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

Send us Fan MailKia Kokalitcheva, Axios tech reporter, is a Silicon Valley native who writes about tech news and culture. Among other things, she co-authors the popular Pro Rata newsletter (over 200k subscribers) with Dan Primack. Kia has covered many of the most iconic tech stories of the past decade as a writer at Fortune and VentureBeat prior to Axios which was just acquired by Cox Enterprises. Kia recently wrote about Adam Neumann’s new company, Flow. Hear Kia’s perspectives on how Flow could transform living like WeWork transformed working… and why she’s not scared that bots may take her job. Listen and learn… How Adam Neumann of WeWork fame raised $350M at a $1B valuation from A16Z for his new company Flow… before launching Kia’s proudest moment as a journalist What the acquisition of Axios by Cox Enterprises means for journalism How Flow may be more than the reincarnation of WeWork’s failed WeLive experiment As a culture, are we ready for communal living? What is the future of company perks… are the days of on-site dry cleaning numbered? How the generational shift is impacting cultural norms in the workplace What tasks bots will never do better than live journalists References in this episode: How AI is transforming journalism according to The Knight Foundation Gary A. Bolles discusses the WorkNet on AI and the Future of Work Mark van Rijmenam, The Digital Speaker, on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailDeon Nicholas, Forethought Co-Founder CEO, grew up in inner city Toronto stocking shelves in a pharmacy before learning to code at an early age. He started Forethought in 2017 after learning the value of answering customer questions working for companies like Facebook and Pure Storage. Deon has since raised $92M from an exceptional group of investors including funds like Steadfast Capital and NEA plus celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, and Robert Downey Jr. Deon won the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield startup competition in 2018 and is a member of the Forbes 30 under 30. He’s also a mentor and advisor to founders of color. Listen and learn...How AI connects customers to the right agents then indicates the likelihood of a support interaction escalatingHow to use historical data to help live agents fix problems fasterThe evolution of chatbots from decision trees to AIHow to combine generic language models with domain-specific data to increase the accuracy of NLPHow to solve the problem of bias encoded in dataHow GANs, generative adversarial networks, workWhy ML pipelines need to be monitored like web appsReferences in this episode...ForethoughtDeon on TwitterForward, the Forethought customer eventKrishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and the Future of WorkMonotonic selective risk may solve the AI bias problem

Send us Fan MailJim Lawton, VP and GM of Robotics Automation at Zebra Technologies, met the founder of Roomba, Rodney Brooks, at MIT nearly three decades ago. It inspired a lifetime passion for robots that help humans. Since then, he has influenced generations of robotic automation technology at companies from Rethink Robotics to Zebra Technologies. This is a fascinating discussion that will make you reconsider what robots can do and why humans shouldn't feel threatened by them. Listen and learn...How Jim cultivated a passion for robots... and why that makes him "the cool dad" How innovation in robotic technology is helping AMRs, autonomous mobile robots, perform more human-like tasks with less trainingWhich "dirty, dull, dangerous" tasks are the best candidates for robotic automation How new training techniques are reducing the time required to train a robot from 300 hours to a fraction of that which "democratizes automation" What's required to keep humans safe from robotsHow supplementing humans with robots for a task like picking items from warehouse shelves using machine vision saves 12-15 miles of walking per day while increasing accuracyHow techniques like SLAM and machine learning are making it easier to program robots to do more complex tasks more accurately with zero or minimal codingWhich new careers will be created by industrial robots... and which will be eliminatedTwo quick ways to know if a factory using robots and humans is safe Why Jim's passion is using robots to help people be their best selvesReferences in this episode:The Zebra blogTiernan Ray discusses bot sentience on AI and the Future of WorkIs Google's LaMDA sentient?Machines will out-perform humans in all tasks within 45 years... which is a good thing for us

Send us Fan MailKamal Ahluwalia and the Eightfold team set out to find the right career for everyone in the world. Six years later after having raised more than $200M from a legendary group of investors and built a talented 600-person team, they’re well on their way. Kamal joined Eightfold as President in 2018 from a successful tech career at companies like Model N and Selectica. Hear Kamal share his vision for how to use data and AI to help employees upskill, reskill, and ultimately find careers they love. Listen and learn…How Eightfold operationalizes the bold vision to find “the right career for everyone in the world" What has helped Eightfold scale to support customers in 140 countries and 19 languagesHow an AI HR platform helps with upskilling for internal mobility but also with hiring and talent-skill matchingWhy legacy HR tech software failed by focusing on “compliance vs. employee needs” Why automation won’t eliminate jobs… but every job will change as a result of AI How understanding human potential starts with understanding data stored outside HCM in “systems of work” like CRM and ITSM How to mitigate the impact of biased data to use AI to achieve inclusion and diversity goalsHow AI can identify roles where employees are likely to succeed… even when they have no experience performing skills they require What are the ethical implications of using AI to hire and promote employees References in this episode: OneTen.org and the role of Eightfold in its formation Renee Steenvorden from Randstad on AI and the Future of Work Giselle Mota from ADP on AI and the Future of Work Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work The BigScience BLOOM LLM

Send us Fan MailBen Brennan, former guest, accomplished author, and QSTAC CEO, guest hosts today's "turn the tables" episode... and interviews Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO. Learn about Dan's vision for augmenting human intelligence with machine intelligence and how AI will be used to give the next billion employees back an hour a day.Listen and learn...The origin story behind this podcastWhat's required to use AI to improve employee experiences How many new jobs will be created by AI in the next five years according to The World Economic ForumThe right way for investors to identify talent and catalyze innovationHow Ben learned the value of human-centric AI from his days at Yahoo, Box, and TwitterReferences in this episode:Mark Settle, serial CIO, on AI and the Future of WorkDr. Mark van Rijmenam, The Digital Speaker, on AI and the Future of WorkRory O'Driscoll from Scale Ventures Partners on AI and the Future of WorkAshu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work Glenn Solomon from GGV on AI and the Future of Work The great Katie Stanton, PeopleReign investor from Moxxie Ventures

