Weekly Pulse Check on Automation & AI News - 11.07.25

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Transform

Now podcast. I'm Michael Marchuk and I'm

Brad Haristen. And this is our weekly

pulse check of AI and automation news.

As we do every week, we cover a bunch of

articles and today we've actually got

six. Uh but it should go pretty quick,

Brad. So let's get us rolling here.

Okay, let's do it. All right, this first

one is from Forbes. Um Open AAI plans

for IPO.

So, as you know, OpenI was originally

founded as a nonprofit and then they

decided at some point they wanted to

change to a for-profit. Um, and even

though they have done that, they are

still bleeding money horribly, but they

want to go do an IPO. Could be

interesting for the market. What are

your thoughts? It could be very

interesting for the market. And it was

just a week ago, I believe, or maybe two

weeks ago that we talked about Microsoft

finally getting to a deal with them.

That's been really the only hold up to

them moving forward with this this

forprofit

um plan that that was announced, you

know, uh quite a while ago. So Microsoft

and Sam Alman couldn't couldn't see eye

to eye on the agreement and and that,

you know, it was stalling out what he

wanted to do. So once that happened,

once that deal came into play, um th

this was one very possible outcome that

everyone was uh kind of expecting and um

and sure enough it looks like it's uh

it's going to happen. So as early as

late 2026 next year, um this IPO could

actually happen and it could double

their valuation to roughly $1 trillion.

I mean, that's that's what most are

expecting. Uh, which is unbelievable.

And and this could pave the way for them

to uh to to fund massive trillion

dollar, you know, AI infrastructure

projects. They're they're already doing

a bunch of them. Um, but you know, this

this is going to open the door to them

to accelerate that and build even more

data centers and and buy even more GPUs.

Um but you know Microsoft is is uh

benefiting from this too. I mean you

know they they hold the largest stake in

the forprofit side of open open AI now

at 27% that's valued at $135 billion.

PBC, by the way, is the is the

for-profit entity now that is coming out

of OpenAI, and that stands for public

benefit corporation, which is a a

special type of for-profit company

that's legally obligated to pursue both

profit and a social or public good,

which is very interesting as well. Um,

and their foundation has already come

forward and said they plan to invest $25

billion into philanthropic projects like

building data sets that could help with

uh research, you know, to sol to to cure

diseases

um, you know, or or other technology to

minimize the risk associated with AI.

So, they're they're uh they're certainly

doing the right things to, you know,

keep everyone happy. the regulators,

their investors,

um the the non-for-profit uh component

of of Open AI, and now the for-profit

side seems to have the a clear path to

do this IPO. And um that it it's it's

amazing. I I think uh it's it's probably

going to be the biggest event of next

year uh on the AI scene, at least one

that we know is likely to happen.

There's going to be others that will

blow our minds, I'm sure. Um, but yeah,

I think this is uh this is absolutely

the biggest story of November, even

though we're only 5 days in. Um, but

it's it's the big it's getting

everyone's uh attention for sure. It it

certainly has and I'm sure the uh Brad

Haristston Trust Fund will be a major

investor in that. Okay,

>> they're going to get moving on.

>> This is not investment advice in any

possible way. Consult your tax

professional, etc. blah blah blah. All

right, let's go. Next. Next story is

from Yahoo Finance, which actually came

from Mly Fool. Could Google parent

Alphabet become the Nvidia of quantum

computing? Now, as you know, Alphabet,

Google has come up with some really

interesting uh chips that they've built

on their own. Their Willow quantum chip,

which has been um we talked about, I

think a little while ago. It's very

interesting in terms of the the um the

potentials that that quantum computing

can have for, you know, specific problem

sets, but they're actually applying this

to AI, quantum AI. So Brad, since you

are our quantum AI expert, at least on

this podcast between you and me, you

must know more than I do. So tell me

more about quantum AI. Yeah, people that

want to know everything about quantum,

they they rush to me. I they know they

know that I'm the guru. Um I'm saying

that with heavy heavy sarcasm.

So you know Nvidia is absolutely the

king of AI chips. So it it's you know

this article you know presents the

hypothesis maybe Alphabet will become

the king of quantum computing chips. So

they have introduced the Google quantum

excuse me they've been introduced willow

which is their quantum chip

>> comes out of the Google quantum AI

business unit and they've accomplished

some pretty significant achievements. So

first they've been able to reduce errors

exponentially

as more of these cubits you know get

added. Cubits are the basic unit of

information that that are you know

storing information in quantum

computing. Second, Willow performed a

calculation in less than 5 minutes that

would have normally taken the fastest

supercomputers

about 10 septillion years to handle.

