The CTO Lens

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 7 of Season 3, and David and Sophie are recording in what appears to be the hottest summer on record - and as it turns out, that's actually relevant to the news agenda. This episode covers the impact of extreme heat on critical technology infrastructure - from the Eiffel Tower closing early due to a transformer blowout to NHS trusts declaring critical inci...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 6 of Season 3, and David and Sophie are both back in the hot seat - tanned, reunited and ready to dig into a packed agenda. This episode covers Trump's threat to impose a 100% tariff on any European country that introduces a digital services tax on American tech giants - and asks whether it's time for tech leaders to start buying homegrown. RAM prices are...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back, and this week Sophie is taking a well-earned break. David is joined by the returning Mal Minhas for a packed episode of news, a fascinating guest conversation and a debut Flip Side argument that ends - as these things often do - somewhere in the middle. This episode covers the G7 summit where the world's most powerful AI bosses told world leaders in no uncertain terms...

The CTO Lens Podcast does something a little different this week. David is away, and Sophie has taken the opportunity to bring together three brilliant women working at the sharp end of AI for a conversation that is honest, practical and long overdue. Joining Sophie are Hema Purohit, founder of Lotus Advisory and Consulting and a veteran of Microsoft and Google with three decades in tech; Stephani...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 3 of Season 3, and this week David and Sophie have a packed agenda - news, a brilliant guest and a Flip Side debate that gets a little complicated when Sophie switches sides mid-argument. This episode covers Meta's customer support chatbot being exploited to steal Instagram accounts - and what every tech leader should take from it about deploying agents wi...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with another packed episode. David's fresh from a stag weekend involving combat archery, a giant inflatable and some questionable social media evidence, while Sophie's been spotting baby moorhens. Normal service has resumed. This episode covers NVIDIA's new AI chip for personal computers - and what that means for every CTO's laptop refresh plan. King's College London b...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back - and Season 3 is here. David and Sophie return refreshed, ready to dig into a packed news agenda, a brand new segment and some big questions about where tech leadership is headed next. This episode covers the Pope weighing in on AI and the culture of power driving Silicon Valley, Elon Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI in under two hours and still claiming victory...

The CTO Lens Podcast wraps up Season 2 with Episode 20 - and David and Sophie are going out with a bang. Twenty episodes in, they reflect on what they've covered, what's coming in Season 3, and why the world of tech leadership has never been more interesting - or more complicated. This episode covers Anthropic's Mythos model making headlines again - this time for falling into the hands of a Discor...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 19, and this week David and Sophie are firing on all cylinders with a packed news agenda and a guest who really knows his way around a data pipeline. This episode covers Roblox's controversial facial analysis age checks - and whether that's really the best we can do for child safety online. The UK's AI minister Liz Kendall gets the David and Sophie treatme...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 18, and this one's got plenty to dig into. David and Sophie are back in their respective remote setups - but that doesn't mean things are any less lively. This episode covers a cyberattack that forced Northern Irish school kids back into classrooms during Easter - and raises a bigger question about the risk of centralising all your tech on a single supplie...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 17, and this week's edition is packed! Oh, and yes - this week's episode was filmed in person. David and Sophie are confirmed humans. This episode features China's obsession with an open-source AI tool nicknamed "the Lobster" (aka Claude), Anthropic's token costs spiralling out of control - and an accidental leak of 500,000 lines of source code, plus a two...

The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 16, and this week's edition is packed! Meta vs. Google in court. AI reshaping video production. A Lloyd's Bank data breach update. David and Sophie cut through the noise on the week's biggest tech stories. Then things get really interesting. We're bringing you an exclusive fireside recording straight from our London Tech Leaders event - a razor-sharp conve...

In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David and Sophie begin by discussing the week's latest news, including budgets for AI and Quantum Computing, books being written using AI, Pokemon Go and Amazon’s new smart phone! Both then (as part of the leadership segment) discuss the future of the technology workforce, including the responsibilities that senior leaders have, how education may need...

In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David and Sophie begin by discussing the week's latest news, including delayed Royal Navy deployments, airport face scans, bank apps showing other users' transactions and much more! Both are then joined by Andrew Murphy (Head of Engineering and Product at Wickes) to discuss how AI is reshaping the software development lifecycle. Andrew offers some fan...

In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David is back and joins Sophie to discuss the latest in tech innovations and news. Both share insights on leadership, strategy, and the evolving role of technology leaders in organisations. From understanding the importance of strategic thinking to the future skills needed for CTOs, this episode offers valuable guidance for tech leaders aiming to make...

In this week’s episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie Valentine is joined by guest host Samantha Burrows, in an International Women’ Day week special. They explore the significance of culture in leadership, especially for women+ in tech, and continue with news on the ethical implications of AI in defence, the future of AI and its potential economic consequences, innovative AI projects in the civi...

In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David Crawford and Sophie Valentine discuss various topics including social media court cases, recent AI trials and tribulations, and the emergence of Seedance, an app that can be used to generate Hollywood style videos. They are also joined by Otto Hilska (CEO of Swarmia) who shares insights on engineering effectiveness and the integration of AI tool...

In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David Crawford and Sophie Valentine discuss various topics including their Valentine's weekend experiences, the viral success of their podcast clip on digital sovereignty, updates on the UK Online Safety Bill and the implications of AI in online safety, and discuss recent AI advancements in large corporations.  They are also joined by Jon Sheehan (Co-...

In this week's episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David discuss various topics including France getting rid of Zoom, AI robots and the recent AI Gold Rush. They also are joined by Lee Provoost (CTO of fintech company Flagstone) who discusses his journey of falling out of love and falling back in love with the CTO role. The episode concludes with the mid-episode game (titled ‘Touchdown Tec...

In this week's episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David discuss various topics including AI training initiatives, Apple's sales trends, digital sovereignty, and the future of driverless cars. They also delve into the importance of incident management and organisational culture with guests Joe and Hamid from Uptime Labs, also sharing personal experiences of IT outages. The conversation emp...

In this week’s episode of The CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David cover a wide range of topics. They dive into the challenges facing the gaming industry, youth social media regulations, and discuss the balance between big-picture thinking and attention to detail in leadership during our leadership focused segment.  The episode concludes with the mid-episode game (titled ‘Tech to the Top’) and a dis...

In this week’s episode of the CTO Lens podcast, hosts Sophie Valentine and David Crawford delve into various topics, starting with the internet outage in Iran, AI generated singers and a discussion about Elon Musk's relationships and the implications of AI in our daily lives. Sophie and David then welcome guest Hema Purohit, who brings her extensive experience in technology and leadership developm...

In this episode, Sophie and David discuss the latest developments in technology, including Nvidia's new AI platform for self-driving cars, the implications of ChatGPT in healthcare, and Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI.  Furthermore, the hosts discuss essential communication skills for modern leaders, emphasising the importance of active listening, empathy, and understanding different communication s...

In this engaging conversation, Sophie Valentine and David Crawford reflect on their Christmas and New Year experiences, discussing the transition back to work and the challenges of disconnecting during the holidays. They delve into tech trends from 2025 and predictions for 2026, particularly focusing on the evolving landscape of AI and consumer technology. David and Sophie also discuss the evoluti...

In this episode, David and Sophie discuss their Christmas preparations, share technology news highlights, and delve into the importance of giving advice to one's younger self. They also take part in the weekly 'Mid Episode Game' titled 'Guess The Year' and conclude with the 'Disaster Diaries' segment, which sparks conversation on the significance of team culture and the common struggles faced by n...