Podcasts about Personalization

Anika sat down with George Khachatryan to explore the evolving landscape of AI-driven marketing, personalization, and the massive trust gap currently sitting between brands and consumers. The conversation revealed a counterintuitive truth: while 93% of marketing leaders believe AI helps them understand their customers, only 53% of consumers agree. George's unique journey—from earning a PhD in mathematics at Cornell and building an early ed-tech AI company to founding OfferFit and navigating its $325M acquisition by Braze—offered a practical look at how reinforcement learning and predictive data science are permanently replacing the manual grind of traditional A/B testing. In This Episode How a background in mathematics and early intelligent tutoring systems laid the groundwork for complex AI architectures. Stepping away from specialized tech to learn foundational company building through management consulting and operational transformations. Moving beyond rigid "Next Best Action" rules to autonomous reinforcement learning agents that experiment at the individual customer level. The strategic decision behind merging OfferFit with Braze in a $325M deal and why deep data science and engineering alignment matters. Why hidden bots, lack of transparency, and mismatched brand expectations are eroding consumer confidence. Blending predictive machine learning models (for timing and offers) with LLM agentic copy generation for maximum impact. Why students and early-career marketers must embrace AI literacy to stay competitive in a rapidly shifting job market. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction: The math, the $325M exit, and the AI trust gap 02:00 From Cornell mathematics and early ed-tech to management consulting 04:18 The limitations of traditional "Next Best Action" and the birth of reinforcement learning 09:22 Real-world personalization: How brands like Yum Brands optimize customer engagement 12:39 The acquisition journey: Why OfferFit chose to integrate with Braze 16:53 The 93% vs. 53% problem: Why consumers feel misunderstood by brands 20:41 Hybrid AI systems: Stitching together LLM copywriting and statistical decisioning 23:33 The personal cost of a "Sydney is just a bot" moment: The importance of transparency 28:32 The reality of enterprise caution vs. consumer expectations 29:56 Agentic commerce and the future of bot-to-bot interactions 34:39 Managing negotiation bots and complex consumer retention scenarios 37:25 Generational divides: Gen Z's dual relationship with AI adoption and career anxiety 40:59 Lessons for founders: Aligning philosophical visions before a merger 43:35 Final thoughts: Embracing the historic and fascinating shift in marketing technology Key Insights & Takeaways Insight 1: Personalization Requires True One-to-One Experimentation Traditional marketing relies on segmenting audiences and applying rigid, rule-based logic. True optimization requires reinforcement learning agents that operate at the individual customer level, autonomously testing variables like messaging, timing, and offers to discover what drives incremental engagement. Insight 2: The Danger of Hidden Bots and Broken Trust Consumers do not mind interacting with AI or automated tools, but they expect transparency. When a brand masks an AI agent as a human—and fails to take responsibility for its actions—it creates a deep sense of betrayal that permanently damages customer loyalty. Insight 3: The Power of Hybrid AI Infrastructure The most effective marketing systems do not rely on a single flavor of AI. Combining statistical reinforcement learning (to determine when and what to communicate) with LLM agentic text generation (to personalize how it is phrased) yields performance lifts of over 100%. Insight 4: Shared Vision is the Anchor of Any Successful Acquisition For founders navigating a potential exit, technical integration is only half the battle. Long-term success relies on frank, open discussions about philosophical alignment, shared visions, and mutual risk mitigation before signing a deal. Insight 5: Enterprise Caution vs. Consumer Speed While marketers are often bogged down by internal alignment and slow decision-making processes, consumers are interacting with cutting-edge AI tools daily. Brands that fail to bridge this expectation gap risk becoming obsolete. Resources & Links Mentioned Braze 2026 Global Customer Engagement Review OfferFit Yum Brands & Home Security (Client case studies discussed in the episode) About George Khachatryan George Khachatryan is a mathematician, entrepreneur, and executive leader serving as the Head of OfferFit by Braze. Holding a PhD in mathematics from Cornell University, George previously co-founded the ed-tech pioneer Reasoning Mind and worked as an associate partner at McKinsey. He co-founded OfferFit, an AI decisioning engine that utilizes reinforcement learning to automate marketing experimentation, culminating in its acquisition by Braze in 2025 for $325 million. Connect with George LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-khachatryan/ Website: https://www.braze.com/ Like the show? Leave us a rating or review: https://lovethepodcast.com/67940257010b317cdaa9d857Follow the Show: https://followthepodcast.com/67940257010b317cdaa9d857Send a Message: https://podcastfeedback.com/67940257010b317cdaa9d857Check out our Website: https://www.yourbrandamplified.comSpeak to my Delphi Clone: https://www.delphi.ai/amplifywithanika Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 310 opens with Steve Dennis reporting back from an invitation-only Amazon analyst day in Seattle, two days focused on Prime and grocery. Steve unpacks the breadth of the Prime flywheel, Amazon's push into sub-one-day delivery, the drone facility he toured just before the company announced an expansion to roughly 500 markets, and why Amazon's rise to the number two grocer in North America should have rivals looking over their shoulders. Then, the numbers. US retail sales grew about 5% excluding fuel. Walmart delivered a lackluster 2.6% US comp, its weakest in six years, offset by a 46% jump in global advertising and nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds the company says it will reinvest in price. Target posted a nearly 4% comp with traffic up 3.6%; real progress, though Steve cautions the invitation can be better than the party. In off-price, TJX comped 4% while Ross Stores turned in a second straight double-digit quarter. And Simon Property Group made the case that great physical retail is alive and well. The interview, recorded live at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York, features Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, and Indy Guha, General Partner at VMG Partners. Scott co-founded price optimization pioneer ProfitLogic before joining BCV twenty years ago; Indy co-leads VMG's commerce infrastructure fund after scaling Signifyd. Together they tackle a hard question: when AI makes everything easier to build, how do you tell a real company from a pitch formula? Their answer centers on founder clarity and earned domain expertise, because a couple of quarters' head start has never mattered more. The conversation ranges across whether personalization and merchandising optimization are now table stakes, the surveillance pricing debate, AI-driven homogeneity versus the promise of the "N of one" customer journey, and Indy's memorable "Claude-proof" test for anyone building in commerce. Both push back on agentic commerce hype, arguing agents will own low-interest replenishment missions while people keep the treasure hunt. Scott points to the revenue ramp of AI-native companies as evidence this cycle is real, not overhyped. Both land in the same place: brand, community, and authenticity are the last durable moats, and retail teams must become architects rather than assembly-line workers. Back in studio, on the radar: Steve tracks the bond market, with 30-year Treasuries at a 19-year high and the 10-year at 4.75%, squeezing discretionary income and retailer expansion plans alike. Michael watches Canadian icon Roots, newly sold to New York's Marquee Brands with Joe Mimran advising on merchandising, and asks whether the brand can reclaim its former glory. Registration is open for a special webinar featuring Steve in conversation with Placer AI's Head of Analytical Research RJ Hottovy. From changing shopping patterns to emerging market opportunities, shifting consumer demand continues to reshape the industry. So don't miss this data-driven session unpacking the most important trends defining today's marketplace and the strategies leading brands are using to win retail's future. It's all brought to you by Placer.AI and It all happens on Tuesday September 29 at 1pm ET..Register here today:https://www.placer.ai/discover-events/discover-shifting-consumer-demand About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

What happens when a global call center veteran steps into the automotive industry and starts questioning the way dealerships have always done things?  In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams sit down with Lee Harris, current Internet Director at Minnesota Truck Headquarters, a BPO veteran turned automotive innovator who is bringing a completely different perspective to dealership customer engagement. "Your most valuable asset that you have in your dealership, it's not the cars on the floor, it's not the cars in the showroom, it's the people." – Lee Harris With years of experience leading high-volume customer service, operations, and technology organizations, Lee is taking lessons from outside automotive and applying them to one of the industry's biggest opportunities: how dealerships communicate with, follow up with, and ultimately serve today's customer. The conversation dives into the evolution of the traditional BDC, the growing role of AI and automation, the importance of stronger processes and training, and why technology should make dealership teams MORE effective without removing the human connection.  "AI doubles in capacity and capability every two weeks." – Lee Harris If you're a Dealer Principal, GM, BDC leader, sales manager, or automotive professional trying to prepare for where customer engagement is headed next, you're going to want to hear this conversation! Key Takeaways: ✅ Lee Harris highlights the value of integrating advanced AI tools and CRM customization to enhance client services' effectiveness within car dealerships. ✅ The automotive sector often lags in adopting modern technology, with Harris noting the industry's typical five to seven-year lag behind bleeding-edge solutions. ✅ Personalization and the human element remain crucial in customer interactions, even when leveraging high-end AI tools to streamline processes. ✅ Fostering a team environment where personnel investment in training and morale is prioritized can drive substantial success, as evidenced by record-breaking sales figures at MTH. ✅ Harris advises dealership leaders to rethink traditional managerial roles by emphasizing leadership qualities that inspire and genuinely connect with employees.   About Lee Harris Lee Harris is a seasoned professional with nearly three decades of experience in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. He began his career as an agent and ascended to senior executive roles at large organizations like Conduent, Xerox Services, and Sutherland Healthcare. Harris has been involved with operations in numerous countries, managing substantial revenues and diverse teams. Currently, he is the Director of Business Development at Minnesota Truck Headquarters (MTH) in St. Cloud, where his expertise in technology, customer experience, and process development is helping redefine automotive sales strategies.     AI Revolution in Automotive BDC: Transforming Client Services in Dealerships   Key Takeaways: Adapting New Technologies: CRM technologies are increasingly seen as outdated; AI tools are proving indispensable for operational efficiency in auto dealerships. Focus on Human Capital: Building a dedicated, well-trained team with a strong culture and synergy is vital for success. Engagement Optimization: Increasing customer engagement through technology, particularly AI, is paramount for maximizing showroom visits and sales success.   The Shift from Traditional BDC to AI Integration in Dealerships In the ever-evolving landscape of automotive sales, dealerships are faced with the need to innovate or risk being left behind. This conversation brings to light the transformational journey from traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven strategies. As Lee Harris from Minnesota Truck Headquarters shares, "AI doubles in capacity and capability every two weeks," underscoring the rapid advancement and adoption of technology that is necessary for modern dealerships to thrive. The podcast participants echo a pivotal revelation: the traditional CRM's limitations in dynamically adapting to ever-changing dealership needs. Sean V. Bradley emphasizes, "CRM is antiquated technology now," advocating for a shift towards tools like Podium's AI. This technology steps beyond static scripts, offering dynamic, personalized communication powered by an extensive knowledge base. This ability, Harris notes, allows dealerships to handle communications with precision, enhancing customer interaction and satisfaction. Through this integration, dealerships empower their sales teams to focus on high-impact interactions by letting AI handle routine, low-complexity tasks. Bradley states, "If we delegate all the tier one remedial activities to artificial intelligence, […] now my humans can focus on higher levels." This delegation not only optimizes human resource capabilities but also maximizes lead conversion, showcasing the multilateral benefits of AI over traditional CRM systems.   Emphasizing Human Capital and Leadership In the broader scheme of automotive business development, human capital remains the cornerstone of any successful dealership. Lee Harris passionately argues for investing in people, expressing, "Your people are the most precious thing that you have in your group, in your responsibility." This sentiment is a cornerstone for transformational leadership and modern business strategies within dealerships. The discussion probes into what sets excellent dealerships apart — their approach to nurturing and investing in a highly competent and motivated workforce. For Harris, leading a team goes beyond managing transactions; it's about cultivating a culture of excellence where team members understand their value and are equipped with the right tools and training. By stating, "Invest both professionally and personally into those individuals to be successful," Harris emphasizes the significance of a dedicated and well-supported team for achieving dealership objectives. Training and development play an integral role in this framework. Dealer Synergy's Bradley On Demand platform is applauded for its comprehensive training, ensuring that team members "don't even get to touch a phone until they are through the initial training," a practice that ingrains a regiment of quality assurance and preparedness foundational to operational success.   Revolutionizing Customer Engagement A recurring theme throughout the dialogue is the pivotal role of customer engagement strategies in dictating sales and dealership success. The integration of AI is poised to revolutionize how dealerships engage with prospective customers, significantly bridging gaps between inquiries and successful sales. Bradley notes the chronic issue of low engagement levels, stating that most dealership efforts result in "not talking to somebody." This reveals a critical area of opportunity — the need for effective engagement strategies. AI tools like Podium's Jerry 2.0 transform engagement dynamics by facilitating omnipresent communication, ensuring customer interactions are timely, relevant, and personalized. In integrating AI, dealerships can remarkably enhance appointment show rates, which Harris notes as being "73% appointment show ratio" — a staggering figure above industry averages. This indicates AI's profound impact on bridging communication gaps, ensuring prospects are guided efficiently through the sales funnel. The potential of AI in this capacity is magnified by its ability to analyze and learn from interactions, delivering nuanced conversations that are tailored to client needs and potentially increasing showroom traffic and sales. Harris concludes, adopting "convenience and a friction-free process" is essential for translating client inquiries into satisfied customers, highlighting AI's role in crafting seamless customer journeys. In the evolving landscape of automotive sales and services, the dealership's adaptability to AI-driven methodologies is not just a competitive advantage; it is becoming a standard of future-forward operations. The rich discussions from industry leaders cast a spotlight on the profound changes AI brings, demonstrating a roadmap for others to follow, where smart technology and human empathy work in tandem toward exceptional dealership success.     Resources + Our Proud Sponsors: ➼ Podium: The AI Platform Powering the Modern Dealership. From instant lead response to seamless test drive scheduling, Podium's AI Employee Jerry works 24/7 to turn every lead into a conversion, so your team can focus on closing. Trusted by thousands of dealerships nationwide and proudly featured on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Learn how Podium can help you sell more cars, book more service appointments, and grow your dealership. Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Automotive Sales Mastermind Facebook Group with over 29,000 automotive professionals worldwide. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group is the go-to community for car salespeople, BDC agents, sales managers, general managers, and dealer principals looking to increase performance, income, and leadership skills. Inside the group, members collaborate daily on automotive sales strategies, lead handling, phone scripts, closing techniques, CRM best practices, dealership leadership, and accountability systems. Learn directly from top automotive trainers, industry mentors, and high-performing sales leaders who are actively winning in today's market. If you're serious about growing your automotive career, increasing car sales, and building long-term success, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today!   ➼ Dealer Synergy: Dealer Synergy is the automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm, with over 20 years of proven dealership success nationwide. We specialize in helping car dealerships increase sales, improve processes, and build high-performing Sales, Internet, and BDC departments from the ground up. Our expertise includes automotive phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, lead handling strategies, BDC workflows, Internet sales processes, management training, and accountability systems. Dealer Synergy partners directly with dealership leadership to align people, process, and technology, ensuring consistent results and scalable growth. From independent dealers to large dealer groups and OEM partnerships, Dealer Synergy delivers measurable performance improvements, stronger teams, and sustainable profitability.   ➼ Bradley On Demand: Bradley On Demand is the automotive industry's most advanced interactive training, tracking, testing, and certification platform for car dealerships — built to develop top-performing teams across Sales, Internet Sales, BDC, CRM, Phone Skills, Leadership, and Management. In addition to LIVE virtual automotive training classes and a library of 9,000+ on-demand dealership training modules, Bradley On Demand now includes AI Phone Roleplaying and Coaching to help salespeople and BDC agents practice real dealership conversations before they ever get on the phone with customers. This AI-powered roleplay technology strengthens phone scripts, objection handling, appointment setting, lead follow-up, and closing skills, while providing measurable coaching feedback for continuous improvement. Bradley On Demand empowers dealerships to train faster, coach smarter, improve call performance, increase closing ratios, and sell more cars more profitably — all through structured, trackable, modern automotive training.

How Neera's Vibroacoustic Bed Helps You Fall Asleep Faster"If you sleep this way, you wouldn't want to sleep another way.”When Igor said this, I had to go and try out the Neera bed myself, and afterward I interviewed Igor about the innovative science and technology behind Neera. It is a device designed to improve sleep through vibrational frequencies and personalized algorithms. In our conversation we explore how this technology can transform sleep quality and overall well-being.Topics:* Science of vibrational frequencies and sleep* Personalized algorithms for sleep optimization* Acoustic and mechanical engineering in sleep devices* The role of frequencies in regulating nervous system and chakras* User experience and self-reporting in sleep tech* Future developments in vibrational sleep technologyTimestamps:* 0:33 Who Igor is and what Neera does* 1:19 Why he built it: devices measure, apparatuses act* 2:57 Why sleep is the highest-leverage longevity target* 4:05 “See how it feels” and the phrase that sold it* 5:30 Where standard sleep advice runs out* 6:32 The mechanism: frequencies through touch, not ears* 9:48 Do solfeggio frequencies and brainwaves connect?* 11:24 Making 2 Hz on a mattress without a giant speaker* 12:38 Composing a state, and AI programs on request* 15:02 Personalization: wearables, self-reporting, onboard sensors* 17:23 Nina's session, and the cat purr program* 20:12 Chakra frequencies and the 96% blind test* 21:54 Inside the mattress: actuators and waveguides* 24:57 Validating with EEG and the cost of clean sleep research* 27:05 Day programs vs night programs* 28:43 Who it works best for: athletes, NSDR, day reboots* 29:58 Sleep inertia and the 3am wake-up* 32:53 Catching micro-wakeups and returning you to sleep* 35:06 The first week, and napping vs the 20-minute program* 39:12 Hardest part: hardware or software?* 41:15 The one non-responder* 42:09 Launch & Founders ClubABOUT IGOR:Igor is the co-founder of Neera. They are building nervous system regulation hardware for high performers. Over 15+ years in deep tech, he was design director on YotaPhone, the first dual-screen smartphone, and co-founded Gero (disease prediction from wearable movement data) and Atmotube (air quality sensing, 70,000+ units shipped, used in research at Stanford and Harvard).CONNECT WITH NEERA:* Website: https://neeralab.com/* Neera LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neerasleep/* Igor's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorme/ABOUT NINA'S NOTES: Nina's Notes explores the intersection of longevity science, neuroscience, and human optimization. Hosted by Nina Patrick, PhD in pharmaceutical sciences and longevity researcher, each episode translates cutting-edge research into actionable insights for living longer, better.CONNECT WITH NINA'S NOTES* Newsletter:https://www.ninasnotes.xyz* LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninapatrick/* Website:https://www.ninapatrick.xyz Get full access to Nina's Notes at www.ninasnotes.xyz/subscribe

The following article of the Entrepreneurs industry is: “B2B Prospecting 2026: AI, Intent Data, and Hyper-Personalization” by Cristian Martinez Roldan, Country Manager, Open English Business. (AA1583)

As lifestyles evolve, so does home design. Homeowners want flexible spaces, more privacy, stronger connections to the outdoors and finishes that reflect their personal style. The result is a shift toward homes that aren’t just attractive but also work for the way people actually live.  Kelley Collins, design studio manager with Ashton Woods, recently joined Carol Morgan on Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio to discuss how thoughtful design can balance function, personality and timeless style — and why the best homes don’t necessarily follow the latest trend.  Home Design Starts With How People Live  “We always joke that your lighting is like jewelry for your favorite outfit,” Collins said.  Lighting can transform a room, highlight architectural features and draw attention to artwork or other focal points. But good design goes beyond what catches the eye. It starts with understanding how people will use a space.  That has become particularly important as more people work, study, exercise and spend time at home. Rooms that once served a single purpose now may need to accommodate a home office, classroom, playroom, workout area or guest space.  Flex Rooms Give Homeowners More Options  Flex rooms offer a clear example of home design adapting to changing needs. A home office today could become a study space for a child tomorrow. A playroom could eventually become a hobby room, exercise area or guest room. Adaptability matters even more for multigenerational households. Rising living costs have contributed to more families living with parents or in-laws, making privacy and separation increasingly important. Doors, finished basements and multipurpose rooms can help families accommodate more people without making everyone feel like they’re living on top of each other.  For homebuyers, it’s worth looking beyond how a floor plan works today. Consider how a room could serve the household five or 10 years from now.  Open Floor Plans Meet the Need for Privacy  Open-concept living remains popular, but the way people use their homes has prompted a closer look at privacy. An open kitchen, dining and living area can make entertaining easier and create a strong sense of connection. But when several people work, study or relax at the same time, too much openness can become a challenge. Interior doors, pocket doors and strategically placed private rooms can provide some separation without giving up the benefits of an open layout.  Rather than choosing between open and closed floor plans, homeowners increasingly want a balance between shared spaces and places to retreat.  Personalization Should Go Beyond Trends  Personalization plays an important role in the design process, but it looks different for every homeowner. Some buyers want to customize nearly every selection. Others prefer a more restrained palette and use one or two features, such as a distinctive backsplash or lighting fixture, to make the home feel like their own.  The goal is to create a cohesive design that reflects the homeowner without relying too heavily on a short-lived trend.  “If they do have that bold design or that style that they want to incorporate, they really do it with intention,” Collins said.  That doesn’t mean homeowners need to avoid bold choices. Instead, they should consider how those choices fit into the rest of the home and whether they’ll still feel right years from now.  Timeless Design Can Still Evolve  Home design trends constantly change. Cabinet colors have moved from dark finishes to gray and white and are now shifting toward warmer tones. Light and medium wood tones and off-white finishes are gaining popularity as gray and stark white interiors become less dominant.  Trend cycles make timeless design valuable. Buyers want their homes to feel current, but they also want to feel comfortable with their choices years after construction ends. A neutral foundation provides flexibility, while lighting, furnishings, artwork and hardware can add personality and allow homeowners to update their spaces over time.  Design for Durability and Everyday Life  A beautiful home also needs to hold up to everyday life. Flooring and countertops offer good examples. Natural hardwood remains popular, while engineered luxury vinyl flooring attracts buyers who value durability. Quartz continues to appeal to homeowners who appreciate its consistency and low maintenance, even as designers continue to value the character of natural stone. Aesthetics are only part of the decision. Families with children, pets or frequent guests may prioritize different materials than homeowners looking for a low-maintenance second home or an entertainment-focused space.  The Kitchen Remains the Heart of the Home  For all the changes in home design, some priorities remain remarkably consistent.  In the kitchen, an island can provide food preparation space, seating, a gathering point for family and friends and a place for homework or casual conversation. Other features, such as spa-inspired showers, reflect the same desire to make everyday spaces more enjoyable. Ultimately, good design isn’t just about making a room look good. It should make the room work better, too.  Trust the Design Process  For buyers building a new home, the number of decisions can quickly become overwhelming. Flooring, cabinets, countertops, tile, lighting and fixtures all contribute to the final result. A design professional can help homeowners understand how individual selections work together and where to focus their investment. Instead of making every decision at once, buyers can work through selections step by step and build a cohesive design.  The Future of Home Design Will Follow Lifestyle  No one can predict exactly which colors, materials or architectural features will dominate home design five or 10 years from now. Trends will continue to change. What we can predict is that homes will continue to adapt to the people who live in them. Flexible rooms can accommodate changing needs. Private spaces can balance open gathering areas. Outdoor living can extend a home’s usable space. Personalization can make a house feel distinctly like its owners. The most enduring design principle may be the simplest: Start with how people live and design from there. The goal is to create a home that represents the homeowner so well that “10 years down the road they still love their home.” That may ultimately separate a home that simply follows a trend from one that continues to feel right long after the trend has passed.  To learn more about home design trends and how lifestyles influence the way homes are built, listen to the full episode of Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. For more information about Ashton Woods, visit https://www.ashtonwoods.com/.  About Ashton Woods  Ashton Woods is one of the nation's largest private home builders, creating thoughtfully designed homes and communities across the United States. With a focus on design, quality and personalization, the company builds homes that reflect how people live today while providing opportunities for homeowners to make their spaces their own.  Podcast Thanks       Thank you to Denim Marketing for sponsoring Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Known as a trendsetter, Denim Marketing has been blogging since 2006 and podcasting since 2011. Contact them when you need quality, original content for social media, public relations, blogging, email marketing and promotions. A comfortable fit for companies of all shapes and sizes, Denim Marketing understands marketing strategies are not one-size-fits-all. The agency works with your company to create a perfectly tailored marketing strategy that will suit your needs and niche. Try Denim Marketing on for size by calling 770-383-3360 or by visiting www.DenimMarketing.com.        About Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio       Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio, presented by Denim Marketing, highlights the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry – the home builders, developers, Realtors and suppliers working to provide the American dream for Atlantans. For more information on how you can be featured as a guest, contact Denim Marketing at 770-383-3360 or fill out the Atlanta Real Estate Forum contact form. Subscribe to the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast on iTunes, and if you like this week's show, be sure to rate it. Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio was recently honored on FeedSpot's Top 100 Atlanta Podcasts, ranking 16th overall and number one out of all ranked real estate podcasts. The post Ashton Woods: Where Design Meets Real Life appeared first on Atlanta Real Estate Forum.

