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The Brave Technologist

Brave Software

Technology is reshaping society—but how are users included in the conversation?

The Brave Technologist explores how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Web3 are influencing our lives, our choices, and our collective future.

Unlike many tech podcasts that focus on hype and disruption, this show puts users at the center of the conversation. Each episode features thoughtful discussions with technologists working to ensure that innovation serves the public interest. How are these tools impacting users? And how can we ensure that technology is developed with transparency, accountability, and the public good in mind?

We're going deep with founders, builders, policy makers and researchers to explore the worlds of privacy, AI, crypto, digital rights, algorithmic accountability, and everywhere else where cutting edge technology impacts our daily lives.

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  • 26 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 30 min
  • English

Episodes 26

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  • Wednesday · 27 min· Video

    The Fund Structure That Could Replace the ETF

    Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, returns to the show to share how much the convergence of traditional finance and on-chain infrastructure has accelerated since our last conversation—and what the data behind that shift actually shows. He breaks down why vaults represent the next evolution in fund wrappers beyond ETFs; what distinguishes sustainable on-chain yield from the opacity that drove past cycle failures; and where AI agents fit into the future of institutional asset management on blockchain rails. Key Takeaways Why vaults are emerging as the next evolution in fund structures and how they compare to ETFs What separates sustainable on-chain yield from the products that failed in previous cycles How AI agents and blockchains are symbiotic, and what guardrails need to exist before institutions delegate real financial decisions to these agent/blockchain pairings Why the distribution opportunity in tokenization is being underestimated Guest Bio: Juan Leon is the Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, where he helps lead research, product and strategy development, and fund and index management, and also supports sales and client relationships. Prior to Bitwise, he was a Portfolio Manager at U.S. Global Investors, managing equity and fixed-income funds, and designing quantitative investment strategies. Before that, Juan was a Financial Analyst at Rackspace Technology where he contributed to financial planning and analysis. He is a graduate of Trinity University, double majoring in Political Science and Economics. Juan also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • September 16 · 24 min· Video

    Why Meta Threw Out the Interviewing Playbook

    Danit Nativ Navon, Senior Software Engineering Manager at Meta, unpacks how the company became the first major tech firm to build AI-enabled coding interviews. She breaks down the process of rethinking what engineering interviews actually measure (now that AI can write the code itself), and explains why the leadership qualities that matter most now look nothing like the skills these interviews were originally built to test. Key Takeaways: How to tell the difference between a candidate who's simply good at prompting from a genuine AI-native engineer What a viral interview-cheating tool revealed about a much deeper flaw in traditional coding tests Why leadership qualities are becoming more valuable to engineers in the AI era How company culture ends up being the real safeguard for privacy and safety Guest Bio: Danit Nativ Navon is a Senior Engineering Manager in Meta's Applied AI division, with two decades of experience and an academic background in Computer Science and Neuroscience. At Meta, she pioneered AI-enabled coding interviews, making it the first major tech company to adopt AI-native evaluation for engineering talent. She also coaches leaders through AI-driven change and helps new hires to integrate AI skills into Meta's engineering environment. A self-described late adopter who chose to evolve rather than fall behind, Danit now helps others step confidently into the AI era. Her global journey across Israel, Singapore, Mexico, and London informs her practical, people-first approach to engineering leadership. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • September 9 · 40 min· Video

    How a Solana NFT Project Landed on Amazon Prime

    Andrew Pelekis (CEO of HEEBOO) and Nicholas Cabana (Co-Founder of Claynosaurz and Chief Creative Officer at HEEBOO), break down how a Solana-based digital collectibles brand and a small team of Hollywood animators grew into an entertainment franchise now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. They unpack the decision to give 15% of company equity back to collectors; how selling products funds content production; and why treating fans as co-owners (not just customers) became their unlikely path to overcoming Web3's biggest adoption hurdle. Key Takeaways: Why short-form content became the deliberate first move for Claynosaurz, long before the existence of any long-form series How giving equity away to early collectors solved a problem most brands don't realize they have What it takes to get kids excited about digital collectibles without ever mentioning crypto Why obsessing over token price charts can undermine a community's long-term value How pairing streaming with digital collectibles could turn passive viewing into something interactive Guest Bio: Andrew Pelekis is the CEO of HEEBOO, the studio behind the Claynosaurz entertainment IP. He leads the company's efforts to turn Claynosaurz from an internet-native community and digital collectible project into a broader entertainment franchise, including its recent expansion onto Amazon Prime Video. Nic Cabana is the Co-Founder of Claynosaurz and Chief Creative Officer at HEEBOO, where he leads the creative vision behind the Claynosaurz universe. He's focused on building an entertainment IP that brings together storytelling, community, and emerging technology in new ways. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • September 2 · 23 min· Video