Send us Fan MailGadi Shamia, Replicant CEO and co-founder, has been delivering innovation to help customers have better service experiences for more than a decade. He helped grow and sell Echosign to Adobe for $400M in 2011 then went on to lead Talkdesk which most recently raised $230M at a $10B valuation. Gadi's a serial entrepreneur and a deep thinker who believes in the power of AI to make people better. Listen and learn:Why we hate calling customer support... and how AI is making the experience betterWhy automation beyond IVR is saving contact centersWhat happens when AI makes bad decisionsWhen it's ok to "nudge" users to work with the bot... even when they ask for a humanThe ethical implicatio ns of bots pretending to be human What new careers will be created when call center agents are replaced by botsReferences in this episode:Replicant on TwitterThe Replicant blogThe Open Ethics AI initiativeKrishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and The Future of WorkJohn Oliver's riff on automation

Send us Fan MailKrish Ramineni, Fireflies CEO and Microsoft alum, learned the value of NLP working with Skype and Office as a Product Manager. He set out to solve a problem he had: note-taking in meetings and following up afterward. Fireflies has been used by more than 60,000 organizations to make meetings more efficient. Krish has raised nearly $20M from an A-list group of investors including Canaan Partners and Khosla Ventures. Listen and learn...The evolution of speech recognition technology in the enterpriseHow Krish and the team build an AI voice assistant that joins meetings in 100 countries every dayHow to start with 85% ASR (automated speech recognition) accuracy and make it better using AIHow to mitigate the impact of biased training data where foreign accents and uncommon speech patterns are underrepresentedWho owns voice transcripts used to train AI modelsHow being recorded changes participant behavior in meetingsThe future of "voice-first" computingReferences in this episode:Krishna Gade from Fiddler discusses AI explainabilityFireflies on Twitter A whole breast, AI-based ultrasound system was cleared by the FDA to improve mammogram accuracyDentists now use AI to improve the accuracy of spotting cavities

Send us Fan MailJoel Eagle, McDonald's Senior Director of Technology and Architecture, started his career in healthcare and logistics before being promoted to technology leadership roles at one of the world's most iconic companies. Joel and his team manage the cloud infrastructure that powers 40,000 restaurants for two million employees... and helps serve happiness in 120 global markets to the equivalent of the world's population every 100 days. The technology that makes McDonald's work is phenomenally complex. Joel makes it sound simple. Hear from the expert. Oh, and stick around to the end for McDonald's fun facts!Listen and learn...How Joel channels Ray Kroc's vision when architecting systems: "restaurants should run themselves... it should be as simple as a shoebox with money going in and going out."Why Joel says "if it's easier for the crew it's better for the consumer."How AI, wearables, IoT, and AR are all parts of the McDonald's technology vision.Why the shift supervisor at a McDonald's restaurant has one of the hardest jobs in the world. The anatomy of a McDonald's restaurant: "...they're mini factories run by a server."How AI is improving the drive-thru experience and personalizing the dining experience.What's required to support the McDonald's app which generates 16% of the company's revenue and is the world's most downloaded food ordering app.References in this episode...McDonald's by the numbersMeta Research is improving NLP accuracy with less training data by using our understanding of how humans learn languagesGiselle Mota, TEDx speaker and top 100 "Future of Work" thought leader, on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailBen Brennan, QSTAC CEO, author, and former IT exec at Yahoo and Verizon Media, is a world traveler, a musician, and a trained psychologist with passions for philosophy and psychotherapy. Not exactly the traditional background for an IT leader. Early roles at Pivotal Labs and Jawbone taught Ben that bringing humanity to technology is the future of work. He since published Badass IT Support and started QSTAC to measure the employee experience. Listen and learn...What Ben learned managing 100 people and supporting 15,000 employees at YahooHow the culture at Pivotal Labs inspired Ben's philosophy on quantifying the employee experienceHow Ben convinced a former Apple leader why QSTAC is better than NPSWhy CSAT scores don't actually correlate with how satisfied employees are at workHow the principles of Design Thinking can be used to run ITWhat IT must do to avoid being "Uber-ed" like the taxi industryReferences in this episode...Dion Hinchcliffe on AI and the Future of WorkTim Crawford on AI and the Future of WorkMatt K. Parker on AI and the Future of WorkO'Reilly's 2021 AI adoption in the enterprise surveyQSTAC

Send us Fan MailFrancois Candelon, Managing Director at the BCG Henderson Institute, has spent 30 years researching how companies adopt modern technology. His research spans business, technology, economics, and science. Francois is a popular speaker, author, and advisor who has been featured at events including Mobile World Congress, TED@BCG, Politico AI Summit, and Wuzhen Internet Conference. Francois is also a leader on BCG's GAMMA AI@Scale team. Listen and learn...The one company Francois says best illustrates how AI can transform legacy industriesWhy "artificial intelligence" isn't really "intelligent"What is an "AI strategy"... and what are the four questions to ask to define yoursHow a fintech company in the UK reduced costs to transfer money by 90% with AIWhat's required to earn the public's trust in AIWhy every company should be required to have a "social license" to use AIReferences in this episode...Fortune article on human-machine collaboration by FrancoisFrancois' "BCG Expert" profileDr. Eric Daimler, Obama's AI authority, on AI and the Future of WorkThe McKinsey "AI in 2020 Survey"