What separates organizations experimenting with AI from those successfully turning it into real business value? In this episode, Life Accelerated host, Olivier Lafontaine, speaks with Robi Krempus, Vice President and Head of AI for Global Wealth and Asset Management at Manulife Wealth and Asset Management, about how the organization is moving AI beyond prototypes and into production. Robi shares Manulife WAM's approach to applying AI across investment management, distribution, and operations, emphasizing the importance of business collaboration, governance, and designing solutions around real organizational needs. The conversation explores lessons from deploying AI-powered sales enablement tools, driving adoption, and measuring impact through data-driven outcomes. Robi highlights why organizations should focus on high-value use cases, balance complexity with business impact, and build the right foundations to scale AI responsibly across the enterprise. Key Takeaways: AI creates the most value when organizations move beyond experimentation and build solutions around real business needs through close collaboration with users. Successful AI adoption requires strong governance, clear business cases, and a path to production that turns prototypes into measurable outcomes. Scaling AI responsibly means prioritizing high-value, lower-complexity use cases first while building the foundations needed for long-term transformation.   Jump Into the Conversation: (00:00) Meet Robi Krempus (03:48) Leading AI for Manulife Wealth and Asset Management(05:20) Applying AI Across Investment, Distribution, and Operations(06:31) Why Data and Measurement Matter for AI Success(07:50) Moving Generative AI From Experimentation to Production(09:20) Building AI Governance and Organizational Readiness(12:59) Creating AI-Powered Sales Enablement Tools(15:16) Building Custom AI Solutions for Business Needs(16:33) Cross-Functional Teams Driving AI Implementation(17:51) Encouraging AI Adoption Across Sales Organizations(21:28) Personalization and Compliance in AI-Generated Content(23:08) Measuring AI Value Through Business Outcomes(24:38) Lessons Learned From Scaling AI Solutions(27:11) Choosing the Right AI Use Cases(29:23) The Future of AI in Wealth and Asset Management(33:11) Closing Thoughts on Enterprise AI Transformation   Resources: Connect with Robi Krempus: https://www.manulife.com/ca/en/personal/group-plans/resources/bio/robi-krempus Connect with Robi Krempus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robi-krempus-ba121135/  Learn more about Manulife Wealth & Asset Management: Manulife Wealth and Asset Management  Connect with Olivier Lafontaine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivierlafontaine/

AI isn't just transforming the way we work, but also the way we write the software that people use for work. In this episode, we talk to two engineering productivity leads at Dropbox: Uma Namasivayam, senior director of software engineering productivity, and Anuradha Agarwal, director of software engineering. Whether it's writing tests, fixing bugs, tackling tech debt, or accelerating migrations, they explain how Dropbox engineers are using agentic AI—including in-house tools like Nova—to build the future of Dropbox, and create more space to do impactful work. ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck.  Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

Episode 157: This week, Kyle Van Pelt talks with Libby Buckley, Director of Wealth Administration & Marketing at Parable Wealth Partners. Libby leads the firm's client experience and team culture, bridges connections between clients, partner businesses, and non-profits, and creates experiences that help people rethink their wealth's potential to create change.  Libby talks with Kyle about how radical hospitality translates into the wealth management space. She discusses how firms can preserve high-touch, authentic human relationships as AI adoption accelerates, how to design thoughtful and memorable client experiences, and how organizations can scale without losing sight of their core purpose.  In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:57) - Libby's money moment (05:32) - Libby's definition of radical hospitality in wealth management (08:05) - Client events that create meaningful connections  (09:56) - Why AI makes authenticity even more valuable (11:52) - Practical advice for building soft skills and radical hospitality habits  (16:12) - How culture drives Parable's organic growth  (18:31) - Scaling without losing authenticity  (21:08) - Libby's outlook on the future of the financial services industry (24:08) - Libby's Milemarker Minute Key Takeaways Use efficiency to create better relationships. AI can save time, but its greatest value is giving leaders more opportunities to invest in conversations, trust, and meaningful client experiences. People remember how you made them feel. Exceptional service solves problems, but genuine hospitality creates lasting relationships by helping people feel seen, understood, and valued. Culture is something you protect. As organizations scale, intentional hiring, regular team development, and shared purpose become essential for maintaining the culture that fuels long-term success. Personalization goes beyond using someone's name. Understanding people's preferences, interests, and communication styles creates experiences that feel thoughtful instead of transactional. Quotes "We think of money as the invitation, not the destination. So, wealth is not something to accumulate, but something to activate." ~ Libby Buckley "If you don't know who you are, who you want to serve, and how you're going to do that uniquely, quit. Authenticity is going to matter so much more moving forward." ~ Libby Buckley "How do you show up, and how do you want to show up for clients and your team, I think is going to be one of the biggest contenders moving forward." ~ Libby Buckley Links  Libby Buckley on LinkedIn Parable Wealth Partners Unreasonable Hospitality Paterson Center The Ideal Team Player The Art of Gathering Chief Joy Officer Connect with our hosts Milemarker.co Kyle on LinkedIn Jud on LinkedIn Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Produce game-changing content with Turncast Turncast helps your company grow by producing top-quality content and fostering transformative conversations. We specialize in content generation, podcasting, digital strategy, and audience growth for fintech and financial services companies. Learn more at Turncast.com.

Vanitha is a marketing professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Director of their Center for Branding, and author of Hyper Digital Marketing: Six Pillars of Strategic Brand Marketing in an AI-Powered World. Her client roster includes Hershey, Kraft Heinz, and P&G — brands that don't tolerate bad advice.In this episode, she explains why the old "command and control" era of brand management is over, what generative engine optimization (GEO) means for your go-to-market strategy right now, and why the most strategic thing you can do for your brand today might be making your purpose machine-readable. If you're still building a brand for humans only, you're already behind.Key Takeaways4:41 — The death of command and control branding. Brand meaning is no longer dictated from the top down. It's co-created by influencers, social users, experts — and now AI agents. Governance has to evolve.6:10 — GEO & AEO replace SEO. Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization are the new disciplines. Brand managers must now optimize for AI agents, not just human search.6:52 — Agent-to-agent commerce is coming. A customer's AI agent will negotiate with a seller's AI agent. The "double agent problem" is not hypothetical — it's the near future of B2C and B2B commerce.8:46 — Phygital is a strategic imperative. Physical and digital experiences are merging. AI-powered dynamic shelves, Gucci's tech-integrated showrooms, and real-time personalization are the new baseline customer expectation.10:07 — AI as a brand governance layer. AI can monitor every touchpoint and enforce brand compliance at scale — something no human team can do. It can also catch PR crises before they escalate.13:55 — Brand intelligence: three AI capabilities every founder needs. Predictive analytics (lead generation), generative AI (content at scale), and ethical AI (aligning purpose with every touchpoint) — each with a different role in the customer journey.16:05 — The uncanny valley of personalization. Empathetic AI can read emotional state and adjust messaging — but cross the line and customers feel surveilled. Personalization has to be "just right" or it backfires.19:20 — Startups have a structural advantage over legacy brands. Legacy companies are paralyzed by hierarchies and permission layers. Founders building from scratch can design AI-native workflows from day one.21:37 — Future-proof move: invest in data quality now. A unified, 360-degree view of customer data is the foundation for every AI capability. Without it, your AI tools have nothing to work with.22:47 — Purpose + Platform: the two most critical pillars. Purpose must become machine-readable. Platform thinking turns a product into an ecosystem. These two shifts separate brands that AI agents surface from those they ignore.26:44 — Brand as API. Codify your values into machine-readable rules. Program your AI agents to optimize for what you actually stand for — or they'll optimize for something else entirely.29:54 — Start from the experience, not the tools. The biggest mistake founders make: buying AI tools and hoping they add up to something. Work backwards from the customer's pain point, then slot in the right AI capability.37:39 — Highest-leverage AI moves in the next 60–90 days. Lead generation, predictive analytics for lifetime value modeling, and personalized content at scale — these are the three areas most founders are underleveraging right now.Tweetable Quotes"Brand meaning is no longer dictated from the top down. It's assembled by algorithms, co-created by communities, and negotiated between machines before a human is ever involved." — Dr. Vanitha Swaminathan"Your next customer's AI is already looking. The question is whether it can find you." — Jeff Mains"Taking your brand purpose and converting it into machine-readable code — that's what it means to be visible in an AI-powered world." — Dr. Vanitha Swaminathan"Peloton could have just sold treadmills. Every brand needs to ask: are we a product, or are we a platform?" — Dr. Vanitha Swaminathan"The small entrepreneur has a huge advantage. They're building systems from scratch — legacy organizations are caught with hierarchies that AI can't penetrate." — Dr. Vanitha Swaminathan"Purpose isn't a brand value anymore. It's infrastructure." — Jeff Mains"Start from the experience, work back to the tools — not the other way around." — Dr. Vanitha Swaminathan"You have to put checks and balances in place just like companies built privacy policies after the first cybersecurity wave. That's where brand management is headed." — Dr. Vanitha SwaminathanSaaS Leadership Lessons1. Your brand needs to be legible to machines, not just humans. AI agents are the new gatekeepers between your product and your buyers. If your differentiation, purpose, and proof points aren't structured in a way machines can parse, you won't make the shortlist — even if you're the best solution. Audit your website and content through the lens of an AI agent, not just a human reader.2. Stop buying tools. Start redesigning processes. Most companies pour money into AI tools that live in isolation and never add up to a better customer experience. The highest-ROI move is mapping your customer journey, identifying the friction points, and then selecting AI capabilities to solve specific problems. Tools follow process — not the other way around.3. Your data is your competitive moat. AI is only as good as what you feed it. Founders who invest early in unified, high-quality customer data — breaking down internal silos and creating a 360-degree view — will compound that advantage over time. Your competitors buying tools without clean data are spinning their wheels.4. Codify your values or your AI will invent them. If you don't tell your AI agents what to optimize for, they'll optimize for something — and it might not align with your brand. Translate your purpose, values, and brand standards into machine-readable rules. Think of your brand as an API: clear inputs, predictable outputs, consistent behavior at every touchpoint.5. The human-AI mix is your new product design challenge. The question isn't whether to use AI in customer-facing functions — it's where the handoff happens. Too much AI and you feel sterile. Too little and you can't scale. The founders who win will design deliberate human-in-the-loop moments that create trust and preserve the brand experience where it matters most.6. Think platform, not product. Every SaaS company is already closer to a platform than a product — you have data, users, and network effects working for you. Lean into it. Build the ecosystem around your core offering. Nike isn't a shoe company; Peloton isn't a treadmill company. Ask what yours is really for, and build accordingly.Guest Resourcesvanitha@katz.pitt.eduhttps://business.pitt.edu/professors/vanitha-swaminathan/https://www.facebook.com/PittBusinessSchool/photos/vanitha-swaminathan-thomas-marshall-professor-of-marketing-and-director-of-the-c/10158297436008280/https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanitha-swaminathan-5924896https://www.instagram.com/vanitha_swaminathanEpisode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/https://jeffmains.com/books/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

How much of your business was designed by you, and how much of it came from watching what worked for somebody else? In this episode, I'm getting into the concept I've been circling all year, which is personalizing your business model before you buy another strategy.  Nearly every "proven system" on the market is somebody's personality and strengths turned into a process, and when you buy the process without checking whether the person behind it resembles you at all, you end up running your business on willpower. I'm walking through why two completely opposite launches both worked this year, where the income roller coaster comes from, and the three functions of your business that can be personalized to how you're wired. I'm also sharing the two questions I run every new strategy through before I spend money on it, including the four-hour webinar I sat through for a program I decided not to buy. If something in your business has felt off lately and you haven't been able to name what it is, this conversation will give you language for it and a way to decide what stays, what goes, and what you never should have bought in the first place. Timeline Highlights [01:19] – Coming back from the summer interview series and why I pulled myself off the content cycle for six weeks [03:20] – The concept I've been diving into all year, and the offer I built that made money without fitting me at all [05:32] – Two launches at opposite ends of the price spectrum, and what they prove about what's working right now [09:02] – Why the thing that's working isn't a specific model, and what it is [13:03] – The four-hour webinar I watched for a program I decided not to buy, and the discernment behind that call [19:01] – Every proven system is somebody's personality and strengths turned into a process [20:26] – Why the coach teaching daily video and the mentor who refuses sales calls are both teaching themselves [23:57] – Where the income roller coaster comes from, and why willpower is the mechanism [27:15] – The three core functions of your business that can all be personalized to you [38:22] – The two questions to run before you buy another strategy, course, or coaching program [45:49] – The free personalization panel on August 12 with Megan Yelaney, Heather Sager, and Linda Sidhu Top Quotes from the Episode "Every proven system you can buy is somebody's personality and strengths turned into a process. The real question is whether that process fits how you're built." "If you try to run a system that doesn't match you, it runs on willpower, and willpower always runs out before the revenue does." "Those income swings are a design problem, and no amount of discipline is going to fix a model that was built for somebody else." "Almost any business model you've ever heard of is working for somebody right now. What's left to figure out is which one is working for you." "The strategy has to fit your average day. Your best day is not the one you'll be living most of the time." "I had close to a 40K month in July while barely showing up online, because the business runs on assets that compound instead of a schedule that demands I perform." "Simplicity is what scales. Complexity is usually the thing draining your revenue while you're busy adding more to fix it." Links & Resources Take the "What's Your CEO Type?" Quiz Free personalization panel, August 12 at 12:30 PM ET, with Megan Yelaney, Heather Sager, and Linda Sidhu: https://go.lauraschoenfeld.com/personalization  If this episode resonated with you, follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who's ready to build a business that actually fits their life.

Send us Fan MailJohn Owen, CEO of Blaze Pizza, joins Zack Oates to discuss how restaurants can create memorable guest experiences through personalization, consistency, and strong execution. With more than three decades of leadership experience across brands like McDonald's, Subway, and Scooter's Coffee, John shares why understanding the difference between customization and personalization is critical for today's restaurants.Zack and John discuss:Why personalization matters more than ever in hospitality The difference between customizing a product and personalizing an experience How brands should approach innovation and market disruption Why customer feedback must guide restaurant decisions Building consistency across hundreds of locations What restaurants can learn from Chick-fil-A's guest experience strategyThanks, John!Links:https://www.instagram.com/blazepizza/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-73422325/https://www.linkedin.com/company/blazepizza/https://www.blazepizza.com/

In this conversation, Dr. Gladden and Annelie Smith explore the intersection of genetics and nutrition, emphasizing the importance of personalized approaches to health. They discuss the evolution of nutrigenomics, the role of AI in developing tailored health plans, and the complexities of hormonal balance as influenced by genetics. Annelie shares insights from her clinical experience, highlighting the need for a systems biology approach to understand the intricate relationships between genes, hormones, and overall health. The discussion also touches on future directions in genetic testing and the potential for more accessible and actionable insights for individuals. In this conversation, Dr. Gladden and Annelie Smith delve into the complexities of hormone replacement therapy, emphasizing the importance of understanding hormonal pathways and the role of genetics. They discuss how stress impacts hormonal balance and the significance of reprogramming the nervous system for better health outcomes. The conversation also highlights the relevance of nutrigenomics in personalized nutrition and the powerful benefits of sulforaphane. Finally, they explore the value of genetic testing for optimizing health and wellness.   For Audience Join the other 20,000+ high-performers getting weekly insights on biological reversal, exponential strategies, and Life Energy optimization→ https://start.gladdenlongevity.com/subscribe If you're ready to measure your 60+ biological ages and build a personalized reversal plan, apply for a discovery call here → https://start.gladdenlongevity.com/apply-now   Use code 'Podcast10' to get 10% OFF on any of our supplements at https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/!    Takeaways ·       Nutrigenomics provides insights into personalized nutrition. ·       Understanding genetics can enhance dietary recommendations. ·       AI is transforming the landscape of personalized medicine. ·       Systems biology offers a holistic view of health. ·       Patient engagement is key to successful health interventions. ·       Genetic testing can reveal vulnerabilities in health. ·       Hormonal balance is influenced by genetic factors. ·       Personalized health plans can improve patient outcomes. ·       The future of genetics holds promise for broader applications. ·       Access to genetic information can empower individuals. Hormone replacement therapy is complex and requires a systems approach. ·       Understanding genetic pathways is crucial for effective hormone management. ·       Stress significantly impacts hormonal balance and overall health. ·       Reprogramming the nervous system can alleviate stress and improve health. ·       Nutrigenomics plays a vital role in personalized nutrition. ·       Sulforaphane is a powerful compound with numerous health benefits. ·       Diet should be tailored to the individual, not a one-size-fits-all approach. ·       Genetic testing provides valuable insights for health optimization. ·       Managing stress involves rebuilding mental constructs that generate it. ·       Investing in genetic testing is a one-time opportunity with lasting benefits.    Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Nutrigenomics and Personalization 02:49 The Role of Genetics in Nutrition 06:01 Systems Biology Approach to Health 08:55 AI in Nutrigenomics and Personalized Medicine 11:51 Case Study: Hormonal Balance and Genetics 14:59 Future Directions in Genetics and Health 23:35 Understanding Hormone Replacement Therapy 26:16 The Complexity of Hormonal Pathways 28:26 The Role of Stress in Hormonal Balance 30:22 Reprogramming the Nervous System 32:37 Nutrigenomics and Personalized Nutrition 36:27 The Power of Sulforaphane 39:04 Exploring Genetic Testing for Health Optimization To learn more about Annelie Smith:Email: annelie@3X4.io   Website: www.3X4Genetics.com   Reach out to us at:    Website: https://gladdenlongevity.com/     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gladdenlongevity/    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gladdenlongevity/?hl=en     LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gladdenlongevity    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5_q8nexY4K5ilgFnKm7naw    

