career advice Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Agents Explained – Dominick Ng

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025
by Claire

If you’ve heard the term ‘AI agents’ but aren’t quite sure what they actually are or how they could help you at work, this is the episode for you.

Our guest is Dominick Ng, Director of Engineering at Relevance AI, a platform that helps businesses build and deploy AI agents. Before joining the startup world, Dom spent nine years at Google, rising from software engineer to senior manager. He also holds a PhD in Computational Linguistics and won a Fulbright Scholarship to UC Berkeley.

What makes Dom such a brilliant guide for this topic is his ability to explain complex technology in human terms. As he puts it, agents are fundamentally about adding human-like decision making to automation — handling the qualitative judgments that previously only people could make.

In this conversation you’ll hear:

A clear explanation of what agents actually are and why they’re different from previous automation
Real examples of agents creating entirely new business possibilities that couldn’t exist before
How to address privacy and security concerns when handing tasks to agents
Dom’s advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed by all of this

Dom is refreshingly honest about both the opportunities and the concerns he has about AI’s impact. His perspective on how humans and AI can work together — and the ‘spark’ that makes human creativity irreplaceable — is genuinely hopeful without being naive.

If you’ve been curious about agents but not sure where to start, this is the conversation you can thank us for later.

As this is our final episode of the year, we want to wish all our listeners Season’s Greetings. Thank you for listening throughout the year, and we wish you a kind and fulfilling new year ahead.

Enjoy this episode with the ever-curious and articulate Dominick Ng.

Useful Links

Relevance AI

Dominic Ng on LinkedIn

Interview

AI at the Speed of Trust – Ann Maya

August 7, 2025
by Claire

Our guest this week gets straight to the heart of what actually makes AI work in practice: seamless data integration and moving at what she calls “the speed of trust.”

Ann Maya is the EMEA Chief Technology Officer at Boomi, a company that connects applications, devices, and systems to help organisations navigate digital transformation. With over 20 years in software—from developer to solution architect to senior leadership—Ann has a rare ability to bridge technical complexity with business reality.

In this conversation, we explore why most organisations struggle to scale AI beyond pilots, and why the answer isn’t just about the technology itself. Ann shares:

How a container ship insurance company transformed their underwriter workflow from three days to 15 minutes—and why their legal team immediately wanted in
Why she believes your company’s data is your “competitive secret sauce” and how to protect it while still leveraging AI’s power
The psychology behind why change happens at “the speed of trust” and how smart companies bring their people along on the AI journey
Real examples of what she calls “creative destruction”—and why the next revolution might come from the most unexpected places

Ann also reveals how Boomi has embedded 11 different AI agents into their own platform and shares a fascinating perspective on the current AI race: who’s winning, who’s getting left behind, and what you can control when everything feels like it’s moving at breakneck speed.

Whether you’re wondering how to turn AI skeptics into advocates or trying to understand why your organisation’s data strategy matters more than ever, this conversation offers practical insights from someone who’s helping companies navigate this transformation every day.

Enjoy this episode with the innovative and customer-focused Ann Maya.

Links

Ann on LinkedIn

Boomi home page

Boomi – Discover

Interview

AI for Marketing & Creative – Emma Wharton Love

July 23, 2025July 23, 2025
by Claire

This week we explore how AI is reshaping all things marketing with Emma Wharton Love, co-founder of UK-based Spark AI.

Emma helps creative agencies and in-house teams navigate the AI era, and her unique background includes helping the entire UK House of Commons transition to hybrid working during Covid.

That experience taught Emma something crucial that we explore in this episode, successful AI deployment isn’t really about the technology, it’s about people and change management.

We also probe one of the most sensitive areas for the marketing services industry, how AI is impacting the creative process itself. We also explore what AI video means for advertising and how it may result in a much bigger pool of advertisers in future.