Send us Fan MailStephen Messer, founder of Collective[i], was an attorney and teacher before discovering his passion for entrepreneurship. He started LinkShare (acquired by Rakuten in 2005) which made it possible to pay for clicks on the web. He changed how the web works and now he's using AI to change the world of B2B sales. The world needs more visionaries like Stephen. Hear what fuels him and learn about his process for disrupting legacy industries.Listen and learn...The four words that define what all the best entrepreneurs do better than everyone elseWhy sales is the only job function where "30% productivity is the norm"What's required to use AI to help B2B sales peopleHow to use RPA to automatically update CRM systemsHow Stephen's winning against Salesforce, Microsoft, and HubSpotWhat to look for in a mentorReferences in this episode...The Collective[i] blogStephen on TwitterGoogle PaLMMahesh Ram, Solvvy CEO (acquired by Zoom), on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailIn this special episode, we unpack the controversy surrounding the sentient chatbot that "worries about its future". Google engineer Blake Lemoine published a transcript of a conversation with the chatbot LaMDA that generated strong reactions from technologists and AI ethicists. It conjured images from science fiction movies that always capture the public imagination.Tiernan Ray, ZDNet writer, accomplished tech journalist, and good friend of the podcast, joined host Dan Turchin to reflect on the story based on his analysis of the 5,000-word LaMDA transcript.Listen and learn...What will it be like to co-habit a world with thinking machines?What does it mean for an AI to be sentient? Why should we care?Should AI be protected under the 13th amendment?How do we know LaMDA's not sentient from the transcript?What are the ethical implications of developing sentient bots?Did Google act responsibly in developing a bot that is sentient-like?References in this episode...Tiernan's analysis of the LaMDA transcriptMelanie Mitchell on MSNBCBlake Lemoine's interview with Steven Levy in Wire Alan Turing's Imitation Game

Send us Fan MailKevin Dewalt, CEO of Prolego, built his first neural net at Stanford in 1995 after graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He popularized the term "AI abundance" to describe the path of exponential technologies and how AI adoption is five years from becoming mainstream. He now applies 25 years of studying AI to help organizations embrace the future. Listen and learn...What every company needs to know to succeed with AI.How the most successful organizations approach AI investments.Why Kevin says: "...we haven't had a single project where we've used AI to eliminate jobs."What Kevin feels is the most disruptive field within AI research.Practical applications of NLP and large language models (LLMs) Kevin's contrarian view on AI ethicsReferences in this episode:The world's first AI comic bookKevin's book: Become an AI Company in 90 daysKevin's company: ProlegoSnorkel to automate data labelingAndrew Yang on AI"D" Das, Founder and CEO of Sorcero, on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailGiselle Mota, Future of Work principal at ADP, overcame dyslexia and discovered passions for math and AI. Her parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic and taught Giselle the power of perseverance. Now she speaks frequently to global audiences about the importance of using AI responsibly to hire and nurture talent.Listen and learn...How AI accelerates the process of learning new skillsHow to mitigate the impact of bias in automated decision-makingThe dangers of using facial recognition in recruiting and hiring processesHow to design organizations that celebrate cognitive diversityHow to optimize hiring processes to avoid confirmation biasHow many jobs will be created by AI before 2025 according to the World Economic ForumGiselle's coaching for females and under-represented minorities in STEM fieldsReferences in this episode:Your $250 discount from Hello Landing using Giselle's promo code: giselle_itgBernard Marr, FuturistJoy Buolamwini, AI social justice advocateBryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of WorkKai Nunez from Salesforce on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailHarish Batlapenumarthy always believed culture is more important than anything else at work. He and the team at Emtropy Labs set out to identify how groups communicate in companies using machine learning. They ultimately landed on listening to customer feedback to automatically generate insights into customer experience metrics like churn risk. Listen and learn...A better way to identify customer sentiment using supervised machine learningWhat techniques are most effective for labeling training dataWhy traditional methods of measuring customer satisfaction are poor at understanding actual customer satisfactionHow to mitigate the impact of bias in training dataHow Harish defines "responsible AI"Why there will always be a need for human customer success managersReferences in this episode...Emtropy LabsChandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailEric Daimler advised the Obama administration on how to have conversations about AI. His work led to the creation of the AI office within the Science Advisory Group of The White House which has now become a cabinet-level position reporting to The President. Eric's a walking encyclopedia about AI policy and he shares all in this fascinating discussion about the future of technology, ethics, and society.Listen and learn...What it's like to shift from academia to venture capital to entrepreneurship to public serviceHow the growth of data sources as well as data creates an unimaginably large number of data relationshipsHow Conexus applied categorical algebra to bring together 300k databases at UberWhy it's data integration limitations that are constraining AI innovation more than compute, storage, or algorithms How category theory is required for smart contracts on blockchains and quantum computing How Eric thinks about when AI should make autonomous decisions vs. requiring human intervention The role of regulation in managing job elimination due to AI The ethical framework Eric proposes for evaluating what decisions AI can and should makeThe challenges of enforcing data policies like GDPR in the EUHow Eric defines "responsible AI"References in this episode...Eric's company, ConexusThe President's Council of Advisors on Science and TechnologyAftershock which includes a chapter by EricEric on Twitter