This year, I made four of the hardest decisions I've ever made in my subscription box business. Not because I didn't know what to do. I actually knew for quite a while. They were hard because each one required letting go of something I'd worked incredibly hard to build. I rebranded my subscription box. I migrated to an entirely new platform. I closed my warehouse. I handed fulfillment over to a third-party logistics company. Looking back now, I can tell you with complete confidence every one of those decisions made my business stronger. If you're building a subscription box business, here's what each change taught me and why sometimes profitability requires making the hard call. 1. I Let Go of the Thing That Made My Box Famous For years, my subscription was known as the Monogram Box. Personalization was what made it special. It was also what was keeping the business from growing. Every personalized item had to be completed by my team before it could ship. That meant every box depended on us physically touching every order. As much as subscribers loved it, personalization created a ceiling on how efficiently we could operate. Eventually I realized the very thing that had helped build the business had become the thing limiting its future. Changing the brand to StyleBox wasn't about cutting corners. It was about removing a bottleneck so the business could become more profitable and scalable. Ask yourself: Is there something in your subscription box you're holding onto because your subscribers truly value it, or because you're afraid to change it? Those aren't always the same thing. 2. I Finally Moved to the Platform I Recommend to Everyone Else Inside Launch Your Box, I recommend Shopify and PayWhirl because I've seen how much simpler they make running a subscription business. Yet my own business was still operating on a different system. At some point I had to ask myself why. Migrating active subscribers is intimidating. You're moving customer accounts, payment information, billing cycles. There's a lot that can go wrong. But staying where I was meant choosing ongoing complexity. Today, my business is running on a platform built to scale instead of one held together by plugins and workarounds. Sometimes the temporary discomfort of change is worth the long-term simplicity it creates. 3. I Closed My Warehouse For years, the warehouse represented success. It was tangible proof that I'd built a real business. But it also came with rent, utilities, payroll, equipment, inventory carrying costs, and all the overhead that comes with maintaining a physical space. When it came time to liquidate inventory and close the warehouse, I realized I wasn't just letting go of a building. I was letting go of an identity. The truth is, the warehouse had served its purpose. Holding onto it wasn't helping my business anymore. It was simply expensive. One of the hardest lessons in business is understanding sunk cost. The money has already been spent. The only question left is whether keeping something continues to serve your business today. 4. I Handed Fulfillment to a 3PL Removing personalization, migrating platforms, and closing the warehouse made it possible to move fulfillment to a third-party logistics company. Was I nervous? Absolutely. When you've packed thousands of boxes yourself, handing that responsibility to someone else feels incredibly personal. But I discovered control isn't the same thing as quality. The right fulfillment partner doesn't lower your standards. They help you maintain them while giving you back your time, your energy, and your capacity to grow. Today my business is leaner, more profitable, and far more sustainable because I stopped believing I had to do everything myself. At first glance, these seem like four completely different decisions. But they all came down to one question: Was I making decisions that protected my business or decisions that protected my comfort? Growth often requires letting go of something that worked in order to make room for something that works even better. What's the Hard Decision You're Avoiding? Maybe it's changing platforms. Maybe it's raising prices. Maybe it's removing an expensive product from your box. Maybe it's outsourcing something you've always done yourself. Sometimes the next level of profitability isn't about doing more. It's about finally making the decision you already know needs to be made. Join me in all the places:     Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website  Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

