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

Artem Koren, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Sembly AI, started the company in January 2019 to bring the power of AI to online meetings. Artem and his team developed an app that listens in on virtual meetings and does all the note-taking for you including recommending action items and suggesting the most important topics. These are hard AI problems to solve and Sembly’s success is an indication they’re off to a great start.Before Sembly, Artem was an executive and co-founder at companies including Neusana and Visual Trading Systems and he spent time as a manager in big company land at Ernst & Young.Listen and learn...Why Artem and his co-founder decided to fix the problem of broken meetings Why the evolution of online meetings… is like the evolution of airplanes Why we’ll soon send AI agents to attend meetings on our behalf When meetings are required… and how to make them more efficient How neural nets are solving traditional voice transcription problems related to accents and background noise How to solve the problem of automatically determining who said what in a conversation How Sembly uses generative AI to summarize meetings What are the risks of having AI decide what tasks to assign to meeting participants How to prevent sensitive information from being passed to large language models as training data References in this episode... Safety and ethics are being compromised in the rush to get new generative AI products to marketKrish Ramineni from Fireflies on AI and the Future of WorkRich White from Fathom on AI and the Future of WorkSembly AI

Today’s guest is one of the most recognized investors and thought leaders in the conversational AI community. Bradley Metrock is the CEO of Project Voice, author of the popular Substack newsletter This Week in Voice with more than 30,000 subscribers, and a General Partner at Project Voice Capital Partners. Congrats to Bradley and the team on their recent announcement of their new rolling fund. Bradley’s a proud citizen of the Volunteer State of Tennessee. Fair warning: you may be ready to move to Chattanooga after today’s conversation. Oh, and he’s also an ironman in the world of podcasting having just launched season eight of This Week in Voice, a podcast he launched in 2017. We’re on about episode 180 of this podcast going back to 2019 so I admire Bradley’s stamina.Listen and learn… Where there’s opportunity for entrepreneurs to innovate in conversational AI How conversational AI is changing quick serve restaurants, contact centers, banking, and hospitality How Bradley evaluates new pitches at Project Voice Capital Partners How Bradley defines voice technology in his market map Is voice the new app… or perhaps the “original app” Why generative AI is so disruptive Should we be concerned about voice assistants like Siri and Alexa listening in on our conversations What jobs will AI create over the next decade Bradley sells the great state of Tennessee to entrepreneurs establishing roots outside a coastal state References in this episode... Dr. Lance Eliot describes the risk of sharing your data with ChatGPTApplied Brain Research, a Project Voice Capital Partners investment Bradley’s voice technology market map The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights Project Voice 2023 

Ken Wenger is the author of the forthcoming book Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us?: A Layperson’s Guide to the Concepts, Math, and Pitfalls of AI. I’ve been reading it and it is excellent. Ken is a deep thinker and a great writer. He’s also the senior director of research and innovation at CoreAVI and chief technology officer at Squint AI. His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and determinism, enabling neural networks to execute in safety critical systems. Kenneth has co-authored two articles in the scholarly journal Machine Learning with Applications and several white papers for different publications, including Embedded Computing Design. He also holds several patents under CoreAVI’s auspices.Listen and learn...How neural nets emulate the brain to make decisionsWhy we have to be careful when using the term "intelligence" to describe "AI" systemsWhen Ken trusts machines to make decisions... and when he doesn't Why LLMs like ChatGPT "hallucinate"How generative AI replicates human biasWhy Ken feels "if we haven't addressed ethical issues we're not ready to deploy AI solutions"What AI explainability is and why it's importantReferences in this episode...Ken's book: "Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us: A Layperson's Guide to AI"Krishna Gade, Fiddler CEO, on AI and the Future of WorkCoreAVISquint AISurprising results from the Pew Research Center's survey about attitudes toward generative AI

