In Conversation With Ux Magazine

With consumer use of AI technology outpacing enterprise adoption, the fear of companies using AI to get rid of employees has been flipped on its head into legitimate threat to the existence of companies as we know them. There’s nothing preventing consumers from using generative tools to disrupt large companies—for example, using a fleet of AI agents to flood and debilitate a call center to take advantage of a promotion. Harsha Gowda and Nitin Bhudia, respectively the CTO and Director of Innovation at Getronics, join Robb and Josh to discuss the risk organizations take by dragging their feet in the race for AI adoption. This conversation explores how organizations can embrace “artificial incompetence” as a necessary initial phase on the course to artificial intelligence, and seed the velocity that will transform their operations. By using AI agents to create an abstraction layer over existing solutions, organizations can take control of their futures. In this episode, we mention: The Invisible Machines epi

Digital twins are critical to the orchestration of AI agents, providing the context they need to create meaningful experiences quickly and efficiently. Robb and Josh welcome Dr. Michael Grieves for a conversation about the origins of the concept, which he developed while working with NASA in the 2010s. The architecture required for orchestrating AI agents relies on different types of digital twins that may emerge within an organization, touching on physical elements, temporal data, and collections of unstructured data. Dr. Grieves joins the podcast to explore these connections, drawing from his book Product Lifecycle Management as well as his numerous scientific publications. The trio also discusses how something Michael calls “retirementitus” prevents organizations from embracing the sweeping technologies surrounding AI and digital twins. Learn about orchestrating AI agents for your team: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=digital_twins_episode&utm_content

As AI agents continue to alter the way people interface with technology, Robb and Josh were eager to speak with journalist Matt Alston about his popular Business Insider article “Everyone hates Workday.” In this deep exploration of our multifaceted interactions with machines, Matt reminds us that Workday’s UX is different across a whole spectrum of users, and that generally speaking, people don’t like using software. The patterns we follow when operating software end up shaping our thinking, and as we move into a world dominated by conversational interfaces, it’s important to consider the way these systems are intertwined with our minds. Don’t miss this eye-opening episode about the future of project management. Learn more about creating and orchestrating AI agents to streamline your business operations: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=matt_alston_episode&utm_content=1 Article, “Everybody hates Workday”: businessinsider.com/everyone-hates-workday-human-r

As AI agents continue to remake the way we communicate with machines, what will become of SaaS companies? In this episode, Robb and Josh are joined by Janelle Teng, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners’ San Francisco office, who recently noted that “2024 has not been kind to SaaS companies” on her Next Big Teng blog. A Stanford scientist and former product manager at Salesforce, Janelle explains why she is bullish on the multi-agent approach to automation. The trio also discuss the ramification of consumer adoption of AI outpacing enterprises and why startups have a clear advantage in this moment. Discover how to design and orchestrate conversational AI agents for your employees and customers: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=janelle_teng_episode&utm_content=1 Read Jenelle’s insights at nextbigteng.substack.com. #AIPodcast #InvisibleMachines #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ConversationalAI #AIAgents #SaaS #Automation #TechTrends #Innovation #B

Sophie Bushwick is a regular contributor to Science Friday on NPR and has previously worked for Scientific American and Popular Science. As the Senior News Editor at New Scientist, she joined Robb and Josh in exploring anthropomorphism and AI. Sophie’s work reminds us that our introduction to pocket computers came with the heavily anthropomorphized Tamagotchi pets of the late '90s. As we head into the era of conversational machines, Sophie brings her insights to a conversation about the pros and cons of making them human-like across a whole range of scenarios, including those geared toward productivity and entertainment. The correlations and similarities between corporations and AI pose both ethical considerations as well as design challenges, and this discussion draws on Sophie’s extensive background in technology reporting to look for answers. Learn about orchestrating conversational AI agents for your team: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sophie_bus

We've talked about micro UIs a lot on this podcast, as they are a critical component of AI agents, adding graphical functionalities to an automated conversational experience. Micro UIs let AI agents show users interactive elements—like maps, secure payment interfaces, dynamic graphs, and explainer videos—rather than just describing them. In this episode, we're joined by Cole Gentile, Solutions Designer at OneReach.ai, to demonstrate micro UIs in action. Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=micro_uis_episode&utm_content=1 Number of monthly active WeChat users from 1st quarter 2014 to 1st quarter 2024: https://www.statista.com/statistics/255778/number-of-active-wechat-messenger-accounts "Organizational AGI is Coming — Most Companies Aren’t Prepared," an article by Robb Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of OneReach.ai and Co-Author of the WSJ bestseller “Age of Invisible Machines”: https://www.intelligentcio.com/north-am

