In this episode of Shift AI, Zach Friend Santa Cruz County Supervisor shares his journey from working in the Obama Whitehouse to helping the Biden Administration craft meaningful AI legislation with the local community in mind. He also covers the way that governments are dealing with AI regulation and the social contract that needs to be established with county constituents. Show Description This episode of the Shift AI podcast features an interview between Boaz Ashkenazy and Zach Friend...

In this episode of Shift AI, Kirby Winfield General Partner at Ascend.vc shares his journey from founding multiple successful startups to becoming a leading AI investor and outlines lessons learned, insights on the Seattle startup ecosystem, and his optimistic yet pragmatic views on generative AI and the future of work. Summary of topics covered: Background and early career: Kirby gained experience as an entrepreneur early in his career through founding multiple companies. Transition to...

In this episode of Shift AI, Zohar Dayan SVP Product at Vimeo shares his experience as a startup founder, how he was early to ML with video and how the Vimeo acquisition is pushing to integrate AI into the video creation process. 01:57 - Dayan talks about his early start with technology, founding Wibbitz in college, and its connection to text-to-video concepts. 02:31 - Zohar explains his role at Vimeo as SVP of Product and GM of their Israel office, focusing on connecting product,...

In this episode of Shift AI, Dr. Vasi Philomin, VP of Generative AI at Amazon Web Services (AWS) shares his experience as a visionary in machine learning and AI, his insights on applying generative AI at Amazon/AWS, and his thoughts on the ethical dimensions and future potential of AI technologies. Highlights from Vasi’s comments, edited for context and clarity: Early work experiences: Pioneered connected lighting at Philips Lighting with the City Touch system at Philips Lighting,...

In this episode of Shift AI, Karthik Ramakrishnan Chief Product Officer from Armillo AI shares his experience with a startup that empowers enterprises to test and fix their AI models to ensure they release trustworthy products to the market. In this episode of the Shift podcast, we cover the following topics: 02:22 How Karthik's eductation let to working in startups, an IPO; and his pursuit of success as a entrepreneur. 04:40 Family of orgin, Dad was a paper recycling entrepreneur in...

In this episode of Shift AI, Rand Fishkin, Co-founder and CEO at SparkToro, shares his experience as a successful entrepreneur and offers insightful perspectives on the current state of generative AI, the challenges faced by VC-backed businesses and the importance of prioritizing the lives of founders and team members. sparktoro.com shitaipodcast.com simplyaugmented.com Connect with Rand Fishkin ⁠Twitter⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Connect with Boaz Ashkenazy ⁠Twitter⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Email:...

In this episode of Shift AI, Neil Mandt, 5-time Emmy Award Winning Producer, shares his experience as a Hollywood producer and director, his take on the implications of AI on our society in the future and how the Studio industry is changing to accomodate this shift. In this episode of the Shift AI podcast, we cover the following topics: Introduction to experience and background including with Run DMC and Guiness Book of World Record Neil's first job that he actually got paid for the work...

In this episode of Shift AI, David Shim CEO at read.ai shares his experience as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and running one of the most exciting Madrona backed AI startups based in Seattle. Below is a summary of the topics covered: Transitioning from a political science major to identifying untapped opportunities in the stock trading market. Acquiring foundational customer service skills in the early stages of a career. The influence of a family of Korean immigrant...

In this episode of Shift AI, Shane Mac CEO at XMTP Labs shares his experience as a startup founder, how to run a remote-first venture backed startup and his philosophy on how digital messaging and communication will evolve in the future. In this episode of the Shift AI podcast, we cover the following topics: Early Experience: Shane discusses how his early experience as a young CEO of a startup in San Francisco and the imposter syndrome that he felt shaped they way that he approaches his...

In this episode of Shift AI, TA McCann Managing Director at the Pioneer Square Labs shares his experience as a startup founder, how sailing a ship has parralells to running a fast growing business and his take on the implications of AI on our society in the future. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shift-ai/message

In this episode of Shift AI, Oren Etzioni Founding CEO at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intellegence shares his expertise on AI policy and how this breakthrough technology will transform the way we work in the future. Oren breaks down the ethical and technical issues related to AI adoption and talks about how this AI wave is different from tech hypes in the past. In this episode of the Shift podcast, we cover the following topics: Oren’s early career, family background and his role...