Bob Rogers, AI pioneer, entrpreneur, and author, started Oii in 2019 to automate supply chain design. The company uses advanced modeling and AI to optimize supply chain planning and automate the configuration of complex networks. Bob started his career as a Harvard physicist using neural networks to measure activity near black holes in deep space. During his 35 year career Bob has been a trailblazer in using AI to solve complex problems. He’s also an Expert in Residence for AI at UCSF Smarter Health and was Chief Data Scientist in the Data Center Group at Intel as well as co-founder and Chief Scientist at Apixio, a Healthcare AI company. Additionally, he co-authored the books Artificial Neural Networks: Forecasting Time Series and “De-mystifying Big Data and Machine Learning for Healthcare“. Bob received his BA in physics at UC Berkeley and his PhD in physics at Harvard. Listen and learn...How neural nets work... from a pioneerWhat it was like to co-author a book with ChatGPTWhat surprised Bob most when he tested the boundaries of ChatGPTWhy ChatGPT spews credible nonsenseThe ethics of using generative AI to sell content derived from copyrighted materialsWhy ChatGPT became an instant global phenomenonHow OpenAI trained ChatGPT "to be nice"Is there another "AI winter" ahead?References in this episode:The book Bob co-authored with ChatGPTCan AI be an author of a publication in a scientific journal?Bob's previous book: Demystifying AI for the enterpriseStanford's Dr. Fei-Fei Li in conversation with OpenAI CTO Mira MuratiFuturists Peter Scott and David Wood on AI and the Future of WorkBob's company: Oii.ai

Cisco got its start in 1984 connecting computers at Stanford University to form the first local area network. Other than maybe Microsoft or Apple, it’s easy to argue Cisco has had more influence on the growth of the internet, and by extension, the modern world, than any other company. 15 years after Cisco started today’s guest was hired to begin what would become a legendary career. Nearly 25 years later JP Vasseur has changed the world again and again. In the process, he has been recognized as the #1 inventor at Cisco with 600 patents to his name. He has authored or co-authored 35 standards, published three books on internet technologies, and has been recognized as a Cisco Fellow, a prestigious title awarded to the top few most-distinguished technical leaders at the company. Today we learn from a living legend about the past, present, and future of technology.Listen and learn...How AI at Cisco has evolved in the past 12 yearsDisruptive vs. incremental innovationHow predictive networks learnThe design principle JP used when designing the first predictive networkThe challenges of predicting outages using unsupervised vs. supervised machine learningJP's process for innovating like a startup within CiscoInnovation in networking we can expect in the next decadeJP's best memory from the early days of CiscoReferences in this episode:JP's blogKevin Roose from the New York Times had a disturbing conversation with Microsoft's BingChambers Talks, the great podcast from former Cisco CEO John ChambersYann LeCun on how babies learnPhil McKinney, former HP CTO, on AI and the Future of Work

Navindra Yadav is the co-founder and CEO of Theom, the cloud data security leader. He and the team recently raised a $16M series A from an impressive group of investors including Microsoft’s M12 venture fund and Ridge Ventures. Prior to Theom, Navindra was the founder and CEO at Tetration and prior to that he was a distinguished engineer at Cisco. Navindra’s work has received more than 182 patents.For full disclosure, Dan is an investor in Theom. Thanks to Patty Hatter, great former guest, for introducing us to Navindra.Listen and learn... What CISOs least understand about the security of enterprise data Why CASBs (Cloud Access Security Brokers) are inherently vulnerable The hardest technical problem Theom has solved How to assign a “criticality score” to data How to use NLP (natural language processing) to detect PII (personally identifiable information) How to protect from unauthorized data access through social engineering Why data stores like Snowflake, Databricks, and Confluent don’t already monitor data inappropriately leaving their platforms? When consumers will be able to trust that data they provide SaaS vendors is secure. The security startup Navindra and Dan are ready to fund! References in this episode… Navindra’s company: Theom.ai Patty Hatter on AI and the Future of Work Congressman Ted Lieu on the creation of an “FDA” equivalent to regulate AI

