Jeetu Patel is President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco. He previously served there as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration.

He joined Cisco in 2020 after serving as Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Box, where he played a key role in expanding the company into a multi-product platform used by more than 100,000 customers.

He currently sits on the board of real estate services company JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) and holds a B.S. in Information Decision Sciences from the University of Illinois.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Cisco is becoming an AI-first company and why fully embracing AI is now a requirement, not a choice
• How AI will reshape every job, and which human skills will matter most in the decade ahead
• The real constraints slowing enterprise AI adoption: power, trust, and data
• The infrastructure, security, and data gaps limiting AI’s potential, and how Cisco is closing them
• Why skill gaps are growing, and what workers can do to stay relevant as AI changes the workplace
• How Cisco approaches new markets, strategic focus, and building products people love at global scale

Resources

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Jeetu on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How AI helps serve 70 million meals every day

Past guests mentioned on this show:

• Box´s CTO Ben Kus on Responsible AI Use, Innovation Culture, and Future AI Trends
• Box’s Global CIO Ravi Malick on Why Every Problem Doesn't Need an App
• Cisco´s Former CEO on the Future of AI-Driven Work and Investing in PeopleReign

In this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin examines one of the most urgent questions in technology today: how artificial intelligence is reshaping the law.

Who owns AI created work? Who is accountable when automated decisions cause harm? And how should legal professionals prepare for a world where AI influences every part of the practice?

This compilation episode revisits insights from five leaders who are redefining how the legal system approaches ownership, risk, compliance, and the future of legal work.

Featuring Guests

• Robert Plotkin,Co-founder, Blueshift IP - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13061560
• Jim McKenna, CIO, Fenwick & West - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/13373166
• Scott Stevenson, Co-founder & CEO, Spellbook - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/17211693
• Rafie Faruq, Founder & CEO, Genie AI - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/16949168
• Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters - Full episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15250057

💡 What You Will Learn

• How AI is changing ownership, IP rights, and data confidentiality
• Why law firms need strong governance to innovate safely
• How legal AI tools reduce risk with verification and citations
• How AI will reshape early legal careers and firm operations

💬 Inspired by this episode?

Share your favorite insight on social media and tag us.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of AI and work.

Other special episodes:

• Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)
• Artificial General Intelligence: Can Machines Really Think Like Us? (Special Episode)
• Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)
• The Future of AI Ethics Special: Perspectives from Women Leaders in AI on Bias, Accountability & Trust
• AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)
• Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)

Faraj Aalaei is the Founder and CEO of Cognichip, an AI company building the world’s first Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI) platform to design semiconductors using AI. He brings four decades of experience in communications and networking, having led two companies (Centillium and Aquantia)through IPOs. Aquantia was later acquired by Marvell, where he also held an executive role.

Prior to that, Faraj was Co-Founder and CEO of Centillium, which went public on NASDAQ just three years after its founding, the fastest IPO ever for a semiconductor company.

He holds an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he also earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, along with an MSEE from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.

In this conversation we discussed:

• Why chip development cycles are trailing AI applications by years and how that disconnect leads to inefficient infrastructure and higher energy costs
• How AI could help democratize chip design by enabling smaller teams outside traditional hubs to build customized, application-specific hardware
• What Faraj sees as the real barrier to innovation: the time and cost of chip development, and how Cognichip is reducing both through compute-led design
• How AI can augment, not replace, engineers by offering transparent, explainable design suggestions while keeping humans in the loop
• The coming talent shortage in semiconductor engineering and how AI might close the skills gap and unlock new opportunities for nontraditional builders
• Why every major technological shift creates more opportunity than it destroys, and how Faraj sees AI enabling people to work on more meaningful problems

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Faraj on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How To Drive Compelling Narratives in Youtube Videos.

Grant Lee is the CEO and co-founder of Gamma, the company reimagining presentations by building what some call the “anti-PowerPoint.” Since its launch in 2022, Gamma has grown to over 70 million users, with 30 million gammas created each month, and has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). These milestones were achieved profitably, with a team of just 50 people (that’s about $2 million in ARR per employee) and a Series B round at a $2.1 billion valuation, led by Sarah Wang at Andreessen Horowitz.

Before founding Gamma in 2020, Grant led finance at Optimizely, where he developed a passion for A/B testing. He began his career in investment banking and holds a BS in Biomechanical Engineering and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Gamma went from an idea to one of the fastest-growing presentation tools in the world with $100M ARR and a 50-person team
• Why Grant and his co-founders set out to reinvent slides from scratch instead of improving on PowerPoint
• Lessons from Optimizely that shaped Gamma’s culture of experimentation and rapid iteration
• How Grant thinks about product-market fit and why every feature must solve real user pain instead of mimicking the competition
• How AI serves as a design partner, not a replacement for human creativity, and why “human in the loop” is central to Gamma’s philosophy
• The importance of building user trust in generative AI through transparency, feedback loops, and community programs like the “Gambassador” initiative
• How resilience, early failures, and conviction helped Gamma survive investor rejection and a near-collapse during the SVB crisis

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Grant on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How To Revolutionize Finance and Financial Decision Making using AI.

