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

Dan Turchin

🏆 Ranked #3, Best 30 HR Tech Podcasts in the US — Million Podcasts (2026).  Host Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO, explores how AI is changing the workplace. He interviews thought leaders and technologists from industry and academia who share their experiences and insights about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human in the era of AI-driven automation. Learn more about PeopleReign, the system of intelligence for IT and HR employee service: http://www.peoplereign.io.

  1. 382: Are We Building AI Without Half the Population? With Lisa Davis, Author of The Only Woman in the Room

    1D AGO

    382: Are We Building AI Without Half the Population? With Lisa Davis, Author of The Only Woman in the Room

    Send us Fan Mail Lisa Davis is a technology executive who has served as CIO and tech leader for some of the world's most complex organizations, including Intel, Blue Shield of California, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Defense.  She is now focused on shaping the next generation of leaders and advocating for women and diverse talent in STEM through her board work, executive coaching, and her forthcoming book, The Only Woman in the Room: How to Win in a Workplace Still Built for Men. In this episode, Lisa draws on 30+ years leading technology at the highest levels of government and enterprise to make the case that the future of AI depends on who gets to build it, and as long as women remain locked out of those rooms, we are getting it dangerously wrong. In this conversation, we discuss: Why women's representation in STEM has fallen from 34% in the mid-1980s to 22% today, and why that decline is a crisis for the future of AI, not just the workplace.Why the real risk isn't the technology itself but the leadership teams making AI decisions without diverse voices at the table.The structural systems that were never designed for women to thrive, and why redesigning them is a business imperative, not a social favor.Why current corporate layoffs are being falsely attributed to AI, and what leaders need to start saying out loud.Why girls begin dropping out of math and science as early as middle school, how cultural norms around "bossiness" suppress leadership potential, and what parents and organizations can do to intervene earlier.What Lisa says women who finally reach the executive table must do differently, and why most don't.Resources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Lisa on LinkedIn or visit her website to learn more about her book.AI fun fact articleOn how to navigate life transitions with Bruce Feiler, award-winning author and popular TEDx speaker

    42 min
  2. 381: Who's Really Responsible When AI Gets It Wrong? Bloomberg Beta's James Cham on Power, Morality, and the Case for Removing Humans from the Loop

    MAR 23

    381: Who's Really Responsible When AI Gets It Wrong? Bloomberg Beta's James Cham on Power, Morality, and the Case for Removing Humans from the Loop

    Send us Fan Mail James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital firm recognized by CB Insights as the #2 investor in AI. He has spent years backing the companies quietly building the infrastructure of tomorrow's economy, including Orbital Insight, Primer, Domino Data Labs, and AppZen.  A Harvard CS graduate and MIT MBA, James brings a rare combination of technical depth, philosophical seriousness, and long-horizon investing perspective to every conversation.  In this episode, he challenges some of the most popular  assumptions in enterprise AI adoption (including the idea that keeping humans in the loop is always the right answer) and makes a compelling case for why the moral and economic decisions we make right now will shape the nature of work for the next hundred years. In this conversation, we discuss: Why the people who benefit from AI models, not those impacted by them, should bear full legal and moral responsibility for the harms they causeWhy comparing AI to a flawless "Platonic ideal" is a mistake, and how the mathematical consistency of models is a massive advantage over noisy, unpredictable human decision-makingThe case for pulling humans out of the loop and why romanticizing your role in the process is exactly how organizations miss the real opportunityWhy corporate America's "gold star" approach to AI adoption, tracking how many employees used AI once this week, is a dangerous distraction from what heavy users are already doingHow ancient wisdom and the biblical concept of creation in Genesis can help us navigate the moral responsibilities of building new technologiesJames’s three massive investment theses, including the untapped market for AI tools with high emotional intelligence and why developers spending over $50 a day on tokens are already living in the futureResources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with James on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI Impacts Humanity

    46 min
  3. 380: Customer Service's AI Shift: Zendesk CTO Adrian McDermott on Deterministic AI and Context Engineering

    MAR 16

    380: Customer Service's AI Shift: Zendesk CTO Adrian McDermott on Deterministic AI and Context Engineering

