Explore every episode of the podcast Invisible Machines podcast by UX Magazine
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 50/50 Rule with ex NASA Chief, Dan Goldin | 21 Feb 2025 | 00:39:33 | |
As NASA’s longest-running Chief Administrator, Dan Goldin ushered in an era of “faster, better, cheaper” that prioritized safety while pushing the organization forward. He joins Robb and Josh to discuss his approach to innovation and kick some holes in fallacies like the iron triangle, which he calls “horsepuckey.” Goldin was at the helm of major projects, including a redesign of the International Space Station, and various Mars exploration programs. Robb and Josh dig into his profound 50/50 rule for finding team members who can move the needle on innovation without holding an organization back, which has a surprising connection to the work of Michaelangelo. In this episode:
Learn more about Dan Goldin, his initiatives, blog and speaking engagements - and do follow him on Linkedin - he’s got a lot of wisdom as is great at sharing it: https://www.danielsgoldin.com/ The revised and significantly updated second edition of our bestselling book, Age of Invisible Machines, is now available for preorder on Amazon: https://bit.ly/4hwX0a5 Support our show by supporting our sponsors! This episode is brought to you in partnership with OneReach.ai—offering turnkey private architecture for building your team’s AI agents with guardrails.
Discover more about the power of agentic AI: #TechPodcast #NASA #DanGoldin #Innovation #Leadership #SpaceExploration #Aerospace #TechLeadership #TalentStrategy #STEM #AIPodcast #TechPodcast #InvisibleMachines #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AgenticAI #TechInnovation | |||
| Copyrightability and Generative AI - Ed Klaris, Round 2 | 14 Feb 2025 | 00:30:50 | |
Did the US Copyright office just declare that AI is the artist, not the tool? Does their new report raise more questions than it answers? Robb and Josh welcome back Ed Klaris, Managing Partner at Klaris Law and Columbia Law professor, for part two of their discussion on the office’s ongoing Copyright and Artificial Intelligence report, focusing on copyrightability. Klaris returns with critical insights into what these updates to copyright law mean with more and more people now using generative AI as part of their creative process. The report sets some useful guidelines for which aspects of AI-assisted creative projects are copyrightable, yet it also sparks new questions about the boundaries between human and machine-generated output. Find out more about Ed Klaris and his work here: https://www.klarislaw.com The revised and significantly updated second edition of our bestselling book, Age of Invisible Machines, is now available for preorder on Amazon! https://bit.ly/4hwX0a5 In this episode, we mention:
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Support our show by supporting our sponsors! This episode is brought to you in partnership with OneReach.ai—offering turnkey private architecture for building your team’s AI agents with guardrails.
Learn about creating and orchestrating AI agents for your team: #AI #AIPodcast #TechPodcast #InvisibleMachines #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AgenticAI #TechInnovation #GenerativeAI #CopyrightLaw #AILaw #IntellectualProperty #AICopyright #LegalTech #DigitalRights #TechLaw | |||
| S4E10 Is AI the End of Companies? | 01 Oct 2024 | 01:20:34 | |
With consumer use of AI technology outpacing enterprise adoption, the fear of companies using AI to get rid of employees has been flipped on its head into legitimate threat to the existence of companies as we know them. There’s nothing preventing consumers from using generative tools to disrupt large companies—for example, using a fleet of AI agents to flood and debilitate a call center to take advantage of a promotion.
Harsha Gowda and Nitin Bhudia, respectively the CTO and Director of Innovation at Getronics, join Robb and Josh to discuss the risk organizations take by dragging their feet in the race for AI adoption. This conversation explores how organizations can embrace “artificial incompetence” as a necessary initial phase on the course to artificial intelligence, and seed the velocity that will transform their operations. By using AI agents to create an abstraction layer over existing solutions, organizations can take control of their futures.
In this episode, we mention:
The Invisible Machines episode “Digital Twins in an Agentic World” with Dr. Michael Grieves, the father of Digital Twins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsL3w2bVjmw
The TV series “Fawlty Towers”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072500/
Learn more about Getronics: https://www.getronics.com/
Discover how to succeed with an agentic approach to software:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ai_and_companies_episode&utm_content=1
#AIPodcast
#TechPodcast
#InvisibleMachines
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#TechInsights
#DigitalTransformation
#TechTalk
#Innovation
#GenerativeAI
#BusinessStrategy
#AIAdoption
#OrganizationalAGI | |||
| S4E9 Digital Twins in an Agentic World | 20 Sep 2024 | 01:08:53 | |
Digital twins are critical to the orchestration of AI agents, providing the context they need to create meaningful experiences quickly and efficiently. Robb and Josh welcome Dr. Michael Grieves for a conversation about the origins of the concept, which he developed while working with NASA in the 2010s.
The architecture required for orchestrating AI agents relies on different types of digital twins that may emerge within an organization, touching on physical elements, temporal data, and collections of unstructured data. Dr. Grieves joins the podcast to explore these connections, drawing from his book Product Lifecycle Management as well as his numerous scientific publications.
The trio also discusses how something Michael calls “retirementitus” prevents organizations from embracing the sweeping technologies surrounding AI and digital twins.
