Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson

Info-Tech Research Group
  • 4.4 (58)
  • TECHNOLOGY

The Next Industrial Revolution is Already Here Digital Disruption is where industry leaders and experts share insights on leveraging technology to build the organizations of the future. As intelligent technologies reshape our lives and our livelihoods, we speak with the thinkers, the doers and innovators who will help us predict and harness this disruption. Join us as we explore how to adapt to and harness digital transformation.

  1. What the Metaverse Is Becoming and Why It Finally Matters

    3D AGO

    What the Metaverse Is Becoming and Why It Finally Matters

    Is the metaverse actually dead or just badly branded? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we’re joined by Christian Venables, co-founder of Radical Realities. Christian specializes in immersive technology and AI, staying at the forefront of emerging tools, platforms, and workflows. With a strong foundation in architecture and design, he has transitioned into extended reality (XR), exploring the evolving possibilities of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and spatial computing. He is the Co-Founder of Radical Realities, a global immersive studio of creative innovators operating entirely virtually. The studio delivers experiences that transcend the physical world, spanning metaverse development, gaming, AR/VR/MR, CGI, VFX, and AI consultancy. Throughout his career, Christian has led and contributed to immersive projects for globally recognized brands including Coachella, Universal, Disney, Cartier, and Hyundai. Christian sits down with Geoff to break down why the metaverse will be rebranded and not abandoned. The real future isn’t cartoon avatars or fantasy worlds, but spatial computing, AR glasses, and ambient interfaces that blend seamlessly into everyday life. Despite years of hype, backlash, and false hope, the metaverse may finally be entering its most practical and powerful phase. Christian explains why the term itself may disappear, while the underlying technologies XR, spatial computing, AI-driven 3D design, and wearable AR glasses, are already reshaping how we work, learn, design, and collaborate. From Meta Ray-Ban display glasses and neural wristbands to Gravity Sketch, Unreal Engine, and AI-assisted worldbuilding; This conversation explores how immersive computing is moving beyond gimmicks into real-world utility, especially across architecture, engineering, education, and the creative industries. In this video: 00:00 Intro 03:00 Is the metaverse dead or just misbranded? 06:00 Spatial computing vs virtual worlds 09:00 Why AR glasses matter more than headsets 12:00 Smart glasses: why this wave is different 15:00 Neural wristbands and gesture-based control 18:00 How quickly humans become dependent on tech 21:00 The split between human-made and AI-generated culture 24:00 Augmenting creativity instead of replacing it 27:00 Designing entirely inside VR 30:00 Gravity Sketch: true 3D creation explained 34:00 Why spatial collaboration beats screens 38:00 Real-world use cases: architecture & manufacturing 42:00 Why mouse and keyboard are reaching their limits 47:00 AI + XR: generating worlds in real time 52:00 What needs to happen before immersive tech scales 56:00 Should immersive computing be back on our radar? Connect with Christian: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-venables-74542836/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/csavenables/ X: https://x.com/Csavenables Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 3m
  2. AI's Most Dangerous Truth: We've Already Lost Control

