The Aboard Podcast

OpenClaw sprung up overnight—and seemed to fade just as quickly. What does that suggest about AI more broadly? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by New York Magazine tech reporter John Herrman, whose long career covering all corners of the industry has, like the rest of his peers, recently shifted to all AI, all the time. They discuss his piece for the magazine on Open...

How should nonprofits actually be using AI? On this week’s episode, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by Traci Donnelly, the CEO of The Child Center of NY and the founder and president of Make An Impact—and a client of Aboard. After discussing these orgs’ missions, they dive into AI: Traci’s early embrace of the technology, how these tools can transform work in the sector, and the importance...

Is the AI era destined to make our software lives nasty, brutish, and short? On this week’s podcast, Rich brings Paul the framing of “Hobbesian AI,” specifically from 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes’s greatest work, Leviathan . Humans need some kind of order, Hobbes argued in the wake of the English Civil War, otherwise they will destroy each other. How can these lessons be applied...

Is it possible to build an incorruptible company in our current system? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by Eric Ries, the author of the 2011 bestseller The Lean Startup , to discuss his latest book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great . After they discuss his tech origins and the legacy of The Lean Startup within the industr...

Can two people who host a podcast subtitled “software in the age of AI” go half an hour without bringing up the term? On this week’s episode, Paul and Rich attempt to talk about something—anything—tech-related that isn’t AI. Topics discussed include the new Ferrari, the rise of sports gambling apps, youthful rebellions past and present, and the wonder that is the Virtual OS Museum. Do they make it...

Sure, AI might bring on the end times—but you can use it to build your own tax software! On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by Craig Mod, a writer, photographer, and self-described “software supertaster” who recently took to Claude to build a version of Quicken that suited his complicated tax-filing needs. First, they discuss the project and assess how likely it is that...

Doctors might be using AI to cut down on paperwork, but can these tools really be employed in clinical settings? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich sit down in the studio with Dr. Kamal Menghrajani, a practicing oncologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School who was previously a member of the Biden White House’s “Cancer Moonshot” team. After she explains how AI is helping in her work, she la...

Why are so few engineering teams reaping the benefits of AI? On this week’s episode, Paul presents Rich with the findings from a recent report from CircleCI and Thoughtworks on the productivity of enterprise teams using LLMs. While there’s been a dramatic increase in throughput—the amount of code produced—across the board, just 5% of orgs are seeing real gains from these tools, while the majority...

What’s wrong with Sam Altman? Ask the guy who spent 18 months reporting on him. On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined by New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz, who recently put out a lengthy article on the OpenAI chief that he co-reported with Ronan Farrow. After they dive into some of the specific details of the piece, they discuss the broader questions Altman’s position in the indust...

What does it take to make a really good product with AI tools? On this week’s podcast, Paul walks Rich through his recent adventures building a robust aggregated newsletter tool—first to track the AI industry, then generalized and customizable for any industry. Vibe-coding platforms continue to evolve, but you still need a lot of technical knowledge to make something that really works. Is that hig...

“The blind vibe-coding revolution is upon us.” On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined by Andrew Leland, the author of the Pulitzer-finalist The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight , to discuss how blind and low-vision people are using AI tools to create and adapt software to suit their accessibility needs. With limits to what any out-of-the-box software or device might do,...

Employees at the big consulting firms are being told to use AI. Are they going to automate themselves out of a job? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich discuss a recent set of directives from the CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers about AI adoption and consider what they frame as the “AI consulting paradox”: To show value, consultants need to introduce AI into their client relationships, potentially...

Sure, you can build “stuff” with AI, but is anyone paying attention to product these days? On this week’s episode, Paul and Rich sit down with someone who is: Hilary Mason, CEO of the immersive online roleplaying game company Hidden Door. After discussing Hilary’s background in data science and machine learning, Paul takes a spin through a game scenario (Brooklyn vampires in a fantasy tavern!) whi...

AI is blurring—and even destroying—the distinctions between disciplines. Do we need a new way to talk about work? On this week’s episode, Paul tests out a few of his AI-era neologisms on a skeptical Rich: Perhaps you are a “custolient,” looking to purchase the services of a “praygency” for your next project? (Yes, Paul insists the “y” in “praygency” is vital.) Are these new blended terms helpful,...

Is the future of work sitting back and watching your company of bots plan their offsite? On this week’s episode, Paul is joined in the studio by journalist Evan Ratliff, the host and creator of the wildly popular Shell Game podcast, which is about, per the show’s description, “how Evan tried to build a real startup, run by fake people.” Evan’s AI agents were an exercise in immersive journalism (an...

With AI drastically cutting delivery times in tech and beyond, how should practitioners price their time? On this week’s podcast, Paul tells Rich about a recent experience with a potential client, where he skipped steps and rapidly vibe-coded through the prototyping process and they….didn’t really know what to make of the result. If things that used to take months can now be done in hours, what ar...

Can AI help heal our broken healthcare system? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by Erynn Petersen, a longtime technologist and the current CEO of Emme, a healthtech startup that works to lower medical costs for both providers and patients. First, she lays out some of the systemic problems that saddle Americans with huge bills (or lead them to avoid seeking care entire...

People are constantly talking about how AI is transforming engineers’ work, but where does that leave the product manager? On this week’s podcast, Paul (who has hired many PMs) and Rich (who is also a PM himself) tilt the AI-and-code lens away from the engineers and onto the role they describe as the diplomat of software creation, liaising between business, design, and engineering needs. Should PM...

Public opinion on LLMs like Claude varies widely—but how do the people who actually work at Anthropic think about it? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by New Yorker staff writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus to discuss his recent feature, which he reported from within Anthropic HQ. They discuss the piece, and then they hash out the real questions: What’s the correct literary met...

Anthropic founder Dario Amodei wants AI to be regulated. Will anyone listen? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich dive into Amodei’s recent (lengthy) essay, “The Adolescence of Technology,” which argues for social responsibility both from within and around the AI industry. Amodei might have the best intentions, but with less mindful competitors in the space, are his ideas nothing more than wishfu...

Is Moltbook—aka “Reddit for Robots”—merely a novelty, or does it contain bigger ideas about the future of tech? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich start by discussing the autonomous agents of OpenClaw before they move on to Moltbook, the social network where said agents can hang out. (No humans allowed!) How do these LLM developments fit into the broader history of the web, and what do they sug...

AI is poised to transform the healthcare sector—but what does that mean in practice? Fresh off hosting a healthtech event in Aboard’s Manhattan offices, Paul and Rich talk through the ways AI is reshaping this massive segment of the American economy. AI might lead to breakthroughs for researchers and diagnosticians alike, but is its real superpower…cutting down on paperwork? Plus: What happens whe...

“I built it in six hours. Let’s deploy it to production!” On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich engage in one of their favorite pastimes: Corporate roleplay. Taking on the personas of Doug, a vibe-coding engineer, and (Mr.) Jeremy, his skeptical boss, they act out a scenario that’s surely unfolding at organizations large and small right now. Doug might be too hasty when he declares his vibe-coded...

Claude Code has emerged as a true development tool—but will non-tech people actually use it? This week on the podcast about “software in the age of AI,” Paul and Rich discuss, well, software in the age of AI: Specifically, what the rise of Claude Code means for the world of software on a whole. Are we really at a point where a layperson could create the software they need via a prompt? And if we a...

How is one of the internet’s biggest spaces for human creativity adapting in the AI era? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich are joined in the studio by Rafe Colburn, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Etsy. After discussing Rafe’s long history at the company, they tackle the AI topic two ways: First, how the Etsy engineering org is using AI tools, and second, Etsy’s recent deal with Op...