Best Optimism And Autonomy Podcasts (2025)

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Educating a data-literate generation 44:41

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9m ago44:41

44:41

Dan sits down with guests Mark Daniel Ward and Katie Sanders from The Data Mine at Purdue University to explore how higher education is evolving to meet the demands of the AI-driven workforce. They share how their program blends interdisciplinary learning, corporate partnerships, and real-world data science projects to better prepare students acros…

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Ep. 09: Beyond Clicks and Chaos – A Real Talk with Patrick Cumming of KleintBoost 25:09

16h ago25:09

25:09

What actually works when paid ads stop performing? In this episode, Patrick Cumming, Head of Marketing at KleintBoost, joins Adam W. Barney to cut through the noise and talk shop: what’s real, what’s BS, and why most agencies are still chasing vanity metrics. We go deep on: 💥 How to audit your funnel without losing your mind 📊 The real KPIs that ma…

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Workforce dynamics in an AI-assisted world 44:06

6d ago44:06

44:06

We unpack how AI is reshaping hiring decisions, shifting job roles, and creating new expectations for professionals — from engineers to marketers. They explore the rise of AI-assisted teams, the growing compensation bubble, why continuous learning is now table stakes, and how some service providers are quietly riding the AI wave. Featuring: Chris B…

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Ep. 08: Breaking the Vice Stigma – A Real Talk with Pauline Schmiechen 16:43

9d ago16:43

16:43

What do you do when Google, Meta, TikTok, and every other ad platform shut the door in your face? You break the rules, rewrite the playbook, and scale anyway. In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I talk with Pauline Schmiechen: badass founder, consultant, and builder of multiple high-traffic adult platforms, who’s thriving in t…

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Reimagining actuarial science with AI 40:59

14d ago40:59

40:59

In this episode, Chris sits down with Igor Nikitin, CEO and co-founder of Nice Technologies, to explore how AI and modern engineering practices are transforming the actuarial field and setting the stage for the future of actuarial modeling. We discuss the introduction of programming into insurance pricing workflows, and how their Python-based calc …

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Ep. 07: Alignment Over Algorithms – A Real Talk with Lea Miner of Intention & Insight 22:54

17d ago22:54

22:54

In Episode 07 of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, we dive deep with Lea Miner, Founder of Intention & Insight, who’s building something truly different: a business rooted in resonance, not just reach. What started as a small somatic journey experiment on Meetup grew to a thriving 600+ person community in just six months, without a dollar in a…

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Ep. 06: From Grind to Growth: Micro-Niching, Daily Emails, and Ditching the Social Media Hustle - A Real Talk with Ziv Raviv 27:24

23d ago27:24

27:24

What if the real growth play wasn’t grinding on social media or spending wildly on ads? In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I sit down with Ziv Raviv, Founder & CEO of Kivi Media, creator of Daily Cookie, host of Beyond Six Figures, and author of The Fully Booked Coach, for a masterclass in scaling through soul-first strategy.…

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Agentic AI for Drone & Robotic Swarming 46:27

23d ago46:27

46:27

In this episode of Practical AI, Chris and Daniel explore the fascinating world of agentic AI for drone and robotic swarms, which is Chris's passion and professional focus. They unpack how autonomous vehicles (UxV), drones (UaV), and other autonomous multi-agent systems can collaborate without centralized control while exhibiting complex emergent b…

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Ep. 05: Creative Metrics, Messaging Clarity, & Creator Grit - A Real Talk with Nuria Garcia 24:39

1M ago24:39

24:39

Nuria Garcia of NbN Marketing joins me for a raw dive into the behind-the-scenes reality of creator-led growth. From ad platform bias to client miseducation, this episode unpacks the truth about scaling creative work with integrity, even when it gets messy. We cover: The hidden constraints behind Meta Ads and TikTok What Nuria does when client scri…

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AI in the shadows: From hallucinations to blackmail 44:50