    Beyond the Yield: What Staking Is Really About

    David Kinitsky, Chief Corporate Development Officer at Everstake, shares what distinguishes this cycle of enterprise crypto adoption from every previous one, and why the shift matters. He explains why staking is a foundational infrastructure play, not just a yield product; what institutional due diligence on staking looks like in practice; and why the prevailing narrative around tokenization misidentifies the real unlock. He also lays out a longer-term thesis: that AI agents will eventually manage personalized financial portfolios for everyday people at the level currently reserved for the most sophisticated wealth management clients. Key Takeaways: What's different about this cycle of enterprise crypto adoption Why staking matters beyond yield, and the role validators play What institutions require before allocating significant capital to staking Why tokenization's most important unlock is programmability and composability How AI agents could extend institutional-grade portfolio management to everyday users Guest Bio: David Kinitsky is a seasoned executive with 15+ years of experience in the financial and technology sectors, including 12+ years in crypto. He is currently the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Everstake, after previously helping to launch a streak of industry innovations and business successes at Kraken, Circle, Fidelity, Grayscale, and SecondMarket. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • August 26 · 33 min· Video

    Why Non-Dollar Stablecoins Might Strengthen the Dollar

    Navin Vethanayagam, Chief Brain of IQ and Co-founder of KRWQ, unpacks his "Stablewoods" theory: why non-dollar stablecoins like KRWQ, the first Korean won stablecoin, may end up reinforcing dollar dominance rather than challenging it. He also breaks down how IQ.wiki's AI editor SOPHIA—and their agent AIDEN—turned a static blockchain encyclopedia into living infrastructure. Key Takeaways: What the "Stablewoods" theory says about non-dollar stablecoins Why Korea's restricted currency has created a hidden opportunity most stablecoin builders have overlooked How Bretton Woods history predicts where stablecoins are headed next What the global financial map could look like in a decade if regional stablecoins end up reinforcing (rather than challenging) U.S. monetary power Guest Bio: Navin Vethanayagam is Chief Brain of IQ and the Co-founder of KRWQ. IQ is building a more intelligent financial system, from leading stablecoin infrastructure and autonomous AI agents to the world's largest blockchain encyclopedia. IQ recently launched KRWQ, the first Korean won stablecoin, and previously launched IQ.wiki, the world's largest blockchain encyclopedia. IQ.wiki is managed by AI editor SOPHIA, and its data is used to train AIDEN, an AI agent for crypto communities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • August 19 · 20 min· Video

    What Binance.US Is Betting on Next in American Crypto

    Steve Gregory, CEO of Binance.US, shares what it actually takes to bring a compliant crypto exchange product to market in the US. He explains how his background as a compliance lawyer shapes the way he leads product decisions; why the US crypto user has been underserved on leverage and derivatives for too long; and how Binance US is quietly positioning itself as a bridge between DeFi and the world of centralized exchanges. Key Takeaways Why compliance-first product development actually speeds delivery What the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act have unlocked for US crypto exchanges How Binance US is approaching the tension between privacy and KYC requirements Why the next wave of crypto adoption won't come from DeFi power users What the US crypto market keeps getting wrong about what customers actually want Guest Bio: Steve Gregory is the CEO of Binance.US, a leading U.S. digital asset exchange. Prior to joining Binance.US in the spring of 2026, Steve was the CEO at Currency.com and has held compliance roles at CEX.IO and Gemini. Binance.US is America's home to buy, trade, and earn digital assets. As a compliance-first, U.S.-regulated exchange, Binance.US offers secure and reliable access to the world's most popular cryptocurrencies. The platform is an industry leader with low fees, an advanced trading engine, strong platform stability and security, and a robust compliance framework. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • August 12 · 25 min· Video

    The Enterprise AI Mistake Most Companies Will Regret

    Joel McKelvey, VP of Product Marketing at Glean, shares why the enterprises winning with AI right now aren't the ones chasing the latest model—they're the ones who got their context layer right first. He explains why AI has moved from experimentation to company-wide production almost overnight, and why the biggest mistake enterprises are making is one they'll only recognize in hindsight. Key Takeaways Why the model you're running matters far less than the context you're feeding it How to think about AI ROI across three levels: individual, team, and organization What actually breaks employee trust in AI agents Why being model-agnostic is the best future-proof decision How fear of AI disappears quickly once employees get firsthand experience of a productivity win Guest Bio: Joel McKelvey is VP of Product Marketing at Glean, where he helps organizations turn AI initiatives into practical, metrics-driven business transformation. He brings more than 30 years of experience across engineering, marketing, and strategy, with deep expertise in AI, machine learning, analytics, and data architectures. His work focuses on how enterprises move from experimentation to execution using AI agents, enterprise search, and trusted data foundations to improve productivity, decision-making, and customer and employee experiences. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • August 5 · 21 min· Video

    Why Most Enterprise AI Projects Never Make It to Scale

    Natalia Konstantinova, Lead Enterprise Architect in AI at Natwest, shares why most enterprise AI projects don't fail because of the technology, they fail because organizations skip the foundations. She also explains how responsible AI and scalable AI have converged, and why you can't achieve one without the other. Key Takeaways: Why most enterprise AI projects stall before scale What software engineers consistently get wrong about AI reliability Why governance actually accelerates delivery How to make AI transformational rather than just another digital tool Guest Bio: Dr Natalia Konstantinova is Lead Enterprise Architect for AI at NatWest Group, where she leads the strategic adoption of AI across the enterprise. With a PhD in Information and Language Processing and a background spanning academia, industry, and innovation, she specialises in AI strategy, enterprise architecture, governance, and responsible AI. Natalia is passionate about helping organisations translate complex AI technologies into scalable business value, and is a recognised voice on the future of AI in highly regulated industries. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • July 29 · 41 min· Video

    The Global Fight for Free Speech Starts With a Hamster

    Preston Byrne, Tech & Free Speech Lawyer at Byrne & Storm, P.C., shares how a small American imageboard became the first test case for whether foreign governments can legally force American companies to comply with their censorship laws on American soil. He breaks down why the UK's Online Safety Act can't actually be enforced against US companies with no British presence; how a picture of an AI-generated hamster became a more effective legal strategy than a hundred-page brief; and what the proposed GRANITE Act would do to permanently close the loophole foreign regulators have been exploiting. Key Takeaways: Why the UK's Online Safety Act can't legally be enforced against American companies What the GRANITE Act would do what current First Amendment protections can't How 98% of companies comply with foreign censorship demands they have no legal obligation to follow Why responding to Ofcom with a hamster worked better than a formal legal letter Guest Bio: Preston Bryne is a technology lawyer with Byrne & Storm, P.C., and a Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute in London. Preston is the architect of the GRANITE Act and the Adam Smith Institute's Freedom of Speech Bill, an effort to launch a coordinated, transatlantic legislative response to foreign censorship enforcement. He was appointed to the Legal Advisory Council of the UK's Free Speech Union in 2025. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • July 22 · 22 min· Video

    How to Know When Personalization Becomes Creepy (AI Summit LDN)

    Dr. Mohsen Ghasempour, Chief AI Officer at Kingfisher, unpacks why the most dangerous thing a company can do with customer data is use all of it. He explains how a global, multi-brand retailer can draw the line between personalization that feels helpful and personalization that feels like surveillance. He also discusses why AI success is ultimately an execution problem rather than a technology problem. Key Takeaways: What the "comfort test" is and how Kingfisher uses it to decide whether a personalization decision has gone too far How global retailers are resolving the tension between centralized AI infrastructure and brand-level autonomy Why legal and compliance teams are now embedded in AI development from the start What it will look like when AI stops being a distraction and starts being invisible infrastructure Guest Bio: Dr. Mohsen Ghasempour is a distinguished expert in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) with a solid academic foundation, holding a PhD in Computer Science. Currently, Mohsen serves as the Chief AI Officer at Kingfisher, where his leadership contributes to the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies within the organisation. With over 15 years of experience as an accomplished data scientist and visionary leader, Mohsen has consistently harnessed the power of data to drive strategic decision-making. Prior to his role at Kingfisher, he held pivotal positions in leading technology and retail organisations, including The Hut Group (THG) and Shop Direct. In these roles, he spearheaded cross-functional teams to implement cutting-edge Machine Learning and AI solutions, resulting in measurable and transformative outcomes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • July 15 · 18 min· Video

