...there are days when you're wondering if you can make payroll..."
How customer service bots "are designed to help humans in call centers, not replace them."
What are the biggest technical challenges when applying NLP in narrow enterprise domains with limited training data.
How Cognigy thinks about mitigating the impact of bias in AI models.
Why your experience re-booking your flight will be much better in the future.

References in this episode:

Cognigy on Twitter
Cognigy
AI and the Future of Work with Panos Siozos

Dr. Panos Siozos, Founder and CEO of LearnWorlds, raised $32M to build a novel edtech company that's helping creators monetize custom courses Nov 07, 2021

Dr. Panos Siozos, LearnWorlds CEO, went from academic to high-tech CEO and raised $32M from Insight Partners to help creators monetize e-learning courses. Dr. Siozos is our first guest from Cyprus and his story about building a remote-first, global team should inspire international entrepreneurs everywhere. As Dr. Siozos says, "everyone has something to teach... that someone else wants to learn." This is a great opportunity to understand the future of learning... in 30 minutes.
Listen and learn...

How Dr. Siozos transitioned from being an academic and researcher to a high-tech CEO
Why creators need a better platform to share and monetize custom e-learning courses
How technology is redefining the learning experience and why "the industrial education experience" is antiquated
How future innovation in the areas of AI, AR, and VR will increase engagement rates for e-learning
Why Dr. Siozos says "...learning is the only superpower we possess as humans."

References in this episode:

Bryan Talebi, Ahura AI CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Jordan Husney, Parabol CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
LearnWorlds

Podchaser token: 9h5nXFjBF3PXuSmfUzrE

Scott Zoldi, FICO Chief Analytics Officer, discusses how AI and your data are used to make decisions about fraud and credit risk Oct 31, 2021

Scott Zoldi, FICO Chief Analytics Officer and PhD in Theoretical Physics, shares how to use AI responsibly. FICO uses consumer data and machine learning models to make decisions ranging from fraud to credit risk. Hundreds of thousands of signals can be used to make a single decision by comparing new data with historical data. Scott's team is focused not just on making accurate decisions but also ensuring the signals used and the decision-making process are bias-free.
Listen and learn...

How Scott's team uses AI to make automated decisions using consumer data
Why Scott's priorities are "explainability first and performance second"
Why the principles of "humble AI" are as important as the principles of ethical AI
What's required to increase public trust in AI-based decisions
What's the role of data scientists in the future when AutoML is prevalent
What Scott means when he says "models aren't biased when they're built, they're only biased in production"

References in this episode:

Thanks to Benjamin Baer for the intro to Scott!

Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus AI, discusses the latest in AI research and what's required to make developing AI apps as easy as building web pages Oct 24, 2021

Bindu Reddy, CEO and co-founder of Abacus AI, was a product exec at Google and Amazon and an accomplished entrepreneur before setting out to make AI model management accessible to non data scientists. Bindu has since raised more than $40M from investors like Index Ventures, Coatue, Ram Shriram, Deep Nishar, and others. Her team is investing in core AI research and building a platform to make it easy to deploy models trained on deep neural nets with tabular data. Hear Bindu's vision... then go follow her on Twitter for provocative tweets like the one we discuss in this episode :).
Listen and learn...

How Bindu became an AI enthusiast after an algorithm helped her previous company increase revenue 40%
What Bindu learned at Google and AWS... and what she has had to un-learn to grow Abacus AI
How AI is being used to reduce customer churn
Why Bindu's vision is to make creating and managing AI models "as easy as creating podcasts or websites"
Why building bias into AI models isn't necessarily bad

References in this episode:

Krishna Gade on AI and the Future of Work
Jeff Meyerson on AI and the Future of Work
Abacus.ai
Bindu on Twitter

Charity Majors, CTO and co-founder of honeycomb, discusses observability, how to build great software, and what she learned not to do from Facebook Oct 17, 2021

Charity Majors, CTO and co-founder at honeycomb, grew up in rural Idaho and dropped out of college. This is her unlikely journey from pianist to successful high-tech entrepreneur. She's a pioneer in the monitoring and observability space who turned her learning at Facebook into a company focused on helping developers find and fix bugs faster. Charity's opinionated, thoughtful, and one of the most outspoken critics of, well, the status quo :).
Listen and learn...

What motivated Charity to start a career in tech having been a "perennial dropout"
Why "ops has a well-deserved reputation for masochism"
Why Charity says the "Kool-aid at Facebook is strong and potent"
Why it's impossible to troubleshoot software bugs with high cardinality data
How Charity defines observability
What it means to practice observability-driven development (ODD) and why it should replace test-driven development (TDD)

References in this episode:

Thanks to Rachel Chalmers for making this episode happen!

Kai Nunez, Vice President of Research & Insights at Salesforce, shares the secret to making tech teams own responsibility for AI ethics Oct 10, 2021

Kai Nunez, VP Research & Insights at Salesforce, didn't always know she wanted to pursue a career in AI because it didn't exist as a field. Her dad was a linguist and she became interested in human-computer interaction at a young age. Kai's deep concern for values-based leadership and operating with integrity led her to become a leading voice in the DEI and AI ethics communities. Today, her teams are creating a culture of awareness about the impact tech has on underserved populations. She's a passionate advocate for educating teams to do the right thing... even when nobody's looking.
Listen and learn...

About Salesforce's real "biggest competitor"
Why DEI matters in technology
How Kai lives the value of "being a respectful truthteller"
Why the future of software includes data audits to mitigate the risk of bias
What happened when Kai presented an unpopular idea to Marc Benioff

References in this episode...

Krishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and the Future of Work
AI ethics at Salesforce

Rene Morkos, CEO and Founder of ALICE Technologies, shares how algorithms are changing the construction industry Oct 03, 2021

René Morkos, CEO and Founder of ALICE Technologies, grew up wanting to build things. That passion led him to degrees in Construction Management and an adjunct professorship at Stanford. In 2015, he founded ALICE to improve the efficiency of complex construction projects. Rene has since raised nearly $40M from an incredible list of investors including Lightspeed, Merus, and Future Ventures.
Listen and learn...

What René learned from his first job after college working on construction sites in Afghanistan
Why ConstructionTech has attracted nearly $6B since 2014
How algorithms figure out what 6,000 people on a construction site should do every day
What the world will be like in ten years when technology is fully adopted in the construction industry
Why "startups are really just R&D departments for large companies"
What's hard about building startups...that they don't teach you in CEO school

References in the episode...

ALICE Technologies
ALICE on Twitter
AI and the Future of Work with Rachel Chalmers from Alchemist Accelerator

Gary Bolles, best-selling author of The Next Rules of Work, shares how to manage through disruption and find your passion Sep 26, 2021

Gary Bolles, entrepreneur, venture advisor, and best-selling author, is a deep thinker who established roots in Silicon Valley in the 80s to pursue his joint passions for technology and exploring what he calls the three boxes of life - learning, work, and leisure. He’s the author of The Next Rules of Work which was published August 31. He’s also the chair for the Future of Work at Singularity University and the founder of eParachute among other companies. Oh, and his LinkedIn courses have helped train more than 800,000 students.
Listen and learn...

How the son of a laid off minister became one of the foremost authorities on the future of work
What opportunities are being created by "The Great Reset"
How technology is redefining work... and redefining our identity as humans
What it means that we're moving from a "workforce" to a "worknet"
About the $10 million exercise... and why it's the best way to find your passion
Why living the acronym "PACE" is the best way to ensure future career success

References in today's episode...

Gary's site
Singularity University
AI and the Future of Work with Charlene Li

Derek Steer, CEO and founder of Mode, discusses the future of work for data analysts and the biggest tragedy in BI today Sep 19, 2021

Derek Steer cut his teeth as a data analyst at Facebook and Yammer more than a decade ago. He co-founded Mode in 2013 to make it easier to ask questions about data and get better answers faster. Mode has since raised four rounds of funding including a recent $33M round from an exceptional group of investors. 52% of Fortune 500 companies use Mode and Derek has grown the team to more than 300 employees. Derek's vision: "drive the time to do analysis down to zero." He's well on his way!
Listen and learn...

What Mode's doing to "unlock the power of human reasoning"
What Derek learned about tools for data analysts from Facebook and Yammer
Why there will always be a need for analytics frontends even amid competition from data warehouses like Snowflake
The future of work for data analysts
The biggest tragedy in BI today

References in this episode:

Benn Stancil's "season without bats"
Fivetran
ThoughtSpot
Trifacta
Tiernan Ray on AI and the Future of Work

Jeff Meyerson, entrepreneur and author of "Move Fast: How Facebook Builds Software", shares important advice for Zuck Sep 12, 2021

Jeff Meyerson, entrepreneur, musician, technologist, and author of the acclaimed "Move Fast: How Facebook Builds Software", discusses the stranglehold Big Tech has on developer tools and how the future of software development may be quite different from the present.
Listen and learn...

What Jeff learned about sales from playing poker
How Facebook builds software... and how it can avoid being evil
Why React is the "Linux of the frontend of the web"
The development tools Jeff's most excited about
Why Zuck's not a good leader
What Jeff will tell Zuck when they finally meet

References in this episode...

Krishna Gade, CEO and Founder of Fiddler, discusses the importance of AI explainability Sep 05, 2021

Krishna Gade was an engineering leader at Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook before realizing AI is eating software... and responsible AI is essential. He turned a passion for "trustworthy AI" into a company that recently raised $32M to make AI explainable.
Listen and learn...