1M ago44:50

44:50

In the first episode of an "AI in the shadows" theme, Chris and Daniel explore the increasing concerning world of agentic misalignment. Starting out with a reminder about hallucinations and reasoning models, they break down how today’s models only mimic reasoning, which can lead to serious ethical considerations. They unpack a fascinating (and slig…

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Finding Nemotron 46:23

1M ago46:23

46:23

In this episode, we sit down with Joey Conway to explore NVIDIA's open source AI, from the reasoning-focused Nemotron models built on top of Llama, to the blazing-fast Parakeet speech model. We chat about what makes open foundation models so valuable, how enterprises can think about deploying multi-model strategies, and why reasoning is becoming th…

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Ep. 04: Creative Chaos, AI Mood Boards - A Real Talk with Christina Magaña 19:35

1M ago19:35

19:35

AI may be getting flashier, but is it making your creative work better or just…blobbier? In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I sit down with Christina Magaña, Founder of Modish Creative and creative strategist behind some of the most vibrant, soulful branding campaigns in the game. We dive into: Why AI-generated visuals are hi…

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AI hot takes and debates: Autonomy 45:36

1M ago45:36

45:36

Can AI-driven autonomy reduce harm, or does it risk dehumanizing decision-making? In this “AI Hot Takes & Debates” series episode, Daniel and Chris dive deep into the ethical crossroads of AI, autonomy, and military applications. They trade perspectives on ethics, precision, responsibility, and whether machines should ever be trusted with life-or-d…

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Ep. 03: Funnels, AI, and the Human Touch – A Real Talk with Nathalie Doremieux 21:41

1M ago21:41

21:41

Is AI driving deeper connections, or just more noise? In this episode, I’m joined by Nathalie Doremieux, Co-Founder of Podcast LeadFlow, who reveals how to transform podcast listeners into qualified leads through strategic AI-powered conversations. We unpack how the Human → AI → Human model outperforms generic automation, and why quality, not quant…

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Behind-the-Scenes: VC Funding for AI Startups 41:48

2M ago41:48

41:48

It seems like we are bombarded by news about millions of dollars pouring into AI startups, which have crazy valuations. In this episode, Chris and Dan dive deep into the highs, lows, and hard choices behind funding an AI startup. They explore early bootstrapping, the transition to venture capital, and what it’s like to trade in code commits for inv…

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Ep. 02: PMax, AI, and the Myth of Set-It-and-Forget-It – A Real Talk with Ben Lund 23:05

2M ago23:05

23:05

Performance Max can scale. But only if you control the inputs. Otherwise? You’re handing the wheel to a robot with no map. In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I’m joined by Ben Lund, founder of Rise Marketing Group and ex-Googler, to unpack what’s real...and what’s wildly misunderstood...about AI-driven campaigns in 2025. We g…

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AI-Automated Film Making 43:02

2M ago43:02

43:02

An recent article in Variety was titled: "Sylvester Stallone-Backed Largo.ai Teams With Brilliant Pictures for ‘World’s First Fully AI-Automated Film Company’". Obviously this caught our attention! We sit down with Sami Arpa, CEO of Largo.ai, to unpack how films are developed, funded, and brought to life using AI. We discover how tools like script …

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Ep. 01: Scaling with Soul – A Real Talk with Kristi Broom 19:27

2M ago19:27

19:27

In this kickoff episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I sit down with Kristi Broom, Co-Founder of Rising Tide Cooperative to talk candidly about building inclusive cultures, evolving leadership identities, and embracing AI without losing your edge. We dive into: Scaling while staying grounded in your values Using transparency and empath…

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Ep. 00: Is Anything in Paid Advertising Even Real? 2:41

2M ago2:41

2:41

You’ve seen the headlines. You’ve heard the hype. You’ve probably even burned budget on a “proven funnel.” But let’s be honest: is anything in paid advertising even real? In this kickoff episode, host Adam W. Barney (author, strategist, energy coach, and $100M+ ad spend veteran) lays out why this podcast exists, who it’s for, and what to expect in …

