AI and the Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace, Business, Ethics, HR, and IT for AI Enthusiasts, Leaders and Academics

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Lisa Davis is a technology executive who has served as CIO and tech leader for some of the world's most complex organizations, including Intel, Blue Shield of California, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Defense. 
She is now focused on shaping the next generation of leaders and advocating for women and diverse talent in STEM through her board work, executive coaching, and her forthcoming book, The Only Woman in the Room: How to Win in a Workplace Still Built for Men.
In this episode, Lisa draws on 30+ years leading technology at the highest levels of government and enterprise to make the case that the future of AI depends on who gets to build it, and as long as women remain locked out of those rooms, we are getting it dangerously wrong.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Why women's representation in STEM has fallen from 34% in the mid-1980s to 22% today, and why that decline is a crisis for the future of AI, not just the workplace.
Why the real risk isn't the technology itself but the leadership teams making AI decisions without diverse voices at the table.
The structural systems that were never designed for women to thrive, and why redesigning them is a business imperative, not a social favor.
Why current corporate layoffs are being falsely attributed to AI, and what leaders need to start saying out loud.
Why girls begin dropping out of math and science as early as middle school, how cultural norms around "bossiness" suppress leadership potential, and what parents and organizations can do to intervene earlier.
What Lisa says women who finally reach the executive table must do differently, and why most don't.
Resources:
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Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn or visit her website to learn more about her book.
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James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital firm recognized by CB Insights as the #2 investor in AI. He has spent years backing the companies quietly building the infrastructure of tomorrow's economy, including Orbital Insight, Primer, Domino Data Labs, and AppZen. 
A Harvard CS graduate and MIT MBA, James brings a rare combination of technical depth, philosophical seriousness, and long-horizon investing perspective to every conversation. 
In this episode, he challenges some of the most popular  assumptions in enterprise AI adoption (including the idea that keeping humans in the loop is always the right answer) and makes a compelling case for why the moral and economic decisions we make right now will shape the nature of work for the next hundred years.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Why the people who benefit from AI models, not those impacted by them, should bear full legal and moral responsibility for the harms they cause
Why comparing AI to a flawless "Platonic ideal" is a mistake, and how the mathematical consistency of models is a massive advantage over noisy, unpredictable human decision-making
The case for pulling humans out of the loop and why romanticizing your role in the process is exactly how organizations miss the real opportunity
Why corporate America's "gold star" approach to AI adoption, tracking how many employees used AI once this week, is a dangerous distraction from what heavy users are already doing
How ancient wisdom and the biblical concept of creation in Genesis can help us navigate the moral responsibilities of building new technologies
James’s three massive investment theses, including the untapped market for AI tools with high emotional intelligence and why developers spending over $50 a day on tokens are already living in the future
Resources:
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Connect with James on LinkedIn
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Adrian McDermott is Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk, where he leads the company’s product management and engineering teams and helps shape the technology behind one of the world’s most widely used customer service platforms. He joined Zendesk in 2010 and has played a key role in guiding the company’s product and platform strategy as customer experience continues to evolve in the age of AI. Drawing on years of experience building enterprise software used by service teams around the world, Adrian brings a thoughtful perspective on how AI can help organizations deliver better customer service while allowing people to focus on the work humans do best.
In this conversation, we discuss:
How customer service evolved from a cost center with rigid scripts and binders into a strategic function where technology helps teams deliver better experiences.
Why customer service leaders shouldn't fear automation — and why everyone has a "service debt" that AI can finally help pay down.
The shift from traditional contact centers to AI-enabled service platforms that help companies respond faster while improving both employee and customer experience.
Lessons Adrian learned scaling Zendesk from a small product team to a global platform serving 100,000 customers and how product-led growth shaped that journey.
The critical challenge of moving from non-deterministic, creative AI models to deterministic, reliable solutions necessary for enterprise trust and safety
The future of context engineering and why the next major leap in AI won't be about superintelligence, but about building systems that capture and act on the knowledge created in every customer interaction.
Resources:
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Connect with Adrian on LinkedIn
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, this special compilation episode of AI and the Future of Work revisits powerful moments from past conversations with women leaders shaping technology, artificial intelligence, and the future of work.
Across industries and roles, these leaders share reflections on career growth, leadership, resilience, and the barriers women still face in technology and executive leadership. Their stories reveal how confidence, mentorship, and opportunity shape who gets to lead in emerging industries like AI.
As artificial intelligence reshapes how organizations operate and how work evolves, representation in the people building and guiding these technologies matters more than ever. Expanding access and opportunity is essential to creating a more innovative and inclusive future of work.

Featured Guests
Charlene Li – Author, Keynote Speaker & Strategic Advisor. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/3970637]
Daphne Jones – CEO at The Board Curators. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/12105172]
Patty Hatter – President & COO at Opsera. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/5939122]
Mona Sabet – SVP at GCG. Listen to the full conversation here: [https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16747398]
Tess Posner – CEO and Founder at AI4ALL. Listen to the full conversation here: [2019: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/2207636 - 2025: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17326118] 

What You’ll Learn
Why women often wait until they feel fully qualified before pursuing leadership roles
How imposter syndrome shapes career decisions and confidence in tech
Why perfectionism can limit growth for technical leaders
How hiring practices based on brand signals reinforce gender imbalance
Why diversity in AI development leads to better technology outcomes
How leaders can expand opportunity for the next generation of women in tech
💬 Inspired by something you heard in this episode?
Share your favorite insight about leadership, risk-taking, or expanding opportunity for women in AI and tech, and tag us on social.
And don’t forget to subscribe to AI and the Future of Work for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of work.

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Matt Britton is Founder and CEO of Suzy and a leading voice on how AI and generational change are reshaping business. He is the author of the best-selling book Generation AI: Why Generation Alpha & The Age of AI Will Change Everything, and has advised more than half of the Fortune 500 on marketing, innovation, and consumer behavior. Drawing on decades of experience working with global brands, Matt examines why AI is shifting the economy from knowledge tasks to creative problem solving, why reskilling will define the next decade, and how leaders can build organizations that elevate human judgment in an AI-driven world.
In this conversation, we discuss:
Why AI is accelerating a shift from memorization and knowledge tasks toward creativity, critical thinking, and real problem solving.
Why reskilling, not upskilling, will define the next decade and why that transition will be harder than most leaders admit.
How Gen Alpha, the first AI-native generation, will reshape expectations around work, brands, privacy, and employer relationships.
Why robotics will transform the service economy sooner than most leaders expect, and what that means for jobs.
The mistake companies make when they chase AI tools instead of focusing on the most important problems to solve.
How hyper-personalization and an “audience of one” are redefining trust, value creation, and meritocracy in business.
Resources:
Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
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