AI on the Side

Shalirrah Wisney

Hosted by Shalirrah Wisney, marketer, author, mom, and self-described "AI translator", AI on the Side is a podcast for people who feel like AI is happening to them rather than for them. Each episode features candid conversations with founders, strategists, and industry voices on what AI actually means for regular people: how it's changing work, creativity, and daily life, minus the hype and jargon. Because AI should be for the many, not the few.

  1. 4 Sept

    40 Years in AI: Luc Julia on the AGI Myth, Machine Limits, and Edge Intelligence

    While leaders across Silicon Valley claim autonomous breakthroughs like Astra mean we are approaching the threshold of AGI, Luc Julia's answer is direct: absolutely not. With a 40-year career spanning research at SRI International and leadership roles across Apple, HP, Samsung, and Renault, and a new book titled "The AI Illusion: Why Machines Aren't Creative", Luc brings a long-view perspective that few in tech can match. In this episode, he breaks down: why general intelligence remains a misunderstanding of what statistical models actually dowhat truly separates human innovation from predictive outputand why the real future isn't in massive cloud data centers...it's running proprietary intelligence directly on your device. * A note on the Siri mention: Luc worked at SRI International in the 1990s on the early virtual assistant research and foundational patents that Siri later drew from, and he went on to lead the Siri team at Apple starting in 2011. While Siri Inc. itself was founded in 2007 by Adam Cheyer, Dag Kittlaus, and Tom Gruber, Luc's work belongs to the earliest chapter of its lineage.

  2. 21 Aug

    AI for Postpartum Mental Health: Scaling Maternal Support with Dr. Katrina Roundfield (Founder of Tara)

    Can AI help solve the maternal mental health crisis? In this episode of AI on the Side, host Shalirrah Wisney sits down with Dr. Katrina Roundfield—a clinical psychologist, former UCSF professor, and two-time tech founder—to discuss how she is using AI to support mothers in the postpartum period and beyond. Dr. Roundfield shares her transition from academia to tech, opening up about her own experience with postpartum anxiety despite years of clinical training. She explains why traditional one-on-one therapy cannot scale to meet demand and how her free app, Tara, delivers personalized, prevention-based mental health support for everyday maternal challenges. In this episode, we cover: The mathematical limits of traditional 1-on-1 therapy and the need for scalable interventions Why postpartum and perinatal mental health is a massive, often overlooked challenge for mothers How Tara integrates human-in-the-loop clinical protocols and crisis safety nets into an LLM platform Protecting user data privacy and why Tara remains LLM-agnostic Designing intentional, calm tech for women that preserves maternal agency instead of creating app addiction Connect with Dr. Katrina Roundfield: Website Download Tara for Moms (iOS) Download Tara for Moms (Android) TikTok/IG: @motherhood.withtara Dr. Katrina’s TED Talk If you enjoyed this conversation, make sure to hit Follow on Spotify and leave a 5-star rating to help more listeners discover the show!

  3. 16 Aug

    From TikTok Growth to AI Founder: Daniel Bulteel on Building Autonomous Agents

    What happens when your calendar actually understands your priorities instead of just filling empty white space? In this episode, Daniel Bulteel, founder of Ting and former growth leader at TikTok and adidas—joins the show to discuss moving beyond static scheduling links toward intelligent, autonomous coordination. Drawing from his experience navigating rapid scale and massive consumer reach at TikTok, Daniel breaks down the vision behind Ting: an AI-driven agent engineered to manage the messy human context of booking meetings and guarding focus time. We explore what it takes to build AI tools people actually trust, how to enforce rigorous data privacy and guardrails, and key lessons from taking an AI startup from concept to private acquisition in 18 months. Key Takeaways Fixing Calendar Friction: Why traditional booking tools fall short and how autonomous AI agents solve complex group coordination. Lessons from TikTok: How high-growth consumer platform experience informs product design, user behavior, and scaling an AI product. Privacy & User Trust: Designing clear guardrails and strict data policies so users comfortably delegate sensitive scheduling tasks. The Agent-Driven Future: Where autonomous AI workflows are headed next across consumer and enterprise environments.

