The Business of AI

Who decides how AI reshapes society: technologists, governments, or the communities living with its consequences? As AI and digital platforms scale rapidly, policymakers face a difficult balance: enabling innovation and economic growth while protecting citizens from online harms, safeguarding children, and ensuring new technologies do not deepen existing inequalities. Baroness Uddin believes the a...

Most people are consuming AI tools. Far fewer are building with them and that gap is where the real opportunity lies. In this episode, AI strategist Sumathi Menno argues that the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn’t technical skill but hesitation. Through her work advising organisations and leading the nonprofit Women Defining AI, she focuses on turning curiosity into capability, helping professio...

World models could be the breakthrough that takes AI beyond predicting text and into understanding reality. In this episode, Linda Hong Cheng explains how these models, which learn the physical dynamics of environments, may unlock a new generation of AI capable of reasoning about complex systems. Her company, Lychee Labs, is already applying this approach to industrial manufacturing, building AI t...

What if AI could prevent conflicts from escalating and create an auditable record of what really happens when they do? This episode explores a new category of AI focused not on productivity, but on structuring high-stakes human communication. Vanessa Carson, founder of Defuze and Thea Labs, is building systems designed to mediate difficult conversations and preserve “narrative integrity”, creating...

AI isn’t just a technology race, it’s a trade policy battleground that will determine who captures value and who falls further behind. The real AI divide isn’t only about access to infrastructure, but about skills, governance, data rules, and the power embedded in digital trade agreements. As countries sign binding commitments on cross-border data flows, source code access, and digital taxation, t...

If AI is so powerful, why are most companies seeing almost no real productivity gains? This episode exposes the uncomfortable truth: giving employees access to tools like ChatGPT or Copilot doesn’t transform a business, it just speeds up existing habits. The real value comes from redesigning workflows, developing role-specific use cases, and teaching people how to apply judgment and creativity alo...

Why are so many companies investing in AI but seeing so little real impact? Is the biggest barrier bad data, or a workforce that secretly lacks the confidence to use it? In this conversation with Vivek and Bryan from the Global AI Leaders Network (GAIL), we unpack why organisations are stuck in “pilot mode,” why AI still feels intimidating to non-technical teams, and why literacy, not infrastructu...

AI can help make sense of complex infrastructure projects, turning disconnected systems into clear plans that improve efficiency at scale and help protect national infrastructure. Energy, water, and other essential networks are under growing pressure from new demand, climate goals, and public expectations, and decisions in one area increasingly affect everything else. This conversation with Michae...

What does real sustainability look like when AI enters the room—loud, power-hungry, and ethically ambiguous? In this episode of the UKAI Women in AI Podcast, we’re joined by Alex Smith, CEO of Future Plus, to talk candidly about non-linear careers, leadership under pressure, and why sustainability must move from glossy reports into everyday business decisions. Alex shares her journey—from hospital...

In this episode of the UKI Women in AI podcast, Sheridan (Founder & Co-CEO of Tech She Can) tells the story from “Well Rough” (Wellingborough, as lovingly rebranded by its own sign-vandals) to global consulting, to launching a charity that’s reached hundreds of thousands of children with tech-for-good education. You’ll hear: How an undiagnosed dyslexia and leaving school with few qualification...

In this episode of the UKAI Women in AI Podcast, Zahra sits down with Lida Cepuch — a technologist-turned-governance heavyweight whose career has zig-zagged through derivatives trading floors, complex risk management, and the boardrooms of some of Europe’s most regulated financial institutions. Lida cuts through the usual platitudes and lays out the raw mechanics of building a career at the inters...

How do you actually govern AI so you can use it at scale without blowing up your risk register? In this episode of the Business of AI podcast, Tim chats with Ray Eisel Porter (former Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture) and Dr Paul Donga (Head of Responsible AI & AI Strategy at NatWest) about their new book, Governing the Machine – a practical blueprint for AI governance in real organi...

AI agents can become “work amplifiers” for non-profits and membership organisations IF you start with the problem, not the solution. In this in-person episode, Alex Skinner (CEO & Co-founder of Pixl8) explains how AI can help lean teams do more with less: automating document-heavy workflows, triaging submissions, and turning messy archives into searchable knowledge. We dig into: * Why many AI...