We often discuss the future of work for enterprise employees. What technology will they use, how will people and machines interact, and how teams will be organized when geography and language are no longer barriers. Few have spent more time in and around enterprise service management than today’s guest and few are better qualified to share insights about what’s ahead.Andi Mann has been a technology leader in technology companies around the world since the 90s. He founded Sageable, the digital transformation advisory services practice, in 2015 and has also recently served in roles that include CTO for DevOps at Splunk and VP Products and Strategy at CA which is now part of Broadcom. Andi and I both did time at BMC Software in the early 2000s. Andi is the author of multiple books including The Innovative CIO, he’s a sought after speaker, and tech provocateur who is never shy about what’s wrong with IT and where the world of digital is headed.Thanks to friend of the podcast Steve Kaplan for the intro to Andi.Listen and learn… Why Andi summarizes his career this way: "I make computers do more work to allow people to do more creative things" The best use of enterprise AI Andi has seen How Andi helped an industrial transportation company save a billion dollars Why “less complex systems can’t understand more complex systems” Why the best use of AI is targeting “known knowns” by augmenting vs. replacing human intelligence How to overcome the lack of trust in AI Why AI won’t eliminate any jobs… and why it will create many new ones Skills to invest in today that will never be replaced by automation References in this episode... Dr. Lance Eliot writes about ChatGPT dispensing therapy advice Colin Fletcher, father of the term “AIOps”, on AI and the Future of Work Andi’s book “The Innovative CIO" Andi’s company Sageable 

Meredith Broussard is one of the most visible, vocal leaders in the emerging field of algorithmic accountability. Professor Broussard is a data scientist and Associate Professor at NYU whose research focuses on AI in investigative reporting and using data analysis for social good. Meredith is the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World and the forthcoming More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech. Among other things, Professor Broussard was featured in the seminal documentary Coded Bias. Today's discussion is about one of the most important topics in our field and in this episode we explore it with someone whose name is on a shortlist of AI ethics pioneers. You’ve heard me say repeatedly coursework in AI ethics should be required for every student graduating with a technical degree. Here's why!Listen and learn...How AI reveals bias encoded in societyWhy it's important to always ask "what could go wrong" What is the new field of "algorithmic accountability reporting"What the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights may mean for bad acting companiesWhat's the right role for the federal government in AI regulationHow to assign an "accountability score" to algorithmsThe ethical issues related to AI we'll be discussing in a decadeReferences in this episode...More Than a Glitch, Professor Broussard's new book... and her "love letter" to an amazing group of women who are pioneers in the emerging field of algorithmic accountabilityProfessor Broussard's personal websiteThe racist soap dispenserJoy Buolamwini's Algorithmic Justice LeagueRumman Choudary, formerly head of the META team at TwitterCathy O'Neil's ORCAAThe ethical judgments built into generative AI modelsGoogle's "stochastic parrots" debacleThe Agnes Irwin School outside Philadelphia

Arvind Jain, Glean CEO and Rubrik co-founder, started Glean in March 2019 to make it easier to find answers strewn across myriad SaaS apps. Prior to Glean, Arvind had an incredible run at data security company Rubrik which he co-founded in 2014. Prior to Rubrik Arvind was a distinguished engineer at Google. Glean became a unicorn last year having raised $100M in May from a list of iconic investors including Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia.Enterprise search is one of the best examples of a field that was in desperate need of disruption. In this episode, we meet one of the disruptors.Listen and learn...Where there's a gap in traditional search technology including GoogleHow to retrieve the best answers across hundreds of SaaS appsHow to understand what users need even when they don't know the right way to ask for itHow to use LLMs like ChatGPT to improve search accuracyHow products like Alexa and Siri are teaching us to ask questions using natural language rather than searching with keywordsHow to personalize enterprise search without improperly using user dataWhat is the future of knowledge managementReferences in this episode...The ethics of ChatGPTSeth Earley from Earley Information Science on AI and the Future of WorkThe Glean blog

Parul Saini has been a technology leader at tech-first companies like Zuora, Splunk, and Uber for more than a decade in roles with increasing responsibility. She has had a birdseye view of AI tech trends and the future of work. In her current role at Uber, her service portfolio includes contact center, employee productivity, and identity management applications.Today, we learn from an expert how to manage enterprise apps that support thousands of employees for a rapidly growing global company.Listen and learn...Why "empathy" is the baseline for ITHow to hire and retain IT talentHow to navigate the dual challenges of being a technology leader and people manager simultaneouslyHow to use AI to increase the velocity of hiring decisionsWhy great CIOs... are also great at sales and marketingWhat Parul has learned from Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO, and Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEOOne thing only Uber insiders knowParul's advice for aspiring female IT leadersReferences in this episode...Mark Settle, seven-time CIO, on AI and the Future of WorkHow autonomous vehicles are changing global traffic patterns