Using AI at Work: AI in the Workplace & Generative AI for Business Leaders

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The labor market is moving faster than most leaders can see. In this episode Chris sits down with Cary Sparrow, founder and CEO of WageScape, to discuss how real time labor market intelligence is reshaping hiring, compensation, workforce planning, and the competition for talent.
Cary explains why traditional labor market data often moves too slowly for executive decisions, how pay transparency is changing the talent market, and why AI literacy is becoming a practical requirement across roles. The conversation gives leaders a clear view of how AI is affecting both workforce strategy and individual career resilience, making this episode worth listening to for anyone responsible for hiring, talent, or organizational performance.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:50) From Submarine Officer to WageScape Founder
(07:56) Why Traditional Labor Market Data Falls Short
(11:38) Building a Global Labor Market Data Engine
(14:53) How WageScape Uses Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT
(17:37) Better Pay Decisions With Local Talent Intelligence
(21:02) What Pay Transparency Really Means
(25:57) AI Literacy Is Showing Up in Job Descriptions
(30:55) What Hiring Teams Really Mean by AI Literacy
(36:17) Where AI Creates Growth and Workforce Risk
(43:07) Why Executives Need Strategic AI Fluency
(49:38) Career Advice for Executives and Staff Leaders

Resources:
🔎 Find Out More About Cary Sparrow:
Cary Sparrow LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carysparrow

WageScape
https://wagescape.com

WageScape LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wagescape-1 

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
WageScape
https://wagescape.com/ (WageScape)

Claude
https://claude.com/ (Claude)

Anthropic
https://www.anthropic.com/

ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/

OpenAI
https://openai.com

Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com

Bureau of Labor Statistics
https://www.bls.gov/

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AI in education is no longer a future debate, it is a leadership decision happening now. In this episode Chris talks with Jason Hill, Deputy Superintendent and CBO at Redlands Unified School District, about what AI adoption looks like inside a large K-12 school district with major operational, safety, instructional, and community considerations.

Jason explains how Redlands approached staff AI access, parent concerns, student safety, AI use policies, and the importance of teaching AI literacy as a core readiness skill. He also shares practical lessons business leaders can apply immediately, including acceptable-use levels, human review, workflow automation, and the mindset shift from prompting to delegation.

Listen to this episode to understand how responsible AI adoption happens when leaders balance speed, governance, trust, and real-world execution.

Chapters

00:00 Episode Trailer
02:20 Meet Jason Hill: Leading AI Adoption in K-12 Education
05:41 Overcoming Fear: The Strategy to Flip the AI Switch
11:42 Navigating Parental Pushback and Teacher Concerns
17:05 The Core Argument: Preparing Students for the Future of Work
22:41 What Parents Should Ask Their School Districts About AI
23:49 Implementing Levels of AI Access for Different Age Groups
26:37 Safety First: Filtering and Monitoring AI Interactions
29:41 How Parents Can Get Involved in AI Policy Decisions
35:16 Real-World AI Application: Analyzing Complex Financial Reports
42:11 The Future of AI: From 'The Thing' to an Everyday Tool
47:06 Establishing Acceptable Use Policies in Business and Education

Resources

🔎 Find Out More About Jason Hill

Jason Hill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsn-hill

Redlands Unified School District Business Services: https://www.redlandsusd.net/departments/business-services (redlandsusd.net)

Redlands Unified School District: https://www.redlandsusd.net

Jason Hill email: jason_hill@redlands.k12.ca.us

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
Claude https://claude.ai
Gamma https://gamma.app
ChatGPT https://chatgpt.com
OpenAI https://openai.com
Anthropic https://www.anthropic.com
Google Gemini for Education https://edu.google.com/products/google-workspace-for-education/gemini/
Circle https://circle.so
Codex https://openai.com/index/introducing-codex/

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AI adoption often succeeds or fails in the ordinary work leaders overlook. In this episode Chris sits down with Artem Koren, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Sembly AI, to discuss how organizations can turn everyday conversations into structured intelligence, clearer decisions, and measurable execution. Artem’s work focuses on agentic systems, professional workflows, and making AI useful, safe, and practical for teams. 
Chris and Artem explore how AI-powered workflows can replace manual meeting admin, surface the work that matters, and help managers spend more time on strategy, judgment, and people. They also discuss responsible AI adoption, trust, and what executives need to understand before scaling AI across the organization. Leaders should listen for a grounded view of how to make AI adoption useful inside real operating teams.
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:38) Starting Sembly AI Before the Market Was Ready
(07:42) The Hard Technical Problems Behind AI Meeting Notes
(10:48) Selling AI Meeting Assistants Before AI Was Mainstream
(16:04) From Meeting Notes to Meeting Intelligence
(23:04) Defining Meeting Intelligence for Business Outcomes
(25:31) Turning Meeting Context Into Proactive Workflows
(34:30) How to Evaluate AI Meeting Assistant Tools
(37:30) The Shift Toward Agentic AI in Business Workflows
(45:31) Creating Client Ready Business Materials With AI
(49:53) Where to Learn More About Artem and Sembly AI 

🔎 Find Out More About Artem Koren:
Artem Koren Website https://www.artemkoren.com/
Artem Koren LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/akoren
Sembly AI Website https://www.sembly.ai/

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:
Sembly AI
https://www.sembly.ai/

ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/

Otter.ai
https://otter.ai/

Gong
https://www.gong.io/

Fireflies.ai
https://fireflies.ai/

Granola
https://www.granola.ai/

Recall.ai
https://www.recall.ai/

Rev
https://www.rev.com/

Speechmatics 
https://www.speechmatics.com

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The internet is filling up with content that looks real but may not be. In this episode Chris sits down with Max Spero, co-founder and CEO of Pangram Labs, an AI text detection company helping organizations distinguish human authored content from AI generated content. They explore how AI generated content is reshaping social media, recruiting, education, search, and business communication, and why trust is becoming a strategic business issue.
Chris and Max discuss the rise of AI slop, the risks of outsourcing critical thinking, the role of detection and transparency in AI adoption, and how leaders can create policies that encourage responsible AI use without sacrificing productivity. If you want practical guidance on balancing AI efficiency with human authenticity, this episode will help you prepare for what comes next.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:18) AI Slop, Agents, and Executive Blind Spots
(08:03) What Happens When Most of the Internet Is AI Generated?
(09:26) The Business Cost of Inauthentic Content
(12:11) LinkedIn, Social Media, and Detecting AI Replies
(15:03) Pangram's Detection Platform and Chrome Extension
(16:25) SEO, Content Automation, and Google's Response
(18:20) AI, Education, and Critical Thinking Skills
(23:23) Recruiting, Hiring, and AI Generated Applications
(29:17) Watermarking, Detection, and Verification Strategies
(31:06) Internal AI Policies and Workplace Transparency
(34:56) How Content Platforms Use AI Detection
(38:22) Preparing Students for an AI Driven Workforce
(42:13) Three Trust Building Actions for Leaders
(45:29) The Future of AI Detection and Digital Authenticity

Resources:

🔎 Find Out More About Max Spero

Max Spero LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxspero
Pangram Labs
https://www.pangram.com
Pangram LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/pangramlabs/ (LinkedIn)
Technical Report on the Pangram AI-Generated Text Classifier
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.14873 (arXiv)

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:

Pangram
https://www.pangram.com
Pangram Chrome Extension
https://www.pangram.com
ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com
Claude
https://claude.ai
OpenAI
https://openai.com
Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com
Ashby
https://www.ashbyhq.com
Quora
https://www.quora.com
Reality Defender
https://www.realitydefender.com
AirOps
https://www.airops.com
Apollo
https://www.apollo.io
OpenClaw
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw

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The way customers discover brands is changing faster than most companies realize.
In this episode Chris sits down with Cole Casperson, Chief Data Officer and Partner at CrankTank, to explore how AI is transforming search, e-commerce, and customer discovery. Cole explains why traditional keyword-based SEO is giving way to AI retrieval systems that understand meaning, how large language models decide which brands get recommended, and why visibility in AI-generated answers is becoming a critical business advantage.
They discuss the rise of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), the shift from keywords to concepts, how Amazon's AI systems foreshadow what's happening across the web, and why CEOs, product teams, and marketers all need to understand AI-driven discovery. Whether you sell products, services, or enterprise solutions, this episode offers practical insight into how buyers are finding companies today and why leaders who adapt early will be better positioned to compete in the AI era.

Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(01:22) Meet Cole Casperson and CrankTank
(04:16) The New Front Doors of the Internet
(05:13) GEO, AEO, and the Evolution Beyond SEO
(07:49) From Keywords to Meaning Based Search
(12:03) How Google Search Is Adapting to AI
(14:08) Will Advertising Influence AI Answers?
(20:15) Why Early AI Optimization Matters
(24:03) Understanding AI Retrieval and RAG Systems
(39:21) Why CEOs Need to Understand AI Discovery
(46:42) Does GEO Matter Beyond E-Commerce?
(50:28) How Reach Measures AI Visibility

🔎 Find Out More About Cole Casperson:
Cole Casperson LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cole-casperson-b62209a3 
CrankTank
https://www.cranktank.net
REACH by CrankTank
https://reach.cranktank.net 
CrankTank LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cranktank

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned:

ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com
Claude
https://claude.ai
Google Gemini
https://gemini.google.com
Amazon Rufus
https://www.amazon.com/rufus
Amazon Alexa
https://www.amazon.com/alexa
Microsoft Bing
https://www.bing.com
Brave Search
https://search.brave.com
Google Merchant Center
https://merchants.google.com
Google Performance Max
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10724817
Meta Advantage+
https://www.facebook.com/business/advantage
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/retrieval-augmented-generation/