Ramyani shares her 25-year journey from being the only woman in engineering classes to leading digital, analytics, and AI across Northern Europe, while championing diversity and lifting other women as she climbed. She opens up about a defining early-career moment: being told to tone down her bold colours and emotions and why choosing authenticity became a turning point. Ramyani makes the case that...

Bosch on Skills, Trust, and the Future of Work. What does real adoption actually look like inside a global industrial giant? In this episode, Stefan Hoffmann, President of Bosch for Northern and Eastern Europe, cuts through the noise to explain how AI is already transforming manufacturing, HR, energy, and R&D. From training 65,000 employees and building trust in AI tools, to green energy, hydr...

In this episode of UKAI’s The Business of AI Podcast : Women in AI special , Zahra Shah , Chair of UKAI’s Women in AI Working Group, speaks with Sharon Moore MBE , CTO for Public Sector and Technology at IBM . Sharon shares her career journey into technology, from early exposure to computer-aided design to senior leadership roles, and reflects on the moments that shaped her path. The conversation...

In this episode of the Business of AI podcast, we’re joined by Ben Warner, co-founder of Electric Twin, a company creating cutting-edge synthetic populations to help organisations understand and predict human behaviour at unprecedented speed. Ben shares his journey from academic physicist at UCL, to applied AI leader at Faculty, to chief adviser in Number 10 during the Covid-19 crisis. That experi...

In this episode of The Business of AI Podcast, host Tim Flagg sits down with chartered marketer, HubSpot Platinum Partner and AI & automation consultant Martin Broadhurst – to explore how AI is transforming marketing, sales and wider business operations. Martin shares his journey from early marketing automation through to working hands-on with generative AI, explaining how tools like HubSpot,...

In this episode of the UKAI Women in AI Podcast, host Zahra Shah sits down with Sarah Wyer, a leading PhD researcher specialising in gender bias in large language models. Sarah shares her non-linear journey into AI, from starting out in business and higher education, to discovering a passion for data, completing a master’s in computer science, and ultimately becoming an award-winning woman in tech...

In this episode of The Business of AI Podcast: Women in AI, host Zahra Shah speaks with co-founder of AI Potential Mary Kemp, about her unexpected and transformative journey into the world of artificial intelligence. Mary reflects on moving from decades of corporate work in the US to becoming an “accidental startup” founder after discovering how dramatically generative AI could reshape her busines...

In this episode of the UKAI Women in AI Podcast, Zahra speaks with Beth Wells, Innovation Manager at Weightmans Solicitors, about her unexpected journey from studying biology to building a career in legal tech and innovation. Beth shares how a temporary admin role opened the door to an entirely new profession, and why problem solving, creativity and curiosity were the real skills that guided her i...

In this episode of The Business of AI Podcast, Tim welcomes Dr Catriona Wolfenden, Director of Product and Innovation at Weightmans, to explore how one of the UK’s leading law firms is reshaping its approach to technology, problem solving and client service. Catriona shares her journey from practising lawyer to heading a 34-strong innovation team, and offers real examples of how Weightmans has bui...

In this episode of The Business of AI Podcast, Tim is joined by Isabel Bathurst, solicitor, law firm consultant and co-founder of Legal AI. Isabelle shares her journey from early work with geographic information systems at Manchester University, through two decades in complex litigation, to helping law firms adopt AI in a way that actually fits how solicitors work. She explains why so many traditi...

In this episode of The Business of AI Podcast, Tim is joined by David Lane, founder of Fat Fish Digital, to explore what happens when decades of AI experience meet today’s hype cycle. David shares his journey from early AI research at BT AI Labs and the University of Sussex, through founding one of his first companies in the mid-2000s, to building Fat Fish Digital as a “technology orchestrator” wo...

Agentic AI isn’t just another tech trend, it's a generational shift that could rewrite how every business operates. In this episode of The Business of AI, Shashi Jagtap, founder of Super Agentic AI and former Apple engineer, reveals why he walked away from one of the world’s most coveted tech jobs to dive head-first into this new frontier. He explains how agentic systems go far beyond ChatGPT...