There are roughly 100x more people who use code than who can write code. As code that “just works” becomes easier to generate, this group may be the biggest prize of all — if you can get the agentic interface right.A key trend we have been tracking over at AINews is the absolute explosion in Codex usage this year, with MAU now up >10x from Jan 2026. Less than two weeks after their July 9th launch, OpenAI said ChatGPT Work and Codex had reached 10M users combined (as we cover in the pod, Codex now powers ChatGPT Work, so all ChatGPT Work users are now users of the Codex harness, even if they aren't traditional engineers) — showing the early innings of what happens when you graduate from coding agents to knowledge work agents:We've been calling out how coding agents are “breaking containment” to do everything else this year to power every other part of knowledge work - and it started with the org chart, with a major reorg last month that amounted to two of Codex's most prominent leaders, Greg and Tibo, taking responsibility over product and ChatGPT specifically, completing a “Superapp” consolidation cycle first discussed in March.With these updates Codex is no longer just a coding tool. In June, OpenAI said knowledge workers already accounting for roughly 20% of Codex's user base and growing more than 3x as quickly as developers. A product dedicated for knowledge workers was being pulled out of the Codex team.However, knowledge work has a different set of problems and environments than coding. For decades, knowledge work has been scattered across different primitives like documents for writing, spreadsheets for analysis, slide decks for communication, and specialized applications for everything else. ChatGPT Work now enables users to work across every primitive with agents. Instead of opening an application and manually operating its features, the user can describe an outcome and collaborates with an agent that can assemble the tools, context, and artifact needed to reach it.From building no-code products at Airtable to leading Productivity Engineering at OpenAI, Akshay Nathan has spent much of his career trying to make the power of software accessible to people who do not write code. In this episode, Akshay joins swyx and Vibhu to unpack the launch of ChatGPT Work, why Codex unexpectedly took off among non-developers inside OpenAI, and the company's broader plan to bring useful agents from software engineers to knowledge workers and eventually everyone.We go deep on the shared agent harness behind Codex and ChatGPT Work, why OpenAI brought the experiences together without making them identical, and how persistent computers, artifacts, Sites, plugins, memory, and sub-agents are changing what people can delegate to AI. Akshay explains why some teams are replacing decks and spreadsheets with interactive websites, how agents can gather context across code, Slack, documents, and local files, and what OpenAI learned from personal-agent products like OpenClaw.Side note: also don't miss Abhihek's sandbox track keynote at AIE, which now powers a lot of the sandboxing for ChatGPT Work… and yes was also broken by an unreleased OpenAI model in the recent HuggingFace incident.Akshay also reflects on how AI is transforming product development itself: why more people will become generalists with a specialty, why ideas and taste become the bottlenecks when almost anyone can build, why LLMs still struggle to generate genuinely grounded new ideas, and why teams must distinguish increased motion from actual progress.We discuss:* Why Codex unexpectedly took off among non-developers inside OpenAI* Why employees felt like using Codex gave them a new superpower* The product insight that led OpenAI to build ChatGPT Work* Why Codex and ChatGPT Work share the same underlying agent harness* How their UX, Git visibility, artifacts, and sandboxing defaults differ* Why OpenAI merged its agent experiences instead of building separate products* How AI is blurring the boundaries between engineering, design, strategy, and operations* Why OpenAI wants the default model configuration to work for most users* When power users should use deeper reasoning, Ultra, or multi-agent modes* Artifacts, agentic spreadsheets, and creating high-fidelity work products* Why interactive Sites may replace decks and spreadsheets* The challenge of designing a simple interface for an agent that can build almost anything* Why users should retry tasks that models could not handle three or six months ago* How AI can gather context for performance reviews without replacing human judgment* The OpenAI automation that turns internal Slack and document activity into memes* What reaching ten million ChatGPT Work and Codex users means for the product* How OpenClaw inspired persistent environments, scheduled tasks, and personal agents* Using ChatGPT for financial planning, budgeting, workouts, meals, and household management* The design tradeoffs behind sub-agents and how much of their work users should see* ChatGPT memory, Chronicle, and long-term context* Why AI may make more people generalists with deep specialties* Why ideas and taste become more important when almost anyone can build* Why LLMs still struggle with the instruction “bring me new ideas”* Measuring productivity through quality at-bats instead of commits, tokens, or pull requests* The critical difference between AI-generated motion and meaningful progressAkshay Nathan* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaynathan/* X: https://x.com/akshaynathan_Timestamps00:00:00 Introduction and Bringing the Power of Code to Everyone00:01:33 Joining OpenAI and Preserving a Startup Culture00:02:40 What OpenAI Learned from Enterprise AI Adoption00:05:28 Why OpenAI Built ChatGPT Work00:07:17 Codex vs. ChatGPT Work and the Shared Agent Harness00:12:07 Why OpenAI Merged Its Agent Experiences00:16:24 Models, Reasoning Levels, and Choosing the Right Default00:20:26 Artifacts, Agentic Spreadsheets, and Model–Product Collaboration00:24:22 Why Sites Could Replace Decks and Spreadsheets00:30:08 Designing an Agent That Can Build Almost Anything00:34:28 From Developer Agents to Knowledge Work—and Everyone00:36:07 Power-User Advice and AI-Assisted Performance Reviews00:40:41 OpenAI's Internal AI Memes and the Ten-Million-User Launch00:44:39 OpenClaw, Personal Agents, and ChatGPT as an Operating System00:50:24 Sub-Agents, Ultra Mode, and How Much Control Users Need00:54:39 ChatGPT Memory, Personalization, and Chronicle01:00:19 How AI Is Reshaping Product Development and Tech Roles01:03:15 Ideas, Taste, and Why LLMs Struggle to Generate New Ideas01:04:42 Measuring Productivity, Quality At-Bats, and Motion vs. ProgressTranscriptIntroduction: Akshay Nathan, ChatGPT Work, and the No-Code ArcSwyx [00:00:00]: We're here in the studio with Akshay from OpenAI. Welcome.Akshay Nathan [00:00:07]: Thank you.Swyx [00:00:08]: And with our trusty co-host, Vibhu. So you recently launched ChatGPT Work. You lead Core Product Engineering. It's been a long journey, into all this. I find it very interesting that you started with no code or low code, with Walrus and Airtable. And to some extent, ChatGPT Work is like the super app of super apps of, well, here is the ultimate no code. You just write a prompt.Akshay Nathan [00:00:32]: Yeah. It's funny how things come, full circle. I think for a long time in my career, I started my career working consumer fintech, but then after that, like, there's this hypothesis that, the things that we were able to do with code, like, as engineers, like, if we could bring that to many more people in a more, accessible way, then that would be truly magical. We were working on a startup. It's funny, like, before LLMs, before vision LLMs, on how to do automated testing with AI. It was just kinda jank, back then, but doing what we can, and then worked at Airtable for a while on the same thesis that, like, if we can bring a database or the primitives behind a database to people, that'd be really useful to them. But once LLMs came onto the scene, it became clear that, this was the missing piece, like, the missing technology required to, like, bring the magic of code to everyone without them having to know what's going on underneath the hood. And so, like, I think this launch and a lot of the stuff that we've been up to is, like, the manifestation of that.From Walrus and Airtable to OpenAIVibhu [00:01:33]: How was stuff when you joined? So you joined OpenAI 2023. Now we've got, so much more stuff, so ChatGPT, Codex app, ChatGPT Work. Have things changed?Joining OpenAI and What Hasn't ChangedAkshay Nathan [00:01:44]: I think the more interesting thing is how things haven't changed. Like, one, I joined I remember when I joined, it was, like, five hundred people. One thing I was worried about was, like, I was looking for something, more early stage and, like, was it gonna feel startup enough? And I joined, and I was like, “This feels even more startup-y than I could ever imagine.” And, like, that really hasn't changed even till now. I think the, like, level of, like, bottoms-up ambition and, like, the ability of anyone to, like, do anything or have an idea and ship it is really cool. But on the, like, mission side, I think what was really compelling to me is this mission of, bringing frontier intelligence to everyone. Like, building AGI and then bringing it to everyone. And, I think acknowledging back then that, like, that vision is gonna, not be a linear progression. Like, we're probably gonna, like, try different products and have different things that succeed and don't. But the vision has stayed the same, and the mission has stayed the same, and we're starting to see the pieces, fall together, and that's really cool.Enterprise Lessons: No One-Size-Fits-All AISwyx [00:02:40]: You worked on Enterprise. What A lot of people never touch ChatGPT Enterprise. What is something that you learned from there that you're bringing into your work now?Akshay Nathan [00:02:52]: I think how there's no one-size-fits-all solution in Enterprise. I remember in the early days of ChatGPT Enterprise, like, when we talked to customers and, like, everyone. That was, like, when I think it was a year after ChatGPT was released, and everyone was so excited to bring, AI into their enterprise. And, there were all these teams being stood up. It was, like, the AI deployment team with, like, these enormous budgets. And if you asked anyone, like, what were they excited about? Like, what were they excited about solving? Like, at first, you'd get, like, kinda like the baseline answers of, like, “Yeah, we have all this context and data and all this stuff.” But then if you ask them, like, “What was, like, a discrete use case that, like, they want AI to enable in their workplace?” You get such a different, like, variance, like, explosion of, different types of answers. And it's interesting, like, you using, like, these models and these products, you have this box, and you can say anything to it, which is the magic. But it'on the flip side, it also means that, like, you don't know what to do with it. And in Enterprise, I think a big part of that is, like, meeting the users where they are, like, what use case were they trying to solve, and then teaching them how they can use AI to, like, gain leverage there.Swyx [00:03:56]: Do you meaningfully differentiate that from forward-deployed engineering?Akshay Nathan [00:04:01]: I think there is the go-to-market side of it and then there is the product side of it. I think you need someone on the product side. And I think, like, however good we get at FDE motion, like, I think at the end of the day, if we have a user who's, like, looking at their computer or looking at their phone, like, it's our job in the product to, like, be enabling them and showing them where to go. So we're really excited about that.Vibhu [00:04:24]: Do you think there's been changes, over the past three years of adoption? So there have been, step function changes. You have reasoning models and whatnot. Is there still the same problems of Enterprise has black box, don't know what to do with it, or have things changed?Adoption, Agents, and the Next 10x MarketAkshay Nathan [00:04:39]: We're seeing now that, like, there's this huge uptake, right? Everyone is extremely excited about it. It feels like, many people are, millions, hundreds of millions of people are using ChatGPT. They understand, like, how generally to work with AI. But then, like, every time, like, a new capability gets unlocked, so now, like, we're seeing with agents, like, there is probably a contingent of, like, early adopters still who, truly get it, who are like, “ we you can do anything. You just have to make sure the right context is there, it's connected to the right tools, and that you are supervising it, but, like, anything is possible.” But then there's, like, this, like, 10x or 100x bigger market where, like, they don't yet get that, or they don't yet see that. And so I think that's the next stage here. So to answer your question, like, I think the adoption is there and growing fast, but I think the opportunity is, like, far bigger than that. That's where we wanna play, especially with ChatGPT Work.ChatGPT Work, Codex, and the Super App MergeSwyx [00:05:27]: Yeah. well, let's, let's skip ahead to ChatGPT Work. only, like, a month ago or so, announced. what was the decision process that led into it? there was this, overall merging of the super app. Is that what we're officially calling it? you deprecated the browser as well. Just, summarize your last, like, couple months of working on this thing.Akshay Nathan [00:05:50]: Yeah. It feels like forever now, but it's only been a few months. I think maybe the one, impetus that, like- Is most salient is when we release Codex, or even internally had Codex, like, it was really surprising to us, I think we recently put out some stats on this, that there was this, like, real inflection of, like, adoption among non-developers at OpenAI. And, I, through this product development process, like, would go to, like, these UXR sessions to talk to people internally. And the thing that stuck out to me is, like, one, like, you go talk to, like, strategic finance or marketing or whatever, and they're all using Codex for, their use cases. That part's cool, but the thing that really stuck out to me is how proud people were that they were using Codex. Like, how, likeSwyx [00:06:34]: It's like, “I'm not supposed to be using it, but I am.”Akshay Nathan [00:06:36]: It was that. It was, like, that they were, early to this, like, new thing, but it was also this thing of, like, they felt like they had a superpower, right? And, what we recognized then is that, like, the power of Codex, the power of agents, like, we already had this massive distribution base of people who have, come to know and love ChatGPT. Like, how do we show that to them? Like, how do we bring it to them? Which is, like, a hard product problem, and it's, like, a tricky thing, right? There's many ways you can go about it. And so that's what we called the Merge and the Super App over time, and ultimately launched it in ChatGPT Work, is how do we do that? But it came from that initial realization that, like, the power was not only for developers, like, much earlier than probably even we thought. Like, it could be extended to everyone.Swyx [00:07:17]: How do you see the products differently? So, like, who is it for, right? So Codex started out even CLI, then app. Now there's a merge of ChatGPT Codex and ChatGPT Work, so is it the opening for the average user, for enterprise, for work? How do you position it?Akshay Nathan [00:07:36]: I think we want to get it to position it for if you're doing work-related things, for lack of a better word, right?Who ChatGPT Work Is ForAkshay Nathan [00:07:42]: I think productivity is what, like, the pillar that I support. Like, that's the name of the team. And the reason for that, the reason we call it productivity and not, like, enterprise or, like, work or something like that, is because there's also personal productivity, right? And, like, I think ChatGPT Work is I've seen people do things in their personal lives that you wouldn't classify as, like, work technically, but, like, these agents are, super capable for. Like, one recent example that someone posted about, on our Slack is, like, someone had, like, a missed package, like they didn't receive it, and then they got, like, the picture of it, from Amazon or whoever the courier was, and they, like, asked ChatGPT Work to, like, find out where that package is. And, like, the agent, is extremely tenacious and, like, took the image and, like, looked at a bunch of, like, listings around their neighborhood and figured out exactly the apartment complex in which the package was, like, gave them some information. And so, like, I think there's all these things that, like, you, work-related or productivity-related things, I think that's what we want the product to be. You asked about Codex. I think we think Codex is, a durable brand, but we have a principle that, like, the user we don't want a user to get stuck in a tab or an experience where they don't get the power of the product. And so, like, everything that you can do, in the Codex portion of the product on desktop, you can do in ChatGPT Work and vice versa. But we made some opinionated product decisions on, like, how much of the Git state, if you're in a Git repo, do we wanna expose to the end user? Or how much do we wanna make the experience of seeing the agents thinking, like, diff forward so that you get exposed to the diffs out of the box. And then, like, on the safety side, like, how do we wanna think about, like, sandboxing and making sure that we have the right defaults in one state versus the other? So, there's, like, some opinions that go behind that, but we do want We don't want the user to need to choose which experience they're in.Swyx [00:09:26]: That is a good goal for AGI, right? Like, people don't want, like, to hide to choose what version of AGI they want. They just want the AGI to decide for them. can I get an answer or, like It's not super clear to me. Is the Codex harness and the ChatGPT Work harness the same? Is it just UI affordances, or are there prompt level or even deeper differences?Shared Harness, Different UX: Codex vs. WorkAkshay Nathan [00:09:49]: So the harness is the same. The harness is shared. on In both of the products, we made improvements to the harness to make it good for knowledge work, especially as it relates to plug-ins or computer use or artifacts. You get that power regardless of which experience you're in. On the UX side, there's opinionated takes that we have when you're in Codex mode, what the UX should be how the UX should behave, and some stuff around the sandbox like I mentioned, but the underlying harness and capabilities should be the same.Swyx [00:10:16]: I'm just kinda curious. Maybe we can, -- Is there a query that we can run that would look different in the two modes?Akshay Nathan [00:10:23]: Yeah. I tried to create, like ask it to create, like, a retirement calculator spreadsheet or something, in both modes. And then in Codex mode, you might have to be in a repo for this, but you'll see, like, the diffs of, like, the sheet that it's creating and stuff like that, and the file edits. But in Work you won't be able to see that.Swyx [00:10:42]: I think that's, that's super clear. And then also the other thing I wanted to dive into was your, the productivity team. what else is there? first of all, what are the top-level teams other than productivity? Isn't productivity everything?Productivity Teams and Core ChatAkshay Nathan [00:10:55]: SoSwyx [00:10:55]: Science?Akshay Nathan [00:10:55]: We have a team focused on ChatGPT. Like, the core chat experience, for consumer, which is like, not, I think all productivity. Like, there'People are using ChatGPT every day for search to, figure out how to write messages to loved ones, to think about, how to, like, learn a new topic, et cetera. And so there's so much more inside to create images. And there's so much more in chat that, the hundreds of millions of users are using that warrants, like, a very dedicated effort. And there's teams focused on enterprise and infrastructure and API and stuff like that, so.Swyx [00:11:33]: I will bring it up.Retirement Calculator Demo and Git-First UXSwyx [00:11:34]: Yeah. So I have them both running. This is ChatGPT Work. There's a Codex version here. I picked “Five Little Ducks” song, so this will take a while.Akshay Nathan [00:11:43]: Huh.Swyx [00:11:43]: I think we'll just keep it in the background and, as they finish, we'll look into some of the differences.Akshay Nathan [00:11:48]: Yeah. But immediately, I think if you flip back to the Codex version you'll see that,Swyx [00:11:53]: That it assumesAkshay Nathan [00:11:54]: Like theSwyx [00:11:54]: It assumes Git. Yeah. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:11:56]: The, like, dynamic island assumes that you're in a Git repo. And you might miss some stuff because some of it is, like, in the actual chain of thought with those changes and how we display that, but yeah.Swyx [00:12:07]: Is there an unintuitive like, is there a thing that you wanted to ship and then you got feedback, and you were like, “No, let's not do it?” Like, what's the thinking behind that?Why Merge the ExperiencesAkshay Nathan [00:12:14]: In, ChatGPT Work?Akshay Nathan [00:12:17]: I think one direction we could have gone with this is, like, keeping the experiences, like, completely separate. So it's like, whySwyx [00:12:22]: Different apps.Akshay Nathan [00:12:23]: Exactly, like different apps or even in the same app, like different, completely different experiences. Like, why merge it all? Like, what is. Codex, people love. Like, why bring these products together? And I think the intuition here is that, like, all of our jobs are, like, changing dramatically with AI. Like, for, like, every few months, like, I feel like I wake up, and I'm, like, doing a completely different thing than I was doing a few months ago. And my hypothesis here is that, or I should say our hypothesis is that, like, part of what we're, we're building, this technology is giving people leverage. Like, the things, maybe it's the more mundane parts of your job or parts that, like, if you were able to automate, you'd be able to share more ideas faster or whatever, like, you're able to do now. And because of that, like, that might blur the lines between someone who's, like, only writing code or creating strategy docs or, planning events or, helping with marketing or doing podcasts or whatever, right? And so, like, these things are gonna get blurred over time. And so, like, trying to draw a hard boundary based on, like, the who you are is gonna be, is gonna be tough. And, like, we should enable users to choose, but we shouldn't box them in. And so a lot of the work that went in here, like, keeping the primitives the same, like for example, plugins are, like, unified across, this product and ChatGPT and the cloud, was because of that. It's this thesis that, like, eventually things are gonna come together and we don't wanna be Like, we wanna be prescriptive about when to be in either experience, but we don't want to box anyone in.Swyx [00:13:45]: I wonder if there's users who are very tuned to the old ChatGPT harness that is effectively now replaced by the Codex harness. I can't imagine what that was, but maybe they're more the more conversational side. Can you compare and contrast the two harnesses? ‘Cause only you've seen it.Akshay Nathan [00:14:02]: Yeah. I think ChatGPT, the existing harness, like, still exists today. Like, it exists in this app,Harness Engineering: ChatGPT vs. CodexSwyx [00:14:08]: The classic, right?Akshay Nathan [00:14:09]: TheVibhu [00:14:09]: You just start a new chat, and you don't go under Work, right?Akshay Nathan [00:14:13]: Yeah. If you startVibhu [00:14:13]: SoAkshay Nathan [00:14:14]: A new chat and go to chat, then you're, you're talking to ChatGPT with the instant model.Vibhu [00:14:16]: Oh, we can technically do another. But on instant.Swyx [00:14:21]: Yeah. So this one's not gonna code or it's gonna be in line. It's on a in line in a sandbox.Akshay Nathan [00:14:26]: It'llVibhu [00:14:27]: Oh, that's coolAkshay Nathan [00:14:27]: We try to push you to go to Work if you're creating a spreadsheet. Yeah, but this isSwyx [00:14:30]: And this is a router decision? Sorry. Is it a router decision?Akshay Nathan [00:14:34]: This is the decision that, the model is making, and then, like it sees that you're able to. or you're trying to do something that would be better served in Work mode. But I think your question was like, what are the advantages of, like, the chat, like ChatGPT chat harness?Swyx [00:14:48]: It's more broadly, like, I wanna, do an oral history of harness engineering. Right? the ChatGPT harness lasted us from, let's call it the ‘01 era, until now, and now it's being replaced by the Codex harness effectively. And they're, they're overlapping somewhat, but I'm curious what changed if there is.Akshay Nathan [00:15:10]: My perspective on this is, like, there's, there's, there's there's like a constant process of, like, divergence, convergence, divergence, convergence. And in chat, like, many of the use cases I was talking about before, like, search or learning, I think we're, we're really optimizing for latency and optimizing for personality and, like, different things that, over time, like the product The reason people love ChatGPT is because we've been optimizing for those things and working on them for so long. Codex, what we learned was that, like, if you give the agent access to this infinitely flexible environment as a computer, it can do really powerful things. And so when we think about, like, okay, well, for knowledge work, like, what is which mode should we choose? It was like it felt more natural to us to bring that to this, like, computer environment and, maybe abstract some of the details of this computer away from users who might not be used to that, but, like, give them that same power. But ultimately, I think that we want the power in all places, right? We wanna meet people where they are. So I'm sure there'll be work down the road in order to get things to be, equivalently capable in all scenarios. But it's just a question of, like, what we've been focusing on the product on historically and what we're focusing on now.Models, Defaults, and the Reasoning SliderVibhu [00:16:24]: I think alongside that, outside of just harness and when to use Codex, ChatGPT, or Work, there's also the new models you've released, right? any guidance there? So people love to min-max what to use, like only use Terra on high reasoning versus, for this, you wanna use Sol here, ignore all theseAkshay Nathan [00:16:44]: There's 32 options.Vibhu [00:16:46]: But, that being said, for people that are expanding, so, productivity trying stuff for work that don't have the breakdown of what all this is what's, what's the advice, right?Akshay Nathan [00:16:59]: Well, I think before the advice, like the first thing is, like, none of this would be possible without these models. Like, the, I think you asked earlier, like, what was, like, the inspiration for work and, like, early on, like I mentioned, like, what we were seeing with Codex, but that was also because the models were getting infinitely more capable. That's happening again. I think it's like another step function jump now. And to answer the question on advice, like we want this default to be the best possible. Like, we wanna be opinionated about the default, and so we've we've chosen a default that we think is gonna be the best for everyone. And, we have for power users options under the hood. We could One could argue that there might be too many right now, and we're, working on simplifying it. But you can extend, the reasoning level, and you can change between the different model classes if you need to, but the default should be the best for most use cases. So my advice to most people would be to stick to that. And then, if you reach a situation in which you think that you could, you wanna try, a different configuration, if you're not seeing either the efficiency on the cost side or the quality on the intelligence side, then you can change the defaults and see if you can get something better. But we think that the default should be good enough.Swyx [00:18:09]: I have, I'm just gonna run something by you since you have way more experience than me. I've recently been doing Sol Lite but with goal, with the idea that the goal augments the reasoning effort, but with more terminations and turns.Swyx [00:18:24]: Is that a good way to think about it as opposed to Sol Ultra or Sol, Extra High?Akshay Nathan [00:18:29]: Yeah. It's hard to say becauseSwyx [00:18:31]: Yeah. It's like an interaction effect.Akshay Nathan [00:18:33]: exactly. It's like there's a preference on, for you as an individual, like how do you like to collaborate with the models? Like how many of those like terminations, as you call them, do you want where, you can steer or make sure that it's doing the right thing?Akshay Nathan [00:18:46]: I think generally people should try whatever works for them. I think that like using Ultra or the like multi-agent setups are best for like when you have like tasks that are either incredibly complicated, like open explorations or very paralyzable. I think even for tasks using goal, I think is best for tasks that you'll be able to make consistent progress in a way that's verifiable over time. But I think for most tasks, they don't fall into either of those buckets. And so like at least when they're starting, and so that's why I think the best first step is like trying it with the default configuration and then seeing like where you wanna go from there.Swyx [00:19:29]: Right. You guys worked on a slider, which is super helpful for reducing the amount of panic.Vibhu [00:19:36]: It's nice on mobile at least. There's a nice slider there.Swyx [00:19:38]: It's nicer.Vibhu [00:19:39]: I haven't tried it.Swyx [00:19:40]: So you have the advanced view there, but if you click advanced view. Yeah.Vibhu [00:19:44]: Ooh, it's just a nice slider. Yeah.Swyx [00:19:46]: Very pretty, very colorful.Akshay Nathan [00:19:48]: Yeah. The idea was here was like reduce it to like one dimension even though there's multiple dimensions, right? Try to project it onto a single dimension for the user. Like, something from that represents like, speed and efficiency on one side and then like quality and thoroughness on the other side.Artifacts, Spreadsheets, and the Work LaunchSwyx [00:20:04]: I am just puzzled that it uses Sol so much, like the lowerVibhu [00:20:07]: NoSwyx [00:20:07]: Grounds I would've usedVibhu [00:20:08]: I think the slider, if I'm not mistaken, isSwyx [00:20:09]: Terra.Vibhu [00:20:10]: Oh, it is.Swyx [00:20:11]: Yeah. See? So they preset Terra to only be the light one. But like I think a lot of people would more people should use Terra. One, because Sol keeps running out of capacity.Vibhu [00:20:22]: I'm the reason. Here's ten minutes of ourSwyx [00:20:24]: There you goVibhu [00:20:25]: Retirement calculator.Swyx [00:20:26]: Oh, that's the Excel thing working for you.Vibhu [00:20:28]: This is,Swyx [00:20:28]: Oh my God. Look at thatVibhu [00:20:28]: This is work, and then Codex is still cooking, so we'll get back into it. I think it'll be interesting to see the thought process, the reasoning, and also, this is eight minutes on work. Codex is still cooking.Swyx [00:20:41]: Yeah. And by the way, so I've, do Gabriel Chua? He's part of the OpenAI Singapore team. He showed me this, and I was like pretty shocked that this looks like Excel. It edits Excel files. You never paid an Excel license, right? Like, but somehow this is like workable and it's agentic Excel.Akshay Nathan [00:21:01]: Yeah. one of the big like pushes that we made for this launch was like artifacts, right?Akshay Nathan [00:21:05]: Like both on the model side, like I think if you compare this with GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 before that, you'll see that there's been pretty dramatic improvements in the quality of these artifacts and then also on the product side.Vibhu [00:21:16]: The UX side is also crazy, like hosted sites and whatnot. No longer needing to host your own little webpage, like itSwyx [00:21:23]: Oh, I have a story about that. I can do, a separate thing. I'll need to take the visuals here, but we-we'll, we'll cut to that later. Was there co-training, because you were moving making this big move and you launched GPT-5.6 on the same day as ChatGPT Work? Was there influence between the model training teams and the harness teams, or did they did the launch dates just happen to line up the same day?Akshay Nathan [00:21:46]: I think the we collaborate heavily with the research teams, and I think that's like one of the most magical parts of the job, like the most fun parts of the job. But yeah, just using artifacts as an example. Like, a lot of what you're seeing, like underneath the hood, there's a lot of work that went into making sure that like, we had the right infra to be able to train the models to get better at this. And then on the product side, like had the right experience for users to be able to collaborate with the model on an artifact like this. In fact, like this whole viewer, like the intuition here is that like, it's not necessarily that you wouldn't need an Excel license. This is stage one, right? Like, this is probably not what you meant when you're like making a retirement calculator.Vibhu [00:22:24]: Yeah, you can iterate very easily. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:22:24]: You wanna iterate and like when you're seeing it, and if this thing is high fidelity to like what you would see in or what your coworkers would see if you were to send this to Sean, like that I think makes it so easier and makes you trust the product in terms of iteration.Vibhu [00:22:39]: When you say coworkers would see, do you see a multiplayer, multi-team collaboration with artifacts? Any things you guys think about that?Multiplayer Artifacts and CollaborationSwyx [00:22:46]: You can already share it, right?Akshay Nathan [00:22:48]: Yeah. It's inter It's something that, we're actively thinking about. one thing that, we've noticed internally without talking too much about the roadmap is that like there's many times when someone will ping me about something, and I will ask ChatGPT Work the question, and then I'll ping them back the answer.Akshay Nathan [00:23:04]: And then I'll be thinking likeVibhu [00:23:04]: Like the simplest would be, the three of us are just all on one hosted.Akshay Nathan [00:23:07]: Exactly. And I'll think about like was I required in this loop or and then maybe it was, rephrase like what they were asking or pulled from certain context or whatever. But like, when I gave them back the answer, that process was also lossy, right? Like I gave them just like my interpretation of what ChatGPT Work cooked up. But like underneath the hood, there's so much context like in the rollout and stuff that could be interesting.Vibhu [00:23:28]: Yeah, it'sSwyx [00:23:28]: So like the answer was preemptively respond to every inbound request?Akshay Nathan [00:23:33]: No, it was just like literally like this is what I do sometimes as my job.Swyx [00:23:36]: I know you copy-paste and then you're just a message forwarding serviceAkshay Nathan [00:23:39]: Yeah. Yeah, exactlySwyx [00:23:39]: From AI to AI.Vibhu [00:23:40]: But I think it's interesting, right? It helps people understand the capability of what you can ask and delegate that oftentimes people don't realize until they try or someone shows you, and then you're like, “Oh, okay. Okay, I see.”Swyx [00:23:52]: I think it's als there's also like a, light security issue, where like you're the permissions layer. Like yes, I could query everything that you query, and I could get an automated response, but maybe I'm not supposed to see it. And that there's no way I would know because I'm not supposed to know what I don't know.Akshay Nathan [00:24:07]: Especially as like, with ChatGPT Work, we're, we're asking you to connect your plug-ins and, it's pulling from your local files and stuff like that. Like the amount of context that the agent has access to is like- Deeply personal and like that's something I think we need to preserve, so that'll be definitely a challenge.Swyx [00:24:22]: There's Excel, there's PowerPoint, there's Docs, the, grand trio of work. What other formats of work do you think about? like you worked on Airtable. Is there a future where there's like OpenAI Airtable? Like what does that look like if you ever ended up doing it?Akshay Nathan [00:24:41]: It's a really good question. I think,Formats of Work: Sites as Knowledge ArtifactsAkshay Nathan [00:24:43]: one that you didn't bring up was Sites, and I think that wasSwyx [00:24:46]: SitesAkshay Nathan [00:24:46]: A core part of this launch. There's one side of Sites that I think people commonly talk about, especially on Twitter and stuff or X, of like, this like prototyping tool. And like we saw that happen with this launch even. The model slider that you guys were referencing earlier, like that was developed almost fully in a Site. Like, the collaboration between design and engineering and product on that was like on a site where we play with, the affordance and figure out how it feels and all of that. But the other aspect that I think is a little bit less talked about is like Sites as like an artifact for knowledge work. I was talking to someone the other day who's on like our corporate finance team, and like we were mentioning how like now when they have these reports that they're, they're working on as a team month to month, historically those things were in slide decks and in spreadsheets, and now they're just in Sites. And like Sites is the mechanism that they collaborate across the team. And the reason is ‘cause it's like, it's like somewhat higher bandwidth. Like, at these tools like PowerPoint and Excel are like infinitely flexible, but at some point you reach the boundary of like either as a human you may not know how to use some feature or something, or the product itself doesn't support it. But with a site you can do anything. You ask for anything and you can get that. once people see that magic, I think it's been really valuable.Swyx [00:26:02]: Yeah, let me show you my case study. this involves all the hot topics including ChatGPT Work, but also GPT-5.6 token billionaires and token maxing and Sites and auto research. I'm a fan of this game called Strata. It's, it's like a little board game that youSites, Auto Research, and Research DashboardsSwyx [00:26:17]: That you play with, physical blocks, that come on top of it like that. So over the weekend I took like thirty photos and just threw into ChatGPT. one point seven billion tokens later, out comes this site with a fully playable thingAkshay Nathan [00:26:32]: WowSwyx [00:26:32]: With 3D, block placement and everything. Because it requires physical blocks and I needed friends to train on it so they can get better, so I can play against them. But also, I could also, do things like train an AI on it and that's, thatAkshay Nathan [00:26:45]: That's your auto researchSwyx [00:26:46]: That gets into auto research. So, you want to train your own AIs, and then make sure they self-play against, each other. I need to set both AIs. So this is AI versus AI, and they're, they're gonna self-play. the AIs start out bad and then you want to define a loss function and get good. I wasn't gonna supervise all this. I was at, I was down in San Mateo, attending a conference. What I ended up doing was, auto researching and on this and creating benchmarks and that there was just way too many parameters for me to read. So I started asking it for a site, and it's created this lab, panel. Where is there a, is there a shortcut for a site that is created?Akshay Nathan [00:27:28]: You should be able to go in the sidebar to Sites, top of the sidebar. The left sidebar.Swyx [00:27:33]: This one? Oh, left?Akshay Nathan [00:27:35]: Yeah. Just scroll all the way to the top.Swyx [00:27:36]: Oh. Oh, it says Sites. Oh, there you go. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:27:39]: Ooh.Swyx [00:27:40]: So it create, it creates the sites. I don't, I don't think this is, it is exactly what I wanted, but let me show you what it popped up, right? Like I think as a research artifact, it is very important to communicate, exactly, what is being done. Outputs this thing which I eventually started publishing. So I moved it off of Sites because I wanted more, database and infrastructure than Sites afforded me. But this is like a research output that you can start to mess with and like try to think about like what hyperparameters are you tuning for training AIs. And like I was trying to make like scaling laws and everything and doing all sorts of like game optimization stuff. And the fact that you can just throw this up as a research artifact, like I no longer need to read ChatGPT output. I read Site output. But then there's also a huge sprawl. Like look at how long this thing is. There's so many numbers. It is pretty overwhelming, so then I have to start pruning it from there. But, it's an interesting transition from Markdown effectively that you're putting out to, you're putting out a whole functional site.Akshay Nathan [00:28:41]: I think Markdown just isn't that optimal for people to read, right? Might as well just write HTML website and I don't know. I think you can do a lot with customizing this, right? You have your skills that explain what you want. Like I noticed they're quite verbose. I don't need a lot of this information.Swyx [00:28:57]: It's very verbose.Akshay Nathan [00:28:58]: So and then the nice thing of having a site side by side is, you just iterate on what you want and what you don't, right?Swyx [00:29:05]: Yeah. I don't know if, any that triggers any stories for you of how it's run internally. Am I doing this right?Akshay Nathan [00:29:11]: Yeah. I think that this is like a workflow that we're seeing like all different types of teams use, where like the canonical artifact that was previously a deck or something is now becoming a site. And like with a site you, because it's just HTML, you can like. It's infinitely flexible. And so, if you want to give more prominence to a certain thing that like in a slide deck would, feel like it was buried, like you can do that. You can have it be like the hero image, right? And so I think that like, people are starting to see that. There's more work to be done to make these things like much more easier, easy to collaborate on. You mentioned that they're very, they're long and verbose, could be broken up. I'm sure that there's still something to do there.Swyx [00:29:53]: They're super long. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:29:54]: Yeah. But I think we're starting to see that like there is this aspect of this is a really interesting, format, for people to use, that's like much more flexible than what they ever had before.Swyx [00:30:07]: I think your job also comes becomes meta. You're not designing the products. You're designing a product to make products, and I'm curious how you manage that.Designing a Product That Makes ProductsAkshay Nathan [00:30:18]: I think one thing that we've been Like when we look at the UX, like that we've been thinking a lot about is how can we balance like simplicity with capability? Like if we're designing a product, like you said, that like is made to make up build other things, right? You can build so many different things. But we can't put that all in front of you because you'll get overwhelmed.Vibhu [00:30:41]: Yes.Akshay Nathan [00:30:41]: And so we had similar problem or similar challenges even Chat-with ChatGPT, but especially now, like when there's so much that can be done, I think the balance that we're constantly trying to strike is like, how can we give the user enough of a UI surface where, they can be expressive, they can tell the agent what they need, they can verify that it's using the right tools, it's pulling from the right sources, et cetera, but then it gets out of the way. And then how can we build the right system such that we can show them instead of telling them what can be done? Because so much of this is gonna be like, how do they discover the next use case and the next one after that if they really want to be super powered by the AI.Games, Private Evals, and Show-Don'TellVibhu [00:31:19]: Yeah. It's interesting. I feel like everyone also just has a different way to do it, right? I made a similar version of this same game. I didn't take any pictures of board or rule game. I threw in at goal eighteen minutes, fifty-three seconds later, a lot of tokens later, I've got a similar version. not with all the auto research and whatnot, butAkshay Nathan [00:31:39]: You gotta do all the latest trends.Vibhu [00:31:40]: And yeah, I did it with, did it with Codex, not Work, but it's interesting, right?Akshay Nathan [00:31:45]: Yeah. And this is GPT Image generating the pro avatars. Very good for game design. LikeVibhu [00:31:51]: AndAkshay Nathan [00:31:52]: A lot of game designers were like really into GPT Image for assets.Vibhu [00:31:54]: I will say like the broader takeaway probably is the reason that we do this is more so just to test the tools, right? Like, this was also a test for GPT-5.6 came out. I had done the game on GPT-5.5, right? The ability for me to no longer need it to. I had to feed it the rules. It's, it's a pretty niche game. It couldn't find how to do this on its own.Akshay Nathan [00:32:15]: Oh, yeah.Vibhu [00:32:15]: GPT-5.6Akshay Nathan [00:32:16]: It is out-of-distribution, which is why I was also very keen on testing the GPT-5.6 capability.Vibhu [00:32:21]: But, this is just as work comes out, as new things come out, these are just our side ways to test things, right?Akshay Nathan [00:32:27]: Yeah. It's some private eval. That is not this private.Vibhu [00:32:31]: But also valuable because now you can send this to your friends and I learned about this game through seeing this.Akshay Nathan [00:32:36]: It's a hard game. He's very good.Vibhu [00:32:39]: It's good to when no one is competing with you. But yes, it's a classic RL problem of like self-play, bootstrapping your game AI. yeah, you see how easily work becomes personal and personal becomes work because the thing I do for personal, it directly informs people I work with because I showed it to them. They were like, “Oh, you can do that with GPT?” Which like I imagine is the growth strategy.Akshay Nathan [00:33:02]: Yeah. The show not tell is a big piece that, I think we've we're not still not fully cracked of like, showing people all the things that they can do with the product versus like trying to teach that to them through like, articles or onboarding or whatever.Akshay Nathan [00:33:18]: So meeting them in the moment.Vibhu [00:33:19]: It's a career risk for me, because I used to be in developer relations, right? Where your job is to show, and then you're like, “What do you mean? You don't, you don't need.” your job is to tell. And then. But the product people are like, “Well, we don't need you if our product is intuitive enough.” SoAkshay Nathan [00:33:37]: Yeah. that's the magic of the models. So you can tailor the telling or the showing to like specifically what the user needs, like what they care about, what they've done in the past, exactly where they are on the adoption journey. So I think that's like gonna be a super big opportunity.Vibhu [00:33:50]: Seems easier and easier now to tailor custom showing, right? People have different use cases. As much as you said you don't wanna segment different people into different buckets, right? It's also not that hard to for people that are in different categories. But the question, is you said your team is more broadly on. What was the term you used? Productivity?From Developers to Knowledge Work to EveryoneAkshay Nathan [00:34:12]: Productivity.Vibhu [00:34:12]: Productivity. So howAkshay Nathan [00:34:12]: Which is now work.Vibhu [00:34:14]: Is it work? Is there another distribution that we're not hitting? Is there a group of people that will have something different than ChatGPT, Codex or Work? Is there more that the mass isn't targeting?Akshay Nathan [00:34:28]: I see it as like a sequencing, like. The vision is like bring useful agents to everyone. We started with like developers. Like developers historically are like early adopters that are willing to put up with more friction, set things up, et cetera. Like that's where, Codex started. I think the next opportunity is like what we call general knowledge work, all the other functions around developers. I think when you go from developers to this segment, like there's inherent challenges with like, this show not tell thing that we're talking about, making the product more understandable, bringing in new capabilities that matter more for this cohort than matter for developers, things like artifacts, things like computer use, et cetera. And then I think like the same learnings, like similarly how we took the learnings from developers and brought it to, general knowledge work, the next stage will be like taking the learnings from general knowledge work and bringing it to everyone no matter what they're doing in their lives. And we're already seeing that a little bit. Like this game example that you have is, something that's like on the border of like fun and personal life to, your professional life. I use ChatGPT Work full-time at home for everything, like for whatever I'm doing. I used it the other day to come up with a meal plan and like, save that on the like computer environment that it has and something that I can continue going back to. Like is everyone doing that yet? Probably not because the thing says work on it, but eventually, we wanna get people there.Vibhu [00:35:51]: ChatGPT life.Akshay Nathan [00:35:52]: Yeah, exactly. ChatGPT cooking. But I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of opportunity there, but I see it as like, we're, we're built we built a foundation in software engineering, and we're gonna take the same learnings that we take from software engineering to knowledge work to everyone.Vibhu [00:36:07]: Do you have any power user advice? I feel like, there's a group of people that will live it, use it for everything, stay on it twenty four-seven. And then there's a bit of a gap between that crew and people that, okay, I use it for work. I use it occasionally. Sometimes I type questions. any advice, any learnings, anything you recommend or just, takeaways that you've found that help bridge that gap?Power User Advice: Push the Frontier of ImaginationAkshay Nathan [00:36:30]: I think a couple things that I've seen is like, one, that it really helps to broaden your imagination of what's possible, and this has been a learning even for me. Like, the technology has progressed so fast that, something that, like, even three months ago, like, no way the models can do this. Like, now it's like, wow, it's like it can. Like,Swyx [00:36:52]: Give an exampleAkshay Nathan [00:36:52]: We're going through right now our, like, review cycle internally, and, people always talked about this as, like, a thing that the models are good at and like, there's a cliché of like: Okay, like, no one wants to be writing reviews and, like, we just use AI to do it. But in all seriousnessSwyx [00:37:09]: And it can evaluate it as well.Akshay Nathan [00:37:10]: Yeah, exactly. In all seriousness, before it was, like, just, like, slop and, like, I think it was helpful, but, not super productive. Now I've found that, like, the model can do a much better job than me, especially in this environment of, like, pulling context on, like, what people are up to, how they've like the things that they've done to make a difference, highlighting like, wins that they've had that, like, I might may not even have seen. It has access to, like, everything, right? Like the code, like, things that they've caught, reviews, Slack, everything. And so it's, like, incredibly powerful in that domain and, like, just like six months ago, the last time we did this cycle, like, I didn't even I tried using it, but it was not at all helpful. And this time it's been, like, incredibly helpful and, like, so I think continuing to push the frontier of imagination of what's possible, even if you tried something before, I think is maybe the my biggest piece of advice. The other, thing is, like, the more you put in, especially in this environment where, like, the model has access to everything on your computer or in ChatGPT Work, like you can create, artifacts over time and save them in your library and, like, the model will continue having access to those. Like, the more information you give it about whatever domain you're in, whether it's your life or your work, the more valuable it becomes, and it'll become valuable in, like, ways that might surprise you. Like, it might pull from context in a way that, may be proactive and that you might not even have thought about. But it needs to have access to those, to that those tools or that context first.Reviews, Agentic Search, and Context GatheringSwyx [00:38:27]: One thing I just wanna talk about the review stuff because I'm still that's a very sensitive thing and you're, you're a founder, you've managed people, you've hired people. As manager myself, I'm very reticent to put out any LLM-generated things especially when it comes to people, ‘cause it feels like you don't care.Swyx [00:38:46]: Presumably at OpenAI, people are more open to being eval rated by GPT. But are there any unofficial rules around this? Like, what's the etiquette?Akshay Nathan [00:38:57]: Oh, I think the etiquette is that, like, I would never write something via, like, well, solely via AI and, like, present it as, like, a review for someone. What I was talking about is more, like, gathering context. That's the place where it's incredibly helpful.Swyx [00:39:08]: So it's just search.Akshay Nathan [00:39:09]: Yeah, exactly.Swyx [00:39:09]: It's agentic search. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:39:10]: It's like agentic search, but, that you can tailor and steer much more capably than you could before, ‘cause, like, the thing is it's all there's a flywheel happening, right? Because of Codex, people are able to do, and because of ChatGPT, people are able to do so much more now than ever before. And if you're able to do so much more, it's easy to miss things as well. And so, like, I think we need to use these same tools to keep up with all the impact that people are having and understand, where we can be helpful.Swyx [00:39:39]: I think the thing, like, I run a small company, so easy to search, but at the scale of OpenAI with the amount of messages that you guys put in Slack, do you think that it misses things?Remembering What Humans MissAkshay Nathan [00:39:50]: Probably, but I think that I also miss things.Swyx [00:39:52]: Like, it doesn't matter, right?Vibhu [00:39:53]: I think sometimes it'sSwyx [00:39:53]: Like it's, as it needs to be human-levelAkshay Nathan [00:39:54]: It's all relative, right? Yeah.Vibhu [00:39:56]: Sometimes it's nice when it finds things you wouldn't, right? Like right now, my Codex system prompts, they're set up in such a way that every project I have has a secret- separate, notes MD, and it just writes learnings to there. And then the global one can pull from all these. So sometimes it'll be like: Oh, there's this project you did like four months ago. Here's a note that we had, and it randomly pulls it back into context that I would never do, I haven't thought about.Vibhu [00:40:20]: And I'm like, okay, this is quite superhuman, right? Like, stuff that would. And, it'll save like hours on chunking of stuff or find something that's already been done. I'm like, as much as it might miss stuff, I would too, but it's very useful when it finds stuff. And I have like a very, non-super engineered solution to this. It's just marked down files that get pulled whenever they want.Akshay Nathan [00:40:41]: Yeah. I have a funny anecdote about this. Like, recently gearing up to this launch, the team has been, really cooking on it for a couple months, and over that time, like there's so much conversation and chatter going on in Slack and Docs and elsewhere. And, one of the members of the team set up this, scheduled tasks, like automation to like look at everything that's going on and, like, come up with the best memes and then post it in one of our shared channels. And like, there are two cool things about this. Like, the first is, like, I think the models are, over time, like starting to become like funny.Swyx [00:41:13]: Funny. Nice.Akshay Nathan [00:41:13]: Whereas like, a year ago, like that was not at all the case. The second is, it was what you were saying, like they find things that in surprising ways that you may not have thought of and like create connections that you may not have thought of. And that really helps with like the meme generation because then you can see something that, genuinely surprises you and, is funny in that way. So yeah, that's like not like the most productive, use of this the technology, but it does it does uncover this, like this capability that's emerging, which is just like to find information that you otherwise would not know of.Launch Momentum and the 10 Million User MilestoneSwyx [00:41:43]: Talking about the launch, I think, I have pretty much said this is the most successful launch in a long time. I think even more successful personally than 5.0, and they're announcing ten million users. Does it feel different? You've been through a lot of launches.Akshay Nathan [00:41:58]: I think it feels like a culmination. Well, I think two things. One, it feels like a culmination, like I was mentioning earlier, like this like vision mission that we've been on for a long time. Like I said, we saw the magic of Codex internally, and then we're like extremely excited to bring this to many more people and to see it working, to like see us reach, the distribution goal, numbers that you mentioned, like I think that's like huge and super exciting. The flip side of that is like, there's so much more to do too. Like, that's also really exciting. Like, ChatGPT as a whole, like the this product that, everyone almost equates to AI and like loves, has hundreds of millions of users. And so like ten million is really cool, but like we need to get this to everyone. Like, we need everyone to feel this magic. And so that's the next step from here. But yeah, I think extremely pumped about how it's going so far and the opportunities.Swyx [00:42:46]: Awesome. I did want to also Because I've, I've, I've been tracking the number closely, it transitioned at some point from just Codex users to Codex plus ChatGPT Work, because they're same harness. The whole point is that you don't, you can't, count them separately. Do you have roughly a billion, ChatGPT users? Why did it just jump to one billion right away? Like, isn't that the default on ChatGPT or no?Codex, ChatGPT Work, and the Developer BrandAkshay Nathan [00:43:11]: We don't default you into ChatGPT Work if you're on ChatGPTSwyx [00:43:14]: If you're free. YeahAkshay Nathan [00:43:15]: It's also only available to paid users right now. And I think there's like a process of, educating users of what is the value of this product, having them try it, learning from their feedback, and making it better over time. But the goal is to, get as many of the people who love ChatGPT today to like feel the power of ChatGPT Work. But I think it'll be a journey.Swyx [00:43:36]: Yeah. And Codex will still be alive as a brand for the foreseeable future. And we'll just toggle between them as needed for UI stuff.Akshay Nathan [00:43:44]: Yeah, I think it's even stronger point than that. Like, I think we fully intend to like, treat developer. Like, developers have been, a core market for us for so long, and like there's, there's so much more that we can do to make Codex great specifically for, software development, and we'll continue to do that. This doesn't take away from that at all. If anything, it should increase the utility of something like Codex, because now you can move seamlessly between writing a diff to creating an artifact or, doing a search over your factor.Swyx [00:44:11]: I do wonder how much this terminology leaks to the non-technical user. Like, do they have to learn to say artifact if I want artifact? Or.Akshay Nathan [00:44:20]: It's funny, like we call it artifacts internally ‘cause that's what the teams call it.Swyx [00:44:23]: It's nice. Yeah.Akshay Nathan [00:44:23]: But like externally, like no one says that, no one calls it an artifact. But I think that people like often, like describe things, whatever they're used to, right? So if, ChatGPT Work is good at creating slides, they'll say ChatGPT Work is good at creating slides, and that's what we want.OpenClaw, Personal OS, and Persistent ComputersSwyx [00:44:38]: One big Another, it's July of twenty-six. One big thing that also happens in, for OpenAI was OpenClaw, and that's I think a lot of people's first time really maxing a agent for personal stuff, but also crossing over to work in essence same way. As far as I understand, OpenClaw is still independent, but did you go through your own OpenClaw moments? Were there any lessons you took from OpenClaw to Codex or back? Whatever.Akshay Nathan [00:45:06]: I think there's a lot of inspiration. I did go through my own OpenClaw moment. I,Swyx [00:45:10]: Yeah, tell the storyAkshay Nathan [00:45:10]: Me and my wife like set up an OpenClaw to like try to manage everything in our house. Not that there's like a ton, but it was like quite useful. We gave it a calendar. It started, creating events for us and stuff. At some point, the laptop that we were running on, it died and never got a chance to pick it back up. But there was a lot of inspiration there, like, in ChatGPT Work, in web and mobile, like you get access to this like persistent computer environment where, you can store files, and those files stay around between sessions. And the idea is to be able to enable use cases like this. one of the members of our team uses ChatGPT Work for what they used OpenClaw from before, and then feel like it has like completely transitioned, which is like, workout planning and like meal tracking. which again, it's like a work-related thing, right? It's like not work necessarily, but it's like in personal productivity space. But it has all the same primitives. So it has scheduled tasks. It has the ability to store files on a file system. It has the ability to like reference those things over time. And so you start to see the same types of use cases emerge, which has been really cool.Swyx [00:46:14]: Is there a point that ChatGPT Work completely replaces OpenClaw? they're independent, so.Akshay Nathan [00:46:20]: Yeah, I'm, I'm not close to it, so I can't speak to the OpenClaw roadmap, but I don't think so. I think that there's gonna be, there's always a need for like this like incredible, like open source technology that team has built. And I think that we can draw inspiration, in the product and, ChatGPT, I think many more people have like heard about and used ChatGPT than have used OpenClaw. And if we can take the magic from OpenClaw and bring it to them, I think that'll be a success. I think that like one thing on the ChatGPT Work side that we feel strongly about is that like the core experience is that you come to this product and you have a conversation, start a session, whatever you wanna call it, with this agent. And the magic of the product is that you can do anything in that moment. And we would like to create a product where you don't have to click a button or to go to a different place, whatever, and you can get whatever functionality exists in, your finances app or where or any other product like in this one place. And so that's the goal. It's like it we want an extensible system with plugins where you can connect to the tools that you need in order to be able to accomplish like a financial task, where you can, if you're doing like science work, like we have an ability to like extend the system in such that you can like write the tech and it performs well. There'll always be like products that we support that are best in class at those things, but we want as much of the magic as possible in that core experience.Swyx [00:47:45]: Yeah. Do you think that you can do everything you used to do with Wealthfront in ChatGPT Finance?Finance, Data Access, and Centralized ContextAkshay Nathan [00:47:50]: I tried it. like ChatGPT doesn't yet custody, cash and assets for me. So that part, no, not yet. But I, there was like a whole component of like retirement planning and, like financial planning and budgeting and stuff that, we were looking into when I was there. And like with the finances plugin, like that's all possible with ChatGPT today. So, I feel