In this episode, we mention:
Dr. Michael Grieves’ book “Product Lifecycle Management: Driving the Next Generation of Lean Thinking”: https://www.amazon.com/Product-Lifecycle-Management-Generation-Thinking/dp/0071452303
Dr. Michael Grieves’ book “Digital Twins, Simulation, and the Metaverse: Driving Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Physical World through Simulation in the Virtual Worlds (Simulation Foundations, Methods and Applications): https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Twins-Simulation-Metaverse-Effectiveness/dp/3031691067
The Invisible Machines episode “Building an Advanced Digital Assistant” with Jeff McMillan (Head of AI) and David Wu (Head of Knowledge Management & Generative AI) at Morgan Stanley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iQbufK1luE&t=1567s
Charles Perrow’s book “Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies: https://www.perlego.com/book/735258/normal-accidents-living-with-high-risk-technologies-updated-edition-pdf
The Invisible Machines episode with Dr. Nathan Price, Chief Scientific Officer of Thorn HealthTech, and Dr. Lee Hood, a world-renowned scientist, a recipient of the National Medal of Science, and a key contributor to the human genome project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrrEu5TNqFg
The Invisible Machines episode “Lean Knowledge Management” with Roger Forsgren, former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4A_JiBRCr8
You can learn more about orchestrating AI agents for your team: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=digital_twins_episode&utm_content=1
#AIPodcast
#TechPodcast
#InvisibleMachines
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#TechInsights
#DigitalTwins
#AIOrchestration
#ProductManagement
#TechInnovation
#DataArchitecture
#MichaelGrieves
#FutureOfAI
#TechTalk | |||
| S4E8 Will We Ever Love Using Software? | 12 Sep 2024 | 01:04:12 | |
As AI agents continue to alter the way people interface with technology, Robb and Josh were eager to speak with journalist Matt Alston about his popular Business Insider article “Everyone hates Workday.” In this deep exploration of our multifaceted interactions with machines, Matt reminds us that Workday’s UX is different across a whole spectrum of users, and that generally speaking, people don’t like using software. The patterns we follow when operating software end up shaping our thinking, and as we move into a world dominated by conversational interfaces, it’s important to consider the way these systems are intertwined with our minds. Don’t miss this eye-opening episode about the future of project management.
Learn more about creating and orchestrating AI agents to streamline your business operations: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=matt_alston_episode&utm_content=1
Article, “Everybody hates Workday”: businessinsider.com/everyone-hates-workday-human-resources-customer-service-software-fortune-500-2024-5
Learn more about Matt Alston: mattalston.com.
#AIPodcast
#InvisibleMachines
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#UXDesign
#Workday
#ProjectManagement
#FutureOfWork
#UserExperience
#SoftwareDevelopment
#TechInsights | |||
| S4E7 Are AI Agents the End of SaaS? | 05 Sep 2024 | 01:12:29 | |
As AI agents continue to remake the way we communicate with machines, what will become of SaaS companies? In this episode, Robb and Josh are joined by Janelle Teng, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners’ San Francisco office, who recently noted that “2024 has not been kind to SaaS companies” on her Next Big Teng blog.
A Stanford scientist and former product manager at Salesforce, Janelle explains why she is bullish on the multi-agent approach to automation. The trio also discuss the ramification of consumer adoption of AI outpacing enterprises and why startups have a clear advantage in this moment.
Discover how to design and orchestrate conversational AI agents for your employees and customers:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=janelle_teng_episode&utm_content=1
Read Jenelle’s insights at nextbigteng.substack.com.
#AIPodcast
#InvisibleMachines
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#SaaS
#Automation
#TechTrends
#Innovation
#BusinessStrategy
#AIstartups
#VC
#AIcapital | |||
| S4E6 How Human Should AI Agents Really Be? | 29 Aug 2024 | 00:58:58 | |
Sophie Bushwick is a regular contributor to Science Friday on NPR and has previously worked for Scientific American and Popular Science. As the Senior News Editor at New Scientist, she joined Robb and Josh in exploring anthropomorphism and AI.
Sophie’s work reminds us that our introduction to pocket computers came with the heavily anthropomorphized Tamagotchi pets of the late '90s. As we head into the era of conversational machines, Sophie brings her insights to a conversation about the pros and cons of making them human-like across a whole range of scenarios, including those geared toward productivity and entertainment.
The correlations and similarities between corporations and AI pose both ethical considerations as well as design challenges, and this discussion draws on Sophie’s extensive background in technology reporting to look for answers.
Learn about orchestrating conversational AI agents for your team: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sophie_bushwick_episode&utm_content=1
See more of Sophie’s work at sophiebushwick.com
#AIPodcast
#InvisibleMachines
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#TechInnovation
#DigitalExperience
#TechJournalism
#NewScientist
#TechEthics
#FutureOfAI | |||
| S4E5 Agentic Micro UIs IN ACTION | 22 Aug 2024 | 00:45:43 | |
Micro UIs are powerful interfaces built on-the-fly by. We've talked about micro UIs a lot on this podcast, as they are a critical component of AI agents, adding graphical functionalities to an automated conversational experience. Micro UIs let AI agents show users interactive elements—like maps, secure payment interfaces, dynamic graphs, and explainer videos—rather than just describing them.
In this episode, we're joined by Cole Gentile, Solutions Designer at OneReach.ai, to demonstrate micro UIs in action.
Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=micro_uis_episode&utm_content=1
Number of monthly active WeChat users from 1st quarter 2014 to 1st quarter 2024: https://www.statista.com/statistics/255778/number-of-active-wechat-messenger-accounts
"Organizational AGI is Coming — Most Companies Aren’t Prepared," an article by Robb Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of OneReach.ai and Co-Author of the WSJ bestseller “Age of Invisible Machines”: https://www.intelligentcio.com/north-america/2024/02/28/organizational-agi-is-coming-most-companies-arent-prepared/
#AIPodcast
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#MicroUIs
#ConversationalAI
#AIAgents
#UserExperience
#AIIntegration
#TechInnovation
#DigitalExperience
#UXDesign
#invisiblemachines | |||
| S4E4 The Intelligence All Around Us | 15 Aug 2024 | 01:13:30 | |
There are many lenses through which we can view the world, and that's especially true when considering the technologies associated with artificial intelligence. In this episode, James Bridle, author of Ways of Being, joins to explore a multitude of perspectives relating to our ongoing relationship with technology.
James’ book explores the interplay between animals, plants, and machines in the search for planetary intelligence. James offers a broad vision of "thinking" systems that draws from biology, physics, and computation and spurs an investigation of what a corporation is and could become.
Robb, Josh, and James have a dynamic discussion, trying on various lenses for viewing intelligence and uncovering new ideas about technology along the way.
Learn about orchestrating conversational AI agents for your team:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intelligence_around_us_episode&utm_content=1
Get James' book, Ways of Being (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022): https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374601119/waysofbeing
Learn more about James Bridle and their fascinating work: http://jamesbridle.com
#AIPodcast
#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence
#WaysOfBeing
#PlanetaryIntelligence
#Technology
#Innovation
#ConversationalAI
#MachineLearning
#TechDiscussion
#AIAgents
#invisiblemachines | |||
| S4E3 The AGI in Organizational Agility | McKinsey & Co.'s Aaron De Smet | 08 Aug 2024 | 01:08:15 | |
We're rounding out our deep dive on organizational AGI with Aaron De Smet, a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company who helped identify "The keys to organizational agility" with colleagues back in 2015. As we discussed in our first episode on organizational AGI, agility is a key component to making the journey feasible. Aaron has been exploring organizational AGI for years and connects the dots between organizational longevity and the technologies associated with AI.
This conversation examines the ways our very idea of work is steeped in outdated beliefs and strategies from the industrial revolution and how companies that will survive and thrive in this new era will have to reshape themselves.
Learn more about how to create and orchestrate AI agents:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=agi_in_organizational_agility&utm_content=1
Jim Collins, BHAG: https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/bhag.html
The Friction Project by Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao: https://www.bobsutton.net/book/the-friction-project/
To learn more about our bestselling book that began the conversation we continue in this podcast: https://onereach.ai/invisiblemachines/
#OAGI
#AGI
#singularity
#LLMs
#agile
#corporatelongevity
#longevity
#AIagent
#genai
#McKinsey
#invisiblemachines | |||
| S4E2 Ephemeral Applications and AGI | 01 Aug 2024 | 01:06:03 | |
We're entering an age when software will be written on-the-fly, by machines, to meet individual needs—an era of ephemeral applications. This will have a massive impact on the emergence of artificial general intelligence (also called AGI or singularity) and Ben Goertzel returns for a lively discussion about the scope of this dawning era. Ben helped to popularize the term singularity and, as the founder and CEO of SingularityNET (https://singularitynet.io/), has long been working to democratize access to artificial intelligence. As he points out in this episode, "AI that can write code, this is the key to the singularity." Packed with food for thought as well as actionable ideas, this is a hard-hitting episode that expands on ideas central to organizational AGI.
You can watch this episode on YouTube:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ephemeral_apps_and_agi_episode&utm_content=1
To learn more about OAGI and try AI agent demos visit https://onereach.ai/
#AI
#AIagents
#singularity
#AGI
#OAGI
#Goertzel
#LLMs
#GraphDB | |||
| S4E1 Organizational AGI | 25 Jul 2024 | 01:00:37 | |
How do AI agents fit into a strategy for increasing a business' longevity? Imagine having a conversational operating system for your organization that was always learning.
The advanced orchestration of AI agents can create a broader technology ecosystem that sets a trajectory for organizational AGI. Whereas artificial general intelligence, or AGI, refers to a system of artificial intelligence that meets or surpasses human capabilities across a whole range of cognitive tasks. organizational AGI seeks to create the general intelligence it takes to run vast portions of a business.
Robb Wilson, CEO and co-founder of OneReach.ai, coined the term OAGI and is joined by Josh Tyson, andExec Producer Elias Parker for a forward-looking exploration of organizational AGI.
Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tanmay_bakshi_episode&utm_content=1
#AI
#AIagents
#OAGI
#AGI
#generativeAI
#LLMs
#UX
#AIproducts
#conversationalAI
#AIforgood
#Skynetnotyet | |||
| What Is Life? Round 2 with Blaise Agüera y Arcas | 31 Jan 2025 | 00:52:07 | |
Blaise Agüera y Arcas, author and CTO of Technology & Society at Google, returns to the podcast to talk about his new work, What is Life?. This limited-edition, pocket-sized book is the first part of a larger print project with MIT Press and Antikythera titled What Is Intelligence?. What is Life? draws fascinating parallels between the life-building chemical reactions taking place in natural chimneys deep in our oceans and the work of Alan Turing and John von Neumann in the mid-twentieth century. Blaise joins Robb and Josh to explore how self-reproduction—and thus life—is inherently computational. This conversation delves into the nested nature of life on Earth and how technology is an extension of our evolution. You can buy Blaise’s books from Hat & Beard Press:
In this episode, we mention:
Learn about creating and orchestrating AI agents for your team: #AI #AIPodcast #TechPodcast #InvisibleMachines #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AgenticAI #TechInnovation #WhatIsLife #AIandLife #AIResearch #Intelligence #EvolutionAndTechnology #LifeOnEarth #TechAndSociety | |||
| BONUS EPISODE: Building an Autonomous Company with AI Agents | 11 Jul 2024 | 00:53:33 | |
In April, our co-host Robb Wilson was asked to join Jess Larsen on the Innovation & Leadership podcast to discuss AI agents and taking an agentic approach to workflow automation at an organizational level. As AI agents take center stage, we're reposting this conversation here to spread the word on the pitfalls orgs can avoid—and the best practices they can follow.
Robb shares his hard-wrought lessons in AI adoption, including how to foster a culture of innovation by starting small, iterating rapidly, and scaling successfully.
You can learn more about taking an agentic approach to automating your workflows and processes from OneReach.ai:
https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bonus_episode&utm_content=1
This episode was originally published by the Innovation and Leadership podcast with Jess Larson. You can find their show wherever you listen to podcasts, or here: https://www.jesslarsen.net/
#ai
#aiagents
#agentic
#hyperautomation
#agi
#singularity
#invisiblemachines
#innovation
#leadership
#conversationalai
#ux
#technology | |||
| S3E22 AI is a UX Term with Tanmay Bakshi, AI & Application Architect at IBM | 13 Jun 2024 | 00:59:16 | |
Tanmay Bakshi is a technology wunderkind. He started coding when he was only four years old and his first iOS app was released just five years later, when he was nine. An autodidact and deeply curious technologist, Tanmay works as an AI and application architect for IBM, where he's been involved with ongoing automation efforts with McDonald's. Tanmay joins Robb and Josh for an exploration of anthropomorphism, user experience, and the flexibility required to succeed with the shifting technologies associated with conversational AI. Don't miss a practical and enlightening discussion with this brilliant young mind.
Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tanmay_bakshi_episode&utm_content=1 | |||
| S3E21 Forging Humanistic AI with Tom Gruber, Co-Founder of Siri | 07 Jun 2024 | 00:55:49 | |
Journey into the innovative mind of Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri and Chief AI Strategy Officer of Sherpa.ai. Robb and Josh welcome Tom for an enlightening exploration of humanistic AI—systems that augment and collaborate with humans, rather than replacing or competing with them. Using federated machine learning, Tom is working with Sherpa.ai to train advanced generative models on data in ways that maximize privacy and security. This creates opportunities to create safer personalized experiences, which the trio discusses along with exploring the value of designing around use cases related to accessibility.
Check out Tom's website: https://tomgruber.org/ | |||
| S3E20 AI Agents at Work with Greg Vert, Deloitte | 30 May 2024 | 01:16:32 | |
Greg Vert, Principal and HR Transformation Leader at Deloitte, returns to Invisible Machines to discuss the ways AI agents are changing the way enterprises approach HR. Building on the conversation they had in back in season one—in the wake of OpenAI's release of ChatGPT— Robb and Josh invite Greg to explore how the simple idea of AI as the UI will launch widespread systemic change. They also talk about how intentionality and empathy can foster better automated experiences for employees as large companies move to integrate the technologies associated with conversational AI. | |||
| S3E19 Behind the Curtain with Kara Swisher | 23 May 2024 | 00:34:19 | |
Legendary tech journalist Kara Swisher joins Robb and Josh for a discussion about the early days of Silicon Valley and the shape of things to come. Her Boom Town column in The Wall Street Journal covered the early days of the internet, giving her access to key players like Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg, and Mark Zuckerberg. Swisher joins Robb and Josh to share insights from her new memoir, Burn Book, which reveals the tangled relationships between tech's largest power brokers from the vantage point of an embedded reporter. This episode offers brisk contemplations on how AI will impact business and design. | |||
| S3E18 AI Agents in Action | 17 May 2024 | 00:44:18 | |
Learn about the inner workings of AI agents by watching conversational experiences in action. Annie Harshberger, Lead Experience Architect at OneReach.ai (https://onereach.ai/) takes Robb and Josh through an interactive demo of AI agents swarming together to automate complex scheduling requests. Annie has designed hundreds of conversational experiences orchestrating generative AI and other tools. Here, she shares insights into the design process as well as the coordinated effort taking place behind the scenes. This episode provides a crucial perspective for anyone trying to understand how AI agents can scale across an organization. | |||
| Exploring AI Agents S3E17 | 09 May 2024 | 00:32:27 | |
As the second wave of AI-led disruption takes shape, we're seeing and hearing a lot more about AI agents. Analogous to the Intelligent Digital Workers (IDWs) described in Age of Invisible Machines, AI Agents are more complex that they appear and many organizations are discovering that they aren't structured to allow these agents to perform meaningful work. Robb Wilson (CEO and co-founder of OneReach.ai) and Josh Tyson explore the real nature of AI agents, what kinds of technology ecosystems they require, and how organizations can give them real agency. This practical episode also imagines what the proliferation of AI agents means for the future of software.