In this installment of Shift AI, Matt McIlwain, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, discusses the influence of AI on different industries, Seattle's place in the technology landscape, ethical concerns surrounding AI, and the evolving nature of work in the digital era. Matt also delves into the opportunities and groundbreaking advancements created by AI, cloud computing, and associated technologies. In this episode of the Shift podcast, we cover the following topics: Matt’s...

In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Mindy Honcoop, CPO at Agile in HR shares her background and experience that landed her at Expedia and the work she has been doing to advise leaders to focus on their purpose and values to drive organizational change. Mindy breaks down how she thinks about motivating people in the workplace and the role that humans play amidst new technology advances. She also talks about the wave of HR and AI advancements and how we should think about emerging tech in...

On Shift AI Live, Ashwin Kadaru and Boaz Ashkenazy, discuss the influence of AI on different industries, current events related to the fast changing AI landscape and new use cases that directly impact business ROI. Connect with Ashwin Kadaru ⁠X⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Connect with Boaz Ashkenazy ⁠X⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Join the Simply Augmented newsletter. Every Tuesday morning, you’ll get actionable tips to leverage AI in your business and empower your teams to...

In this episode of Shift, Dan Nieves, Global Executive Engagement at Meta Reality Labs shares his expertise on the convergence of AI and XR at Meta and how this technology will transform the way we work in the future. Dan breaks down the roadmap and how Meta thinks about the emerging competitive VR landscape with the introduction of Apple Vision Pro. He also talks about the hype surrounding the metaverse and explains how Meta thinks about the future of AI and the way we use VR and mixed...

In this episode of Shift, Ashwin Kadaru, the CEO of Simply Augmented, shares his expertise on Generative AI and how this technology will transform the way we work in the future. Ashwin breaks down the definitions and history of ChatGPT and then goes deep on how the technology actually works. He also talks about the hype surrounding AI and explains why there is so much excitement and energy around implementing this technology in your business. In this episode of the Shift podcast, we cover...

In this episode of Shift, Alan Smithson, the co-founder and CEO of Metavrse, shares his expertise on how technology advancements and AI will significantly impact the way we work in the future. Alan discusses the need to prepare for an age where AI plays a significant role and the challenge of keeping up with its rapid advancements. He also talks about the hype surrounding AI and how the lack of regulation poses risks for ethical concerns and the potential for exploitation. In this episode of...

In this episode of Shift, Jyarland Daniels shares her perspective on company culture and how companies can touch on our emotions and move us in important ways. We touch on topics around being surrounded by mentors and passionate people face to face early in your career and how this can shape your perspective on career development. Jyarland expands on her mentors as she navigated work in the civil rights movement to her time in a corporate environment and into her time in big tech. She also...

In this episode of Shift, Venture Partner, Martina Welkhoff shares her perspective on investing in AI and XR and how her investment thesis has evolved over time.  Martina was early in VR and AR investing and focussed on funding and empowering female founders.  Her approach to supporting startup founders and vision for the future of work aligns with her new venture fund Goldenrod Ventures and she touches on what kind of founders she is most excited about working with and how AI and XR can...

In this episode of Shift, we cover:  Elizabeth discusses her first experience working and her family’s relationship to work growing up in Bellevue Washington. Elizabeth’s background as a leader in the Seattle startup accelerator scene, as a mentor and champion for small business people. Elizabeth’s experience as the leader of Seattle WeWork Labs and how co-working and face to face serendipity in the workplace accelerate creativity and innovation. Ways that early founders and...

In this episode of Shift, Forbes columnist, author and educator Charlie Finch shares his thoughts on the future of work and how VR and the metaverse will fit into the overall conversation about return to office and remote collaboration. Charlie also covers how employees will implement XR collaboration tools in the future workplace and what college students need to do to prepare themselves for a world where work will be remote and globally competitive. In this episode of Shift, we cover: ...

About Boaz Ashkenazy Boaz Ashkenazy is the founder and CEO of Simply Augmented, an augmented reality platform that improves the effectiveness of enterprise sales, by enabling products to be visualized in their environment in real time.  Boaz also co-chaired the 3D Commerce Khronos Group committee helping to establish global standards for 3D content creation and optimization. Prior to Simply Augmented, Boaz practiced architecture in Seattle and was an early pioneer in exploring virtual and...