AI makes it easier than ever to find and act on information—especially now that teams can connect to and search across all the apps they use for work. So how do you ensure that only the right people and the right tools can access your team's most sensitive content? In this episode, we talk with Jess Jimenez, the head of security at Dropbox, about what security looks like in the age of AI at Dropbox-scale—from building AI products securely to building trust with the people who use them. Jess talks about the importance of access control lists, defending against the latest AI threats, and how Dropbox Protect helps teams securely share content with both humans and AI so they can collaborate more safely. ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck.  Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

Episode 155: This week, Kyle Van Pelt talks with Julie Littlechild, Founder and CEO at Absolute Engagement. Julie is a recognized leader in client engagement, investor behavior, and referral growth. Through years of advisor and investor research, she has helped firms better understand the emotional drivers behind client decisions and build stronger, more personalized advisory relationships. Kyle and Julie explore why understanding how clients feel is just as important as understanding their financial goals. Julie explains how behavioral data—especially around confidence and concerns—helps advisors uncover more meaningful conversations, personalize communication, and strengthen trust over time. They also discuss why client experience is becoming a key competitive advantage, how AI should enhance rather than replace human connection, and practical ways firms of every size can create experiences that resonate with both today's clients and the next generation. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:33) - Julie's money moment (04:52) - Understanding the confidence and concern indices (04:52) - Understanding the confidence and concern indices (06:52) - Using behavioral data to personalize the client experience (10:00) - Why CRM integrations make behavioral data more actionable (14:35) - The growing role of client experience leadership (17:04) - Why efficiency alone isn't a competitive advantage (19:18) - Practical ways smaller firms can elevate the client experience (22:06) - Making client appreciation events more meaningful (25:21) - Generational shifts and the "juggle generation" (27:54) - Julie's outlook on the future of financial services (29:23) - Julie's Milemarker Minute Key Takeaways Behavioral data creates better conversations, not just better reporting. Measuring client confidence and concerns gives advisors a practical starting point for uncovering what clients are truly thinking and feeling, leading to deeper, more meaningful relationships. Personalization starts with understanding what matters most. Advisors who know what clients are worried about can tailor conversations, communication, events, and resources in ways that feel genuinely relevant instead of generic. Technology should amplify human connection. AI and behavioral insights are most valuable when they create more time—and better context—for advisors to build trust, empathy, and lasting relationships. Client experience is becoming a true competitive advantage. Operational efficiency is increasingly expected. The firms that stand out will be the ones that consistently make clients feel understood, supported, and confident about the future. Quotes "Think about the experience not only as the conversations that advisors have with their clients, but the communications they share, the events that they run, and the offer that they have in place." ~ Julie Littlechild "We are at a point now where we can see the connection between data, technology, and human connection. I think we're starting to understand that, 'If I can capture this insight and have this data and do that effectively, comfortably, and consistently, I can create a more human experience.'" ~ Julie Littlechild "Efficiency does not set you apart. No one ever said, 'My life has been impacted by my advisor because they have some incredible workflows.'" ~ Julie Littlechild Links  Julie Littlechild on LinkedIn Absolute Engagement Good to Great Connect with our hosts Milemarker.co Kyle on LinkedIn Jud on LinkedIn Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Produce game-changing content with Turncast Turncast helps your company grow by producing top-quality content and fostering transformative conversations. We specialize in content generation, podcasting, digital strategy, and audience growth for fintech and financial services companies. Learn more at Turncast.com.

Send us Fan MailWith more than 30 years of experience in the travel industry—including five years as CFO of Hertz and another five as CFO of Hilton Worldwide—Tom Kennedy brings a deep understanding of traveler expectations and the evolving needs shaping the industry. And so, when Kennedy became President, North America of rental car company SIXT nearly six years ago, he was focused on improving the customer journey. He had seen firsthand how slowly the car rental industry had modernized. Travelers could book flights from their phones, yet renting a car still often required waiting in line at an airport counter. Stay connected with Loyalty360! Follow us on LinkedIn and X for the latest loyalty insights, industry news, and upcoming events.https://www.linkedin.com/company/loyalty-360https://x.com/Loyalty360https://www.youtube.com/@Loyalty360_

The global healthcare landscape is being redefined, creating new opportunities for healthcare leaders to improve outcomes and expand access. In this episode we sat down with Eugene Sayan, Founder and CEO of Softheon, to explore how AI is empowering consumers, and driving a new era of innovation across the industry. With more than three decades of experience in healthcare technology, Eugene shares his perspective on the forces transforming healthcare delivery, from patient engagement and personalized care to interoperability, affordability, and the growing role of AI agents. He discusses the shift to a proactive approach that leverages data, automation, and intelligent systems to improve outcomes while reducing costs. The conversation also examines the future of healthcare organizations, the importance of responsible AI adoption, and the opportunities healthcare leaders have to build more connected, sustainable, and patient-focused experiences.  Chapter Timestamps: 00:00 Preview Clip 00:57 Introduction 01:33 Eugene's Background and Journey to Softheon 04:17 Consumer Engagement, Analytics, and Healthcare Innovation 06:29 AI, Personalization, and the Future of Care 09:13 AI Agents, Automation, and the Importance of Human Oversight 12:45 Consumer Empowerment and Rising Healthcare Costs 17:33 Provider Sponsored Health Plans and Value Based Care 18:19 Enabling Healthcare at Home Through Technology 23:18 The Power of Digital Engagement and Automation 24:25 Global Healthcare Innovation and Expanding Access 29:15 Ethical AI, Governance, and the Path to AGI 33:21 Interoperability, Data Portability, and What's Next If you're a healthcare executive, provider, payer leader, or healthcare innovator, this conversation offers valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of care. Connect with Eugene on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenesayan Find Eugene's work at https://softheon.com Subscribe and stay at the forefront of the digital healthcare revolution. Find out why we're the fastest growing digital health channel on YouTube!  The Digital Healthcare Experience is a hub to connect healthcare leaders and tech enthusiasts. Powered by Taylor Healthcare, this podcast is your gateway to the latest trends and breakthroughs in digital health. Learn more about The Digital Healthcare Experience here. Taylor Healthcare empowers healthcare organizations to thrive in the digital world. Our technology streamlines critical workflows such as procedural & surgical informed consent with patented mobile signature capture, ransomware downtime mitigation, patient engagement and more. For more information about Taylor Healthcare, please visit imedhealth.com   The Digital Healthcare Experience Podcast: Powered by Taylor Healthcare Produced by Naomi Schwimmer  Hosted by Chris Civitarese Edited by Eli Banks Music by Nicholas Bach  

Dr. Mohsen Ghasempour, Chief AI Officer at Kingfisher, unpacks why the most dangerous thing a company can do with customer data is use all of it. He explains how a global, multi-brand retailer can draw the line between personalization that feels helpful and personalization that feels like surveillance. He also discusses why AI success is ultimately an execution problem rather than a technology problem. Key Takeaways:  What the "comfort test" is and how Kingfisher uses it to decide whether a personalization decision has gone too far How global retailers are resolving the tension between centralized AI infrastructure and brand-level autonomy Why legal and compliance teams are now embedded in AI development from the start What it will look like when AI stops being a distraction and starts being invisible infrastructure Guest Bio: Dr. Mohsen Ghasempour is a distinguished expert in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) with a solid academic foundation, holding a PhD in Computer Science. Currently, Mohsen serves as the Chief AI Officer at Kingfisher, where his leadership contributes to the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies within the organisation. With over 15 years of experience as an accomplished data scientist and visionary leader, Mohsen has consistently harnessed the power of data to drive strategic decision-making. Prior to his role at Kingfisher, he held pivotal positions in leading technology and retail organisations, including The Hut Group (THG) and Shop Direct. In these roles, he spearheaded cross-functional teams to implement cutting-edge Machine Learning and AI solutions, resulting in measurable and transformative outcomes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte  