The bestselling book that explores AI agents, or intelligent digital workers (IDWs) at far greater length is Age of Invisible Machines: https://onereach.ai/invisiblemachines/
Learn more about how to make AI agents, and play with a playground of AI skills: https://onereach.ai/
#ai #aiagents #hyperautomation #conversationalai #podcast #aipodcast #ux #uxdesign #productmanagement #aiproductmanager #aiproducts #aiproductivity #invisiblemachines #googleai #llm #generativeai | |||
| S3E16 Building a Journaling Bot with Academics Daniel Lametti and Joanna Kuc | 02 May 2024 | 00:25:47 | |
Daniel Lametti and Joanna Kuc join Robb and Josh to share the advanced chatbot they created for a research project in mental health. Dan Lametti is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Dan taught and conducted research in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, and is also the Director of Academic Fellowships at OneReach.ai. Joanna is a Data Scientist at Compass Pathways as well as a PhD Candidate in Experimental Psychology at University College London, where her work focuses on decoding language biomarkers relating to mental health. Using the OneReach.ai platform, Daniel and Joanna created a conversational app in Telegram that collects journal entries from participants as either written text or voice notes, and generates weekly summaries. Learn more about this unique design process and some of their findings in an engaging and practical episode of Invisible Machines. | |||
| S3E15 Hiring Conversational Designers - Aaron Cooper, Banner Health's Sr. Dir. of Digital Experience | 18 Apr 2024 | 00:57:12 | |
As conversational AI continues to change the nature of UX, we're excited to bring you a practical (and thorough) conversation about hiring design talent with Aaron Cooper, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Banner Health. Aaron has lead the creation of multiple products involving conversational AI at companies like Honeywell and Optum Health, and was generous enough to open up about what he's looking for when hiring design talent and how he makes sure key people within his organization are partners in design. We've also got a special guest host for this episode: Elias Parker, the executive producer of our book, Age of Invisible Machines, and of this podcast. An ethnographer by training, Elias has been working with UX practitioners for more than a decade and has hired over 200 researchers and designers across disciplines. | |||
| S3E14 Lean Knowledge Management with Roger Forsgren, former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA | 12 Apr 2024 | 00:55:08 | |
As the former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA, Roger Forsgren has a unique understanding of maintaining the administration's renowned gold standard of data management in extremely high-pressure environments. Having worked his way up from a mechanical engineering position with the space administration, Roger joins Robb and guest host Mike Lee for a conversation about the unique rhythms of data organization, retrieval, and maintenance. Exploring ideas from his book "Lean Knowledge Management: How NASA Implemented a Practical KM Program" this is an episode for information science enthusiasts everywhere. | |||
| Radically Honest AI with Dr. Anna Lembke | 17 Jan 2025 | 01:00:25 | |
Anna Lembke, MD, author of the New York Times bestseller Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, joins Robb and Josh for a discussion about the perils and promise of AI. As a psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University, Dr. Lembke shares critical insights into the power and nature of behavioral addiction, and how technology and digital media are impacting the dopamine systems in our brains. Drawing from her experience with patients, she shares the concept of radical honesty—a cornerstone of addiction recovery. Together, they explore how radically honest AI could pose less of a threat and help establish healthier boundaries around technology use. In this episode, we mention:
Learn about creating and orchestrating AI agents for your team: #AI #AIPodcast #TechPodcast #InvisibleMachines #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AgenticAI #TechInnovation #DopamineNation #RadicalHonesty #DigitalAddiction #MentalHealth #TechImpact #BehavioralScience #Dopamine #AnnaLembke | |||
| S3E13 Building an Advanced Digital Assistant with Morgan Stanley | 04 Apr 2024 | 01:01:24 | |
Take a deep dive into the creation of an advanced digital assistant with Jeff McMillan and David Wu of Morgan Stanley. As the Head of AD&I, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and the Head of Knowledge Management & Generative AI respectively, Jeff and David led the creation of an AI assistant for the global investment firm's advisors. Robb and Josh invite them in for a conversation about the technical work and strategic initiatives that enabled Morgan Stanley to create a knowledge base that's given them a massive leap forward with conversational AI. | |||