>> I I usually that's that's about how long

it'll take me for to to my my IRA to to

fund my retirement, I think. Well, a

septilian is it's one with 24 zeros

after it. So 10 of those is how long it

would take to finish this calculation

that Google's quantum chip performed in

less than 5 minutes. So um it's getting

it's getting some attention and you know

I you know again people are wondering if

Alphabet is going to really go for broke

with this and make this a big focus for

them. Uh but the article also kind of

mitigates that or says, you know, they

still have Google, they have uh Whimo,

which is is making waves in the

self-driving car world. I mean, they

they've got enough on their plate.

They've got enough successful

uh business units. Uh you know, perhaps

Quantum won't necessarily take all their

their attention. The other thing about

it, and and the article points this out,

it's not just about building the chips.

You got to have you got to figure out

the licensing, the ecosystem,

the uh developer tooling, cloud

integration,

uh how do you how do you couple it with

AI, which you know is the question we've

been asking as we've talked about

quantum.

>> So these are all things that haven't yet

been figured out and they play a big

role in in uh slowing down adoption of

quantum which is not really even

happening yet because of the lack of

availability of quantum solutions. So it

is it is a notable story. It's it's

interesting just to have Google in the

quantum world. There's lots of other

players uh you know big companies but

but also thousands of smaller companies

that are trying to make their way in

quantum. Everybody wants to be the the

go-to partner in that realm like OpenAI

has become with Gen AI as an example.

Um, but yeah, um, I I think I think

Alphabet has got plenty on their plate

to keep them occupied.

>> No doubt. No doubt. So, as we move on to

our next one from Mac Rumors, um, you

and I both have talked about this a

while ago in terms of the uh, Apple Cop

companion that nearly everybody knows

how to use by saying the word. I'm not

going to do it because I'm guessing your

phone will probably go off. I did the

new version of Siri to to lean on

Google's Gemini AI because as we both

have known for a while um Apple is way

behind when it comes to integrating AI

into their phone platform. So now

they're going to lean on on Google. So

we got are that's not Google's quantum,

right?

No quantum involved here, but Google

Gemini is is the solution, potential

solution to all of Apple's woes around

Siri. And this article actually makes me

hopeful because Siri is still so bad and

so antiquated. In fact, just before you

and I jumped on this podcast, you said

something to me and it kicked into gear

and Siri started talking and you know

that happens all the time. In fact, it's

coming on right now because I said Siri,

stop. Go to sleep. Now, this does not

mean that they're going to stop with

their collaboration with Open AI. So,

Apple Intelligence,

which we're all still waiting to become

intelligent, but Apple Intelligence uh

still allows you to to utilize chat GPT

under the surface. So, they're going to

continue to do that. But on the Siri

front, this is a pretty big announcement

saying that they have decided to lean

heavily into Google Gemini. And um you

know, it's just another

sign or another example of the cross

vendor collaboration and AI that we've

been witnessing now for several years.

And um you know, more of this to come.

But um I do and by the way, Apple is

still going to they're still going to

brand it as Siri. it's it's part of

their solution. They're not going to

change it to Siri by Gemini or anything

like that. Um, but Gemini is uh

potentially going to solve many many

troubles that they've had on getting the

new Siri launched and it's going to run

on on their infrastructure. It will be

hidden from you from from view that. So,

they are concerned about privacy. Um,

and and it also means there's complexity

in using it because they're going to

have to find the the right mix of of

hybrid architectures and what's on the

what's on the phone, what's in their

cloud environment and and all of that.

So, um, yeah, it's not a simple

solution, but maybe it's their way out

of the hole that they've been in for a

very long time. No doubt. No doubt.

Well, we'll be looking forward to seeing

that when it comes around in 2026.

So next one is for our next article is

from HR reporter. It's Canadian HR

reporters just in case you were confused

if it was not American. It's Canadian HR

reporter which I know you often

subscribe to. The um article is called

can AI agents be effective mentors?

Experts urge caution. Now, I've thrown

caution to win, and I only get all of my

mentoring from AI agents at this point

in time, which probably means that you

will be much smarter than me for a long

time to come. So, what's going on with

this idea that AI is going to mentor

folks?

Well, they're they're they're

identifying this as a trend in the

workplace. Um even though we know as

consumers that's one of the largest use

cases for Gen AI that that you know all

the surveys uh indicate this people are

using chat GPT more and more as an

advisor as a friend as a confidant

um I mean that therapist

>> what what did you say a therapist yeah a

therapist exactly so um it's no surprise

that it may be used in the workplace as

a cost cutting strategy. But but is it a

good idea? That's that's the question.

And the article references uh one of the

recent surveys by KPMG that found that

73% of Canadian students use Genai.

Nearly half of them say their critical

thinking skills have deteriorated since

using it. and and then you know 65%

um of people that were reported to or or

that uh completed the survey say they

rely on AI to to avoid critical thinking

altogether which is even worse.

>> There we go. There we go. That's that's

me. I I don't think at all anymore. I

just let AI do all of my thinking.

>> Yeah. So I I think I think the article

and they they interview a couple of

specialists um in this space and and I

think it gives some good advice and that

is that it it can be used in certain

ways. You can use it as kind of like a

mini teammate um to help with skill

development and things like that, but

you you want to avoid using it, you

know, as a default in all situations. So

um you know for one it is it is as we

all know AI is quite uh sickopantic and

I love that word I get to I get to use

sichopantic so it it is overly positive

it is going to be overly agreeable with

you in most situations and when you're

looking for someone to give you some

constructive criticism or to you know

critique what you're doing and really

help you along um you you don't want it

to be overly agreeable or overly

sycopantic. But that is that is a

problem with with AI in general. So you

also have areas that that require deeper

like leadership and emotional

intelligence, culture shaping, uh

mentorship and humans are still going to

be absolutely the best uh method of of

imparting that and and coaching in those

areas. So, um, so I I think the article

overall, you know, provides some room

for this, um, but also has lots of

warnings about going too far with it

and, you know, avoid, you know,

cautioning companies from kicking out

all of their, you know, uh, employee

coaches or or co, you know, mentors and

saying it can all be done by AI. That is

that is not a good idea. Totally agree

there. Of course, the best quote of the

article is quote, "AI agents are all the

rage," unquote. So, we'll leave the make

sure we leave the link for all of these

articles so you can read them yourself.

But that is definitely a quote that

you'll be probably tattooing on your

arm. Our next one is from Newsweek. The

New York's New York College trying to AI

proof its students. AI proofing, what

does that mean?

Yeah. So, so this article uh is very

interesting. It opens with a uh survey,

another survey um that is uh focused on

Gen Z and Gen Z

uh young people essentially say AI has

made them doubt their future job

security.

>> Weren't they the same ones from the last

survey that said that have completely

outsourced their brain?

>> But this is all Gen Z, not Canadian

only. So, you're right. You know, this

this is a this is this doesn't have, you

know, border constraints around it.

>> Um, in and 65% of these respondents said

that they believe even a college degree

can no longer protect them in the event

of a of a AIdriven

job replacement, a mass replacement. So

with that context, this article uh talks

about Paul Smith's College. And that is

apostrophe s in there. Smith's College.

Interesting name. It's a small, very,

very quaint school in upstate New York.

I looked it up on a map. Never heard of

it. Is it because it's at Paul Smith's

like little compound or his house? Hey,

it it's open to everyone. It is it is a

uh it is appealing to a a larger number

of students now. They've had a 30%

increase in enrollment because they are

uh essentially preparing students for AI

resilient careers. These are careers

that are very unlikely to ever be, you

know, eliminated for, you know, because

of AI. things like forestry and

environmental science science, wildlife

science hospitality

um things like that. So, it's areas

where you need realworld problem solving

and a human touch. And so, that's where

they're focused. They also have a

beautiful campus. If you took a look at

their campus, I mean, like I said,

they're in upstate New York, uh, on a

very large, uh, lake, um, very scenic,

very beautiful, and their, uh, their

students are saying, "Hey, we, you know,

AI is fine, but we want to focus on

careers that are AI resilient." So, not

AI resistant, just AI resilient. And the

uh one of the quotes from the article

that comes from uh someone there at Paul

Smith College said, "We prepare

graduates for the sort of messy,

unpredictable places where human

judgment still really matters."

So thought that was that kind of sums it

up right there.