Send us Fan MailBehavioral science for nonprofit fundraising reveals why good intentions do not always become donations and how nonprofits can design a donor experience that makes giving easier, more confident, and more rewarding. Eleni Fischer and Julia Toffoli of ideas42 share research-informed strategies for reducing donor friction without manufacturing or manipulating generosity.Donors operate in an increasingly crowded environment filled with emails, text messages, online appeals, giving platforms, and nearly two million registered U.S. nonprofits. Even people who genuinely want to give can become overwhelmed by competing choices, limited attention, unclear information, and a lack of meaningful feedback!In this conversation, Eleni and Julia explain how behavioral science examines the way people actually make decisions, not how organizations assume they should behave. Donors rely on emotions, habits, social norms, context, and mental shortcuts, especially when the number of choices becomes difficult to manage.That creates an important operational challenge for nonprofit leaders: fundraising success depends on more than producing another appeal or asking development staff to make more phone calls. The complete donor journey must be considered, including discovery, website design, donation forms, communications, stewardship, personalization, and reporting.Julia explains, “We don't want to try to manufacture intent or get people to do something that they don't want to do.” Instead, the goal is to help donors follow through on generosity they already value.The guests introduce ideas42's ‘Generosity by Design' framework, organized around four areas: capturing attention and encouraging discovery, curating and personalizing choices, improving framing and choice architecture, and providing reflection and feedback.As Julia reminds nonprofit teams, “Everything is a design choice.” When fundraising, marketing, technology, leadership, and donor services work together, nonprofits can create giving experiences that feel less transactional and more meaningful without adding unreasonable demands to already limited staff capacity.Key Takeaways:Choice overload can delay giving and reduce satisfaction with the final decision.Curated recommendations can help donors navigate an enormous field of charitable options.Donation-page design influences donor confidence, completion, and satisfaction.Feedback about giving history and impact can reinforce future generosity.Behavioral science should inform marketing, technology, stewardship, and fundraising—not remain isolated within one department.Nonprofits should help donors fulfill existing intentions rather than attempt to manufacture them.00:00:00 Unlocking Generosity with Behavioral Science00:02:11 How ideas42 Applies Behavioral Science00:05:09 How Donors Actually Make Decisions00:07:47 Donor Attention in an Overwhelming World00:09:42 Psychology, Culture, and Charitable Giving00:12:18 Redesigning the Donation Experience00:13:19 Turning Fundraiser Intuition into Strategy00:14:33 Aligning Fundraising, Marketing, and Technology00:18:51 The Biggest Behavioral Barriers to Giving00:21:59 Introducing Generosity by Design00:23:36 Curation, Personalization, and Choice Architecture00:24:58 Why Donors Need Reflection and Feedback#NonprofitFundraising #DonorEngagement #TheNonprofitShowFind us Live daily on YouTube!Find us  Live daily on LinkedIn!Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_ShowOur national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits!  12:30pm ET   11:30am CT  10:30am MT  9:30am PTSend us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.comVisit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show

Personalization could transform the future of retirement planning. This week on The Modern Custome Podcast, Jessica Austin Barker, Chief Digital Officer and Client Experience Officer at TIAA, joins Blake Morgan to explore how AI could help people receive guidance that reflects their individual goals, circumstances, and changing paths to retirement. Jessica shares why personalization remains only half solved, how AI could reduce the effort required to explore financial scenarios, and what an AI companion could offer across a customer relationship that spans decades. Listen to learn how AI could make retirement planning more personal, accessible, and easier to understand. Blake Morgan was called "The Queen of CX" by Meta. She is a customer experience futurist and author of three books on customer experience. Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Learn more at www.blakemichellemorgan.com 

AdTechGod sits down with Andrew Swinand, CEO of Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) and former CEO of Publicis Groupe Creative U.S. and Leo Burnett. Andrew shares how AI-powered content automation is helping global brands produce personalized creative at scale, reduce production costs by 50%, cut campaign timelines from 8 weeks to 2 weeks, and drive stronger marketing performance. They discuss operational AI vs generative AI, the future of agencies, creative effectiveness, personalization, and why the next decade may bring a creative renaissance instead of creative replacement. Takeaways AI-powered content automation is enabling brands to create personalized content at an unprecedented scale. ITG helps global brands localize campaigns across languages, markets, and audiences using AI. Brands are reducing production costs by roughly 50% while significantly speeding up go-to-market timelines. Operational AI delivers more immediate ROI than purely generative AI use cases. Most companies already possess valuable creative assets but struggle to find and utilize them efficiently. Effective personalization is not about one-to-one marketing but identifying "meaningful breaks" within audiences. Creative quality remains critical despite AI advancements. The future agency model will focus more on strategy, insights, and creative concepts while automation handles production. AI will eliminate repetitive production work but increase demand for higher-quality creative thinking. Andrew predicts a creative renaissance driven by the abundance of AI-generated content. Chapters00:00 Introduction & Welcome01:01 Andrew Swinand's Career Journey04:36 From Publicis & Leo Burnett to ITG06:20 What Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) Does07:43 How AI Transforms Content Production09:10 Cutting Costs, Speeding Up Campaigns & Personalization at Scale11:00 Why More Creative Variations Drive Better Performance12:42 Operational AI vs Generative AI15:18 AI-Powered Asset Organization & Content Discovery17:03 The Right Way to Personalize Advertising20:00 Why Creative Matters More Than Ever21:28 The Future of Agencies in an AI World23:28 AI Slop, Content Overload & Marketing Challenges26:36 What Marketers Are Overhyping About AI27:03 Andrew's Vision for Advertising in 5 Years28:23 Final Thoughts & Wrap-Up Guests: AdTech God Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if your brand could optimize itself 24/7?Welcome to the eCommerce Lab Podcast! In this episode of The eCommerce Lab by Ecomcy, we're joined by Manuel Prinz, Co-Founder of Stealth Startup, to explore how continuous AI-driven experimentation and personalization are transforming the way eCommerce brands optimize their performance.We'll discuss how to move beyond traditional A/B testing by leveraging AI to run ongoing experiments, personalize customer experiences at scale, and make faster, data-driven decisions that improve conversion rates and maximize revenue.Whether you're selling on Amazon, Shopify, or other eCommerce platforms, this conversation will give you actionable insights into the future of conversion optimization powered by artificial intelligence.#ecomcy #Amazon #amazonfba #amazonseller #amazonbusiness #amazonfbaseller #amazonppc #amazonadvertising #amazonsellercentral #amazonppctips #amazonprivatelabel #amazonselling #amazonseo

Today's Poll Question at Smerconish.com: Which is more valuable to you: the benefits of artificial intelligence or your privacy? Michael explores a provocative new way of thinking about artificial intelligence after reading "The Problem with Personalization" by media scholar Joseph Turow. While most AI debates focus on privacy and surveillance, this conversation examines a deeper concern: whether hyper-personalization is creating entirely different realities for each of us, weakening the shared experiences that hold communities together. Is AI's greatest cost the information it collects—or the social fabric it quietly unravels? Cast your vote on today's poll and hear why this emerging issue deserves far more attention. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we dive into how interactive visual experiences drive online sales and lower backend costs. Angelo Coletta, founder and CEO of Zakeke, shares how his plug-and-play platform helps brands stand out with 3D product customization, virtual try-ons, and brand-safe AI automation. He also reveals strategies for launching quickly without complex development cycles. Topics discussed in this episode:  How visual interaction layers improve customer loyalty.What customization tools do to lower backend operational costs.How automated club uniform ordering eliminates manual mistakes.What 3D visualization adds to enterprise sofa configuration.Why AI-driven image generation boosts catalog visual variety.How computer vision algorithms prevent costly manufacturing errors.Why brand safety guardrails prevent AI prompt hallucinations.What 3D catalogs do to reduce global sampling costs.How prompt-driven onboarding speeds up setup processes.Why flexible public APIs simplify complex stack integrations.Links & ResourcesWebsite: https://www.zakeke.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zakeke/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zakeke.official/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zakekeofficial/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZPd_oA-Hjq6CE4G1vSUM1QGet access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/3jxf4djhI'd love your feedback. Tap the the link to send me a text. ______________________________________________________LOVE THE SHOW? HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS!Follow the podcast to get every bonus episode. Tap follow now and don't miss out!   Rate & Review: Help others discover the show by rating the show on Apple Podcasts at https://tinyurl.com/ecb-apple-podcasts   Join our Free Newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommercecoffeebreak.com/   Support The Show On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EcommerceCoffeeBreak   Partner with us: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/partner-with-us/

Michael sits down with media scholar Dr. Joseph Turow to discuss his new book, "The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age." Their conversation explores how AI, advertisers, and tech platforms are reshaping not only our privacy, but our perception of the world. Turow explains how hyper-personalized media and marketing could erode the shared experiences that hold society together, creating increasingly isolated digital realities. It's a thought-provoking discussion about the hidden costs of convenience, surveillance, and the future of public discourse. Original air date 20 July 2026. The book was published on 11 June 2026. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can you still trust an incoming phone call when AI can imitate a familiar voice, personalize the conversation and target information specifically to you? In this episode, I speak with Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, about how artificial intelligence is changing phone fraud and why the personal devices carried by employees are becoming part of the corporate attack surface. Alex explains how YouMail uses data from its consumer call-protection service to identify scam behavior, understand the type of fraud taking place and connect those patterns with the phone numbers involved. Advances in large language models have improved this analysis, but the same technology is also helping criminals build far more convincing campaigns. Generic robocalls are being replaced by personalized conversations designed to extract information, impersonate trusted people and manipulate victims. Fraudsters can use AI throughout the attack chain, from identifying targets and analyzing stolen data to generating dialogue and adapting an approach during the call. Alex argues that attackers have adopted these capabilities faster than many defenders expected because successful fraud produces an immediate financial return. The conversation also examines why voice biometrics can no longer be treated as sufficient proof of identity. As voice-cloning tools improve, companies may need to combine multiple forms of authentication and move sensitive communications into trusted applications. A call received through a banking app, for example, could give the customer greater confidence that the caller really represents their bank. For businesses, the risk extends beyond company-managed technology. Attackers can identify where someone works, learn about their role and contact them through a personal phone that may sit outside corporate monitoring. An employee's private number can therefore provide another route into the business through impersonation and social engineering. Alex also makes a persuasive case for collecting less personal data. Personalization can improve a service, but every additional piece of information becomes something an attacker might obtain during a breach. His advice is to identify the minimum information needed to deliver the intended experience rather than gathering data simply because it may prove useful later. Despite the seriousness of the threat, Alex offers evidence that coordinated action can produce results. He has seen brand-impersonation campaigns reduced from tens of millions of calls each month to around 100,000 through monitoring, disruption and cooperation between businesses and telecommunications providers. If AI is making fraudulent calls harder to recognize, should businesses stop treating the telephone network as a trusted communication channel by default? Listen to the episode and share your thoughts with me.

Healthcare in America is stuck in a "sick care" model—we wait until people are already ill, then scramble to treat them. Dr. Gloria Winters, VP of Health Innovation at the YMCA of the USA, has spent the last year building something different: a community health operating system that pulls together your wearables, your medical records, and AI-driven insights into one place, so you actually know what to do with your health data instead of just staring at numbers. In this episode, she breaks down her "house" framework for the $5.6 trillion healthcare industry, why falls cost the country more than almost anything else, how she's working directly with HHS and the MAHA movement on preventive health policy, and why personal agency—not just data—is the missing piece in helping people actually change their behavior. If you've ever felt like your Apple Watch tells you everything except what you should actually do next, this conversation is for you. Key Takeaways:

Are you leaving money on the table by ignoring AI personalization in your Amazon brand? Neil Twa dives into the missed opportunities most operators face by not using customer behavior signals. While ad spend continues to rise, conversion rates remain stagnant. Neil breaks down a real case from one of his portfolio brands in the home goods category, where traffic and conversion were decent, but repeat purchases lagged. Discover how AI personalization can transform your brand's performance by utilizing data you already have. Neil shares three actionable moves you can implement this week, regardless of your current level. Open your Brand Analytics Search Query Performance report, filter by top SKUs, and identify search terms driving impressions but not conversions. The High Voltage Business Builders Podcast is here to help sellers at every level maximize their potential. Ready to implement with us? Join the Voltage Business Builders cohort at voltagedm.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep326 See your Amazon numbers in one place and protect your margins with Caiman Data at voltagedm.com: https://voltagedm.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep326&learn_mcp=1