| S3E12 Innovation Lives in Cities, with Richard Florida, economist, researcher, professor, and author | 28 Mar 2024 | 01:07:14 | |
Well-known researcher, professor, and author Richard Florida joins Robb and Josh for an expansive conversation about the relationship between cities and innovation. His books include "The Rise of the Creative Class" and "The New Urban Decay," which both explore the multi-layered relationship between people and the cities where creativity becomes innovation. Richard is a sought-after speaker and his strategy firm Creative Class Group works with Meta, Microsoft, WeWork, BMW, Cirque do Soliel, and Google. | |||
| S3E11 Innovation in the Global South with Payal Arora, Author, professor and co-founder of FemLab | 21 Mar 2024 | 01:08:07 | |
Payal Arora is a Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University and Co-Founder of FemLab. She's also the author of the award-winning "The Next Billion Users" from Harvard Press, and her new book "From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech" will be released this fall by MIT Press. Payal joins Robb and Josh for a frank and eye-opening exploration of technology and innovation in the Global South. | |||
| S3E10 The Future of Collaboration is Human with Gary Sorrentino, Global CIO of Zoom | 14 Mar 2024 | 00:58:06 | |
As the Global CIO of Zoom, Gary Sorrentino spends a lot of time thinking about how technology can amplify human-to-human collaboration. He joins Robb and Josh for a conversation about the challenges of connecting people in hybrid work environments that are always evolving. As Gary points out, humans are in a joint venture with artificial intelligence, and this episode explores many of the inflection points we need to consider. | |||
| S3E9 How Can We Iterate Faster? With Greg Nudelman, Author and UX Legend | 07 Mar 2024 | 00:53:49 | |
Author and UX Legend Greg Nudelman was one of the original guests on In Conversation with UX Magazine over eight years ago. He returns for a rich conversation about the frenzied intersection of UX and AI. Greg has honed his craft as a design lead at GE Digital, Cisco, and eBay and has worked with organizations like IBM, Oracle, Associated Press, and Intuit. He's currently a Distinguished Designer at Sumo and has written numerous books including The $1 Prototype and Designing Search. He joins Robb and Josh to discuss ways that we can iterate faster and further in the age of AI. | |||
| S3E8 LLM? More Like 'Limited' Language Model with Emily M. Bender, University of Washington | 29 Feb 2024 | 01:00:03 | |
As a co-author of the often cited (and debated) Stochastic Parrots paper from 2021, Emily M. Bender is a staunch critic of large language models (LLMs). Having worked in computational linguistics for more than 20 years, Emily's deep understanding of LLM mechanics has her questioning many of the emerging use cases we see in the world. Also, Emily hosts Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, where, alongside sociologist Dr. Alex Hanna, she breaks down the AI hype, separates fact from fiction, and distinguishes science from bloviation. She joins Robb and Josh for a provocative exploration of generative AI on an important episode of Invisible Machines. | |||
| S3E7 Questioning Everything with Jaron Lanier, Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft | 22 Feb 2024 | 00:49:23 | |
Co-founder of VR technology as we know it Jaron Lanier is also an accomplished musician and artist. As the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft, Jaron rejects the deceptive nature of terms like "AGI" and "decentralization" in favor of a vision of technology that's all about people collaborating with other people. Join Robb and Josh for an episode of Invisible Machines that questions everything. | |||
| S3E6 What Economics Teaches Us About Conversational AI. Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics, MIT | 15 Feb 2024 | 01:00:21 | |
Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor of Economics at MIT and co-author of Power and Progress joins Robb and Josh for a deep exploration of the intersection of technology and economics. Daron's work has explored our thousand-year struggle with technology and prosperity and this conversation touches on how we might incentivize the changes that will improve our experiences as a species. There are layers of centralization that we need to think about in the wake of generative AI, and the trio discusses the ways we can challenge the norms associated with our personal data. | |||
| S3E5 Can Conversational AI Revive Our Attention Spans? With Gloria Mark, Author of Attention Span | 08 Feb 2024 | 01:05:52 | |
For decades, Gloria Mark, PhD, has been studying technology use in real-world environments that she describes as "living laboratories." Her book "Attention Span" looks for ways that we can live with and use technology while maintaining a healthy psychological balance. She joins Robb and Josh for a fascinating conversation about the ways AI might heal some of the damage done by technology and give us space to focus our attention on things that truly matter.
You can learn more in Gloria's Substack at gloriamark.substack.com | |||
| S3E4 The Promise and Peril of Boundless Predictive Machines with Lisa Feldman Barrett | 01 Feb 2024 | 00:54:10 | |
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a psychologist and neuroscientist whose research puts her among the top 0.1% of most cited scientists in the world. She joins Robb and Josh for a conversation about the true nature of our brains, and how aspects of brain development are already being mirrored by AI models. Lisa holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior. She is also a distinguished professor of psychology at Northeastern University, and her real talk about the predictive machines in our heads is captivating food for thought. | |||
| S4E16 How do human brains inform “thinking” machines, with Dr. Thomas Parr | 20 Dec 2024 | 01:00:40 | |
Active inference is a “first principles” approach to understanding behavior and the brain, framed in terms of a single imperative to minimize free energy. The free energy principle describes systems that pursue paths of least surprise, minimizing the difference between predictions based on their model of the world and their sense and associated perception. Dr. Thomas Parr is a practicing clinician and prominent researcher in the field of theoretical neuroscience and he currently works as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurology at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. He is also a co-author of Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior, written in collaboration with Giovanni Pezzulo and Karl J. Friston. In this episode, we mention:
Learn about orchestrating AI agents for your team: #aipodcast #techpodcast #invisiblemachines #ai #artificialintelligence #aiagents #agenticai #techinnovation #neuroscience #activeinference #machinelearning #congitivescience #behavioralscience #futureofai #neuroai #thinkingmachines | |||
| S3E3 One Messaging Channel to Rule Them All? With RJ Owen, Principal Product Designer, Slack | 25 Jan 2024 | 00:57:27 | |
As the Principal Product Designer at Slack, RJ Owen has a hand in shaping a communication channel that's come to redefine productivity while setting a trajectory for how team members collaborate in the post-pandemic world. RJ joins Robb and Josh for a deep conversation exploring the many intricacies of decision management and how the future of productivity might reside in swiping right or left. AI is uncannily good at summarizing information, but as this episode explains, the experience of delivering relevant content to users remains a sizable design challenge. | |||
| S3E2 With UX and AI, Context is Everything with Sarah Gibbons and Kate Moran of Nielsen Norman Group | 18 Jan 2024 | 01:30:11 | |
Sarah Gibbons and Kate Moran of Nielsen Norman Group join Robb and Josh for a deep dive at the intersection of UX and AI. As the Vice President of NN/g, Sarah shares insights from a recent exploration of anthropomorphism and generative AI. Kate Moran is VP of Research and Content and has done extensive research into interaction design and digital content. As leaders at one of the vanguard experience design firms, Sarah and Kate help navigate the frenzied intersection of UX and AI. | |||
| S3E1 The Staggering Depth of Thin UI Layers with Paul English, Co-founder of Kayak and GetHuman | 11 Jan 2024 | 00:58:57 | |
As the co-founder of Kayak and GetHuman, Paul English has deep insight into the ways technology can bring people closer to what they're actually looking for. Robb and Josh welcome Paul for an exploration of the ways that conversational AI can become the thin UI layer that obscures all of the messy technology cluttering our lives. Having recently co-founded the Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute at UMass Boston, Paul brings his thinking on how generative AI fits into our technology tapestry to a practical conversation about our changing relationship with machines. | |||
| Unfiltered Chat with TED Creator Richard Saul Wurman // Invisible Machines S2E26 | 21 Dec 2023 | 00:57:57 | |
Richard Saul Wurman is many things. The creator of the TED conference has also authored scores of books, ranging from revolutionary city guides to a collection of a collection of words by Louis Kahn. Robb and Josh welcomed Richard for a conversation about the LATCH system he devised for organizing information. This early Invisible Machines recording goes to unexpected places as a legendary architect and designer shares his unfiltered thinking on myriad topics. | |||
| The Human Nature of Conversational Design with Daniel Stillman // Invisible Machines S2E25 | 14 Dec 2023 | 01:04:24 | |
Author of Good Talk and host of The Conversation Factory podcast, Daniel Stillman shares insights from his journey through user experience research and industrial design into designing conversations between people. Robb and Josh welcome Daniel for an exploration of the composition and quality of conversations between humans. The complexity present in our everyday conversational interactions lays bare how strategic we need to be in designing the ways we speak with machines. | |||
| A Deep Dive on Conversational Design with Cathy Pearl, Google Bard / Invisible Machines S2E24 | 07 Dec 2023 | 01:20:22 | |
Cathy Pearl has deep roots in conversational design, as the UX Lead on Google Bard and author of Designing Voice User Interfaces (O'Reilly). She joins Robb and Josh for a conversation that explores the changing nature of voice interfaces and the deepening role of experience design. The trio also discusses the ways that conversational AI transcends productivity, potentially improving the quality of our lives in much deeper ways. | |||
| Identity and Collective Intelligence with Blaise Agüera y Arcas // Invisible Machines S2E23 | 30 Nov 2023 | 00:57:40 | |
AI researcher, author, and VP and Fellow at Google Research, Blaise Agüera y Arcas has contributed to research papers cited more than 20,000 times, including a seminal LaMDA paper from 2022. His new book, Who Are We Now?, explores how biology, ecology, sexuality, history, and culture have intertwined to create a dynamic “us” that's neither natural nor artificial. Blaise joins Robb and Josh for a philosophical exploration of identity, collective intelligence, and the ways AI might put us back into balance with nature. A frequent TED speaker and winner of MIT’s TR35 Prize, Blaise brings the perspective of a deeply forward-thinking researcher to our ongoing conversation about AI. | |||
| Morgan Stanley's Successful Adoption of AI with Jeff McMillan // Invisible Machines S2E22 | 28 Nov 2023 | 00:57:40 | |
Despite the complexity and sensitivity innate to financial institutions, Morgan Stanley was able to partner with Open AI to create AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant. Chief Analytics and Data Officer Jeff McMillan describes it as the most advanced personal assistant in the financial sector and he joins Robb and Josh to talk about the design process, which involved working closely with Sam Altman and the team at OpenAI. Jeff's experiences creating a sophisticated automated solution in a heavily regulated industry offer strategy and inspiration to other organizations hoping to make similar transformations. | |||
| Designing Systemic Change with Sheryl Cababa // Invisible Machines S2E21 | 16 Nov 2023 | 01:16:09 | |
Massive amounts of system change are necessary to put AI to work in ways that elevate humanity, and Robb and Josh welcome author and experience designer Sheryl Cababa for a deep discussion of the road ahead. Author of the Rosenfeld Media book, Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, Sheryl has worked as an experienced designer at Phillips, Adaptive Path, and Frog and is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial. Her insights into the important convergence between systems thinking and experience design come at a critical moment when the rapid advancement of technology calls for sober consideration of how we can improve the many systems that make of the world we live in. | |||
| How AI is Disrupting the VC World, with Jake Saper // Invisible Machines S2E20 | 10 Nov 2023 | 00:52:12 | |
In a moment when unprecedented amounts of money are flowing toward projects involving AI, Robb and Josh welcome Jake Saper for a lively exploration of the VC mindset. Since 2003, Emergence Capital has invested in companies collectively worth $450B+, including Salesforce, Box, Yammer, and Zoom. As a General Partner, Jake has embraced the transformative power of generative AI. This conversation explores many different ways these technologies are impacting investor thinking as software becomes cheaper and easier to create. | |||
| S4E15 Computer Vision In Action | 06 Dec 2024 | 00:52:53 | |
Despite being a massive piece of the bigger AI puzzle, computer vision doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. Robb and Josh welcome Dr. Jason Corso, Professor of Robotics at University of Michigan for an In Action episode that explores the complexity and power of machines that can see. Jason is the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel51, which is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, and in this episode he demonstrates open-source tools available for working with massive datasets that include images and videos. The trio also discuss the border implication of adding the context that vision can afford to multi-agent systems. Explore Dr. Jason Corso’s Voxel51 platform: https://voxel51.com/
Learn about orchestrating AI agents for your team: AI agent landing page with the whitepaper: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud+&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=computer_vision_in_action_episode&utm_content=1 Learn about the only tools for orchestrating AI agents that are named a leader by all major analyst firmsAI agent landing page (dev): https://aiagents.onereach.ai/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=computer_vision_in_action_episode&utm_content=1 #AIPodcast #TechPodcast #InvisibleMachines #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AgenticAI #ComputerVision #MultiAgentSystems #DataScience #TechInnovation #AIinAction #GenerativeAI #NoCode #Automation #DigitalTransformation #AITech | |||
| Brad Stulberg, Bestselling author: Master of Change // Invisible Machines S2E19 | 02 Nov 2023 | 00:48:07 | |
Robb and Josh welcome Brad Stulberg for a deep conversation about how humans can best respond to the massive changes AI is thrusting upon us. As the bestselling author of Master of Change, Stulberg has explored the cycle of order, disorder, and reorder, and he shares the principles for developing a rugged flexibility mindset—which applies to both personal well-being and AI integration. A former McKinsey consultant and regular contributor to the New York Times, Brad is a professor at the University of Michigan and a sought-after speaker. | |||
| Cammy Crolic, Oxford Professor, researching human behavior // Invisible Machines S2E18 | 26 Oct 2023 | 01:16:39 | |
Robb and Josh welcome Cammy Crolic for an enlivening discussion of hedonic escalation and anthropomorphization. As a professor at Oxford's Saïd Business School, Cammy's research into how human-like bots affect consumer behavior has been featured in the Wall Street Journal. She is currently exploring human perception around AI-generated content. | |||
| Ben Goertzel, popularized the term 'AGI' // Invisible Machines S2E17 | 19 Oct 2023 | 01:12:09 | |
Robb and Josh welcome Ben Goertzel for a deep exploration of the narrow AIs we are quickly growing accustomed to and our fraught transition to artificial general intelligence, or singularity. As the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, Ben has been working to democratize access to artificial intelligence through decentralization. He's also a leader of both the OpenCog Foundation and the AGI Society, having helped to popularize the term 'artificial general intelligence'. Topics in this episode include balancing design near-term design concerns—like anthropomorphization—against more consequential issues, such as who will control these systems and how they will interact with humanity. | |||
| David Bingham, Director of User Experience at Schneider Electric // Invisible Machines S2E16 | 12 Oct 2023 | 01:34:24 | |
Robb and Josh welcome David Bingham for an exploration of design and conversational AI, from our homes, to our workplaces, to industrial settings. David is a senior experience design executive who’s held positions at GE and Workday and is currently Director of User Experience at Schneider Electric (named one of Fortune’s Most Desirable Companies four years running and deemed the world’s most sustainable company in 2021). The trio discusses the uncanny valley in conversational AI, the true shape and purpose of digital twins, and updating CRUD (adding "seek" to create, read, update, and delete). | |||