Modern CTO

What happens when the worst among us get their hands on the most powerful tools?

Today, we're talking to Zach Goldberg, CEO at Gruntwork, about the messy edges of AI adoption. We discuss why "vibe coding" has created a new category of disposable, single-purpose software that never would have existed before, why the line between AI you can trust to read data and AI you can trust to write to production may be the most important distinction in enterprise tech right now, and why the real bottleneck on AI misuse has shifted from access to intelligence itself.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

To learn more about Gruntwork, check out their website here.

Confidence and readiness are actually NOT the same thing.

Today, we're talking to Daniel Morris, CPO at Sinch, about why 81% of mature companies roll back their AI programs even as 89% of leaders claim they're fully prepared, how the shift from SMS to rich messaging is rewriting the rules for how brands connect with customers, and why the next evolution of authentication might mean your phone silently proves who you are without you ever seeing a prompt.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

To learn more about Sinch, check out their website here.

This is how Snapchat sets itself apart in the social media space: they’re not a social media company.

Today, we're talking to Saral Jain, SVP and Head of Engineering at Snapchat, about how one of tech's most underestimated companies is quietly outpacing giants. We discuss why Snapchat has always refused to call itself a social media company and what that distinction means for every product decision they make, how AI is actually changing the day-to-day reality of software engineering through autonomous coding agents like their internal tool Casper, and why the skills that matter most in the AI era have less to do with writing code and everything to do with taste, judgment, and the willingness to raise your hand.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

What if you didn’t have to solve problems? You can just remove them entirely.

Today, we're talking to Steve Francis, CEO at Sidero Labs, about why the most dangerous thing running in your infrastructure might be the operating system itself. We discuss how eliminating features rather than adding them is the real path to security, why the promise of multi-cloud portability turned out to be a lesson in what customers actually care about, and why "extreme ownership" remains the most empowering philosophy a leader can adopt.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! 

To learn more about Sidero Labs, check out their website here.

Understanding these key points is what actually moves the needle on AI gains.

Today, we're talking to Kyle Lagunas, analyst and founder at Kyle & Co, and Allyn Bailey, senior director of communications at SmartRecruiters, about why AI momentum in HR is stalling and what's actually moving the needle. We discuss why the organizations leading on AI aren't doing anything flashy, how the most boring red-tape work turns out to be the biggest unlock, why HR's instinct for risk avoidance is exactly the wrong posture for this moment, and what a surprising finding about EU companies under heavy regulation reveals about the relationship between guardrails and speed.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! 

To learn more about SmartRecruiters, check out their website here.

To read Kyle and Co's full AI Momentum Model, check it out here.