data Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Your Job, Redesigned – Helena Turpin

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026
by Claire

Most of us can see that AI is reshaping our working lives. But what if you could actually see the data on exactly which parts of your job are heading for automation, and which skills you should be doubling down on right now because AI can’t do them better than you?

That’s precisely what this week’s guest, Helena Turpin, and her company GoFIGR have built. Helena is the co-founder and CEO of GoFIGR, a workforce intelligence company that helps organisations make smarter and more human decisions about their future workforce.

In this episode, Helena shares what she’s seeing inside organisations right now and what typically surprises leaders when they see their GoFIGR data for the first time.

Happily, there’s also a genuinely optimistic strand running through this conversation. Helena makes a compelling case for redesigning roles around what humans do best and how we’ve imagined and constructed roles before, and that now it’s time for us to do this again.

In this episode you’ll also learn:

The sobering percentage of tasks across typical HR roles that are likely to be impacted by AI
Examples of the uniquely human skills where humans will continue to do a better job than AI
The three AI adoption scenarios Helena models for organisations, and how even those opting to go ‘light on’ with AI will still be far more impacted than they realise
Why imagination may just be the key to how our roles will look in future, and . . .
How GoFIGR’s free assessment tool disaggregates your role into individual tasks and shows you which tasks AI will automate or lead on, and which skills you should focus on building.

Helena’s perspective is grounded, data-led and surprisingly optimistic. She believes the future of work is ours to create, and this conversation will help you feel more equipped to do exactly that.

Useful Links

GoFIGR free AI Impact Assessment tool:

Helena Turpin on LinkedIn

GoFIGR website

Helena’s Substack newsletter on the future of jobs and work

Top Tips

AI Agent Landscape Decoded – Claire & Greta

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026
by Claire

Are you hearing about AI agents everywhere right now? Whether it’s their presence in the software you use daily, special purpose or task “agents”, or customer service “agents”, it’s safe to say they are the topic ‘du jour’.

In this week’s episode, we segment this confusing landscape and cut through the hype to help you make more sense of it all.

After weeks of interviewing guests across different corners of the agentic AI world, we realised the market has become genuinely bewildering, even for us! Vendors are slapping the word “agent” on almost anything, and it’s getting harder to tell what’s substantive and what’s marketing.

Listen in to hear about the simple framework we’ve developed to bring clarity to the whole ecosystem. It maps out the key choices facing any business considering agents, the questions you should be asking, and where the real risks are quietly hiding.

Regardless of whether your organisation is ready to start experimenting with agents or not, this episode will help you take the first steps when you are ready. As they say, when you can see something clearly, your decisions become easier.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The four very different ways to bring agents into your organisation — and why the question isn’t “which is best?”
Why some of the SaaS tools you already pay for might quietly be putting you in a “hostage situation”
What a team of Harvard, MIT and Stanford researchers just uncovered about one of the most hyped agent platforms on the market
The layer of the agent ecosystem where the real cyber security risks live
Four sharp questions to ask any vendor before letting their agent anywhere near your data and systems

Enjoy this practical and jargon-light guide to a topic that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Useful Links

McKinsey / Quantum Black report: Seizing the agentic AI advantage
Capgemini report – ‘Rise of Agentic AI’
MIT Sloan & BCG Report – Leading in the age of AI Agents (useful for Governance and structuring once you’ve made agentic decisions)

Interview

AI on the Org Chart – Patrick Forth

March 13, 2026March 16, 2026
by Claire

What does it actually mean to have a colleague who never sleeps, never calls in sick, and can hold thousands of conversations at once? Not in theory but right now, in real organisations?

Our guest this week is Patrick Forth, an Group Executive Director at FutureSecure AI, a company that builds what they call AI co-workers: sophisticated agentic systems that sit on org charts, have names and personas, and are managed much like human employees.

Patrick shares what some of the AI co-workers they’ve built so far actually do in enterprises today and what it takes to get them working inside organisations.

In this episode you’ll hear:

About the AI co-worker managing thousands of scheduling conversations on WhatsApp
Why their AI co-workers focus on complex, high-return use cases rather than simple automation
Patrick’s take on the job loss debate
How one organisation puts humans and AI co-workers on the same org chart just in different colours, and
Whether AI co-workers should be treated like software or like colleagues.

If you want a glimpse into the possible future of your workplace and colleagues then enjoy this episode with someone who’s at the coalface helping companies choose use cases and deploying AI co-workers right now…

Useful Links

FutureSecure AI website

Patrick Forth on LinkedIn

Interview

Where Luxury Travel Meets AI – Sean Seah

February 6, 2026February 6, 2026
by Claire

Most conversations about AI implementation come from consultants selling solutions or vendors pitching tools. This one doesn’t.

Sean Seah is SVP of Strategy, Technology and Innovation at Langham Hospitality Group, where he’s leading AI adoption across a global luxury hotel portfolio. With over two decades in digital transformation at Microsoft, HSBC, and Zuji, Sean brings a rare perspective as he’s living inside the messy reality of making it actually work.

