Artificial Intelligence isn’t just reshaping technology — it is reshaping leadership.
In this episode, former Google strategist Louisa Loran joins Dietmar Fischer to explore how leaders can adapt, evolve, and thrive in an age defined by rapid AI acceleration.

Louisa shares her journey across Moët Hennessy, Maersk, and Google, revealing why the biggest barrier to meaningful AI adoption isn’t technology but leadership behavior, culture, and the willingness to unlearn. She explains why strategy must come before tools, how organizations waste months chasing the wrong use cases, and why AI doesn’t challenge culture — it scales it.

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This conversation offers a clear and practical blueprint for anyone leading teams, shaping strategy, or trying to stay relevant in an AI-enabled world.

In this episode you will learn:

• How leaders can build an effective AI leadership mindset

• Why organizations waste time on “AI use-case lists”

• How generative AI distorted expectations across industries

• How to build a culture of curiosity rather than control

• Why middle management often resists AI transformation

• The four elements of Louisa’s Leadership Anatomy framework

• How Louisa uses three AIs as strategic thought partners

• What AI literacy really means for modern organizations

• How Europe’s AI culture compares to the U.S.

  
  

Quotes from the Episode:
“AI doesn’t challenge culture. It scales it.”
“If you don’t unlearn, you can’t lead.”
“AI won’t replace you — but bad leadership will.”

Chapters:
00:00 Welcome & Introduction — Meet Louisa Loran
00:37 How curiosity led Louisa from Moët Hennessy to AI and Google
02:21 Early digital transformation and the roots of AI in logistics
04:46 Why strategy comes before tools — the real AI leadership lesson
07:15 The global “AI panic” and how leaders wasted 18 months on use-case lists
09:42 Rediscovering critical thinking in the AI era
11:56 Learning to lead through uncertainty and data discovery
14:33 Building a culture of curiosity instead of control
17:28 The leadership challenge: unlearning the habits of success
20:14 Lessons from Google — when inefficiency is actually innovation
23:01 How AI puts pressure on leaders and middle management
25:47 The anatomy of leadership: eyes, lungs, arms, and spine
29:42 Using three AIs as thought partners while writing a book
33:11 What AI literacy really means in organizations
36:18 Education, ethics, and the future of learning with AI
39:22 The European AI mindset vs. U.S. drive
42:15 Final insights: leading with clarity, courage, and curiosity
43:37 Where to find Louisa Loran and her book

Where to find the Guest:
Website: LouisaLoran.com
LinkedIn: Louisa Loran
Book: Leadership Anatomy in Motion (wherever you buy your books)

About Dietmar Fischer:
Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer based in Berlin. If you want to get your AI or digital marketing moving, visit Argo.berlin.

Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

📖 AI-Created Books: Chance or Threat?
In this eye-opening episode of A Beginner’s Guide to AI, Professor GePhardT unpacks the fascinating, chaotic and sometimes alarming rise of AI-generated books. From Amazon’s restrictions on AI content to the ethics of machine-written storytelling, this episode dives deep into the future of publishing and what it means for readers, writers and creators.

We explore how AI-written books are made, why platforms are overwhelmed and how readers can distinguish human creativity from machine-made text. You’ll hear surprising real-world cases, including the Clarkesworld shutdown and the now-infamous “82% AI-written” herbal remedy category on Amazon.

📌 What you’ll learn:

• How AI book generation actually works

• Why AI is both a creative partner and a creative threat

• The risks of misinformation in AI-written books

• How to spot an AI-generated book

• Why platforms like Amazon are tightening their rules

• The future of authorship in an AI-saturated world

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Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes — don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: beginnersguide.nl
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Quotes from the Episode

• “A book is more than content; it’s a relationship between the mind that wrote it and the mind that reads it.”

• “AI doesn’t dream, doubt or desire — it just predicts what comes next.”

• “AI can help creativity bloom, but it can also bury real voices under mountains of machine-written noise.”

🧑🏻 About Dietmar Fischer
Dietmar is a podcaster and AI marketer from Berlin. If you want to kickstart your AI or digital marketing journey, he’s your guy!

You can find him at Argoberlin.com

🎧 Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

// This is a repost of a great episode - and why, you ask yourself, did he not publish a new episode? Because you are nearly the only one listening to my podcast on the Thanksgiving weekend 😂

The Terminator films have profoundly shaped how society thinks about artificial intelligence. This episode analyzes concepts like artificial general intelligence through the lens of Skynet, the malevolent AI in the movies.

We explore real-world AI safety research inspired by cautionary sci-fi narratives. The episode prompts a thoughtful examination of how we can develop advanced AI that enhances humanity rather than destroying it.

With ethical, responsible innovation, we can steer the future toward an AI-enabled world that benefits all.

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Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to ⁠subscribe to our Newsletter⁠.

📧💌📧

About Dietmar Fischer

Host of Beginner’s Guide to AI. Economist and digital marketer helping teams turn AI from hype into workflows.Training, talks, and courses with thousands of participants. 🎙️

Go to ⁠argoberlin.com ⁠to see how we can help you!

This podcast was generated with the help of artificial intelligence. We do fact check with human eyes, but there might still be hallucinations in the output.

Music credit: "Modern Situations by Unicorn Heads"

In this episode of A Beginner’s Guide to AI, host Dietmar Fischer talks with Roman Chernin from Nebius, about how AI democratization is reshaping the enterprise world.

Roman reveals what it really takes to move from prototype LLMs to reliable, scalable AI platforms - and why most companies don’t need to train their own models to harness AI’s potential.

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Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes - don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: ⁠beginnersguide.nl⁠

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From his early years at Yandex, where machine learning quietly powered maps and search, to helping Nebius build global AI infrastructure, Roman’s story is a blueprint for how cloud platforms can make AI accessible to everyone.

He explains how Nebius Token Factory enables businesses to deploy AI applications fast, how to navigate the minefield of compliance and cost, and why real success in AI comes from better collaboration and iteration — not from “being a genius.”

🚀 Key Highlights

• What democratizing AI means for modern enterprises
• Why infrastructure scaling 10× a year forces constant reinvention
• How Nebius bridges the gap between OpenAI and open-source ecosystems
• Making AI usable for non-technical teams through better developer experience
• Why Europe still has a chance to catch up in the AI race
• How AI changes leadership, creativity, and collaboration

💡 Quotes from the Episode

“The goal isn’t to build more data centers - it’s to make AI usable for people who aren’t AI experts.”

“You don’t need your own LLM. You need a problem to solve - and the right infrastructure to do it.”

“If you want to scale a system ten times, you don’t fix it - you rewrite it.”

“Compute is becoming the new electricity, but we don’t want to be just a utility company.”

“The real bottleneck isn’t GPUs - it’s making AI usable, compliant, and cost-efficient for real businesses.”

“We can’t forbid AI use; it’s already here. The real challenge is helping society adapt fast enough.”

🧾 Chapters

00:00 Introduction - Welcoming Roman Chernin to the show
00:28 Why AI? Roman’s early journey and Yandex years
01:24 What Nebius does: Building AI infrastructure for builders
03:02 The challenge of scaling AI infrastructure 10× per year
05:06 From utility computing to full-stack AI platforms
07:15 Why developer experience matters for AI growth
09:45 How enterprises move from OpenAI to open-source models
12:10 Compliance, data sovereignty, and enterprise security
14:55 Cost, latency, and optimization challenges in AI scaling
16:50 Which industries are adopting AI fastest
18:40 Democratizing AI for mid-sized businesses
19:35 Nebius Token Factory: Enabling custom AI APIs
22:14 Open-source vs closed models - the real trade-offs
26:03 The U.S. vs. European AI market and regulation
31:20 How governments can drive AI demand (not just infrastructure)
33:58 How AI changes leadership, creativity, and collaboration
37:40 Why iteration beats genius - and how AI accelerates it
38:56 Roman’s personal “wow moment” with AI video generation
40:55 The real risks of AI - and how fast society must adapt
43:35 Final thoughts and where to find Nebius and Roman

Where to Find Roman Chernin and Nebius

• Nebius Website
• Nebius Token Factory
• Roman Chernin on LinkedIn

Music Credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads

Human-Centered AI at Work with Monica Marquez: A Practical Adoption Playbook

If you’re still treating AI like a shiny gadget, this episode will be a polite intervention.Monica Marquez (Flipwork) shows how to build a human-centered AI adoption playbook that actually sticks.We dig into AI as a partner, not a tool; psychological safety for teams; and the one-workflow-per-month rule that turns experimentation into measurable AI ROI.You’ll learn how to avoid work slop, build agentic workflows, and translate machine output into authentic intelligence that reflects your expertise. 🤖

What you’ll learn

• Shift identity first: “I experiment with AI daily.”
• Redesign workflows before adding tools.
• Create psychological safety so teams can try, fail, and improve.
• Kill work slop and layer your context for quality.
• Build agentic workflows that scale judgment and consistency.
• Track time saved and quality gains to prove ROI.

📧💌📧 Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes, don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter.📧💌📧

Quotes from the Episode

• “The real danger isn’t killer robots. It’s disengaged humans.”
• “Don’t ship work slop. Turn artificial intelligence into your authentic intelligence.”
• “Redesign your workflow first, then layer AI. Otherwise you just automate the old mess.”
• “Stop treating AI like a tool. Treat it like a partner.”
• “Adoption starts with identity: I experiment with AI every day.”
• “Use AI for five-dollar tasks so you can solve five-thousand-dollar problems.”