Dennis Kozak is the CEO of Ivanti, a leading enterprise IT and security company generating over $1 billion in annual revenue and serving more than 40,000 customers. He previously served as Ivanti’s COO after holding senior leadership roles at Avaya. Earlier in his career, Dennis spent nearly 23 years at CA Software (now Broadcom), where he led global partnership sales and services teams. He holds a BS in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University in Long Island.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Dennis’s leadership journey from CA Technologies and Avaya to becoming CEO of Ivanti, and what prepared him to lead a billion-dollar IT security company
• Why convergence between cybersecurity and IT operations is accelerating, and how Ivanti is positioning itself at the center of that shift
• The impact of generative AI on IT support, including how Ivanti is building AI agents to handle routine tickets and empower human technicians
• How organizations can reduce cyber risk by closing visibility gaps and simplifying their tech stack
• The challenges of securing distributed workforces in a hybrid world, and why automation is critical to stay ahead of threats
• Why Dennis believes the future of enterprise IT is about blending user experience with security, not choosing between them

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Dennis on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How to Reimagine Fan Experiences and Digital Transformation.

Jim Curry is the co-founder and CEO of BuildGroup, a venture firm based in Austin that has raised $330 million since its founding in 2015 and backed companies like Anaconda, Vidmob, DigniFi, and Benefitfocus. He brings more than two decades of experience in product, strategy, and corporate development from roles at Rackspace and Dell, and he co-founded OpenStack, one of the most widely used open source cloud computing platforms. Jim serves on the boards of Generation Serve and the University of Texas School of Undergraduate Studies. He holds degrees from UT Austin and Harvard Business School.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Jim’s journey from Rackspace to launching BuildGroup and why he believes in “longer, slower capital” to support mission-driven founders
• How his experience co-founding OpenStack shaped his thinking on community-driven innovation and open-source software
• What AI startups can learn from the cloud era—and why infrastructure still matters in the age of foundation models
• Why Jim believes VCs often push startups to scale too fast and what sustainable growth looks like in practice
• The impact of AI on venture capital and how BuildGroup thinks about investing in software companies that solve real problems
• How founders can balance product vision with pragmatism, especially when building in volatile markets

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with Jim on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How to Develop NLP and AI Data Harvesting Using Games and Blockchains To Earn NFTs

In this special episode of AI and the Future of Work, host Dan Turchin explores one of the most ambitious and debated frontiers in technology: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

What is AGI? How close are we to creating machines that truly think, reason, and learn like humans? And what will that mean for the future of work, creativity, and ethics?

This compilation episode revisits insights from three leading thinkers who have spent years defining, debating, and developing the next generation of intelligent systems.

Featuring Guests

🔹 Peter Voss, CEO & Chief Scientist, Aigo.ai
🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15366873

🔹 Babak Hodjat, CTO of AI, Cognizant
🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/14689727

🔹 Pankaj Kedia, Founder, 2468 Ventures
🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/15662279

✅ What You’ll Learn

• What truly defines Artificial General Intelligence and how it differs from narrow AI
• Why scaling large models isn’t enough to achieve real cognition
• How cognitive and embodied AI could bridge the gap to human-like understanding
• Why AGI may usher in a new “age of abundance” where work, creativity, and purpose are redefined

💬 Inspired by this episode?

Share your favorite insight on social media and tag us.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of AI and work.

Other special episodes:

• Lessons from Four Unicorn CEOs Disrupting Massive Markets with AI (Special Episode)
• Ethical AI in Hiring: How to Stay Compliant While Building a Fairer Future of Work (HR Day Special Episode)
• The Future of AI Ethics Special: Perspectives from Women Leaders in AI on Bias, Accountability & Trust
• AI and Safety: How Responsible Tech Leaders Build Trustworthy Systems (National Safety Month Special)
• Empowering the Next Generation: Career, Leadership & Resilience Insights (International Youth Day Special Episode)
• Lessons from Leaders: How AI Is Redefining Work and the Human Experience (Labor Day Special Episode)

George Maddaloni is the EVP and CTO for Operations at Mastercard, where he leads the performance and modernization of technology platforms serving more than 35,000 employees worldwide. He has previously held senior IT leadership roles at AIG, UBS, AT&T, GM, and Merrill Lynch, and currently serves on the board of SustainableIT.org. George earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Fordham University.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Mastercard’s CTO thinks about the balance between innovation, trust, and regulation in one of the world’s most complex financial networks.
• The strategy behind modernizing Mastercard’s internal technology platforms to empower 35,000 global employees.
• Why a decade of AI experience changed how Mastercard approaches fraud, data, and customer confidence.
• The cultural shift that turned curiosity about AI into measurable progress across a global workforce.
• How a 50-year-old payments company keeps competing with startups by rethinking infrastructure from the ground up.
• George Maddaloni’s vision of the next era of payments and how technology might make transactions faster, safer, and nearly invisible.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter
• Connect with George on LinkedIn
• AI fun fact article
• On How To Create an Energy-Based Work System that Empowers Employees
• Other resources mentioned in this conversation: On decentralized AI in Banks and the Future of Finance with Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO