Road Work Ahead

#12 - Matt Saunders: Is Artificial Intelligence Creative?

Can a machine harbor the soul of an artist? This question leads our latest discussion with Harvard professor and acclaimed artist Matt Saunders. It's not a simple question to answer. Creativity is a complex concept and we have to dig into the many ways that word could be defined. Who better to ask about creativity than someone who is both an accomplished artist himself and an instructor at one of the most distinguished art schools in the country? Matt is a Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University. His art has been featured in exhibitions around the world, and the list of museums with his work in their collections includes the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and many other names that you would likely recognize. Matt's art is grounded in the material - particularly painting, but in most of his work you can see how he challenges himself to push back against the idea of a static rectangle of paint-on-canvas and create something more dynamic and transient - something more like an experience than an image. That same resistance to conventionality comes out in our conversation about AI, and it leads us to some brutally honest conclusions about how we view the techno-obsessed world around us. Matt is a very thoughtful and inspiring person, and this interview is easily one of the more impactful conversations I've had in a long time.

#11 - Larisa Aslanyan: The Near-Future of PPC Advertising

Welcome back, after two months of silence, to Road Work Ahead, a podcast that explores the unmapped future of business and technology. My name is Sam Gerdt, and today I'm sharing a recent conversation with one of my long-time colleagues, Larisa Aslanyan. A few months ago, Larisa and I were talking about big changes in paid advertising. Obviously, artificial intelligence is a major factor in these changes, but there's a lot more than that happening under the surface. At the core of our talk is how the internet, and the way we interact with it, is radically changing. When it comes to paid advertising, your strategies will have to adapt to the new ways your audience is searching. These search habits are often wildly different from generation to generation, so while I may still use Google like a grandpa, younger generations are developing search practices that require new advertising strategies. My skepticism and cynicism shines through quite a bit in this discussion, but I really did have a lot of fun imagining all of the ways that new technologies like AI will forever change how we interact with the world around us. The next few years are going to be interesting.

#10 - Henry Shapiro: Reclaim.ai, AI Scheduling & Time Management

Welcome everybody, once again, to Road Work Ahead, a podcast that explores the unmapped future of business and technology. My name is Sam Gerdt, and today I'm talking to the co-founder of a company that has, without exaggeration, changed my life. I'm talking about Reclaim.ai, and my guest is Henry Shapiro. Most people are familiar with the negative impact of meetings stacked on meetings or poor time management in the workplace. As our jobs get more complex, so does the task of managing an effective schedule. Reclaim is an AI scheduling tool that does the work of time blocking for you. On top of this it gives you tools for managing meetings and establishing habits, guarding your time against the invading forces that so often steal your lunch hour or pull you away from deep, meaningful work. Henry and his co-founder Patrick built Reclaim as a solution for teams to minimize disruptions and do more meaningful work, but Henry admits that no one expected such an overwhelmingly positive response to their product. Even in our interview I found it hard to contain my own enthusiasm. Also, just a quick note: Henry says reCLAIM, I say REclaim . . . Potato, PoTAHto. Enjoy the interview!

#9 - Harold Hughes: Proof of Experience, Blockchain, Collaboration, Entrepreneurship

We have a bad habit that we need to talk about. We tend to think that everybody has the same problems that we have. And every time we have a problem, we tend to go to the same places to find a solution. It's a bad habit for two reasons. First, we're limiting the kinds of solutions that we're going to get; and second, we're missing out on hearing from a lot of incredible problem solvers - people who would bring new and innovative perspectives if we took the time to find them and listen to them. This is one of the topics for discussion in this week's interview with Harold Hughes. Harold is a founder from a very different background than the typical ivy league, Silicon Valley scene, but his company, Bandwagon, is making no less of an impact. Bandwagon is an experience technology company using blockchain to authenticate experiences and bring communities of all kinds closer together. Bandwagon's Proof of Experience technology is an idea that could revolutionize the entertainment industry and possibly provide an easy solution to the problem of AI-fabricated news, but Harold isn't interested in talking about "disruption". Instead, he says collaboration is the way to move us forward and amplify the quieter voices in our community. When Harold isn't running Bandwagon, he's advocating for minority entrepreneurs and equipping a more diverse generation of solution providers. Our conversation was an encouragement to me. I hope you enjoy it.

#8 - RETROSPECTIVE w/ Erin Durham: AI, Branding, Empathy, Responsibility

Last episode, we talked a lot about the importance of retrospection in the process of growth and innovation. Thinking back through all the talks I've had over the past several months on this podcast, this idea is the one that stood out to me as being the most helpful for anyone who is feeling uncertain about the future. In looking back, we can revisit those core values and principles that should be guiding our decision making. We can find and help the people around us who've been falling behind. We can organize and optimize our business processes and our thought processes. So today we're doing something a little different. I invited my friend and colleague, Erin Durham, into the studio to look back over the past 7 episodes and talk about the ideas that made the biggest impact for us, in our own work and thought processes. We're calling this episode a retrospective. It was an excellent conversation. I hope you enjoy it.