370: AI Can Build the Company. Only Humans Can Build the Bond | BARK Co-Founder Henrik Werdelin

Send us a textHenrik Werdelin is a founder and investor who has spent more than a decade building companies at the intersection of culture, technology, and consumer behavior. He co-founded BARK, the public company that redefined how millions of dog parents connect with their pets, and Prehype, the startup studio behind brands like Ro and Audos.In this episode, Henrik explores how founders can embrace AI without losing human connection, drawing from his experience as co-host of Beyond the Prompt and co-author of Me, My Customer and AI.Recognized by Fast Company and Business Insider for his creative impact, Henrik shares a practical perspective on building companies that scale while staying deeply human.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Henrik believes founders must stay close to users and how AI can deepen (not dilute) human connection.What “building companies at the edge of culture” means and why authenticity beats scale when designing for trust.How Henrik and his team use AI to speed up product development without compromising on creativity or purpose.The shift from storytelling to “storylistening” and how paying attention to customer behavior shapes better products.What the best founders get wrong about generative AI and why Henrik advocates for a more mindful approach to adoption.How roles inside companies are evolving in response to AI and what leaders can do to support creative experimentation.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Henrik on LinkedInAI fun fact articleHow to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your Career

Send us a textKelly Jones is Chief People Officer at Cisco, where she leads the people strategy for more than 84,000 employees worldwide. Over nearly two decades, she has helped make Cisco a global benchmark for workplace culture. In this episode, Kelly explains why trust is the foundation of every AI strategy, how Cisco is equipping managers for an era of augmented work, and what it takes to lead responsibly when the pace of change is this fast.In this conversation, we discuss:Why trust is Cisco’s most valuable workplace currency and how it shapes decisions about AI, culture, and leadership.How AI becomes a co-pilot when employees are given the safety, training, and time to explore new tools at their own pace.What “super leadership” looks like and the four traits Cisco’s CPO believes will define successful managers in an AI-augmented workplace.How Cisco evaluates AI use cases based on disruption, scale, and their potential to enhance the employee experience.Why the real opportunity of AI lies in automating administrative work to give humans more time for purpose, creativity, and connection.The systems Cisco is building to ensure responsible AI use through governance, upskilling, and clear ethical boundaries.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kelly Jones on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to Use Generative AI to Get Ahead In Your CareerOther episode mentioned in the show: AI as a Liberating Technology: Josh Bersin on Turning Routine Tasks into Superworkers Driving Trust, Creativity, and Growth

Send us a textEric Cheng is co-founder and CEO of Jobright, the AI career copilot serving more than 550,000 users. After building core backend systems at Box and scaling Fangcloud to acquisition, he turned his focus to fixing what’s broken in hiring. His perspective blends engineering depth with a human-centered approach to matching talent and opportunity.In this conversation we discussed:Why Eric created Jobright after interviewing 150 young professionals and discovering a gap in personalized job search support.How Jobright reframes hiring as a “matching” problem and uses AI to function more like a career coach than a job board.The limitations of keyword-based search tools and how AI enables more nuanced, human-like job matching.Why building trust matters in AI-powered hiring platforms and how Jobright balances efficiency with authenticity and accuracy.What the “learning loop” means for job seekers and why Eric believes the mindset shift matters more than the résumé.How emerging roles like AI operations and forward deployment engineers reflect deeper changes in how organizations adopt and manage AI.Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Eric Cheng on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How to raise over $200 million to detect audio deepfakes

Send us a textKate O’Neill is a leading voice on AI and tech humanism, known for helping organizations build more meaningful, human-centered futures. She has been featured by outlets like BBC, NPR, and NBC, and serves on the United Nations AI advisory board. A CX Hall of Fame inductee and award-winning entrepreneur, Kate brings a unique blend of optimism and realism to conversations about AI, data, and the future of work. Her latest book, What Matters Next, explores how to make human-friendly tech decisions.In this conversation we discussed:How tech humanism explains the relationship between people, technology, and business, and how leaders can design AI systems that strengthen the alignmentWhy humans project intelligence and agency onto AI tools, and what it takes to build healthy, intentional habits around emerging technologiesPractical ways workers can use AI to elevate their roles rather than fear automationThe role of leadership in creating psychologically safe environments where employees can openly experiment with AI toolsThe risk of designing systems that lead to “automated bureaucracy,” and how organizations can embed meaning into automated experiences at scaleWhy meaning and purpose remain uniquely human, and how future workplaces can evolve by pairing human judgment with increasingly capable AI systemsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Kate on LinkedIn or at KO InsightsAI fun fact articleOn How Unleashing Human Potential with AI

Send us a textSid Sheth is the CEO and co-founder of d-Matrix, the AI chip company making inference efficient and scalable for datacenters. Backed by Microsoft and with $160M raised, Sid shares why rethinking infrastructure is critical to AI’s future and how a decade in semiconductors prepared him for this moment.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Sid believes AI inference is the biggest computing opportunity of our lifetime and how it will drive the next productivity boomThe real reason smaller, more efficient models are unlocking the era of inference and what that means for AI adoption at scaleWhy cost, time, and energy are the core constraints of inference, and how D-Matrix is building for performance without compromiseHow the rise of reasoning models and agentic AI shifts demand from generic tasks to abstract problem-solvingThe workforce challenge no one talks about: why talent shortages, not tech limitations, may slow down the AI revolutionHow Sid’s background in semiconductors prepared him to recognize the platform shift toward AI and take the leap into building D-MatrixResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Sid on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Mastering Skills To Stay Relevant In the Age of AI

Send us a textIn this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin looks back on what 365 conversations have revealed about how AI is reshaping the way we work.What themes have emerged most consistently? Which ideas connect founders, researchers, and operators across industries? And what have these discussions taught us about the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems?Featuring Guests:Mark McCrindle, Founder and Principal at McCrindle  - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13014260 Pradeep Menon, CTO at Microsoft - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13034974 Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16665133 Alex Buder Shapiro, Chief People Officer at Jasper AI - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17522593 Gary F. Bengier, Writer, philosopher, and technologist - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12934217 Josh Bersin, Founder and CEO at The Josh Bersin Company - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17863187 Bryan Power, Head of People at Nextdoor - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16837259 Dave Treat, Chief Technology Officer at Pearson - Listen to the full conversation: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17557154 💡 What You Will LearnWhy the future of work remains human-centered How AI amplifies human capability rather than replacing itWhy trust and transparency define successful AI-driven teamsHow workplace culture is evolving as organizations adopt AIWhy meaning, empathy, and lifelong learning matter more than ever💬 Inspired by this episode?Share your favorite insight on social media and tag us (https://www.instagram.com/aifutureofwork/) And remember to subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of AI and work.Other special episodes:Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)AI and the Law: How AI Will Change Legal Careers (Special Episode)AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)

Send us a textDarrick Horton is the CEO and co-founder of TensorWave, the company making waves in AI infrastructure by building high-performance compute on AMD chips. In 2023, he and his team took the unconventional path of bypassing Nvidia, a bold bet that has since paid off with nearly $150 million raised from Magnetar, AMD Ventures, Prosperity7, and others. TensorWave is now operating a dedicated training cluster of around 8,000 AMD Instinct MI325X GPUs and has already hit a $100 million revenue run rate. Darrick is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of building infrastructure companies. Before TensorWave, he co-founded VMAccel, sold Lets Rolo to LifeKey, and co-founded the crypto mining company VaultMiner. He began his career as a mechanical engineer and plasma physicist at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, where he worked on nuclear fusion energy. While he studied physics and mechanical engineering at Andrews University, he left early to pursue entrepreneurship and hasn’t looked back since.In this conversation we discussed:Why Darrick chose AMD over Nvidia to build TensorWave’s AI infrastructure, and how that decision created a competitive advantage in a GPU-constrained marketWhat makes training clusters more versatile than inference clusters, and why TensorWave focused on the former to meet broader customer needsHow Neocloud providers like TensorWave can move faster and innovate more effectively than legacy hyperscalers in deploying next-generation AI infrastructureWhy power, not GPUs, is becoming the biggest constraint in scaling AI workloads, and how data center architecture must evolve to address itWhy Darrick predicts AI architectures will continue to evolve beyond transformers, creating constant shifts in compute demandHow massive increases in model complexity are accelerating the need for green energy, tighter feedback loops, and seamless integration of compute into AI workflowsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Darrick on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How the new definition of work