Send us Fan MailMahesh Ram, founder and CEO of Solvvy, set out to "give everyone back time". His company was recently acquired by Zoom to improve customer experiences using conversational AI. Mahesh was inspired by his work using speech recognition to improve business English learning at Global English. Solvvy was founded in 2015 and has raised funding from an exceptional group of investors including previous "AI and the Future of Work" guest Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners. Listen and learn...About the three waves of chatbot technologyWhy "more deflection" doesn't need to translate into "lower satisfaction"How Calm uses Solvvy to deliver automated customer serviceWhy AI based on semantic similarity is better than traditional scripted chatbotsWhy "putting the user first" and "not hiding the live agent" is essential for gaining consumer trust in chatbotsHow to address latent bias in data used to train AI modelsWhy bots will never replace live agentsReferences in this episode...Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of WorkSolvvy acquired by ZoomChandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailChandra Khatri, Chief Scientist and Head of AI at Got It AI, was a key team member in the early days of AI at eBay, Amazon, and Uber. He has been on the cutting edge of NLP research for more than a decade and now leads AI at Got It AI. Chandra and the team are making it easier for customers to have conversations with bots. He's making innovative use of transformers and active learning to use "small data" to train sophisticated large language models to automatically answer customer questions in fields as diverse as healthcare, financial services, education, and defense.Listen and learn… What the AI culture is like at eBay, Amazon, and Uber About transformers, why they’re important, and how they're improving NLP accuracy How we’ve moved AI from search ranking (recommender systems) to other use cases including operations and bots How the rise of open source and no-code tools is making “Google-like” AI maturity accessible to every company How startups with limited access to data can use transfer learning to improve AI accuracy What’s holding back broader adoption of AI in the enterprise How the rise of Technical Product Managers (TPMs) is bridging the gap between engineers and business analysts How to eliminate bias from training data How long before we’ll all have a personal JARVIS References in this episode… Got It AI Chandra on LinkedIn Hugging FaceChristopher Nguyen on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailPaul Lee, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Synesis One, combined his love of games with a passion for NLP and AI. He realized language ontologies can be developed by players solving problems in games. They can be rewarded with NFTs backed by tokens on a blockchain. A brilliant idea... from a Renaissance man who is also a medical doctor and the founder of a care marketplace for veterinarians. This is a fascinating one! Listen and learn... The future of large language models (LLMs) How ontologies can be crowd-sourced using games with NFTs as rewardsHow Synesis One is gamifying data yield farming with tokens on a Solana blockchainAbout the first graphic novel that is also an NFT-based sci fi gameWhy Paul selected Solana instead of the more popular Ethereum blockchainHow to mitigate bias from entering ontologies generated by gamersReferences in this episode:Synesis OneMind AIQuantum NoesisEdmundo Gonzalez from Marpai Health on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailPhil Johnson, founder and CEO of Master of Business Leadership (MBL) and veteran tech exec, overcame adversity as a kid when he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Phil taught himself to learn differently. He has helped organizations generate more than $1.5B by teaching leaders how to improve their emotional intelligence.Listen and learn...Why emotional intelligence is the most important skill for leaders.Why Phil says leaders battle our "500 million year old brain that doesn't like change."What Phil means by this: "we're the virus on the planet and we need to adapt to change to survive as a species."Why toxic environments are leading to record low employee engagement that is costing businesses over a trillion dollars per year.What Phil means by "we're born with an unconscious mind that gets wired as we grow to form habits."How leaders can endure pain and channel passion to get more energy and feel more motivated.How Apple's hiring practices and Putin's invasion of Ukraine are related.Questions to ask to hire candidates with the highest EQ.References in this episode...Matt K. Parker on AI and the Future of Work discussing "radical enterprises"The Master of Business Leadership program

Send us Fan MailDipanwita ("D") Das, Founder and CEO of Sorcero, is an award-winning technology entrepreneur and AI innovator. She is the CEO & Co-founder of Sorcero, a venture-backed AI Saas product startup, focused on using AI and NLP to inform critical decisions to improve lives. Prior to starting Sorcero, D was the founder & CEO of 42 Strategies, managing digital transformation projects for Richard Branson's Virgin United, Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Listen and learn...Why D says "...doing something that leaves a legacy of good" is a core element of Sorcero's mission.What D means by "...humans plus AI is greater than humans alone."How Sorcero strives to "accelerate vs. automate" decisions.How Sorcero helped doctors diagnose a rare form of metastatic breast cancer and save a life.What it means for patients that healthcare data is growing at a 36% CAGR.How Sorcero marries heuristics with NLP and transfer learning to help researchers. D's advice to females in male-dominated fields: "The only way to win is to persist."References in this episode...The Sorcero Life Sciences Intelligence PlatformD on TwitterPaddy Padmanabhan on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailChristopher Nguyen, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Aitomatic, realized big data isn't the only answer when training AI models. In fact, when doing preventive or predictive maintenance on industrial equipment, only small data is available. He and his team asked what if instead of relying on automated data collection we codify expertise in the heads of a small number of experienced technicians. And thus human-first AI was born. Aitomatic was launched in 2021 to productize the new field. It builds on Christopher's legacy of innovation having spent time in academia, at Google, and other startups including Arimo before its acquisition by Panasonic.Listen and learn...Why human-first vs. data-first AI may disrupt traditional approaches to machine learning.How automation problems in physical-first vs. digital-first industries require different solutions.How to build machine learning models when there isn t enough data.Why the world is in short supply of human expertise.How people feel about having their jobs automated away.Why the topic of ethical AI is controversial.The science behind neuromorphic computing.References in today's episode...AitomaticChristopher on TwitterGordon Wilson, CEO of Rain Neuromorphics, on AI and the Future of WorkThanks to Tess Hau from Tess Ventures for the introduction to Christopher!

Send us Fan MailMatt K. Parker, author and engineering leader formerly at Pivotal Labs, profiled 13 collaborative work cultures in his book A Radical Enterprise. They're devolving control to employees and rethinking traditional organizational structures to give teams unprecedented levels of freedom. Not surprisingly, they're more successful than their peers. Listen and learn:What is a radical enterprise and what is radical collaboration?Why do employees do better work when they have freedom to define their own rules?What are the benefits of embracing the concepts of self-organizing and self-managing teams?Why do traditional performance management techniques like annual reviews create implicit threats in the workplace that demotivate employees?What does it mean to make every employee "a company of one"?Why, according to Deming, "a bad system will beat a good employee every time."References in this episode:Matt's website and a link to his Slack communityA Radical Enterpise published by IT RevolutionGary Bolles on AI and the Future of WorkJason Corsello from Acadian Ventures on AI and the Future of WorkTurn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet

Send us Fan MailJaime Ramirez, CEO and Founder of Preventor, and stalwart of the Miami tech scene, shares how banks and brands are using new authentication technology to make life online safer. Automating authentication to verify age and other personal attributes is cheaper than manual verification and also more accurate. The stakes are high if automated decisions are wrong. Hear Jaime explain the best way to automate the process of verifying your age or gender with AI.Listen and learn:How banks are automating authentication processes to comply with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory requirementsHow the US compares with other countries, specifically Latin America, when it comes to KYC compliance and enforcementWhen it's ok to use technology to automate identity verification vs. when humans need to interveneWhich forms of biometric data are most accurate for identity verificationHow to mitigate the risk of bias when using AI plus selfies to verify ageWhen we'll finally move beyond passwords for identity managementWhat's fueling the net outflow of tech talent from Silicon Valley to MiamiReferences in this episode:John Whaley from UnifyID on AI and the Future of WorkJaime's blog postsPreventorPrivy

Send us Fan MailEdmundo Gonzalez, Co-founder and CEO of Marpai Health, realized our health plans have a significant impact on the quality of our health. Using AI to predict who will need care and when can lead to better health care plans and a healthier population. Edmundo's on a mission to make it easier for all of us stay healthy... which first requires the traditional healthcare system to be disrupted.Listen and learn:How to turn America's "sickcare" system into a true "healthcare" system.How AI can make better decisions about who is likely to need care and when.How to use data to recommend treatment early to prevent significant, more costly procedures later.How to optimize deep learning models using patient data to balance accurately predicting who will need care (precision) with how many recommendations are made (recall).The ethical implications of using patient data to make healthcare decisions.Why Big Tech doesn't own the future of healthcare.References in this episode:Paddy Padmanabhan on AI and the Future of WorkMarpai Health

Send us Fan MailDoug Kerwin is an engineering leader and entrepreneur who recently published "Riley and Bot: Jobs for Robots and Jobs for Me". By day, he's a Vice President of Cloud Engineering at Prudential. After hours, he's a dad who wants the best for his daughter and needed to answer her questions about the impact of AI on jobs.Listen and learn...What inspired an engineer without an AI background to write a kids book about AIWhy Doug concludes that "no job will be completely AI-resistant"New careers that are being created by the introduction of AI-related technologyHow GitHub Copilot is helping programmers write better code fasterWhich innately human skills will never be automatedReferences in this episode:Riley and Bot: Jobs for Robots and Jobs for Me Woebot HealthGitHub Copilot

Send us Fan MailPhil McKinney, former HP CTO and one of the "50 most innovative" thinkers on the planet according to Fast Company, has helped develop products used by more than a half billion people. Hear Phil put on a master class in how to turn ordinary teams into innovation machines.Listen and learn...Phil's seven rules of innovation.What it means to have a "T-shaped" career... and why you should want one.How Phil got his start in podcasting... in 2005! Phil's secrets for how to become more creative. The top skill CEOs look for in new hires. References in this episode:Phil's TEDx talk on the impostor syndromeBob Davis, Phil's mentorPhil's websitePhil's Killer Innovations podcastThanks to Dr. Mamoun Samaha for the introduction to Phil.

Send us Fan MailRene Steenvoorden, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at HR behemoth Randstad, started in IT 30 years ago when technology was a distraction and IT gear was relegated to server rooms in the basement. He's a two-time CIO of the year award winner and a visionary in HRTech. Rene's an evangelist for using technology to improve the employee experience having served in similar roles at Rabobank, McKinsey, and Procter & Gamble. You might ask why a 60-year old staffing firm needs a CDO. Well, you won't after meeting Rene! Listen and learn: How chatbots are eliminating the "black hole of recruiting"Why you may land your next job in the metaverseThe single biggest factor that determines how candidates rate the recruiting processWhich disruptive technologies are improving the hiring processWhy retaining existing employees is much less expensive than recruiting new ones The role of technology in blue collar vs. white collar hiring processes How to mitigate the impact of bias when training ML models to select candidatesReferences in this episode:Randstad's future of work insightsBryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of WorkPanos Siozos from LearnWorlds on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailGordon Wilson, CEO and founder of Rain Neuromorphics, turned a childhood fascination with science fiction into an entrepreneurial passion to recreate the human brain on a chip. Neuromorphic computing is an emerging field of AI that strives to build synthetic nervous systems for use on edge computing devices. The challenges are numerous but if Gordon and his team succeed they may make Isaac Asimov's bold visions of life with robots seem quaint in a decade.Listen and learn:How a love of science fiction combined with being raised in a home with entrepreneurial parents led to the founding of Rain Neuromorphics.How to create neurons, synapses, and massively deep neural nets with codeWhich core technologies from 1985 and 1999 enabled today's AI revolution.The difference between the "physics-based" AI used in neuromorphic computing and traditional digital AI .What Gordon hears from venture investors who don't get neuromorphic computing.Why Gordon says "...any sufficiently complex technology is indistinguishable from magic."Where we are today with neuromorphic computing and the path to a full artificial nervous system.References in today's episodeRain NeuromorphicsGordon on TwitterRob May on AI and the Future of WorkThanks to Rob May for the intro to Gordon!

Send us Fan MailJason Corsello, Founder & General Partner at Acadian Ventures, didn't set out to be a venture capitalist. He was a tech industry analyst and product manager before falling in love with HRTech and the future of work. He has become one of the most prominent investors focused on disruptive technologies defining the new employee experience based in part on what he learned growing Cornerstone OnDemand from $40M to over $500M ARR.Listen and learn...What Jason learned about entrepreneurship and the challenges of post-IPO life as part of the leadership team at Cornerstone OnDemand Recent Acadian investments... and what got Jason excited enough to invest The evolution of software delivery from on-prem to SaaS to self-assembly The challenges and benefits of being a solo GP vs. a corporate VC How startups can disrupt LinkedIn.... and payroll The single biggest predictor of startup success References in today's episode:Compa: deal desk for talent acquisition Merge: open AI to integrate with all HR, accounting, recruiting, and payroll platforms Panos Siozos from LearnWorlds on AI and the Future of Work Bryan Talebi from Ahura AI on AI and the Future of Work Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of Work Acadian VenturesThanks to Dave Kellogg for the intro to Jason!

