AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailDr. Muthu Alagappan is the Founder and CEO of Counsel Health, the company automating access to high-quality, personalized medical advice from doctors. Counsel recently closed a $25M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures, following an $11M seed round that included A16Z, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Floodgate Fund, and Pear VC.He holds an MD from Stanford Medicine and a B.S. in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford, and was among the earliest AI researchers to publish on clinical applications of machine intelligence.In this episode, Muthu draws on 15 years at the intersection of AI research and frontline clinical medicine to explore the shift toward semi-autonomous care.In this conversation, we discuss:How AI addresses the limitations of traditional primary care by offering a highly personalized, knowledgeable, and always available medical experience.Why patients might leapfrog clinicians in their willingness to adopt AI for medical advice, and how this shift challenges the traditional identity of physicians.What semi-autonomous care actually looks like in practice, and how Counsel Health uses a clinician cockpit to augment human compassion with real-time machine intelligence.How to leverage population-level patterns without compromising patient privacy.Why the double standard applied to AI is misplaced, and why Muthu argues we should hold AI to a much higher benchmark than human doctors simply.What the future of global healthcare could look like when cognitive medical expertise is fully democratized, ensuring that a patient's zip code no longer dictates the quality of care they receive.Explore the Conversation00:00 Intro & AI Fun Fact: Big Data Limitations and Bias in Clinical AI03:52 Meet Dr. Muthu Alagappan: From Stanford AI Researcher to Counsel Health CEO06:51 Why Primary Care Falls Short: The Case for AI-Augmented Medicine09:05 Human Doctors Are Human: How Patients Are Adopting AI Medical Advice12:20 Patient Privacy and Population Health: Learning Without Training on Data14:17 Inside the Clinician Cockpit: Real-Time AI Support for Doctors16:17 Why Counsel Health Employs Its Own Physicians: Messaging-Based Care19:00 From Semi-Autonomous to Fully Autonomous Care: Healthcare's Next Era24:19 AI Ethics in Medicine: Safety Standards, Model Values, and Data Ownership27:22 The AI Double Standard: Why Machines Deserve a Higher Benchmark Than Doctors31:07 Founder Lessons: Building a Category-Defining Healthcare AI Company33:53 Rewriting the Commencement Address: Medicine as Lifelong Learning35:37 Where to Connect with Dr. Muthu Alagappan and Counsel HealthResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Muthu on LinkedInAI fun fact article: Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: The Ethical Frontier via ConexiantOn the future of AI, Silicon Valley and Venture Capital LIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Send us Fan MailIn this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we are bringing you four conversations recorded live on the show floor at HumanX 2026. This is the second and final compilation of our three-part HumanX Live series.Our first compilation explored how AI amplifies the human potential it can never replace. This one turns to the technical side, and to a question that gets harder the more these systems touch our lives: how do you build AI you can actually trust not to fail when it matters most? As technology reaches further into the moments that count (the systems that monitor our health, drive our cars, and work alongside us on the job), these four builders share how they design for accountability, safety, and harmony between people and machines.What You'll LearnWhy reading code is no longer enough, and how observing real outcomes (not system metrics alone) is the only way to know whether AI is actually serving the people who depend on itWhat "AI values" are, and why companies will soon need shared norms for how people disclose, review, and engage with work produced by agentic systemsHow robots earn trust on a job site by measuring their own uncertainty, asking questions, and communicating their intentions before they actWhy the most valuable place for automation is the dirty, dull, and dangerous work humans were never meant to do, and what that means for keeping people safeWhy physical AI should be built first as a reasoning and communication model that can explain its thinking to people, rather than one that jumps straight to actionHow "harness engineering" moves teams beyond prompt and context engineering, and why orchestrating several frontier models together can outperform any single oneFeatured GuestsChristine Yen, CEO and Co-Founder of Honeycomb. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19362645 Dr. Ali Agha, CEO and Co-Founder of FieldAI. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19362711 Dr. Jaime Lien, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of Archetype AI. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19363341 XD Huang, Chief Technology Officer of Zoom. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19363454 Inspired by something you heard in this episode? Share your favorite insight about the future of work and tag us on social:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ai-and-the-future-of-work Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aifutureofwork/ And don't forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the leaders shaping what comes next.Explore the Full HumanX 2026 SeriesThis episode is part of a special three-part series recorded live at HumanX 2026:Episode 1: Special conversation with Stefan Weitz, CEO of HumanX: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19210355Episode 2: Compilation featuring the CEOs of Scribe, Operative Games, and Dataiku, and the Chief Business Officer of Zensai: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19257142LIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Send us Fan MailXD Huang is the CTO of Zoom, where he is leading the company's shift from hosting meetings to completing work, a vision he calls conversation to completion. He joined Zoom after 30 years at Microsoft, where he served as Azure AI CTO and a Technical Fellow and helped ship Azure OpenAI Services. A pioneer in speech recognition for four decades, he led the Microsoft team that first reached human parity in transcribing conversational speech. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores what it takes to turn everyday conversation into finished work.XD and host Dan Turchin dig into Zoom's federated approach to AI, the cost and accuracy tradeoffs hidden inside every model decision, and why, after a career spent solving the hardest technical problems, he believes taste and judgment are the qualities that still belong to people.What You'll LearnWhat "conversation to completion" means for the way work actually gets doneHow Zoom's federated approach combines multiple frontier models into one stronger resultWhy every AI decision is a tradeoff between cost and accuracy, and how to control for itHow an open ecosystem lets the same AI work across Zoom, Google, Microsoft, and in-person meetingsWhy taste and judgment are the qualities XD hires for that AI cannot replace

Send us Fan MailDr. Jaime Lien is the Chief Scientist and a co-founder of Archetype AI, where she is building a foundation model that turns complex sensor data into meaning people can actually act on. A signal processing scientist by training, she earned her PhD working on RF imaging from satellites and later helped develop the first radar embedded in consumer smartphones at Google, before leaving with four colleagues to start Archetype AI. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores how AI can read the rich, non-human signals all around us and translate them for the people who rely on them.Jaime and host Dan Turchin dig into how machines distill signal from noise, why a reasoning and communication model matters more than a straight-to-action one, and why keeping a human in the loop is a requirement, not a feature, when the stakes are physical.What You'll LearnHow AI separates meaningful signal from noise across the sensors already around usWhy Archetype builds a reasoning and communication model, not a straight-to-action oneWhy keeping a human in the loop is treated as a requirement, not an optional featureHow interpretability and explainability have to be designed in from the start, not added laterWhy discovering something new about the physical world matters more than automation alone

Send us Fan MailDr. Ali Agha is the CEO and co-founder of FieldAI, where he is building general-purpose "brains" for robots across different forms, environments, and tasks. He has spent nearly two decades in AI autonomy, including years at NASA JPL and research roots at MIT, putting software and intelligence on drones, legged robots, and other platforms. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores what it takes to bring AI safely into the physical world, where people already live and work.Ali and host Dan Turchin dig into why reliability is the overlooked challenge of physical AI, why a robot should communicate how confident it is before it acts, and where the line sits between the tasks machines should take on and the ones that should always stay human.What You'll LearnWhy reliability, not lab demos, is the real test for AI in the physical worldHow robots that measure and share their own uncertainty earn human trust on the job siteWhy the future of robotics is hundreds of specialized form factors, not one humanoidHow FieldAI targets the dirty, dull, and dangerous work to keep people out of harm's wayWhere the boundary sits: the creative, strategic, and human-touch decisions that stay with people

Send us Fan MailChristine Yen is the CEO and co-founder of Honeycomb, the observability platform that helps engineering teams understand what their software is actually doing. A developer by background, she built products at Facebook before co-founding Honeycomb to bring fast, flexible observability to the rest of the world. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores what observability means now that both humans and agents are writing, shipping, and debugging code.Christine and host Dan Turchin dig into why the code was never the real source of truth, why "more" has become the watchword of the agentic era, and what it takes for teams to agree on what good actually looks like before they build it.What You'll LearnWhy the code was never the real source of truth, and what to observe insteadHow the software development lifecycle is collapsing as PMs, designers, and engineers become buildersWhy the system that writes the code should not be the one that judges itHow defining "good" in plain English keeps quality measurable, whether people or agents build itWhat responsible AI looks like in practice, from disclosure norms to protecting human attention

Send us Fan MailDan Roth is the Editor in Chief and a Vice President at LinkedIn, where he has led the world's largest professional editorial operation since 2011. Business Insider once called him the most powerful business journalist on the internet, and over more than a decade he has helped turn LinkedIn from a networking site into a global media platform, building out its editorial team, top voices, and Influencer Program. He also hosts the popular This Is Working podcast.Over 15 years watching professionals navigate every major shift in the workplace, from the rise of social media to the agentic AI era, Dan has developed a clear and counterintuitive view of what actually drives a durable career. In this episode, he draws on LinkedIn's data from over a billion members to make the case that the skills employers are hunting for right now are not the ones most professionals are building, and that the gap between what AI can produce and what humans can offer is closing faster than anyone is prepared for.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI has commoditized knowledge itself, and what professionals actually come to LinkedIn for that no chatbot can give themWhat separates content that spreads beyond your network from content that stays stuck inside it, and what LinkedIn's systems are really looking forWhy AI is a great tool for getting your voice out, and the exact moment it starts working against you insteadThe mindset Dan drills into his team about passion and failure, and the one thing he says you are never allowed to get wrongHow a mission-driven company resists the pull to chase clicks and ad revenue, and what Dan's old-world instincts taught him to unlearnThe two categories of skills surging in demand right now, and why the second list is the one most people overlook Explore this conversation:00:00 Intro and AI Fun Fact: Stop Giving AI Human Adjectives 04:10 Introducing Dan Roth, Editor in Chief at LinkedIn 05:50 Leadership Lessons from 15 Years at LinkedIn Mission and Failure12:30 LinkedIn Authenticity AI Content and Protecting Community Integrity18:27 Moderation vs Distribution: What LinkedIn Promotes and Why 23:55 Ad Revenue vs Mission: The Cost of Chasing Clicks 28:24 Skills on the Rise: What to Build in an AI World 34:29 Going Undercover and Staying Flexible in Your Career Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Daniel on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI is making networks smartOther episode mentioned in the show: 315: Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, On Human Curation, Subscription-Driven Quality, and Fixing the Internet LIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Send us Fan MailSophia Kianni is the co-founder and CEO of Phia, an AI shopping agent with more than 1.4 million users that has raised over $43 million from an investor list that includes Kris Jenner, Sara Blakely, and Hailey Bieber. Sophia and her co-founder built the company out of their Stanford dorm room on a single thesis: in the future, every consumer will have a personal AI shopping assistant.Sophia is also the co-host of The Burnouts, a podcast with more than 600,000 followers and over 200 million downloads. Earlier in her career, she founded Climate Cardinals, the world's largest youth-led climate nonprofit with more than 20,000 volunteers, and became the youngest United Nations advisor in U.S. history.In this episode, Sophia draws on her experience building high-velocity ventures before the age of 25 to challenge how founders think about feedback, team culture, content creation, experimentation, and workflow efficiency. She also makes a compelling argument for how AI should be used at work: removing friction from the parts of a workflow that drain time and energy without adding value.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the intersection of social and shopping looked like a solved problem to most founders, and the gap that Sophia and her co-founder saw inside their Stanford dorm roomHow Sophia thinks about team building as company building, and the specific qualities she screens for before resumes, credentials, or experienceHow a consumer-first mindset and relentless customer feedback help Phia iterate faster and build a product users loveWhy building close to your user is still the most underrated advantage in AI, and what most founders miss when they try to scale it Why Phia and The Burnouts built data-oriented content engines that operate like scientific labs, testing hooks, fonts, retention curves, and B-roll as measurable variables rather than relying on creative instincts aloneHow Sophia uses AI tools like Adobe Firefly to increase workflow efficiency by removing friction from repetitive tasks, not to replace creative work, but to protect itThe framework Sophia uses to decide whose feedback shapes her decisions and whose she treats as noiseResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Sophia on LinkedInLIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Send us Fan MailIn this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we are bringing you four conversations recorded live on the show floor at HumanX 2026. This is the second episode of our three-part HumanX Live series.In an era dominated by headlines about displacement and disruption, these four founders share a grounded optimism about what AI cannot replace: human judgment, creativity, and the drive to do work that matters.Each of these leaders is building in a different space, but they arrived at the same conviction. The companies and people poised to win in the AI era are not the ones moving fastest to automate. They are the ones who understand what humans are uniquely built to do, and build systems that make space for it.What You'll LearnWhy most organizations cannot answer a basic question: how does work actually get done here, and why that gap is now a strategic liabilityHow AI-powered learning can shift employee development from a compliance obligation to a genuine driver of engagementWhy storytelling will remain a human craft, and what the Pixar transition teaches us about navigating creative disruptionThe case for asynchronous AI collaboration, where systems work overnight and humans return to exercise judgmentWhy optimism about the human worker is not naive, and what the data actually showsHow to balance AI use cases that replace humans with those that create new value and grow the economyFeatured GuestsJennifer Smith, CEO & Co-founder of Scribe. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19257070 Robin Daniels, Chief Business Officer at Zensai. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19257107 Jon Snoddy, CEO of Operative Games. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19257113 Florian Douetteau, CEO of Dataiku. Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19257131 Inspired by something you heard in this episode? Share your favorite insight about the future of work and tag us on social.And don't forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the leaders shaping what comes next.  ResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterLIVE EVENT: See how leading enterprises are using agentic AI to give employees back 4–6 productive hours every week. Join PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin for a live demo on June 25, 2026.Register here: https://go.peoplereign.io/live-demo-how-agentic-ai-is-being-used-by-global-enterprises

Send us Fan MailFlorian Douetteau is the CEO and co-founder of Dataiku, the enterprise AI platform he has been building for over a decade to make data and AI accessible at scale. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores how the rise of agents is reshaping the role of data teams and what a genuinely AI-native way of working looks like in practice.Florian and host Dan Turchin go deep on where agentic AI actually creates economic value, why most enterprises are still thinking about agents the way people thought about websites in 1997, and what it means for humanity when machines start doing things we thought only humans could do.What You'll LearnHow Dataiku evolved from data science platform to full agent studio for the enterpriseWhy business teams need to become their own AI enablers, not just consumers of data insightsWhat a truly agentic workday looks like for knowledge workers in the near futureWhy the dystopian AI narrative misses the use cases that actually grow the economyWhat it means to be human when intelligence is no longer exclusively a human trait

Send us Fan MailJon Snoddy is the CEO of Operative Games and a veteran storyteller with a career spanning NPR, Lucasfilm, Disney Imagineering and a co-venture with Spielberg and Sega. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores what happens when you combine Disney-level character craft with large language models to create a completely new kind of interactive storytelling.Jon and host Dan Turchin dig into how Operative builds AI-powered characters that feel emotionally real, what the entertainment industry gets wrong about the AI disruption, and why small studios have an edge that no major franchise can buy.What You'll LearnHow Jon went from Disney Imagineering to building AI characters you can call on the phoneWhy emotional fidelity matters more than photorealism in AI-driven storytellingHow Operative thinks about guardrails, ethics and responsible AI in immersive entertainmentWhat the Pixar disruption can and cannot teach us about the AI moment in entertainmentWhy big studios are watching but not moving, and why that's an opportunity for startups 

Send us Fan MailRobin Daniels is the Chief Business Officer at Zensai and a seasoned tech executive with stints at Salesforce, LinkedIn, Box and WeWork. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round explores what it really takes to create an environment where people are motivated to grow, learn and do their best work every day.Robin and host Dan Turchin dig into why most LMS platforms have failed employees, how AI is changing the relationship between learning and performance, and why investing in people is not just the right thing to do but a proven path to better business outcomes.What You'll LearnWhy 80% of employees are disengaged and what organizations can do about itHow AI-powered learning delivers the right skills at the right moment, not generic compliance trainingHow Zensai uses AI to coach managers and strengthen the employee-manager relationshipWhy proving the link between learning and performance is the key to making L&D a strategic priorityWhy the future belongs to humans who combine technical skills with taste, judgment and soft skills 

Send us Fan MailJennifer Smith is the CEO of Scribe and a former McKinsey consultant turned venture capitalist who interviewed over 1,200 enterprise CIOs before founding her company. Recorded live from the floor of HumanX 2026, this lightning round covers how AI is helping organizations finally understand how work actually happens inside their teams.Jennifer and host Dan Turchin explore why even Fortune 500 leaders don't truly know how their companies operate, and what that means for AI transformation.What You'll Learn Why process visibility comes before any AI initiativeHow Scribe maps workflows across 600,000+ companiesResponsible AI and building a data-driven cultureHumans and agents working side by sideHelping people spend more time on the work they love 

Send us Fan MailAndrew Palmer is a long-time editor and columnist at The Economist, where he writes the widely read Bartleby column on work and life. He also hosts Boss Class, one of The Economist's most popular podcasts, whose most recent season explored generative AI in the workplace, a topic Andrew approached not just as a journalist, but as a self-described unsophisticated user determined to get smarter by doing.In this episode, Andrew draws on his reporting and interviews with leaders across industries to offer an outside-in view of where AI adoption actually stands, and why the gap between the hype and the reality is not a sign of failure, but of how complex change really is.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI adoption faces three distinct barriers (behavioral, technical, and organizational) and why solving one without the others leaves productivity gains stranded.Why structural reskilling frameworks (like Denmark's flexicurity model and Singapore's voucher-based lifelong learning system) offer a more credible response to AI disruption than waiting for policy to catch up.Why Johnson & Johnson's "let a thousand flowers bloom" approach to AI experimentation produced a Pareto effect (15% of projects generating 85% of value) and what they changed as a result.How the AI productivity boom is real at the individual level but not yet showing up in aggregate data, and why Andrew believes that gap is a question of time, not technology.Why enlightened corporate leadership requires transparency about potential job disruption and a commitment to adjacent career planning rather than performative optimism.What work in 2036 might look like, and why Andrew's most unsettling prediction has nothing to do with jobs, and everything to do with privacy.Explore this conversation:00:00 Introduction to AI and the Future of Work episode 39101:14 AI fun fact: AI legislative speed versus technological advancement03:51 Meet Andrew Palmer The Economist Bartleby Column Boss Class06:14 Digital Doppelganger and AI Personality Traits07:57 AI Adoption Barriers Behavioral Technical and Organizational11:01 AI Impact at Work Startups vs Large Organizations14:15 Leadership Humility and AI Uncertainty in the Workplace17:41 AI Experimentation at Scale Lessons from Johnson and Johnson24:26 AI vs SaaS Productivity Data and the Speed of Adoption27:35 Balancing AI Automation with Human Meaning at Work31:26 AI Policy Reskilling and Lifelong Learning for the Future36:03 Work in 2036 AI Monitoring Privacy and Constant Surveillance38:47 Who Really Controls AI and What That Means for Workers44:08 Connect with Andrew Palmer and Boss Class The EconomistResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Andrew on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Arvind Jain Is Shaping the Future of Enterprise Search Another episode mentioned in the interview: How we can take back control from Big Tech with Tom Wheeler, former FCC Chairman, CEO, VC, and author of Techlash. 

