Smart Talks with IBM
A podcast, hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, featuring the visionaries who are creatively applying technology in business to drive change.
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Season 5 🎧
Episode 8 How infrastructure is powering the age of AI

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, join Malcolm Gladwell and Ric Lewis, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Infrastructure, as they explore how infrastructure is powering AI. Learn how hardware capability has enabled the matrix math required to run large language models. Furthermore, discover some creative examples of how to put AI to work: from your bank to your local coffee shop. Hear Ric underscore the importance of infrastructure in unlocking the potential of AI, helping businesses harness their data to drive transformative outcomes. 

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Episode 7 How AI can accelerate cybersecurity

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell speaks with Jason Kelley, GM, Strategic Partners and Ecosystems at IBM, and Kristy Friedrichs, SVP and Chief Partnership Officer at Palo Alto Networks. They discuss the challenges and opportunities that the rapid development of AI brings to the cybersecurity space. Jason and Kristy also underscore how implementing a zero trust strategy can help enterprises enhance cyber resiliency and simplify operations. Together, IBM and Palo Alto Networks are delivering fully integrated, open, end-to-end security solutions to enterprises.

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Episode 6 Scaling AI with purpose

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Jacob Goldstein speaks with Rebecca Finlay, CEO of Partnership on AI, about the importance of advancing AI innovation with openness and ethics at the forefront. Rebecca discusses how guardrails — such as risk management — can advance efficiency in AI development. They explore the AI Alliance’s focus on open data and technology, and the importance of collaboration. Rebecca also underscores how diverse perspectives and open-mindedness can drive AI progress responsibly.

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Episode 5 The power of Granite in business

Jacob Goldstein and Maryam Ashoori, the Director of Product Management and Head of Product for IBM’s watsonx.ai, discuss how IBM’s Granite models help enhance transparency in AI and explore the shift from large general-purpose AI models to smaller, customizable models tailored to specific needs.

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Episode 4 Education in the age of AI

Justina Nixon-Saintil, VP and Chief Impact Officer, IBM Corporate Social Responsibility, and April Dawson, Associate Dean of Technology and Innovation at North Carolina Central University School of Law, discuss the importance of lifelong learning, upskilling, and the ethical implications of AI in education.

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Episode 3 How open source can democratize AI

Malcolm Gladwell and Mo Duffy, Software Engineering Manager at Red Hat, discuss InstructLab and the benefits of open-source technology.

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Episode 2 An AI advantage for the US Open

Jacob Goldstein, host of Pushkin’s own What’s Your Problem?, sat down with Brian Ryerson, Senior Director of Digital Strategy at the US Tennis Association. They discuss the impact of data on the fan experience, the role that storytelling plays in sports, and how AI has unlocked innovative features.

 

 

 

 

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Episode 1 AI and the productivity paradox

Malcolm Gladwell and Rob Thomas, SVP Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, discuss AI and the productivity paradox.

 

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Season 4 🎧
19 March 2024 | Episode 7 An AI advantage for the US Open

As artificial intelligence progresses, healthcare providers are exploring how the technology can be used to offer personalized care at scale. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Dr. Laurie Santos sits down with Alice Crisci, co-founder and CEO of fertility-care provider Ovum Health. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Episode 6 How open source can democratize AI Watch episode 7 Episode 5 Education in the age of AI Watch episode 6 17 Oct 2023 | Episode 4 Responsible AI: why businesses need reliable AI governance

Malcolm Gladwell and Laurie Santos discuss AI accountability with Christina Montgomery, Chief Privacy and Trust Officer at IBM. They chat about AI regulation, what compliance means in the AI age, and why transparent AI governance is good for business.

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3 Oct 2023 | Episode 3 Hugging Face and watsonx: why open source is the future of AI in business

Malcolm Gladwell and Tim Harford discuss the open-source AI community with Jeff Boudier, Head of Product and Growth at Hugging Face. They chat about the history and future of open-source AI, its critical importance to AI progress, the IBM watsonx partnership with Hugging Face, and how businesses can leverage open-source AI for their specific needs.

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19 Sept 2023 | Episode 2 Transformations in AI: why foundation models are the future

Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Goldstein explore the conceptual underpinnings of modern AI with Dr. David Cox, VP of AI Models at IBM Research. They talk foundation models, self-supervised machine learning, and the practical applications of AI portfolios such as watsonx in business and technology.

