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

Send us a textHenrik Werdelin is a founder and investor who has spent more than a decade building companies at the intersection of culture, technology, and consumer behavior. He co-founded BARK, the public company that redefined how millions of dog parents connect with their pets, and Prehype, the startup studio behind brands like Ro and Audos.In this episode, Henrik explores how founders can embrace AI without losing human connection, drawing from his experience as co-host of Beyond the Prompt and co-author of Me, My Customer and AI.Recognized by Fast Company and Business Insider for his creative impact, Henrik shares a practical perspective on building companies that scale while staying deeply human.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Henrik believes founders must stay close to users and how AI can deepen (not dilute) human connection.What “building companies at the edge of culture” means and why authenticity beats scale when designing for trust.How Henrik and his team use AI to speed up product development without compromising on creativity or purpose.The shift from storytelling to “storylistening” and how paying attention to customer behavior shapes better products.What the best founders get wrong about generative AI and why Henrik advocates for a more mindful approach to adoption.How roles inside companies are evolving in response to AI and what leaders can do to support creative experimentation.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Henrik on LinkedInAI fun fact articleHow to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your Career

Send us a textKelly Jones is Chief People Officer at Cisco, where she leads the people strategy for more than 84,000 employees worldwide. Over nearly two decades, she has helped make Cisco a global benchmark for workplace culture. In this episode, Kelly explains why trust is the foundation of every AI strategy, how Cisco is equipping managers for an era of augmented work, and what it takes to lead responsibly when the pace of change is this fast.In this conversation, we discuss:Why trust is Cisco’s most valuable workplace currency and how it shapes decisions about AI, culture, and leadership.How AI becomes a co-pilot when employees are given the safety, training, and time to explore new tools at their own pace.What “super leadership” looks like and the four traits Cisco’s CPO believes will define successful managers in an AI-augmented workplace.How Cisco evaluates AI use cases based on disruption, scale, and their potential to enhance the employee experience.Why the real opportunity of AI lies in automating administrative work to give humans more time for purpose, creativity, and connection.The systems Cisco is building to ensure responsible AI use through governance, upskilling, and clear ethical boundaries.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kelly Jones on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your CareerOther episode mentioned in the show: AI as a Liberating Technology: Josh Bersin on Turning Routine Tasks into Superworkers Driving Trust, Creativity, and Growth

Send us a textEric Cheng is co-founder and CEO of Jobright, the AI career copilot serving more than 550,000 users. After building core backend systems at Box and scaling Fangcloud to acquisition, he turned his focus to fixing what’s broken in hiring. His perspective blends engineering depth with a human-centered approach to matching talent and opportunity.In this conversation we discussed:Why Eric created Jobright after interviewing 150 young professionals and discovering a gap in personalized job search support.How Jobright reframes hiring as a “matching” problem and uses AI to function more like a career coach than a job board.The limitations of keyword-based search tools and how AI enables more nuanced, human-like job matching.Why building trust matters in AI-powered hiring platforms and how Jobright balances efficiency with authenticity and accuracy.What the “learning loop” means for job seekers and why Eric believes the mindset shift matters more than the résumé.How emerging roles like AI operations and forward deployment engineers reflect deeper changes in how organizations adopt and manage AI.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Eric Cheng on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to raise over $200 million to detect audio deepfakes

Send us a textKate O’Neill is a leading voice on AI and tech humanism, known for helping organizations build more meaningful, human-centered futures. She has been featured by outlets like BBC, NPR, and NBC, and serves on the United Nations AI advisory board. A CX Hall of Fame inductee and award-winning entrepreneur, Kate brings a unique blend of optimism and realism to conversations about AI, data, and the future of work. Her latest book, What Matters Next, explores how to make human-friendly tech decisions.In this conversation we discussed:How tech humanism explains the relationship between people, technology, and business, and how leaders can design AI systems that strengthen the alignmentWhy humans project intelligence and agency onto AI tools, and what it takes to build healthy, intentional habits around emerging technologiesPractical ways workers can use AI to elevate their roles rather than fear automationThe role of leadership in creating psychologically safe environments where employees can openly experiment with AI toolsThe risk of designing systems that lead to “automated bureaucracy,” and how organizations can embed meaning into automated experiences at scaleWhy meaning and purpose remain uniquely human, and how future workplaces can evolve by pairing human judgment with increasingly capable AI systemsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kate on LinkedIn or at KO InsightsAI fun fact articleOn How Unleashing Human Potential with AI

Send us a textSid Sheth is the CEO and co-founder of d-Matrix, the AI chip company making inference efficient and scalable for datacenters. Backed by Microsoft and with $160M raised, Sid shares why rethinking infrastructure is critical to AI’s future and how a decade in semiconductors prepared him for this moment.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Sid believes AI inference is the biggest computing opportunity of our lifetime and how it will drive the next productivity boomThe real reason smaller, more efficient models are unlocking the era of inference and what that means for AI adoption at scaleWhy cost, time, and energy are the core constraints of inference, and how D-Matrix is building for performance without compromiseHow the rise of reasoning models and agentic AI shifts demand from generic tasks to abstract problem-solvingThe workforce challenge no one talks about: why talent shortages, not tech limitations, may slow down the AI revolutionHow Sid’s background in semiconductors prepared him to recognize the platform shift toward AI and take the leap into building D-MatrixResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Sid on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Mastering Skills To Stay Relevant In the Age of AI