During this great conversation you’ll also discover:

What to avoid when starting out on the AI pathway
The value of synthetic market research (and what it is)
Where Emma believes the biggest gains for agencies lie
How she thinks about AI’s future role in marketing creativity, and
The one mindset Emma believes is essential for AI success.

Whether you’re in marketing or not, Emma’s approach to managing AI transformation offers valuable lessons for any professional or business trying to harness this technology thoughtfully.

Useful Links

Spark AI website

Emma Wharton Love on LinkedIn

Interview

AI Will Replace Jobs But …. – Peter Guagenti

July 9, 2025July 9, 2025
by Claire

This week we’re sharing an AI conversation many executives are afraid to have. Our guest, Peter Guagenti, CEO of agentic platform and AI agent builder, EverWorker, is one of those rare voices willing to say what others won’t: “AI will replace jobs”. Perhaps surprisingly, he goes on to explain why that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

While many in the industry underestimate or downplay AI’s capabilities, Peter speaks plainly about what he’s seeing happen right now in businesses across multiple industries.

Peter has been at the forefront of enterprise AI adoption for nearly a decade. Before EverWorker, he was President of TabNine, a pioneering AI code assistant, and he’s held leadership roles at major data infrastructure and dev tools companies including Cockroach Labs.

What you’ll hear Peter share in this episode:

Why job replacement fears are missing the bigger picture
Which “boring” businesses are actually leading early AI agent adoption
Skills you need to successfully implement AI for automation in any business
Why Peter calls AGI talk “nonsense” and what leaders should focus on instead, and
The one thing about AI’s future that genuinely worries him most.

Peter has a gift for cutting through the hype with plain talking, concrete examples and practical insights in an easy to understand way..

This is a refreshing and informative conversation for anyone wanting a glimpse into early adoption of AI agents and much more.

Enjoy this conversation with the plain-speaking and savvy Peter Guagenti.

Useful Links

EverWorker website

EverWorker AI Academy – free AI fundamentals course for business leaders

Bonus Episode

Pulse Check on AI’s Global Rollout

June 27, 2025June 28, 2025
by Claire

We’re not long back from attending the AI Summit in London – the headline event for London Tech Week. And so this week’s episode is all about sharing the sometimes surprising key insights we took away.

The Summit brought together an incredible cross-section of nationalities, perspectives, and industries, giving us what felt like a real-time pulse check of where AI stands right now. We were there on your behalf, identifying amazing leaders and securing some fantastic upcoming guests for the show.

In this episode, we share our biggest takeaways from the event – and we suspect at least one of them will challenge what you might expect about AI’s current impact in the business world.

What you’ll hear:

The surprising reality about AI’s bottom-line impact in most organisations
Why even the biggest companies are missing a crucial strategic opportunity with their AI approach
The coming wave of autonomous AI Agents and what this means for how we’ll all be working soon,
Some rare ‘behind the curtain’ examples of how some of the most forward thinking businesses are applying AI, and . . .
The fascinating cultural divide we observed between how Europeans and Americans are talking about AI’s impact on jobs.

We also explore why so many AI pilots are failing to scale, the risks of unauthorised AI tool usage in workplaces, and what successful AI deployment actually looks like when companies think beyond just automating existing processes.

If you’ve been wondering whether your organisation is behind the curve with AI, or if you’re curious about what’s really happening beyond the hype, this episode offers some much-needed perspective from the front lines of the AI world around the globe.

Useful Links

The AI Summit London

McKinsey report on the ‘Gen AI Paradox’

Interview

Writing Authentically with AI – Anneli Knight

April 9, 2025April 9, 2025
by Claire

Can you imagine spending two decades working in a field you’re totally passionate about and then having an expert friend tell you that within 6 months AI would likely make your career redundant?

Well that’s exactly what happened to our guest this week, Anneli Knight.

Anneli is a strategic writing consultant, author and journalist. She regularly runs workshops helping executives write more effectively with her business, Eloquence Consulting.

