Can anyone get AI Agents working for them? In this episode, we explore the shift from AI as a corporate mandate to AI as a personal utility. While much of the discussion around artificial intelligence focuses on high-level strategy, the real revolution happens when individuals use it to solve their own "boring" problems, like data extraction, research automation, and the endless cycle of copy-pasting. Our guest is Barbara Johnson, the Chief Operating Officer and non-technical Co-Founder of the award-winning Auto ML company Kortical. With a background in commerce and marketing rather than engineering, Babs shares her firsthand experience of "practicing what she preaches" by automating her own professional and personal worlds.

Show links:

1. Barb's Linkedin video post about Claude CoWork
2. Getting started with Claude: Step-by-step guides (thank you Ruben Hassid)
3. Anthropic's "Get started with Claude Cowork" guide
4. Barbara Johnson on Linkedin
5. Kortical website

Key topics discussed in this episode:

• The "Aha!" Moment: When AI stopped being industry news and became a personal tool that no longer required a developer to implement.
• Claude CoWork vs. Claude Code: Understanding the differences between these tools and how non-technical users can steer agents back on track when they encounter "black box" errors or hallucinations.
• Building with "Lego Bricks": A look at the current tech stack and how to connect tools like email and spreadsheets to an "AI brain" to summarise your work week.
• The Control Problem: Navigating the risks of agent access and the technical nuances of UI-based automation versus text-based codebase interaction.
• Empowerment over Replacement: Why the future of AI is about unburdening humans from robotic tasks to make room for creative, high-value work.

Listen, Watch and Subscribe on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Youtube, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more: https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship or interview opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The "Cloud" is finally leaving the ground. In this episode of The Human Machine, Christopher Lomas explores why the data center industry has hit a terrestrial wall and why the vacuum of space is the inevitable next frontier for AI. What could this shift mean for you and your customer or employee experience? As of April 2026, the environmental and energy costs of AI are staggering: a single 40-megawatt data center consumes over 1 million tons of fresh water annually. To escape this "energy crunch," visionaries like Philip Johnston (CEO, Starcloud) and Elon Musk (CEO, SpaceX) are racing to build orbital regions where solar energy is 36% more intense and cooling is "free" via the blackness of the void.

Highlights of this episode:

• The Physics of the Void: How engineers solve the paradox of "Passive Radiative Cooling" and the "Radiation Tax" of cosmic rays.
• The Billion-Dollar Race: Why Starcloud became the fastest unicorn in history and how SpaceX plans to deploy 100 gigawatts of orbital capacity.
• Geopolitics in Orbit: The rise of China’s "Thousand Sails" constellation and the shift toward "Space based AI data centers" as the ultimate data haven.
• The "Mean Physics" of Space: Navigating the risks of hardware failure and the 40% increase in U.S. Space Force budgets to protect these new assets.

The backbone of the global economy is moving from under the Atlantic to Low Earth Orbit. Is your business ready to plug into the stars?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode 15: Eoghan Huston (Chief Operating Officer, Manna Drone Delivery).

In this episode I interviewed Eoghan Huston (COO at Manna Drone Delivery), we talked about the revolution that drones could make to our skies, and to customer experiences - can you imagine if your takeaway actually arrived hot (in less than 3 minutes from being ready!)?! We got the chance to go under the hood of the drones' technology and Eoghan gave us the low down on regulation and what's holding back mass adoption, at least for now.

Given that the visuals really help when talking about drones and how they operate, we made this episode a 'video special' and you can find the video version on our YouTube channel along with other video specials.

Show links:

• Eoghan's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghan-huston-41942244/
• Manna Drone Delivery Website: https://www.manna.aero/

Listen, Watch and Subscribe on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Youtube, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more: https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship or interview opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

👊 Thanks to Nikita Agayan for mixing and post-production of the podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode 14: Brian P. Green (Director, Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center, Santa Clara University Graduate School of Engineering, California).

