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If you think the future of AI is being decided only in Silicon Valley or Beijing, this conversation will stretch your perspective. Amith Nagarajan and Mallory Mejias sit down with Benjamin “Benji” Rosman—Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Founder of the Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute, and recently named to the Time 100 Most Influential People in AI for 2025—to explore how Africa is building its AI ecosystem from the ground up. From the origin story of Deep Learning Indaba (now the largest machine learning summer school in the world) to the concept of algorithmic sovereignty, Benji explains why diversity of thinking fuels scientific breakthroughs, how constraints drive innovation, and why leaders must balance exploration and exploitation in an era of exponential change.

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🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
ChatGPT ➔ https://chat.openai.com
TIME Article ➔ https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305865/benjamin-rosman
Deep Learning Indaba ➔ https://deeplearningindaba.com/2025
Lelapa AI ➔ https://lelapa.ai
MIND ➔ https://www.wits.ac.za/mind

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Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey.

https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan

Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights.

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In this high-octane episode of Sidecar Sync, Amith and Mallory cover an ambitious trio of AI developments with massive implications for associations. They dive into Kimi K2.5, a Chinese open-source model built for multimodal agent swarms that rival GPT-5.2 at a fraction of the cost. Then, they explore Claude’s new domain-specific plugins for Cowork and what it means for associations when Big AI moves into vertical markets like legal and finance. Finally, they unpack Elon Musk’s latest megamerger: SpaceX and xAI joining forces to launch AI data centers into orbit. Whether it’s AI agents that run teams of themselves or compute infrastructure leaving Earth altogether, this episode challenges assumptions and encourages leaders to rethink what’s possible.

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📧 Test out our customer service agent Izzy by emailing help@sidecar.ai

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Kimi K2.5 ➔ https://moonshot-ai.com
Claude Cowork ➔ https://www.anthropic.com
OpenRouter ➔ https://openrouter.ai
Open Source AI Data Platform ➔ https://memberjunction.org

🎀 Use code AIPOD50 for $50 off your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification at https://sidecar.ai/aaip

🚀 Help Us Grow Our Reach - Share With a Friend or Colleague!

👍 Like & Subscribe!
https://x.com/sidecarglobal
https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync
https://sidecar.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/

Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey.

https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan

Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights.

https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias

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What do AI companions, deepfakes, and White House briefings have in common? Bruce Reed. In this episode, Mallory Mejias and Amith Nagarajan are joined by Bruce Reed, Head of AI at Common Sense Media and former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Biden-Harris White House. Bruce shares an insider’s view on how the U.S. government reacted to the launch of ChatGPT, the urgent need for AI guardrails for youth, and why you don’t need to be a tech expert to lead responsibly.

Bruce Reed is Head of AI at Common Sense Media and a senior White House policy adviser across three administrations. He served as President Clinton’s chief domestic policy adviser, chief of staff to Vice President Biden, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Biden-Harris administration, helping shape 17 State of the Union addresses. Dubbed President Biden’s “AI Whisperer,” Reed led landmark government efforts on AI safety, securing voluntary commitments from major tech companies and advancing a sweeping executive order on responsible AI.

Common Sense Media - https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Time AI 100 - https://shorturl.at/2NeQZ

🤖 Join the AI Mastermind: https://sidecar.ai/association-ai-mastermind

📕 Download the New 3rd Edition of ‘Ascend’:
https://sidecar.ai/ai

📅 Register for digitalNow2026:
https://digitalnow.sidecar.ai

📧 Test out our customer service agent Izzy by emailing help@sidecar.ai

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

ChatGPT ➔ https://openai.com/chatgpt
Sora ➔ https://openai.com/sora

🎀 Use code AIPOD50 for $50 off your Association AI Professional (AAiP) certification at https://sidecar.ai/aaip

🚀 Help Us Grow Our Reach - Share With a Friend or Colleague!

👍 Like & Subscribe!
https://x.com/sidecarglobal
https://www.youtube.com/@SidecarSync
https://sidecar.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sidecar-global/

Amith Nagarajan is the Chairman of Blue Cypress, a family of purpose-driven companies and proud practitioners of Conscious Capitalism. The Blue Cypress companies focus on helping associations, non-profits, and other purpose-driven organizations achieve long-term success. Amith is also an active early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies. He’s had the good fortune of nearly three decades of success as an entrepreneur and enjoys helping others in their journey.

https://linkedin.com/amithnagarajan

Mallory Mejias is passionate about creating opportunities for association professionals to learn, grow, and better serve their members using artificial intelligence. She enjoys blending creativity and innovation to produce fresh, meaningful content for the association space. Mallory co-hosts and produces the Sidecar Sync podcast, where she delves into the latest trends in AI and technology, translating them into actionable insights.

https://linkedin.com/mallorymejias