Human In The Loop

George Meredith leads Security Technical Operations for RUSH, overseeing system quality and infrastructure security. With a Computer Systems Technology degree, Postgraduate Diploma in IT, and a PhD in Cybersecurity, George brings 15+ years of technical expertise to address privacy and security considerations essential to responsible AI deployment in manufacturing environments.
He's also the Unit Training Manager for the Hawke's Bay Coastguard.

In this chat we discuss:

· How AI has rewritten the cyber-risk equation, for attackers and defenders

· Why the defensive toolchain has caught up but governance hasn’t

· What trailing-edge organisations should address first to stay safe

George on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-meredith-nz/

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/
Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/
Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL
Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prof. Dr. Aini Suzana Ariffin is a Malaysian academic, policymaker, and global advocate for responsible artificial intelligence. Her core expertise includes AI policy and strategy development, AI governance and ethics, and AI risk and impact assessment. She led the development of Malaysia’s National Artificial Intelligence Roadmap and contributed to key national frameworks such as the AI Governance and Ethics Guidelines and the AI Risk and Impact Assessment Framework, aligning with global benchmarks including UNESCO’s ethical AI principles and IEEE standards.
Suzana currently serves as a Fellow Expert at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Chair of the UNESCO STEPAN Network for Asia and the Pacific.

Elizabeth (Liz) Longworth is Chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO and an independent director and advisor, with a career spanning law, government, and international diplomacy. She spent much of her career at the United Nations, holding senior UNESCO posts in Paris — including Executive Director within the Director-General's office — before leading the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva.
Before going international, Elizabeth led ICT sector strategy for Industry New Zealand and worked in telecommunications law, and she's also served on the board of New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority.
Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded live at the Aotearoa AI Summit 2026 in Wellington, this episode brings together six voices spanning the boardroom to the hackathon floor, and ultimately considering when does the human in the loop matter most?

In this episode, we hear from:

Madeline Newman — Executive Director, AI Forum NZ

Lou Compagnone — Director, Artificial Intelligence, Datacom

Akilan S — Head of Marketing, Zoho CRM and Zia Agents,

Martijn Verburg — Head of Engineering, Microsoft New Zealand

Wise Group Hackathon Team — Winners, 2026 Aotearoa AI Hackathon

Graeme Muller — Chief Executive, Tech NZ (NZTech)

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angie Judge is the Chief Data & Intelligence Officer at accesso, where she leads the vision and strategy for accesso Intelligence helping organisations across the experience economy turn data into confident decisions through predictive analytics and AI. She joined accesso following its 2026 acquisition of Dexibit, the company she founded in 2016 and grew into the leading data and AI platform purpose-built for visitor attractions, used by some of the world's most iconic venues.

Before Dexibit, Angie held technology and transformation roles at Hewlett Packard and Amdocs, focused on network analytics and enterprise technology across the telecommunications, finance and public sectors. A frequent international speaker on artificial intelligence and the future of the experience economy, she's known for practical, grounded approaches to applying AI to operations, commercial performance and guest experience.

We discuss:

· The impact of the pandemic on the GLAM industry

· The silver lining opportunity to rebuild a SaaS product during downtime

· Deep vertical expertise as a data unlock

Angie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiejudge/

Accesso's website: https://accesso.com/

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/
Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/
Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL
Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Perrin Rowland is Chief Product & Experience Officer at academyEX. Before that she built and matured the design function at Westpac New Zealand — including their Customer Care Lab — and led user experience and CX maturity at Spark through a full agile transformation. She's taught information architecture and UX at New York University, worked with the Nielsen Norman Group, and describes herself, wonderfully, as a designer of journeys and a maker of maps.

We discuss:

· How to seize the opportunity to be a 'maker' with AI tools at your fingertips

· Tips for getting more out of your LLM workflows

· What's the CX problem everyone's trying to solve with AI, that AI is the wrong tool for

Perrin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrinrowland/

academyEX's website: https://academyex.com/

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/
Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/
Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL
Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.