    Send a text Adrian McDermott is Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk, where he leads the company’s product management and engineering teams and helps shape the technology behind one of the world’s most widely used customer service platforms. He joined Zendesk in 2010 and has played a key role in guiding the company’s product and platform strategy as customer experience continues to evolve in the age of AI. Drawing on years of experience building enterprise software used by service teams around the world, Adrian brings a thoughtful perspective on how AI can help organizations deliver better customer service while allowing people to focus on the work humans do best. In this conversation, we discuss: How customer service evolved from a cost center with rigid scripts and binders into a strategic function where technology helps teams deliver better experiences.Why customer service leaders shouldn't fear automation — and why everyone has a "service debt" that AI can finally help pay down.The shift from traditional contact centers to AI-enabled service platforms that help companies respond faster while improving both employee and customer experience.Lessons Adrian learned scaling Zendesk from a small product team to a global platform serving 100,000 customers and how product-led growth shaped that journey.The critical challenge of moving from non-deterministic, creative AI models to deterministic, reliable solutions necessary for enterprise trust and safetyThe future of context engineering and why the next major leap in AI won't be about superintelligence, but about building systems that capture and act on the knowledge created in every customer interaction.Resources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Adrian on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How the impact of the pandemic on leaders, culture, and the evolving nature of work

    44 min
  4. Confidence, Bias, and Opportunity: Lessons from Women Leaders in Tech Building the Future of AI and Work (International Women’s Day Special Episode)

    MAR 12 ·  BONUS

    Confidence, Bias, and Opportunity: Lessons from Women Leaders in Tech Building the Future of AI and Work (International Women’s Day Special Episode)

    Send us Fan Mail To celebrate International Women’s Day, this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work revisits powerful moments from past conversations with women leaders shaping technology, artificial intelligence, and the future of work. Across industries and roles, these leaders share reflections on career growth, leadership, resilience, and the barriers women still face in technology and executive leadership. Their stories reveal how confidence, mentorship, and opportunity shape who gets to lead in emerging industries like AI. As artificial intelligence reshapes how organizations operate and how work evolves, representation in the people building and guiding these technologies matters more than ever. Expanding access and opportunity is essential to creating a more innovative and inclusive future of work. Featured Guests Charlene Li – Author, Keynote Speaker & Strategic Advisor. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/3970637]Daphne Jones – CEO at The Board Curators. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12105172]Patty Hatter – President & COO at Opsera. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/5939122]Mona Sabet – SVP at GCG. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16747398]Tess Posner – CEO and Founder at AI4ALL. Listen to the full conversation here: [2019: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/2207636 - 2025: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17326118]  What You’ll Learn Why women often wait until they feel fully qualified before pursuing leadership rolesHow imposter syndrome shapes career decisions and confidence in techWhy perfectionism can limit growth for technical leadersHow hiring practices based on brand signals reinforce gender imbalanceWhy diversity in AI development leads to better technology outcomesHow leaders can expand opportunity for the next generation of women in tech💬 Inspired by something you heard in this episode? Share your favorite insight about leadership, risk-taking, or expanding opportunity for women in AI and tech, and tag us on social. And don’t forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of work.

    26 min
  5. 379: AI and the End of the Knowledge Economy: Gen Alpha, Reskilling, and the Rise of Creative Work, with Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy

    MAR 9

    379: AI and the End of the Knowledge Economy: Gen Alpha, Reskilling, and the Rise of Creative Work, with Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy

    Send us Fan Mail Matt Britton is Founder and CEO of Suzy and a leading voice on how AI and generational change are reshaping business. He is the author of the best-selling book Generation AI: Why Generation Alpha & The Age of AI Will Change Everything, and has advised more than half of the Fortune 500 on marketing, innovation, and consumer behavior. Drawing on decades of experience working with global brands, Matt examines why AI is shifting the economy from knowledge tasks to creative problem solving, why reskilling will define the next decade, and how leaders can build organizations that elevate human judgment in an AI-driven world. In this conversation, we discuss: Why AI is accelerating a shift from memorization and knowledge tasks toward creativity, critical thinking, and real problem solving.Why reskilling, not upskilling, will define the next decade and why that transition will be harder than most leaders admit.How Gen Alpha, the first AI-native generation, will reshape expectations around work, brands, privacy, and employer relationships.Why robotics will transform the service economy sooner than most leaders expect, and what that means for jobs.The mistake companies make when they chase AI tools instead of focusing on the most important problems to solve.How hyper-personalization and an “audience of one” are redefining trust, value creation, and meritocracy in business.Resources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Matt on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Kai Nunez, Vice President of Research & Insights at Salesforce, is making tech teams take ownership of AI ethics

    32 min
  6. 378: From Certifications to Careers: How Reskilling Pathways Are Closing the AI Talent Gap

    MAR 2

    378: From Certifications to Careers: How Reskilling Pathways Are Closing the AI Talent Gap