    JAN 12

    AI's Most Dangerous Truth: We've Already Lost Control

    What happens when the people building artificial intelligence quietly believe it might destroy us? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we’re joined by Gregory Warner, Peabody Award–winning journalist, former NPR correspondent, and host of the hit AI podcast The Last Invention. Gregory Warner is a versatile journalist and podcaster. He has been recognized with a Peabody Award and other awards from organizations like Edward R. Murrow, New York Festivals, AP, and PRNDI. Warner's career includes serving as an East Africa correspondent, where he covered the region's economic growth and terrorism threats. He has also worked as a senior reporter for American Public Media's Marketplace, focusing on the economics of American health care. His work has been recognized with a Best News Feature award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival. Gregory sits down with Geoff for an honest conversation about the AI race unfolding today. After years spent interviewing the architects, skeptics, and true believers behind advanced AI systems, Gregory has come away with an unsettling insight: the same people racing to build more powerful models are often the most worried about where this technology is heading. This episode explores whether we’re already living inside the AI risk window, why AI safety may be even harder than nuclear safety, and why Silicon Valley’s “move fast and fix later” mindset may not apply to superintelligence. It also examines the growing philosophical divide between AI doomers and AI accelerationists. This conversation goes far beyond chatbots and job-loss headlines. It asks a deeper question few are willing to confront: are we building something we can’t control and, doing it anyway? In this video: 00:00 Intro 03:00 AI models that already behave like elite hackers 05:00 Why the AI risk window may already be open 06:30 What AI safety actually means (and why it’s so hard) 12:00 Human-in-the-loop: safety feature or illusion? 15:00 AI as an alien intelligence, not a human one 19:00 The Silicon Valley AI arms race explained 21:00 OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, xAI: who’s racing and why 25:00 The “Compressed Century” and radical AI optimism 27:00 Can AI actually solve humanity’s biggest problems? 33:00 Capital, competition, and the pressure to deploy 37:00 Is AI more dangerous than nuclear weapons? 39:00 The problem with comparing AI to past technologies 43:00 What happens to human agency in an AI-driven world? 45:00 How AI reshapes creativity, journalism, and truth 53:00 The quiet assumptions built into AI systems 55:00 Why optimism and fear both miss the full picture 59:00 What responsibility do users have? 01:01:00 The most important question we’re not asking about AI Connect with Gregory:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radiogrego/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radiogrego/ Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcastFollow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 37m
  3. AI Will End Human Jobs: Emad Mostaque on the Future of Human Work

    JAN 5

    AI Will End Human Jobs: Emad Mostaque on the Future of Human Work

    What happens to jobs, money, and meaning when intelligence becomes cheaper than labor and humans are no longer the smartest ones in the room? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we’re joined by Emad Mostaque, founder of Stability AI and a leading voice in the global AI revolution. Emad Mostaque is a businessman, mathematician, and former hedge fund manager. He is the co-founder and was CEO of Stability AI, the company behind the popular text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion. With a master’s degree in mathematics and computer science from Oxford, Emad Mostaque has significantly contributed to artificial intelligence. His vision for Stability AI was to “build the foundation to activate humanity’s potential” through open-source generative AI. Emad sits down with Geoff to explore a future that may arrive far sooner than most people expect. He argues that within the next 1,000 days, artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape the global economy, upending work, capitalism, enterprise software, and even how we define human value. Drawing from his book The Last Economy, Emad lays out a stark and deeply thought-provoking framework for understanding what comes next when cognitive labor becomes economically irrelevant. This conversation explores the inevitabilities of exponential AI progress, including why intelligence is becoming “too cheap to measure,” how AI agents will replace many jobs done behind a screen, and the coming shift from human-plus-AI teams to AI-only systems. Beyond the economics, Emad also tackles the human question: where meaning comes from in a world where AI outperforms us at most cognitive tasks. He argues that resilience in the AI age will depend less on job titles and more on community, networks, relationships, and how deeply individuals engage with the technology itself. In this video: 00:00 Intro 04:30 What is “The Last Economy”? 08:45 Intelligence becomes too cheap to measure 13:30 The three possible AI futures 18:00 Are humans becoming the weakest link? 22:15 The rise of economic agents 27:00 Digital doubles and the end of white-collar work 31:45 Enterprises racing toward zero employees 36:30 Why AI is cheaper than human labor (by orders of magnitude) 41:15 Software, SaaS, and the collapse of enterprise moats 46:00 The internet after AI agents 50:15 Who controls the “AI next to you”? 54:30 Open-Source vs Big Tech AI 58:45 The first one-person billion-dollar company 1:03:30 What humans are still for 1:07:00 How to prepare for the AI economy now Connect with Emad: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emad-mostaque-9840ba274/?originalSubdomain=uk X: https://x.com/EMostaque Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mostaquee/ Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcastFollow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 11m
  4. AI Boom or Bust? AI Boomers and Doomers Reveal Their Predictions for Our Future