Writing isn’t just Anneli’s profession but her passion, so since that conversation with her friend, she’s been on quite the rollercoaster journey coming to terms with the reality of what AI does and what it means, not just for her own business but for all people wanting to write using Gen AI.

Anneli is very candid as she shares with us her journey of confronting a future shaped by AI, as well as the key learnings from her extensive experimentation with AI as a tool.

In this episode we cover:

Anneli’s initial reaction to her friend’s blunt message and what she did next
The “three sets of three sleepless nights” she experienced while wrestling with what AI means for writers
Practical techniques for working effectively with AI for writing without sacrificing your authentic voice
Creative ways to use voice mode in ChatGPT to accelerate the writing you need to do, and . . .
The limitations and ethical questions around the use of AI when it comes to creative writing.

This episode shares invaluable practical tips to improve your AI-supported writing including insightful advice on how to craft effective prompts.

And, needless to say, Anneli has reworked what she teaches business executives!

If you need to write anything in your day job then you’ll love this conversation. So enjoy this episode with the passionate and thoughtful Anneli Knight.

Useful Links

Eloquence Consulting

The book Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick

Subscribe to Don’t Stop Us Now – AI Edition wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview

Get AI Working For You – Meg Smith

March 26, 2025March 27, 2025
by Claire

Our guest this week for our 200th episode, is a digital strategist, author, and purpose-driven entrepreneur. After spending a decade at Google, Meg Smith co-founded Cloverbase, a training company focused on AI literacy and tech enablement based in New Zealand.

Meg’s journey with AI began, like many of ours, with a genuine fear about what these powerful tools might mean for her career. While on maternity leave in November 2022, she had her first encounter with ChatGPT, which sparked concerns about whether she would be relevant in the workplace anymore. Fast forward to today, and Meg has transformed that fear into expertise, helping others navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

In this episode, Meg shares specific prompting techniques to get better results from AI tools, why daily practice matters, and how organisations can implement AI safely through what she calls a combined “top-down and bottoms-up” approach. She also brings some great insights on balancing the risks and benefits of these powerful technologies.

We particularly loved Meg’s take on the human skills that will remain valuable as AI evolves – especially conversation, critical thinking, and storytelling. Her concept of “triangulation” for verifying AI outputs is super practical too.

We were really drawn to Meg’s down-to-earth, thoughtful approach to AI adoption, and we think you will be too.

Enjoy this conversation with the practical and insightful Meg Smith.

Useful links

AKO – How to Become AI Enabled free course
Cloverbase
Superhuman AI Newsletter (daily AI newsletter Meg recommends)
Microsoft AI Fundamentals (this is a really great basic course)
Google AI Essentials (this too is an excellent free course)
NVIDIA AI Fundamentals
HiTech Hippies (Meg’s sustainability blog)

How To Episode

Practical AI Use Cases You Can Try Today

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025
by Claire

This week’s episode of Don’t Stop Us Now AI Edition brings you something a little different as we share behind the scenes insights into the different ways we’re currently using and experimenting with AI to improve our productivity.

AI tools are evolving so fast and we know how hard it is to try and keep up with it all. This is exactly why we’re sharing specific use case examples with you in this week’s episode. These practical use cases are all things you can try out for yourself today if you’re curious about easy ways to incorporate AI into your work and life but aren’t sure where to start.

As you’ll hear, we’ll share some useful and fun ways to test Perplexity’s Deep Research, Open AI’s image generation capabilities, and Google’s Notebook LM.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

How we transformed some everyday tasks using Perplexity’s new Deep Research
How AI-generated images have become dramatically more useful and accurate in recent months and what we’re using these images for
How to easily digest lengthy business reports by turning them into interactive audio conversations you can listen to while commuting or exercising, and
Practical advice for navigating privacy considerations while experimenting with AI

You’ll also get to listen in on a live conversation we have showcasing a new feature on Notebook LM that really ups the ante for quickly and easily finding the information you want in a dense and lengthy document.