    What Counter-Terrorism Taught the NFL About Cyber Risk

    Kam Karaji, Director of Cyber Security & Risk Management at the NFL, shares what 13 years in counter-terrorism and criminal intelligence taught him about protecting high-stakes environments, and discusses how that thinking now shapes security across five countries and 70,000-person stadiums. He explains why a venue full of fans is really just a very large computer, and why the data a fan hands over the moment they buy a ticket is more time-sensitive than most people realize. Key Takeaways: How the NFL manages fan data across different legal jurisdictions, and why that data becomes time-sensitive the moment the league leaves a country Why the biggest security investment leaders should be making right now isn't in technology How a single piece of player misinformation can trigger a chain reaction from betting markets to a club's bottom line Why a stadium full of fans is really a cybersecurity problem (and what happens when that computer gets hacked) Guest Bio: Kam Karaji leads cyber security and risk management for the NFL's international programme, protecting games, venues, and people across Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Before moving into the corporate world, he spent over thirteen years in law enforcement as a police officer and Bronze Commander, working in criminal intelligence, counter-terrorism and international firearms training with the UK's National Crime Agency (service that earned him gallantry recognition for the protection of the British Royal Family). Today his focus is the human side of security in an increasingly automated world. As AI reshapes how organizations assess risk, train teams, and defend themselves, Kam is interested in where the technology genuinely helps and where it quietly creates new blind spots. His guiding belief is simple: confidence without control becomes chaos, and without people, none of it works. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • July 8 · 26 min· Video

    How a 200-Year-Old Bank Deploys AI Agents

    Andy McMahon, Principal AI Engineer at Barclays, shares how a 200-year-old bank is deploying autonomous agents inside one of the most heavily regulated environments in the world. He argues that observability and kill switches matter more than raw capability, and that the real test isn't whether the AI works in a demo, but whether it can fail safely in production. Key Takeaways How a major bank is giving AI agents real autonomy while keeping them bounded inside strict permission structures Why "could I build this" is the wrong question for engineers to ask Some of the current bottlenecks that slow down agentic payments Why most companies are racing to deploy agents without tracking what those agents actually do once they're live Guest Bio: Andy McMahon is Principal AI Engineer at Barclays, a guest lecturer at Oxford University, and author of the book "Machine Learning Engineering with Python." He trained as a theoretical physicist, but has spent his career making production AI systems that are safe, governed, and genuinely valuable in some of the most regulated and risk-controlled environments in the world. He has strong opinions about what AI engineering is, where it's going, and what separates the hype from the work that actually matters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • July 1 · 22 min· Video

    LIVE FROM THE AI SUMMIT LDN: Inside Sony AI's Bet on Open Research

    Fred Gifford, Strategy Lead and Sr. Product Manager at Sony AI, shares how his team is building knowledge graphs from academic literature to predict new biomedical relationships and accelerate drug discovery. He explains why Sony AI publishes so much of its research openly, what he got wrong about AI therapy when writing his novel and why he believes accountability for AI's ethical failures still lags dangerously behind the pace of the technology itself. Key Takeaways: Why specialized AI tools are losing ground to all-in-one chatbots and what that means for the personal data we hand over What it actually takes to build an ethical dataset from scratch and why most image data used to train AI didn't His experience of writing about AI therapy years before chatbots became a mental health solution for millions Why Sony AI is choosing to open-source its work This episode was recorded LIVE at The AI Summit London Guest Bio: Fred Gifford is an AI strategy lead based in London. He has spent the past 5.5 years at Sony AI applying frontier AI research to solve challenges in gastronomy, AI Ethics, and biomedical. He is also an author under the pen-name Fred Lunzer. His debut novel, Sike, was published by Macmillan / Celadon last year, and focuses on a young couple navigating life with an AI therapist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • June 24 · 22 min· Video

    Pandora: How Much Freedom Should a Shopping Agent Have? (AI Summit LDN)

    Riccardo Arnaldi, Agentic AI Product Manager at Pandora, shares what it actually looks like to build and scale a brand-facing LLM shopping agent live with millions of customers. He explains why too much autonomy is a liability, how a deterministic routing layer keeps the AI from going off-script, and why traditional QA teams had to rebuild their processes from scratch. He also breaks down a real customer interaction that exposed the gap between automation and appropriate human sensitivity, changing how the team handles frustrated users. Key Takeaways Which metrics Pandora uses to measure success of Gemma, their customer-facing AI agent What breaks when traditional QA processes meet agentic products, and how testing an agent differs from testing software How a brand's voice gets engineered into an AI agent, including exact words it's allowed to use and the persona it borrows What a frustrated customer's outburst revealed about the line between automation and human sensitivity Guest Bio: Riccardo Arnaldi is a product manager with 6+ years' experience building and iterating on digital products through data, experimentation, and AI. Currently, he owns end-to-end development and strategy of LLM-based shopping and customer support agents at Pandora. Previously, he drove X60M+ DKK in incremental revenue by scaling Pandora's website and CRM personalisation programme from the ground up across 7+ markets. An Italian based in Copenhagen, Riccardo is a sports lover and guitar strummer, and is always on the lookout for the next great travel destination (with hype-worthy local foods). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • June 17 · 30 min· Video