    12/29/2025

    AI Boom or Bust? AI Boomers and Doomers Reveal Their Predictions for Our Future

    Is artificial intelligence humanity’s greatest salvation, or the most dangerous force we’ve ever unleashed? Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept, it’s a force already reshaping geopolitics, economics, warfare, and the human experience itself. In this year in review episode of Digital Disruption, we bring together the most provocative, conflicting, and urgent ideas from this past year to confront the biggest question of our time: What does AI actually mean for humanity’s future? Across more than 40 conversations with leading technologists, journalists, researchers, and futurists, one theme dominated every debate, AI. Some guests argue that artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence could trigger an extinction-level event. Others believe AI may usher in an era of total abundance, solving humanity’s hardest problems. And still others claim today’s AI hype is little more than marketing smoke and mirrors. This episode puts those worldviews head-to-head. In this episode: 00:00 The AI singularity is here 05:00 Existential threat or greatest opportunity? 10:00 Why no one agrees on ai’s future 15:00 The race toward AGI and superintelligence 20:00 The control problem nobody has solved 25:00 Intelligence has no morality 30:00 Capitalism, venture capital, and the AI arms race 35:00 Is AI just a marketing illusion? 40:00 Generative AI: Power, limits, and misuse 45:00 Autonomous weapons and modern warfare 50:00 Fear as the driver of dangerous innovation 55:00 Why AI is not like nuclear weapons 1:00:00 The first and second AI dilemmas 1:05:00 Handing decisions over to machines 1:10:00 Collapse, abundance, or course correction? Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcastFollow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 15m
  5. What AI Bubble? Top Trends in Tech and Jobs in 2026

    12/22/2025

    What AI Bubble? Top Trends in Tech and Jobs in 2026

    Are companies preparing for an AI-powered future or reacting out of fear of being left behind? Looking ahead to 2026, Geoff Nielson and Jeremy Roberts sit down for an unfiltered conversation about artificial intelligence, the economy, and the future of work. As AI hype accelerates across markets, boardrooms, and headlines, they ask the hard questions many leaders and workers are quietly worrying about: Are we in an AI bubble? If so, what happens when expectations collide with reality? This episode explores whether today’s massive investment in AI, GPUs, infrastructure, copilots, and generative tools is laying the foundation for long-term value or repeating the familiar patterns of past tech bubbles like the dot-com boom and the subprime mortgage crisis. Geoff and Jeremy break down why traditional metrics like price-to-earnings ratios matter, why Nvidia and big tech dominate the narrative, and why the real risk may not be collapse but widespread underperformance. The conversation goes far beyond markets. They dig into the impact of AI on jobs, layoffs, and corporate restructuring, challenging the idea that AI is “taking jobs” versus being used as convenient cover for economic tightening. From IT, HR, and operations to customer-facing roles, they examine how AI could reshape workforce composition, accelerate automation, and create a new and potentially unsettling employment equilibrium. You’ll also hear a candid critique of how organizations are actually using AI today and what is to come next in 2026. Tech Trends Report 2026: https://www.infotech.com/research/ss/tech-trends-2026?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=research In this video: 00:00 Just add AI to everything? 03:45 Looking ahead to 2026: Nobody knows what’s coming 07:10 Are we in an AI bubble? 12:30 Comparing AI to the dot-com and 2008 crashes 18:10 Nvidia, GPUs, and the AI Gold Rush 24:20 Why AI infrastructure may be ahead of real-world use cases. 30:40 Markets untethered from reality 36:50 is AI really taking jobs or is something else happening? 43:30 The real employment question for 2026 49:40 Corporate bloat, back-office roles, and automation 56:10 Why most AI projects fail to deliver value 1:02:45 From productivity theater to real ROI 1:09:20 Faster horses vs. Real cars in AI 1:15:40 AI 2.0: Agents, experiments, and what comes next 1:22:10 The real risk ahead: Underperformance, not collapse Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 28m
  6. Top Neuroscientist Says AI Is Making Us DUMBER?

    12/15/2025

    Top Neuroscientist Says AI Is Making Us DUMBER?