There are many lenses through which we can view the world, and that's especially true when considering the technologies associated with artificial intelligence. In this episode, James Bridle, author of Ways of Being, joins to explore a multitude of perspectives relating to our ongoing relationship with technology. James’ book explores the interplay between animals, plants, and machines in the search for planetary intelligence. James offers a broad vision of "thinking" systems that draws from biology, physics, and computation and spurs an investigation of what a corporation is and could become. Robb, Josh, and James have a dynamic discussion, trying on various lenses for viewing intelligence and uncovering new ideas about technology along the way. Learn about orchestrating conversational AI agents for your team: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intelligence_around_us_episode&utm_content=1 Get James' book, Ways of Being (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022): h

We're rounding out our deep dive on organizational AGI with Aaron De Smet, a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company who helped identify "The keys to organizational agility" with colleagues back in 2015. As we discussed in our first episode on organizational AGI, agility is a key component to making the journey feasible. Aaron has been exploring organizational AGI for years and connects the dots between organizational longevity and the technologies associated with AI. This conversation examines the ways our very idea of work is steeped in outdated beliefs and strategies from the industrial revolution and how companies that will survive and thrive in this new era will have to reshape themselves. Learn more about how to create and orchestrate AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=agi_in_organizational_agility&utm_content=1 Jim Collins, BHAG: https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/bhag.html The Friction Project by Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao: https://w

We're entering an age when software will be written on-the-fly, by machines, to meet individual needs—an era of ephemeral applications. This will have a massive impact on the emergence of artificial general intelligence (also called AGI or singularity) and Ben Goertzel returns for a lively discussion about the scope of this dawning era. Ben helped to popularize the term singularity and, as the founder and CEO of SingularityNET (https://singularitynet.io/), has long been working to democratize access to artificial intelligence. As he points out in this episode, "AI that can write code, this is the key to the singularity." Packed with food for thought as well as actionable ideas, this is a hard-hitting episode that expands on ideas central to organizational AGI. You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ephemeral_apps_and_agi_episode&utm_content=1 To learn more about OAGI and try AI agent demos visit https://onereach.ai/ #AI #AIage

How do AI agents fit into a strategy for increasing a business' longevity? Imagine having a conversational operating system for your organization that was always learning. The advanced orchestration of AI agents can create a broader technology ecosystem that sets a trajectory for organizational AGI. Whereas artificial general intelligence, or AGI, refers to a system of artificial intelligence that meets or surpasses human capabilities across a whole range of cognitive tasks. organizational AGI seeks to create the general intelligence it takes to run vast portions of a business. Robb Wilson, CEO and co-founder of OneReach.ai, coined the term OAGI and is joined by Josh Tyson, andExec Producer Elias Parker for a forward-looking exploration of organizational AGI. Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tanmay_bakshi_episode&utm_content=1 #AI #AIagents #OAGI #AGI #generativeAI #LLMs #UX #AIproducts #conversationalAI

In April, our co-host Robb Wilson was asked to join Jess Larsen on the Innovation & Leadership podcast to discuss AI agents and taking an agentic approach to workflow automation at an organizational level. As AI agents take center stage, we're reposting this conversation here to spread the word on the pitfalls orgs can avoid—and the best practices they can follow. Robb shares his hard-wrought lessons in AI adoption, including how to foster a culture of innovation by starting small, iterating rapidly, and scaling successfully. You can learn more about taking an agentic approach to automating your workflows and processes from OneReach.ai: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bonus_episode&utm_content=1 This episode was originally published by the Innovation and Leadership podcast with Jess Larson. You can find their show wherever you listen to podcasts, or here: https://www.jesslarsen.net/ #ai #aiagents #agentic #hyperautomation #agi #singularity #invisiblema

Tanmay Bakshi is a technology wunderkind. He started coding when he was only four years old and his first iOS app was released just five years later, when he was nine. An autodidact and deeply curious technologist, Tanmay works as an AI and application architect for IBM, where he's been involved with ongoing automation efforts with McDonald's. Tanmay joins Robb and Josh for an exploration of anthropomorphism, user experience, and the flexibility required to succeed with the shifting technologies associated with conversational AI. Don't miss a practical and enlightening discussion with this brilliant young mind. Create and orchestrate conversational AI agents: https://onereach.ai/ai-agents/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tanmay_bakshi_episode&utm_content=1

Journey into the innovative mind of Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri and Chief AI Strategy Officer of Sherpa.ai. Robb and Josh welcome Tom for an enlightening exploration of humanistic AI—systems that augment and collaborate with humans, rather than replacing or competing with them. Using federated machine learning, Tom is working with Sherpa.ai to train advanced generative models on data in ways that maximize privacy and security. This creates opportunities to create safer personalized experiences, which the trio discusses along with exploring the value of designing around use cases related to accessibility.

Greg Vert, Principal and HR Transformation Leader at Deloitte, returns to Invisible Machines to discuss the ways AI agents are changing the way enterprises approach HR. Building on the conversation they had in back in season one—in the wake of OpenAI's release of ChatGPT— Robb and Josh invite Greg to explore how the simple idea of AI as the UI will launch widespread systemic change. They also talk about how intentionality and empathy can foster better automated experiences for employees as large companies move to integrate the technologies associated with conversational AI. Also, learn why, despite their lackluster reputation for experience design, Workday might be in a good position to revitalize UX.

Legendary tech journalist Kara Swisher joins Robb and Josh for a discussion about the early days of Silicon Valley and the shape of things to come. Her Boom Town column in The Wall Street Journal covered the early days of the internet, giving her access to key players like Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg, and Mark Zuckerberg. Swisher joins Robb and Josh to share insights from her new memoir, Burn Book, which reveals the tangled relationships between tech's largest power brokers from the vantage point of an embedded reporter. This episode offers brisk contemplations on how AI will impact business and design.

Learn about the inner workings of AI agents by watching conversational experiences in action. Annie Harshberger, Lead Experience Architect at OneReach.ai (https://onereach.ai/) takes Robb and Josh through an interactive demo of AI agents swarming together to automate complex scheduling requests. Annie has designed hundreds of conversational experiences orchestrating generative AI and other tools. Here, she shares insights into the design process as well as the coordinated effort taking place behind the scenes. This episode provides a crucial perspective for anyone trying to understand how AI agents can scale across an organization.

As the second wave of AI-led disruption takes shape, we're seeing and hearing a lot more about AI agents. Analogous to the Intelligent Digital Workers (IDWs) described in Age of Invisible Machines, AI Agents are more complex that they appear and many organizations are discovering that they aren't structured to allow these agents to perform meaningful work. Robb Wilson (CEO and co-founder of OneReach.ai) and Josh Tyson explore the real nature of AI agents, what kinds of technology ecosystems they require, and how organizations can give them real agency. This practical episode also imagines what the proliferation of AI agents means for the future of software. The bestselling book that explores AI agents, or intelligent digital workers (IDWs) at far greater length is Age of Invisible Machines: https://onereach.ai/invisiblemachines/ Learn more about how to make AI agents, and play with a playground of AI skills: https://onereach.ai/ #ai #aiagents #hyperautomation #conversationalai #podcast #aipodcast #ux #uxde

Daniel Lametti and Joanna Kuc join Robb and Josh to share the advanced chatbot they created for a research project in mental health. Dan Lametti is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Dan taught and conducted research in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, and is also the Director of Academic Fellowships at OneReach.ai. Joanna is a Data Scientist at Compass Pathways as well as a PhD Candidate in Experimental Psychology at University College London, where her work focuses on decoding language biomarkers relating to mental health. Using the OneReach.ai platform, Daniel and Joanna created a conversational app in Telegram that collects journal entries from participants as either written text or voice notes, and generates weekly summaries. Learn more about this unique design process and some of their findings in an engaging and practical episode of Invisible Machines.

As conversational AI continues to change the nature of UX, we're excited to bring you a practical (and thorough) conversation about hiring design talent with Aaron Cooper, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Banner Health. Aaron has lead the creation of multiple products involving conversational AI at companies like Honeywell and Optum Health, and was generous enough to open up about what he's looking for when hiring design talent and how he makes sure key people within his organization are partners in design. We've also got a special guest host for this episode: Elias Parker, the executive producer of our book, Age of Invisible Machines, and of this podcast. An ethnographer by training, Elias has been working with UX practitioners for more than a decade and has hired over 200 researchers and designers across disciplines.

As the former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA, Roger Forsgren has a unique understanding of maintaining the administration's renowned gold standard of data management in extremely high-pressure environments. Having worked his way up from a mechanical engineering position with the space administration, Roger joins Robb and guest host Mike Lee for a conversation about the unique rhythms of data organization, retrieval, and maintenance. Exploring ideas from his book "Lean Knowledge Management: How NASA Implemented a Practical KM Program" this is an episode for information science enthusiasts everywhere.