Sidecar Sync

Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias

Welcome to Sidecar Sync: Your Weekly Dose of Innovation for Associations. Hosted by Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias, this podcast is your definitive source for the latest news, insights, and trends in the association world with a special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its pivotal role in shaping the future. Each week, we delve into the most pressing topics, spotlighting the transformative role of emerging technologies and their profound impact on associations. With a commitment to cutting through the noise, Sidecar Sync offers listeners clear, informed discussions, expert perspectives, and a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities facing associations today. Whether you're an association professional, tech enthusiast, or just keen on staying updated, Sidecar Sync ensures you're always ahead of the curve. Join us for enlightening conversations and a fresh take on the ever-evolving world of associations. 

  1. Exploring Interactive AI Simulations and World Models with Thomas Altman | 97

    -5 ДН.

    Exploring Interactive AI Simulations and World Models with Thomas Altman | 97

    Send us a text Thomas Altman, co-founder of Tasio and Betty, joins Mallory Mejias for an electrifying deep dive into the future of AI through the lens of world models—AI systems that don’t just respond but simulate environments and predict outcomes. From Genie 3’s physics-aware interactive worlds to the transformative potential for associations in training, events, and strategy, this episode unpacks the profound shift from reactive AI to systems that “understand” the world. Thomas also shares insights from his new book The Association Knowledge Cycle, and offers practical advice for staying ahead in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.   Thomas Altman started working with associations after earning his graduate degree in applied data modeling techniques. One of the first things Thomas noticed when working with associations was that, while they do a great job of collecting data, hardly anyone is really putting that data to use. In an effort to leverage association data and content, Thomas developed Betty. With Betty, Thomas aims to utilize advanced AI-driven solutions to help associations deliver value to their members. https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-altman-tasio/ 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://shorturl.at/PSR0T 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai   🛠 AI Tools and Resources: Genie 3 ➡ https://shorturl.at/ndooP Gemini ➡ https://shorturl.at/fVVHA Betty ➡ https://meetbetty.ai/ Tasio ➡ https://tasiolabs.com/ The Association Knowledge Cycle ➡ https://meetbetty.ai/#download  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    49 мин.
  2. Rapid Fire AI Updates & The Coming Energy Reckoning | 96

    21 АВГ.

    Rapid Fire AI Updates & The Coming Energy Reckoning | 96

    Send us a text In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias tackle the latest developments in AI with a fast-paced series of updates—from Claude overtaking ChatGPT in the voice mode battle, to Google's shockingly tiny Gemma 3 model, to the rocky rollout of GPT-5 and what it teaches us about innovation at scale. Then, the duo zooms out for a big-picture look at AI’s massive and growing energy demands. Can AI keep advancing without breaking the grid? Enter neuromorphic computing—a brain-inspired breakthrough that could power the next era of AI more efficiently. Hot dogs, ant colonies, and nuclear power all make appearances in this can't-miss conversation. 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Claude Voice ➡ https://www.anthropic.com/ ChatGPT Voice Mode ➡ https://openai.com/chatgpt Google Gemma 3 ➡ https://ai.google.dev/gemma OSS Models (OSS-20B, OSS-120B) ➡ https://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mixtral-8x7B Mark Hersam’s TED Talk on Neuromorphic Computing ➡ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66b49ZrJzdw&t=3s  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    39 мин.
  3. GPT-5 Has Landed & OpenAI Opens Up | 95

    14 АВГ.

    GPT-5 Has Landed & OpenAI Opens Up | 95

    Send us a text In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive into two groundbreaking releases from OpenAI: the long-awaited GPT-5 and the surprising return to open source with GPT-OSS. They unpack the shift toward simplified AI interaction, the implications of automatic model selection, and what GPT-5’s real-world performance means for power users. Then they explore how the new OSS models may radically reshape how associations build and deploy custom AI solutions. Plus: updates from ASAE Annual, thoughts on AI hallucinations, and why association leaders should start thinking more like engineers. 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: ChatGPT (GPT-5) ➡ https://chat.openai.com Claude 4.1 Opus ➡ https://www.anthropic.com Soundpost ➡ https://www.soundpost.ai LM Studio ➡ https://lmstudio.ai Hugging Face ➡ https://huggingface.co Quen3 ➡ https://qwenlm.github.io/blog/qwen3/ Kimi K2 by Moonshot AI ➡ https://www.moonshot.cn OpenRouter ➡ https://openrouter.ai  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    49 мин.
  4. Semantic Health & the Future of Medical Coding with Dr. Nicola Sahar | 94

    7 АВГ.

    Semantic Health & the Future of Medical Coding with Dr. Nicola Sahar | 94

    Send us a text In this episode of Sidecar Sync, co-hosts Mallory Mejias sits down with Dr. Nicola Sahar to explore how a University of Toronto med student dove head-first into clinical AI research and went on to found Semantic Health, an AI-powered medical coding platform later acquired by the American Academy of Professional Coders in 2023. They unpack the art and science of medical coding, discuss why AI will augment rather than replace coders, dive into the critical role of data privacy and private-cloud deployments in healthcare AI, and share why associations are uniquely positioned to guide their members through this AI transformation. Dr. Nick Sahar is a Canadian physician and health tech entrepreneur who co-founded Semantic Health. In 2023, Semantic Health was acquired by the American Academy of Professional Coders - AAPC - marking a significant milestone in the adoption of AI in healthcare operations. Today, Dr. Sahar remains an active voice in the healthcare AI space, focused on building tools that support clinicians and improve patient care. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasahar/ Semantic Health - https://www.semantichealth.ai/ AAPC - https://www.aapc.com/ 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: ChatGPT ➡ https://chat.openai.com Claude ➡ https://claude.ai  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    43 мин.
  5. Mission-Driven Models, AGI on the Horizon, & the AI Infrastructure Crunch | 93

    31 ИЮЛ.

    Mission-Driven Models, AGI on the Horizon, & the AI Infrastructure Crunch | 93

    Send us a text In this episode of Sidecar Sync, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan cover a trio of urgent topics shaping the AI landscape. They kick off with Anthropic’s surprising rise to enterprise dominance—fueled not despite, but because of its safety-first approach. From there, the conversation heats up around accelerating predictions for artificial general intelligence (AGI), with some forecasting human-level AI by 2027. Finally, the hosts zoom out to tackle the hidden but massive infrastructure demands powering this AI surge—and why nuclear energy might be the unsung hero. Plus, Mallory introduces us to her rambunctious new puppy, Chai, who’s stealing hearts (but not the mic) behind the scenes. Along the way, you’ll hear updates on new tools like Google Opal and NotebookLM, thoughts on open source vs. closed models, and why humility and daily learning are the keys to thriving in the AI age. 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:  Google Opal ➡ https://opal.withgoogle.com/landing/ NotebookLM ➡ https://notebooklm.google MemberJunction ➡ https://memberjunction.org Claude by Anthropic ➡ https://claude.ai Quen-3 ➡ https://huggingface.co/Qwen Moonshot AI ➡ https://moonshot.ai  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    50 мин.
  6. Physical AI: The Robot Takeover We Actually Want | 92

    24 ИЮЛ.

    Physical AI: The Robot Takeover We Actually Want | 92

    Send us a text Are we ready for a world where AI agents write our blogs and robots clean our homes? In this episode, Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias dive deep into the rise of agentic AI and the future of robotics. They explore how digital workforces powered by open-source platforms like MemberJunction are already transforming productivity, especially in marketing. Then, they pivot to the physical world, breaking down NVIDIA’s fascinating vision of the “Physical Turing Test” and simulation-based training for robots. You’ll hear about digital twins, robot chefs, and what it all means for associations navigating this new frontier. 📽 Jim Fan’s Presentation on the Physical Turing Test and Physical AI - https://youtu.be/_2NijXqBESI?si=6JLhFNQIa4cEfSbP 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: MemberJunction ➡ https://docs.memberjunction.org Claude ➡ https://claude.ai ChatGPT ➡ https://chat.openai.com Groq ➡ https://www.groq.com  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    50 мин.
  7. Next-Gen Knowledge: AI Education with Conor and Finn Grennan | 91

    17 ИЮЛ.

