Navigating the AI Surge: A Conversation with Jeremiah Owyang on Tech Cycles, Community Engagement, and Sensemaking Tools for Business

On this episode of the Cohere podcast, co-hosts Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas sit down with Silicon Valley veteran Jeremiah Owyang to discuss the evolution of digital technology and the rise of AI. Owyang traces his career back to community leadership roles in tech, emphasizing the importance of transferable skills acquired over decades-long technology cycles. He attributes his pivot to AI as a natural progression in tech, noting that we are amid a surge of interest in AI technologies. Owyang shares how he stays updated in the field, cultivates space for him and others to explore exponential technologies through gatherings like Lllama Lounge and discusses how businesses can leverage AI to improve communities and engagement. The conversation also touches on Owyang's recent collaboration on sensemaking tools, specifically an AI classification framework that ties into the theory of multiple intelligences. He addresses businesses' fundamental misconceptions about AI, which hinder its adoption and closes with advice for business leaders keen to transition from basic AI experiments to meaningful strategies. In this episode, we discuss the following:  [02:04] Introducing Jeremiah Owyang and tracing his career journey [03:37] Discussing the 10-year cycles of technology [09:01] Showcasing the power of gatherings like the Llama Lounge [14:20] Exploring the recent explosion of interest in AI [21:16] Considering how to make sense of AI [25:12] Examining the intersection of community and AI [37:18] Sharing advice for leaders who are ready to move beyond the “LLM 101” experiments   Mentioned in this episode:  Twitter / X:   LinkedIn:   Jeremiah's Tech + Business Newsletter