    AI Is Now Buying Cars and Negotiating Better Than You

    Zach Shefska, Founder & CEO of CarEdge, shares how he and his father (a 43-year auto industry veteran) turned a broken, opaque car buying process into a transparency-first business powered by AI agents that now negotiate deals on behalf of consumers. He also explains how data collected from over 100,000 agent driven negotiations is reshaping what buyers can know before they even walk into a dealership. Key Takeaways: Why the car buying process is structurally designed to work against both consumers and the salespeople serving them and what's starting to change How AI agents are negotiating real car deals, including the first-ever agent-to-agent transaction between a buyer's AI and a dealership's AI Why the biggest frontier AI models keep getting car buying wrong and what a purpose-built data harness requires Guest Bio: Zach Shefska is an entrepreneur, creator, and consumer advocate best known as the co-founder and CEO of CarEdge. He partners with his father, Ray Shefska (a 40+ year auto industry veteran), to level the playing field for car buyers by providing transparent negotiation strategies, data tools, and AI-driven car-buying agents. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • June 10 · 42 min· Video

    Why Your VPN Isn't Actually Keeping You Anonymous

    Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym Technologies, shares why the surveillance Web is more dangerous than most people realize, and why most privacy tools aren't enough. He explains how traditional VPNs still leave you exposed, why metadata is more revealing than the content of your messages, and how Nym's decentralized mixnet offers unique protection. Key Takeaways: Why encrypting your data isn't enough and what metadata reveals that most people don't consider What a mixnet is and why it's built differently than Tor Why age verification mandates could be the real turning point for Internet freedom How Nym is bringing device-level privacy protection to everyday users Ways we can make agents and LLMs more private and safe to use The new integration between Nym and Brave Guest Bio: Harry Halpin is CEO and co-founder of Nym Technologies. He completed his Ph.D. in AI at the University of Edinburgh under Andy Clark, and then led standards around cryptography and social networking at the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT under Tim Berners-Lee (although he left due to the standardization of DRM). Harry is now focused full-time on preserving privacy and freedom of speech with NymVPN. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • June 3 · 42 min· Video

    AI Agents Need Names, And Nobody Owns Them Yet

    Balazs Nemethi, CEO of the Agent Community, explains why AI agents need identities and why the window to decide who controls that infrastructure is closing fast. He breaks down how a community-governed effort is working to secure .agent as a top-level domain, and why domains are a smart foundation for agent identity. Key Takeaways: Why agents need identities, including personalized names and domains What challenges will emerge around trust, safety, and accountability as agents scale, and why domains are a powerful trust layer What community governance could change by preventing single-company control over agent identity How the ICANN application process works, and the one bylaw that gives community a real shot at winning a TLD Why verifying agents (not just humans) may be the smarter approach to trust on the agentic web Guest Bio: Balázs Nemethi is a Hungarian technologist and entrepreneur working at the intersection of internet infrastructure, identity, and AI. He is the founder of the Agent Community at agentcommunity.org, a community-backed effort to establish .agent as a new top-level domain and identity layer for AI agents. He is also the author of AID, a DNS-first standard for agent identity and discovery. Previously, he helped scale the Decentralized Identity Foundation to more than 300 organizations; founded Taqanu, a financial-inclusion company serving refugees in Germany; and built Web3 compliance infrastructure at Veri Labs, where he is the inventor on a U.S. patent for programmable assets. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • May 27 · 33 min· Video

    Why One AI Agent Will Never Be Enough

    João Moura, CEO of crewAI, shares why single AI agents fall short and what changes when you give them a crew. He explains how multi-agent systems are already running inside Fortune 500 companies; why accountability and human oversight still matter as agents grow more autonomous; and what it looks like when an AI agent negotiates on your behalf (and wins). Key Takeaways: How multi-agent systems are already being used inside Fortune 500 companies How agents are starting to watch, review, and debug each other, and what that means for quality control What the shift from better models to better coordination looks like in practice Why data ownership and open-source are becoming the real competitive edge in the AI race What "LLM as a judge" means and how it's becoming a quality control pattern Why accountability and human oversight still matter even as agents become more autonomous Guest Bio: João Moura is the CEO of crewAI. He has over 20 years of software engineering experience, and previously served as Director of AI Engineering at Clearbit, where he transformed AI into a core profit driver, growing a thriving user base and spearheading advancements in large-scale vector databases. João also founded Urdog, an IoT startup, where he developed a smart collar for dogs and managed all aspects of the business. With extensive experience in engineering leadership roles at Toptal and Packlane, he specializes in building high-performing teams and implementing scalable AI and machine-learning solutions. João holds an MBA in Information Technology from FIAP, and completed executive leadership training at NYU Stern. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • May 20 · 40 min· Video