    Next-Gen Knowledge: AI Education with Conor and Finn Grennan | 91

    Send us a text In this heartwarming and enlightening episode, co-hosts Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias welcome the dynamic father-son duo, Conor and Finn Grennan, to discuss their journey teaching generative AI in Nepal. Connor, Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern, and his 16-year-old son Finn share stories of cultural resonance, the universal challenges of AI adoption in education, and how peer-to-peer learning can drive real change. From Kathmandu classrooms to critical thinking conundrums, this conversation explores why the messenger matters just as much as the message—and why students everywhere might be the future's best AI evangelists. Conor Grennan is Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern School of Business and trains large companies on how to drive AI adoption. He's worked with organizations like NASA, McKinsey, PWC, Google, Amazon, and many more. Finn Grennan just finished his sophomore year in high school where he has been asked by the administration of his school to help set AI strategy. 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: ChatGPT ➞ https://chat.openai.com Claude ➞ https://www.anthropic.com AI Mindset ➞ https://www.ai-mindset.ai/ Conor's Post About their Trip to Nepal ➞ https://shorturl.at/W3GwR  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    1 ч.
  8. Cloudflare vs. the Crawlers & The Nonprofit Tech Divide | 90

    10 ИЮЛ.

    Cloudflare vs. the Crawlers & The Nonprofit Tech Divide | 90

    Send us a text In this dog-dedicated episode of Sidecar Sync (Happy 12th to Ninja!), Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan tackle two extremes of the nonprofit tech landscape. First, they dig into Cloudflare’s bold new default to block AI content scrapers—what it means for associations, the rise of pay-per-crawl, and whether blocking AI is smart strategy or short-sighted fear. Then, they shift gears to dissect a revealing Chronicle of Philanthropy survey on nonprofit tech adoption, where some orgs are experimenting with AI while others still won’t accept credit cards. The result? A growing digital divide—and plenty of lessons for association leaders looking to future-proof. 🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind 📕 Download ‘Ascend 2nd Edition: Unlocking the Power of AI for Associations’ for FREE https://sidecar.ai/ai 🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Claude ➞ https://claude.ai Gemini CLI ➞ https://cloud.google.com/gemini/docs/codeassist/gemini-cli ChatGPT ➞ https://chat.openai.com rasa.io ➞ https://rasa.io Cloudflare Article ➞ https://shorturl.at/xY54H Nonprofit Tech Survey ➞ https://shorturl.at/2U9jb  🔎 Check out Sidecar's AI Learning Hub and get your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification:  https://learn.sidecar.ai  📅 Find out more digitalNow 2025 and register now: https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai/  🎉 Thank you to our sponsor: Cimatri https://cimatri.com/ 👍 Like & Subscribe! https://x.com/sidecarglobal https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync https://sidecar.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/ Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey. https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights. https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

    41 мин.
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Welcome to Sidecar Sync: Your Weekly Dose of Innovation for Associations. Hosted by Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias, this podcast is your definitive source for the latest news, insights, and trends in the association world with a special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its pivotal role in shaping the future. Each week, we delve into the most pressing topics, spotlighting the transformative role of emerging technologies and their profound impact on associations. With a commitment to cutting through the noise, Sidecar Sync offers listeners clear, informed discussions, expert perspectives, and a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities facing associations today. Whether you're an association professional, tech enthusiast, or just keen on staying updated, Sidecar Sync ensures you're always ahead of the curve. Join us for enlightening conversations and a fresh take on the ever-evolving world of associations. 

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