What happens when three adult sisters and their dad pack up their AI tools and head to Ireland to trace their roots? Spoiler: some of it is magical, some of it is genuinely terrifying, and all of it is honest.

In this episode, host Sarah Dooley sits down with her sister, Dr. Caitlin Sutton, for one of the most personal and laugh-out-loud conversations the podcast has had. Caitlin is an obstetric, pediatric, and maternal fetal anesthesiologist who shows up for some of the most intense moments in families' lives. She is also a self-described non-planner who does not enjoy travel logistics and cannot drive on the left side of the road. Which made her the perfect travel companion for a trip where AI was doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Together, Sarah and Caitlin walk through the real AI wins and real AI fails from their family trip to Ireland, including itineraries that led them to storytelling caretakers and unexpected courthouse tours, a one-lane cliff road on the Wild Atlantic Way that was fully enveloped in fog, and the moment Sarah quietly put on her shoes in the backseat just in case things went off the rails. They also talk about how AI helped Caitlin figure out how to contribute to a trip she did not plan, the poem she wrote at their first pub, the playlist that kept everyone going on long driving days, and the car dealership visit where a quick AI check cut her bill by more than half.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt both grateful for and skeptical of AI at the same time. It is a reminder that AI does not have to be perfect to be useful, and that keeping a human in the loop, and a sense of humor, makes all the difference.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Using AI for family travel planning, including itineraries, driving routes, and packing lists
• AI travel planning wins and fails, and what they have in common
• How to prompt AI better when planning a trip, especially with kids or specific travel preferences
• What happens when AI underestimates the culture of a destination
• Using AI to lower the barrier to entry for people who do not enjoy planning
• How Caitlin used AI to find her role on a trip she did not organize
• Image generation with DALL-E and why Caitlin needed a very specific nesting doll
• Why AI plus human curation is a more powerful travel team than either one alone
• OpenEvidence as an AI tool in medical practice
• Using AI at the car dealership to review a service estimate in real time
• The mental load of trip planning and how AI can reduce it for caregivers
• What Ireland's storytelling culture taught this family about slowing down and staying present
• Spring and summer travel planning with AI for families
• Aphantasia, anesthesiology, and why friendly introverts make excellent colleagues

New to AI and not sure where to begin? The AI-Empowered Mom free mini-podcast is a low-pressure place to start. Six short episodes designed for parents and caregivers who want to get started with AI without the overwhelm. Find it at aiempoweredmom.beehiiv.com/mini-podcast

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So you have Copilot at work. But you are just not sure what to actually do with it...

In this episode, Sarah sits down with Roger Campbell II, founder of Gemstack and the AI Business Foundry and one of the country's leading Microsoft Copilot adoption experts. Roger has a background that spans software engineering, coding bootcamps, and enterprise education. He spent years teaching others how to code and now helps teams and organizations actually use the AI tools they are already paying for.

The conversation starts with pickleball and ends with a parenting insight neither of them expected. In between, Roger breaks down what Copilot actually is, where to start without the overwhelm, what to watch out for, and why he believes knowledge is still the most powerful thing you can pass on to the next generation.

WHAT YOU WILL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:02] Opening: The Copilot-curious parent

[01:02] Meet Roger: 10 nieces and nephews, pickleball, and life in Austin

[02:47] How Roger became a Microsoft Copilot adoption expert

[03:53] A non-traditional path into tech: Lyft, coding bootcamps, and teaching high schoolers to code

[05:35] What Roger tells parents who worry about whether tech careers will exist for their kids

[08:09] What Microsoft Copilot actually is and how it differs from ChatGPT

[10:16] Where to start if you have Copilot at work: the email case

[12:05] A surprisingly powerful use case: finding documents you could never locate

[14:38] Can Copilot make sense for personal or family use?

[19:08] What to watch out for: three tips for safe, responsible Copilot use

[21:36] Advice for leaders rolling out Copilot: start with a problem, not a tool

[24:09] Clippy is back: what Roger thinks about Microsoft's new AI character Mico

[27:37] Why this work matters to Roger personally

[29:04] Chatbot Mode: Word vs PowerPoint, one thing he would never hand to AI, and the myth about training data he wants to bust

[36:36] A parenting aha neither of them saw coming: why enterprise AI might be the safest place for curious kids to start

FIND ROGER:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/MrRogerCampbell

Website: AIBusinessFoundry.com

FIND SARAH AND AI-EMPOWERED MOM:

Website and newsletter: AIEmpoweredMom.com

Free mini podcast: Share your email at AIEmpoweredMom.com to get access to three short episodes on new ways to use AI.

Something big is happening right now in the world of AI, in the words of entrepreneur Matt Shumer. And if you've had that low-level hum of "I should probably be paying more attention to this," you're not alone.

In this episode, host Sarah Dooley is joined by Greg and Danielle Neufeld, co-hosts of The Most Important Thing podcast and partners in life, parenting, and business. They're venture capital investors, parents of three young children, and two of the most thoughtful people I know when it comes to building intentional family culture. We had one of those conversations that felt like it just kept going somewhere richer around every corner.

We talk about:

• Why Greg compares reading about this moment in AI to the moment Tim Ferriss caught before COVID, and what that framing means for families
• The concept of "cognitive patience" and how the Neufelds are building it in their kids
• Their family mission, vision, and values, including a cheer their four-year-old started
• How Danielle thinks about AI as a tool that actually supports her intuition as a mom
• The Neufeld family tech stack (including a Tesla full self driving (FSD) deep dive)
• And a beautiful closing thought from poet Kahlil Gibran that I think will stick with you

This one is for any parent who wants to stay grounded while still staying ahead.

Find Greg and Danielle at tmitpod.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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