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Federated learning in production (part 2) 45:25

2M ago45:25

45:25

Chong Shen from Flower Labs joins us to discuss what it really takes to build production-ready federated learning systems that work across data silos. We talk about the Flower framework and it's architecture (supernodes, superlinks, etc.), and what makes it both "friendly" and ready for real enterprise environments. We also explore how the generati…

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Federated learning in production (part 1) 44:38

2M ago44:38

44:38

In this first of a two part series of episodes on federated learning, we dive into the evolving world of federated learning and distributed AI frameworks with Patrick Foley from Intel. We explore how frameworks like OpenFL and Flower are enabling secure, collaborative model training across silos, especially in sensitive fields like healthcare. The …

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Emailing like a superhuman 47:27

3M ago47:27

47:27

Loïc Houssier, Head of Engineering at Superhuman, joins us to discuss how AI and LLMs are reshaping the email experience. He highlights challenges related to the variability of user prompts and infrastructure optimization. Loïc emphasizes that a deep focus on user experience and real human workflows is key to building AI tools people actually love …

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Model Context Protocol Deep Dive 42:23

3M ago42:23

42:23

In this episode, Daniel and Chris unpack the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a rising standard for enabling agentic AI interactions with external systems, APIs, and data sources. They explore how MCP supports interoperability, community contributions, and a rapidly developing ecosystem of AI integrations. The conversation also highlights some real-wo…

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Seeing beyond the scan in neuroimaging 42:58

3M ago42:58

42:58

In this episode, we explore the intersection of AI, machine learning, and healthcare through the lens of neuroimaging and epilepsy diagnosis. Dr. Gavin Winston shares insights from his work using MRI data and machine learning to uncover subtle abnormalities in brain function. We discuss the cultural and ethical barriers to AI adoption in medicine, …

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Open source AI to tackle your backlog 42:04

4M ago42:04

42:04

Vibe coding, agentic workflows, and AI-assisted pull requests? In this episode, Daniel and Chris chat with Robert Brennan and Graham Neubig of All Hands AI about how AI is transforming software development—from senior engineer productivity to open source agents that address GitHub issues. They dive into trust, tooling, collaboration, and what it me…

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Orchestrating agents, APIs, and MCP servers 42:52

4M ago42:52

42:52

In this episode, Daniel sits down with Pavel Veller, EPAM’s Chief Technologist, to explore the practical challenges of orchestrating many AI agents and managing connections to disparate systems/tools. Pavel shares insights from his hands-on work with agentic architectures and internal tools like "DIAL". Pavel also helps us understand things like MC…

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Software and hardware acceleration with Groq 43:24

4M ago43:24

43:24

How do you enable AI acceleration (at both the hardware and software layers) that stays ahead of rapid industry shifts? In this episode, Dhananjay Singh from Groq dives into the evolving landscape of AI inference and acceleration. We explore how Groq optimizes the serving layer, adapts to industry shifts, and supports emerging model architectures. …

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AI-assisted coding with GitHub's COO 50:04

5M ago50:04

50:04

Kyle Daigle, COO of GitHub, joins the hosts to discuss the evolving role of AI in software development, GitHub Copilot’s impact, and the challenges of AI-assisted coding. The conversation covers licensing concerns, ethical considerations, and how developers can navigate these complexities. Kyle also shares his vision for ambient AI, which seamlessl…

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Optimizing for efficiency with IBM’s Granite 43:38

5M ago43:38

43:38

We often judge AI models by leaderboard scores, but what if efficiency matters more? Kate Soule from IBM joins us to discuss how Granite AI is rethinking AI at the edge—breaking tasks into smaller, efficient components and co-designing models with hardware. She also shares why AI should prioritize efficiency frontiers over incremental benchmark gai…

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Build a workspace of AI agents 47:39

5M ago47:39

47:39

How can every single person build a personal AI protégé and then accumulate (and share) a host of other assistants? In this episode, we dive into the world of no-code AI with Scott Meyer from Chipp.ai. We discuss AI tooling for people that can't code, the cultural shift that needs to happen for widespread AI adoption in businesses, and the predicte…

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GenAI hot takes and bad use cases 30:36

6M ago30:36

30:36

It seems like all we hear about are the great use cases for GenAI, but where should you NOT be using the technology? On this episode Chris and Daniel share their hot takes and bad use cases. Some may surprise you! Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 3 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Domo –…

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Tool calling and agents 45:00

6M ago45:00

45:00

It seems like everyone is uses the term “agent” differently these days. In this episode, Chris and Daniel dig into the details of tool calling and its connection to agents. They help clarify how LLMs can “talk to” and “interact with” other systems like databases, APIs, web apps, etc. Along the way they share related learning resources. Join the dis…

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Deep-dive into DeepSeek 50:47

6M ago50:47

50:47

There is crazy hype and a lot of confusion related to DeepSeek’s latest model DeepSeek R1. The products provided by DeepSeek (their version of a ChatGPT-like app) has exploded in popularity. However, ties to China have raised privacy and geopolitical concerns. In this episode, Chris and Daniel cut through the hype to talk about the model, privacy i…

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Video generation with realistic motion 45:09

7M ago45:09

45:09

We seem to be experiencing a surge of video generation tools, models, and applications. However, video generation models generally struggle with some basic physics, like realistic walking motion. This leaves some generated videos lacking true motion with disappointing, simplistic panning camera views. Genmo is focused on the motion side of video ge…

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Mozart to Megadeth at CHRP 53:53

8M ago53:53

53:53

Daniel and Chris groove with Jeff Smith, Founder and CEO at CHRP.ai. Jeff describes how CHRP anonymously analyzes emotional wellness data, derived from employees’ music preferences, giving HR leaders actionable insights to improve productivity, retention, and overall morale. By monitoring key trends and identifying shifts in emotional health across…

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Sidekick is an AI Shopify expert 51:37

8M ago51:37

51:37

Today, Chris explores Shopify Magic and other AI offerings with Mike Tamir, Distinguished ML Engineer and Head of Machine Learning, and Matt Colyer, Director of Product Management for Sidekick. They talk about how Shopify uses generative AI and LLMs to enhance their products, and they take a deeper dive into Sidekick, a first-of-its-kind, AI-enable…

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Full-duplex, real-time dialogue with Kyutai 50:03

8M ago50:03

50:03

Kyutai, an open science research lab, made headlines over the summer when they released their real-time speech-to-speech AI assistant (beating OpenAI to market with their teased GPT-driven speech-to-speech functionality). Alex from Kyutai joins us in this episode to discuss the research lab, their recent Moshi models, and what might be coming next …

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Clones, commerce & campaigns 53:11

8M ago53:11

53:11

Chris and Daniel dive into what Trump’s impending second term could mean for AI companies, model developers, and regulators, unpacking the potential shifts in policy and innovation. Next, they discuss the latest models, like Qwen, that blur the performance gap between open and closed systems. Finally, they explore new AI tools for meeting clones an…

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scikit-learn & data science you own 52:02

9M ago52:02

52:02

We are at GenAI saturation, so let’s talk about scikit-learn, a long time favorite for data scientists building classifiers, time series analyzers, dimensionality reducers, and more! Scikit-learn is deployed across industry and driving a significant portion of the “AI” that is actually in production. :probabl is a new kind of company that is stewar…

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Creating tested, reliable AI applications 50:07

9M ago50:07

50:07

It can be frustrating to get an AI application working amazingly well 80% of the time and failing miserably the other 20%. How can you close the gap and create something that you rely on? Chris and Daniel talk through this process, behavior testing, and the flow from prototype to production in this episode. They also talk a bit about the apparent s…