  4. 11 Aug

    Holding AI Accountable: Public Backlash, "Tradwife" Futures, and Women in Tech

    From recent PR missteps to utopian predictions of "never working again," AI is expanding far faster than public trust. In this solo session, I'm cutting through the noise to examine why so many people feel alienated by tech leaders and what happens when the majority of social media isn't bought into the hype. I dive into the uncomfortable intersection of modern AI and a woman's place in society—from the rise of "tradwife" culture to the urgent need for female leadership across STEM, robotics, and emerging tech. Why can't we use these tools while still holding their creators accountable? Let's talk about it. In this episode, I cover: The PR Fallout: Navigating public distrust, brand trip backlash, and AI sentiment Nuanced Usage: Why using AI tools doesn't mean ignoring data center impacts, ethics, or corporate accountability A Woman’s Place: Connecting Yesteryear and The Yellow Wallpaper to domestic expectations in an automated future The Representation Gap: Why getting more women and minorities into decision-making seats is critical to prevent sliding backward Finding Your Community: Practical steps for building, learning, and shaping your own perspective amidst social media noise

  5. 8 Jul

    Why AI is Failing the Average Consumer: Ashley Striblet on Silicon Valley’s Echo Chamber

    If you look at social media right now, the conversation around artificial intelligence is completely fragmented. On LinkedIn, it’s a non-stop corporate celebration of enterprise efficiency. On TikTok, it’s a mix of rapid tech hype and deep skepticism. But while tech billionaires promise that AI will solve humanity's biggest crises, why does the actual technology feel so deeply disconnected from the everyday lives of regular people? In this episode of AI on the Side, host Shalirah Wisney sits down with Ashley Striblet, an independent product strategist and former staff user researcher at Google who specialized in emergent consumer trends and advocacy. Ashley recently made the bold decision to walk away from a senior corporate career track to publicly expose the massive gap between high-level tech development and the real-world needs of parents, teachers, and everyday consumers. Together, they pull back the curtain on why the current AI rollout is missing the mark and how we can reclaim the future of technology. The Silicon Valley Disconnect: Why elite tech echo chambers—where engineers making half-million-dollar salaries build tools for other tech workers—fail to solve resonant, real-world human problems. The Illusion of Forced Adoption: How consumers are being pushed to adopt tools that don't actually change their lives, and why the burden of utility belongs to tech companies, not the user. Why Silence is an Answer: A candid look at the lack of proactive accountability from tech leaders regarding AI job displacement, security concerns, and environmental impacts. Reclaiming Tech via Vibe Coding: The shift toward decentralized technology and why accessible coding tools might finally take product development out of Big Tech's hands and give it to marginalized communities and local creators. Redefining Success & Authentic Representation: Breaking away from the hyper-polished "luxury corporate lifestyle" to normalize authentic, grounded success for Black women in the tech space. Connect with Our Guest: Follow Ashley Striblet's independent research and building-in-public journey on Tik Tok and Substack! If this episode helped you make sense of the AI noise, hit subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a friend!

  6. 30 Jun

    No Code, No Problem: How Tiana Liss Went From Marketer to App Developer

    A few months ago, Tiana Liss wouldn't have called herself a developer. Now she's shipping custom apps, lead magnets, calculators, and full websites — without writing a single line of code herself. In this episode, the San Diego marketing strategist breaks down "vibe coding": how she runs client work through Claude Code and Codex, why you have to be "the conductor," and how she tailors AI to wildly different industries (yes, there's even a hemp milk brand). We get into: the generalist-vs-specialist debatebuilding in publicand the discouraging troll who told her she was "out of her depth" — and how that lit a fire under her instead. Plus her real mission: making AI feel approachable for women, minorities, and anyone who's convinced it's "not for them."

  7. 13 Jun

    The AI Divide: Enterprise Adoption vs. Consumer Fatigue

    In this solo episode of AI on the Side, host Shalirrah Wisney analyzes the critical rift between enterprise AI adoption and general consumer tech fatigue. While corporate sectors have rapidly integrated tools for 10X workplace efficiency, regular users face a 24/7 barrage of overwhelming tech messaging amidst a challenging economic climate. Support the Show: AI is meant to be on the side of what you already do. If you enjoyed these insights on the evolving tech landscape, please rate the podcast 5 stars, hit follow, and share this episode with your network! Resources & Links: Read Shalirrah's full lyrical essay on AI and the future of women on Substack.Catch up with Shalirrah on Tik Tok.

  8. 20 Apr

    Personalization and Privacy in the Age of AI with Greg Merrill

    How is AI redefining what it means to be a brand when authenticity and algorithms collide? Greg Merrill joins us to discuss the shift from human emotional shopping to logical bot-driven purchasing—and why brands must "turn the lights on" for agentic AI to find them. From hyper-personalized pricing to forward-deploying inventory using weather data, Greg shares how companies like Nike maintain human community while leveraging cutting-edge automation.

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About

Hosted by Shalirrah Wisney, marketer, author, mom, and self-described "AI translator", AI on the Side is a podcast for people who feel like AI is happening to them rather than for them. Each episode features candid conversations with founders, strategists, and industry voices on what AI actually means for regular people: how it's changing work, creativity, and daily life, minus the hype and jargon. Because AI should be for the many, not the few.

Information

  • Creator
    Shalirrah Wisney
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Shalirrah Wisney
  • Show Website
    AI on the Side