This week Laura Milstein and Kevin Albert are joined by Nick Schutt, entrepreneur, executive leader, and host of Robots and Red Tape, for a candid conversation that starts with hiring and quickly widens into how tech is reshaping work and society. Nick breaks down why even highly qualified candidates are struggling in today’s government and contracting job market, pointing to market saturation, contract cuts, and shifting priorities across federal and consulting spaces.

The conversation moves into how AI is showing up in resumes and interviews, and why that often misses the point. Nick shares his approach to hiring people rather than skill sets, arguing that personality, judgment, and cultural fit matter far more than perfectly polished, AI-assisted answers. Laura and Kevin add their own experiences managing teams and navigating the risks of overselling versus honest capability. The episode closes by zooming out to the broader impact of technology on human connection, especially for younger generations. From online-only communication to AI companions and education, the group wrestles with where tech genuinely helps and where it quietly erodes essential social skills. The takeaway is clear: AI can be a powerful tool, but it can’t replace human relationships, accountability, or lived experience.

Nick Schutt is a serial entrepreneur and executive leader who has built and scaled multiple organizations serving both government and commercial clients since founding his first company in 2016. He currently serves as President of Artemis Human Capital Management and Executive Vice President at EVLG Solutions, where he leads IT modernization, infrastructure, and advanced technology initiatives for federal, state, and local agencies. Nick is also the co-founder of Collabulations and the host of Robots and Red Tape, a podcast focused on practical, experience-driven conversations about AI, policy, and governance. The show cuts through hype to explore how AI is actually being built and used today, the real-world consequences that come with it, and the government’s evolving role as both regulator and major customer of emerging technology.

On this episode of That Tech Pod, we talk with Logan Lawler, Senior Director at Dell Technologies, about what it takes to make AI actually work in the real world. Logan shares his 16-year journey at Dell and why his focus today is less on hype and more on practical infrastructure choices that enable AI at scale.

We break down Edge AI versus Cloud AI with clear, concrete examples, including how GPU-accelerated desktops, workstations, and hybrid cloud setups can turn “that’s impossible” AI problems into manageable ones. Logan also highlights why storage, not compute, is often the biggest bottleneck, and the common mistakes organizations make when data can’t keep up with GPUs. The conversation gets into energy and sustainability, from the environmental cost of massive data centers to what it means when nuclear power and AI collide. We also explore the human side of AI: whether instant answers are making us lazier, why struggle is still essential for learning, and how that idea shows up in parenting, education, and work. We close with real-world edge AI success stories, a few cautionary tales, and some lighter moments, making this a grounded discussion on AI, infrastructure, and the tradeoffs we rarely talk about.

Logan Lawler works at Dell Technologies, where he leads strategy for Dell Pro Precision AI Solutions. Over his 16-year career at Dell, he’s worked across sales, marketing, and e-commerce, and now helps enterprises and creative studios leverage high-performance AI workstations and hybrid cloud infrastructure. A frequent speaker and media guest, Logan explains how GPU-accelerated PCs and storage solutions are transforming industries from film and animation to healthcare research. Logan was raised in Missouri and is a graduate of the University of Missouri. He now lives in Texas with his family.

This week on That Tech Pod, Laura and Kevin sit down with Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to talk about the power structures hiding in plain sight across the internet, money, surveillance, and AI. Cindy breaks down what EFF actually does and why access to the internet is not just an infrastructure problem, but a civil liberties issue that shapes who gets heard, who gets tracked, and who gets left out.

We get into how mass surveillance quietly became normal, from license plate readers to cell phone tracking, and why most people would be genuinely shocked if they saw the full picture. We also look ahead at financial surveillance, using Europe’s move toward a Digital Euro as a case study, and ask where legitimate oversight ends and control begins. On the AI front, Cindy pushes back on the idea that privacy is already lost, and explains why treating opaque systems as inevitable only benefits the most powerful actors. Cindy makes a clear case that defending digital rights does not require being a technologist or a lawyer. It starts with staying skeptical, asking hard questions, and refusing to accept tools we are not allowed to understand or challenge. That is exactly why this conversation mattered, and why we were so glad to have her on.

Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and previously served as EFF’s Legal Director and General Counsel from 2000 to 2015. She has been involved with EFF since 1993, when she served as lead outside counsel in the landmark Bernstein v. U.S. Department of Justice case, a successful First Amendment challenge to U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Her work has been widely recognized, with honors from Forbes, The National Law Journal, and The NonProfit Times for her influence in technology, law, and civil liberties. She is also the co-host of EFF’s podcast, How to Fix the Internet, and the author of Privacy’s Defender, published by MIT Press. More information about the book can be found at https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051248/privacys-defender/