Send us Fan MailArnnon Geshuri is Chief People Officer at Snowflake, where he leads culture development, talent strategy, and organizational design at one of the world's leading data cloud companies. His career spans decades of scaling high-growth technology organizations, including leadership roles at Google, Livongo Health, and Tesla, where he oversaw its growth from a 400-person startup to a 35,000-person transportation juggernaut.Throughout his career, he has consistently chosen companies that demand a people function as innovative, as creative, and as forward-thinking as the business itself. And across every role, he has focused on one core idea: the people function must evolve as fast as the business itself, grounded in data, experimentation, and trust.In this episode, Arnnon draws on that experience to challenge how leaders think about AI in the workplace, arguing that the real opportunity is not automation alone, but redefining how humans contribute, decide, and grow inside modern organizations.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the people function must speak the language of data and analytics to influence engineering-led organizations and earn credibility in high-growth, technical environmentsThe shift from transactional HR to a strategic role focused on connection, education, and rebuilding trust after workforce disruption and disconnection during COVIDHow Snowflake frames AI adoption by automating repetitive work, augmenting creative tasks, and preserving human judgment in decisions that require empathy and contextWhy employees adopt AI faster when leaders encourage curiosity, remove fear of experimentation, and make tools accessible through simple interfaces like natural languageThe risks of over-automating decisions like hiring and performance reviews, and why removing human accountability breaks trust inside organizationsHow building a culture of experimentation, measurement, and iteration allows people leaders to scale organizations without relying on intuition aloneExplore the Conversation00:00 Intro & Fun Fact: How AI manipulation threatens autonomy05:06 Meet Arnnon Geshuri: CPO at Snowflake, from Google, Tesla, and Livongo Health10:24 The Evolution of HR: From Transactions to Amplifying Humanity13:37 Snowflake's AI Framework: Automate, Augment, and Preserve Human Judgment21:44 Driving AI Adoption: AI for Everybody and a Culture of Experimentation26:26 Data Privacy and Trust: Building Guardrails for Enterprise AI28:36 AI in Hiring: Mitigating Bias to Rescue Human Connection32:28 Setting AI Boundaries: Why Algorithms Should Never Conduct Performance Reviews34:16 Scaling Culture in Hyper-Growth: The Power of People Analytics41:33 The AI Ride-Along Prediction and What Comes Next43:15 Where to Connect with Arnnon Geshuri and SnowflakeResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Arnnon on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Rodrigo Liang, Raised Over $1B to Build the First Generative AI Unicorn

Send us Fan MailIn this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, we are bringing you an exclusive conversation recorded live on the show floor at the HumanX 2026 event. This full interview kicks off a special three-part series, with the upcoming two episodes releasing in a compilation format. To start things off, we are sharing our uncut conversation with the man who made this entire gathering possible.Stefan Weitz is the Co-founder and CEO of HumanX, an organization and premier event dedicated to cutting through the AI hype to find practical, world-changing applications. He joined Microsoft in 1996, working alongside leaders like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer on iconic product launches and foundational tech like Bing and Windows.In this live episode, Stefan draws on his extensive product development background to explain why our survival in the AI era depends on treating technology as an evolving tool and why the most powerful thing a leader can say today is "I do not know".In this conversation, we discuss: Why relying on focus groups and lean product development is the wrong approach for building breakthrough AI hardware and software.The reason established tech giants risk losing the AI race if they rely solely on distribution over building superior products.How AI differs fundamentally from all previous human tools and why its ability to learn creates unprecedented exponential growth.Why the speed of current technological adaptation threatens to outpace our natural ability to transition roles and find new purpose.The danger of anthropomorphizing artificial intelligence and why framing it as human creates unnecessary fear and resistance.How saying "I do not know" has become the most powerful leadership tool in a non-deterministic technology landscape.Resources:Connect with Stefan on LinkedIn

Send us Fan MailRobb Wilson is the CEO and co-founder of OneReach.ai, an agent-building platform focused on complex enterprise use cases across healthcare, government, and telecommunications. A serial entrepreneur and former creative executive at Time Warner, Robb has spent decades working at the intersection of design and technology. He is also the co-owner of UX Magazine, a global community of more than 640,000 members, and the author of two bestselling books, including Age of Invisible Machines.His career spans designing high-stakes systems like the Boeing 787 cockpit to building conversational AI platforms that rethink how humans interact with technology. Along the way, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Technical Achievement, reflecting his ability to bridge creativity and engineering at scale.In this episode, Robb draws on that rare combination of design, product, and systems thinking to challenge how companies are adopting AI today, and why most are optimizing the wrong layer of the problem.In this conversation, we discuss:Why companies are using AI to accelerate outdated software instead of rethinking what software should be, and how this creates the illusion of progress without meaningful changeThe fundamental mismatch between human communication and traditional interfaces, and why conversational interaction exposes how poorly most software has been designed for real usersWhat “getting AI” actually means inside organizations, and why productivity gains often hide the fact that teams are still building systems they plan to replaceThe concept of “invisible machines” and why the future of AI is not better interfaces, but removing interfaces entirely to prioritize human interaction over system interactionWhy evaluating AI systems based on what they do misses the point, and how understanding how they learn becomes the more critical question for decision-makersThe tension between building AI that drives engagement versus AI that strengthens human connection, and how market incentives continue to reward the wrong outcomesExplore the conversation:00:00 Intro and Fun Fact 04:27 Robb Wilson's Journey at the Intersection of Design and Technology06:26 The UX Collision: Why Using AI to Build Old Software Faster is a Mistake10:47 Defining Human-First Design and the Concept of Invisible Machines13:26 Lessons from the Boeing 787: Using Context to Remove Complex Interfaces16:08 The Adoption Problem: Why We Must Evaluate How AI Software Learns20:40 The OpenAI Dilemma: Choosing Between Dopamine-Driven AI and Healthy Innovation25:22 The End of Compiled Software: Why True AI Transformation Requires Total Transparency29:48 Future Interfaces: Valuing Human Connection Over Brain Chips and Productivity35:09 Will Capitalism Reward Ethical AI? The Power of Consumer Choice41:54 Where to Connect with Robb Wilson and OneReach.aiResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Robb on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Steve Truitt Is Working to Save Humanity and Prevent AI From Ruining Us

Send us Fan MailMatt Fitzpatrick is the CEO of Invisible Technologies, an AI platform used to improve models for more than 80% of the world's leading AI companies, including Microsoft, AWS, and Cohere. The company has raised $100 million and scaled to $134 million in revenue, making it one of the fastest-growing AI companies globally.Before joining Invisible, Matt was the Global Head of QuantumBlack Labs at McKinsey, where he led large-scale AI and data engineering efforts and helped enterprises move from experimentation to production.In this episode, Matt draws on years spent inside enterprise AI deployments to challenge the gap between model progress and real-world adoption, and to explain why most organizations still struggle to turn AI into measurable business outcomes.In this conversation, we discuss:Why enterprise AI adoption lags far behind model performance improvements, and why most organizations still struggle to turn technical progress into real business impactThe hidden role of messy, fragmented legacy data, and why decades of accumulated systems make it nearly impossible to deploy reliable AI at scaleWhy defining “good” output in generative AI is far harder than expected, and how unclear standards stall deployment across high-stakes enterprise workflowsThe case for redesigning workflows from scratch, and why layering AI on top of existing processes fails to create meaningful efficiency gainsWhy most AI initiatives fail due to lack of business ownership, and how separating technology teams from operators prevents projects from reaching productionHow fear-driven narratives about job loss are slowing adoption, and why AI is more likely to shift work toward higher-value tasks than eliminate roles entirely Explore this conversation: 00:00 Intro and Fun Fact 03:57 Matt Fitzpatrick's Path From McKinsey to Invisible Technologies 09:56 Scaling Enterprise AI with Modular Platforms and Clean Data 12:44 The Crucial Role of Expert Human Feedback in Model Training 17:56 Why 95% of Enterprise AI Projects Never Reach Production21:38 The Missing Link: Why True AI Transformation Requires Business Ownership 26:54 Overcoming AI Fear and the Reality of Jevons Paradox 32:24 Responsible AI: Governing Outcomes Over Technology 39:05 The Future of Work: Moving From Administration to Innovation 44:12 Where to Connect with Matt Fitzpatrick and Invisible TechnologiesResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Matthew on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Allison Baum Gates Reveals the Secrets to a Successful VC Career