Why AI explainability matters... and how to instrument it in AI models
What developers need to know to ensure AI models don't make bad decisions
What legislators need to know when creating frameworks to regulate "responsible" use of AI
How Apple fumbled AI explainability when issuing credit cards through Goldman Sachs
Krishna's top lesson learned as a first-time CEO

References in this episode:

AI and The Future of Work with Dr. Mark van Rijmenam
AI and The Future of Work with Tiernan Ray
The Algorithmic Accountability Act
Fiddler.ai

Neelima Parasker, CEO of SnapIT Solutions, shares the recipe for making high-quality STEM education accessible to all Aug 29, 2021

Neelima Parasker started coding at a young age. Inspired by her entrepreneur mother, she studied Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering before eventually starting SnapIT Solutions. Neelima's passion for investing in unproven talent has guided her as a leader. She's an active entrepreneur coach and is involved in many civic organizations in and around the Kansas City area.
Listen and learn...

The single most important lesson for parents looking to cultivate a love of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in their kids.
How Neelima has built a culture around her belief that we should "use technology to grow people, not the other way around."
How glass ceilings for women and under-represented minorities can be shattered.
How governments should take responsibility for improving access to STEM education.
Why Neelima isn't afraid of bots taking jobs because "our faults make us human."

References in today's episode...

Rachel Chalmers, Partner at Alchemist Accelerator, discusses what's required to eliminate bias in startup funding Aug 22, 2021

Rachel Chalmers aspired to be an English professor before being inspired by a technology journal to relocate from Ireland to San Francisco. She has since covered over 1,000 startups as an industry analyst and invested in many more as an investor. Rachel is passionate about representing the under-represented and encouraging all those who have been told they can't live their dreams. This is a must-listen for entrepreneurs who have ever felt disadvantaged by circumstances out of their control. It's also the episode in which I volunteer to chair the Chalmers 2024 campaign.
Listen and learn...

The burn rate rule of thumb for startups
Why "venture capital wants to perpetuate itself"
The origins of the Silicon Valley myth that "all talent is concentrated in white males"
How to eliminate institutional biases that constrain women and under-represented minorities when raising money and building companies
How Rachel is defining the future workplace where humans and machines collaborate

References in this episode:

Ravi Belani and the Alchemist Accelerator
The Innovators Inside podcast by AlchemistX
Charity Majors and Honeycomb
Edith Harbaugh and LaunchDarkly
Ciro and Jacopo from Tooso on AI and the Future of Work
Filip Dousek from Workday on AI and the Future of Work
Project Include
Arlan Hamilton
Kate Crawford's Atlas of AI
Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott

Dr. Zehra Cataltepe, CEO of Tazi.ai, discusses the meaning of responsible AI and how she's saving the planet...one model at a time Aug 15, 2021

Dr. Cataltepe is an accomplished scientist and entrepreneur... with a social conscience. She has published more than 100 academic papers and is a three-time recipient of the "Women Entrepreneur of the Year" award. Dr. Cataltepe and her team believe building and managing AI models should be something anyone can do... even her 70 year old mother who is a farmer in Turkey :). Tazi's vision is to make AI explainable, accessible, and configurable for "mere mortals".
Listen and learn...

What's required to deploy AI that is easy to understand, monitor, and update by business people without data science or computer science backgrounds
How to apply micro-segmentation to detect and eliminate bias in data and models
Why "bring your own model" may solve critical issues related to data privacy and data bias
How reducing the complexity of AI also will limit its environmental footprint
How insurance companies are using AI trained with telematic data to determine driver risk and premiums
Why the Turkish saying "even the snake eats the earth one bite at a time" represents Dr. Cataltepe's vision for the future of AI

Thanks to the Alchemist Accelerator team for the introduction to Dr. Cataltepe!

Ken Gonzalez, ITSM pundit, shares the one trend that will define IT strategy for the next decade Aug 08, 2021

Ken Gonzalez has spent the better part of 35 years as an IT practitioner, CIO advisor, and industry analyst. He has fielded more than 2,500 inquiry calls and contributed to some of the most impactful IT trends. Ken's advisory work focuses on IT metrics and organizational change. Hear Ken share the one workplace technology shift that all organizations must make to remain competitive in the next decade.
Listen and learn...

What it means for IT to adopt a "product management mindset"
How Ken helped a client save $750,000
Why most enterprise IT teams "overestimate their process maturity"
The role AI will play in defining IT strategy (hint: it's not what you think)
Jargon alert: "KTLO" = "keep the lights on"

References in this episode...

Ken's virtual home on the internet
Colin Fletcher on AI and the Future of Work
Dion Hinchcliffe on AI and the Future of Work

Dan O'Connell, CSO/CRO at Dialpad and founder of TalkIQ, discusses NLP in cloud telephony and his entrepreneurial journey from Google to founder to a quick exit Aug 01, 2021

Dan O'Connell, former founder and CEO of TalkIQ which was acquired by Dialpad, discusses the future of cloud communications. Dan's vision for helping teams sell more with less churn led to Dialpad becoming a unicorn last year having raised $100M at a $1.2B pre-money valuation. Exceptional investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures are betting on Dialpad's ability to convert legacy telephony infrastructure into cloud-native, SaaS systems using AI to analyze voice transcripts.
Listen and learn...

Dan's entrepreneurial journey from incubator to launch to fundraising to acquisition.
Why TalkIQ was really three startups in one... and how Dan navigated his team through the process of finding one big customer problem to fix.
Why voice will soon be the primary computing interface.
The challenges of developing NLP technology for voice transcription and AI-based analytics.
What Dan learned from nearly a decade at Google... and, more important, what he learned not to do.

References in the episode...

Dion Hinchcliffe, VP and Principal Analyst @ Constellation Research, discusses CIO priorities and how to actually deliver on the promise of digital transformation Jul 25, 2021

Dion Hinchcliffe has been reporting on and prognosticating about the future of work for more than 20 years. He speaks with 100s of global CIOs annually about how to use technology to deliver great employee experiences. In this discussion, Dion shares mind-boggling stats about IT spending patterns and provocative thoughts about how to fix what's broken in the workplace.
Listen and learn...

The real definition of "digital transformation"
Why CIOs have the shortest tenure in the C-suite
Who spends more on IT... than IT!
What % of IT budgets go to innovation... and why that number is pathetically low.
How the technology in your pocket will be very different in a decade.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

AI and the Future of Work with Mark Settle
Dion's perspective on the "New CIO Mindset"
Dion's website
Dion on Twitter
Dion's Hierarchy of Digital Employee Experience Needs
AntWorks RPA

John Whaley, Founder and CEO of UnifyID, discusses the future of biometric authentication and how to prepare for a world beyond passwords Jul 18, 2021

John Whaley has been programming since age five. He has been a lecturer at Stanford in Computer Science, a founding CTO, and a founding CEO. John raised a large series A in 2017 and has sold two companies. Oh, and he's out to save the world from passwords. UnifyID is a pioneer in the use of biometric data stored on mobile devices to authenticate users.
Listen and learn...

How John's personal journey led to the founding and successful acquisition of UnifyID by Prove.
About the ethical implications of giving Big Tech access to your biometric data.
Why "being yourself should provide enough information to uniquely identify you."
What John means when he says "data isn't the new oil... it's the new kryptonite."
John's bold prediction for when passwords will no longer be the predominant form of authentication (spoiler alert: it's sooner than you think).

Thanks to Vinay Prabhu for the introduction to John.

Filip Dousek, founder of Stories (acquired by Workday), discusses machine learning for people insights and the challenges of being an entrepreneur in Europe Jul 11, 2021

Filip Dousek is a successful entrepreneur having sold his last company to Workday. He's also the author of Flock Without Birds, a two-part novel that challenges how the whole relates to its parts. Stories, Filip's company, is solving the problem of extracting insights about people from massive datasets to be able to answer questions about diversity, organizational behavior, and skills gaps. He also discusses the challenges of growing a startup in Prague.
Listen and learn...

Why enterprises don't use the data they generate to make better decisions
The hard technical challenge of extracting insights about people and teams from large datasets
What it means to "look at data through the prism of graphs and relationships"
Why founding Stories in Prague created an opportunity for talent arbitrage
About our defensible advantages as humans vs. AI

Referenced in this episode:

Jason Wojahn, CEO of ServiceNow partner Thirdera, shares what it means to make innovation a core component of company culture Jul 04, 2021

Jason Wojahn has been building companies and helping enterprises use technology for nearly 30 years. He learned a few things before launching Thirdera, the largest pure-play ServiceNow partner, earlier this year. Jason shares his perspectives on the right ways to introduce innovation to clients... and also the right way to reward innovation within his own team. Thirdera has created a brand that is fun and a culture that empowers everyone to do their best work.
Listen and learn...

Why there's still room to disrupt in the crowded ServiceNow partner ecosystem
How Thirdera works with clients to define their innovation agenda
What Jason means by "being e-lingual is as important as being bilingual"
Why "we’re in the early innings of cloud... and we haven’t even dressed for the field yet in AI."

Oh, and listen to our discussion with Marc Talluto from 2019 for insight into the story behind Thirdera.

Tiernan Ray, journalist in publications like The New York Times and Fortune, discusses the state of AI ethics and how to thrive in a world of automated decisions Jun 27, 2021

Tiernan Ray is an accomplished journalist who has written extensively for publications like ZDNet, the New York Times, Barron’s, CNN Money, Fortune, and Bloomberg. He famously launched coverage of machine learning for Barron’s back in 2015 with a cover story called “The Cloud Chip”.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Tiernan shares how the principles of ethics should be applied to AI based on his thorough analysis of current research.
Listen and learn...

Why the field of AI ethics requires "those with authority to also have responsibility" for outcomes.
How to instrument explainability into automated decisions made by algorithms and why explainability is like the paradox of Schrodinger's cat.
How AI ethics is challenging because we're reducing topics like justice and fairness to algorithms whose behavior is dictated by objective functions.
What Tiernan means when he says AI regulators can't be trusted to "grade their own homework".
Why your personal data may soon be managed on a blockchain as a new layer of the traditional OSI stack.

Resources referenced in this episode...

