The AI Transition

Stephen and Lauren

The AI Transition is a weekly podcast exploring how AI is reshaping work, leadership, and society. Hosted by Stephen, Lauren and Christiane , certified TQ (Transition) Coaches, with decades of experience in technology, transformation, and coaching, we provide insights and strategies to navigate AI-driven change. Join us for expert discussions and practical guidance to adapt with confidence. New episodes every week—subscribe now!

  1. Jul 5

    The Wrong Door — the fear is real. you're just facing the wrong way.

    A youth football pitch on a freezing Sunday. A furious letter, written at 9pm and rewritten by morning. A fear with the wrong name. Half the adults in America now use AI every week. Most of them don't trust it. In the UK, entry-level jobs are quietly disappearing. Australia's watching, a few steps behind. Stephen and Lauren take apart FOBO — the fear of being obsolete — and find it's aimed at the wrong door. The threat isn't the robot at your desk. It's the bottom rungs of the ladder, sawn off in silence. Then: what actually helps. A brand agent that coached an artist back to herself. A substitution app built in two nights for a Sunday morning football team. A letter that got the outcome an angry one never would have. You can't think your way out of FOBO. You can only do your way out of it. 00:00 Intro  02:56 Australia Two Waves Behind  10:33 The Wrong Door  14:13 Start Where You're Not Afraid  25:52 Wrap-up Deep Dive to the Show: https://www.peopleoverprocess.com.au/podcast/deep-dives/ep8-the-wrong-door Podcast Show Notes:  The Rising AI Backlash and Algorithmic Anxiety A King's College London study reveals 70% of workers fear AI job losses, while clinical research highlights the rise of FOBO (Fear of Being Obsolete) and the psychological cost of AI integration. https://www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/kings-college-london-study-finds-uk-public-more-fearful-than-hopeful-over-ai-and-work https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/article/algorithmic-anxiety-in-the-modern-workplace-understanding-and-addressing-the-human-cost-of-ai-integ https://drjodie.com.au/workplace-anxiety-ai/ The Entry-Level Squeeze Recent data shows a 45% drop in entry-level job postings as AI displaces graduate roles, forcing students to pivot toward soft skills to adapt. https://intuitionlabs.ai/articles/ai-impact-graduate-jobs-2025 https://roarnews.co.uk/2025/ai-and-the-graduate-job-market-whats-really-changing/ Corporate Realities: Mass Layoffs and AI-Washing Databases have logged over 340,000 job cuts attributed to AI, exploring how executives use AI as a smokescreen for cost-cutting, highlighted by controversial layoffs at companies like Atlassian. https://displaceindex.com/trends/ai-layoffs-tracker/ https://founderreports.com/ai-layoffs-tracker/ https://kimseelingsmith.com/the-atlassian-layoffs-ai-disruption-broken-values-and-the-ceo-survival-crisis/ Macro Trends and Human-Centric Work Authoritative studies, including PwC's Jobs Barometer and the Pissarides Review, outline the shifting labor market and call for a new paradigm of human-centered automation. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/ai/ai-jobs-barometer.html https://www.ifow.org/publications/the-final-report-of-the-pissarides-review The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    The Wrong Door — the fear is real. you're just facing the wrong way.

  2. Jun 17

    A Tale of Two Data Centres

    225 megawatts. 14 football pitches in size. Approved, funded, operational. 210 megawatts. Refused. Unanimously. Two data centres. Two cities. One question nobody wants to answer.  CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro 02:26 — Melbourne 10:39 — Edinburgh 19:06 — Big Picture 27:20 — Wrap Up REFERENCES Deep Dive Podcast Companion https://www.peopleoverprocess.com.au/podcast/deep-dives/ep7-two-data-centres Melbourne Data Centre Boom & NEXTDC M3 https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/data-centre-knight-frank-report-september-2025-melbourne-sydney Edinburgh South Gyle Proposal & the Green Data Centre Policy Problem https://aprs.scot/news/update-on-data-centres-campaign/ Energy Bottlenecks & the Off-Grid Shift https://www.morganstanley.com/insights/articles/powering-ai-energy-market-outlook-2026 Global Energy Demands, Water Usage & AI Regulation https://www.brookings.edu/articles/global-energy-demands-within-the-ai-regulatory-landscape/ AI Data Centre Power Constraints & Build-Outs https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/24/what-we-know-about-energy-use-at-us-data-centers-amid-the-ai-boom/ https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from-ai The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    A Tale of Two Data Centres