summary In this episode, James Stephan-Usypchuk, AI deal architect and founder of Solutions, shares insights on how AI is transforming deal sourcing, growth strategies, and the importance of creativity in AI development. Discover how AI can be leveraged ethically to drive strategic growth and innovation. key topics AI-driven deal origination and sourcing Growth engine systems and strategic scaling Ethical considerations in AI development Personalization and automation in sales and marketing Future trends in AI and entrepreneurship takeaways AI can originate thousands of off-market deals in a short period. Personalization in AI messaging enhances engagement and response rates. Ethical AI development is crucial to maintain trust and privacy. AI can be a magnet for the right opportunities when tuned properly. Creativity and innovation are essential for AI to solve new problems. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Guest Background 01:16 Solutions' History and Focus 02:01 Evolution of AI in Business 03:15 AI in Deal Sourcing and Growth 04:18 How Ecliptica Uses AI for Growth 05:51 Investment and Capital Strategies 07:14 Success Stories in AI Deal Origination 10:02 Targeting the Right Opportunities 12:55 Balancing Automation and Personalization 15:41 The Role of Human Touch in AI 18:20 AI in Investor and Market Analysis 20:57 Advice for Future AI Innovators The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth. Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We're breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.In this episode, Elena and Rob explore what triggers the personalization backfire effect and why the same ad can feel helpful one day and invasive the next. Topics covered:[01:20] "Triggering the Personalization Backfire Effect: The Moderating Role of Situational Privacy Concern"[02:45] How the study tested three levels of ad personalization[04:27] When more personal data actually hurts performance[06:10] Privacy sensitivity isn't a fixed personality trait[07:10] Contextual targeting vs. identity-based targetingTo learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.Resources: Kim, H., & Han, S. (2025). Triggering the personalization backfire effect: The moderating role of situational privacy concern. Behavioral Sciences.Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tune in the latest Suite Spot episode as special guests, Dave Jacoby, Founder/Owner of Hotel Lucine and Kaleigh Wiese, Founder and CEO of Ode Places, take a moment to discuss the independent and boutique hotel landscape and the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami in this episode for the Suite Spot Independent Hotel Show Series. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot podcast. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here with another episode of our Independent Hotel Show series. This is season two. We’ve done quite a number of these independent hotel show series episodes, but this is the first one where we’ve got multiple guests. So I’m excited to bring them both in today. First with me, Dave Jacoby, founder and owner of Hotel Lucine, and Kaleigh Weise, founder and CEO of Ode Places. Dave, Kaleigh, thank you so much for being with me today. Dave Jacoby: So excited. Thanks for having us. Kaleigh Weise: What a way to kick off the independent hotel show. Dave and I got to share the stage last year. Dave Jacoby: We did. Kaleigh Weise: And I feel like we could have talked for a million more hours. And we’re friends, but also we’ve worked together, so I feel like I’m excited to be on together. Ryan Embree: Alright, well this is awesome. I’m excited. We’ll, we won’t be able to speak for a million hours, but we’ll definitely have some time today. And I’m excited, but as tradition here in the Suite Spot, one of the wonderful things about our industry and hospitality is people come from all different walks of life to get into our industry. Sometimes you fall into it with a summer job, sometimes you start as a bellman. Like myself, we love to hear these stories. We live and breathe these stories in hospitality and share them with others. So let’s start by just a proper introduction and maybe your hospitality journeys that led you to your respective positions. Kaleigh, let’s start with you. Kaleigh Weise: Yeah. Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. So if you see me at the show, come find me. I have been self-employed by whole entire career, and I have always been obsessed with the form and function of business. Like, how do you have a brand that really resonates despite, you know, I see your brand is like a lighthouse, right? Like, how are you attracting the right people? But also at the end of the day, like that business has to be incredibly healthy. And then you layer on a hotel, which is a 24/7 breathing company. And so how do you make sure that you have the longevity with systems and processes and you have a brand that continues to resonate as the years develop. And so I got my start serving in essentially helping brand and position and help with coaching for hospitality and service-based businesses. And then that naturally led into places where people slept, right? So I actually was working with event venues for a long time and when we got into the lodging conversation, I was like, now this is fascinating, a one time event versus like, keeping this up 24/7, what does that look like? And so we, I started out places essentially in 2018 after being in Northern California in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, we got to support a property out there. And I was like, the resonance that I got to feel to plant seeds of purpose into the land there of those 80 acres and understanding the choices we made would affect short-term and long-term generations really put me on a trajectory where that’s where I’ve committed my work so far. Ryan Embree: Really cool origin story there. And a lot of parallels from the event industry to hospitality and lodging. So, Dave, what about you? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, thanks. So I’m born and raised in Philadelphia, but somehow I ended up in Galveston, Texas, so I did not have that on my bingo card growing up. But here I am, out of college, worked in some finance and kind of hotel development related positions. First in New York City, then went to graduate school, then moved to Las Vegas and actually was in the casino space. But throughout that whole kind of portion of my journey was developing projects that were other people’s ideas and kind of on behalf of others, even though, you know, in Vegas, for example, I led development and opening up a resort there, moved to Galveston, where my wife is from. And my family’s now based in 2016. And just felt like I fell in love with Galveston, but felt like Galveston needed a slightly different hospitality experience here. Something with a little more soul that matched the soul that this whole town has. But the hospitality offerings that I didn’t feel like harnessed that soul really well, yet found an old kind of out of favor motel on the beach and figured out a way to acquire it and came up with a brand and a design and a team that we put together. And it’s been a labor of love and, you know, blood, sweat and tears sometimes, but a lot of smiles and happiness too. And we’re going on three years open, so, okay, that’s kind of how I got here. Ryan Embree: That’s like the America, the hotel American dream, what you’re doing right now. And listen, I went to school for hospitality and I think just this conversation already between the event management, hospitality, the gaming that you’ve included. I mean, this is like hospitality management 101 through the experiences, but certainly a familiar one where you’re bouncing around. But it sounds like you found your home there in Galveston. I was really excited about this conversation because it’s very rare I get to talk to two guests that have kind of built their brands from the ground up, right? And I think this is a challenge and a task that especially independent hoteliers have to kind of face and building their story and building a brand that resonates with travelers, especially today. So how important is branding and storytelling to connect with guests? Because I think that is what independent hotels strive to do is create this connection that might be missing right now and, you know, really hopefully leads to loyalty in the future. And what maybe advice would you share from your own personal kind of branding journeys? Dave, we’ll start with you and then go to Kaleigh. Dave Jacoby: The brand is so central to what we’re doing. We sort of started with that brand identity, and I use the term identity not as like a business jargon term, but it really is an identity. We personified our brand and there are still decisions that we’ll make where we have this fictitious Aunt Lucine that we will use as a muse for decisions we make around property. And it’s sort of a guiding light for us. But, I think the concept of kind of personifying your brand really helps make it make sense, at least for me. So, I look at how do we connect with our guests? I really look at how we connect with our local community and use that as the window in to our guests with the kind of overriding assumption that if our whole town and local surrounding population considers us part of the fabric of that neighborhood, that the outsiders will, that authenticity will come through. Outsiders will see that that’s where they’ll want to stay. So then, back to the personification of it, just like in your personal life, if you are friends with a group of people, you need to add something to that group and you need to then take something back from that group. So I sort of look at Galveston as the environment here is like a play. And instead of us coming in and saying, well, what is everyone else doing, we’ll do that too. So that we fit in saying, well, how do we add a new main character to the cast here? And I sort of look at it that way. And so what are we adding that’s different, but how does it fit into and, and be complimentary with everything around it? And that’s, that’s kind of how we, we looked at how we fit in and what we offer to our guests both, as, you know, overnight hotel guests and local community that might eat, drink, hang out with us. Ryan Embree: Kaleigh? Kaleigh Weise: Well, I wanna also compliment Dave and Keith have done such a phenomenal job at Hotel Lucine that they have a brand bible, if you will. And I think that it is a testament to how the vision casting of Aunt Lucine infiltrates, the purchases that they make for design, the plants, the employees, the uniforms, how they want them to talk and walk, and all of that alignment I think resonates really well with attracting the right talent, but also attracting the right guests. And so I think having intentionality, I always say, your brand is what other people say it is. So we have to remember that we have control over how we position our brands and what we want. So I think intentionality is first, which I think Hotel Stein does. On the flip side of that, I think we have to be realistic about who is traveling and who is coming to the hotel or who is also the consumer. Obviously on the B2B side, I usually like to pick three to five different personas, and I think that that helps shape making decisions. We have a property we’re working with right now that is on 12 acres. There’s 43 cabins. It’s primarily outside, right? It’s like, okay, who is the ideal person who’s looking for a property like this? And I think the clearer that you can get with that, it helps you understand where your revenue programming is gonna come for, like, come from. It helps you understand like where you should put costs. Like do they care about the amenities? Do they care about the soap? Do they want a robe in the room? And I think sometimes we make decisions that are too close to maybe how we would like to travel or what we think is best, and we forget what our guests might be looking for, which then leads to greater revenue opportunities and better residents that leads to people wanting to come back because they feel like they belong there, right? Like that was created for them. So that’s kind of the flip side of I think knowing who you are, but knowing who your guest is is equally as important. Ryan Embree: Yeah, a hundred percent. And there’s, I mean, guests are leaving us clues constantly on who they are based on online feedback, social media posts, reviews, there’s so many things. Even just a day-to-day conversations, you would be surprised, a tip that everyone gets, you know, you wanna know, you wanna learn about what guests think about you, just hang out in your lobby for a couple minutes during breakfast and just hear the conversations about what people are saying about their stay. But Dave, I loved your point there about talking about being embedded in the local community because you think about people that really prioritize a unique experience in the independent hotel space, which they’re independent hotels are so positioned to do, if you don’t become a part of your community, they’re looking for that unique kind of experience that only an independent hotel can provide them. If you’re really embracing your local community and sharing those same kind of aspects of it’s gonna hopefully resonate with that traveler. And then hopefully they amplify that story a little bit in some of the ways that I was talking about. But one of the things we’re gonna talk about the independent hotel show in a second in September, very excited about that. But one of the things that I love about that show is sometimes as independent hotels, you might feel a little bit like you’re on an island because you don’t have that big brand behind you, right? So getting a bunch of independent hoteliers together, you hear about some of the challenges that are going on right now. And unfortunately right now there’s a lot of noise in our industry. Economic shift, geopolitical factors, rising operational costs and margins are very thin, can be challenging for independent hoteliers. Where do you guys see opportunity right now? Because independent hotels are always looking for that little bit of edge. Where do you see opportunity right now in the state of this industry and maybe where do you see some shared challenges that we have to kind of battle as an industry for independent hotelilers? Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then maybe Dave you could zoom in maybe a little bit more on your property and market. Kaleigh Weise: I think the biggest thing that I’m seeing is, I talk about all these revenue drivers as like little dials. We get to tweak and twist, right? And I think that through some of the impacts that we’re having that are things that are outside of our control, right? There’s only so much we can do with some of these things. There are a few things that you actually can kind of take control over. And I think that investing more in the community and finding opportunities to drive revenue with the people who are in your local area who maybe aren’t traveling for the summer or fall or Christmas or whatever that might be through that event programming, it is not uncommon for us to go into a independent hotel and they haven’t really ever thought about events, especially if they’re under, let’s say 60 keys. Even 20 to 40 or 80 is a great number because you have an opportunity to having a full buyout, or you can have 40th birthday parties or a wedding or something like that. And that can be a huge revenue driver. And so I think as we look at shifts that are happening with, you know, the average event or wedding right now is booking a hundred or event is booking 120 days out. I think the average wedding is booking somewhere between nine and and 14 months out. You can start forecasting revenue a little bit more in control and then focusing on your rooms and your distribution in shorter term pickup opportunities. And so I think understanding where are all of your revenue drivers? What do you have control over? What do you not have control over? And where are, maybe there are opportunities that will be very low lift to you to be able to fill dates and have revenue coming in ways that haven’t been the pickup that you anticipated. Ryan Embree: yeah, and food and beverage, huge opportunity and doesn’t, you’re absolutely right, Kaleigh. It doesn’t necessarily need to be travelers from outside of your market all the time. The hotel restaurant, I feel like has got a bad rap for the last decade or so, but it is turning around, right? And it’s a place where people want to be. It’s a social setting where when people come, you might be hosting people and for the holidays or what have you, and you might find yourself at a hotel restaurant even if they’re not staying there. So it’s certainly a shift in what’s happening right now, but especially for independent hotels. Dave, what about you? What have you kind of seen in your market and maybe any creative solutions for some of these challenges right now? Dave Jacoby: I mean, I’ll sort of piggyback off of what Kaleigh said a little bit there, but it’s events and Kaleigh has sort of focused on booking events from, you know, outside groups. I’ll sort of look at it more as your internal event programming I think is also really important. And, and that’s, and it’s our kind of best way that we use to connect with our local community. And what that event programming is can be so many different things. It sort of depends who you are, who is in your community, and how do you fit into your community, what do you offer? So kind of when I talked about earlier, need to offer something back to your community that you’re in, for us that means a lot of live music. We’re very plugged into the local live music scene and we have a great curated music program every weekend night, all year long. And then in the summer we have a series called Sunset and Sounds, which is sort of larger bands that are touring. Some are touring the U.S. Some are based in Austin or elsewhere in Texas, and they come down to hotel scene and we put on free shows for hotel guests, the community, whoever wants to go. We do wellness events and that might be cold plunges or sound baths. We’ll partner with local organizations that wanna do fundraisers or other events. And it’s just a way to activate the space. It’s a way for people that are not from your town to have a experience where they feel like they’re integrated into what’s happening in that community. It’s a little more interesting for them as a visitor. And if you’re staying at a large chain hotel down the street or in another market, they just can’t deliver that. They don’t have the people, enough people with decision making power that are in the community that are focused on that. It’s just not the way they’re built. So that’s really the advantage I think independents do have over the larger chain hotels. We might not have the distribution systems and some of the other marketing spend, but we do have the ability to deliver on a day-to-day basis and experience that’s just different than what those larger hotels can. Kaleigh Weise: And I would like to comment that, you know, we’re seeing data around three hour drives being really hot, right? So I think sometimes you think you’re marketing to the next nearest city or, you know, looking for that destination destination visitor. I think really thinking about who are those markets that are within a three hour drive that are easy pickup for you once they know that you exist and you’ve again pointed your lighthouse of your marketing and branding in their direction, I think that’s a wonderful way to pick up opportunities for guests and community and events and things like that. Ryan Embree: Hey, I am the father of a 5 and a 3-year-old. And let me tell you, I’m a huge proponent of the three hour trip because that’s about as far as I can get before all of us go a little crazy. So you, you can bet I’m definitely looking for those opportunities to get out there and have that type of experience that Dave, you know, it’s around this time of year when we’re I’m talking to independent hotels that I get so inspired because the freedom of having an independent hotel and the activations and programming that you can put on, I think sometimes independent hotels, because they see some of these big branded hotels not doing some of this programming. They think should I be doing it? And it’s maybe because they have so much red tape in their branding, they have to get approval from, legal or their brand to actually run these things that they’re just not doing it. So it’s such an opportunity, and again, I get so inspired to kind of see that because the way the ingenuity that these independent hoteliers have is just, it’s second to none in our industry. It’s really creating a very cool experience, which is now being showcased and highlighted easier than ever via social media and reviews. So as we talk about industry trends, I wanna see, Kaleigh, you were talking about the three hour trip, right? Wellness is a big one, f &b, what are some of these maybe traveler trends that you’re starting to see bubble up and emerge right now? And how can independent hotels capitalize on these trends and over maybe branded competitors? Dave, you want to start maybe any trends that you’re noticing in your market in Galveston? Dave Jacoby: I’d say one might be the, and to use a buzzword here, the bleisure trends or the business leisure trends. So we will find, sometimes we’ll get small groups, maybe it’s a board or a small creative agency or something like that, that will come and have an offsite with us. And it’s partially meant to be used as a brainstorming session or some obvious business function to their meeting. But it’s also a time to hang out. Some of these groups might bring spouses with them or there might be a business component and then they’ll stay for the weekend and then it’s a little more freeform or social at that point. Or I’ll sort of see this bleisure happen from the other direction where someone will say, Hey, I want to come for a weekend and be at the beach, but why not come on Wednesday night and I’ll stay and I’ll just, I work from home anyway. That’s become so much more acceptable for all or part of the week for so many people. What does it matter if I work from home, from home home or from a hotel or a hotel lobby where I’ve got coffee? And it can be tended to. So we sort of see leisure trips happen in both those directions where the, the work kind of lends a little more leisure and the leisure lends a little more work. Kaleigh Weise: We also have a great living room for people to work and hang out and stay and enjoy beachside. Dave Jacoby: We do, we do. I sit in there often and you’re, and you’re right that it is when I overhear what people are saying about the hotel, I do my work, but I also eave drop and pop in on people and help out with things. Ryan Embree: It’s funny ’cause you know, modern day design for hotels now are accommodating for that. They know that the flexible workspace and they’re building lobby common areas a little bit larger or maybe even not so siloed so that people can mingle, interact, but also have some spaces to work from. So certainly a trend there. Kaylee, what are you seeing maybe from, as you zoom out? Kaleigh Weise: I mean I think experiences and add-ons are something that I continue to be surprised by. So if I’m the North American Ambassador for Muse, so I of course love Muse, but also cloud beds and stay in touch and all of, like, they all offer these add-on options where a guest during checkout or pre-arrival, they can add that early check-in. I’m blown away by the amount of people who opt into that $35 pre-check in or wanna add a bottle of wine to the room. Like those little details, it’s so helpful when they’re coming to have that reminder that we can make this a more customized stay for you. And so I think the sweet spot is no more than seven upsell opportunities. But I think that that even bleeds into, I know when we were helping with Hotel Lucine I’d ideate on some of these things, it’s like they ended up doing pop-up dinners on the balconies of their rooms and adding, I forget, a couple hundred dollars right? Or picnic baskets that people could take offsite. And I think people are hungry for having that almost like travel agent like experience where if the property can customize an itinerary for them or enhancements for their stay, I think they’re very excited and eager to be able to take advantage of that. So I think that’s a trend that’s happening and desirable, but something that I see a lot of independent hoteliers are stuck in the day to day and maybe not adding the attention that they could that will see the revenue that really is low hanging fruit out there. Dave Jacoby: Kaleigh’s so good at that. I mean she helped us with that as she mentioned, but she’s got this ability to kind of come in and just see what’s going on every day and she’s not seeing anything you don’t see immediately. But then she also sees these other opportunities of ways to personalize the guest experience in a way that you’re happy to do and isn’t a heavy lift for you and the guest is happy to pay for. And it’s just such a win-win. It’s almost like you get the surprise and delight moment right outta the gates and the guest pays for it too. It’s a great, it’s a great combo. Kaleigh Weise: Just a matter of training the staff and getting in on the website. Ryan Embree: That’s right. Very important. Get the buy-in from the staff. But you mentioned that word personalized. I mean that’s what we’ve been striving for in this industry for a long time. Personalization and with the rise of technology and AI like I put here, it’s not a podcast in 2026 if we don’t use those words. I don’t think I anybody would listen if we don’t talk about that or that buzzword. But I do wanna talk about it because I think especially with independent hotels, they might be more excited than most because it could figure out a way they could use AI and technology to maybe shrink the difference or find that edge against a branded competitor and maybe not feel so, you know, just David versus Goliath in that sense. So Kaleigh, have you kind of seen any competitive or creative uses of technology and AI in the industry, especially with independent hotels? And then maybe Dave you could share a little bit of your thoughts as well. Kaleigh Weise: I definitely see us being in a bit of a purgatory and as I’m talking about this, I’m thinking fast forward a year from now and I think agentic agents are at our fingertips for having access to supportive administrative help. And I see what Muse is working on behind the scenes and it’s like we’re gonna be living in a very different operational world. In I think all the best ways. And when I think about the future of an org chart at a small independent property where you have to get stuck in the day-to-day right now planning and preparing for guests and double checking things like being able to be synced in when Uber’s about to when Uber’s about to drop off your guest. And being able to be prepared with that timing. I think we’re gonna see our front desk admin become hosts for the first time and really have the time and empowerment to be able to greet them with the level of detail and customization. I also think the automations, I think we’re gonna snap that into being just such a helpful tool to ask the right questions or personalize the spaces. So I think currently it’s very challenging, let’s say for an independent hotel to offer a pillow menu, if you will, for the right pillows that that guest is gonna want. But I think in the future we’re gonna be able to have the opportunity for putting a time and attention into creating experiences that guest deserves that’s customized based on various preferences or interactions. And so I think it’s a really exciting time for actually hospitality to take back the spotlight. And that’s why people join this industry, right? Is they love hosting people and giving people experiences. And I think sometimes the admin takes away from that, you know? And I think that it’s gonna allow us to be more competitive when it comes to distribution. All of us didn’t go to school to be revenue managers, right? And I think that is a, that is a calculated game that to be able to have tools that can help support us and making sure that we’re optimizing the proper ADR and and pickup cost to be able to book our occupancy moving forward. I think it’s a really exciting time. I think we’re just in the purgatory of it right now. It’s like at our fingertips, but we’re not quite there. But I think about a year from now, things are gonna feel like it’s restabilizing in a really exciting way. Ryan Embree: So Dave, from an owner’s per perspective, you’ve, you just talked about how carefully you’ve kind of curated and built this incredible experience at Hotel Lucine. What is your thoughts on when you think about implementing technology or, or some sort of new AI initiative into the guest experience and how you make sure that doesn’t impact your brand too much? Dave Jacoby: I like the term Kaleigh used about purgatory. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. If you look at the amount of, certainly in the independent space, useful applications of AI in the day-to-day life versus the amount of words in print publications about AI, it’s a massive imbalance there. To me, the right ways that AI can be implemented are ways that are invisible to the guests. So the example Kaleigh was using is one that we’re, I’m rolling out actually now in kind of bits and pieces is how do you use AI to improve your day-to-day workflow? And for me, if it’s, I can unleash it on my Google drive and have it pull a bunch of information and synthesize it and put report together for that I can then give to our team. We’ve got better data and that would’ve taken me three hours, but I let it run in the background for 10 minutes and it’s done. You know, things like that to get better insights on your business, that can be done. Now, to the extent we can use AI to free up front desk agents, I’m working through a specific protocol on that now, just to get all the, what’s your pet policy, what time is check? And we just get so many emails that are repetitive in nature to answer. And the front desk agent isn’t always on top of it. Sometimes they’re doing other things, and I’d rather they be eyeball to eyeball with a guest acting as a host or hostess to the people that come in and providing person to person hospitality and not in the computer. We can free that up. You can do that now. So it’s a matter of just setting the systems up and taking the time to do it. And you can set it up with as much automation or oversight as you want to do, but it’s a matter of taking the time to actually do it so that you can free up those personal interactions. Because that’s where we as independent hotels, I think are, that’s what we people come to us for, is for that personalized touch and feeling like they’re having a human interaction and they’re not at a big corporate commoditized hotel. So we wanna give them that as much as we can. Kaleigh Weise: And I mean, I think human-centric is so important. I think we can, we can still remain to have a human-centric business with these tools. I hear all the time people feel like they’re so behind with using AI. And I guess even for those listeners today, I think you can relinquish the shame because the speed in which AI is gonna continue to grow is gonna continue to grow. And I think the application of that, depending on what market you’re in, what tools you’re using, I think if you can focus on one implementation thing that’s gonna actually help you serve your guests better, you’re not behind. It’s really just pacing that is right for your team, for your guests, and what’s gonna be right for you. But also don’t be afraid of it. Like, I think that there’s a lot of exciting things and tools that are only gonna be able to support us as an industry. Ryan Embree: My big bold prediction is that I think the GM of the next couple years is actually gonna look a lot more like maybe the GM of 20, 30 years ago before all of that kind of work that what we traditionally thought a GM had to do with reports and all of these things that actually some of those desk jockeying kind of tasks, AI can, agentic AI could potentially take care of for you. And then you get back to kind of doing what both of you described as, you know, that face-to-face human interaction. So what I’m hoping is that, you know, a lot of this technology actually kind of causes more of our service driven people and hospitality professionals to kind of rise to the top and create some really cool, memorable experiences and maybe just get that service back to where it was. Because it just feels like there’s some aspects of it in some hotels where it just, we completely missed the mark. So that’s my, maybe that’s me being a litte too, but that’s, that’s my 2 cents and what I hope happens. Dave Jacoby: No, no, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I thought of one other great application for independent hoteliers for AI. We don’t have an in-house IT guy. We don’t have an in-house like maintenance tech. We’re just not big enough to carry those positions. But you can go to your, claude, chatGPT, whatever it is, and say, why did my TV turn on three times in the middle of the night by itself in room 212 last night? True story, this happened and the guest was upset. And then I explained what my systems are and how they work and what they can, you give it a little bit of input information, it’ll help you diagnose. I haven’t yet tried the recommendation ’cause I’m on here talking to you guys. But there are all kinds of solutions you can ask for help for and they might not be right, but before you’re spending money to call out an HVAC technician, find somebody who can handle whatever this one specific system you have is and can service that you can troubleshoot a lot of these things and 60, 70% of these things you can fix on your own because it’ll walk you through it. It’s really a helpful way to save money. And that also helps guests experience, right? Because now if that TV’s not turning on three times middle of the night for that guest tomorrow night, she’ll be happy. Ryan Embree: Love it. Yeah. There we go. Just claude gonna be employee of the, of the week over there at Hotel Lucine every week If we get that figured out. But I do wanna shift our attention to the reason we, you know, started this series, the Independent Hotel Show this year happening September 16th and 17th in Miami Beach. We could not be more excited. And for our Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Dave, you’re on the advisory board and Kaleigh, you’re a brand ambassador like myself. We were on a call talking about the show just the other day. I wanna get your thoughts on what inspired you to get involved with this event and maybe some of your personal favorite aspects of the show. So Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then Dave, you can answer. Kaleigh Weise: I have been an active conference goer my whole career, right? Like a little bit of hustling, a little bit of gorilla marketing. And when I look back at the growth and success in my career, it really comes down to the thin threads and the people that I meet. And I think to have an opportunity to pull up a seat at the table for independent hoteliers who do feel very isolated most of the time, right? They don’t have any other friends who have independent hotels to call. They feel like they’re stuck in the day to day. This will be the fourth year. And I’ve been able to be a part all four years. And I think it’s really exciting to even meet back up every year and hear about the growth that each person is experiencing, but also what’s working in their market and not, and just because you’re in Boston or you’re in Galveston or you’re in Monterey, California, you’re gonna find that you have more the same than different when it comes to the day-to-day challenges of operating a business or being able to get in front of the right guests that you know that you deserve, that are paying the price point that you want. And so to have an opportunity to hear what’s relevant in terms of content, but also talk with other people is just invaluable. And so I continue to be really excited about the niche of, you know, the subsegment. The industry is so large in lodging and we really haven’t had a place until the Independent Hotel Show that gathers this segment of people who are doing it. Owner operated and small with a passion. Ryan Embree: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. Passion is is a word we hear a lot at that show. Because you can just see, I mean these are, you guys are both founders like I mentioned before. I mean the passion behind your brand, the storytelling makes such a huge difference. And to have that much energy and a place Miami Beach of all places, right? One of the independent hotel capital of the world, to see and hear all of that is a truly a memorable experience. Dave what about yourself? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, so unlike Kaleigh, I do not go to a lot of conferences. It’s not generally my thing, but I’ve been into this show and really loved it. I loved how we mentioned earlier how a lot of independent hoteliers haven’t really had a lot of places to congregate and kind of coalesce their thoughts together. I found the panels awesome, even the ones that I was like, well that’s doesn’t really touch what I do in my day to day, but I’m here so I’ll listen. All of them. I found really interesting. More than that, it was just the people that were there, these other independent hotel helped hoteliers who had done gone on their own journeys to get wherever they got. And they had all figured it out. Ghere was not a lot of resources in front of them telling them how to do what they needed to do. They just, they needed to pay their mortgage, they just did the next right thing and got there. So hearing the stories of how people solved whatever the issues were that were in front of them and sharing my own stories and finding the commonalities of maybe the setting was different or the problem was different, but really the approach was very the same. Or getting inspiration from people who have figured out things I hadn’t figured out yet and learning from them. So I really like just the being able to learn so much kind of one-on-one from people and in and in some of the sessions. Kaleigh Weise: I also think they do a great job of pulling together vendors and resources. It is not uncommon for an independent hotelier to go to Costco for some of their… Or order on, you know, Walmart.com or Amazon. And I feel like there really are great resources out there that are made for independent hoteliers and to bring them into the room to have a conversation around cost savings or ability to be able to elevate the amenities that they have on site. I’m really excited ’cause I think of the show floor this year is gonna be bigger and better than ever from what we were hearing in preparation. And so I think it’s a wonderful opportunity that people should allow time to walk the floor in addition to hearing the sessions because those vendors can really change their bottom line quite significantly with implementation. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s so cool to see the eclecticness of the independent hoteliers there from, Dave, you’re a great example coming from Galveston, Texas. You could be coast to coast anywhere from like a little five room air bnb rather to a giant independent hotel in a major market. So just everything in between, all different shapes and sizes when it comes to independent hotels, independent hotels. That’s why we love them so much. That’s why we like hearing the stories and why it’s such a unique space and hospitality. And to be able to spend those couple days putting the spotlight on sometimes, this really, really unique segment, it’s such a privilege. We’ve had the opportunity to cover the show for four years as well. So we’re very excited and hope our Suite Spot listeners will join us in Miami Beach this September. So as we wrap up, I do like to just kind of give the opportunity for any final thoughts as we wrap up today. I want to thank both of you for taking the time to join me today. Kaleigh, any final thoughts before we wrap up? Kaleigh Weise: Yeah, I feel like the, the topic I wanna touch on is a lot of hoteliers in the making are interested in the show and I feel like there’s a little bit of intimidation showing up, not really having background or knowledge or even knowing what they’re getting themselves into. And so I guess from an affirmation perspective, this is a wonderful show if this is an industry that you’re curious about or you wanna learn more about or you wanna have the conversations around. And so we look forward to hopefully welcoming you in September. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, I will echo that. And kind of say there are a lot of people at this show that are interested in the space and maybe are there to learn and they’ll find that people are there like myself or other people who have kind of gone through the process and developed their hotel. I would just say to all of them here, what I’ll say to you at the show is, I didn’t know what I was doing either when I started and a lot of us don’t. And there’s no playbook. There’s not gonna be a playbook. You’re not gonna find one that’s gonna tell you what to do at all steps. You just surround yourself with smart people. You need to know what you can and cannot do and where your limits are and kind of take the plunge and figure it out as you go. And your decision making in the moment is really gonna be what’s gonna drive the process. And if you’re always waiting to have the full roadmap, you’re never gonna have that roadmap. Ryan Embree: Maybe that’ll be our next endeavor as the independent hoteliers playbook and we can publish that as a couple authors. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, a long book. Ryan Embree: Yes. Take a lot I’m sure. Kaleigh Weise: Variation A, B, C, D. Ryan Embree: Exactly. Ryan Embree: Well, Kaleigh, Dave, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time, sharing your stories today. We cannot wait for September at the Independent Hotel Show. And thank you all for listening to the Suite Spot. We will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this episode, Logan is joined by guest co-host Lee Gimpel and guest Vinnu Deshetty, the Event ROI Coach, for a conversation about one of the most misunderstood topics in the events industry right now: data. Vinnu breaks down what clean data actually means, where AI is genuinely helping event professionals versus where the hype is outpacing the reality, and what real personalization looks like versus what just looks like it. If you've ever felt intimidated by data or unsure where to start, Vinnu makes it feel human, practical, and worth your attention.SHOW NOTES:Purchase our on-demand How to Start an Event Planning Business Workshop: https://bettereventspod.com/workshopConnect with Vinnu Deshetty:Website: https://www.eventroicoach.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinnudeshetty/Connect with guest co-host Lee Gimpel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-gimpel/Learn more about the pod, Better Events Conference and more: https://bettereventspod.com/the-latestWant our updated free run of show template? Download it here: https://bettereventspod.com/templates/p/run-of-show-template-freeTHANKS FOR THE LOVE! Love this podcast? Please share with your event friends, tag us, and leave a review!——FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM:@bettereventspod@loganstrategygroup_events (Logan)@epeventsllc (Mary)

Relying solely on programmatic CTV auctions locks brands out of premium live sports and high-value cultural moments while racking up heavy middleware fees. This deep dive reveals how direct-to-ad-server tech and large language models are restructuring streaming media execution to protect brand safety, automate delivery, and enforce flawless frequency capping. Key Highlights

Not all work happens in writing. Teams that work with photos, videos, and audio need AI that works for them too. This is why, with Dropbox, you can search within multimedia content for key moments and important information—not just text. In this episode, we talk with Appu Shaji and Hicham Badri, two Dropbox machine learning engineers who are part of the team that makes all of this possible. They explain how multimodal search works—from understanding the context of the initial query, to identifying objects and actions in complex scenes—and how they ensure those models work fast, even at Dropbox-scale. ~ ~ ~  Working Smarter is brought to you by Dropbox. Find, organize, and share your work—all in one place—with context-aware AI from Dropbox. You can listen to more episodes of Working Smarter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. To read more stories and past interviews, visit workingsmarter.ai This show would not be possible without the talented team at Cosmic Standard: producer Ben Montoya, sound engineer Aja Simpson, technical director Jacob Winik, and executive producer Eliza Smith. Special thanks to our illustrator Fanny Luor, marketing consultant Meggan Ellingboe, and editorial support from Catie Keck.  Our theme song was composed by Doug Stuart.  Working Smarter is hosted by Matthew Braga. Thanks for listening!