Tiernan's treatise on ethical AI... and its companion piece
The Technology Letter
Fiddler.ai

Bryan Talebi, founder and CEO of Ahura AI, shares how AI is being used to up-skill and re-skill workers being displaced by automation Jun 20, 2021

Bryan Talebi learned the value of education after fleeing Iran and living in a Turkish refugee camp. He worked for NASA at age 16 and, after helping lead many successful startups, started Ahura to disrupt the education system "which hasn't changed in 150 years". Bryan realized the millions of workers being displaced by automation need a way to more rapidly prepare for careers in the labor market of the future.
Listen and learn...

What skills are required to succeed in the new labor market
What impact a single robot can have on an entire factory of skilled laborers
How biometric data can be used to optimize the learning process
What employers are doing to up-skill rather than replace current employees
Why "AQ" is replacing IQ and EQ as the way to find 10x talent

Contact Bryan and Ahura AI for more information:

www.ahuraai.com
bryan@ahuraai.com
@bryantalebi3D

Milin Desai, CEO of unicorn APM vendor Sentry, discusses the future of software, what's wrong with DevOps, and what 100 other monitoring vendors don't know Jun 13, 2021

Milin Desai was an executive at VMware before taking the CEO role at Sentry last year. Since then, he led a $60M funding round that valued the company at $1B. An exceptional group of investors including Accel and NEA as well as new investor BOND participated. In this discussion with Dan Turchin, Milin openly shares the challenges of growing a startup and where there's room for innovation in the crowded monitoring space.
Listen and learn...

What all other monitoring vendors are missing that created an opportunity for Sentry
What Sentry does better than the legacy APM vendors
The dirty secret of DevOps
Why NoOps won't replace DevOps any time soon
The one non-technical skill that has helped Milin most in his career

Thanks to Banjot Chanana for the introduction to Milin!

Slater Victoroff, founder and CTO of intelligent process automation company Indico, discusses deep learning, AGI, and his entrepreneurial journey Jun 06, 2021

Slater Victoroff is a machine learning expert and science fiction writer who is never shy when sharing opinions about AI and the future of technology. His passion for giving unstructured content meaning led to the founding and success of Indico. The company has since raised $36M from an impressive set of investors including Jump Capital and Sandbox Ventures. In this discussion, hear how Slater went from dorm room programmer to entrepreneur.
Listen and learn...

How Indico was launched by pineapple and onion pizza consumed from 5:00 PM to 5:00 AM on Sunday nights.
What it was like to found the company as CEO then later hire a replacement to become CTO.
How Slater defends his 2012 comment that "the war is over... deep learning lost."
How NLP is being used to unlock value trapped in unstructured data.
Why every knowledge worker "needs a bionic arm".
Why Slater says AGI, artificial general intelligence, doesn't exist as a concept.

Follow Slater @sl8rv on Twitter.

Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, technologist, entrepreneur, and author, discusses AI ethics, future societies, blockchains, and digital labor May 30, 2021

A first on the show this week... we meet a guest whose digital twin has its own YouTube channel. Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is a futurist, best-selling author, and entrepreneur. He is a popular keynote speaker about issues related to how we co-exist with technology in an increasingly digital world.
Listen and learn....

Why it is we're living in "exponential times"
How future societies will be organized by "digitalism" instead of "liberalism" based on who can access and control data
Why blockchains as a technology are currently about at the maturity level of the internet in 1997
What Dr. Mark means when he says "...be prepared to reinvent yourself every five to ten years"

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Zi Wang, CEO and founder of Timeless, discusses the future of time management, responsible use of data for AI, and how he's out to change the world May 23, 2021

Zi Wang, Timeless founder and CEO, learned a lot at Google in eight and a half years. Enough that he was inspired to turn his Google-esque bold vision for the future of time management into a company. Timeless isn't solving the calendar app problem - Zi and his team are solving the problem of how to get the most out of what little time we have.
Listen and learn...

The founding vision of Timeless
About the future of time management
The value of a "marketplace for time"
Why data privacy is a 21st century human right
How time graphs will be used to optimize your calendar

Resources mentioned on the show:

Banjot Chanana, product leader from VMware, Docker, Google, and AWS, discusses the rise of containers and what's ahead in DevOps May 17, 2021

Most of us won't learn as much in a career about DevOps as Banjot Chanana forgets in an afternoon. Having built teams and products that have given rise to DevOps over a 20-year career as a product leader, Banjot is qualified to have strong opinions about the right ways to develop and deploy software. The best part? He's as enthusiastic as ever about what's ahead.
Listen and learn...

Where there are opportunities to innovate in and around DevOps.
Where VMs failed and created an opportunity for containers.
What ephemeral infrastructure means for the future of CI/CD.
What attributes are common across companies with great product cultures.

Companies and projects referenced:

Ciro Greco and Jacopo Tagliabue, founders of Tooso, discuss their entrepreneurial journey, acquisition by Coveo, and the future of machine intelligence May 10, 2021

It's tough being entrepreneurs in Belgium and Italy. Our appetite for risk and access to capital in the U.S. is an unfair advantage. Ciro and Jacopo moved to Silicon Valley to pursue their dream and, in the process, learned why entrepreneurship is a full-contact sport. Their journey from MIT to startup to successful exit is a classic tale of grit and determination.
Listen and learn...

What's unique about Silicon Valley for founders.
How to turn a technology into a product.
What distinguishes human cognition from machine intelligence.
Why NLP is so hard.
How product interfaces can introduce bias.
What we can (and can't) expect from AI.

People and organizations mentioned:

Kordel France, CEO of Seekar Technologies, discusses the importance of AI explainability and how Seekar's AI helps radiologists detect COVID May 05, 2021

Kordel France taught himself to code to automate his Calculus homework. He was inspired by seeing robot tractors on the family farm. Not the conventional background for a high-tech CEO. Kordel and Seekar have turned a passion for AI and machine learning into novel applications in fields as diverse as medicine, law, and professional sports. The best parts of this conversation are when Kordel describes what it means to practice responsible AI. A heads up for investor-types: Seekar is a hot company in a hot space and will soon be raising a series A. Contact Kordel for details.
Listen and learn...

How to instrument explainability into AI algorithms and create a culture where algorithm developers are required to explain how their algorithms work
Best practices for monitoring AI model accuracy to know when re-training is required
The challenges and opportunities of putting AI models at the edge of the network
How AI is making radiologists better at detecting medical conditions like COVID... and why AI won't replace human experts any time soon

Episodes and companies mentioned:

Philippe Cases, Topic Networks CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Deryk van Brunt, CredibleMind CEO, on AI and the Future of Work
Seekar Technologies

Rishon Blumberg and Michael Solomon, authors of Game Changer: How to be 10x in the Talent Economy, discuss AI, freelancers, and what it takes to be 10x better at everything Apr 27, 2021

Two firsts this week on the podcast: first time we’ve had a two-guest interview and first time we’ve had guests who aren’t native to the tech industry.

Rishon Blumberg and Michael Solomon are pioneers in the talent management space having worked with A-list celebrities like Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer. A decade ago they set out to bring what they learned in entertainment to the tech talent economy.
They’ve since published the popular book Game Changer: How to be 10x in the Talent Economy and have been busy helping the tech community find gigs.
Listen and learn...

What it takes to be 10x better at everything.
The unique personal attributes that separate "10xers" from everyone else.
What the guys learned managing Bruce Springsteen.
How one 10xer changed the world...starting with energy bars.
Why managing rock stars is a lot like managing tech talent.
The guys advice for entrepreneurs: "...when hustling fails grit is what gets you back to hustling again."

References in the show:

Linda Rottenberg, Endeavor Co-founder and CEO, discusses entrepreneurship in emerging markets Apr 18, 2021

This week's guest has been called “America’s Best Leader” by U.S. News and “The Entrepreneur Whisperer” by ABC, Fox, and NPR. Linda Rottenberg is the Co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, the world's leading community of high-impact entrepreneurs. She's also an accomplished author, speaker, investor, and mentor for global entrepreneurs. Linda's a mom of twins, a compassionate leader, and a force of nature having overseen the creation of more than four million jobs and 27 billion in revenue from Endeavor companies.
Listen and learn:

About inspirational entrepreneurs like Wences Casare from Argentina and Vu Van from Vietnam.
Why "...chaos is the friend of the entrepreneur."
Why "...the days when we thought entrepreneurs were boys in hoodies in Silicon Valley will soon be an ancient relic."
How personal tragedy made Linda a better leader.
About Linda's advice to a younger version of herself: "be less super and more human."
Why you should take the #MindsetChallenge from Endeavor and Masters of Scale.

Entrepreneurs and companies mentioned in the episode:

Denis Jacquet, founder of the Day One Movement, international entrepreneur, and author discusses how automation is transforming the labor market Apr 11, 2021

Denis Jacquet is concerned that automation is causing traditional jobs to mutate... and governments around the world are mismanaging the opportunity to prepare citizens for the new labor market. He has written extensively on how regulation is stifling innovation. Denis is a serial entrepreneur having started and sold multiple successful companies including EduFactory in the e-learning space. He's also an accomplished author and frequent TV and radio contributor in France on the future labor market.
Listen and learn...

Why many events will remain virtual long after the pandemic... even though humans have a fundamental need for direct contact.
What Europe can learn from countries like Israel and Korea about how to embrace innovation to stimulate company creation.
Why companies like FoxConn are preparing to replace a million low-paying jobs with robots in the next decade.
Why so many entrepreneurs sacrifice family for career.

Thanks to Philippe Cases, Topio Networks CEO, for the introduction to Denis.
References in this episode:

Joe Rehmann, CEO and Founder of Victory Farms in Kenya, shares how technology-enabled fish farming is eradicating hunger Apr 03, 2021

Joe Rehmann went from investment banking to fish farming. His passion for solving the protein problem in Eastern Africa led to one of the most successful aquaculture farms in the world.
Joe's story should inspire entrepreneurs everywhere. No problem is too big to solve. Technology we take for granted can be used in ways we can't imagine... until leaders like Joe redefine what's possible.
Listen and learn...

