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Humans in the Loop

Seb Agertoft

Humans in the Loop

Seb Agertoft

A podcast for thoughtful technologists. Seb Agertoft - Coach to tech company founders and leadership teams - interviews founders, technologists, artists, investors, thought leaders and policymakers wrestling with the tough questions at the forefront of emergent tech like AI, quantum computing, renewable energy, web3, blockchain, robotics and autonomous vehicles. Not just can we build it, but how to build tech with human interests at heart. Get in touch at www.theuncommonfounder.com

May 05

AI Ready

The Chinese Tech Economy | Selina Xu - AI & China Researcher

China is shaping the world.In direct ways, like innovation, foreign policy, investment.And indirectly, by provoking a response from countries such as the US who see it as a competitor.China's transformation into one of the world's superpowers is the most r...

The Chinese Tech Economy | Selina Xu - AI & China Researcher

Mar 24

Zen Master Henry Shukman on tech & what it means to be human

Henry Shukman is a Zen Master, a meditation teacher, and co-founder of The Way meditation app.As AI poses some hard questions about what it means to be human, I thought Henry might help make some sense of things. Chapters 00:00 Understanding Zen: A Pe...

Zen Master Henry Shukman on tech & what it means to be human

Mar 10

The Creative Process with Fuser Co-Founders Dalena Tran & Hirad Sab

My guests today are artists, film makers, educators, technologists and founders of Fuser, a company building an AI workspace for creatives. With so much noise around what AI should or shouldn’t be used for, and where human creativity starts and ends, I wa...

The Creative Process with Fuser Co-Founders Dalena Tran & Hirad Sab

Feb 24

Mike Masnick on the decentralised internet

Mike Masnick wrote the paper that helped inspire Bluesky and now he sits on the Bluesky board.A long-time advocate of decentralised tech, Mike's paper 'Protocols not platforms' outlined how a more open protocol-based system to social media would create a h...

Mike Masnick on the decentralised internet

Feb 03

Alex Komoroske on the hacker ethic and pro-social tech

Alex Komoroske is one of the smartest voices out there talking about better forms of technology right now. He spent a long chapter of his career at the likes of Google and Stripe and is now the Founder and CEO of Common Tools, working on enabling decentra...

Alex Komoroske on the hacker ethic and pro-social tech

Jan 13

Kevin Kelly on Flounder Mode and Optimism

How to describe Kevin Kelly? * Founder of Wired Magazine. * Writer of industry defining essays like '1000 true fans' - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ * Co-chair of The Long Now Foundation encouraging people to think on civilisational ...

Kevin Kelly on Flounder Mode and Optimism

2025/12/16

The Soft Technologies of Democracy with Ed Gillespie

Ed has spent his career thinking systemically about the future and consulting with governments and corporations on topics as varied as the environment, politics, healthcare and education. He's also the co-host of hit podcast 'Jon Richardson and the Fut...

The Soft Technologies of Democracy with Ed Gillespie

2025/12/02

Creative courage in big tech with Ben Lehnert, fmr design leader Microsoft and SAP

Benedikt Lehnert is former design leader at Microsoft and Chief Design Officer at SAP. He's had a seat at the top table in big tech and brings his own clear-eyed perspective based on that experience.I really enjoyed the conversation with Ben as we discusse...

Creative courage in big tech with Ben Lehnert, fmr design leader Microsoft and SAP

2025/11/18

Talking to animals with Kate Armstrong

Summary In this conversation, I speak to Kate Armstrong, the Executive Director of InterSpecies Internet, about the latest advancements in how we communicate with animals through technology. Kate emphasizes the importance of planetary kinship and the ...

Talking to animals with Kate Armstrong

2025/10/28

Rewiring Democracy with Godfather of Cybersecurity and public interest technologist, Bruce Schneier

This episode features an OG in the world of internet security, the Godfather of Cybersecurity, Bruce Schneier. Bruce describes himself as a public interest technologist, and has done many things under that banner - run companies, lectured at Harvard, test...

Rewiring Democracy with Godfather of Cybersecurity and public interest technologist, Bruce Schneier

2025/09/08

Granola AI Co-founder Sam Stephenson on designing for AI and Human Agency

This episode features Sam Stephenson, co-founder of ⁠Granola⁠ - one of the standout UK success stories in AI product building. Sam and I discussed his background as a designer, his journey to becoming a founder, the trajectory of the company so far, and s...

Granola AI Co-founder Sam Stephenson on designing for AI and Human Agency

2025/08/05

Artist founders and figuring out what AI is really for

In this conversation, I speak to William Morgan and Sylvan Rackham, the Co-Founders of Restless Egg, an incubator for Artist Founders, about the intersection of art, technology, and innovation. They discuss the concept of the 'artist founder', the challen...

Artist founders and figuring out what AI is really for

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