Send us Fan MailYour employees are already ahead of you on AI. The data is in and the question is no longer whether this is happening, but what leaders choose to do about it.That is one of the key findings from Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index, and it is the starting point for this week's special episode. PeopleReign CEO Dan Turchin sits down with Matt Firestone, General Manager at Microsoft leading product marketing for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agents, to unpack what trillions of anonymized signals across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem reveal about how AI is actually changing work right now.What pairing telemetry with survey responses and in-house research reveals about the gap between where employees actually are and where their organizations think they are is striking. And the numbers on how organizations reward, or fail to reward, the people already doing this work will make most leaders uncomfortable. The bottleneck, it turns out, isn't where most people expect it.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the job of a leader has shifted from designing transformation strategy to changing systems and cultureHow the report reframes agentic AI collaboration, not as a threat to human agency, but as an expansion of itWhat "frontier firms" and "frontier professionals" actually means, and why it's a mental model and rallying cry, not a marketing termHow building in the open, leaders experimenting visibly and removing the stigma of getting things wrong, is one of the most quantifiably impactful things a manager can doWhy agent adoption on the Microsoft 365 ecosystem is growing at a rate that will surprise even the optimistsExplore this conversation:00:00 Intro01:14 Inside Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index02:22 Telemetry, Not Just Surveys: What the Data Reveal03:09 Employees Are Ahead of Their Managers on Agentic AI04:37 The Transformation Paradox and Broken Reward Systems06:15 More Agentic AI, More Human Agency: The 49% Finding09:28 How Leaders Should Respond: Build in the Open11:26 Safety, Trust, and Responsible AI at Microsoft Scale13:36 Building a Manager Equity Dashboard in 25 Minutes with Copilot17:31 What Frontier Firms and Frontier Professionals Actually Do20:04 AI, Toil, and the Fear of Becoming Obsolete22:52 The 1 Billion Agents Prediction and What Comes NextResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Matt on LinkedInMicrosoft's 2026 Work Trend Index

Send us Fan MailEmmanuel Daniel is an author, advisor, and global thought leader on geopolitics, the future of finance, and their intersection with business and society. As the founder of the research and consulting house TAB Global and a recognized top 10 global influencer in the Fintech Power50, Emmanuel has spent decades looking under the hood of the global economy to understand how nations and institutions truly interact. In this episode, Emmanuel draws on 25 years of building relationships with central bankers, policymakers, and fintech leaders across 157 countries to make the case that the disruption most financial institutions are bracing for is not the one that is actually coming, and that the leaders asking the wrong questions today will have no runway left when the real inflection point hits.In this conversation, we discuss:Why financial markets distracted everyone from the real AI disruption, and what happens to large organizations when agentic AI finally reaches the Internet of Things.Why the end user no longer interacts with your bank's app directly, and what that means for every institution investing in UX.Why Emmanuel argues that debt is the economy, and why the conversation about U.S. debt-to-GDP is asking the wrong question entirely.Why state-promoted digital currencies are structurally designed to fail, and what China's eCNY after 8 years in pilot reveals about the limits of government-driven innovation.Why stablecoins have enabled a parallel global economy that traditional banking missed, and what that signals for the institutions still holding the rails.Why originality of thought is the one human capability AI cannot replace, and why Emmanuel says AI is of no use to you if you cannot form the right questions yourself.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Emmanuel on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI Voice Assistants Will Make Meetings More ProductiveOther episodes mentioned:344: Can Decentralized AI Fix Banking? Crypto, Brain OS, and the Future of Finance with Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO358: Inside Mastercard's AI Adoption Journey: CTO George Maddaloni on Building Trust, Detecting Fraud, and the Future of Payments

Send us Fan MailTom Scott is the CEO of Wrike, the work management platform trusted by over 20,000 customers including Walmart Canada and Sony Pictures Television, across more than 140 countries and nearly 2 million end users.Tom's path to the CEO seat is anything but conventional. He spent over 20 years leading finance and operations across some of the most hardware-intensive sectors in tech, from building cell towers to running finance at Zebra Technologies and autonomous robotics company Fetch Robotics, before joining Wrike as CFO and transitioning to CEO in July 2023.In this episode, Tom draws on that rare vantage point (having led through multiple waves of technological disruption) to make a case that the leaders and companies that treat organizational intelligence as a combination of human judgment and AI capability, rather than a replacement of one by the other, are the ones building something that lasts.In this conversation, we discuss:Why transformation remains stubbornly hard in the AI era, and what leaders consistently underestimate about the real blockers to changeWhy the biggest career risk today is not AI itself, but the decision to stop moving up the value stack of your current roleThe two words Tom's customers and team use most to describe the current moment: pace and noise, and what that means for leaders trying to drive transformation.How Tom coaches his leadership team to hire for intensity and ownership over domain expertise, and why that philosophy matters more now than everWhy a deterministic career plan is no longer a viable strategy, and what curiosity and experience-chasing actually look like as professional operating principlesWhat Tom believes will be table stakes in the workplace well before 2031, and why the building blocks are already visible todayExplore this conversation:00:00 Intro and Fun Fact04:08 Scaling Work Management with Tom Scott, CEO of Wrike 04:47 From Cell Towers to the CEO Seat at Wrike 05:51 How Wrike Helps Teams Connect and Accelerate Work 10:21 The Hardest Part of Transitioning to the CEO Role 14:13 Wrike's Origins: Building Scalability for Complex Workflows 17:04 Managing Pace and Noise During AI Transformations 21:20 Why True Organizational Intelligence Requires Human Judgment 25:54 Embracing Technology to Move Up the Value Stack 28:11 Why Curiosity Outweighs a Deterministic Career Plan 31:25 Hiring Empowered Teams: Selecting for Ownership and Intensity 34:31 The Future of Work: When Agentic AI Becomes Table Stakes 36:32 Where to Connect with Tom Scott and Wrike Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Thomas on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Decentralized Intelligence and Data Precision Are Reshaping the Future of AI

Send us Fan MailIn this special April compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we're bringing back six great former guests who published popular books about how AI is redefining humans at work. The future of work isn't about competing with algorithms. It's about how we use technology to increase our capacity for trust, express our vulnerability, and discover meaning.This episode brings together insights from authors who explore how AI is reshaping work and what it means for individuals and organizations. What You'll LearnWhy delegating routine tasks to AI frees us to explore our human superpowers like empathy, rational thinking, and compassion.How the future of knowledge work lies in navigating ambiguity and expressing entirely new ideas.Why leaders must move beyond monitoring and productivity theater to build cultures of trust and give teams the space to experiment.How the traditional, contract-based employment model is failing the next generation and what replaces it.Why the era of the “superhuman” leader is over, and how showing your human side earns loyalty in times of disruption.How the AI revolution is sparking a massive work quake, and why only you can write your own story and decide what gives you meaning.Featured GuestsBernard Marr, Futurist and Bestselling Author of Generative AI in Practice - Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15441666] Atif Rafiq, Former Fortune 500 Executive and Author of Decision Sprint - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14507445] Brian Elliott, Executive Advisor and bestselling author of "How the Future Works". - Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17282891] Josh Drean, Co-founder of the Work3 Institute and Co-author of Employment is Dead - Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16473644] Linda Rottenberg, CEO and Co-founder of Endeavor, and Author of Crazy is a Compliment - Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/8356582] Bruce Feiler, Bestselling Author of The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World - Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14158168] 

Send us Fan MailOren Michels is an entrepreneur, investor, board member, and advisor to technology startups in the US and Europe. He is the co-founder and CEO of Barndoor AI, the control plane for agentic AI, and the founder who previously helped define the API management category with Mashery, acquired by Intel in 2013. He is also a Tony-nominated Broadway and Off-Broadway producer whose credits include Romeo+Juliet and Good Night, and Good Luck starring George Clooney.In this episode, Oren draws on two decades of building foundational infrastructure for the enterprise to make the case that governing AI agents is not a security problem. It is an entirely new category of problem, and most companies do not yet have the vocabulary to describe it, let alone the tools to solve it. If your agents can already write to your CRM, interpret your instructions, and act without life experience or fear of consequences, who is actually in control?In this conversation, we discuss:Why securing AI agents is entirely different from managing APIs, and why traditional security and identity access tools were never designed to handle what agents can do.The reason most so-called agentic AI is still glorified robotic process automation, and what it will actually take to unlock enterprise value.How Barndoor AI's "least privilege" framework for agents works, and why the permission logic goes far beyond the identity of the human using the tool.Why an agent with delete access to your CRM is one probabilistic misfire away from a catastrophic outcome, and why ultimate responsibility always comes back to the humans operating the tools.The BYO AI parallel to BYOD: why well-meaning employees using personal AI tools with company data may force the enterprise governance moment no one is ready for.Why the same instinct that took Oren from API infrastructure to Broadway and back to enterprise AI may be exactly the mindset the agentic era demands from its builders.Explore this conversation:00:00 Intro and fun Fact03:46 Oren Michels's Path From API Management to Building Barndoor AI05:44 Redefining Trust: AI Lacks Life Experience and Fear of Consequences08:24 History Repeating: Why AI Needs a Control Plane Just Like APIs Did12:35 Deterministic APIs vs. Probabilistic Agents: Why Governing AI Is a Social Challenge18:25 How Barndoor AI's "Least Privilege" Framework for Agents Actually Works20:50 The Token Economy and Context Windows: Wandering Into the AI Home Depot25:25 Preventing Catastrophic Failures: Why AI Agents Should Never Have Delete Access31:39 The BlackBerry Moment of AI: Navigating the "BYO AI" Enterprise Trend38:04 Balancing Tech and Creativity: From Enterprise AI to Producing on BroadwayResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Oren on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI may eliminate jobs: what the data reveals