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5 Sept 2023 | Episode 1 AI for business: multiplying the impact of AI

Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Goldstein explore the future of AI for business with Kareem Yusuf, SVP of product management and growth for IBM software. They discuss the advent of foundation models, how AI can transform data storage and decision-making, and how next-generation AI portfolios such as watsonx can empower businesses to use AI at scale.

 

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Season 3 🎧
31 January | Episode 40 DeepSeek facts vs. hype, model distillation and open-source competition

Let’s bust some early myths about DeepSeek! In episode 40 of Mixture of Experts, the panel tackles DeepSeek R1 misconceptions, explains model distillation and dissects the open-source competition landscape.

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24 January | Episode 39 DeepSeek-R1, Mistral IPO, FrontierMath controversy and IDC code assistant report

What does the future hold for DeepSeek? In episode 39 of Mixture of Experts, our panel talks about DeepSeek-R1, Mistrals IPO indication, the FrontierMath controversy and the IDC gen AI code assistants report.

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17 January | Episode 38 Anthropic valuation rumors, Microsoft CoreAI, NotebookLM upgrades and AI agents in finance

What would you do with USD 2 billion? In episode 38 of Mixture of Experts, we discuss the Anthropic valuation rumors, CoreAI, NotebookLM upgrades and AI agents within the financial services industry.

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10 January | Episode 37 CES 2025, NVIDIA DIGITS, Apple Intelligence fails and Sam Altman’s reflections

What’s the most exciting CES AI announcement? In episode 37 of Mixture of Experts, we discuss CES 2025, NVIDIA DIGITS, Apple Intelligence fails, Sam Altman’s reflection blog and the challenges facing enterprise AI developers.

 

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3 January | Episode 36 OpenAI o3, DeepSeek-V3 and the Brundage/Marcus AI bet

Is deep learning hitting a wall? It’s 2025 and the Mixture of Experts is back and better than ever. In episode 36, host Tim Hwang is joined by Chris Hay, Kate Soule and Kush Varshney to discuss OpenAI o3, DeepSeek-V3 and the Brundage/Marcus AI bet.

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Season 2 🎧
27 December | Episode 35 2024 Rewind: Breakthroughs in AI models, agents, hardware and products

Will 2025 be the year of AI agents? In episode 35 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by some show veterans to debrief 2024 in AI and make predictions for 2025.

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20 December | Episode 34 IBM Granite 3.1, NVIDIA Jetson, stealing AI models and is pretraining over?

Is pretraining a thing of the past? In episode 34 of Mixture of Experts, we cover IBM® Granite™ 3.1, NVIDIA Jetson, stealing AI models and more! Tune in to this episode to hear the latest AI news.

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13 December | Episode 33 12 Days of OpenAI, NeurIPS, ARC Prize and Llama 3.3 70B

Is o1 Pro worth the cost? In episode 33 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Marina Danilevsky, Kate Soule and Vyoma Gajjar. In this episode, we cover 12 Days of Open AI, NeurIPS, ARC Prize and Meta’s Llama 3.3 70B release!

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6 December | Episode 32 Inside AWS re:Invent 2024, LLM Flowbreaking and David Mayer

What’s the mystery behind the name that ChatGPT refuses to discuss? In episode 32 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang joins Aaron Baughman, Vagner Figueredo de Santana and Shobhit Varshney to chat about AWS re:Invent 2024, LLM Flowbreaking and David Mayer, a name that breaks ChatGPT.

 

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Season 1 🎧
27 November | Episode 31 AI in education: Safety, literacy and predictions

How much future learning will be done with an AI assistant? In episode 31 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Phaedra Boinodiris, Marina Danilevsky and Skyler Speakman for the AI-in-education special episode!

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22 November | Episode 30 “Near-infinite memory,” Microsoft Ignite, FrontierMath and AlphaFold3

Should your AI assistant remember everything about you? In episode 30 of Mixture of Experts, we cover “near-infinite memory,” Microsoft Ignite, FrontierMath and AlphaFold3

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15 November | Episode 29 Scaling AI, agent-led future and race to AGI

Is 2024 the year scaling AI officially breaks? In episode 29 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Anthony Annunziata, Kate Soule and Naveen Rao. The experts chat about scaling AI, agents and the race to AGI.