So it it it raises the question or I

guess it it it challenges the idea that

um humans cannot make themselves

indispensable in a machine-driven world.

Um I think there's plenty of careers

that I think most careers honestly will

continue to need uh some human element.

I think uh there are you know there's a

lot of chaos. In fact, Gartner um there

was a post today that I liked that

someone put out there that was from

Gartner and it was talking about um yes,

most jobs will be disrupted, but you

know, Gartner was saying it's not it

doesn't mean, you know, we're going to

see hundreds of millions of jobs go away

and and unemployment go through the roof

and and you know, mass chaos around the

world. Um but there is a lot of

disruption. People need to embrace it.

There's a lot of new jobs coming and a

lot of jobs that are just going to be

changed dramatically. So, doesn't mean

all of our jobs go away. It does mean

all of them are going to be transformed

in some way and it's something we have

to embrace. So, but I I give this school

um a lot of credit. I think there's a

lot of jobs uh the ones mentioned that

they cover but even more jobs and you

know trades that continue to need people

and and studies show that they're all um

you know that the supply is low and the

demand is high. We need more people in

those professions. So, I'm hoping

schools like this and the trade schools

themselves uh see a huge uptick in

enrollment uh for people that want to go

and and be in these professions that are

very much needed that are not going to

be diminished by AI. Um and uh I think

we're I think we're starting to pivot in

that direction. It's no longer, you

know, a black mark if you're not

thinking, oh, I need to go get a

four-year degree at a college. And I

mean, that that was that was the

generation that you and I came you know,

grew up in where college was the default

and everyone had to go to college, but

that's no longer the case. And so, um,

if they do want to go to college, Paul

Smith seems like a a decent way to go

and get some expertise in these

professions that they cater to. And, you

know, good for them. And this is not an

advertisement for Paul Smith's College,

by the way. Um, also as based on the

last article, um, if 65% of these

students are outsourcing their brain,

perhaps critical thinking could be

another skill that these college

students could learn while they are

there. So yes,

>> our last article for today is from

Forbes. Um, it's an interesting article

that hits home for me. Billboard says AI

powered artists, the artists are in

quotes here, artists are increasingly

hitting the charts. Now, what this goes

into saying is talks about the AI music

industry and how AI is affecting

real artists in the way that they're

producing music. So, tell us more about

this article. Yeah, so first Tilly

Norwood got all the actors up in arms.

uh this AI actress for hire. We should

not be surprised that now these AI

recording artists are causing a stir in

the music industry. Um but this article

blew me away in terms of what is

happening and how some of these AI

recording artists have really really not

just gotten a lot of listens but they

have taken off and the money is starting

to really flow in their direction. And

so, Billboard magazine says that um you

know, AI created music is is really um I

mean the momentum is building. These

fake personas are racking up millions of

streams and the uh the the the old

school, you know, music industry people

as well as all the recording artists out

there, the human ones are not taking

kindly to this.

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Transform

Now podcast. I'm Michael Marchuk and I'm

Brad Haristen and this is our weekly

pulse check of AI and automation news.

As we do every week, we cover a bunch of

articles and today we've actually got

six. Uh but it should go pretty quick,

Brad. So, let's get us rolling here.

Okay, let's do it. All right, this first

one is from Forbes. Um, Open AI plans

for IPO. So, as you know, OpenAI was

originally founded as a nonprofit and

then they decided at some point they

wanted to change to a for-profit. Um,

and even though they have done that,

they are still bleeding money horribly,

but they want to go do an IPO. Could be

interesting for the market. What are

your thoughts? It could be very

interesting for the market. And it was

just a week ago, I believe, or maybe two

weeks ago that we talked about Microsoft

finally getting to a deal with them.

That's been really the only hold up to

them moving forward with this this

forprofit

um plan that that was announced, you

know, uh quite a while ago. So Microsoft

and Sam Alman couldn't couldn't see eye

to eye on the agreement and and that,

you know, it was stalling out what he

wanted to do.

Once that happened, once that deal came

into play, this was one very possible

outcome that everyone was uh kind of

expecting. Um, and sure enough, it looks

like it's uh it's going to happen. So,

as early as late 2026, next year,

this IPO could actually happen and it

could double their valuation to roughly

$1 trillion. I mean, that's that's what

most are expecting. Uh, which is

unbelievable. And and this could pave

the way for them to uh to to fund

massive trillion dollar, you know, AI

infrastructure projects. They're they're

already doing a bunch of them. Um, but

you know, this this is going to open the

door to them to accelerate that and

build even more data centers and and buy

even more GPUs.

