News/Leadership
Vatican embraces AI under Pope Leo XIV with continued HolyDeeds partnership
He's only partly skeptical. The Vatican's digital transformation accelerates as Pope Leo XIV endorses AI and immersive technology for spiritual outreach in his first address to the College of Cardinals. This significant shift builds on the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Pope Francis, who partnered with UK tech startup HolyDeeds on "The Immersive Faith Project" before his passing in April. The Catholic Church's embrace of digital evangelization represents a strategic pivot to reach younger generations through modern technological mediums while maintaining doctrinal integrity. The big picture: The Vatican is embracing digital technologies as tools for spiritual outreach, with the newly...
read May 13, 2025What Sam Altman’s choice of olive oil says about OpenAI
The Financial Times' culinary critique of Sam Altman reveals a surprisingly ordinary side of the OpenAI CEO through the lens of his kitchen habits. Beyond the humorous take on tech leadership, this satirical piece uses kitchen details as metaphors for broader observations about Altman's approach to business and technology—suggesting that how tech leaders manage their personal spaces might parallel how they run their companies. The big picture: FT journalist Bryce Elder playfully examines Sam Altman's kitchen setup, using cooking habits as a lens to humanize and subtly critique the tech CEO. The satirical piece focuses on three seemingly mundane aspects...
read May 13, 2025Stanford Professor aims to bring aviation-level safety to AI systems
Stanford aeronautics professor Mykel Kochenderfer is pioneering AI safety research for high-stakes autonomous systems, drawing parallels between aviation's remarkable safety evolution and today's AI challenges. As director of Stanford's Intelligent Systems Laboratory and a senior fellow at the Institute for Human-Centered AI, Kochenderfer develops advanced algorithms and validation methods for autonomous vehicles, drones, and air traffic systems—work that has become increasingly urgent as AI rapidly integrates into critical infrastructure and decision-making processes. The big picture: AI safety requirements vary dramatically across applications, from preventing physical collisions in autonomous vehicles to ensuring language models don't produce harmful outputs. Kochenderfer illustrates this...
read May 12, 2025IT leaders face 5 key priorities from CEOs in 2024
The evolving relationship between CEOs and CIOs reflects a fundamental shift in how technology leadership drives business strategy in 2025. As AI moves from buzzword to business imperative, chief executives are tasking their technology leaders with implementing practical AI solutions that deliver measurable value while simultaneously addressing core business challenges including customer experience, digital transformation, and security. This strategic realignment demonstrates how technology has become central to addressing both the perennial business objectives and emerging economic uncertainties facing today's enterprises. The big picture: CIO.com's 2025 State of the CIO Survey reveals that researching and implementing AI products and projects has...
read May 12, 2025AI talent exodus: 5 ways leaders can retain top employees
The AI talent drain represents a leadership challenge rather than a hiring crisis, as organizations struggle to retain machine learning engineers and data scientists despite competitive compensation and abundant job openings. While companies focus on salaries and skills shortages, the real issue stems from leadership approaches that fail to align with what AI professionals truly value: meaningful work, autonomy, and forward-thinking organizational cultures. This misalignment illuminates how outdated management practices are undermining companies' abilities to build and maintain the technical teams needed for successful AI implementation. The big picture: AI professionals aren't primarily motivated by perks or prestigious titles but...
read May 12, 2025Pope voices deep skepticism about AI technology
Pope Leo XIV's selection of his papal name reflects his concerns about artificial intelligence's social impact, drawing a direct parallel to his predecessor Pope Leo XIII who addressed labor exploitation during the Industrial Revolution. This naming choice signals the Catholic Church's position on modern technological challenges, highlighting growing concerns about AI's environmental, psychological, and ethical implications as humanity faces another technological revolution. The big picture: The newly-appointed Pope Leo XIV revealed during his first Sunday address that his papal name choice was inspired partly by concerns about artificial intelligence and its potential threats to human dignity and justice. The Pope,...
read May 12, 2025Trump claims Apple CEO backs China tariff reduction
The U.S.-China tariff suspension announced by President Trump has sparked a rally in Apple shares as the tech giant navigates complex trade relationships while expanding U.S. operations. This development comes amid ongoing pressure from the Trump administration for Apple to relocate more manufacturing to American soil, highlighting the delicate balance tech companies must maintain between global supply chains and domestic production demands. The big picture: Apple stock jumped 6% following the announcement of a 90-day suspension of most U.S.-China tariffs, outpacing the broader tech market's 3% gain. President Trump claimed in an Oval Office statement that he spoke with Apple...
read May 12, 2025IBM survey reveals the gap between AI investment and business results
IBM's survey of 2,000 CEOs reveals a significant reality gap in AI investment outcomes, with just 25% of initiatives delivering expected returns. Despite this shortfall, enterprises are doubling down on AI investments over the next two years, particularly in AI agents that can automate entire tasks across multiple systems. This dichotomy between underwhelming results and accelerating investment highlights both the fear of missing out driving corporate AI strategies and the complex implementation challenges enterprises face. The big picture: Only a quarter of AI initiatives have delivered the expected return on investment according to IBM's survey, revealing a stark contrast between...