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8 November | Episode 28 SearchGPT, from Naptime to Big Sleep, and GitHub Octoverse updates

Could AI wipe out software engineers? In episode 28 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Chris Hay, Kaoutar El Maghraoui and Shobhit Varshney to discuss updates from the GitHub Octoverse, SearchGPT and Big Sleep!

 

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1 November | Episode 27 The future of agents, AI energy consumption, Anthropic's computer use and Google watermarking AI

Agents, agents, and more agents! In episode 27 of Mixture of Experts, host Tim Hwang is joined by Volkmar Uhlig and Vyoma Gajjar to discuss Google’s AI-generated text watermarks. They also discuss AI energy consumption, Anthropic’s release of computer use and the future of AI agents.

 

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About the series

Join Malcolm Gladwell, author and host of Revisionist History, and hosts from your favorite Pushkin Industries podcasts, as they talk to visionaries who are creatively applying technology in business to drive change, and transforming their industries.

This season, we’re diving back into the world of artificial intelligence, but with a focus on the powerful concept of ‘open’ - its possibilities, implications, and misconceptions. We'll look at openness from a variety of angles and explore how the concept is already reshaping industries, ways of doing business, and our very notion of what's possible.

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AI for business Responsible AI AI Across Industries AI Models

Explore more Smart Talks

Can't get enough of Smart Talks? Explore Seasons 2-4 below.

DeepSeek’s reasoning AI shows power of small models, efficiently trained

Why all the buzz? A so-called “reasoning model,” DeepSeek-R1 is a digital assistant that performs as well as OpenAI’s o1 on certain AI benchmarks for math and coding tasks, was trained with far fewer chips and is approximately 96% cheaper to use, according to the company.

Continue reading
AI in Action

There’s a lot of hype about what AI can do, but how do we actually use AI to build experiences? In this series, our host Albert Lawrence and business leaders and IBM technologists bypass the theoretical rhetoric and show you how to put AI into practice.

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Smart Talks with IBM

Get inspired by conversations between people who are at the forefront of innovation. Tune in to hear Malcolm Gladwell—one of the world’s most renowned thinkers and writers in social science—talk to leaders about technology that can transform your business.

Listen now
AI Academy

Watch AI Academy, a new flagship AI for business educational experience. Gain insights from top IBM thought leaders on effectively prioritizing the AI investments that can drive growth, through a course designed for business leaders such as yourself.

Explore the curriculum
Transformers

Hosted by Ann Funai, CIO and VP of Business Platforms Transformation at IBM, Transformers takes you behind the scenes and screens of today’s transformative leaders. Explore their real-world challenges, inspiring lessons and practical best practices. From personal transformations to the transformative influences around them, Ann and her guests explore what it truly means to be transformers.

Watch now
DeepSeek’s reasoning AI shows power of small models, efficiently trained

Why all the buzz? A so-called “reasoning model,” DeepSeek-R1 is a digital assistant that performs as well as OpenAI’s o1 on certain AI benchmarks for math and coding tasks, was trained with far fewer chips and is approximately 96% cheaper to use, according to the company.

Continue reading
AI in Action

There’s a lot of hype about what AI can do, but how do we actually use AI to build experiences? In this series, our host Albert Lawrence and business leaders and IBM technologists bypass the theoretical rhetoric and show you how to put AI into practice.

Listen now
Smart Talks with IBM

Get inspired by conversations between people who are at the forefront of innovation. Tune in to hear Malcolm Gladwell—one of the world’s most renowned thinkers and writers in social science—talk to leaders about technology that can transform your business.

Listen now
AI Academy

Watch AI Academy, a new flagship AI for business educational experience. Gain insights from top IBM thought leaders on effectively prioritizing the AI investments that can drive growth, through a course designed for business leaders such as yourself.

Explore the curriculum
Transformers

Hosted by Ann Funai, CIO and VP of Business Platforms Transformation at IBM, Transformers takes you behind the scenes and screens of today’s transformative leaders. Explore their real-world challenges, inspiring lessons and practical best practices. From personal transformations to the transformative influences around them, Ann and her guests explore what it truly means to be transformers.

Watch now
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