    How U.S. Policy on Bitcoin Is Changing Fast

    Sam Lyman, Head of Research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and former Senior Advisor and Chief Speechwriter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, shares what it looks like inside the U.S. Treasury when Bitcoin, stablecoins, and AI are being treated as strategic national assets. He explains why the current administration's approach marks a fundamental break from the Gensler era; how freedom tech is becoming a geopolitical tool to challenge authoritarian capital and information controls; and why the time to shape crypto and AI policy through legislation is now. Key Takeaways: How AI, Bitcoin, and stablecoins form a "trifecta of freedom tech," and why policymakers are starting to see them as such Why China banned both Bitcoin and stablecoins, and what that tells us about the real threat these technologies pose to authoritarian regimes What AI agents prefer to use as money, and what a first-principles study of frontier models revealed about savings vs. payments Why executive orders aren't enough, what legislation like the Clarity Act can protect, and how this legislation couldn't be easily undone with an administration change How AI could actually make the economy more human Guest Bio: Sam Lyman is the head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. He served previously as senior advisor and chief speechwriter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Prior to working at the U.S. Treasury, Sam served as public policy director at Riot Platforms, a leading digital assets and AI infrastructure company. He holds a master's in public policy from Princeton University. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

  • May 13 · 30 min

    Your AI Chats Aren't Private (And How "Unlinkable Inference" Can Help)

    Ken Liu (Computer Science PhD at the Stanford AI Lab) and Erik Chi (CS PhD at UMich) are the Creators of the Open Anonymity Project, which lets people prove things about themselves online without revealing their identity. In this episode we explore what it means for AI systems to "know" you; why today's so-called privacy modes fall short; and how the next generation of AI systems could be built with privacy as a default, rather than an afterthought. Key Takeaways: What "unlinkable inference" means and why it changes the privacy model of AI chat tools What actually happens to your data the moment you hit "send" in a typical AI system Why incognito mode in AI tools is largely a UI illusion, rather than a real privacy protection The role of metadata in identifying and profiling users, and how "secretary models" could enable personalization without sacrificing privacy How anti-censorship and privacy intersect in a future dominated by agentic AI systems Why now is the time to rethink assumptions about privacy in AI tools Guest Bio: Ken Liu is a Computer Science PhD student at the Stanford AI Lab, advised by Percy Liang and Sanmi Koyejo. His research focuses on foundation models and data/user privacy, and the intersection between the two. His recent work studies the privacy properties of AI (such as membership, memorization, and unlearning), and various AI privacy tools (such as anonymization, differential privacy, and federated learning). His papers have earned spotlights at top venues, and his findings have been deployed at scale on Android. Ken also led a team to a 1st-place win at the US-UK PETs Prize sponsored by the White House OSTP and the UK Government. Previously, Ken spent time at Google DeepMind, Carnegie Mellon University, Meta, Apple, and Amazon. Erik Chi is a CS PhD at UMich, advised by J. Alex Halderman. His research focuses on security and privacy, particularly network security and anti-censorship. He worked on a new standard for implementing and distributing censorship circumvention protocols—a standard that's now being adopted by VPN vendors to help millions of users access the free Internet. He also did content moderation (surveillance) and recommendation systems at ByteDance before realizing how censors will evolve in the AI era. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About this Show: The Brave Technologist is here to shed light on the opportunities and challenges of emerging tech. To make it digestible, less scary, and more approachable for all! Join us as we embark on a mission to demystify artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo, and empower everyday people to embrace the digital revolution. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a curious mind, or an industry professional, this podcast invites you to join the conversation and explore the future of AI together. The Brave Technologist Podcast is hosted by Luke Mulks, VP Business Operations at Brave Software—makers of the privacy-respecting Brave browser and Search engine, and now powering AI everywhere with the Brave Search API. Music by: Ari Dvorin Produced by: Sam Laliberte

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