Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks

What if the real AI revolution isn't about better models—but about unlocking the data we've been sitting on? Mike McLaughlin —cybersecurity and data privacy attorney, former US Cyber Command—joins us to discuss something most people miss in the AI conversation: we're building the infrastructure for a completely new asset class. The conversation moves past today's headlines and LLM limitations into...

When did we stop asking how things work? Rich Greene joins the show to talk about his new podcast Plaintext with Rich ,  and we get into something that matters more than any tech: curiosity itself. Rich spent 20 years in Special Operations before becoming a SANS instructor. Now he's taking complex tech topics and breaking them down for people who need to understand, not just use. There's a te...

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year!  We'll be back in 2026!

It's a holiday week, so turn off this podcast!  But if you'd like to tune in all the same, then we're here to say think you. You, the listeners, have been the greatest gift this season as we've made this turn in our format from security to looking more broadly at the human impact of technology.  You've stuck with us. We've gotten a lot of great messages of support, and we love the direct...

We're off this week, deep into planning and scheduling for next year. Please enjoy this Best Of episode, originally released in October. Hannah Storey, Advocacy and Policy Advisor at Amnesty International , joins the show to talk about her new brief that reframes Big Tech monopolies as a human rights crisis, not just a market competition problem. This isn't about consumer choice or antitrust law....

2025 was hella weird. The AI revolution is here whether we asked for it or not. This week, George K and George A reflect on the year and what it means for 2026. At AWS re:Invent, George A watched a machine create a custom fragrance and marketing campaign in real-time from a voice prompt. What does that portend for product prototyping, and scaled manufacturing? Could voice and natural language fina...

What if your biggest career obstacle isn't external—it's the “broken code” running in your own head? Rachelle Tanguay joins the show to unpack the difference between consuming self-help content and actually doing the uncomfortable work of rewiring your internal programming. From advising deputy ministers to coaching professionals across sectors, she's seen what happens when high-performers hit the...

Graeme Rudd spent years taking emerging technology into austere environments and watching it fail. He assessed over 350 technologies for a Department of Defense lab. The pattern was consistent: engineers solved technical problems brilliantly. Lawyers checked compliance boxes. Leadership approved budgets. And the technology failed because no one was looking at how humans would actually use it. So h...

What happens when you go all in and bet on yourself? Taylor McClatchie, professional Muay Thai fighter with ONE Championship, joins the show to share how she did just that. She spent a decade in reproductive science, working in a lab. Then she walked away from it all to turn her pastime into her profession. Went 20-0 as an amateur. Made her pro debut at Madison Square Garden with a head kick knock...

Eric Pilkington joins the show to cut through the noise around artificial intelligence and deliver some hard truths about what's actually working—and what's just expensive theater. AI isn't new; it's been around for 70+ years. The current generative AI boom is democratization, not innovation—and 95% of AI projects are still failing. Startups with no product, no customers, and no revenue raising $3...

Hunter Grad, CEO and founder of Ameliogenix , joins the show to talk about developing mRNA immunotherapies for cardiovascular disease. George K and George A sit down with Hunter to discuss: How a procrastinated university project turned into a biotech startup tackling the leading cause of death worldwide The novel application of mRNA technology to permanently reduce cholesterol levels through targ...

Hannah Storey, Advocacy and Policy Advisor at Amnesty International , joins the show to talk about her new brief that reframes Big Tech monopolies as a human rights crisis, not just a market competition problem. This isn't about consumer choice or antitrust law. It's about how concentrated market power violates fundamental rights—freedom of expression, privacy, and the right to hold views without...

RE-ISSUE: This recording corrects for an audio overlap problem in the previous version of this interview at the 28:00 mark. Zach Lewis, CIO/CISO at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, joins the show to talk about his experience with a ransomware attack by the LockBit group. Zach takes us beyond the technical recovery into territory most people don't talk about: the gut-punch m...

Clinical psychologist, Dr. Sarah Adler, joins the show this week to talk about why “AI Therapy” doesn’t exist, but is bullish on what AI can help therapists achieve. Dr. Adler is a clinical psychologist and CEO of Wave . She's building AI tools for mental healthcare, which makes her position clear—what's being sold as "AI therapy" right now is dangerous. Chatbots are optimized to keep conversation...

This week George K and George A switch formats to tackle the AI revolution's messiest questions—from autonomous coding agents to digital actresses and deepfake scams. The hosts examine what happens when innovation moves faster than ethics. When Claude Sonnet 4.5 promises 30 hours of autonomous coding, what's the real trade-off between productivity gains and security fundamentals? When talent agenc...

The lads are traveling this week, so we're revisiting their interview with Savannah Sly, dominatrix and sex worker rights advocate. She joined the show to talk about privacy, power, and the nuances of human intimacy as generative AI takes hold. George K and George A talk to Savannah about: The current state of privacy for vulnerable communities and the real-world operational security challenges th...

This week George K and George A switch formats to consider the deeper questions behind recent tech headlines. The hosts dig into the philosophical tensions driving today's biggest tech stories. When does technological dependency become too dangerous to ignore? How do we distinguish between genuine innovation and elaborate pump-and-dump schemes dressed up as progress? What are the real costs when e...

Phil Dursey joined the show this week to cut through the hype and talked through what red teaming for AI means in mindset and practice. The conversation reveals a fundamental problem: organizations are rushing to implement AI without understanding their own workflows. Executives are buying "the thing with the AI" expecting magic efficiency gains, but they've never mapped out basic business process...

A stalkerware economy is thriving on TikTok, and it's generating hundreds of thousands in sales. Journalist Rosie Thomas from 404 Media joins the show this week discuss her investigation into GPS trackers being sold as relationship surveillance tools directly through TikTok Shop. This isn't some dark web operation - it's happening on one of the world's most popular social platforms. The findings a...

This week on the show: some seriously cutting-edge territory. George A talks about what he saw at the Love and Sex with Robots conference in Montreal. Then George K and George A discuss AI companions, embodied LLMs, and the wild intersection of technology and human intimacy. This isn't just about sex robots - it's about the broader question of how AI is reshaping fundamental human experiences.&nbs...

Sumona Banerji, founder of MindShield and PhD candidate in cyber psychology, joins us to discuss building cognitive resilience in an age of exponential technology and algorithmic manipulation. George K and George A talk to Sumona about: Truth is fragmented - Everyone only sees a piece of it, creating space for better discussion The TAR framework - Trigger, Analysis, Response for emotional regulati...

Former NFL player Mark LeVoir joins us this week to talk about life after pro sports, and the lessons he took transitioning to a career in tech. George K and George A talk to Mark about: The transition from professional sports to tech sales and why goals beat identity every time His simple method for aligning business outcomes with corporate objectives in enterprise deals Building sales teams that...

This week Savannah Sly, dominatrix and sex worker rights advocate, joins the show to talk about privacy, power, and the nuances of human intimacy as generative AI takes hold.   George K and George A talk to Savannah about: The current state of privacy for vulnerable communities and the real-world operational security challenges they face Practical steps individuals can take to protect their d...

Season 4 is here! While George K and George A are in Las Vegas for Black Hat and DEFCON this week, here's a preview of some changes coming to the podcast. We're grateful for every listener. Thank you for being on this journey with us!

Rinki Sethi joins the show this week! She's held just security leadership roles on just about all possible sides, and now she's also a VC investing in the next generation of founders. George K and George A talk to Rinki about: Real talk and timeline on AI in SecOps How security teams are gonna get reorganized around AI tooling Why most founders fall in love with solutions instead of problems The b...