What inspired Joe to start Victory Farms
How Victory Farms used mobile phones to solve the tilapia cold chain problem
What the western world doesn't understand about building a business in Kenya
How fish guts and market ladies may be part of the next great technology success story

Companies and organizations mentioned on the show:

Endeavor, the world's leading community of high-impact entrepreneurs
Victory Farms

Philippe Cases, CEO of Topio Networks, serial entrepreneur, and investor discusses edge computing, IoT and AI plus the future of Silicon Valley Mar 26, 2021

Philippe Cases has been an entrepreneur and investor in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Most recently, he founded Topio Networks to automate the process of generating business insights in tech markets like edge computing, IoT, and blockchain. Philippe has strong opinions about everything from autonomous driving to augmented reality and is paid to influence how they evolve.
Listen and learn...

How an engineer growing up in France and Germany came to be a Silicon Valley success story.
Why we may never "fully automate the process of generating business insights".
What technology is limiting mainstream use of edge computing for AI tasks.
Of truck drivers, stock brokers, and real estate agents, which will be made obsolete first by AI.
What needs to change about Silicon Valley.

Also mentioned on the show:

Accelerators including YC and Alchemist
Waymo and Mobileye for autonomous driving
TinyML low-power machine learning for edge computing

Thanks to Erin McMahon for the introduction to Philippe!

Tim Crawford, serial CIO and CIO advisor, discusses three phases of AI adoption in the enterprise Mar 21, 2021

Tim Crawford, accomplished CIO, CIO advisor, and influencer, distinguishes transformational CIOs from the rest. For more than 20 years, he has been coaching CIOs about embracing new technologies by first identifying how they'll solve business problems. Tim is a frequent contributor to publications like The Wall Street Journal, CIO.com, Forbes, SiliconAngle and TechTarget. Thanks to Steve Kaplan from Nutanix for the introduction.
Listen and learn...

How three distinct types of AI help businesses in different ways
The single biggest way AI could help employees today
A strategy for helping CIOs adopt AI
How and when AI should be regulated
Which jobs are at risk of being complemented... or eliminated by AI
Why "companies and countries will ultimately be measured based on how well they leverage technology and data"

Episodes and podcasts mentioned on the show:

Rory O'Driscoll, Partner at Scale Venture Partners, discusses success modes for AI companies and three essential strategies for startups Mar 14, 2021

Rory O'Driscoll has been investing in startups since founding Scale Venture Partners 27 years ago. He and his team have invested in transcendent companies like Box, DocuSign, Omniture, Bill.com, HubSpot, and others. Listen to this one multiple times. You'll learn something new each one.
Hear Rory's insights on AI and venture investing...

"The venture business is more a decision business and less an action business."
"The purpose of AI is to make better, more cost-effective decisions."
"It’s extraordinarily hard to replace people with AI."
"It’s hard to regulate what you don’t understand."
How software is eating into traditional spending on telco and banking.
Why successful startups must pick one of three strategies: "fight, focus, or fly"

Previous episodes and companies mentioned on the podcast:

Bill Davidow on AI and the Future of Work
Dave Kellogg on AI and the Future of Work
Forter
Dialpad
Zoom

Wendy Pfeiffer, Nutanix CIO, discusses the future of enterprise technology, girls in STEM careers, and leading remote teams Mar 07, 2021

This week, Wendy Pfeiffer, Nutanix CIO and former CIO at GoPro, shares her journey to becoming a public company exec and how she has grown as a technologist and leader. Hear about Wendy's proudest accomplishment at Nutanix and what she's learned from an eclectic group of role models.
Listen and learn...

What it means to "lead with grace".
Why the future of enterprise tech will look more like consumer tech.
How to empower girls to pursue STEM careers.
How Wendy and her team have used NLP technology to help employees and consistently achieve 90+ NPS scores.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Rak Garg, investor at OpenView, discusses how enterprise software startups can disrupt incumbents like Splunk and Atlassian Feb 22, 2021

Rak Garg recently shifted from Product Management at companies like Atlassian and Redfin to investing at OpenView Venture Partners, the iconic firm behind companies like Datadog, ExactTarget, Instructure, and others. He shares the playbook for enterprise software startups looking to disrupt incumbents like Splunk and Atlassian. His thesis on SIEM (security event management) and log analytics spawned an excellent blog post on how startups are unbundling Splunk and defining new categories in the process. Follow Rak at rak_garg on twitter.
Listen and learn...

Why investing is harder than being a Product Manager
Where Splunk and Atlassian are vulnerable to disruption from startups
Rak's perspective on what must change about Silicon Valley culture
The importance of "don't F&*%$ the customer" as a core component of company culture

Companies mentioned in this episode:

Glenn Solomon, GGV Capital Managing Partner, discusses the people behind amazing companies like Airbnb, HashiCorp, and Opendoor Feb 15, 2021

Glenn Solomon has discovered and invested in many iconic companies like Slack, Zendesk, and Square. In this episode, he shares his investing philosophy and how he became great at what he does. This one's worth a listen just to hear Glenn share stories from when he first met the founders of Airbnb and HashiCorp.
Listen and learn...

Why the stock of Domino’s Pizza has outperformed Google over the past decade.
How Opendoor stumbled… before eventually going public and reaching a $20B valuation.
Why Nike employs more software engineers than shoe designers.
What technology will define the next "Zoom" moment.

Companies, episodes, and people mentioned in this episode:

Barr Moses from Monte Carlo
Unravel Data
Tonic
Evangelos Simoudis from Synapse Partners
Haixun Wang from Instacart

Elaine Zelby, investor at SignalFire, discusses unsexy markets and the SaaS startup bundle Feb 09, 2021

Elaine Zelby is an investor at SignalFire, a blogger, podcaster, and former Product Marketer at Capriza and Slack. She shares her perspective on the proliferation of SaaS tools, what's sexy about unsexy markets, and what companies she's ready to fund.
Listen and learn...

Why entrepreneurs describe SignalFire as the "kind" VC
The one technology that will change work most in 2025
What Elaine learned as an operator that has helped her as an investor
Why the exodus from big cities may not be a thing after all

Thanks to Ilya from SignalFire for the introduction to Elaine.
Episodes and companies mentioned on the show:

Deborah Hanus from Sparrow
Testbox

Evangelos Simoudis, best-selling author and Managing Director at Synapse Partners, discusses the present and future of autonomous vehicles Jan 30, 2021

The future of cities, work, and transit all rely on technological advances in the field of autonomous vehicles. On this week's episode, Evangelos Simoudis, acclaimed author, futurist, and investor, discusses the present and future of everything from robo-taxis to urban planning.
Listen and learn...
-How ethical implications and regulatory frameworks pose as big a threat to adoption of autonomous vehicles as technology
-Why a combination of knowledge-driven and ontological approaches are often required to optimize the accuracy of AI
-Why the classic trolley problem from a 1970s philosophy paper is more relevant than ever
-The pros and cons of using neural nets to train autonomous vehicles
-Why Evangelos attributes his success to a history of systems thinking

Ashu Garg, General Partner at Foundation Capital, discusses finding and investing in the future of AI Jan 23, 2021

Ashu Garg is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, one of the most iconic venture firms in Silicon Valley. Ashu was first an entrepreneur before becoming an investor and discovering amazing companies like TubeMogul, Cohesity, Eightfold, and Databricks.
Listen and learn...

How Ashu translated his unique brand of hustle into finding and backing amazing entrepreneurs
Why Ashu feels, as an entrepreneur, it’s worse to be too early than too late
The challenges and opportunities of applying NLP to enterprise software
What emerging technology will most impact work in 2031
How the ability to automate routine tasks creates an opportunity to change the world

Companies mentioned on the show:

Haixun Wang, VP and AI Distinguished Scientist at Instacart, shares insights from 20 years of innovating at IBM, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon Jan 01, 2021

Great episode to kick off 2021. Dr. Haixun Wang has been at the forefront of introducing AI-based innovation to the world's leading technology companies including IBM, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. He's the current VP Engineering and Distinguished Scientist at Instacart where he focuses on improving the grocery delivery experience with AI.
Listen and learn...

Why knowledge graphs may be the solution to improve today’s e-commerce search experience.
Why it’s hard to create an algorithm to help shoppers pick items from store shelves.
What defines a “technology” company.
Why it’s difficult to “make the physical world smart”.
What happens when you search “insomnia" on Amazon.
Haixun’s proudest accomplishment.

Resources mentioned in the discussion with Dr. Wang:

Our episodes with...
Haixun's quarantine reading: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Haixun's blog

Darius Goldman, CEO and Founder of Meratas, discusses the future of education and how income share agreements work Dec 12, 2020

Darius Goldman, CEO and Founder of Meratas, discusses the future of education and how income share agreements (ISAs) are making college and trade school more accessible. Meratas partners with educational institutions to offer a financing option to students who can attend courses for free up front and pay later with a portion of future income. Meratas is off to a fast start with 30 education partners and 3,100 students.

Listen and learn...

How ISAs create opportunities for students who couldn’t otherwise afford higher education
Darius’ perspective on the future of education: “It’s a luxury to get educated for the sake of enrichment"
How a waitress working three low-paying jobs is now selling software thanks to a Meratas-backed ISA
What Darius will be most proud of when Meratas transforms the education market

H/t to Jason Calacanis (@Jason) whose great interview with Darius led to this week’s podcast.

Episodes and organizations referenced:

Michael Shepherd, Distinguished Engineer at Dell Technologies, discusses the future of AI, ethics, and what happens when machines are smarter than us Dec 07, 2020

On this week’s podcast, Michael Shepherd, Distinguished Engineer at Dell Technologies focused on AI, describes the present and future of intelligent software. Fascinating discussion about using AI for good… and what could happen if we lose control. Worth listening to hear when Michael thinks we’ll achieve AGI (artificial general intelligence), where bots are indistinguishable from humans.

Listen and learn…

About Michael’s vision for “analytics at the speed of thought”.
How Michael describes the “three Vs of big data”.
Why laptops may soon not need charging cables.
Why knowing the answer will be less important in the future.

Research referenced in this episode:

The past, present, and future of AIOps with Dr. Helen Gu, CTO and Founder of InsightFinder Nov 28, 2020

In this special episode with Dr. Helen Gu, author or co-author of 80+ academic papers on distributed computing and AI for systems management, we discuss the past, present, and future of AI for IT Operations.
Listen and learn...

How and why the technology behind common problems like image recognition fails when applied to machine data
Where Helen and her team were nine years ahead of Amazon
Why unsupervised machine learning is required to predict and prevent system downtime
Why machine learning is well-suited to anomaly detection for machine data
The next technology breakthrough that will eliminate sleepless nights for developers

Research papers referenced on today's episode:

Helen's 10-year Symposium on Cloud Computing award about elastic resource scaling
Fixing the hang bug problem

Chris Curtin, former C-level exec at Visa and Disney tech VP, discusses the future of brands and money Nov 22, 2020

Chris Curtin has been on a journey over the past twenty plus years to modernize iconic brands like Disney, HP, and Visa. He has been at the forefront of new payment technologies, consumer channels, and business models. We discussed the future of everything with Chris.
Listen and learn...

Why it will soon be as easy to send money to Botswana as it is to send photos or emoji.
How Chris defines "brand".
What it was like negotiating Visa's Olympic Games partnership.
The best leadership advice Chris has received.
How Coldplay (and the Pope) just may show up in your living room soon.

Companies and episodes mentioned:

Microsoft
Shopify
Visa
Disney
HP
Our episode with Alex Capecelatro, Josh.ai CEO and Founder

Thanks to Lister Delgado from IDEA Fund Partners for the introduction!

Barr Moses, CEO and Founder of Monte Carlo, discusses data observability, raising VC as a female entrepreneur, and advice for creating an enduring company culture Nov 15, 2020

This week, we had a fascinating discussion that unveiled the dirty secret of AI and machine learning: algorithm performance is only as good as data quality... and data pipelines break frequently.
Data Scientists spend most of their time wrangling data. Barr Moses, CEO and Founder of Monte Carlo, explains how the problem is getting solved and what that means for the future of technology. Plus, learn…

The five pillars of data health
How to quantify the impact of data downtime
How Barr thinks about being intentional when establishing company culture and values
Barr’s advice for female and under-represented minority entrepreneurs raising venture capital
Shark populations off the coast of South Africa? Well, just listen :).

Companies and people mentioned in the episode:

We asked execs about the future of AI in IT operations. What they said may surprise you. Nov 08, 2020

This week's special episode of AI and the Future of Work features execs discussing how they use AI to reduce downtime. More important, they share how, as leaders, they're navigating the complicated relationship between humans and machines.
Listen and learn from some of the best:

Joel Eagle on how McDonald's thinks about managing data at scale to improve the guest experience.
Mark Settle, seven-time CIO and best-selling author of Truth from the Valley, on how the shift to cloud-based apps has changed user behavior.
Ray Lippig, Program Manager at J.B. Hunt, on how anomaly detection is changing the logistics business.
Sean Barker, CEO of cloudEQ, on how AI means we can architect cloud solutions designed for resilience.

Plus, hear three predictions for how AI will change work in the next 18 months.
For the first time, we also published a video version of this week's podcast on YouTube. Enjoy!

What happens when the founder of AIOps, Colin Fletcher, discusses DevOps and fried chicken. Well, listen... Oct 31, 2020

On this week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work, Colin Fletcher shares insights including...

What he meant by “AIOps” when he coined the term and what has happened since then.
How the most mature organizations adopt DevOps.
How AIOps will change in the next three years.
The new definition of automation everyone in IT will soon be talking about.
...And of course, the not-so-secret recipe for earth's best fried chicken.

People mentioned in this episode: Patrick Debois, Bridget Kromhaut, Charity Majors. Companies mentioned in this episode: GitLab, ServiceNow, Splunk, New Relic, AppDynamics, BigPanda, Gartner.

Best of AI and the Future of Work with Dave Kellogg, serial CEO and board member... plus, we hit an exciting milestone! Oct 26, 2020

Welcome to this week's "best of" episode of AI and the Future Work. Today, we’re opening the vault and re-introducing you to Dave Kellogg, serial high-tech CEO, board member, and of course Dead Head discussing SaaS metrics earlier this year.
I’m proud to share that the podcast just crossed 100,000 downloads so I’m taking this opportunity to thank you for listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate us wherever you get your podcasts to demonstrate your support for independent media and help more listeners discover our amazing guests.

It’s a week before the election and we’re all political scientists and data junkies for the next eight days. Dave is the original SaaS scientist. Listen as he puts on a master class about the metrics that matter plus offers coaching for entrepreneurs about how to tell stories with data.

If you don’t know your CAC from your LTV or how to calculate the true sales cycle, listen up. Metrics matter not just to pitch your company but to run your business, validate your hiring plan, groom your product backlog, and define your marketing strategy. The future of work may be AI but even the best AI won’t replace the kind of decision-making that only comes from really understanding how to analyze your customer's journey.
Oh, and if you're not already subscribed to Dave's great Kellblog, you're missing the best SaaS content. Subscribe now!

Patty Hatter, tech exec/board member/advisor, shares the best advice ever for women in technology Oct 17, 2020

Patty Hatter, former CIO, COO, and current SVP Customer Services at Palo Alto Networks, shares advice for women about how to break the glass ceiling in Silicon Valley. Hear how Patty went from engineering grad student to global exec by cultivating an authentic leadership style.
Listen and learn:

How six months in Europe shaped Patty's career.
The advice Patty says served her best when leaving Bell Labs
Why Patty says "being a CIO is the best role to have had in the past."
Tips for dealing with unconscious bias in the workplace.
Patty's advice to women convinced they can't accomplish what men can in high-tech.

Here's a link to the great episode with Mark Settle referenced in the show.

Special episode: COVID, AI, and your mental health with Deryk Van Brunt, CEO of CredibleMind Oct 10, 2020

This week's discussion is about the pandemic, AI, and mental health.
Deryk Van Brunt is a serial entrepreneur, trained epidemiologist, and Professor at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health.
CredibleMind uses AI to improve access to mental health resources. What once was relegated to the shadows of healthcare is now mainstream. Anxiety and stress have spiked due to social isolation and the increased burden of elder and childcare.

Like all fields being disrupted by AI, the fear of biased training data is real. Who owns your mental health data? Who is responsible for monitoring the performance of AI algorithms?

Deryk introduces us to the future of holistic medicine.

Listen and learn…

The current state of mental health. Did you know over half of the U.S. population has a diagnosable mental health condition over the course of a lifetime?
How the pandemic has exacerbated the mental health problem.
How to mitigate the impact of biased training data.
How virtual healthcare providers like Woebot are giving new meaning to the term “the therapist can see you now".

Here’s a link to the CDC article referenced in the show. Deryk can be reached at Deryk @ CredibleMind dot com or via the CredibleMind website.

Panel discussion about AI and the future of IT Operations with leaders from Snowflake, Dell, and Credit Suisse Sep 27, 2020

New format this week: a special panel discussion with Justin Fitzhugh from Snowflake, Liz Holland from Dell, and Luca Blanzuoli from Credit Suisse...
Learn insights about the future of AI in IT Operations from the pros:

"We couldn't keep the environment available without AI technology.” -Liz from Dell
“It’s time to switch paradigms. It’s not ok to have outages with the same root cause twice. We should have no outages.” -Luca from Credit Suisse
“AI is like having a PhD on the team transferred from generation to generation... without having to earn the degree.” -Luca from Credit Suisse
"We can't keep up with the growth of our business without AI and automation. As a data management platform, the business expects us to continuously innovate." -Justin from Snowflake

Plus...

We coin a new IT acronym. You'll soon replace "KTLO" with "KTTPOTS".
We discuss what you need to know to start a new DevOps or SRE team.
We learn how Dell was able to migrate 140,000 global employees to home offices...over a weekend!

Thanks to our wonderful panelists for a fun conversation. Enjoy!

Cassie Divine, SVP QuickBooks Online Platform at Intuit, shares what she's doing to promote equal pay and workplace diversity plus her philosophy on leadership during a pandemic Sep 13, 2020

This week's guest deserves credit for helping transform Intuit into an iconic technology brand with a reputation for great company culture and values-driven leadership.
We get a unique look into the secrets that have made Cassie and Intuit successful and, more important, what Cassie's doing to define the post-pandemic future of work for self-employed entrepreneurs.
Listen and learn...

Why Scott Cook, Intuit founder, advised employees to "love the problem not the solution."
How Cassie has changed her leadership style to support remote teams.
What "customer obsession" means at Intuit.
Why Cassie says "there's no prosperity without equality."
What Intuit is doing to narrow the pay gap.
What Cassie learned from Clay Christensen.

Episodes mentioned:

Charlene Li shares lessons for disruptors.
Deborah Hanus shares how Sparrow is fixing company leave policies.

Gareth Rushgrove, DevOps pioneer and DevOps Weekly editor, discusses the past, present, and future of IT operations Sep 07, 2020

Special guest Gareth Rushgrove, editor of the popular DevOps Weekly newsletter (since its inception ten years ago!) and former product lead at Docker and Puppet, joined the podcast this week for a wide-ranging discussion about the culture of IT operations, security and software development, and the future of application monitoring.
Listen and learn:

Why Gareth thinks teaching developers to write secure code is a "socio-technical" problem
Why the perceived "go fast vs. be secure" perceived tradeoff is wrong
What Gareth has been doing to support the Open Policy Agent and accelerate adoption of infrastructure as code
What's ahead for Kubernetes and container management
What advice Gareth "newsletter iron man" has for listeners... and the one mistake he made when launching DevOps Weekly

Host Dan Turchin interviewed by David Wright from the Service Desk Institute Aug 30, 2020

Ever wonder what "knocker-uppers" did in Britain when alarm clocks were invented? Curious what scribes did after the printing press? Loom operators after the cotton gin? Throughout history, those on the right side of innovation thrive.
In this crossover episode, host Dan Turchin is interviewed by Service Desk Institute Chief Value and Innovation Officer David Wright. Hear how technology is changing customer service... and improving the lives of customer service agents while forcing them to upskill and re-skill.
Listen and learn:

What skills won't be replaced by AI
How the service desk is being transformed by automation
Why "augmented intelligence" is improving employee service
What's happening now to mitigate the impact of bias in training data

Greg Poirier, New Relic Architect and AIOps pioneer, discusses the future of IT operations Aug 22, 2020

Greg Poirier understands what it’s like to carry the pager. He started as a systems engineer and has since spent a career developing products that help systems engineers sleep at night.

In this episode, Greg explains the past, present, and future of IT operations. He also shares techniques for surviving the quarantine as a geek and an artist.

Hear from the master…

What is observability and why is it more important during the pandemic?
What do great product teams do better than everyone else?
Will we ever achieve NoOps? Is that even the right vision?
Pets? Cattle? Discuss.
Is monitoring dead?

Brent Knipfer, enterprise IT architect from Alcor Solutions, explains where to start when defining an AI strategy Aug 01, 2020

Brent Knipfer started from humble beginnings having taken an oath of poverty in the Peace Corps. He's now one of the leading authorities in the IT community on the topic of designing AI-first, data-driven strategies.
Listen and learn...

Why the secret to great AI is having great humans first clean your data
How to optimize your CMDB for AI
Why service agents that accept recommendations from AI have the lowest MTTR
Why Brent's mantra is "leap to the future"
How Brent has made it through the quarantine... including a preview of outrageous outfits he's been designing for his debut on the runway post-COVID

Special round table edition: Barclay Rae and Sanjeev NC discuss why we shouldn't fear bots at work Jul 26, 2020

Barclay Rae, co-author of the ITIL v4 guides and ITSM consultant, and Sanjeev NC, AI enthusiast and former Product Marketing lead at Freshworks, join host Dan Turchin to discuss where AI is helping organizations and why fears of job elimination are unfounded.
Listen and learn...

Why "artificial" is a better description of today's AI technology than "intelligent"
How AI is helping reduce training time for help desk agents
Key metrics you should be using to make sure your AI project is successful
The skills you need to lead your organization's first AI project
What gamification has in common with AI

Deborah Hanus, Sparrow CEO, discusses what it means to be mission-driven and fundraising as a solo founder Jul 19, 2020

Deborah Hanus, Sparrow founder and CEO, joins Dan Turchin to discuss how improving the complicated maternity, paternity, and medical leave process makes life better for employees. Deborah shares her vision for the company, why the problem exists, and what it was like raising two rounds of funding as a solo founder.
Listen and learn:

What inspired Deborah to start Sparrow
Why leave policies are so complicated and how COVID-19 has made the situation worse
How leave policies create gender bias and how Deborah recommends companies fix the problem
Why leave is tightly connected to job satisfaction and quality of life
The world Deborah hopes exists when Sparrow is wildly successful

Tiernan Ray, distinguished journalist, discusses the future of work and tech's complicated relationship with the media Jul 11, 2020

Tiernan Ray has published articles in every major tech and business publication over his 25-year career. This week, he joined Dan Turchin on the podcast to discuss what it means to practice responsible journalism at a time when audiences and advertisers are fickle and we're contending with a pandemic, social unrest, political turmoil, and backlash against social media for promoting hate.
Listen and learn...

Why journalistic integrity matters even as fact-checking departments at organizations like Barron's are being eliminated.
How the pandemic has created opportunities to tell stories about scientific topics that weren't previously exposed to mainstream audiences.
Why it's important for writers to not allow their social media brands to influence their presentation of facts.
How leaders like former Cisco CEO John Chambers, Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson, and Five9 CEO Rowan Trollope are managing company culture as "serendipitous moments for collaboration" go away.

Follow Tiernan on Twitter.

AI and the Future of Work with Alex Capecelatro, CEO of home automation pioneer Josh.ai Jul 02, 2020

This week, we discuss the future of smart homes with Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai. Working from home has made smart home assistants business essential. They save us time researching, play mood-appropriate music, and help us meditate when quarantine life has an off day.

Alex and Josh.ai are navigating the new world of work like all of us. But unlike most of us, they’re doing it while being scrutinized for collecting personal data, trying to maintain international supply chains, and competing with pandemic stalwarts Amazon and Google. Listen and learn why Josh.ai just had its best quarter ever and raised a new round of funding. Hear how Alex is creating a culture well-suited for growth in uncertain times.

Topics discussed…

What is the future of the smart home?
How is Josh.ai addressing the problem of data privacy? Why did his team develop a “Snapchat” feature?
What is Alex’s leadership style and how has it changed as the company has grown?
What would Alex do differently if he started over today?
How was Alex able to close a round of funding in the middle of a pandemic?
What is it like being David slinging stones at Goliaths Amazon and Google?

Kenn So, AI enthusiast and investor at Shasta Ventures Jun 25, 2020

Kenn So is on the investment team at Shasta Ventures, one of the most respected enterprise software investors in Silicon Valley. He evaluates AI-first companies every day and has a few opinions about what's working and how to get your AI company funded.
On this week's episode, Ken shares his perspective on venture capital, AI, and what the best pitches have in common.
Listen and learn...

How the best SaaS companies are evolving their operating plans in lean times.
Why AI explainability matters.
What is AI bias and what are innovative companies doing to address it.
Why it's ok that AI innovation is slowing down while AI accountability is catching up.
The biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when managing in a crisis.
How diversity in the VC community directly impacts innovation.
The pitch that made Kenn say "wow!"
What Kenn learned backpacking around the U.S. before starting his venture career.

Bill Davidow, venture capital pioneer and best-selling author of The Autonomous Revolution Jun 18, 2020

Bill Davidow is an icon in the venture capital world having made his first $5,000 venture investment in the 1960s before starting Mohr Davidow in 1985. This week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work is a fascinating discussion with Bill about his new book "The Autonomous Revolution: Reclaiming the Lives We’ve Sold to Machines”.
This is a rare opportunity to learn secrets from one of the greats who helped launch the 8086 chip at Intel before planting the seeds that became today's venture capital industry.

Bill on how today's autonomous revolution relates to the previous agricultural and industrial revolutions: "If we could figure out a way to adjust in an era of scarcity we should be able to adjust in an era of abundance."

Listen and learn…

What Silicon Valley was like in the 80s and how it has changed.
The future of labor and why we’re measuring productivity the wrong way.
What Bill means when he says we’ve locked ourselves in algorithmic prisons.
How Bill proposes we mitigate the impact of AI bias.
What are the attributes of the best entrepreneurs Bill has coached.

This is a special one. Enjoy!

AI and the Future of Work with Shannon Burns, internal tools manager at Slack Jun 11, 2020

On this week’s podcast, we interview Shannon Burns, internal developer tools manager from Slack. Shannon’s been adjusting to a new style of management during the quarantine. Let’s just say the pace hasn’t slowed down for her and her team but she’s adapted her leadership style to help everyone stay productive while also acknowledging how the pandemic has affected them personally.

Listen and learn...

What makes Slack’s culture unique that might surprise you.
Why a manager's new role is helping team members work less hard… and how Shannon does that.
How Shannon’s team gathers requirements in lieu of traditional whiteboard sessions with developers.
Shannon’s favorite Slack features (that you’re probably not using).
How Shannon has been hobbying her way through the quarantine to stay sane.

AI and the future of humanity... an interview by Dan King and Leeza McKeown from Fireside Strategic with Dan Turchin Jun 05, 2020

How AI and Humans Will Work Together to Build a More Human Future of Work
In this turnaround format, Leeza McKeown and Dan King interview Dan Turchin!
Hear...
-- Dan's backstory - starting PeopleReign.io to help augment the human experience. (What are his goals?)
-- The benefits of AI for a frontline call center agent. (Timely.... 600% increase in need for employee IT support for home workers.)
-- How to think about optimizing your "digital labor" resources. (There is a class for business leaders who want to master this.)
-- What is the first question Dan asks in each virtual meeting & who does he look up to as leaders in the time of COVID-19.
-- Why "building back better" is a realistic goal, because we were built for this.

AI and the Future of Work with Charlene Li, analyst and best-selling author of The Disruption Mindset May 29, 2020

We enjoyed our discussion with Charlene Li, analyst and best-selling author of The Disruption Mindset, so much last December that we invited her back to discuss the impact of the pandemic on leaders, culture, and the evolving nature of work. Charlene's advice for disruptors is more relevant than ever.
Charlene's advice to leaders who have themselves been disrupted: "Now is the time to be a better leader. Take this opportunity to get to know the whole person - where they live, their families, their hobbies. These intimate work interactions allow us to be more empathetic."
Listen and learn…

How Charlene has made use of time spent not traveling and speaking at live events
What's the single most important skill for managers leading in periods of uncertainty
The new definition of work. Hint: it’s no longer defined by physical space.

AI and the Future of Work with Allan Leinwand, Slack SVP of Engineering and Silicon Valley tech pioneer May 21, 2020

In this week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work, Slack Senior Vice President of Engineering Allan Leinwand shares how he’s leading his teams through the pandemic and what it means within Slack when CEO Stewart Butterfield says “we were made for this.”
Allan helped develop, launch, and manage some of the most-loved technology products in history including Cisco’s routing products, Zynga’s social gaming backend, ServiceNow’s platform, and of course Slack.

