The Human Conversation with Doug Atkinson

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What makes us so special? And why isn't AI just simply going to replace us all? I'm sitting down with educators, researchers, and practitioners to try to find out. With the rise of AI, it is more important than ever we need to have the Human Conversation.

Episodes

  1. 5D AGO

    Can AI Help Social Workers Without Replacing What Makes Them Human? | Dr. Marina Badillo-Diaz

    Social workers are burned out, understaffed, and drowning in paperwork. Is AI an unlikely lifeline? Dr. Marina Badillo-Diaz, founder of the AI Social Worker and professor at NYU and Columbia, joins Doug Atkinson to explore what happens when millions of people turn to chatbots for mental health support, whether human therapists are replaceable, and what the rise of AI means for a generation of kids who may never need to go to college. A grounded, urgent conversation about the human cost of the AI revolution from someone working at the front lines of it.

    57 min

  2. APR 7

    Why Banning AI in Schools Creates Something Far More Dangerous | Courtney Bock

    Are students cheating with AI? Or are they just using their resources?Courtney Bock is a K-5 library and technology teacher and AI implementation specialist who spent the early part of her career training natural language models and building enterprise chatbots. Now she's watching those two worlds collide inside the American classroom.In this episode, Doug and Courtney dig into the ed tech land rush and why not all tools are created equal, how teachers are already using AI to personalize learning in ways that weren't possible before, why kids raised on screens are showing up to school in what Courtney calls "dopamine withdrawal," and why school districts that ban AI entirely aren't playing it safe — they're just building an underground black market.

    56 min

  3. MAR 31

    The Skills That Can't Be Automated | Kevin Petrie

    AI doesn't care about your credentials, your experience, or your billable hour. Doug sits down with BARC Research VP Kevin Petrie to ask the question nobody in enterprise tech wants to answer: what's actually left for us?They cover why data quality has vaulted to the #1 obstacle to AI success, how the arms race between OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google is going to force some uncomfortable business decisions, and whether consulting, legal, and other knowledge-work industries are really safe from disruption. Kevin also makes the case for why Anthropic is quietly pulling ahead on the corporate front — and what that means for the future of enterprise software.***********Kevin Petriehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinpetrietech/ @BARCGmbH  https://barc.com/***********The Human Conversation is powered by Insight JamJoin the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter

    55 min

  4. MAR 24

    Why "Responsible AI" Means Caring About the People It Replaces | Asha J. Palmer

    AI regulation is lagging. Companies are either paralyzed or moving too fast. And somewhere in the middle, real people are watching their career paths disappear. Doug sits down with Asha J. Palmer (AI governance, ethics, and compliance leader at  ⁨@skillsoft⁩ ) to have an honest conversation about what responsible AI actually looks like in practice. They dig into why businesses can't resist replacing headcount, what the collapse of junior coding and paralegal roles signals for every profession, and why upskilling it's a survival necessity. Asha brings both the legal compliance lens and the human one, and the result is one of the most grounded conversations yet about what it means to stay relevant in an AI-powered world.***********Asha J. Palmerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/asha-j-palmer/***********The Human Conversation is powered by Insight JamJoin the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter

    58 min

  5. MAR 17

    Why Human Expertise Still Beats AI | Sam Gupta

    Is AI going to eat enterprise software whole, or are companies nowhere near ready to handle what's coming? Doug sits down with Sam Gupta, founder and CEO of ElevateIQ, to debate the real state of AI adoption in the enterprise. They cover the collapse of legacy ERP, the rise of AI-native platforms like Campfire and Everest, why 95% of companies are more inefficient than they realize, and whether consulting and education can survive the disruption. Sam challenges Doug's opinion on AI at every turn... and the answers aren't what you'd expect.***********Sam Gupta @ElevatIQ  https://www.linkedin.com/in/samguptausa/https://elevatiq.com ***********The Human Conversation is powered by Insight JamJoin the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter

    1h 11m

  6. MAR 10

    Peak Hype or Just the Beginning? with Evan Kirstel

    Tech influencer Evan Kirstel brings the optimist's view while Doug pushes back hard. Is AI a productivity boom or a Terminator that won't show pity? A spirited debate on job displacement, LLM limitations, and whether we're overvaluing human capabilities.

    55 min

  7. MAR 3

    What Makes Humans Special in the Age of AI? with Priyanka Dave

    Dr. Priyanka Dave, workforce development leader at Oregon State University, joins Doug to explore the AI upskilling gap, why future leaders may never learn to lead, and whether humans can compete with technology that evolves faster than we can adapt.***********Priyanka Davehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/priyankadave-phd/***********The Human Conversation is powered by Insight JamJoin the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter

    1h 1m

  8. FEB 25

    The Corporate Ladder Has No Rungs Anymore with David Linthicum

    David Linthicum, former Deloitte Cloud Chief Strategy Officer and 35-year AI veteran, joins Doug to discuss why 90% of AI projects fail, which industries are most vulnerable to disruption, and what happens when the corporate ladder loses its bottom rungs.

    1h 2m

  9. TRAILER

    Welcome to the Human Conversation

    I'm Doug Atkinson and I'll be talking with educators, researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders about the effect AI is having on work, learning, and society. Subscribe today! New episodes every Tuesday.

    27 sec

Trailer

About

What makes us so special? And why isn't AI just simply going to replace us all? I'm sitting down with educators, researchers, and practitioners to try to find out. With the rise of AI, it is more important than ever we need to have the Human Conversation.

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