Show links:

• Brian's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-green-896a3b39/
• "Space Ethics" (Book): https://amzn.to/4e1DiCl
• "Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies" (Book) https://amzn.to/4l7MaIR

Other publications mentioned:

• Vatican: “Antigua et Nova”: “Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and HumanIntelligence” https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2025/01/28/0083/01166.html#ing
• PBS: “Pope Leo XIV lays out vision for his papacy and identifies AI as a main challenge for humanity” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-leo-xiv-lays-out-vision-for-his-papacy-and-identifies-ai-as-a-main-challenge-for-humanity
• Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales: “New Vatican document examines potential and risks of AI”: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/new-vatican-document-examines-potential-and-risks-of-ai/
• Ethics in the age of AI https://www.scu.edu/institute-for-technology-ethics-and-culture/ethics-in-the-age-of-ai/
• “Encountering AI” https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/91230-encountering-artificial-intelligence-ethical-and-anthropological-investigations

Listen and subscribe (on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more): https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

👊 Thanks to Nikita Agayan for mixing and production of the podcast.

Gear used on the show:

• Shure MV6 Microphone
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Trust Trino HD Webcam

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode 13: Bhaskar Kalita (Global Head of Financial Services & Insurance, Quantiphi)

Show links:

BK's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhaskar-kalita-2ab3221b/

Quantiphi: https://quantiphi.com/

Elon Musk biography: https://amzn.to/43hGzIF

Steve Jobs biography: https://amzn.to/43ioavv

McKinsey: "Insurance 2030 - The Impact of AI on the Future of Insurance" https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/insurance-2030-the-impact-of-ai-on-the-future-of-insurance

Salesforce CIO survey: https://www.salesforce.com/uk/news/stories/cio-ai-trends/

Wells Fargo Assistant: https://venturebeat.com/ai/wells-fargos-google-llm-driven-assistant-may-reach-100-million-interactions-per-year/

Listen and subscribe (on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more): https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

👊 Thanks to Nikita Agayan for mixing and production of the podcast.

Gear used on the show:

• Shure MV6 Microphone
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Trust Trino HD Webcam

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode 12: Tilly Lockey (Ambassador for Open Bionics)

In this episode I interviewed Tilly Lockey (Bilaterel amputee, Model, Singer, TV Host, Influencer and Ambassador for Open Bionics) about her life-changing experience of becoming an amputee as a baby after contracting meningococcal septicaemia, and the influence of #Robotics and other #EmergingTech on her life. "I was going to die, I was given zero percent chance of survival". We discuss her role in Product Development and user testing; what drives the cost of robotic prosthetics; how robotic technology communicates with the human body; as well as her experiences as a TV presenter/ personality, a Model (at London Fashion Week and appearing in Vogue Magazine), and meeting the Dalai Lama!

Show links:

Tilly's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilly-lockey-a3688a29b/

Tilly's Open Bionics story: https://openbionics.com/bionic-tilly/

Open Bionics: https://openbionics.com/en/

Listen and subscribe (on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more): https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

👊 Thanks to Nikita Agayan for mixing and production of the podcast.

Gear used on the show:

• Shure MV6 Microphone
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Trust Trino HD Webcam

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode 11: Barnaby Loehnis (President, Humanetics Sensors & Chief Marketing Officer, Humanetics Group)

Show links:

Barnaby's Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barnabyloehnis/

Humanetics: https://www.humaneticsgroup.com/

For more on the Gender Data Gap we recommend reading Caroline Criado Perez' book: "Invisible Women": https://amzn.to/3FG0Nna

Listen and subscribe (on all your favourite platforms: Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Jiosaavn, Deezer and more): https://linktr.ee/humanxmachine

Sponsorship opportunities: Contact Christopher Lomas

More:

📢 For DAILY POSTS on Emerging Tech, Product Management, Leadership, AI, Gen AI, Automation and Quantum Computing updates, follow Christopher Lomas on Linkedin

💙 If you enjoyed this episode, who else might? A colleague or a client? Share it with them as a part of the way you provide value to others. Or share it on Linkedin, WhatsApp, Telegram or other Social Media channels.

👊 Thanks to Nikita Agayan for mixing and production of the podcast.

Gear used on the show:

• Shure MV6 Microphone
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Trust Trino HD Webcam

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.