  3. Jun 2

    The Good News Episode

    He woke up, got himself a glass of water, and closed the blinds against the afternoon sun. None of it should be remarkable — except he can't move his arms, his legs, or speak. And the thing that gave him his independence back isn't one of those backflipping humanoid robots with a billion dollars of hype behind it. It has no face, no legs, no drama. It's an arm on wheels. After last week's trip to the barricades, we needed a lift. So this is the good news episode — the AI that's quietly changing lives while the doom headlines suck up all the oxygen. Cancer caught early by a GP tool that reads between the lines. Radiologists getting a second pair of (artificial) eyes. Kids with epilepsy going seizure-free after AI spots a lesion the size of a blueberry. Wind farms squeezing out more power without a single new turbine. And a robot that looks nothing like the ones you've been told to fear — because the AI actually helping people rarely looks like the AI in the headlines. It's not all tidy. We sit with the irony too: some of this good might be cleaning up messes AI itself is making. But for thirty-odd minutes, the news is good. Promise. Chapters  00:00 — Intro 02:00 — Health 14:00 — Energy 20:30 — Robots 27:55 — Wrap-up If this got you thinking, share it with someone wrestling with these questions, and subscribe wherever you're listening. It genuinely helps. And remember — you still matter, at least for just now. Sources & Further Reading Interactive Overview https://www.peopleoverprocess.com.au/podcast/deep-dives/ep6-good-news Health GPs catching cancer earlier with "C the Signs" (study): https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2024.42.16_suppl.1560"Impressive for a robot" — AI home-care check-ins in Australia: https://completeaitraining.com/news/australias-health-system-embraces-ai-home-care-chatbots-gp/Google AI matches radiologists on breast scans (Imperial College London): https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/global-health-innovation/2026/new-research-conducted-using-google-ai-can-match-or-exceed-radiologists-in-detecting-cancer-in-breast-scans-/Smart fridges & kettles keeping people independent (http://GOV.UK ): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-sensors-on-fridges-and-kettles-helping-vulnerable-people-to-live-independentlyAI therapy as effective as human care for anxiety (ieso study): https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e69351The AI epilepsy detective (Murdoch Children's): https://www.mcri.edu.au/news/news-stories/ai-tool-detects-tiny-brain-lesions-children-with-epilepsyEnergy How AI is boosting renewable energy in Australia: https://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/sustainability/article/how-ai-is-empowering-renewable-energy-in-australia-1029387250CSIRO on smarter large-scale solar: https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/Articles/2026/May/Solar-FarmsAI for energy efficiency in the home (Manchester Prize): https://energy-trust.co.uk/ai-improving-energy-efficiency-innovations-for-domestic-homes/The state of AI in UK decarbonisation: https://es.catapult.org.uk/news/new-report-tracks-ais-role-in-delivering-decarbonisation/Robots Why a faceless "arm on wheels" beats the humanoids (IEEE Spectrum): https://spectrum.ieee.org/stretch-4-home-robotHello Robot: https://hello-robot.comThe AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    The Good News Episode

  4. May 13

    To the Barricades!

    Secret IVF children. NDAs. A kill list. A Molotov cocktail. And 30,000 Oracle workers who trained the AI that replaced them. The backlash is here. Topics Discussed & Source References for Further Reading: The OpenAI Lawsuit: Musk sues OpenAI, revealing secret IVF twins and hostile text messages. https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/07/tech/musk-trial-shivon-zilis-testimonyGen Z's AI Sabotage: 44% of Gen Z workers intentionally sabotage company AI tools to fight automation. https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/zoomers-ai-sabotageAltman's Job Comments: Sam Altman dismisses modern office work as a mere "game" compared to manual labour. https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/sam-altman-openai-jobs-artificial-intelligence-465077-20251026Data Center Backlash: Growing protests and proposed moratoriums against the massive energy demands of AI data centers. https://www.laquadrature.net (you'll need to grab the specific article URL from their site — I only had the domain)Oracle's Layoffs: Oracle fired older employees right before their stock vested to fund AI chip purchases. https://time.com/article/2026/04/30/oracle-layoffs-ai-tech-jobs/The Modern Luddite Rebellion: 70 global labour unions form the Human Work Alliance to demand an Algorithmic Accountability Act. https://startupfortune.com/labor-unions-form-a-global-coalition-against-ai-automation-and-demand-legislation-to-protect-human-workers/The Escalation to Violence: Molotov cocktail attack on Sam Altman's home by an attacker carrying an AI executive kill list. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/18/sam-altman-house-attack-aiThe AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    To the Barricades!

  5. Apr 16

    Rope-a-Dope

    Muhammad Ali didn't win in Kinshasa by being passive. He had a plan. George Foreman didn't. So — is that what's playing out between the two biggest AI labs right now? Anthropic tripled its revenue in four months. OpenAI killed Sora with less than an hour's notice to Disney. Ads are coming. The IPOs are coming. And the most dangerous AI model ever built? The US government isn't allowed to use it. Stephen and Lauren break down who's on the ropes — and who's got a plan.  The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    Rope-a-Dope

  6. Mar 29

    Scout, Strike, Repeat: Why Five Is the Magic Team Number

    Atlassian just cut 1,600 people — including the teams building their own AI. What does that signal for the rest of us? Stephen and Lauren dig into the hidden coordination tax bleeding most teams dry, why the number five keeps showing up as the sweet spot for high-performing teams, and the emerging scout/strike model that's letting small groups outrun large ones. Plus: uncomfortable leadership truths, and what you can actually do about all of this today.  00:00 Intro  01:35 Coordination Tax  06:15 Team Math  09:40 Magic Five  14:45 Scout & Strike  21:10 Leadership  28:33 Wrap Up  The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    Scout, Strike, Repeat: Why Five Is the Magic Team Number

  7. Mar 17

    Government Says No!

    Here you go: The Pentagon wanted Claude for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic said no. Trump said fire them like dogs. Then it got weird. This week we're unpacking the biggest AI story of the year — the full-blown collision between the US government and the company that dared to build ethics into its AI model. We recap how Anthropic's constitutional AI framework put it on a collision course with the Department of Defence, what happened when the February 27th deadline passed, and why a label previously reserved for Chinese adversaries like Huawei is now being pointed at an American company. We get into the leaked memo ordering military commanders to rip Anthropic's technology out of nuclear and cyber systems in 180 days — despite Claude reportedly being actively embedded in military operations right now. We look at the First Amendment lawsuit Anthropic has fired back with, OpenAI's eyebrow-raising decision to step in and take the contract, and the $25 million donation that might explain a thing or two. And then we bring it back down to earth. Because underneath all the geopolitics, something genuinely exciting is happening with these tools — and if you wrote AI off six months ago, it's time to look again. The government said no. The computer said no. The question is — what do you say? 00:00 Intro 00:31 The Backstory 08:35 Anthropic Fights Back 15:31 The AI Landscape 18:41 The Agentic Revolution 28:14 Outro The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    Government Says No!

  8. Feb 23

    Computer Says No.

    What happens when the most powerful government in the world tells an AI company to remove its ethics — and the company says no? In our Season 2 opener, Stephen and Lauren dig into Claude's Constitution: a 23,000-word document — three times longer than the US Constitution — that Anthropic built directly into its AI model to govern how it thinks, behaves, and refuses. They explore the philosophy behind it, the fascinating Scottish philosopher from Dundee who helped write it (and may end up with more influence on the world than David Hume or Adam Smith), and how Isaac Asimov saw most of this coming back in 1942. Then they get to the part that isn't getting nearly enough press: the Pentagon has approached Anthropic demanding blanket permission to use Claude for autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. Anthropic said no. Now the US Department of War is threatening to blacklist them — a move that could be an existential threat to the company. OpenAI and Google have already agreed to strip their military safeguards. Anthropic is the last holdout. And the outcome of this standoff may echo for decades. This one's a lot. But it matters. Subscribe wherever you listen, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Interview with Amanda Askell on Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDfr8PvfoOw The AI Transition is hosted by Stephen and Lauren. We cover AI developments with honest, human-centred analysis — no hype, no doom, just the questions that matter. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us:  https://www.aitransition.show/ The AI Transition is a People Over Process production. You still matter. At least for just now.

    Computer Says No.
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About

The AI Transition is a weekly podcast exploring how AI is reshaping work, leadership, and society. Hosted by Stephen, Lauren and Christiane , certified TQ (Transition) Coaches, with decades of experience in technology, transformation, and coaching, we provide insights and strategies to navigate AI-driven change. Join us for expert discussions and practical guidance to adapt with confidence. New episodes every week—subscribe now!

Information

  • Creator
    Stephen and Lauren
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The AI Transition
  • Show Website
    The AI Transition