The AI Drop – Details, episodes & analysis

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The AI Drop

Freshfields

Technology

Frequency: 1 episode/7d. Total Eps: 14

Unlock the future of artificial intelligence with The AI Drop, a podcast dedicated to delivering cutting-edge insights on how AI is transforming industries worldwide. Each episode features expert interviews and actionable strategies to help you harness AI, drive business value, and navigate evolving legal challenges. Fresh drops every week so you never miss a beat.

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Apple Podcasts

🇫🇷 France - technology
16/07/2026
#96
🇬🇧 Great Britain - technology
17/05/2026
#99
🇬🇧 Great Britain - technology
07/05/2026
#75
🇬🇧 Great Britain - technology
06/05/2026
#66

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https://www.freshfields.com/en/find-a-lawyer/g/gressel-r-anna
21 shares
https://www.freshfields.com/en
12 shares
https://www.leidos.com/
3 shares

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RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 52%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

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The AI Drop #2: Planning in Quicksand: Strategy Under Radical Uncertainty with Geoffrey Schaefer

Episode 3

Tuesday, April 28, 2026 • Duration 28:58

"A good AI strategy is analogous to rebar and concrete," says Geoff Schaefer, making the case that AI should strengthen a company's existing differentiation — not replace the strategy itself. Geoff is the vice president of AI Strategy and Governance at Leidos, one of the largest companies operating at the intersection of defense, national security, and commercial technology.

The conversation with host Anna Gressel opens with a lightning round where Geoff predicts that a small majority of companies will double in size with agents within two years and argues that waiting to see how AI develops puts companies in a structurally reactive — and disadvantaged — position.

Anna and Geoff explore why AI disruption is categorically different from the Industrial Revolution, the danger of a "pilot mindset,” and why AI strategy must be co-designed across technical and non-technical parts of the organization.

...

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The AI Drop #1: Of Bubbles and Busts - A Conversation on the Future of AI with Boris Feldman

Episode 2

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 • Duration 29:12

Anna Gressel is joined by Boris Feldman to examine whether today’s AI boom represents a lasting transformation or a bubble, drawing key distinctions from the dot‑com era. They look ahead to what’s next for AI and explore what lessons history can teach us about the potential future of AI — and what is fundamentally new and different about the moment we are in now.

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Introducing The AI Drop

Episode 1

Monday, April 13, 2026 • Duration 00:33

Join host Anna Gressel to unlock the future of artificial intelligence with The AI Drop, a podcast dedicated to delivering cutting-edge insights on how AI is transforming industries worldwide. Each episode features expert interviews and actionable strategies to help you harness AI, drive business value, and navigate evolving legal challenges. Fresh drops every week so you never miss a beat.

Stay tuned for Episode #1 - dropping Tuesday, April 21st

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The AI Drop #3: Check Engine Light – What Every Board Needs to Know About AI Oversight with Doru Gavril

Episode 4

Tuesday, May 5, 2026 • Duration 26:07

Freshfields partner Doru Gavril remembers listening to the iconic radio show “Car Talk,” where the host would diagnose callers’ car problems. Host Anna Gressel takes the calls, and Doru diagnoses the caller’s AI ailment. Doru peeks under the hood to talk the callers through fixing their issues. Tune in to hear why – just like in “Car Talk” – the answer is often the "carburetor." And why companies and boards should think about diagnosing key AI considerations now. “You have time, but you also cannot wait,” he says. “You need to start thinking about it now, both strategically and operationally.”

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☑️ Doru Gavril | LinkedIn

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

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The AI Drop #4: Pulling Back the Curtain on Agentic AI, with Geoff Schaefer

Episode 5

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 • Duration 34:36

Geoff Schaefer, vice president of AI Strategy and Governance at Leidos, returns to “The AI Drop” to unpack agentic AI strategy, the subject of his newest book. Host Anna Gressel leads off the conversation with a lightning round of questions such as the biggest surprises he’s seen, the number one skill that employees in an agentic workplace must have, and the value that AI agents are actually providing in the workplace. Tune in as he explains why Leidos’ hybrid org chart places human FTEs alongside agent FAEs (full-time agent equivalents), why it’s no longer wrong to anthropomorphize AI, and why a colleague at Leidos is building a “zero trust” architecture for AI – similar to zero trust principles in cybersecurity and organizational security.

Connect and Learn More:

☑️ Geoff Schaefer | LinkedIn

☑️ Leidos

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

The AI Drop #13: Who Watches the Agents? Governing Work in the Era of Agentic AI with Jason Stanley

Episode 14

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 • Duration 26:50

As AI agents become more autonomous, who is responsible for overseeing their work?