    Are we using AI in a way that actually makes us smarter or are we unknowingly making ourselves less capable, less curious, and easier to automate? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we are joined by artificial intelligence expert and neuroscientist, Dr. Vivienne Ming. Over her career, Dr. Vivienne Ming has founded 6 startups, been chief scientist at 2 others, and founded The Human Trust, a philanthropic data trust and “mad science incubator” that explores seemingly intractable problems—from a lone child’s disability to global economic inclusion—for free. She co-founded Dionysus Health, combining AI and epigenetics to invent the first ever biological test for postpartum depression and change the lives of millions of families. She also develops AI tools for learning at home and in school, models of bias in hiring and promotion, and neurotechnologies to treat dementia and TBI. Vivienne was named one of “10 Women to Watch in Tech” by Inc. Magazine and one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2017. She is featured frequently for her research and inventions in The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Quartz Magazine and the New York Times. Dr. Vivienne Ming sits down with Geoff to unpack one of the most misunderstood truths about artificial intelligence: AI isn’t here to replace your thinking it’s here to challenge it. And whether you grow or get left behind depends entirely on how you choose to engage with it. Dr. Ming reveals why most organizations and most individuals are using AI in the worst possible way. Instead of creating leverage, they’re creating “work slop,” cognitive dependency, shallow automation, and declining human capability. She explains why the real competitive advantage in the AI age comes from productive friction, creative complementarity, and teams that know how to use AI to explore the ill-posed problems—the ambiguous, uncertain, high-value challenges machines can’t solve on their own. From how to robot-proof your company, to why AI tutors fail when they give answers, to the science of courage, reward systems, and organizational culture, this conversation is one of the most honest explorations of the future of human capability in an AI-saturated world. In this video: 00:00 Intro 02:30 The real value of hybrid intelligence 05:00 Cognitive automation vs. true complementarity 08:20 Ill-posed problems: where humans still win 12:10 What elite performers really do differently 16:00 The paradox of AI: why more automation creates more work 18:30 How hybrid teams beat prediction markets 20:50 Inequality & imagination disease in AI 23:10 AI tutors & the golden rule: never give the answer 28:00 The nemesis prompt: how to robot-proof yourself 44:20 Courage, ethics & reward structures in organizations 54:00 Using AI without losing the human story 01:06:30 How to robot-proof your company Connect with Vivienne: Website: https://socos.org/about-vivienne LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivienneming/ Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcastFollow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 23m
  7. Go All In on AI: The Economist’s Kenneth Cukier on AI's Experimentation Era

    12/08/2025

    Go All In on AI: The Economist’s Kenneth Cukier on AI's Experimentation Era

    If AI is becoming a “playground” for experimentation, are today’s organizations bold enough to explore it or are they still too afraid to try? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we are joined by Kenneth Cukier, Deputy Executive Editor at The Economist and bestselling author. Kenneth Cukier is the Deputy Executive Editor at The Economist. He is the author of several books on technology and society, notably “Framers” on the power of mental models and the limitations of AI, with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Francis de Vericourt, as well as “Big Data: A Revolution That Transforms How We Live, Work and Think” with Viktor. It was a NYT bestseller translated into over 20 languages, and sold over two million copies worldwide. It won the National Library of China’s Wenjin Book Award and was a finalist for the FT Business Book of the Year. Kenn also coauthored a follow-on book, “Learning with Big Data: The Future of Education”. He has been a frequent commentator on CBS, CNN, NPR, the BBC and was a member of the World Economic Forum’s global council on data-driven development. Kenneth has spent decades at the intersection of AI, journalism, business strategy, and global policy. In this conversation, he sits down with Geoff to share candid insights on how AI is reshaping organizations, leadership, economics, and the future of work. He breaks down the real state of AI, what’s hype, what’s real, and what it means for workers, leaders, and companies. Kenneth explains how AI is shifting from automating tasks to expanding the frontier of knowledge, why today’s multi-trillion-dollar AI investment wave is both overhyped and underhyped, and how everything from healthcare to management is poised to transform. This episode explores why most companies should treat AI as a “playground” for experimentation, how The Economist is using generative AI behind the scenes, the human skills needed to stay competitive, and why great leadership now requires enabling curiosity, psychological safety, and responsible innovation. Kenneth also unpacks the growing “AI-lash,” the limits of GDP as a measure of progress, and why the organizations that learn fastest, not the ones that simply know the most, will win the future. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 05:00 AI Today: Overhyped, underhyped, or both? 10:00 From Big Data to LLMs: How we got here 15:00 The $3 trillion AI wave: What it really signals 20:00 Automation vs. knowledge expansion 25:00 Inside The Economist: How they actually use Generative AI 30:00 Why “more content” isn’t a strategy 35:00 Leadership in the age of AI: Curiosity, judgment, culture 40:00 The skills humans must keep and why they matter more now 45:00 The rise of the “AI-lash” and public skepticism 50:00 GDP, progress, and what we’re measuring wrong 55:00 Why the fastest learners win the future 1:01:00 What can this technology really do? Connect with Kenneth: Connect with Kenneth: Website: http://www.cukier.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-cukier-9ab56335/ X: https://x.com/kncukier Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    1h 6m
  8. Is AI Eroding Identity? Future of Work Expert on How AI is Taking More than Jobs