Key  topics Impact of AI on retail strategy Evolution of retail events and networking Future trends in retail technology Leadership and organizational change in retail Real-world applications of AI in retail Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Krystina Gustafson and Retail Innovation 02:02 Krystina's Journey from Journalism to Retail 03:55 Lessons from Early Digital Transformation at Women's Wear Daily 07:00 The Role of Content and Curiosity in Retail Leadership 10:10 Transition from Journalism to Shop Talk and Retail Events 13:03 Insights on Building a Successful Retail Conference 16:01 The Rapid Evolution of AI in Retail 20:08 Strategic Planning and Long-term AI Roadmaps 24:09 Operational Applications of AI in Physical Retail Spaces 27:58 The Future of Personalization and Customer Experience 32:59 Challenges and Opportunities in AI Adoption 38:10 The Importance of Connection and Authenticity in Events 41:47 The Intersection of Physical and Digital Retail 45:06 AI's Role in Enhancing Customer Engagement 49:08 Lightning Round: Retail Predictions and Trends

Let's be honest — nobody wakes up in the morning excited to open your app. Well, some people may but definitely not all of them! And in 2026, the CRM teams that win aren't the ones sending more messages. They're the ones who know exactly who to reach, on which channel, at which moment — and when to say nothing at all. In this special episode, we're bringing you the Business of Apps London 2026 panel 2026 CRM Trends: The Ultimate Guide to Customer Retention. It's a candid look at what retention really takes right now — from LLMs quietly rewriting app discovery to why downloads have become a vanity metric — told by three people running lifecycle for some of the UK's most recognizable brands: Francesca Stringer of Sky Jill Angus of Aviva Isabelle von Matuschka of Studio LTV The panel's topics include: AI is rewriting app discovery — consumers are outsourcing decisions to LLMs instead of browsing the App Store, downloads are becoming a vanity metric, and Sky is now prioritizing GEO over SEO. Personalization is moving upstream — it's no longer about tailoring the message but about arbitration and orchestration: deciding who gets a message, on which channel, at what moment, and whether they need one at all. Product and marketing are now a joint venture — siloed teams can't win retention anymore; feedback loops, shared data, and embedded partnerships are the new operating model. CRM starts long before the email — ASO, custom product cards, and seeding the app into above-the-line campaigns and brand experiences (the M&S playbook) are the underused retention levers. Trust is fragile — and the hot takes — trust dies by a thousand micro-cuts (irrelevant pushes, broken links); community is overrated as a retention silver bullet; and CRM must stop being email-led.

When you order coffee on your phone, you're experiencing the most successful app pattern in retail: the Starbucks flywheel. Skip the line, earn points, get personalized suggestions, repeat. Rob Tedesco has spent years helping restaurant brands replicate this formula at Dutch Bros, Shake Shack, Carl's Jr, and dozens more. But here's what surprised him: not every restaurant actually needs all four pieces of that engine.Join hosts Nick Paladino and Chuck Moxley as they explore why passwordless login is suddenly the number one priority for QSR apps everywhere. We also unpack a counterintuitive truth: robots are better at upselling than humans. A cashier forgets to ask about fries. An app never does. That algorithmic upsell catches sales humans miss.We dig into how Dutch Bros turned stickers into a collectible experience that hit number one in the App Store, and why the app had to feel as fun as the brand itself. Plus the uncomfortable truth about app security in QSR: these businesses are targets for credential stuffing attacks, and that affects how seriously they take authentication.Key Actionable Takeaways:Passwordless login removes the biggest friction point - Six-digit passcodes beat magic links and device fingerprinting because they're what customers already knowBuild for your frequency, not Starbucks' frequency - Texas Roadhouse doesn't need loyalty programs because they compete on value and hospitality, not habitsAlgorithmic personalization beats human memory every time - Let machines handle upsells; your employees will forget anywayWant more tips and strategies about creating frictionless digital experiences? Subscribe to our newsletter!https://www.thefrictionlessexperience.com/frictionless/Download the Five Step Site Speed Target Playbook: http://bluetriangle.com/playbookRob Tedesco's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcharlestedesco/ Nick Paladino's LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/npaladino Chuck Moxley's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckmoxley/Chapters:(00:00) Introduction(02:20) The QSR flywheel explained (05:00) Starbucks blueprint vs Texas Roadhouse (08:55) App fatigue and Amazon exception(11:00) Passwordless login becoming standard(13:20) Device fingerprinting explained(14:30) Security threats in QSR(16:00) Why restaurants have apps(16:54) Dutch Bros sticker strategy(19:30) 10-second app design(20:00) Legacy POS complexity(22:00) Conclusion

AI is reshaping how websites build trust and drive conversions. Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch, builds AI-powered content intelligence that shows how digital content influences buyers across the path to purchase. We debate whether personalization, trust, or traffic matters most as AI reduces website visits, why LLM-driven personalization risks repeating the "creepy factor" of early automation, and why human judgment still determines whether personalization builds trust or breaks it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI is reshaping how websites build trust and drive conversions. Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch, builds AI-powered content intelligence that shows how digital content influences buyers across the path to purchase. We debate whether personalization, trust, or traffic matters most as AI reduces website visits, why LLM-driven personalization risks repeating the "creepy factor" of early automation, and why human judgment still determines whether personalization builds trust or breaks it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI can optimize every impression. It can personalize every message. It can tell you exactly what's working. So why is trust getting harder to earn? In this episode, McKinsey joins us to unpack a tradeoff at the heart of modern advertising: the more precisely you target, the more fragile your brand can become. We examine how personalization, performance and brand consistency are being reshaped in an AI-fueled market, and what leaders must rethink to scale impact without losing control.Featured experts  Craig Macdonald, Partner, Media and Advertising at McKinsey & Company Richie Naylor, Partner, Kyndryl Consult, Kyndryl  

"Fee-for-service has led to transactional primary care where providers have 10 or 15 minutes to code as much as they can just to keep the doors open. We've moved away from the idea of primary care as the quarterback of the entire health ecosystem."My guest this week is Matt Taylor, VP of Sales at Castlight. Having spent his career navigating the complex landscape of health plans, telehealth, and enterprise analytics, Matt has a unique vantage point on why our current approach to "sick care" is failing both employers and employees.We have spent decades trying to patch a system that treats health insurance and healthcare as the same thing. In reality, our current model is fundamentally incomplete - it's built to diagnose, treat, and triage symptoms, not to keep us well.In this episode, explore the shift back toward primary care as the foundation of the health plan. We discuss why point solution fatigue is killing engagement, how "benefits-aware" primary care can finally steer members toward high-quality, lower-cost providers, and how one app - acting as a centralized "front door" - can remove the administrative bloat that is currently crushing our physicians and confusing our members. We also dive into the future of healthcare navigation, moving beyond basic search tools and into personalized, next-best-action guidance that manages patient risk before it becomes a catastrophic claim.If you are an HR leader or consultant looking to move beyond the commodity trap of traditional benefit offerings and rebuild your health plan from the ground up, tune in.Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Chapters:(00:00:00) Intro: The "Nintendo Cartridge" Healthcare Reset (00:01:21) Meet Matt Taylor: From Optum to Telehealth IPOs (00:06:50) The Telehealth Boom and the "Ashes" of COVID (00:09:44) Why the Current Primary Care Model is Transactional (00:13:30) Specialization vs. The "Quarterback" Model of Care (00:17:05) Point Solution Fatigue: Why Engagement Strategies Are Failing (00:23:08) How to Create a Centralized "Front Door" for Benefits (00:29:44) The Value of Personalization and AI-Driven Navigation (00:36:20) Understanding Acuity and Frequency in Healthcare Choices (00:40:48) The Seismic Shift: Investing in Primary Care Foundations (00:44:34) Redefining the Employer's Role in Whole-Person Health (00:49:12) The Promise (and Limitations) of AI in Healthcare Administration(00:53:18) Aligning Incentives for Independent Physicians (00:56:26) Scaling On-Site Success to Mid-Market Employers (01:00:10) Future Predictions: Transparency and the End of the "Sick Care" EraKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/

In this episode, Cydni Tetro—President of MNTP™ and Advisory Board Member for Swire Coca-Cola—breaks down what it truly means to create transformative products that place the consumer at the center of a brand's narrative. Cydni tracks her career from early B2B enterprise roots to her time as the head of technology commercialization for Disney. She pulls back the curtain on working with Disney Imagineers to turn passive observers into active story participants—developing infrared "glow with the show" Mickey ear hats and building 3D magic mirrors for princess dresses through a meticulous validation process called "play testing". She also recounts her wild entrepreneurial ride with 3D Plus Me, detailing a legendary 60-day sprint where her team rapidly deployed custom scanning infrastructure and retrofitted action figures to launch personalized Marvel and Star Wars merchandise across Walmarts nationwide. Finally, Cydni touches on her corporate turnarounds, explaining how she scaled Brandless from a pre-startup asset to $100 million in revenue over three years and how she currently uses AI as a corporate force multiplier to handle modern industry disruption.  

A respected voice on technology shows how seemingly simple ads help dismantle democracy and public discourse. Whether you're intentionally shopping or casually browsing social media, something is following you: ads. Their creators seem to know your income bracket, politics, age, location, medical conditions, and tastes in clothing, food, and romantic partners. As advertising firms use predictive AI to discover your hot buttons and generative AI to push them, your online world becomes an increasingly bespoke—and isolated—place. The fervid competition around personalization in digital marketing has given rise to an ecosystem of advertisers, media outlets, tech companies, and retailers who monetize your data while threatening the health of our media, discourse, and sense of community. In this urgent book, award-winning author Joseph Turow shows how we got here, and how to change direction.The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age (University of Chicago Press, 2026) shatters common beliefs about advertising history by showing that individualized ads are not new. Today's AI-enabled advertisers draw on past aspirations and assumptions about personalization while weaponizing data in unprecedented ways that drive social fragmentation and the disappearance of shared social reality. Informed by interviews with marketing insiders and covering the latest technology advances, Turow accessibly explains how artificial intelligence sifts through our data to tag and target us wherever we go with personalized videos, pictorial billboards, audio messages, and more. A logical next step for advertiser support is tailored entertainment and news, a shift that further destroys the common ground necessary for a functioning democracy. A must-read for all who care about the future of public discourse, The Problem with Personalization reveals how targeted advertising has altered how we're seen and what we see in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Most insurance agencies are still using AI like a search engine.They open ChatGPT. They ask a question. They get an answer.That's useful.But it's also reactive.The next generation of AI doesn't wait to be told what to do.It monitors activity, organizes information, surfaces opportunities, flags missing data, drafts communications, and helps move work forward before anyone even asks.That's the difference between using AI as a tool and working alongside an AI Digital Teammate.In this episode of Insurance Town, Heath Shearon sits down with Caleb Cramer of OneFort to explore how proactive AI is reshaping insurance agencies, commercial insurance workflows, and the future of agency operations.Together, they discuss why the conversation around AI needs to move beyond chatbots and prompts toward intelligent systems that actively support producers, account managers, and agency owners throughout the day.From commercial submissions and renewals to proposal generation, risk assessment, and customer communication, this episode provides a practical look at how AI is becoming an everyday teammate for insurance professionals.Most importantly, Heath and Caleb explain why the agencies that thrive over the next decade won't replace people with AI.They'll empower people with AI.Episode Chapters00:00 — The Shift from Reactive AI to Proactive AI02:11 — Meet OneFort: Your AI Digital Teammate04:10 — Why Insurance Is Ready for Its Next Technology Leap06:02 — Will AI Replace Insurance Professionals?08:17 — AI-Powered Commercial Insurance Workflows11:25 — Why Waiting on AI May Be the Biggest Risk12:25 — The Rise of Proactive AI16:44 — Lessons from Previous Technology Revolutions18:23 — Thinking Beyond Today's AI22:15 — Why Human Connection Matters More Than Ever27:36 — Personalization at Scale with AI32:39 — Building Trustworthy AI for Insurance37:22 — Why Humans Stay in the Driver's Seat43:24 — Security, Privacy, and Responsible AI45:51 — Overcoming AI Skepticism Inside Agencies50:07 — Commercial Insurance Renewals Reimagined55:24 — Where Agencies Save the Most Time58:35 — Simple Pricing and Fast AdoptionFor decades, insurance technology has waited for us to click the next button.The next generation won't wait.It will organize, prioritize, recommend, draft, monitor, and help move work forward before anyone asks.That's the promise of proactive AI.Not replacing insurance professionals.Creating AI Digital Teammates that handle the routine work so people can focus on building trust, advising clients, and growing their agencies.The future of insurance isn't simply using AI.It's working alongside it.Insurance Town Sponsors 1Fort AI – AI digital teammates built specifically for insurance agenciesCanopy Connect – One-click insurance data collectionVIVA Virtual Solutions – Insurance-trained virtual assistantsConnect with Caleb CramerLinkedIn1fort on Linkedin

Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine offer a different way to understand the body, especially when it comes to chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, stress, digestion, anxiety, inflammation, nervous system dysregulation, and unexplained symptoms.In this episode of hol+, Dr. Taz sits down with  Dr. Jordan Barber, clinician, educator, published researcher, licensed acupuncturist, and author of Thinking in Chinese Medicine: A Patient's Guide to Acupuncture, Herbs, and Healing, for a grounded conversation about what Chinese medicine actually is, why it has been misunderstood in the West, and how it can help us see chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, stress, symptoms, and whole-body health through a more connected lens.Together, they explore why Chinese medicine is not just acupuncture, herbs, or “energy work,” but a way of thinking. Dr. Barber explains how Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the whole person, including sleep, digestion, emotions, stress, relationships, movement, pain patterns, and the way someone experiences life. He also breaks down how the word qi became simplified into “energy,” why that translation can be misleading, and why Chinese medicine is often more practical, physiological, and science-informed than many people realize.Dr. Barber shares his own path into Chinese medicine after working in IT, living through 9/11 in New York City, and experiencing chronic health issues that conventional care did not resolve. After trying acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and dietary changes, he saw a major improvement in his recurring sinus issues and began to understand health through a completely different framework.If you're listening to this and thinking, “My symptoms feel connected, but no one is helping me connect the dots,” join the Circle here:

Personalization at scale remains one of marketing's biggest technical challenges. Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, brings over 15 years of SaaS marketing experience and expertise in AI-powered ecommerce platforms. Cole discusses how AI has evolved beyond buzzword status to become fundamental marketing infrastructure, comparing effective personalization strategies to precision baking where timing and ingredient ratios determine success. She outlines practical frameworks for unifying customer and product data across marketing channels and explains how real-time individualization drives measurable commerce growth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we unpack the consolidation of private practices and the growing influence of Dental Support Organizations. While many independent dentists view consolidation as a threat, Peter and Craig argue it may actually create one of the greatest opportunities the profession has ever seen. They explore the economic forces driving DSO growth, including insurance arbitrage, private equity investment, rising operating costs, and changing ownership models. But beyond the numbers, the conversation focuses on something much more important: what independent dentists can offer that large organizations often cannot. Peter, Craig, and Ian discuss why personalized care, strong patient relationships, community, and entrepreneurial freedom remain powerful competitive advantages. They challenge the idea that independent practice is becoming obsolete and explain why dentists who embrace leadership, innovation, and business education may be better positioned than ever before. The discussion also explores AI, technology, customer experience, insurance dynamics, and the future of practice ownership. As dentistry becomes increasingly consolidated, the question isn't whether the industry is changing. It's whether practice owners are willing to evolve with it. The golden era of dentistry isn't behind us. It belongs to the dentists willing to build it. If you've ever wondered what the future holds for independent practice ownership, this episode is for you. DESCRIPTION The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 445 HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh In this episode, Peter Boulden, Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh explore the rise of DSOs, the accelerating consolidation of dentistry, and what these trends mean for independent practice owners. The conversation examines the economic realities driving consolidation, the advantages and challenges of private practice ownership, and why community, leadership, technology, and patient experience may become the defining factors separating thriving practices from struggling ones in the years ahead. TAKEAWAYS DSO consolidation continues to reshape the dental industry Insurance arbitrage remains a major driver of acquisitions Independent practices still possess significant competitive advantages Personalized patient care is difficult to replicate at scale Community creates resilience during periods of industry change Leadership and business education matter more than ever Technology and AI will accelerate practice evolution Customer experience can become a powerful differentiator The future belongs to adaptable practice owners Consolidation creates both risks and opportunities Dentists must actively choose their path rather than react to industry trends The golden era of dentistry is still available to those willing to build it TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome 00:00:43 - Discussion on DSOs 00:01:34 - Statistics on DSO Growth 00:03:07 - Impact of Interest Rates on DSOs 00:04:21 - Historical Perspective on DSOs 00:05:15 - Comparison with Dermatology and Veterinary Practices 00:07:05 - Relationship-Based Nature of Dentistry 00:08:33 - Business Coaching in Dentistry 00:10:02 - Pause in DSO Consolidation 00:10:17 - Example of DSO Unwinding 00:12:09 - Financial Distress in DSOs 00:13:01 - Rollover Equity in DSO Sales 00:14:47 - Importance of Upfront Cash in DSO Deals 00:16:00 - Independent Dentists Thriving 00:18:20 - Personalization of Care 00:18:49 - Example of Personalized Service 00:20:52 - Customer Service in Dentistry 00:22:46 - DSO vs. Independent Practice Quality 00:24:02 - SOPs in DSOs 00:26:06 - Moats for Independent Practices 00:28:28 - ADA Statistics on DSO Affiliation 00:29:01 - Macro Factors Affecting Consolidation 00:31:14 - Insurance Arbitrage in DSOs 00:33:01 - AI and Service Businesses 00:34:27 - Future of Independent Dentistry 00:36:09 - Importance of Community 00:37:03 - Power in Numbers for Independent Dentists 00:37:34 - Personal Experience with DSO Sale 00:39:09 - Paycheck Advance Analogy 00:40:15 - Summary and Closing Remarks 00:42:27 - Outro and Call to Action

What if the future of marketing isn't about creating better campaigns, but about designing intelligent agents that render campaigns obsolete?Agility requires not just adapting to new technologies, but fundamentally re-architecting our operating models to harness their potential. Today, we're going to talk about the move from personalization to agentic experiences and what that means for enterprise marketing.We'll cover:- How “agentic experiences” are moving beyond simple personalization to fundamentally change the economics of customer acquisition and retention.- The shift in talent and technology required, moving from managing campaigns to orchestrating AI agents across the customer journey.- The practical first steps for building an “agentic foundation” within a complex enterprise environment, focusing on governance and core systems.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Kathleen Managing Director of Marketing and Anuj Mathur, Managing Director of CX Transformation at BrillioAbout Kathleen Ulrich Kathleen Ulrich is Managing Director of Marketing at Brillio, where she leads the company's global marketing strategy and brand growth. She oversees brand, content, digital marketing, social media, corporate communications, analyst and media relations, research, and insights. Known for her multifaceted leadership, she brings together cross-functional teams around a unified vision, driving measurable impact across a rapidly evolving marketplace. Kathleen Ulrich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kulri/ ---------- Resources ---------- Brillio: https://www.brillio.com This episode is brought to you by Brillio. Founded in 2014 as a full-service digital transformation services and consulting firm, we apply our expertise in customer experience transformation, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), platform and product engineering, cloud infrastructure, and security to help customers quickly innovate for growth, create digital products, build service platforms, and drive smarter, data-driven performance. We strive to provide not only what the customers want, but also what they need. To us, success means leading our customers to better outcomes, and aligning our priorities so that we win when they win. We ensure that every individual is fully invested in the success of our customers. We're proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fDon't miss We Make Future - the International Festival of Innovation in AI, Tech, and Digital Marketing, June 24-26 in Bologna. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c80991afff416bb2The most influential minds in software, AI, and engineering leadership will be at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America, September 23-25 in San Jose. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/60a7299222a7bcf1 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.