What emerges from our conversation is a refreshingly practical playbook for AI implementation. Sean reveals why the “boring stuff” nobody discusses—data infrastructure, change management, measurement frameworks—determines whether AI delivers business value or not. He advocates starting small, proving value in weeks rather than years, and letting success create momentum for long term transformation.

We explore how Sean balances short-term wins with long-term strategic vision, how he thinks about his AI strategy in a global context, and why luxury hospitality, with its complex blend of human service and operational efficiency offers surprisingly universal lessons for AI implementation across industries.

In this episode:

How Sean’s approach to long term tech transformation includes the necessity that it must deliver short term value as well.
Why one of Langham’s first major AI investments is customer facing and how it’s faring
Examples of how they practically trained their AI agents and staff, and
How Sean’s ensured Langhams isn’t reliant on any one large language model

Whatever sector you’re in, Sean’s boots-on-the-ground experience offers a practical roadmap for leaders navigating the gap between AI potential and AI reality.

Enjoy this episode!

Useful Links:

Sean Seah on Linkedin
Langham Hospitality Group

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

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

Working in the Future – Helen Mayhew

December 8, 2024December 8, 2024
by Claire

This week’s episode of Don’t Stop Us Now AI edition is with a fascinating guest who has a box seat in understanding what’s going on with AI in businesses around the world.

Helen Mayhew is a McKinsey & Company Partner and one of the leaders of its AI division, QuantumBlack. A Cambridge graduate, Helen has deep data analytics and AI expertise. Her day job is to guide leading organisations on their advanced analytics journeys and AI innovation and implementation.

In this episode, Helen covers everything from the broad spectrum of initiatives and use cases different businesses are and will be trying, to detailing how radically different our roles are likely to be in future.

Helpfully, she shares some of the key skills we’ll all need to remain valuable and she reveals her belief that almost every workday process and every person’s day will be reimagined and done differently thanks to AI.

Helen also shares some incredible research predictions about the future in case you were in any doubt about AI’s coming impact on us all. For example, between 30-40% of all tasks done at work today won’t need to exist in the future. Yes you read that right, 30 to 40% of what we humans do today will be replaced by AI according to this research!

Helen is really good at explaining things very clearly and bringing a variety of AI use cases to life. She also shares some of her favourite AI learning resources which you can see in the links below.

This is an unmissable episode, so learn what’s coming your way with the ever curious and super smart Helen Mayhew.

Useful Links

Helen Mayhew LinkedIn

QuantumBlack website

Mckinsey website

Chat GPT

Gemini

Stable Diffusion

Microsoft AI Learning Hub

Fast AI / AI for Everyone course

DeepLearning founder and Coursera co founder: Andrew Ng courses

Practical AI podcast

Lex Fridman podcast

Interview

Championing Creativity – Lucinda Barlow

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022
by Claire

It’s not everyday you come across a global marketing leader who trained as an engineer and computer scientist! But that’s true for our visionary guest this week, Lucinda Barlow.

Lucinda is Senior Director, Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific for Uber. Before joining Uber two years ago, Lucinda was global Marketing Director for YouTube, with its 2 billion daily users.

With more than 20 years of experience working in Internet and mobile in Asia, the US and UK, Lucinda has some incredible and varied experience coupled with a true passion for championing creativity.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

How Lucinda changed her life, and her job, after receiving some wise advice from fashion designer and icon Diane von Furstenberg
How she thinks about making big career transition decisions
Why she believes failure should be celebrated more
And how Lucinda brings creativity out in her teams.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly passionate and creative Lucinda Barlow.

P.S. A reminder that our mini episodes are taking a little break right now so we’re back with a new episode every 2nd week.

Links

Ellen Broad – Her Surprising Path to Big Data…

November 3, 2020November 13, 2020
by Claire

Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next

This week’s episode features a woman who never dreamt she’d end up working in a high tech environment. In fact, Ellen Broad imagined she would be a lawyer or librarian when she was younger.

However this tech exec and academic is now a Senior Fellow at the 3A Institute at the Australian National University. The Institute is a multi-disciplinary department created to help humans prepare for, and navigate, a world that will be forever altered by AI-powered ‘cyber-physical systems’.

A little bit more about Ellen, she trained as a lawyer (more about that in our conversation) and she’s worked in data-related roles in the Hague and in the UK, including being an expert adviser to the UK Secretary of State on Data, and head of Policy for the UK’s Open Data Institute.

Not only that, but Ellen has also written an award winning book on AI and its impact on humans called ‘Made By Humans’.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Ellen navigated moving countries, and finding work, without having any network in her new home-base
How she’s found her voice to speak up against gender bias
What it’s like working in a truly diverse team – hint it’s not always easy
Why she’s using social media a lot less these days, and
Where she thinks technology will go in the next five years.

Enjoy this episode with the unassuming and very smart Ellen Broad.

Links

3A Institute website

Ellen Broad’s website

Ellen’s Book – Made by Humans

Griffith Review Article – Computer Says No

Resources Recommended by Ellen

Coded Bias Documentary

Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

PAIR Program with Google

The Coding Train – Daniel Shiffman