You know, Microsoft is is uh benefiting

from this too. They they hold the

largest stake in the forprofit side of

open open AAI now at 27%. That's valued

at $135 billion.

PBC, by the way, is the is the

for-profit entity now that is coming out

of OpenAI, and that stands for public

benefit corporation, which is a a

special type of for-profit company

that's legally obligated to pursue both

profit and a social or public good,

which is very interesting as well. Um,

and their foundation has already come

forward and said they plan to invest $2

billion dollars into philanthropic

projects like building data sets that

could help with research, you know, to

sol to to cure diseases

um, you know, or or other technology to

minimize the risk associated with AI.

So, they're they're uh they're certainly

doing the right things to, you know,

keep everyone happy. the regulators,

their investors,

um the the non-for-profit uh component

of of Open AI, and now the for-profit

side seems to have the clear path to do

this IPO. And um that it it's it's

amazing. I I think uh it's it's probably

going to be the biggest event of next

year uh on the AI scene, at least one

that we know is likely to happen.

There's going to be others that will

blow our minds, I'm sure. Um, but yeah,

I think this is uh this is absolutely

the biggest story of November, even

though we're only 5 days in. Um, but

it's it's the big it's getting

everyone's uh attention for sure. It it

certainly has and I'm sure the uh Brad

Haristston Trust Fund will be a major

investor in that. Okay,

>> they're going to get moving on. This is

not

>> this is not investment advice in any

possible way. Consult your tax

professional, etc. blah blah blah. All

right, let's go. The next next story is

from Yahoo Finance, which actually came

from Mly Fool. Could Google parent

Alphabet become the Nvidia of quantum

computing? Now, as you know, Alphabet,

Google has come up with some really

interesting uh chips that they've built

on their own, their Willow quantum chip,

which has been um we talked about a

little while ago. It's very interesting

in terms of the the um the potentials

that that quantum computing can have

for, you know, specific problem sets,

but they're actually applying this to

AI, quantum AI. So Brad, since you are

our quantum AI expert, at least on this

podcast between you and me, you must

know more than I do. So tell me more

about quantum AI. Yeah, people that want

to know everything about quantum, they

they rush to me. They know they know

that I'm the guru. Um I'm saying that

with heavy heavy sarcasm.

So you know Nvidia is absolutely the

king of AI chips. So it it's you know

this article you know presents the

hypothesis maybe Alphabet will become

the king of quantum computing chips. So

they have introduced the Google quantum

excuse me they've been introduced willow

which is their quantum chip comes out of

the Google quantum AI business unit and

they've accomplished some pretty

significant achievements. So first

they've been able to reduce errors

exponentially

as more of these cubits you know get

added. Cubits are the basic unit of

information that that are you know

storing information in quantum

computing. Second, Willow performed a

calculation in less than 5 minutes that

would have normally taken the fastest

supercomputers

about 10 septillion years to handle. I

>> I usually that's about how long it'll

take me for to to my my IRA to to fund

my retirement, I think. Well, a

septilian is it's one with 24 zeros

after it. So 10 of those is how long it

would take to finish this calculation

that Google's quantum chip performed in

less than 5 minutes. So um it's getting

it's getting some attention and you know

I you know again people are wondering if

Alphabet is going to really go for broke

with this and make this a big focus for

them. Uh but the article also kind of

mitigates that or says, you know, they

still have Google, they have uh Whimo,

which is is making waves in the

self-driving car world. I mean, they

they've got enough on their plate.

They've got enough successful

uh business units. Uh you know, perhaps

Quantum won't necessarily take all their

their attention. The other thing about

it, and and the article points this out,

it's not just about building the chips.

You got to have you got to figure out

the licensing, the ecosystem,

the uh developer tooling, cloud

integration,

uh how do you how do you couple it with

AI, which you know is the question we've

been asking as we've talked about

quantum. So these are all things that

haven't yet been figured out and they

play a big role in in uh slowing down

adoption of quantum which is not really

even happening yet because of the lack

of availability of quantum solutions. So

it is it is a notable story. It's it's

interesting just to have Google in the

quantum world. There's lots of other

players, uh, you know, big companies,

but but also thousands of smaller

companies that are trying to make their

way in quantum. Everybody wants to be

the the go-to partner in that realm,

like OpenAI has become with Gen AI as an

example. Um, but yeah, um, I I think I

think Alphabet has got plenty on their

plate to keep them occupied. No doubt.