In this episode of The AI Drop, host Anna Gressel is joined by Jason Stanley, Head of Applied AI Research at ServiceNow, for a deep dive into the emerging world of agentic AI governance. Together, they explore why traditional AI governance frameworks may not be enough for autonomous systems, the importance of deployment-specific evaluation, and how organizations can build trust, accountability, and effective human-AI collaboration.

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☑️ Jason Stanley | LinkedIn | Substack

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

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The AI Drop #12: The Honest Oracle: Smart Contracts, AI Agents, and the View from Abu Dhabi, with Magdalena Konig

Episode 13

Tuesday, July 7, 2026 • Duration 26:46

What happens when agentic AI's agility meets blockchain rigidity? Magdalena Konig, GC of Sirius International Holding — IHC's technology subsidiary — argues the result is paradoxically powerful: a more agile, rigid structure where use cases multiply exponentially. Host Anna Gressel sits down with Magdalena in Abu Dhabi to explore how smart contracts and agents are natural partners, from logistics pipelines that auto-execute payment on delivery to new financial access for the world's unbanked.

The conversation also covers governance, liability, and human oversight in increasingly autonomous systems, alongside a look at the UAE's rapid emergence as a global hub for AI, blockchain, and digital infrastructure innovation.

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☑️ Magdalena Konig | LinkedIn

☑️ Sirius International Holding | LinkedIn | Instagram

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

The AI Drop #11: Concrete and Capital: Building the Backbone of the AI Era, with Jessamy Gallagher and Harry Evans

Episode 12

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 • Duration 32:50

Data centers are dominating headlines — and the pressures behind them are only growing. In this episode, host Anna Gressel welcomes Jessamy Gallagher, Freshfields partner and global head of the firm's Energy and Real assets group, and Harry Evans, a Freshfields partner in Singapore focused on tech, telecom, and financial services. They map the data center boom from two angles: global capital markets and Asia's build landscape.

They break down why AI has nearly doubled sector growth rates, how asset-backed securitization is unlocking new capital pools, and why power is the fundamental long-term constraint. The conversation covers off-grid power solutions, community pushback from Tokyo to Ireland, and what keeps investors awake: geopolitics, cooling constraints, and whether quantum chips could eventually upend today's infrastructure stack.

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☑️ Harry Evans | LinkedIn

☑️ Jessamy Gallagher | LinkedIn

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | |

The AI Drop #10: Before the Briefing: A GC's Guide to AI in the Boardroom, with Elizabeth Bieber

Episode 11

Tuesday, June 23, 2026 • Duration 21:50

Most boards today have no clear owner for AI oversight and according to Freshfields Partner Elizabeth Bieber. That may not be fatal, but it is a problem that needs a plan. Anna Gressel and Leza, who leads Freshfields' shareholder engagement and activism defense practice, dig into the practical challenges General Counsels face when preparing board briefings on AI.

They explore the tension between presenting a polished, "bow on top" strategy and the reality that AI moves faster than quarterly board meetings. Leza argues that effective governance isn't about having the policy — it's about making the policy drive the right behavior. The conversation also covers how AI should reshape committee charters across audit, compensation, and nominating governance — and whether directors themselves should have guardrails around their own use of AI tools.

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☑️ Elizabeth "Leza" Bieber | LinkedIn

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

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The AI Drop #9: Trust in the Balance: Navigating Reality in the AI Age with Claire Leibowicz

Episode 10

Tuesday, June 16, 2026 • Duration 28:21

As the line between real and synthetic blurs, trust is becoming one of the defining challenges of the AI era.

In this episode, Anna Gressel and Claire Leibowicz (Director of AI, Trust, and Society at the Partnership on AI (PAI)) explore how synthetic media is reshaping authenticity - well beyond deepfakes - raising complex questions about misrepresentation, context, and evidence. They discuss emerging transparency tools, from watermarking to provenance standards, and the challenge of making disclosures meaningful across legal and everyday settings.

The conversation also examines how algorithms and distribution systems shape perception at scale. Looking ahead, they turn to AI agents and the next frontier of trust where questions of identity, accountability, and verification take center stage.

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☑️ Claire Leibowicz | LinkedIn | Personal Website

☑️ The Partnership on AI (PAI) | LinkedIn | Facebook

☑️ Anna Gressel | LinkedIn

☑️ Freshfields

☑️ Subscribe: | |