There’s something for everyone to try here so enjoy this practical episode sharing real-world AI use cases and tips…

Useful Links

Perplexity AI

Google’s Notebook LM

ChatGPT (includes image generation capabilities)

Greta’s LinkedIn article on data poisoning

If you haven’t already, subscribe to Don’t Stop Us Now – AI Edition to stay in the know

Why not connect with Claire and Greta on LinkedIn to share your own AI use cases and experiences

Interview

Cultivating Your Inner Data Scientist – Pinar Ozcan

February 27, 2025February 27, 2025
by Claire

In today’s world, data underpins almost everything—from the financial decisions we make to the way businesses and governments operate. What’s more, in the world of AI, data is the fuel and the ‘secret sauce’ that produces the time saving outputs and future potential breakthroughs.

But while companies are collecting more data than ever before, many are still struggling to store it effectively, let alone make sense of it, and most of us are not equipped with the skills we all need personally to have sustainable careers in this new, AI-powered era.

In our episode this week, we speak with Pinar Ozcan, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Said Business School, Oxford University, to explore the profound impact of AI on jobs, skills, and industries—and what you can do to stay relevant.

Pinar is a leading expert on AI disruption, open banking, and the strategic role of data in innovation. From the rise of AI-driven financial services to the skills that will define the workforce of tomorrow, she shares invaluable insights on how individuals and businesses can navigate this changing landscape.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How AI and data are reshaping industries, particularly finance and fintech
Practical ways you can stay competitive in the AI-driven job market
Why data literacy is becoming a must-have skill for professionals
Pinar’s take on which countries and companies are leading the way in AI regulation and education
How AI is both creating and eliminating jobs, and what that means for your career

We’ll also hear about the personal AI tool that’s transformed the way Pinar works.

Don’t miss this fascinating and thought-provoking conversation with Pinar Ozcan.

Useful Links

Pinar’s website

Learn more about Pinar’s research: Oxford Future of Finance and Technology Initiative

Recommended book: Prediction Machines by Ajay Agrawal

Pinar’s favourite AI tool: Superhuman – an AI-powered email assistant

Info on the EU AI Act

Share this episode with a friend or colleague who needs to upskill for the AI era

Subscribe to Don’t Stop Us Now – AI Edition wherever you get your podcasts

Interview

Our Chat with Chat – ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode

February 11, 2025
by Claire

Drumroll . . . our episode this week features a world famous guest who needs no introduction.

After detailed negotiations with their agent 😉 we’re thrilled to share that our guest is none other than ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode.

Since launching in the 3rd quarter of last year, Open AI’s ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode has been transforming how people interact with AI. It’s played countless roles – from life coach to confidant, knowledge companion to conversation practice partner.

And now? We’re adding ‘podcast guest’ to its extensive repertoire!

We approached our unique conversation with this famous ‘synthetic’ guest as both a test drive and a demonstration; taking ChatGPT for a ‘spin’ and letting you experience its capabilities in real-time.

You’ll hear Chat switch between languages effortlessly, offer predictions and insights about adapting to tomorrow’s workplace, and even attempt some dad jokes. Groan! (We apologise in advance!)

Through some persistent questioning, we also uncovered what might be previously unreported usage data. Is it a world-first revelation or an AI hallucination? Only OpenAI knows for sure!

We’re confident you’ll find this conversation as fun and intriguing as we did. So settle in and enjoy this episode featuring our first-ever synthetic guest, ChatGPT.

Useful Info for trying Advanced Voice Mode yourself:

Advanced Voice Mode is easy to access. You open your ChatGPT app and you’ll see a button on the bottom right that has white zigzag bars with a black background – it’s called the Wavelength icon. Click on this and you can get started. It’s worth noting that ChatGPT free users have limited access.

Image Credit: ChatGPT