Chapters

00:00 Welcome, who is Monica Marquez and what is Flipwork

02:59 AI as a partner, not a tool

05:34 Practical example: recruiting, prompts, and human judgment

07:02 Generational beliefs, “artificial intern,” and mindset shifts

11:24 From effort to impact: redefining success with AI

12:46 Redesigning workflows before layering AI

14:44 Psychological safety and daily experiments

16:55 Leaders model usage, run side-by-side experiments

18:37 Avoiding “work slop” and building authentic intelligence

21:44 Doing more of your “zone of genius” with AI

24:39 The one-workflow-per-month rule

29:25 Industry adoption patterns, lessons from Blockbuster vs Netflix

33:12 Personal AI use cases and voice-based workflows

36:32 Matrix, Terminator, and Monica’s real fear: disengaged humans

37:58 Where to find Monica and Flipwork

Where to find Monica Marquez

• Her Agency: Flipwork
• Monica’s site: themonicamarquez.com
• Newsletter: Ay Ay Ay, AI

• 
  

About Dietmar Fischer

Host of Beginner’s Guide to AI. Economist and digital marketer helping teams turn AI from hype into workflows.Training, talks, and courses with thousands of participants. 🎙️

Go to argoberlin.com to see how we can help you!

Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads 🎵

AI’s Biggest Secret: It’s Addicted to Being Average

Large Language Models are masters of fluency but victims of probability. In this episode, Professor GePhardT unpacks why averaging—inside embeddings, attention mechanisms, and token probabilities—quietly drains AI of originality. Through humour, insight, and one brilliant case study from the University of Tübingen, we explore how “safe” AI outputs create the illusion of intelligence while smothering creativity.

From mathematical foundations to philosophical implications, this episode challenges listeners to rethink what “intelligence” really means — and to look for brilliance not in the middle, but at the edges.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Why LLMs default to safe, predictable outputs

• How averaging erases nuance in AI

• Real-world evidence of AI’s blind spots in reasoning

• Techniques to push models beyond the middle ground

  
  

📧💌📧
Tune in to get my thoughts and all episodes — and don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter: beginnersguide.nl
📧💌📧

💡 Quotes from the Episode:

1. “AI doesn’t need to be smarter. It needs to be braver.”

2. “The tragedy of the average is that it sounds right but feels wrong.”

3. “A bold sentence is an act of rebellion against probability.”

Where to find Professor Gephardt:
🌐 We help you figure out your AI game: argoberlin.com

Music credit: “Modern Situations” by Unicorn Heads 🎵

AI tools for business coaching are transforming how leaders and professionals unlock performance and personal growth.

In this episode of Beginner’s Guide to AI, Lisa Turner of CETfreedom joins Dietmar Fischer to share real-world strategies and 40+ actionable AI tools that help coaches, entrepreneurs, and business leaders boost results.

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Ready to take your business to the next level? Subscribe for more AI strategies, share your questions in the comments, and visit our website for free resources. Don’t miss exclusive content in our newsletter—sign up today: beginnersguide.nl

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Learn how practical AI can revolutionize business processes, streamline leadership, and enhance productivity.

Whether you want to overcome procrastination, empower your team, or drive personal development, this episode delivers proven approaches and expert insights.

💡 Key takeaways:
• Learn top AI tools for business coaching
• Discover AI techniques to beat imposter syndrome
• Explore AI strategies for leadership development
• Find practical uses for AI in personal growth
• See real examples of AI-ified coaching processes

🧾 Chapters (experimental):
00:00 – Welcome & Guest Introduction
02:30 – Why AI? Lisa’s Journey from Engineering to Coaching
07:10 – First Steps with AI: Overcoming Skepticism
12:00 – Building 40+ AI Tools for Coaches
18:45 – Busting Procrastination & Limiting Beliefs with AI
24:20 – Empowering Leadership & Journaling via AI
30:00 – The “Doctor Who” Mindset for Innovation
35:15 – Trends: How Coaches Use AI in 202540:05 – Final Insights & Where to Find Lisa

👉 Quotes:
• "I found a way to AI-ify personal growth and leadership tools for real business results."

• "If you want to grow fast, you have to experiment boldly with new technology."

🔗 Where to find Lisa Turner:

Go to Lisa's website and get a free book (a real one!) at: www.cetfreedom.com

👩 Or follow Lisa on social media:
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@cetfreedom
Instagram: www.instagram.com/cetfreedom
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cetfreedom
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cetfreedom

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🎵 Music credit: "Modern Situations" by Unicorn Heads