SHIFT

What do you think it would be like to lead AI efforts and the overall digital transformation of the CIA? This week, we find out as we dive into a world of espionage and secrets in the latest installment of our oral history project. 

We Meet:  

Retired Deputy CIA Director for Digital Innovation Jennifer Ewbank 

Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.

This episode originally aired in October 2025.

Microsoft EVP Jason Zander on the materials breakthrough that closed the gap, how AI agents cut the roadmap in half, and why he believes quantum's real job might be to make AI smarter.

We Meet:  
Microsoft EVP of Discovery & Quantum Jason Zander 

Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.

Frank McCourt is an American executive and philanthropist. He’s also the author of  “Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age”. We talk to him about that fight before a live audience in New York City at a gathering held by the responsible technology non-profit, All Tech Is Human.
This episode originally aired in 2024.

We Meet:

Frank H. McCourt, Jr., civic entrepreneur and executive chairman of McCourt Global, founder and executive chairman of Project Liberty

Credits:

This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.

For as far as we’ve come with AI and robotics, there’s still a huge gap when it comes to combining the two. AI excels in the digital space, and in the physical world, robots are often pre-programmed. That’s where physical AI comes in. It’s critical for things that can’t tolerate the kinds of mistakes that are common in today’s statistics based AI, like self driving cars or managing the power grid. In the latest installment of our oral history project, we meet a central figure in these efforts, MIT's Daniela Rus.

We Meet:  
Daniela Rus is the Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.

The spray-and-pray approach to AI investing is dead. Join us as we discuss what it takes to stand out in a saturated market as we move beyond the hype to identify real moats and what’s next for investors in this space. 
This episode was taped before a live audience at Web Summit Vancouver. 

We meet: 
Andy McLoughlin is a seed-stage investor at Uncork Capital focused on B2B software, developer tools, and applied AI — and before VC, he co-founded Huddle, an enterprise collaboration platform that was acquired in 2016. 
George Mathew is a self-described "deep operator turned venture capitalist" at Insight Partners, with 20+ years building companies including as CEO of Kespry and President & COO of Alteryx, which he scaled through its IPO. 
Emily Fontaine leads IBM's $500 million Enterprise AI fund and quantum investing strategy — she's spent 15 years at IBM, previously serving as Executive Advocate to IBM's Chairman and CEO, and as AI Federal Leader for IBM Consulting. 

Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.