The Next Thing Now Podcast

AI that your security team will actually approve. Everyone wants to use AI. Almost nobody has worked out how to trust it. In this episode Rob Borley sits down with Abbas Khan, co-founder of Togii, to unpack the question sitting underneath every stalled AI rollout: what does trust even mean in an AI world, and how do you get it back? We get into the Fable Five withdrawal and what happens when a fro...

Everyone's being told they're miles behind on AI. At the AI Summit the floor told a very different story to the stage. This week we get into the gap between what gets said about AI and what's actually happening in the room: the two kinds of AI user and why only one of them is on stage, the cost gate that's catching the early adopters rather than the beginners, why so many organisations are solving...

The Free AI Era Is Over What happens when AI stops feeling free? In this episode of The Next Thing Now , Rob and Kev unpack the growing reality behind token pricing, disappearing “all-you-can-eat” AI plans, and why the economics of AI are starting to shift dramatically. From exploding enterprise AI bills to the sudden rise of local LLMs, they explore the next phase of the AI race: not just intelli...

The Future of Software Engineering What is actually changing inside engineering teams? In this episode of The Next Thing Now , Rob Borley is joined by Gordon Lucas, Group Software Engineering Director at PureGym, to explore how AI is really impacting software engineering. Away from the hype and headlines, this is a grounded conversation about what is happening inside real teams today. While AI too...

The Reality of AI in Critical National Infrastructure Can AI be trusted where failure isn’t an option? In this episode, we’re joined by Simon Ayley, Director of Strategic Growth Partnerships at WRC. Drawing on 30+ years of global industry experience, we explore what AI actually looks like inside critical national infrastructure. From regulated industries to complex operational environments, AI is...

What happens to higher education when knowledge becomes instantly accessible, essays can be generated on demand, and AI starts to challenge the very basis of assessment? In this episode of The Next Thing Now , Rob Borley, Kevin Smith and Simon Brookes explore the impact of AI on higher education and ask a deeper question: what is university actually for in an age of large language models? The conv...

Agents Are Building Software Now A year ago, AI was helping engineers write code. Now, agents are building real enterprise software. In this episode of The Next Thing Now , we unpack what has changed and why it matters. This is not another conversation about copilots or productivity boosts. This is about agentic platforms that can reason over requirements, generate architecture, write services, re...

The high performance expert who has coached leadership teams in some of the biggest organisations on the planet, now questioning whether performance still means what we think it does. For more than 30 years, Matt Barker has worked with leaders, teams, and individuals at moments of pressure, transition, and change, helping humans perform better as their environment shifts around them. That experien...

AI Has a Constitution Now. What Does That Mean for Us? This week, Rob and Kev unpack one of the strangest and most revealing signals in AI right now. Anthropic has published a “constitution” for Claude. Not internal policy. Not developer guidelines. A document written for the AI itself , explaining the values it is expected to understand and reason from. That raises an uncomfortable question. Why...

OFFICIAL: AGI by 2030! Is this the moment everything quietly changed? In this episode of The Next Thing Now , we unpack the restructure of OpenAI, the reworked AGI clause with Microsoft, and why the date 2030 suddenly matters far more than most people realise. This is not about hype. It’s about incentives, contracts, infrastructure, and the uncomfortable signals buried in plain sight. We explore:...

Most companies talk confidently about net zero — but few can prove it. In this episode of The Next Thing Now , Rob and Kev sit down with Owen from Fynlo AI to explore one of the biggest hidden challenges in sustainability: the accuracy of carbon reporting . From freight fleets to finance teams, the data behind emissions reporting is often guesswork. Owen explains why this matters, how inaccurate d...

OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) signals the next evolution of e-commerce, replacing user interfaces with intelligent, intent-driven agents. e013 The Next Thing Now Podcast.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How AI Agents Are Transforming Financial Services | ProveIt x Dootrix In this episode, we speak with Adrian Defta , founder and CEO of ProveIt , about how AI agents are revolutionising financial services—starting with underserved communities. Adrian shares the journey behind ProveIt, a bootstrapped startup helping UK-based Romanians navigate financial complaints and reclaim lost money. What began...

🎙️ Episode 011 – Hope, Hype, and Heating Engineers: Agentic AI Gets Real In this episode of The Next Thing Now , Rob and Kev dive deep into the maturing world of agentic AI — and the quietly powerful new standard driving it: MCP. We explore: Why Canva’s new Claude-powered integration might be the first real MCP breakthrough What MCP actually is (with a heating engineer analogy you won’t forget) Wh...

The conversation delves into the recent redundancies at Microsoft, exploring the implications of AI integration in the workplace and the evolving dynamics of job roles. The discussion highlights the shift towards efficiency and productivity through AI, the future of work, and the challenges posed by ambient computing and SaaS products. Additionally, the conversation touches on the intersection of...

Apple's recent AI whitepaper caused a stir, but did it reveal anything new? We break down what it means, what it missed, and why the future may belong to agents and automation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation, Kevin and Rob delve into the recent acquisition of Johnny Ive's design company by OpenAI, exploring the implications of this move in the context of AI technology and design. They discuss the potential dystopian future of AI, the rise of wearable technology, and the evolving expectations surrounding AI development. The conversation highlights the challenges and adaptations use...

In this episode of the Next Thing Now Podcast, Ang McKenna, an award-winning head of people and culture, shares her journey in HR and the evolving landscape of workplace culture. She discusses the importance of mental health, the shift from traditional HR to a people-centric approach, and the impact of AI on employee anxiety and job security. Ang emphasises the need for organisations to build trus...

In this conversation, Rob details his AI lead weekend trip. He just did as he was told. And it was an interesting experience! Rob and Kev explore the nature of AI as a predictive tool, drawing parallels between AI behaviour and human cognition. What does it mean as the AI enters the era of experience. They discuss the potential for AI to learn and adapt like humans, the challenges of integrating A...

Rob Borley and Kevin Smith discuss the evolution of software development.  They explore the complexities of traditional software engineering, the importance of maintaining quality and safety in software, and the balance between rapid prototyping and thorough development.  Thinking fast, build slow. This is Vibe Coding for grown-ups. This is how professional should use the new wave of tools and tec...

In this conversation, Kevin Smith and Rob Borley discuss the rapid advancements in AI technologies, focusing on the emergence of new standards such as MCP and A2A, and the implications of fine-tuning AI models with LoRA. They emphasise the urgency for businesses to adopt AI technologies, likening it to the transformative impact of the internet and electricity. The discussion also highlights the ch...

In this conversation, Rob Borley and Kevin Smith explore the rapid advancements in AI. They discuss the implications of these technologies for creativity, the challenges faced by organisations in adopting AI, and the evolving role of CIOs in navigating these changes. The conversation highlights the tension between innovation and legacy systems, emphasising the importance of governance and the huma...

In this conversation, Rob and Kevin delve into the evolving landscape of AI, particularly focusing on image generation, the importance of prompt quality, and the emergence of specialised AI tools. They share personal experiences with various AI models, discussing their strengths and limitations, and explore the future of AI in creative fields. Rob and Kevin discuss the evolution of AI writing mode...

In this conversation, Rob Borley and Kev Smith discuss the rapid advancements in technology. They explore how AI tools are transforming the workforce, the implications of quantum breakthroughs, and the emergence of new models like diffusion language models and AI agents. The discussion highlights the convergence of various technologies and the challenges and opportunities they present for the futu...