Listen and learn…

What it’s like to develop the app that quite literally makes it possible to WFH.
What teams that build iconic products do differently than others.
What technology trend will define the next decade like cloud and AI have defined the past decade.
How Allan defines his success as a leader.
What leaders need to do now to keep employees productive and create cultures that are stronger on the other side of COVID-19.

AI and the Future of Work with Diane Keng, Founder and CEO of Breinify, the leading AI platform for predictive personalization May 16, 2020

On this week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work, we discuss the future of post-pandemic consumer behavior and AI in retail with Breinify CEO Diane Keng. Breinify develops a predictive personalization engine used by brands like BevMo! to understand how we buy and optimize the buying experience. She’s building a great culture and learning fast as a first-time founder and CEO.

Listen and learn…

How Diane thinks about company culture and how she keeps her team motivated in the face of uncertainty.
How AI is delivering a better consumer experience and how to use data to predict behavior without violating consumer privacy.
How Breinify uses data signals to identify “moments that matter”.
Diane’s superpower and her advice for the next generation of female founders.

AI and the Future of Work with Dave Kellogg, serial CEO, board member, investor, and advisor May 09, 2020

In this week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work, Dan Turchin discusses Silicon Valley culture pre and post pandemic, SaaS metrics, and the mistakes that get CEOs fired with Dave Kellogg, Silicon Valley luminary, investor, advisor, and CEO.

Listen and learn...

What’s the single most important metric for venture-backed SaaS companies… and why you’re probably calculating it wrong.
What makes a great high-tech culture and why Dave is particularly proud of one slide that summarizes his philosophy on building successful teams.
Why most CEOs fail because of one specific way they mis-manage board expectations.
Dave’s biggest regret and how he has learned to overcome it as a leader.

Dave's excellent blog: https://kellblog.com/
Twitter: @kellblog

What leaders do in a crisis: Tess Posner, AI4ALL CEO, with Dan Turchin on this week's episode of AI and the Future of Work May 02, 2020

In recent weeks, we’ve been discussing what leaders do in a crisis. This week, we share an update from a discussion last November with Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL.
In the past six weeks, AI4ALL has…

Released a new Open Learning course about AI and COVID-19 for students and educators.
Published a sentiment analysis and NLP curriculum.
Made more than 65 hours of AI curricula and teaching guides available for free at olp.ai-4-all.org.
Transitioned many 2020 high school summer internships online.
Shifted its entire team to fully remote work.

Tess is a force of nature. We need more leaders like her who see opportunities in the crisis not to help themselves but to help others first. In Tess’ case, she’s on a mission to bring AI education to high school students around the world.

In this episode, listen and learn...

What's the future of AI education for high school students?
How can we mitigate the impact of AI bias in hiring?
How high school students are solving real world problems with AI.
How a natural disaster inspired Tess to launch her career in AI education.

AI and the future of work with Randy Womack, CEO of employee experience platform Socrates.ai Apr 24, 2020

In this week’s episode of AI and the future of work, we discuss enterprise bots and natural language processing with Socrates.ai CEO Randy Womack. Randy is a 30-year Silicon Valley enterprise software veteran who has built successful teams and products at amazing organizations like SuccessFactors (now SAP) and Castlight Health.

Listen and learn...

What is an employee experience platform and how do great companies think about employee experiences?
Why was Randy an early advocate for remote work and why do distributed teams outperform others? Hint: it’s not what you think.
What do tattoos and blue hair have to do with company culture and what are the attributes of the best company cultures?
Why is Marc Andreessen right about the need to build… as long as we don’t build keyboards.

Thanks to Brian Ascher from Venrock for the introduction to Randy.

AI and the future of work with an update on the pandemic and a discussion with Craig Pratt, former ServiceNow Vice President and next level leader Apr 19, 2020

This week, we discuss the human toll of the pandemic on day 35 of the shelter in place order. We also discuss what life on the other side will be like. We're learning from organizations like TaskRabbit whose CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot shares her organization's journey with Bob Safian on Reid Hoffman's Masters of Scale.
We're re-publishing an episode that originally aired last August with former ServiceNow Vice President and next level leader Craig Pratt. In it, Craig discusses...

Lessons for leaders looking to make an impact in or outside careers in technology
Why empathy and intuition are timeless skills that transcend technology and will never be replaced by AI
What inspired his career in technology from humble beginnings as a golf caddy

Fear is subsiding. Hope is returning. We're strong. We're resilient.
Enjoy!
Links referenced in this week's episode:

Do this now and we'll flatten the second curve: lessons from leaders using the pandemic to define the future of work Apr 12, 2020

This week, you’re stuck with my voice sharing my thoughts on the situation. We'll get back to interviews about AI next week.
It’s a confusing time for all of us. There’s no way to comprehend the magnitude of what is happening right now.
In this podcast, I discuss...

What's ahead for company culture as second curve effects hit the workplace.
Why organizations are more like organisms than machines.
How strong organizations are growing stronger using new technology to embrace what makes them unique.

Please react with your own thoughts and coping mechanisms. We're all in this together.
Enjoy!

AI and the future of work: a conversion with Shane Carlson and Laura Araujo from the Techno Biotic podcast Apr 05, 2020

This week, we’re sharing a conversation I recorded a few weeks back with Shane Carlson and Laura Araujo on their Techno Biotic podcast. It was before the pandemic so, shockingly, we didn’t share work from home tips and there was no discussion about toilet paper hoarding.
Shane and Laura geek out weekly about the intersection of post-humanism, technology, and culture. In this discussion, we cover:

What it means to be human... augmented by machines.
What human skills transcend technology... and which will be less valued in the future.
What can employees do now to embrace technology change... instead of fear it.
What is the actual state of AI... and where is it headed.

Hope you enjoy!

AI and the future of work with Barclay Rae, top 20 IT Service Management thought leader and ITIL 4 author Mar 29, 2020

We’re joined by Barclay Rae on this week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work. Barclay has consistently been named one of the top 20 influencers in IT Service Management. He’s an accomplished speaker, consultant, and author having recently contributed to the ITIL 4 content library. Barclay joined us to discuss the impact of the pandemic on service management and what leaders should know about the future of work.

In this episode, hear Barclay discuss…

How remote work is forever changing company culture.
Why the best technology leaders are really the best people leaders.
Why IT must stop “shouting from the basement” to be perceived as leaders.
The common traits of the most effective (and dysfunctional) organizations.
What’s new in ITIL 4 and why the concept of sustainability is critical for organizations interested in delivering better employee experiences.

AI and the future of work with Jordan Husney, founder and CEO at remote work pioneer Parabol Mar 21, 2020

This week, we're re-sharing an episode that originally aired August 2019 because it's more timely than ever. In it, Jordan Husney, founder and CEO of remote work pioneer Parabol talks about the future of work in remote teams.
Listen and learn...

About Jordan's entrepreneurial journey
Why he started Parabol
How to hold distributed teams accountable
Why cultures that support remote workers attract and retain better talent

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrhusney/
https://www.parabol.co/

AI and the future of work with Ash Rust, former CEO and pre-seed investor at Sterling Road Mar 04, 2020

Ash Rust, startup entrepreneur and pre-seed investor, discusses what he looks for in founding teams, why the best founders succeed, how he evaluates companies, and what opportunities he’d fund if he saw the right pitch.
Listen and learn...

The three common attributes of the best startup CEOs
What Ash looks for when coaching entrepreneurs
The best pitches Ash has heard recently… and a few bizarre ones
“The one that got away” Ash missed
Ash’s advice for a younger version of himself

Learn more about the amazing companies Ash discussed at Sterling Road.

AI and the Future of Work with guest Reza Nazeman, CIO of SAP Concur Mar 03, 2020

Reza Nazeman, serial CIO from Microsoft and McKinsey and current CIO of SAP Concur, discusses the evolving role of IT in the era of automation and why thinking business first is how he adds value as a technology leader.
Tune in to learn...

How Reza got his start in Germany and earned his way into roles of increasing responsibility
What are the attributes of a great culture and what McKinsey and Microsoft get right (and wrong)
Reza's philosophy on hiring and grooming leaders
What skills will never be replaced by AI
What "CIO" really stands for

AI and the Future of Work (Episode 13) - hosted by Dan Turchin Co Founder and Chief Product Officer of Astound, interviews distinguished and accomplished author Charlene Li. Dec 13, 2019

Charlene Li is a 20-year analyst and researcher who has written six best-selling books. A well-known consultant, acclaimed social media and technology expert, and the author of the recent book "The Disruption Mindset", Charlene is a serial disruptor who has helped millions of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.
In this AI and the Future of Work podcast, Dan Turchin interviews Charlene Li. She discusses how disruptive leaders are needed everywhere. Charlene shares how a small university like Southern New Hampshire grew from just 3,000 students to the #1 online educational institution. Their approach...let us rethink what it means to have a degree. Charlene explains why we're in a disruptive time. She shows us how to make sense of it all and teaches us how to believe the impossible.
Key questions Charlene encourages listeners to ask:
1) Do you know your future customer?
2) Do you know what will have to change to go after that customer?
3) How can we create disruptive leaders in all industries?
4) Does disruption create growth or growth create disruption?
5) Isn't innovation disruptive by design?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/
To learn more about Charlene Li, visit: https://twitter.com/charleneli
and https://charleneli.com/

Dan Turchin Co-founder and Chief Product Officer talks with Tess Posner, CEO of A.I. 4 All Dec 02, 2019

Passion? Excitement? Driven? These are all qualities of this dynamic CEO. Tess Posner is changing the world with her positive attitude and her great approach to problem solving in issues of all things related to AI and Education.
In this AI and the Future of Work podcast, Dan Turchin interviews Tess Posner, CEO of A.I. 4 All. She discusses how to mitigate AI bias and hiring best practices and how AI will impact women and youth. She also talks about what she would tell her younger self. Tess has an eye in gaining Data Literacy for all through her successful summer camp programs that are helping youth learn about AI. Today, students in middle and high school are benefiting their communities through their knowledge of AI through her program efforts.
Challenges for AI and Education, IT Leaders, and Youth:
1) How can AI help students start AI Clubs at school or via Hack a Thons?
2) How can knowledge and data literacy lead us to understand what businesses need in regards to hiring practices?
3) How can we provide teachers with curriculum that empowers them to teach their students about AI?
4) Is AI the driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
5.) How AI solves a problem for Global Diversity
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/
To learn more about A.I. 4 All, visit: http://ai-4-all.org/

An Interview with Serial Entrepreneur Bob Moore aka "The Data Whisperer" on how the Tech landscape has changed and what can cause a Start-Up to stumble Oct 30, 2019

What causes a Start-Up to stumble? Is your company becoming culturally lazy?
Learn some helpful entrepreneurial tips and find out what data exhaust means on the latest podcast session on AI and the Future of Work with Dan Turchin.
Bob Moore is the CEO of CrossBeam. They help companies bring data together and create a third party environment so that data doesn't just cross over to another company but rather is kept separate. In this episode, Bob shares the key to keeping info out while understanding there is a fear to share data. He also addresses how to find the key things that matter in a partnership.
Listen and learn from one of the best in the business!

