Maribel Lopez, Founder of Lopez Research, is one of the people you most want in your corner as a technology leader. She’s a trusted advisor to senior executives from startups to the largest global businesses, and has deep expertise in AI, cybersecurity, and customer experience transformation. But beyond her bonafides, Maribel is clear-eyed and practical about technology change, what leaders need to do to be successful, and why. In this episode, Susan and Maribel discuss why she believes the AI platform shift is different, why the data challenge is more meaningful in an AI world, her advice on building a strong technology foundation, and the unprecedented ability we now have to explore the art of the possible.

Watch this episode on YouTube >⁠

Guest: ⁠Maribel Lopez⁠ | ⁠Lopez Research⁠

Related: ⁠The AI with Maribel Lopez Podcast⁠ | ⁠AI with Maribel on YouTube⁠

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Host: ⁠Susan Etlinger⁠

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

Great minds think alike—or do they? In this episode, Susan speaks with Hiren Shukla, Global Neurodiversity and Inclusive Value Leader, Ernst & Young LLP, about how neurodiversity—the idea that there is no single “right” way for the brain to function—is a source of compressed innovation, especially as generative AI expands the ways we interact with technology. Hiren discusses the mission of the Neurodiversity Center of Excellence (NCoE) and how his work has intersected with his personal journey. He shares examples of recent projects, from designing more inclusive interview experiences to collaborating with neurodivergent developers on the user experience for Azure AI Foundry. Finally, Hiren shares advice for leaders: to learn about and embrace the innovation potential of neurodiversity: what he calls “the beautiful capacity of thinking differently.”

Guest: Hiren Shukla | Ernst & Young LLP, Neurodiversity Center of Excellence (NCoE)

Related: EY helps enhance the inclusivity of AI development with Azure AI

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Host: Susan Etlinger

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

Basketball is life. And like life, it’s fast, fluid, and hard to measure. It’s about movement, split-second decisions, team dynamics, fan engagement and running a great business. In this episode, Susan talks with Charlie Rohlf about how his early days as a student manager for the legendary “Coach K” and his background in computer vision prepared him for his current role as Vice President, Stats Technology Product Development of the National Basketball Association. Charlie traces the evolution of basketball analytics from a single metric—the box score—to today’s ability to capture player pose tracking data, which enables the NBA to offer unprecedented insights to its customers, teams, and fans. Finally, Charlie shares his advice for leaders: make sure everyone understands the “why” behind everything you do.

Guest: Charlie Rohlf | NBA

Learn more about the NBA app.

Related: How the NBA is innovating with cloud and AI

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Host: Susan Etlinger

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

Most of us think of generative AI in the context of text or image generation, but it’s also a powerful tool for scientific discovery. In this episode, Susan Etlinger speaks with Ade Famoti, a senior leader on the Microsoft Research Accelerator team, about what he calls “AI’s physics moment,” and why he believes generative AI feels fundamentally different from past platform shifts. Ade shares examples of the work Microsoft Research is doing to uncover the opportunities of generative AI for materials discovery—to improve energy efficiency and carbon capture, and for drug discovery, to fight disease. Ade also highlights the role of culture in building trust, informing priorities and driving adoption of emerging technologies.

Guest: ⁠Ade Famoti⁠ | ⁠Microsoft Research⁠

Learn more about ⁠AI and Materials Discovery⁠.

Learn more about ⁠AI for Science⁠.

Learn more about ⁠inorganic materials design⁠.

Host: ⁠⁠Susan Etlinger⁠⁠

Get more ⁠innovation insights⁠ from ⁠Microsoft Azure⁠.

Discover and follow other ⁠Microsoft podcasts⁠.

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

Would it surprise you that some of the most impressive generative AI innovations are happening in older, larger, highly regulated industries such as financial services? Christina Pieretti, GM of digital insights at Moody's, shares how her team-built Research Assistant, a first-of-its-kind search and analytical tool powered by generative AI. Since its launch in December 2023, Research Assistant is the product with the fastest adoption to date in Moody's history. Christina shares how Moody’s considered the opportunities of generative AI, how they engaged deeply with customers during the development process, and how they centered trust from the start—all best practices for building innovative and trustworthy products.

Guest: Cristina Pieretti | Moody's

Learn more about Research Assistant: How GenAI is rewiring financial services

Get more innovation insights from Microsoft Azure.

Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts.

Host: Susan Etlinger

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

“In many ways, the future of AI is how it’s going to empower people to be even more creative and even more expressive,” says Robby Ingebretsen, Founder and Creative Director of Pixel Lab. In this episode, Susan and Robby discuss the evolution of technology in the music industry—from Robby’s father’s early work in digital sound to the invention of the synthesizer—and how it parallels the AI platform shift. Robby shares a recent project they worked on with Coldplay, where they created an AI-powered fan remix experience that builds on the release of Coldplay’s new album, "MOON MUSiC," and its film compendium, "A Film For The Future." They discuss the process Pixel Lab used to map video content to user inputs, techniques to minimize energy consumption, and what Robby has learned by using generative AI to further his practice as a developer. This episode offers insights for any industry seeking to deepen engagement with its audiences.

Guest: ⁠Robby Ingebretsen⁠ | ⁠Pixel Lab⁠

Blog: ⁠Coldplay evolves the fan experience with Microsoft AI⁠

Related: Building AI Solutions That Drive Value

Get more ⁠innovation insights⁠ from ⁠Microsoft Azure⁠.

Discover and follow other ⁠Microsoft podcasts⁠.

Host: ⁠Susan Etlinger⁠

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

“Generative AI has done a ton for us. But where I'm also really interested is how it can help us bring together new sources of data that weren't able to be brought together before,” says Shirli Zelcer, Chief Data and Technology Officer at dentsu. Shirli shares her career journey from statistician to C-suite executive, and how it parallels the evolution of data and analytics from back-office practice to C-suite priority. She shares insights not only on the value of data for generative AI, but how generative AI is transforming the data space by helping organizations map the customer journey and better understand their needs in a trustworthy and innovative way. Finally, Shirli reminds us, “we're still so early on in this conversation—and this whole platform shift—that we haven't really even seen a lot of the impact that we're going to see in the future.”

Guest: Shirli Zelcer | dentsu

Related: Your Intelligent Data Strategy for AI

Get more innovation insights from Microsoft Azure.

Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts.

Host: Susan Etlinger

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.

“I like to think about proprietary data as an organization’s collective intelligence,” says Teresa Tung, Global Lead of Data Capability at Accenture. Teresa is a prolific inventor, holding over 225 patents and applications, and she leads the vision and strategy that ensures that Accenture is prepared for ever-changing data advancements. In this episode, Susan and Teresa discuss the changing nature of data and its value to an AI strategy. Teresa shares six insights to help organizations derive value from their proprietary data, including: the importance of unstructured data, the potential of synthetic data; why context is key for AI; data governance and security; and how generative AI can jumpstart data readiness. It’s a master class in data strategy, and a must-listen for anyone who is curious about how to get the most from their data, AI and cloud investments.

Guest: Teresa Tung | Accenture

Blog: 6 insights to make your data AI-ready, with Accenture's Teresa Tung

Get more innovation insights from Microsoft Azure.

Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts.

Host: Susan Etlinger

The Leading the Shift podcast is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's own research or positions.