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AI is changing the cybersecurity threat landscape 55:23

9M ago55:23

55:23

This week, Chris is joined by Gregory Richardson, Vice President and Global Advisory CISO at BlackBerry, and Ismael Valenzuela, Vice President of Threat Research & Intelligence at BlackBerry. They address how AI is changing the threat landscape, why human defenders remain a key part of our cyber defenses, and the explain the AI standoff between cyb…

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The path towards trustworthy AI 51:44

9M ago51:44

51:44

Elham Tabassi, the Chief AI Advisor at the U.S. National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), joins Chris for an enlightening discussion about the path towards trustworthy AI. Together they explore NIST’s ‘AI Risk Management Framework’ (AI RMF) within the context of the White House’s ‘Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Deve…

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Big data is dead, analytics is alive 50:19

10M ago50:19

50:19

We are on the other side of “big data” hype, but what is the future of analytics and how does AI fit in? Till and Adithya from MotherDuck join us to discuss why DuckDB is taking the analytics and AI world by storm. We dive into what makes DuckDB, a free, in-process SQL OLAP database management system, unique including its ability to execute lightin…

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Practical workflow orchestration 58:24

10M ago58:24

58:24

Workflow orchestration has always been a pain for data scientists, but this is exacerbated in these AI hype days by agentic workflows executing arbitrary (not pre-defined) workflows with a variety of failure modes. Adam from Prefect joins us to talk through their open source Python library for orchestration and visibility into python-based pipeline…

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Towards high-quality (maybe synthetic) datasets 57:02

10M ago57:02

57:02

As Argilla puts it: “Data quality is what makes or breaks AI.” However, what exactly does this mean and how can AI team probably collaborate with domain experts towards improved data quality? David Berenstein & Ben Burtenshaw, who are building Argilla & Distilabel at Hugging Face, join us to dig into these topics along with synthetic data generatio…

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Understanding what's possible, doable & scalable 1:02:21

10M ago1:02:21

1:02:21

We are constantly hearing about disillusionment as it relates to AI. Some of that is probably valid, but Mike Lewis, an AI architect from Cincinnati, has proven that he can consistently get LLM and GenAI apps to the point of real enterprise value (even with the Big Cos of the world). In this episode, Mike joins us to share some stories from the AI …

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GraphRAG (beyond the hype) 55:02

11M ago55:02

55:02

Seems like we are hearing a lot about GraphRAG these days, but there are lots of questions: what is it, is it hype, what is practical? One of our all time favorite podcast friends, Prashanth Rao, joins us to dig into this topic beyond the hype. Prashanth gives us a bit of background and practical use cases for GraphRAG and graph data. Join the disc…

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Pausing to think about scikit-learn & OpenAI o1 50:10

11M ago50:10

50:10

Recently the company stewarding the open source library scikit-learn announced their seed funding. Also, OpenAI released “o1” with new behavior in which it pauses to “think” about complex tasks. Chris and Daniel take some time to do their own thinking about o1 and the contrast to the scikit-learn ecosystem, which has the goal to promote “data scien…

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Cybersecurity in the GenAI age 51:34

11M ago51:34

51:34

Dinis Cruz drops by to chat about cybersecurity for generative AI and large language models. In addition to discussing The Cyber Boardroom, Dinis also delves into cybersecurity efforts at OWASP and that organization’s Top 10 for LLMs and Generative AI Apps. Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 7 minutes on this episode because they made the…

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AI is more than GenAI 40:03

11M ago40:03

40:03

GenAI is often what people think of when someone mentions AI. However, AI is much more. In this episode, Daniel breaks down a history of developments in data science, machine learning, AI, and GenAI in this episode to give listeners a better mental model. Don’t miss this one if you are wanting to understand the AI ecosystem holistically and how mod…