Send us a textJeetu Patel is President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco. He previously served there as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration.He joined Cisco in 2020 after serving as Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Box, where he played a key role in expanding the company into a multi-product platform used by more than 100,000 customers. He currently sits on the board of real estate services company JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) and holds a B.S. in Information Decision Sciences from the University of Illinois.In this conversation, we discuss:How Cisco is becoming an AI-first company and why fully embracing AI is now a requirement, not a choiceHow AI will reshape every job, and which human skills will matter most in the decade aheadThe real constraints slowing enterprise AI adoption: power, trust, and dataThe infrastructure, security, and data gaps limiting AI’s potential, and how Cisco is closing themWhy skill gaps are growing, and what workers can do to stay relevant as AI changes the workplaceHow Cisco approaches new markets, strategic focus, and building products people love at global scaleResourcesSubscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Jeetu on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How AI helps serve 70 million meals every dayPast guests mentioned on this show:Box´s CTO Ben Kus on Responsible AI Use, Innovation Culture, and Future AI TrendsBox’s Global CIO Ravi Malick on Why Every Problem Doesn't Need an AppCisco´s Former CEO on the Future of AI-Driven Work and Investing in PeopleReign

Send us a textIn this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin examines one of the most urgent questions in technology today: how artificial intelligence is reshaping the law.Who owns AI created work? Who is accountable when automated decisions cause harm? And how should legal professionals prepare for a world where AI influences every part of the practice?This compilation episode revisits insights from five leaders who are redefining how the legal system approaches ownership, risk, compliance, and the future of legal work.Featuring GuestsRobert Plotkin,Co-founder, Blueshift IP - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13061560 Jim McKenna, CIO, Fenwick & West - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13373166 Scott Stevenson, Co-founder & CEO, Spellbook - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17211693 Rafie Faruq, Founder & CEO, Genie AI - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16949168 Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15250057 💡 What You Will Learn • How AI is changing ownership, IP rights, and data confidentiality • Why law firms need strong governance to innovate safely • How legal AI tools reduce risk with verification and citations • How AI will reshape early legal careers and firm operations💬 Inspired by this episode?Share your favorite insight on social media and tag us.And don’t forget to subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of AI and work.Other special episodes:Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)The Future of AI Ethics Special: Perspectives from Women Leaders in AI on Bias, Accountability & TrustAI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)

Send us a textFaraj Aalaei is the Founder and CEO of Cognichip, an AI company building the world’s first Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI) platform to design semiconductors using AI. He brings four decades of experience in communications and networking, having led two companies (Centillium and Aquantia)through IPOs. Aquantia was later acquired by Marvell, where he also held an executive role. Prior to that, Faraj was Co-Founder and CEO of Centillium, which went public on NASDAQ just three years after its founding, the fastest IPO ever for a semiconductor company. He holds an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he also earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, along with an MSEE from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.In this conversation we discussed:Why chip development cycles are trailing AI applications by years and how that disconnect leads to inefficient infrastructure and higher energy costsHow AI could help democratize chip design by enabling smaller teams outside traditional hubs to build customized, application-specific hardwareWhat Faraj sees as the real barrier to innovation: the time and cost of chip development, and how Cognichip is reducing both through compute-led designHow AI can augment, not replace, engineers by offering transparent, explainable design suggestions while keeping humans in the loopThe coming talent shortage in semiconductor engineering and how AI might close the skills gap and unlock new opportunities for nontraditional buildersWhy every major technological shift creates more opportunity than it destroys, and how Faraj sees AI enabling people to work on more meaningful problemsResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Faraj on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How To Drive Compelling Narratives in Youtube Videos.