Send us Fan MailDr. Mamoun Samaha, CTO at the International Technological University and Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University, is an operator and academic with a long track record of success in the classroom and board room. His research spans the areas of mobility, security, and networking. He has strong opinions about what it means to be human in an age of automation. Worth a listen to hear his insights about how technology will change our lives in the next decade. Listen and learn...What's required to be a great CTO.Why Dr. Samaha says "change is now exponential... it's no longer linear." Why AI-powered security solutions at the edge of the network are critical.Tips for startups selling technology to CTOs.The one product Dr. Samaha would purchase today if it existed.The skills every high schooler should learn that will never be replaced by AI.References in this episode...Phil McKinney, Dr. Samaha's role modelJohn Whaley on AI and the Future of WorkIntrinsic ID

Send us Fan MailPaddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting, has spent 20 years educating healthcare CIOs about digital transformation and writing about healthcare innovation. Damo helps organizations turn new technology into better patient outcomes in areas like telemedicine, electronic health records, and patient engagement platforms. Paddy shares wisdom about innovative solutions that will improve our quality of life for decades ahead.Listen and learn...Paddy's single biggest insight from research for his book "Healthcare Digital Transformation"Which HealthTech trends are getting the most attention from venture capitalistsThe role of the digital health experience in patient adoption of healthcare services Which upstarts are disrupting HealthTech incumbentsHow the pandemic gave rise to telemedicine and how that is impacting the future of healthcareHow limited access to patient data will constrain AI-related innovation in healthcareWhether or not Apple, Amazon, and Google - owners of your data - will replace hospitals as primary healthcare providersReferences in this episode...Teladoc acquires LivongoOracle acquires CernerAmazon CareThe Big Unlock

Send us Fan MailDave Kellogg, serial CEO, investor, and advisor, is a prolific blogger over at Kellblog.com. His annual predictions are a must-read for anyone in tech. This year's insights were no exception. Dave recently joined Balderton Capital as an executive in residence. His illustrious career has spanned exec stints at iconic companies like Host Analytics, Salesforce, MarkLogic, and Business Objects before it was acquired by SAP. Among other accolades, Dave’s SaaStr talks routinely rank in the top few most watched.Dave owns two dubious distinctions: in over 100 episodes, he’s one of only three repeat guests on the podcast. He’s also the biggest Grateful Dead fan we know. The two are only loosely correlated.Listen and learn:The single SaaS metric that matters most in 2022Dave's advice to innovators: "don't pave cow paths"What's different about the venture ecosystems in Silicon Valley and EuropeWhat's ahead for Web3 and blockchain in the enterpriseWhy the future of decentralized services requires centralized platformsIf 2021 was a Grateful Dead song...References in this episode:Dave's 2022 predictionsDave's favorite marketing book: They Ask You AnswerMoxie Marlinspike on Web3Anshu Sharma and the privacy vaultCausal inference wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics

Send us Fan MailGraham Brown, storyteller extraordinaire, has traveled the world learning about work, culture, and technology. He's a cognitive psychologist with a passion for AI but also a student of history and art who is on a personal mission to link the present and future with great stories from the past. Graham's also the CEO of Pikkal, a podcast agency, and the host of the Asia Tech Podcast.Listen and learn:What entrepreneurs need to know about the art of great storytellingWhat the cave paintings in Lascaux, France from 15,000 BCE teach us about artificial intelligenceHow archetypal stories like Star Wars and Harry Potter use the same plot lines as a Steve Jobs product launchWhy startup pitch decks need to "create maps for the audience"What it means to be human in the age of machine intelligenceWhy Henry Ford famously chose black as the color for the Model T FordReferences in this episode:The Asia Tech PodcastPikkal, Graham's podcast agencyThe cave paintings in Lascaux, FranceThe first computers (who were humans... and mostly women)

Send us Fan MailRob May, serial AI entrepreneur and investor, started as a hardware engineer but realized he could have more of an impact as an entrepreneur and investor. Since then, he has started companies including Backupify (acquired by Datto) and Talla (conversational AI) and invested in over 100 startups. Rob's a deep thinker and the author of the popular Inside AI weekly newsletter and Investing in AI podcast.Listen and learn...What's holding back AI adoption in the enterpriseNew approaches to address the "small data" AI problemAbout the ethics training we should require for AI algorithm developersWhy those who fear bots taking over are the modern equivalent of LudditesWhat it means to be human when machines are sentientThe moonshot AI idea Rob's most excited aboutReferences in today's episode:Krishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and the Future of WorkAdeptID for matching helping employees upskillMythic for edge AI

Send us Fan MailElliot Shmukler, CEO and founder of Anomalo, needed a better way to monitor data quality at scale. He previously led growth teams at Wealthfront, Instacart, and LinkedIn and experienced firsthand the impact of incomplete or inaccurate data. Anomalo has now raised nearly $40M from amazing investors including Norwest, Two Sigma, and Foundation to make data problems a thing of the past.Listen and learn...What Elliot means when citing Jeff Weiner from Linkedin: "If you're launching a rocket even a one degree course change can mean you won't land on the moon."About the data quality issue nobody noticed at Instacart that impacted millions of users.How the role of the data scientist will change as AI platforms automate data quality monitoring.When there's a need for humans in the loop to override AI systems.Why every product will soon be as good at personalization as Spotify and Netflix.The number one skill every student needs to learn that will never be replaced by machines.Past episodes referenced in today's discussion:Milin Desai, Sentry CEOBarr Moses, Monte Carlo CEODerek Steer, Mode Analytics CEOPeter Fishman, Mozart Data CEOKrishna Gade, Fiddler CEOCharity Majors, Honeycomb CTO