    Send us Fan Mail Kourtney Cross is a RiseUp with ServiceNow Graduate and Business Analyst at Leidos. With a background in accounting and operations, Kourtney saw a shift happening in the enterprise tech landscape and decided he wouldn't be left behind. He immersed himself in a new ecosystem, earned multiple certifications through the RiseUp program, and built his own hands-on projects to prove his skills to skeptics. But his story isn't just about learning new software. It's about the grit it takes to pivot your career in public. Kourtney joins Dan Turchin to share what it really looks like to go from "credentials on paper" to delivering value in the AI economy, and why he believes compounded effort always yields success. In this conversation, they discuss: Why Kourtney saw a market shift and decided to dive in headfirst, and how that decision became a pivotal career inflection point.How RiseUp with ServiceNow program enables ambitious early-career professionals to obtain certifications, build real skills, and pivot into future-proof tech roles.What certifications actually do, and don’t do, in the job market, and how Kourtney differentiated himself by building and showcasing a hands-on project.How to proactively leverage AI as a business analyst, from writing user stories to tightening requirements, instead of fearing job displacement.Where AI should accelerate productivity and where clear human boundaries still matter, especially in high-stakes areas like healthcare and admissions decisions.Why patience, resilience, and what Kourtney calls “compounded effort” matter more than credentials alone when breaking into tech and building long-term career momentum.Resources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterAI @ Work – Level One Leaders certificationConnect with Kourtney on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how AI can unleash human potentialExplore more about RiseUp with ServiceNow

    31 min
  7. 377: How Wyndham Hotels Aligns AI with Business Strategy to Empower People at Work, with CCO Scott Strickland

    FEB 23

    377: How Wyndham Hotels Aligns AI with Business Strategy to Empower People at Work, with CCO Scott Strickland

    Send us Fan Mail Scott Strickland is Chief Commercial Officer at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and former Chief Information Officer of Wyndham Hotel Group, where he led technology and AI initiatives across one of the world’s largest hospitality portfolios. With experience spanning global operations, enterprise data strategy, and board-level leadership, he has built a reputation for translating business priorities into scalable technology execution. Drawing on that experience, Scott brings a pragmatic lens to how organizations align AI with business strategy, prioritize initiatives by ROI and time to value, and scale responsibly while building trust across teams. In this conversation, we discuss: How Scott translates business needs into technical AI execution while keeping a sharp focus on measurable dollar impact.Why winning board support for AI requires the “4 E’s” framework, and how making AI a recurring agenda item changes the trajectory of investment.How to scale from four initial AI use cases to more than 340 by prioritizing ROI, time to value, and data readiness.Why AI works best as a co-pilot that removes friction and drudgery, rather than as a replacement for frontline teams.What it takes to build trust with employees during AI transformation, including transparency, reskilling pathways, and new roles like AI coaches.Why security, privacy, and risk management must be built into AI initiatives from day one, and how servant leadership creates the cultural foundation for responsible adoption.Resources: Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Scott on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn how the journey from intern to a $5B unicorn happens

    40 min
  8. The Founders’ Playbook: How to Build AI Companies That Last (Special Episode)

    FEB 19 ·  BONUS

    The Founders’ Playbook: How to Build AI Companies That Last (Special Episode)

    Send us Fan Mail In this special February compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work, we explore what it truly takes to build AI companies designed to last. While AI innovation moves fast, enduring companies are built on fundamentals. Clear problem selection. Thoughtful product design. Ethical intent. Leadership under uncertainty. And the resilience required to keep going when the market pushes back. This episode brings together insights from founders and operators who have built, scaled, and sustained AI-driven companies across different stages and industries. Their stories reveal a shared truth. Long-term success depends less on hype and more on discipline, courage, and trust. Featured Guests Eric Olson, CEO and Co-founder of Consensus - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11574063 Rich White, Founder of UserVoice and CEO of Fathom - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/11911533 Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of MindStudio - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14866979 Daniel Marcous, Founder and CTO of April, former CTO of Waze - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12679210 George Sivulka, CEO of Hebbia - Listen to the full conversation here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16572788  What You’ll Learn Why founders must act before certainty appearsHow solving real pain leads to stronger, longer-lasting companiesWhat ethical intent looks like in practical AI system designWhy trust, accuracy, and discipline matter more than speedHow resilience shapes leadership through uncertaintyWhat separates durable AI companies from short-lived experimentsInspired by something you heard in this episode? Share your favorite insight on social and tag us. We’d love to hear what resonated with you. And don’t forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the founders and leaders shaping what comes next. Other special episodes:  Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)365: What We’ve Learned from 364 Expert Conversations (Special Episode)

    27 min
See All (336)

4.9
out of 5
34 Ratings

About

🏆 Ranked #3, Best 30 HR Tech Podcasts in the US — Million Podcasts (2026).  Host Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO, explores how AI is changing the workplace. He interviews thought leaders and technologists from industry and academia who share their experiences and insights about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human in the era of AI-driven automation. Learn more about PeopleReign, the system of intelligence for IT and HR employee service: http://www.peoplereign.io.

Information

You Might Also Like