No doubt. So, as we move on to our next

one from Mac Rumors, um you and I both

have talked about this a while ago in

terms of the uh Apple Cop companion that

nearly everybody knows how to use by

saying the word. I'm not going to do it

because I'm guessing your phone will

probably go off. I did the new version

of Siri to to lean on Google's Gemini AI

because as we both have known for a

while um Apple is way behind when it

comes to integrating AI into their phone

platform. So now they're going to lean

on on Google. So we got that's not

Google's quantum, right?

No quantum involved here, but Google

Gemini is is the solution, potential

solution to all of Apple's woes around

Siri. And this article actually makes me

hopeful because Siri is still so bad and

so antiquated. In fact, just before you

and I jumped on this podcast, you said

something to me and it kicked into gear

and Siri started talking and you that

happens all the time. And in fact, it's

coming on right now because I said,

"Siri, stop. Go to sleep." Now, this

does not mean that they're going to stop

with their collaboration with Open AI.

So, Apple Intelligence,

which we're all still waiting to become

intelligent, but Apple Intelligence uh

still allows you to to utilize chat GPT

under the surface. So, they're going to

continue to do that. But on the Siri

front, this is a pretty big announcement

saying that they have decided to lean

heavily into Google Gemini. And um you

know, it's just another sign or another

example of the cross vendor

collaboration and AI that we've been

witnessing now for several years. And um

you know, more of this to come. But um I

do and by the way, Apple is still going

to they're still going to brand it as

Siri. it's it's part of their solution.

They're not going to change it to Siri

by Gemini or anything like that. Um, but

Gemini is uh potentially going to solve

many many troubles that they've had on

getting the new Siri launched and it's

going to run on on their infrastructure.

It will be hidden from you from view

that. So, they are concerned about

privacy. Um, and and it it also means

there's complexity in using it because

they're going to have to find the the

right mix of of hybrid architectures and

what's on the what's on the phone,

what's in their cloud environment and

and all of that. So, um, yeah, it's not

a simple solution, but maybe it's their

way out of the hole that they've been in

for a very long time. No doubt. No

doubt. Well, we'll be looking forward to

seeing that when it comes around in

2026.

So next one is for our next article is

from HR reporter. It's Canadian HR

reporters just in case you were confused

if it was not American. It's Canadian HR

reporter which I know you often

subscribe to. The um article is called

can AI agents be effective mentors?

Experts urge caution. Now, I've thrown

caution to win, and I only get all of my

mentoring from AI agents at this point

in time, which probably means that you

will be much smarter than me for a long

time to come. So, what's going on with

this idea that AI is going to mentor

folks?

Well, they're they're they're

identifying this as a trend in the

workplace. Um even though we know as

consumers that's one of the largest use

cases for Gen AI that that you know all

the surveys uh indicate this people are

using chat GPT more and more as an

advisor as a friend as a confidant

um I mean that

>> a therapist

>> what what did you say a therapist yeah

therapist exactly so um it's no surprise

that it may be used in the workplace as

a cost cutting strategy. But but is it a

good idea? That's that's the question.

And the article references uh one of the

recent surveys by KPMG that found that

73% of Canadian students use Genai.

Nearly half of them say their critical

thinking skills have deteriorated since

using it.

And then, you know, 65%

um of people that were reported to or or

that completed the survey say they rely

on AI to to avoid critical thinking

altogether, which is even worse.

>> There we go. There we go. That's that's

me. I I don't think at all anymore. I

just let AI do all of my thinking. Yeah.