read May 10, 2025New pope names AI as a major moral challenge for the church
Pope Leo XIV signals continuity with predecessors while highlighting artificial intelligence as a key challenge for Catholic social teaching. The first American pontiff, elected following Pope Francis' death, explicitly compared today's AI revolution to the industrial changes that prompted Leo XIII's landmark social encyclical in 1891. His inaugural address to cardinals revealed a leadership vision focused on continuing Francis' reforms, emphasizing synodality, dialogue with contemporary culture, and concern for marginalized communities—suggesting the Catholic Church may soon develop specific teachings on AI's implications for human dignity and labor. The big picture: Pope Leo XIV became the first American pope in Catholic...
read May 9, 2025American Express AI chief reveals strategy for lifestyle brand innovation
American Express is strategically modernizing its technology operations around AI and customer-focused innovation to differentiate itself in the financial services industry. The company's CIO outlines a progressive approach to leveraging generative AI while maintaining rigorous governance frameworks, revealing how American Express balances technological advancement with its core brand identity as both a payments company and lifestyle brand. The big picture: American Express CIO Radhakrishnan emphasizes technology's central role in delivering on the company's brand promise while working to establish the financial services provider as a technology differentiator. His comprehensive technology operation supports American Express as an integrated payments company that...
read May 9, 2025Will AI era leadership roles go the way of “Chief eCommerce Officer”?
The traditional C-suite is evolving as AI and data management become core business functions rather than specialized domains. Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) and Chief Data Officers (CDOs) may follow the path of once-prominent Chief eCommerce Officers, who disappeared once online sales became integrated throughout organizations rather than existing as separate functions. This shift suggests a future where AI literacy becomes a fundamental skill for all executives rather than the domain of dedicated leadership positions. The big picture: The specialized C-suite roles created during technological transitions often disappear as those technologies become mainstream and integrated throughout organizations. More than 29% of...
read May 9, 2025How Andy Jassy is future-proofing Amazon’s innovation engine
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's leadership approach blends startup principles with enterprise-scale management strategies, striking a balance that could shape the future of Amazon and corporate America. In a wide-ranging interview, Jassy reveals how he's transforming Amazon's culture by flattening hierarchies and requiring full-time office presence, while simultaneously pursuing ambitious AI investments across all technology layers. His emphasis on customer-focused problem-solving, organizational nimbleness, and full-stack AI development offers a roadmap for how large organizations might maintain innovation velocity in rapidly evolving markets. The big picture: Jassy is steering Amazon through significant organizational and technological transformation while attempting to preserve the company's...
read May 8, 2025Is voice-driven ambient AI our future, as Zuckerberg predicts?
The convergence of voice computing and AI represents a potential paradigm shift in personal computing, with both Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple SVP Eddy Cue pointing toward a future where typing may no longer dominate our digital interactions. This alignment between two tech giants that often clash suggests a shared vision of how AI could fundamentally transform how humans interact with technology in the coming decade. The big picture: Mark Zuckerberg highlighted at LlamaCon that voice interaction is currently "under-indexed," with 95% of digital interaction being text-based despite voice likely playing a much larger role in the future. Why...
read May 7, 2025AI could make iPhones obsolete by 2035, Apple exec suggests
Apple executive Eddy Cue's prediction about iPhones potentially becoming obsolete by 2035 highlights how AI advancements might fundamentally reshape our device ecosystem. While testifying in Google's antitrust case, Cue made this striking claim about Apple's flagship product, suggesting that significant technological disruption could dramatically alter the consumer technology landscape over the next decade. The big picture: Apple's Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue, speculated during court testimony that artificial intelligence could make iPhones unnecessary within a decade. "You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds," Cue stated during the Google antitrust trial...
read May 7, 2025AI-powered agentic analytics restores business leaders’ data trust
Business leaders are facing a growing paradox in data-driven decision-making: as data volumes increase, confidence in using that data is plummeting. This disconnect threatens effective leadership in uncertain times, but a new approach called "agentic analytics" promises to bridge this gap by pairing business users with AI agents that can automate data tasks, proactively identify patterns, and deliver insights in accessible language within existing workflows. The big picture: Business decision-makers are drowning in data while simultaneously losing faith in their ability to use it effectively, with leader confidence in data-driven decisions dropping 18% since 2023 to less than half overall....
read May 7, 2025Leaders at a loss: Fragmented data frustrates executives’ use of AI
AI's promise of productivity faces a harsh reality check as CEOs discover their data systems are simply not ready to support advanced AI initiatives. The IBM study of 2,000 CEOs across 30 countries reveals a critical disconnect between AI ambitions and the foundational data architecture needed to realize meaningful returns, highlighting the growing urgency for companies to address their fragmented information systems before expecting AI to deliver on its potential. The big picture: While 61% of CEOs are actively deploying AI agents and planning their expansion, half admit their rush to adopt new technologies has created disconnected systems that undermine...