Send us Fan MailLuke Arrigoni started Arricor in 2012 to help large companies make sense of their data. Since then, he and the team have taught organizations like Goldman Sachs, AT&T, and Thomson Reuters about the principles of AI. His secret? Focus on the business problem and the right technology approach becomes obvious.Listen and learn...How UPS uses AI to automatically assign the right tax code for packagesWhat responsibility AI developers have for the decisions their algorithms makeHow to clean dirty data to make it ready for AI model training When to use neural nets vs. gradient-boosted treesWhich tasks are good candidates for classifier models vs. NLPWhich job skills are future-proof... and which are likely to be replaced by automation References in this episode:Fish from Mozart Data on AI and the Future of WorkAirflow for data pipeline automation

Send us Fan MailPeter Fishman ("Fish"), co-founder and CEO of Mozart Data, had a vision for making it easy for any business to unlock the value of their data via a modern data stack. He and his co-founder believe rote data engineering work shouldn't require teams of in-house data engineers. Fish turned his PhD in Economics and passion for statistics into a successful, venture-backed YC company that is defining the future of data analytics.Listen and learn...Why Fish believes "not every business gets value out of their data... but every business can."The role of data pipelines in automating the cleaning and transforming of data.Fish's prediction for where humans will be needed for data analysis in a decade.What Fish learned working with David Sacks at Yammer.How bacon hot sauce inspired the founding of Mozart Data.References in this episode:Barr Moses from Monte Carlo on AI and the Future of WorkDerek Steer from Mode on AI and the Future of WorkFivetran for simplifying data integration

Send us Fan MailShawn Merani, entrepreneur and venture investor, has started two venture funds and been an operator at early stage companies including Liquidnet and ReachLocal. Shawn has invested in some amazing companies including Clubhouse, Dollar Shave Club, and Stance. He shares his definition of "hustle" and the challenges of raising money for a venture fund vs. raising money for a company.Listen and learn...How to raise your first venture fund.Why the goal of Parade Ventures is "to be the first call great founders make when raising money."Shawn's secret to getting access to over-subscribed deals with high-profile investors.Why Shawn makes it a priority to meet every one of Parade's founders every other week.The biggest mistake founders make when pitching investors.What one entrepreneur did to convince Shawn to invest in a first meeting.References in this episode:Intro: book in-demand experts for a video callSonar: change intelligence softwareMoichor: animal diagnosticsZi Wang from TimelessParade Ventures

Send us Fan MailMel Engle, executive and cancer survivor, has spent more than 30 years in and around the intersection of healthcare and technology. He's now the CEO of Predictive Oncology using AI and patient data to develop personalized cancer treatments. Mel discusses how research from Carnegie Mellon is being commercialized to accelerate the future of healthcare.Listen and learn...How Mel and his team have turned cancer detection and prevention into a data problem.How to use AI to figure out which tumor types can be healed by which chemical compounds to reduce the time required to develop new cancer treatments.How to mitigate the impact of bias in patient data when using AI to make high-stakes decisions.How long before AI will be more accurate at detecting cancer than human doctors.What's ahead for AI in healthcare for the next decade.References in this episode:Predictive OncologyDr. Bob Murphy from Carnegie MellonRene Morkos from ALICE Technologies on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailMatt Cowell started QuantHub in 2018 to help upskill and reskill employees to prepare for careers in data and AI. The QuantHub data skills platform exists to satisfy the growing demand for data-fluent team members. Amazing organizations like Uber and Southern Company use QuantHub to improve data literacy for employees. Plus, Matt's the first Alabamian on the podcast. Roll tide!Listen and learn...How a Chemist landed in IT and eventually became a venture-backed entrepreneurWhy there's a need for a "Duolingo for data literacy"What are the skills required for "data citizens" vs. "data storytellers"Why "every employee will soon be a knowledge worker"Why data literacy will be part of general education requirements in the futureReferences in this episode...Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of WorkPanos Siozos on AI and the Future of WorkBryan Talebi on AI and the Future of WorkDerek Steer on AI and the Future of Work

Send us Fan MailDan Grunfeld, former professional basketball player and operator at Lightspeed Venture Partners, discusses the parallels between sports and entrepreneurship. His grandma's escape from the Holocaust inspired him to share her story, one he has been writing for five years. Dan's family history is inspirational. His advice for entrepreneurs is timeless.Listen and learn...Why professional basketball is a lot like entrepreneurshipDan's lessons from experiencing hardship on the court... and how to recover from setbacksHow the best entrepreneurs find product-market fitHow his 96 year-old grandma was saved twice by Raoul Wallenberg Why Dan says "...basketball was sent from heaven for my family"Dan's advice about discipline for aspiring authors: "if you snooze once, you can snooze every day."References in this episode:Rene Morkos on AI and the Future of WorkPanos Siozos on AI and the Future of WorkBernie and Ernie on ESPN 30 for 30Dan on Twitter: @dan_grunfeldDan's personal site: DanGrunfeld.com

Send us Fan MailMatt Compton's a restless tinkerer from Indianapolis who started Filo.co to solve a problem he had. He needed something better than Zoom to be able to spend more time with his family without being on the road three weeks a month. He and his co-founders joined a venture studio and built the prototype for Filo.co in four weeks. Now it powers virtual employee events for an impressive list of companies.Listen and learn...What's really required to make virtual events productiveHow Filo's better than ZoomHow Anaplan crushed sales kickoff using FiloThe future of virtual spacesWhy we don't need a metaverseReferences in this episode:Gary Bolles on AI and the Future of WorkNeelima Parasker on AI and the Future of WorkFilo.co

Send us Fan MailPhil Heltewig, co-founder and CEO of Cognigy, the low-code conversational AI platform for managing customer service bots, discusses how new AI technologies are improving the support experience. Phil started Cognigy in 2016 with two co-founders and has since raised $55M from Insight Partners among others. The team is now about 100 employees and boasts an amazing customer list including Lufthansa and Bosch.Listen and learn...What Teddy Ruxpin has to do with the future of conversational AI.About the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial journey: "...there are days when you're wondering if you can make payroll..."How customer service bots "are designed to help humans in call centers, not replace them."What are the biggest technical challenges when applying NLP in narrow enterprise domains with limited training data.How Cognigy thinks about mitigating the impact of bias in AI models.Why your experience re-booking your flight will be much better in the future.References in this episode:Cognigy on TwitterCognigyAI and the Future of Work with Panos Siozos