Send us Fan MailJake Saper is a General Partner at Emergence Capital, one of the most iconic venture firms in enterprise software, with a portfolio that includes Zoom, Gusto, Veeva, and Together AI. Emergence has backed some of the most category-defining B2B companies of the last two decades, and Jake has spent nearly 12 years at the center of that deal flow.What sets Jake apart is a life lived on both sides of the creativity question: he backs the companies building AI but also performs across genres from blues to metal as a working musician.In this episode, Jake brings that rare combination of investor rigor and artist instinct to one of the hardest questions AI is forcing us to face, and whether you leave reassured or unsettled may depend entirely on how much of your identity is wrapped up in the work you create.In this conversation, we discuss:How AI will democratize the creation of art but commoditize its execution, ultimately causing the value of live, dynamic human performances to skyrocket.The stunning acceleration of startup growth, with top-quartile B2B software companies now scaling from zero to $1 million in ARR in just four months.How the flood of AI-generated content is turning attention into the real bottleneck, and why curation and point of view become the new competitive advantage.Why Jake believes the market will self-regulate the anthropomorphization of AI agents in the workplace, and where that logic has a hard limit.What Geoffrey Hinton said about building AI "like a mother," why it was both comforting and deeply unsatisfying, and what it reveals about AGI risk.Why Jake argues disclosure matters during this transition period, but what he actually wants people to ask about art as AI becomes a normal creative tool.Explore this conversation:00:00 Why AI Makes It Easier to Build a Demo and Harder to Build a Moat05:25 From Cell Towers to Venture Capital: Jake Saper's Path to Emergence08:53 How AI Is Compressing Startup Growth: From 18 Months to 4 Months to $1M ARR18:05 What Art Actually Is: Compressed Human Experience and the Act of Making Meaning Shareable23:30 How AI Can Unlock Latent Creativity in People Who Don't Think of Themselves as Creators26:55 Why Disclosure Matters When Trust and Authenticity Are at Stake30:19 Navigating a Post-Truth Era: When Everything Looks Synthetic, What Do We Believe?32:14 Why the Value of Live Performance Is About to Skyrocket35:58 As Soulless Entities Multiply, Soul-to-Soul Human Connection Becomes More Valuable40:38 What Geoffrey Hinton Said About Building AI "Like a Mother" and Why It Was Unsatisfying43:04 Why the Most Enduring Art Has Always Been About Transfer, Not AuthorshipResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Jake on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI Is Revolutionizing Creativity in Art, Music, and Education

Send us Fan MailDaniel Lereya is Chief Product and Technology Officer at monday.com, the AI work platform trusted by 60% of the Fortune 500 and valued at approximately $8 billion. He joined the company when it had 30 people and $4.5M ARR, and has since grown his team from 5 to nearly 900 people as monday.com crossed $1 billion in ARR.In this episode, Daniel draws on nearly a decade of scaling one of the world's most adopted work platforms to share what it actually takes to rebuild product thinking from scratch when AI changes everything you thought you knew.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the instincts that made monday.com successful are the exact ones Daniel says had to be dismantled to build AI-first products.What the critical difference is between building a demo that impresses and an agent that actually works in production, and where most teams get it wrong.Why Daniel believes wrapping AI inside rigid workflows produces better results than giving agents full discretion, and what monday.com learned the hard way.What happened when 2,000 of 3,000 monday.com employees started building their own apps in just two weeks, and what it revealed about the future of who gets to build software.Why Daniel argues that when an AI agent makes a mistake, the real question leaders should be asking has nothing to do with the technology.Why the biggest barrier to AI adoption is not the technology itself, and what Daniel says companies must stop waiting for before they start.Explore:00:00 Why AI Adoption Is Harder Than It Looks00:53 Introduction + AI Commerce Standards: Google, OpenAI & Visa04:30 Daniel Lereya's 9-Year Journey Scaling monday.com to $1B ARR09:00 How AI Forces a Complete Reset in Product Thinking12:25 The "AI Month" Initiative: Pausing R&D to Rebuild from Scratch14:57 Building AI Products When the Output Is Non-Deterministic20:47 What 250,000 Customers Taught Us About AI in the Real World25:38 Responsible AI: Guardrails, Governance, and Data Control31:28 Who Is Responsible When an AI Agent Makes a Mistake?37:04 The Future of Work: Humans, Agents, and What Comes NextResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Daniel on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How we can take back control from Big Techhttps://peoplereign.io/podcast/

Send us Fan MailLisa Davis is a technology executive who has served as CIO and tech leader for some of the world's most complex organizations, including Intel, Blue Shield of California, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Defense. She is now focused on shaping the next generation of leaders and advocating for women and diverse talent in STEM through her board work, executive coaching, and her forthcoming book, The Only Woman in the Room: How to Win in a Workplace Still Built for Men.In this episode, Lisa draws on 30+ years leading technology at the highest levels of government and enterprise to make the case that the future of AI depends on who gets to build it, and as long as women remain locked out of those rooms, we are getting it dangerously wrong.In this conversation, we discuss:Why women's representation in STEM has fallen from 34% in the mid-1980s to 22% today, and why that decline is a crisis for the future of AI, not just the workplace.Why the real risk isn't the technology itself but the leadership teams making AI decisions without diverse voices at the table.The structural systems that were never designed for women to thrive, and why redesigning them is a business imperative, not a social favor.Why current corporate layoffs are being falsely attributed to AI, and what leaders need to start saying out loud.Why girls begin dropping out of math and science as early as middle school, how cultural norms around "bossiness" suppress leadership potential, and what parents and organizations can do to intervene earlier.What Lisa says women who finally reach the executive table must do differently, and why most don't.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Lisa on LinkedIn or visit her website to learn more about her book.AI fun fact articleOn how to navigate life transitions with Bruce Feiler, award-winning author and popular TEDx speaker 

Send us Fan MailJames Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital firm recognized by CB Insights as the #2 investor in AI. He has spent years backing the companies quietly building the infrastructure of tomorrow's economy, including Orbital Insight, Primer, Domino Data Labs, and AppZen. A Harvard CS graduate and MIT MBA, James brings a rare combination of technical depth, philosophical seriousness, and long-horizon investing perspective to every conversation. In this episode, he challenges some of the most popular  assumptions in enterprise AI adoption (including the idea that keeping humans in the loop is always the right answer) and makes a compelling case for why the moral and economic decisions we make right now will shape the nature of work for the next hundred years.In this conversation, we discuss:Why the people who benefit from AI models, not those impacted by them, should bear full legal and moral responsibility for the harms they causeWhy comparing AI to a flawless "Platonic ideal" is a mistake, and how the mathematical consistency of models is a massive advantage over noisy, unpredictable human decision-makingThe case for pulling humans out of the loop and why romanticizing your role in the process is exactly how organizations miss the real opportunityWhy corporate America's "gold star" approach to AI adoption, tracking how many employees used AI once this week, is a dangerous distraction from what heavy users are already doingHow ancient wisdom and the biblical concept of creation in Genesis can help us navigate the moral responsibilities of building new technologiesJames's three massive investment theses, including the untapped market for AI tools with high emotional intelligence and why developers spending over $50 a day on tokens are already living in the futureResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with James on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI Impacts Humanity

Send a textAdrian McDermott is Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk, where he leads the company's product management and engineering teams and helps shape the technology behind one of the world's most widely used customer service platforms. He joined Zendesk in 2010 and has played a key role in guiding the company's product and platform strategy as customer experience continues to evolve in the age of AI. Drawing on years of experience building enterprise software used by service teams around the world, Adrian brings a thoughtful perspective on how AI can help organizations deliver better customer service while allowing people to focus on the work humans do best.In this conversation, we discuss:How customer service evolved from a cost center with rigid scripts and binders into a strategic function where technology helps teams deliver better experiences.Why customer service leaders shouldn't fear automation — and why everyone has a "service debt" that AI can finally help pay down.The shift from traditional contact centers to AI-enabled service platforms that help companies respond faster while improving both employee and customer experience.Lessons Adrian learned scaling Zendesk from a small product team to a global platform serving 100,000 customers and how product-led growth shaped that journey.The critical challenge of moving from non-deterministic, creative AI models to deterministic, reliable solutions necessary for enterprise trust and safetyThe future of context engineering and why the next major leap in AI won't be about superintelligence, but about building systems that capture and act on the knowledge created in every customer interaction.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Adrian on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How the impact of the pandemic on leaders, culture, and the evolving nature of work

Send a textTo celebrate International Women's Day, this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work revisits powerful moments from past conversations with women leaders shaping technology, artificial intelligence, and the future of work.Across industries and roles, these leaders share reflections on career growth, leadership, resilience, and the barriers women still face in technology and executive leadership. Their stories reveal how confidence, mentorship, and opportunity shape who gets to lead in emerging industries like AI.As artificial intelligence reshapes how organizations operate and how work evolves, representation in the people building and guiding these technologies matters more than ever. Expanding access and opportunity is essential to creating a more innovative and inclusive future of work.Featured GuestsCharlene Li – Author, Keynote Speaker & Strategic Advisor. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/3970637]Daphne Jones – CEO at The Board Curators. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12105172]Patty Hatter – President & COO at Opsera. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/5939122]Mona Sabet – SVP at GCG. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16747398]Tess Posner – CEO and Founder at AI4ALL. Listen to the full conversation here: [2019: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/2207636 - 2025: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17326118] What You'll LearnWhy women often wait until they feel fully qualified before pursuing leadership rolesHow imposter syndrome shapes career decisions and confidence in techWhy perfectionism can limit growth for technical leadersHow hiring practices based on brand signals reinforce gender imbalanceWhy diversity in AI development leads to better technology outcomesHow leaders can expand opportunity for the next generation of women in tech