read May 7, 2025TransUnion’s AI-driven platform transformation led by Venkat Achanta
TransUnion is transforming from a traditional credit bureau into a modern platform enterprise by consolidating its fragmented technology infrastructure. Under the leadership of Venkat Achanta, who joined after the $3.1 billion Neustar acquisition, the company has developed OneTru—a unified platform that standardizes operations across its global network spanning 30 countries and 13,000 associates. This technology modernization represents a strategic shift for the $4.5 billion company as it evolves beyond data provision to becoming an insight-driven organization powered by advanced analytics and emerging AI capabilities. The big picture: TransUnion's technology infrastructure had become unwieldy with over 20 different tech stacks resulting...
read May 7, 2025Executive Decisions: AI leadership skills essential for success in 2024
Transforming business uncertainty into opportunity is becoming an essential leadership skill in the age of artificial intelligence. As AI disruption threatens traditional business models like accounting services, leaders must adapt their mindset from panic to strategic pivoting. Understanding how to leverage AI-induced chaos as a competitive advantage is increasingly critical for executives facing technological displacement of established revenue streams and business practices. The big picture: Forbes columnist Michael Ashley explores how business leaders can transform fear-inducing AI disruption into opportunities for innovation and growth. Imagine a hypothetical scenario where an accounting firm CEO loses their largest client to AI automation,...
read May 7, 2025How Asian tech leaders are navigating the AI transformation
Asian IT leaders are showcasing powerful strategies for navigating AI transformation, offering valuable lessons as the technology reshapes industries worldwide. Companies like Tencent, Alibaba, and Samsung demonstrate how visionary leadership can leverage artificial intelligence for competitive advantage in some of the world's fastest-growing digital economies. Foster a culture of innovation: Great IT leaders create environments where experimentation and calculated risk-taking thrive, essential conditions for AI success. Tencent's co-founder Pony Ma built an innovation-driven empire by integrating AI into products like WeChat, which serves over one billion active users. Tencent's AI Lab focuses on machine learning applications in gaming, healthcare, and...
read May 5, 2025KaiPod Learning’s innovative EdTech seeks VP of Engineering
KaiPod Learning is searching for a visionary VP of Engineering to lead the development of Newton, their microschool management platform. The role involves partnering with leadership to execute the product roadmap while integrating AI technology, writing code, and building an engineering team. This opportunity highlights the growing intersection between education technology and artificial intelligence, signaling how specialized platforms are evolving to support alternative education models in the post-pandemic landscape. The big picture: KaiPod Learning is reimagining education through a microschool management platform that requires technical leadership to advance its development and AI integration. The company seeks a VP of Engineering...
read May 5, 2025AI’s inner workings baffle even top tech leaders, Anthropic CEO says
Anthropic's CEO has highlighted an uncomfortable truth about artificial intelligence development: despite rapid technological advancement, the creators of AI systems don't fully understand how they function. This admission is particularly significant as it comes from one of the industry's leaders at a time when AI capabilities continue to accelerate, raising fundamental questions about how we can responsibly develop technology we don't comprehend. The big picture: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has publicly acknowledged that AI developers lack a clear understanding of how their creations actually work, calling this gap in knowledge "essentially unprecedented in the history of technology." In an essay...
read May 5, 2025Berkshire investors reject AI and diversity initiatives
Berkshire Hathaway shareholders rejected a series of proposals related to diversity, AI oversight, and environmental reporting during the company's annual meeting, highlighting tensions between corporate governance advocates and the company's famously decentralized management approach. The voting occurred against the backdrop of Warren Buffett's unexpected announcement that he would step down as CEO by year-end, with Vice Chairman Greg Abel taking over the leadership role at one of America's most influential companies. The big picture: Shareholders voted down seven proposals requiring Berkshire to report on or oversee diversity initiatives, AI risks, and environmental activities, aligning with the board's recommendation. The rejected...
read May 2, 2025VC 3.0 and James Currier’s startup manifesto reshapes investing
Venture capital has fundamentally transformed over the past three decades, evolving from a niche industry with just 150 investment entities in 1994 to today's landscape of over 32,000 investor profiles on the NFX VC platform alone. This dramatic expansion, labeled "VC 3.0" by industry veteran James Currier, signals a shift into an era of "ubiquity" where venture funding has become a mainstream economic driver rather than a specialized financial instrument, creating new opportunities and challenges for investors and startups alike. The big picture: The venture capital industry has entered what NFX's James Currier calls "VC 3.0," representing a third major...
read May 2, 2025AI researcher Kawin Ethayarajh is redefining how AI learns from human behavior
Princeton AI researcher Kawin Ethayarajh is bridging the gap between academic theory and real-world AI deployment through his innovative work on "Behavior-Bound Machine Learning." As a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton Language and Intelligence, Ethayarajh focuses on understanding how AI operates within human systems before he transitions to his assistant professor role at UChicago Booth this summer. His research challenges traditional perspectives on AI limitations, suggesting that real-world performance is often constrained more by human behavior than by technical capabilities. The big picture: Ethayarajh's research centers on making AI systems more effective by considering how they interact with human behavior rather...
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