Send us Fan MailDr. Panos Siozos, LearnWorlds CEO, went from academic to high-tech CEO and raised $32M from Insight Partners to help creators monetize e-learning courses. Dr. Siozos is our first guest from Cyprus and his story about building a remote-first, global team should inspire international entrepreneurs everywhere. As Dr. Siozos says, "everyone has something to teach... that someone else wants to learn." This is a great opportunity to understand the future of learning... in 30 minutes.Listen and learn...How Dr. Siozos transitioned from being an academic and researcher to a high-tech CEOWhy creators need a better platform to share and monetize custom e-learning coursesHow technology is redefining the learning experience and why "the industrial education experience" is antiquated How future innovation in the areas of AI, AR, and VR will increase engagement rates for e-learningWhy Dr. Siozos says "...learning is the only superpower we possess as humans."References in this episode:Bryan Talebi, Ahura AI CEO, on AI and the Future of WorkJordan Husney, Parabol CEO, on AI and the Future of WorkLearnWorldsPodchaser token: 9h5nXFjBF3PXuSmfUzrE

Send us Fan MailScott Zoldi, FICO Chief Analytics Officer and PhD in Theoretical Physics, shares how to use AI responsibly. FICO uses consumer data and machine learning models to make decisions ranging from fraud to credit risk. Hundreds of thousands of signals can be used to make a single decision by comparing new data with historical data. Scott's team is focused not just on making accurate decisions but also ensuring the signals used and the decision-making process are bias-free.Listen and learn...How Scott's team uses AI to make automated decisions using consumer dataWhy Scott's priorities are "explainability first and performance second"Why the principles of "humble AI" are as important as the principles of ethical AIWhat's required to increase public trust in AI-based decisionsWhat's the role of data scientists in the future when AutoML is prevalentWhat Scott means when he says "models aren't biased when they're built, they're only biased in production"References in this episode:Scott's blog posts at FICO@ScottZoldi on Twitter Facebook's AI experiment gone awryAmazon's facial recognition failureThanks to Benjamin Baer for the intro to Scott!

Send us Fan MailBindu Reddy, CEO and co-founder of Abacus AI, was a product exec at Google and Amazon and an accomplished entrepreneur before setting out to make AI model management accessible to non data scientists. Bindu has since raised more than $40M from investors like Index Ventures, Coatue, Ram Shriram, Deep Nishar, and others. Her team is investing in core AI research and building a platform to make it easy to deploy models trained on deep neural nets with tabular data. Hear Bindu's vision... then go follow her on Twitter for provocative tweets like the one we discuss in this episode :).Listen and learn...How Bindu became an AI enthusiast after an algorithm helped her previous company increase revenue 40%What Bindu learned at Google and AWS... and what she has had to un-learn to grow Abacus AIHow AI is being used to reduce customer churnWhy Bindu's vision is to make creating and managing AI models "as easy as creating podcasts or websites" Why building bias into AI models isn't necessarily badReferences in this episode:Krishna Gade on AI and the Future of WorkJeff Meyerson on AI and the Future of WorkAbacus.aiBindu on Twitter

Send us Fan MailCharity Majors, CTO and co-founder at honeycomb, grew up in rural Idaho and dropped out of college. This is her unlikely journey from pianist to successful high-tech entrepreneur. She's a pioneer in the monitoring and observability space who turned her learning at Facebook into a company focused on helping developers find and fix bugs faster. Charity's opinionated, thoughtful, and one of the most outspoken critics of, well, the status quo :).Listen and learn...What motivated Charity to start a career in tech having been a "perennial dropout"Why "ops has a well-deserved reputation for masochism"Why Charity says the "Kool-aid at Facebook is strong and potent" Why it's impossible to troubleshoot software bugs with high cardinality dataHow Charity defines observabilityWhat it means to practice observability-driven development (ODD) and why it should replace test-driven development (TDD)References in this episode:Charity's personal siteCharity on TwitterCharity's manifesto on observabilityThanks to Rachel Chalmers for making this episode happen!

Send us Fan MailKai Nunez, VP Research & Insights at Salesforce, didn't always know she wanted to pursue a career in AI because it didn't exist as a field. Her dad was a linguist and she became interested in human-computer interaction at a young age. Kai's deep concern for values-based leadership and operating with integrity led her to become a leading voice in the DEI and AI ethics communities. Today, her teams are creating a culture of awareness about the impact tech has on underserved populations. She's a passionate advocate for educating teams to do the right thing... even when nobody's looking.Listen and learn...About Salesforce's real "biggest competitor"Why DEI matters in technologyHow Kai lives the value of "being a respectful truthteller"Why the future of software includes data audits to mitigate the risk of bias What happened when Kai presented an unpopular idea to Marc BenioffReferences in this episode...Krishna Gade from Fiddler on AI and the Future of WorkAI ethics at Salesforce

Send us Fan MailRené Morkos, CEO and Founder of ALICE Technologies, grew up wanting to build things. That passion led him to degrees in Construction Management and an adjunct professorship at Stanford. In 2015, he founded ALICE to improve the efficiency of complex construction projects. Rene has since raised nearly $40M from an incredible list of investors including Lightspeed, Merus, and Future Ventures. Listen and learn...What René learned from his first job after college working on construction sites in AfghanistanWhy ConstructionTech has attracted nearly $6B since 2014How algorithms figure out what 6,000 people on a construction site should do every dayWhat the world will be like in ten years when technology is fully adopted in the construction industry Why "startups are really just R&D departments for large companies"What's hard about building startups...that they don't teach you in CEO schoolReferences in the episode...ALICE TechnologiesALICE on TwitterAI and the Future of Work with Rachel Chalmers from Alchemist Accelerator