Co-founder Dan Turchin Interviews World Renowned AI Computer Scientist Julie Mohr Oct 21, 2019

Julie addresses how knowledge and the customer economy are driving a rapid change in business. In addition she discusses how to not focus only on product but instead to look at data to define our customer-driven innovation. Julie believes there's a balance between people, process and tools. Is traditional service management relevant? Julie answers these questions and more.
"We must see the need for what our customers want. Automation IS what the customers want! They have a palate for it. The companies that see this are winning!"
- Julie Mohr
Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1) How can Automation help companies use data to drive revenues?
2) How can knowledge and data lead us to understand what customers want?
3) How can we get better at making agile models to support service management?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/
For more information on AI expert Julie Mohr, visit her website.

Dan Turchin Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Interviews Technology and Business Journalist Tiernan Ray on How Technology has Transformed with AI Oct 21, 2019

Will people lose their enthusiasm to a machine that writes as a person? Will AI impact economists, investors and journalists? Tiernan Ray, business, technology and finance writer and editor talks about AI theories and how they will impact everyone around us including the role of a journalist.
In this podcast episode, he breaks down Moore's Law, AI and the demise of Journalism, or as he asks, "can AI summarize an author's work?" These questions and more will be covered in this episode of AI and the Future of work! Tiernan also talks about what he would tell his younger self.
Challenges for CIO's, IT Leaders and Journalists added in this Podcast:
1) How can AI help authors go through "The Process" of an idea, words on paper, to something actually published?
2) How can knowledge and data lead us to understand what customers want?
3) How can we get better at knowing, who is a "Noise Trader" verses who is a "Rational Investor"?
4) How has Deep Learning developed over decades? And how does it materialize in the market?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/
For more information on Tiernan Ray, visit his LinkedIn page.

Doug Tedder, ITSM Expert, Discusses How a Virtual Agent Can Transform Your Business with Co-founder and CPO Dan Turchin Oct 21, 2019

Doug Tedder, ITSM expert discusses how a virtual agent has the ability to transform your help desk with Dan Turchin, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Astound. He discusses how service management must now be truly end-to-end and how AI is needed to address the needs of our customers and improve business benefits.
The role of the IT leader is changing with service delivery expectations but how can AI drive accuracy and speed for the customers that IT is being asked to support in organizations? Doug and Dan talk about how a virtual agent has the ability to free up highly technical resources so that they can do more innovative work as opposed to repeat mundane tasks. This helps to reduce downtime for employees while also improving the overall service experience.

Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1) How to reduce your call volume and reduce your mean time to resolution (MTTR)?
2) When is it appropriate to use a virtual agent?
3) How can IT leaders be faster and more accurate in their service delivery work?
4) How can a virtual agent help a CIO with digital transformation strategies?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/
To learn more about Doug Tedder visit Tedder Consulting.

Fruition Partners Founder and CEO Marc Talluto on the Evolution of ServiceNow, Building a Consulting Firm in the ITSM Space, and the Future of Service Management Sep 11, 2019

Fruition Partners founder Marc Talluto joins the podcast to share his invaluable experience and advice around entrepreneurship, leadership and service management. Marc began his career in consulting at both Accenture and Deloitte and eventually broke away to start Fruition which specializes in ITSM and Cloud Service Management, specifically ServiceNow, as a Value Added Re-seller (VAR). As founder and CEO, Marc was instrumental in building Fruition's partnership network and its culture, leading to the sale of the firm in 2015.
Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1) Building a successful culture within your organization that is unique to you.
2) How to find pockets of opportunity within service management and beyond.
3) Shifts in the ITSM space and what you can do to be on the front lines of that change.
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/

Smarter Collaboration: Parabol Founder and CEO Jordan Husney Outlines a Better Way to Structure Your Meetings to Get More Out of Your Teams Aug 15, 2019

Jordan Husney is the founder and CEO of Parabol, a meeting software product for agile teams, particularly those distributed around the world. Jordan shares his insights with host Dan Turchin around the difference between teams & interest groups, key rules of engagement for productive meetings, and his thoughts on what the future of work will look like for employees & knowledge workers around the globe. He also shares a fascinating perspective on how his experience as a start-up founder has allowed him to see a different side of America.
Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1. How do you make meetings more engaging and productive?
2. How to deal with the office narcissist?
3. What's the difference between a team and an interest group? And, why should you care?
4. What are effective rules of engagement to actually make meetings useful?
To learn more about Parabol, visit: https://www.parabol.co/
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/

Truth from the Trenches: Okta CIO Mark Settle on the Future of Work & IT, What it Takes to be an Effective Leader in IT, and His Thoughts on Automation & AI Aug 12, 2019

Mark Settle, seven-time Chief Information Officer (CIO) and current CIO of Okta digs into how the modern workplace has evolved with the proliferation of collaboration work tools such as Slack, Zoom, etc. and the technology considerations CIOs and business leaders need to address in preparation for future workplace changes. Mark shares his thoughts on automation, it's role within a company, and where it’s headed. Mark also highlights the various dimensions of the CIO role and what it takes to succeed.

Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1. How do you manage a variety of generational groups within an IT organization?
2. How are millennials driving change in the workplace? How do you prepare for future changes?
3. What role will automation play moving forward?
4. What does it take to be a successful leader in IT?

For more information on Mark’s book Truth from the Trenches, visit:
https://www.okta.com/truth-from-the-trenches/
For more information on Astound visit: https://astound.ai/

Lessons for Leaders in the Era of AI: ServiceNow's Craig Pratt Shares His Leadership Philosophy, His Journey Through High-Tech, and an Optimistic Perspective on Technology Aug 11, 2019

Welcome to episode four of the AI and the Future of Work podcast series with host Dan Turchin, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Astound. The following conversation features ServiceNow's World Wide VP of Sales Initiatives, Craig Pratt. He shares his journey through the high-tech world and the leadership lessons he's learned along the way.
Learn more about Astound at https://astound.ai/

Sinclair Support Manager & President of the Seattle HDI Chapter Tony North Discusses Excellence in Customer Support, Hiring on Cultural Fit, and the Key Metrics in ITSM Aug 11, 2019

IT veteran Tony North is the Support Manager @ Sinclair and the president of the Seattle HDI Chapter. Tony stops by for a chat with our host, Dan Turchin, to discuss building great customer support experiences, how to hire the very best people for your team, the top ITSM tools shaping the customer experience today and how to best measure and scale these tools. For those interested in the future of support and ITSM, Tony shares his thoughts around decentralization, reporting, & robotics, describing how these trends are disrupting the industry.
Challenges for CIO's, IT Leaders, and Support Managers Addressed in this Podcast:
1) How should a support manager screen for cultural fit in hiring?
2) What can you do to keep support agents engaged?
3) How do you give the support team more visibility within the organization?
4) What are the best metrics for measuring the value of technology for internal customers?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/

Benjamin Baer, VP of Product Marketing @ FICO, Discusses All Things FICO, Tangible AI & ML Use Cases, and How Responsible AI & Big Data Will Affect Employees in the Future for the Better Aug 11, 2019

Benjamin Baer is the VP of Product Marketing at Fair, Issac and Company (FICO), best known for their credit risk assessment product, FICO Score. What many people don't know is that FICO's reach goes far beyond assessing credit health. Over the last ten years the corporation has become a leader in the analytics space, deploying big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence solutions to some of the largest enterprises in the world. Benjamin shares a fascinating consumer journey that highlights FICO's involvement in a host of touch points. Many of which will surprise you. He goes on to give insight on how AI and big data will impact the future of work, describing massive productivity gains and efficiency improvements for not only our jobs but also for our lives.
Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1. Successful AI and machine learning use cases in the enterprise.
2. Responsible compliance and stewardship of data.
3. The future of big data and analytics.
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/

The Future of ITSM with Brent Knipfer: AI's Impact on ITSM and How Astound is Improving the Employee Experience Through AI-Driven Automation Aug 10, 2019

Brent Knipfer currently works with McDonald's as the Global Enterprise Solutions Architect. He shares his passion and expertise around ITSM throughout the podcast, showcasing the endless possibilities for growth in the space. Brent dives into the past, present, and exciting future of ITSM as AI comes front and center.
Challenges for CIO's and IT Leaders Addressed in this Podcast:
1. How can AI enhance my ITSM solution?
2. How can AI improve employee satisfaction?
3. What are Astound's AI features, and what value do they bring?
4. How is AI changing ITSM?
To learn more about Astound, visit: https://astound.ai/

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