• In a Sea of Complexity, Does a "Successor" Exist? - with Stephen Wolfram of Wolfram Research
    Feb 14 2026
    Today's guest is Stephen Wolfram, Founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. Wolfram is a pioneering computer scientist and physicist, best known for creating Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha, and for decades of work on complexity, computation, and the foundations of how systems evolve. Stephen joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to explore how simple computational rules can give rise to complex, unpredictable systems, and what that means for the future of intelligence beyond biological life. The conversation examines concepts like computational irreducibility, adaptive evolution, and "bulk orchestration" at the molecular and digital level, framing how AI systems, biological organisms, and even physical processes can be understood as part of a broader computational universe. Stephen also shares practical perspectives on how these ideas translate into real-world AI development, including why coarse, outcome-driven objectives often outperform overly rigid design in machine learning, how enterprises can think about building systems that evolve rather than simply execute, and what leaders should understand about the limits of predictability, governance, and control as AI becomes more deeply embedded in business workflows. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!
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    2 hrs and 5 mins
  • From Demos to Defensible in Financial Services Copyright & Compliance for Enterprise AI - Naveen Kumar of TD Bank
    Feb 10 2026

    Today's guest is Naveen Kumar, Head of AI Governance at TD Bank. With extensive experience in AI risk management and governance, he provides actionable strategies for secure AI scaling in regulated environments. Naveen joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss foundational challenges blocking AI adoption in banking, including data leakage, prompt injection, shadow AI, and hallucinations. Naveen also shares practical takeaways, such as role-based AI guardrails for data access, safe sandboxes for experimentation, hybrid deployments to protect sensitive data, and treating AI agents as de-risked employees with human oversight for compliance and ROI. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

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    19 mins
  • Managing Third-Party Risk When You Have 10,000 Suppliers - with Dean Alms of Aravo
    Feb 6 2026

    Today's guest is Dean Alms, Chief Product Officer at Aravo. Aravo is an enterprise software company focused on third-party risk management and compliance platforms that help organizations manage vendor, supplier, and partner ecosystems across regulatory, operational, and reputational risk domains. Dean joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to examine how third-party risk has evolved into a data and AI-driven, board-level visibility and resilience challenge, and how automation is reshaping the way enterprises identify, remediate, and monitor risk at scale. Dean also shares practical workflow changes, including using AI to automate document ingestion and survey validation, generate corrective actions, and enable natural language access to risk data. The discussion highlights how these approaches reduce operational cost, improve data integrity, support continuous monitoring models, and help enterprise leaders protect revenue, reputation, and regulatory posture across complex supplier networks. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Aravo. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

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    25 mins
  • The Internet of Agents and What It Means for Enterprise Leaders - with Vijoy Pandey of Outshift by Cisco
    Feb 5 2026

    Today's guest is Vijoy Pandey, Special Vice President and General Manager for Outshift by Cisco. Vijoy leads Cisco's internal incubation and strategy efforts focused on emerging technologies, platform development, and reducing technology and market risk as new capabilities move toward enterprise adoption. Vijoy joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how enterprises are shifting from deterministic systems to probabilistic, agent-driven architectures, and what that means for interoperability, governance, and deploying AI safely at scale. Vijoy also shares practical takeaways on building multi-agent workflows, implementing task- and transaction-based access control, and using simulation and validation layers to reduce operational risk and improve ROI in regulated and mission-critical environments. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Outshift by Cisco. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

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    32 mins
  • Fixing Shadow AI and Tool Sprawl in Enterprise Marketing - with Gillian Hinkle of Salesforce
    Feb 3 2026

    Today's guest is Gillian Hinkle, Senior Director of Growth & Digital Marketing for Heroku at Salesforce. Gillian brings extensive experience in enterprise growth strategy, digital operations, and the practical deployment of data and AI across complex marketing and revenue workflows. Gillian joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how enterprise leaders can distinguish automation from true AI, design human-in-the-loop systems, and deploy generative and agentic tools responsibly inside real-world data environments. The conversation also examines how to reduce tool sprawl, strengthen data governance, and focus AI initiatives on high-impact workflows like lead qualification and customer service handoffs to drive measurable efficiency, improve employee engagement, and lower compliance and brand risk. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

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    30 mins
  • Transforming R&D with AI and Quantum Computing - with David Carmona of Microsoft
    Jan 29 2026

    Today's guest is David Carmona, Vice President of Discovery & Quantum at Microsoft. David leads work at the intersection of AI, scientific discovery, and advanced computing, with a focus on scaling research innovation in complex, regulated environments. David joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how enterprise leaders should think about AI's role in transforming R&D beyond productivity gains—toward net-new discovery, augmented scientific reasoning, and structurally different innovation workflows. The conversation explores why R&D represents one of the highest-impact domains for AI adoption, and how coordinated systems of specialized models and agents are reshaping the scientific method itself. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show! Watch Matthew and David's conversation on our new YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@EmerjAIResearch.

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    27 mins
  • AI Adoption and Skepticism in Regulated Industries - with Ylan Kazi of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota
    Jan 27 2026

    Today's guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. Ylan joins Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead Nick Gertsch to explore balancing AI innovation with risk governance in regulated healthcare sectors. Ylan also shares practical takeaways like forming cross-functional teams for realistic policy development, applying an AI Hippocratic Oath by starting with low-risk use cases to refine processes, and leveraging AI to improve patient experiences through lab result explanations and wait time predictions. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

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    22 mins
  • What Executives Need to Know About Quantum Computing and AI - with Daniel Lidar of the University of Southern California and Izhar Medalsy of Quantum Elements Inc.
    Jan 23 2026

    Today's guests are Daniel Lidar, Holder of the Viterbi Professorship of Engineering at USC, Director of the USC Center for Quantum Information Science & Technology, co-founder and CSO of Quantum Elements, Inc., and Izhar Medalsy, Co-founder and CEO of Quantum Elements. Quantum Elements develops tools to reduce noise in quantum computers for scalable performance. Daniel and Izhar join Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore why quantum computing is entering enterprise strategy now, explaining qubits, quantum simulation, and practical applications beyond hype. Daniel and Izhar also share practical takeaways like quantum simulation for accurate materials and drug design, optimization for financial portfolios, post-quantum encryption for data centers, and assessing business impact by identifying problems quantum solves today. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

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    37 mins