So I I think I think the article and

they they interview a couple of

specialists um in this space and and I

think it gives some good advice and that

is that it it can be used in certain

ways. You can use it as kind of like a

mini teammate um to help with skill

development and things like that but you

you want to avoid using it you know as a

default in all situations. So um you

know for one it is it is as we all know

AI is quiteantic

and I love that word I get to I get to

use sophantic so it it is overly

positive it is going to be overly

agreeable with you in most situations

and when you're looking for someone to

give you some constructive criticism or

to you know critique what you're doing

and really help you along

you don't want it to be overly agreeable

or overly sycopantic, but that is that

is a problem with with uh with AI in

general. So you also have areas that

that require deeper like leadership and

emotional intelligence, culture shaping,

uh mentorship and humans are still going

to be absolutely the best uh method of

of imparting that and and coaching in

those areas. So, um, so I I think the

article overall, you know, provides some

room for this, but also has lots of

warnings about going too far with it

and, you know, avoid, you know,

cautioning companies from kicking out

all of their, you know, uh, employee

coaches or or co, you know, mentors and

saying it can all be done by AI. That is

that is not a good idea. Totally agree

there. Of course, the best quote of the

article is, quote, "AI agents are all

the rage," unquote. So, we'll leave the

make sure we leave the link for all of

these articles so you can read them

yourself. But that is definitely a quote

that you'll be probably tattooing on

your arm. Our next one is from Newsweek.

The New York's New York College trying

to AI proof its students. AI proofing,

what does that mean?

Yeah. So, so this article uh is very

interesting. It opens with a uh survey,

another survey that is uh focused on Gen

Z and Gen Z

uh young people essentially say AI has

made them doubt their future job

security.

>> Weren't they the same ones from the last

survey that said that they would have

completely outsourced their brain?

>> But this is all Gen Z, not Canadian

only. So, you're right. You know, this

this is a this is this doesn't have, you

know, border constraints around it.

>> Um, in and 65% of these respondents said

that they believe even a college degree

can no longer protect them in the event

of a of a AIdriven

job replacement, a mass replacement. So

with that context, this article talks

about Paul Smith's College. And that is

apostrophe s in there. Smith's College.

Interesting name. It's a small, very,

very quaint school in upstate New York.

I looked it up on a map. Never heard of

it. Is it because it's at Paul Smith's

like little compound or his house? Hey,

it it's open to everyone. It is it is a

uh it is appealing to a a larger number

of students now. They've had a 30%

increase in enrollment because they are

uh essentially preparing students for AI

resilient careers. These are careers

that are very unlikely to ever be, you

know, eliminated for, you know, because

of AI. things like forestry and

environmental science, wildlife science,

hospitality,

um things like that. So, it's areas

where you need realworld problem solving

and a human touch. And so, that's where

they're focused. They also have a

beautiful campus. If you took a look at

their campus, I mean, like I said,

they're in upstate New York, uh on a

very large, uh lake. um very scenic,

very beautiful and their uh their

students are saying, "Hey, we you know

AI is fine, but we want to focus on

careers that are AI resilient." So, not

AI resistant, just AI resilient. And the

uh one of the quotes from the article

that comes from uh someone there at Paul

Smith College said, "We prepare

graduates for the sort of messy,

unpredictable places where human

judgment still really matters."

So thought that was that kind of sums it

up right there.

So it it it raises the question or I

guess it it it challenges the idea that

um humans cannot make themselves

indispensable in a machine-driven world.

Um I think there's plenty of careers

that I think most careers honestly will

continue to need uh some human element.

I think uh there are you know there's a

lot of chaos. In fact, Gartner um there

was a post today that I liked that

someone put out there that was from

Gartner and it was talking about um yes,

most jobs will be disrupted, but you

know, Gartner was saying it's not it

doesn't mean, you know, we're going to

see hundreds of millions of jobs go away

and and unemployment go through the

roofs and and you know, mass chaos

around the world. Um but there is a lot

of disruption. People need to embrace

it. There's a lot of new jobs coming and

a lot of jobs that are just going to be

changed dramatically. So, doesn't mean

all of our jobs go away. It does mean

all of them are going to be transformed

in some way and it's something we have

to embrace. So, but I I give this school

um a lot of credit. I think there's a

lot of jobs uh the ones mentioned that

they cover but even more jobs and you

know trades that continue to need people

and and studies show that they're all um

you know that the supply is low and the

demand is high. We need more people in

those professions. So, I'm hoping

schools like this and the trade schools

themselves uh see a huge uptick in

enrollment uh for people that want to go

and and be in these professions that are

very much needed that are not going to

be diminished by AI. Um and uh I think

we're I think we're starting to pivot in

that direction. It's no longer, you

know, a black mark if you're not

thinking, oh, I need to go get a

four-year degree at a college. I mean

that that was that was the generation

that you and I came you know grew up in

where college was the default and

everyone had to go to college but you

know that's no longer the case and so um

if they do want to go to college Paul

Smith seems like a a decent way to go

and get some expertise in these

professions that they cater to and you

know good for them and this is not an

advertisement for Paul Smith's College

by the way also as based on the last

article So um if 65% of these students

are outsourcing their brain, perhaps

critical thinking could be another skill

that these college students could learn

while they are there. So yes,

>> our last article for today is from

Forbes.