Send a textMatt Britton is Founder and CEO of Suzy and a leading voice on how AI and generational change are reshaping business. He is the author of the best-selling book Generation AI: Why Generation Alpha & The Age of AI Will Change Everything, and has advised more than half of the Fortune 500 on marketing, innovation, and consumer behavior. Drawing on decades of experience working with global brands, Matt examines why AI is shifting the economy from knowledge tasks to creative problem solving, why reskilling will define the next decade, and how leaders can build organizations that elevate human judgment in an AI-driven world.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI is accelerating a shift from memorization and knowledge tasks toward creativity, critical thinking, and real problem solving.Why reskilling, not upskilling, will define the next decade and why that transition will be harder than most leaders admit.How Gen Alpha, the first AI-native generation, will reshape expectations around work, brands, privacy, and employer relationships.Why robotics will transform the service economy sooner than most leaders expect, and what that means for jobs.The mistake companies make when they chase AI tools instead of focusing on the most important problems to solve.How hyper-personalization and an “audience of one” are redefining trust, value creation, and meritocracy in business.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Matt on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Kai Nunez, Vice President of Research & Insights at Salesforce, is making tech teams take ownership of AI ethics

Send a textKourtney Cross is a RiseUp with ServiceNow Graduate and Business Analyst at Leidos. With a background in accounting and operations, Kourtney saw a shift happening in the enterprise tech landscape and decided he wouldn't be left behind. He immersed himself in a new ecosystem, earned multiple certifications through the RiseUp program, and built his own hands-on projects to prove his skills to skeptics.But his story isn't just about learning new software. It's about the grit it takes to pivot your career in public. Kourtney joins Dan Turchin to share what it really looks like to go from "credentials on paper" to delivering value in the AI economy, and why he believes compounded effort always yields success.In this conversation, they discuss:Why Kourtney saw a market shift and decided to dive in headfirst, and how that decision became a pivotal career inflection point.How RiseUp with ServiceNow program enables ambitious early-career professionals to obtain certifications, build real skills, and pivot into future-proof tech roles.What certifications actually do, and don't do, in the job market, and how Kourtney differentiated himself by building and showcasing a hands-on project.How to proactively leverage AI as a business analyst, from writing user stories to tightening requirements, instead of fearing job displacement.Where AI should accelerate productivity and where clear human boundaries still matter, especially in high-stakes areas like healthcare and admissions decisions.Why patience, resilience, and what Kourtney calls “compounded effort” matter more than credentials alone when breaking into tech and building long-term career momentum.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterAI @ Work – Level One Leaders certificationConnect with Kourtney on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how AI can unleash human potentialExplore more about RiseUp with ServiceNow

Send a textScott Strickland is Chief Commercial Officer at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and former Chief Information Officer of Wyndham Hotel Group, where he led technology and AI initiatives across one of the world's largest hospitality portfolios. With experience spanning global operations, enterprise data strategy, and board-level leadership, he has built a reputation for translating business priorities into scalable technology execution.Drawing on that experience, Scott brings a pragmatic lens to how organizations align AI with business strategy, prioritize initiatives by ROI and time to value, and scale responsibly while building trust across teams.In this conversation, we discuss:How Scott translates business needs into technical AI execution while keeping a sharp focus on measurable dollar impact.Why winning board support for AI requires the “4 E's” framework, and how making AI a recurring agenda item changes the trajectory of investment.How to scale from four initial AI use cases to more than 340 by prioritizing ROI, time to value, and data readiness.Why AI works best as a co-pilot that removes friction and drudgery, rather than as a replacement for frontline teams.What it takes to build trust with employees during AI transformation, including transparency, reskilling pathways, and new roles like AI coaches.Why security, privacy, and risk management must be built into AI initiatives from day one, and how servant leadership creates the cultural foundation for responsible adoption.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Scott on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how the journey from intern to a $5B unicorn happens

Send a textIn this special February compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we explore what it truly takes to build AI companies designed to last.While AI innovation moves fast, enduring companies are built on fundamentals. Clear problem selection. Thoughtful product design. Ethical intent. Leadership under uncertainty. And the resilience required to keep going when the market pushes back.This episode brings together insights from founders and operators who have built, scaled, and sustained AI-driven companies across different stages and industries. Their stories reveal a shared truth. Long-term success depends less on hype and more on discipline, courage, and trust.Featured GuestsEric Olson, CEO and Co-founder of Consensus - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11574063 Rich White, Founder of UserVoice and CEO of Fathom - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11911533 Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of MindStudio - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14866979 Daniel Marcous, Founder and CTO of April, former CTO of Waze - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12679210 George Sivulka, CEO of Hebbia - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16572788 What You'll LearnWhy founders must act before certainty appearsHow solving real pain leads to stronger, longer-lasting companiesWhat ethical intent looks like in practical AI system designWhy trust, accuracy, and discipline matter more than speedHow resilience shapes leadership through uncertaintyWhat separates durable AI companies from short-lived experimentsInspired by something you heard in this episode?Share your favorite insight on social and tag us. We'd love to hear what resonated with you. And don't forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the founders and leaders shaping what comes next.Other special episodes: Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)365: What We've Learned from 364 Expert Conversations (Special Episode)

Send a textAndrea Iorio is one of Brazil's most requested keynote speakers on digital transformation, innovation, and leadership. His work has reached more than 50,000 people through live talks, and his podcasts have surpassed 300,000 downloads. A former Head of Tinder across Latin America and Chief Digital Officer at L'Oréal Brazil, he brings firsthand experience leading digital change inside large organizations. Today, he advises leaders, teaches MBAs, and studies how AI reshapes work, skills, and decision making. His latest book, Between You and AI, explores how humans stay relevant as machines take on more cognitive tasks.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI replaces tasks rather than entire jobs, and how reframing work around tasks changes how leaders redesign roles, workflows, and value creation.Andrea shares surprising data from a global HR survey that reveals why 93% of HR leaders prioritize soft skills over hard skills in new hires, and why this trend signals a massive shift in the future of work.Andrea outlines nine new skills, grouped into Three Pillars of Transformation essential for professionals and leaders: cognitive, behavioral, and emotional.Why asking better questions matters more than producing answers, and how prompting extends beyond AI inputs into everyday leadership and decision making.Andrea shares how L'Oréal's reverse mentoring program shifted the C-Suite's perspective on emerging digital trends, demonstrating why understanding the Gen Z consumer requires direct immersion over passive presentations.What the rise of autonomous AI agents means for responsibility, goal setting, and collaboration, and why agency remains a human obligation even as systems gain autonomy.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Andrea on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how investors decide what to fund in gen AI and what most entrepreneurs get wrong

Send us a textLynne Chou O'Keefe is the Founder and Managing Partner of Define Ventures, one of the largest early-stage health tech investment firms, with $800 million in assets under management.With deep experience across digital health, venture capital, and frontline healthcare systems, Lynne brings a clear-eyed view of why the industry is changing now and where AI can make a meaningful difference. She is widely recognized for her work backing companies that rethink access, outcomes, and patient experience, and is a trusted voice on how technology, ethics, and human judgment must come together to move healthcare forward.In this conversation, we discuss:Why healthcare still runs on fragmented systems and what that means for where AI can truly move the needle.How the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care changes incentives and pushes the system toward prevention over volume.Why patients now expect healthcare to work like transportation or food delivery, and how that expectation reshapes care delivery.The three phases of AI in healthcare, from administrative efficiency to clinical workflow support and, eventually, clinical decision-making.Where the ethical boundary sits today between AI-assisted care and AI-led decisions, especially when access to care is limited.Why the future of healthcare is hybrid by design, with AI augmenting clinicians rather than replacing human judgment.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Lynn on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how AI is fixing the biggest problem faced by doctors.

Send us a textDave Kellogg is a leading voice in enterprise software, SaaS metrics and go-to-market strategy. A four-time guest on AI and the Future of Work, Dave brings decades of hands-on experience inside SaaS companies to challenge how leaders think about growth, metrics, and execution. He is an Executive-in-Residence at Balderton Capital and the author of Kellblog. His perspective is shaped by years spent leading and advising software businesses from early stages through scale.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Dave argues that we are increasingly working for the algorithm, not the other way around, and how that shift shows up in SEO, productivity, and workplace behavior.Why SaaS is not dying but is under real pressure, and how claims that companies can easily replace systems like Salesforce or Workday misunderstand how enterprise software actually works.How AI changes jobs by pushing work up the value chain rather than simply eliminating roles, and why history suggests societies adapt faster than we expect.Why trust becomes more valuable as AI floods the world with low-quality content, and how brands, creators, and leaders must earn credibility in an era of front-run information.What the move from the Rule of 40 to the Rule of 60 signals about today's market, and why many mid-scale SaaS companies now face uncomfortable strategic choices.How venture capital is becoming more financialized, what that means for founders, and why AI may accelerate the shift toward larger funds, bigger bets, and fewer safety nets.Episode Chapters00:00 Why Dave Kellogg's Annual SaaS Predictions Matter More Every Year03:53 Working for the Algorithm, Not the Other Way Around06:10 “Death of SaaS”: Why Enterprise Software Isn't Going Away08:56 Why Enterprise Software Is Built to Last11:51 AI and Jobs: Why Work Disappears Differently Than We Expect16:31 The New Jobs AI Creates and Why Humans Stay Essential at Work19:22 Why Trust Becomes the Most Valuable Currency in an AI-Driven World24:23 Why AI Forces Us to Rethink Trust, Media, and Credibility27:57 Why the Rule of 60 Is Replacing the Rule of 40 for Startups in 202633:44 How Venture Capital Is Becoming a Financial Services Business41:47 Why Silicon Valley's New Willingness to Take Political Positions Surprised Many Founders45:57 What the Grateful Dead Can Teach Us About Business, Creativity, and LegacyResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Dave Kellogg on LinkedInKellblog Predictions for 2026AI fun fact articleOn How AI is Making Networks SmartPrevious episodes in AI & The Future of Work featuring Dave:[2025] 324: 2025 predictions with Dave Kellogg: The Future of AI, SaaS, and Business[2024] Dave Kellogg, SaaS whisperer and EIR at Balderton Capital, predicts the future of AI, Silicon Valley, and venture capital[2023] Special episode: Dave Kellogg, serial CEO, investor, and SaaS pioneer, shares his (provocative) tech predictions for 2023

Send us a textLynn Thoman is a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and the founder of 3 Takeaways, a top 1% global podcast known for distilling big ideas from influential leaders shaping policy, business, and society. Drawing on experience across corporate strategy, public sector advisory work, and board service at institutions such as the Brookings Institution and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Lynn brings a cross-sector lens to how AI is reshaping decision-making, learning, and human potential.In this conversation, we discuss:Why AI is best understood as an amplifier of human capability, especially in leadership, where judgment and choices matter more than technology.How the real upside of AI is giving people more space for imagination, empathy, and meaningful human connection.How to prepare students and professionals for an AI-shaped job market by prioritizing learning paths, adaptability, and relationships over fixed career tracks.Why the biggest risks of AI come from small, hard-to-detect changes in data or models that can create serious downstream harm.How AI is pushing education, work, and leadership back toward core human skills like judgment, curiosity, and imagination.Where cautious optimism comes from, including AI's potential to expand access to knowledge, healthcare, and opportunity when used with care.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Lynn on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How genAI studios launch AI-first companiesOther podcast episodes mentioned on the show:On reinventing the academic curriculum for MBAs with Dave Marchick, Dean of the Kogod School of BusinessFrom 3 Takeaways:The Genetic Revolution Has Begun - George Church on What Comes NextThe Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business: Setting the Table with Union Square Hospitality Group Founder & CEO Danny Meyer

Send us a textEvery January 24, the world celebrates the International Day of Education, a reminder that learning remains one of the most powerful drivers of opportunity, mobility, and social progress.In this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we revisit conversations with education leaders, university deans, and workforce innovators exploring how AI is transforming learning, access, credentials, and lifelong education.From academic integrity and digital classrooms to reskilling and future-ready education models, this episode highlights one essential truth: technology can accelerate learning, but education must remain human-centered.Featuring insights from:Chris Caren (CEO, Turnitin) - Listen to the full conversation here: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15780222 Marni Baker Stein (Chief Content Officer, Coursera) - Listen to the full conversation here: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17359747 Dave Treat (Chief Technology Officer, Pearson) - Listen to the full conversation here: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17557154 Dave Marchick (Dean, Kogod School of Business, American University) - Listen to the full conversation here: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17119724 Gary Bolles (Chair for the Future of Work, Singularity University) - Listen to the full conversation here: https://aiandthefutureofwork.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/9236086 What You'll Learn:How AI is reshaping education and digital learning modelsWhy academic integrity matters more than ever in the age of generative AIHow universities and platforms expand access to global educationWhy lifelong learning and reskilling are becoming essential career skillsHow educators prepare students for future work and leadershipWhich human skills remain critical in an AI-driven economyInspired by something you heard?Share this episode with someone passionate about education and the future of learning. And don't forget to subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of work.Other special episodes: Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)365: What We've Learned from 364 Expert Conversations (Special Episode)

Send us a textAmit Bendov is the co-founder and CEO of Gong, the revenue AI platform he started in 2015 after realizing that traditional CRM systems tracked outcomes but failed to explain why deals were won or lost. That insight led him to focus on customer conversations as the missing source of truth in sales. Since its founding, Gong has raised more than $580 million and reached a valuation of $7.25 billion. Today, Gong helps sales teams reduce manual work, improve performance, and better understand what customers are actually saying.In this conversation, we discuss:Why traditional CRM systems track what happened but fail to explain why deals are won or lost, and how that gap led to the rise of Revenue AI as a new category.How Gong's Revenue AI differs from CRM by analyzing sales conversations, reducing manual admin work, and actively helping sellers prepare, follow up, and improve performance in real time.The emotional cost of sales work, and how using AI to remove administrative burden improves both sales results and seller job satisfaction.What it takes to build trust in AI tools that analyze customer conversations, including data stewardship, transparency, and delivering clear value to sellers.How an AI-first product vision can exist years before the technology is ready, and what it means to design systems for autonomy rather than simple automation.The reality behind “overnight success,” including early product-market fit tests, paid pilots that felt risky, and navigating growth slowdowns without abandoning the original vision.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Amit on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI Is Changing Finance: Data Challenges, Collaboration, and Future Trends with Mike SchusterOther episode mentioned in the show:On AI Design Philosophy and Building the Anti-PowerPoint with Grant Lee, CEO of Gamma 

Send us a textKimberly Williams is CEO of Absorb Software, where she helps over 3,000 organizations deliver smarter learning experiences to 34 million employees. She brings decades of leadership in enterprise tech and now sits at the center of how AI is changing the way people grow at work. In this episode, Kimberly shares how learning becomes more powerful when it's personalized, embedded in daily workflows, and led by curious teams who treat culture as a competitive advantage.In this conversation, we discuss:How AI is shifting corporate learning from generic training programs to personalized, in-the-flow development tailored to each employee's needs.Why in-context learning matters more than traditional courses, and how AI coaching inside tools like Slack, Salesforce, or ServiceNow changes how people actually learn at work.What it means to turn L&D teams into AI model trainers who encode company culture, values, and knowledge into coaching experiences.How Absorb Software tracks AI usage across teams and uses dashboards and leaderboards to drive internal adoption.The role of outcome data in modern learning systems, and how tying learning directly to performance metrics changes what training gets delivered.The advice Kimberly gives early-career talent, especially women, about finding roles where their contributions are measurable and their growth is supported by culture, not just credentials.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kimberly on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how Robert Plotkin addresses LLM regulation and legal advice for entrepreneursOther episodes mentioned on the show:AI as a Liberating Technology: Josh Bersin on Turning Routine Tasks into Superworkers Driving Trust, Creativity, and GrowthDr. John Boudreau, future of work pioneer and former Cornell professor, discusses the new definition of work

Send us a textHenrik Werdelin is a founder and investor who has spent more than a decade building companies at the intersection of culture, technology, and consumer behavior. He co-founded BARK, the public company that redefined how millions of dog parents connect with their pets, and Prehype, the startup studio behind brands like Ro and Audos.In this episode, Henrik explores how founders can embrace AI without losing human connection, drawing from his experience as co-host of Beyond the Prompt and co-author of Me, My Customer and AI.Recognized by Fast Company and Business Insider for his creative impact, Henrik shares a practical perspective on building companies that scale while staying deeply human.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Henrik believes founders must stay close to users and how AI can deepen (not dilute) human connection.What “building companies at the edge of culture” means and why authenticity beats scale when designing for trust.How Henrik and his team use AI to speed up product development without compromising on creativity or purpose.The shift from storytelling to “storylistening” and how paying attention to customer behavior shapes better products.What the best founders get wrong about generative AI and why Henrik advocates for a more mindful approach to adoption.How roles inside companies are evolving in response to AI and what leaders can do to support creative experimentation.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Henrik on LinkedInAI fun fact articleHow to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your Career

Kelly Jones is Chief People Officer at Cisco, where she leads the people strategy for more than 84,000 employees worldwide. Over nearly two decades, she has helped make Cisco a global benchmark for workplace culture. In this episode, Kelly explains why trust is the foundation of every AI strategy, how Cisco is equipping managers for an era of augmented work, and what it takes to lead responsibly when the pace of change is this fast.In this conversation, we discuss:Why trust is Cisco's most valuable workplace currency and how it shapes decisions about AI, culture, and leadership.How AI becomes a co-pilot when employees are given the safety, training, and time to explore new tools at their own pace.What “super leadership” looks like and the four traits Cisco's CPO believes will define successful managers in an AI-augmented workplace.How Cisco evaluates AI use cases based on disruption, scale, and their potential to enhance the employee experience.Why the real opportunity of AI lies in automating administrative work to give humans more time for purpose, creativity, and connection.The systems Cisco is building to ensure responsible AI use through governance, upskilling, and clear ethical boundaries.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kelly Jones on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your CareerOther episode mentioned in the show: AI as a Liberating Technology: Josh Bersin on Turning Routine Tasks into Superworkers Driving Trust, Creativity, and Growth

Eric Cheng is co-founder and CEO of Jobright, the AI career copilot serving more than 550,000 users. After building core backend systems at Box and scaling Fangcloud to acquisition, he turned his focus to fixing what's broken in hiring. His perspective blends engineering depth with a human-centered approach to matching talent and opportunity.In this conversation we discussed:Why Eric created Jobright after interviewing 150 young professionals and discovering a gap in personalized job search support.How Jobright reframes hiring as a “matching” problem and uses AI to function more like a career coach than a job board.The limitations of keyword-based search tools and how AI enables more nuanced, human-like job matching.Why building trust matters in AI-powered hiring platforms and how Jobright balances efficiency with authenticity and accuracy.What the “learning loop” means for job seekers and why Eric believes the mindset shift matters more than the résumé.How emerging roles like AI operations and forward deployment engineers reflect deeper changes in how organizations adopt and manage AI.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Eric Cheng on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to raise over $200 million to detect audio deepfakes

Kate O'Neill is a leading voice on AI and tech humanism, known for helping organizations build more meaningful, human-centered futures. She has been featured by outlets like BBC, NPR, and NBC, and serves on the United Nations AI advisory board. A CX Hall of Fame inductee and award-winning entrepreneur, Kate brings a unique blend of optimism and realism to conversations about AI, data, and the future of work. Her latest book, What Matters Next, explores how to make human-friendly tech decisions.In this conversation we discussed:How tech humanism explains the relationship between people, technology, and business, and how leaders can design AI systems that strengthen the alignmentWhy humans project intelligence and agency onto AI tools, and what it takes to build healthy, intentional habits around emerging technologiesPractical ways workers can use AI to elevate their roles rather than fear automationThe role of leadership in creating psychologically safe environments where employees can openly experiment with AI toolsThe risk of designing systems that lead to “automated bureaucracy,” and how organizations can embed meaning into automated experiences at scaleWhy meaning and purpose remain uniquely human, and how future workplaces can evolve by pairing human judgment with increasingly capable AI systemsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kate on LinkedIn or at KO InsightsAI fun fact articleOn How Unleashing Human Potential with AI

Sid Sheth is the CEO and co-founder of d-Matrix, the AI chip company making inference efficient and scalable for datacenters. Backed by Microsoft and with $160M raised, Sid shares why rethinking infrastructure is critical to AI's future and how a decade in semiconductors prepared him for this moment.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Sid believes AI inference is the biggest computing opportunity of our lifetime and how it will drive the next productivity boomThe real reason smaller, more efficient models are unlocking the era of inference and what that means for AI adoption at scaleWhy cost, time, and energy are the core constraints of inference, and how D-Matrix is building for performance without compromiseHow the rise of reasoning models and agentic AI shifts demand from generic tasks to abstract problem-solvingThe workforce challenge no one talks about: why talent shortages, not tech limitations, may slow down the AI revolutionHow Sid's background in semiconductors prepared him to recognize the platform shift toward AI and take the leap into building D-MatrixResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Sid on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Mastering Skills To Stay Relevant In the Age of AI

In this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin looks back on what 365 conversations have revealed about how AI is reshaping the way we work.What themes have emerged most consistently? Which ideas connect founders, researchers, and operators across industries? And what have these discussions taught us about the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems?Featuring Guests:Mark McCrindle, Founder and Principal at McCrindle  - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13014260 Pradeep Menon, CTO at Microsoft - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13034974 Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16665133 Alex Buder Shapiro, Chief People Officer at Jasper AI - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17522593 Gary F. Bengier, Writer, philosopher, and technologist - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12934217 Josh Bersin, Founder and CEO at The Josh Bersin Company - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17863187 Bryan Power, Head of People at Nextdoor - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16837259 Dave Treat, Chief Technology Officer at Pearson - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17557154 

Darrick Horton is the CEO and co-founder of TensorWave, the company making waves in AI infrastructure by building high-performance compute on AMD chips. In 2023, he and his team took the unconventional path of bypassing Nvidia, a bold bet that has since paid off with nearly $150 million raised from Magnetar, AMD Ventures, Prosperity7, and others. TensorWave is now operating a dedicated training cluster of around 8,000 AMD Instinct MI325X GPUs and has already hit a $100 million revenue run rate. Darrick is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of building infrastructure companies. Before TensorWave, he co-founded VMAccel, sold Lets Rolo to LifeKey, and co-founded the crypto mining company VaultMiner. He began his career as a mechanical engineer and plasma physicist at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, where he worked on nuclear fusion energy. While he studied physics and mechanical engineering at Andrews University, he left early to pursue entrepreneurship and hasn't looked back since.In this conversation we discussed:Why Darrick chose AMD over Nvidia to build TensorWave's AI infrastructure, and how that decision created a competitive advantage in a GPU-constrained marketWhat makes training clusters more versatile than inference clusters, and why TensorWave focused on the former to meet broader customer needsHow Neocloud providers like TensorWave can move faster and innovate more effectively than legacy hyperscalers in deploying next-generation AI infrastructureWhy power, not GPUs, is becoming the biggest constraint in scaling AI workloads, and how data center architecture must evolve to address itWhy Darrick predicts AI architectures will continue to evolve beyond transformers, creating constant shifts in compute demandHow massive increases in model complexity are accelerating the need for green energy, tighter feedback loops, and seamless integration of compute into AI workflowsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Darrick on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How the new definition of work

Jeetu Patel is President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco. He previously served there as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration.He joined Cisco in 2020 after serving as Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Box, where he played a key role in expanding the company into a multi-product platform used by more than 100,000 customers. He currently sits on the board of real estate services company JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) and holds a B.S. in Information Decision Sciences from the University of Illinois.In this conversation, we discuss:How Cisco is becoming an AI-first company and why fully embracing AI is now a requirement, not a choiceHow AI will reshape every job, and which human skills will matter most in the decade aheadThe real constraints slowing enterprise AI adoption: power, trust, and dataThe infrastructure, security, and data gaps limiting AI's potential, and how Cisco is closing themWhy skill gaps are growing, and what workers can do to stay relevant as AI changes the workplaceHow Cisco approaches new markets, strategic focus, and building products people love at global scaleResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Jeetu on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI helps serve 70 million meals every dayPast guests mentioned on this show:Box´s CTO Ben Kus on Responsible AI Use, Innovation Culture, and Future AI TrendsBox's Global CIO Ravi Malick on Why Every Problem Doesn't Need an AppCisco´s Former CEO on the Future of AI-Driven Work and Investing in PeopleReign

In this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin examines one of the most urgent questions in technology today: how artificial intelligence is reshaping the law.Who owns AI created work? Who is accountable when automated decisions cause harm? And how should legal professionals prepare for a world where AI influences every part of the practice?This compilation episode revisits insights from five leaders who are redefining how the legal system approaches ownership, risk, compliance, and the future of legal work.Featuring GuestsRobert Plotkin,Co-founder, Blueshift IP - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13061560 Jim McKenna, CIO, Fenwick & West - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13373166 Scott Stevenson, Co-founder & CEO, Spellbook - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17211693 Rafie Faruq, Founder & CEO, Genie AI - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16949168 Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15250057 

Faraj Aalaei is the Founder and CEO of Cognichip, an AI company building the world's first Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI) platform to design semiconductors using AI. He brings four decades of experience in communications and networking, having led two companies (Centillium and Aquantia)through IPOs. Aquantia was later acquired by Marvell, where he also held an executive role. Prior to that, Faraj was Co-Founder and CEO of Centillium, which went public on NASDAQ just three years after its founding, the fastest IPO ever for a semiconductor company. He holds an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he also earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, along with an MSEE from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.In this conversation we discussed:Why chip development cycles are trailing AI applications by years and how that disconnect leads to inefficient infrastructure and higher energy costsHow AI could help democratize chip design by enabling smaller teams outside traditional hubs to build customized, application-specific hardwareWhat Faraj sees as the real barrier to innovation: the time and cost of chip development, and how Cognichip is reducing both through compute-led designHow AI can augment, not replace, engineers by offering transparent, explainable design suggestions while keeping humans in the loopThe coming talent shortage in semiconductor engineering and how AI might close the skills gap and unlock new opportunities for nontraditional buildersWhy every major technological shift creates more opportunity than it destroys, and how Faraj sees AI enabling people to work on more meaningful problemsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Faraj on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How To Drive Compelling Narratives in Youtube Videos.

Grant Lee is the CEO and co-founder of Gamma, the company reimagining presentations by building what some call the “anti-PowerPoint.” Since launching in 2022, Gamma has grown to 50 million users and reached $50M in annual recurring revenue. These milestones were achieved with just $12M in venture capital and a 30-person team. Before founding Gamma in 2020, Grant led finance at Optimizely, where he developed a passion for A/B testing. He began his career in investment banking and holds a BS in Biomechanical Engineering and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.In this conversation, we discuss:How Gamma went from an idea to one of the fastest-growing presentation tools in the world with $50M ARR and a 30-person teamWhy Grant and his co-founders set out to reinvent slides from scratch instead of improving on PowerPointLessons from Optimizely that shaped Gamma's culture of experimentation and rapid iterationHow Grant thinks about product-market fit and why every feature must solve real user pain instead of mimicking the competitionHow AI serves as a design partner, not a replacement for human creativity, and why “human in the loop” is central to Gamma's philosophyThe importance of building user trust in generative AI through transparency, feedback loops, and community programs like the “Gambassador” initiativeHow resilience, early failures, and conviction helped Gamma survive investor rejection and a near-collapse during the SVB crisisResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Grant on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How To Revolutionize Finance and Financial Decision Making using AI.