    12/01/2025

    Is AI Eroding Identity? Future of Work Expert on How AI is Taking More than Jobs

    What does the future of work really look like when AI, identity, and culture collide? On this episode of Digital Disruption, we’re joined by Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon, Chair of the Institute for the Future of Work. Anne-Marie is a leading voice in the tech world, known for her work as a trustee at the Institute for the Future of Work and as the temporary Arithmetician on Channel 4’s Countdown. A former child prodigy who passed A-level computing at 11 and earned a Master’s in Maths and Computer Science from Oxford by 20, she has since spoken globally for companies including Facebook, Amazon, Google and Mastercard. She hosts the acclaimed Women Tech Charge podcast and is a sought-after presenter who has interviewed figures such as Jack Dorsey and Sir Lewis Hamilton. Anne-Marie has received multiple Honorary Doctorates, serves on several national boards, and continues to champion diversity and innovation in tech. Her latest book, She’s In CTRL, was published in 2022. Dr. Anne-Marie joins Geoff to break down how AI, big data, quantum, and the wider “Fourth Industrial Revolution” are transforming jobs, workplaces, identity, culture, and society. From redefining long-held beliefs about “jobs for life,” to the cultural fractures emerging between companies, workers, and society, Dr. Anne-Marie goes deep on what’s changing, what still isn’t understood, and what leaders must do right now to avoid being left behind. This conversation dives into why most AI use cases are still limited to fraud detection and customer service, and the hidden cultural blockers preventing real transformation. She emphasizes the danger of hype cycles, and how to stay focused on real value and how to build organizations that can experiment, learn, and make “high-quality mistakes.” In this episode: 00:00 Intro 00:31 The Future of Work: What’s changing now 02:32 Generational identity, legacy jobs & why work is no longer “for life” 04:36 Work identity crisis & fragmentation of modern careers 07:45 Rethinking digital transformation & the fourth industrial revolution 11:36 Why the institute avoids the AI hype & looks beyond it 13:39 AI Hype vs. reality 17:50 High-quality mistakes 21:06 Tech design failures 23:18 Culture, customers & building organizations that reflect the real world 29:04 Destroying the “Einstein Myth” & rewriting who tech is for 39:37 First-principles thinking 50:34 Norms, unintended consequences & system-level change 55:32 When will the dust settle? ai timelines, disruption & what’s next 57:28 Closing thoughts Connect with Dr. Ann-Marie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimafidon/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notyouraverageami/ Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG

    59 min
See All (48)

4.4
out of 5
58 Ratings

About

The Next Industrial Revolution is Already Here Digital Disruption is where industry leaders and experts share insights on leveraging technology to build the organizations of the future. As intelligent technologies reshape our lives and our livelihoods, we speak with the thinkers, the doers and innovators who will help us predict and harness this disruption. Join us as we explore how to adapt to and harness digital transformation.

Information

You Might Also Like