It's an interesting article that hits

home for me. Billboard says AI powered

artists, the artists are in quotes here,

artists are increasingly hitting the

charts. Now, what this goes into saying

is talks about the AI music industry and

how AI is affecting

real artists in the way that they're

producing music. So, tell us more about

this article. Yeah, so first Tilly

Norwood got all the actors up in arms.

Uh, this AI actress for hire. We should

not be surprised that now these AI

recording artists are causing a stir in

the music industry.

Um, but this article blew me away in

terms of what is happening and how some

of these AI recording artists have

really really not just gotten a lot of

listens, but they have taken off and the

money is starting to really flow in

their direction. So, Billboard magazine

says that um you know AI created music

is is really um I mean the momentum is

building. These fake personas are

racking up millions of streams and the

uh the the the old school you know music

industry people as well as all the

recording artists out there the human

ones are not taking kindly to this. So,

a really good example is this AI

generated um singer uh Zania Monae who

had a number one hit in the R&B song

sales chart. Her vocals or should I say

its vocals

after all

>> um are are generated by uh Sunno. Is

Sunno the platform that you've played

around with?

>> It is. Okay. So

was used um an AI platform

by a a woman named uh Nikki Jones. So

Nikki Jones is the person that used

Sunno.

>> She's the real person.

>> She's the real person behind the AI

generated music for Zania.

But get this, Zia Monae has an Instagram

page with more than 144,000 followers.

And uh it goes even further.

She got the uh attention of a h a media,

excuse me, a record label called

Hallwood Media. And after bidding war,

they signed a multi-million dollar

record deal with Nikki Jones, Monaet's

creator. So, this AI recording artist, I

mean, has a label, has a recording deal,

has a lot of, you know, a lot of

listens, a lot of streams, a lot of

followers on Instagram. So, this is not

just a a little fad thing. This this

this is uh this seems to be a trend, and

we'll see if many more come out like it.

The article mentions a country singer uh

country band that's AIDated, that's got

some songs that are now playing on the

radio. So it's uh it seems to be

happening and um very much very

important to this is a note that Spotify

um and other platforms do not have

specific policies for how these AI

generated songs can collect royalties.

Meaning they can generate revenue like

any other song. So you don't be a human

to get money on Spotify or or Apple

Music or

>> It's all about the ads. It's all about

the ads.

So,

>> so, uh, so Michael, I know you play

around with this, uh, you know, AI

generated music, that's been a fun hobby

for you. What are your thoughts on all

of this? It has been a fun hobby and I

think it's an interesting concept.

You know, the the aspect that I'm most

interested is I write my own lyrics and

so I apply the lyrics then in I cuz I

can barely humunes. going into this kind

of solution with AI music is really

important for folks like me who don't

have those kind of skills. But it's

interesting to see that there that the I

guess the industry itself is responding

to this in actually a pretty positive

way which is something that was kind of

surprising to me. Yeah. And I I didn't

mention this u but platforms like Sunno

have been under scrutiny u as well you

know just like um anthropic and and you

know the big u AI tech vendors because

you know their their technology has been

um sued um as as Sunno was um by um the

record the recording industry

association of America um because they

believe that Sunno used copyright

material to train its AI tools. So, um

there there's there's some controversy

here as well around how these models are

trained and how they have the ability to

create such impressive music and songs

that get attention and now are on the

radio, they're on Spotify, and they're

generating revenue. So, something we'll

have to uh to watch, see how the

regulators decide to deal with all this

and how the judges rule on it um going

forward. As long as as long as they

don't uh pull the music down and hold on

to it, which is what was ruled in

another case where uh one of the larger

LLM platforms uh actually copyrighted

took copyright material and pirated it

for its training.

um the a gray area because the training

part of it has already been ruled that

it's okay as long as you're not storing

the materials themselves. So interesting

to see where this is going to go. But

this is all we got for today. Uh thanks

everybody for joining us and as always

every week we have a great new guest who

brings all kinds of interesting

perspectives well beyond that of Brad

Arise. So, please listen in on those and

we'll check check her out next week on

the pulse