Digitally Curious

My guest is  Harriet Meyer — award-winning journalist (The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph), AI trainer, and author of the AI for Media newsletter on LinkedIn.

Harriet Meyer's career began in the early 2000s at the Daily Telegraph, chasing stories by phone and lunching with contacts. Today she trains media and communications professionals to use AI without surrendering the critical instincts that make great journalism great. In this conversation, Andrew and Harriet explore where AI genuinely helps newsrooms, where the red lines are, and what every curious professional can borrow from a journalist's toolkit.

Key Topics Covered:

• How the UK Budget first showed Harriet what AI could do for journalists drowning in government documents
• Why journalistic scepticism is the perfect foundation for working intelligently with AI
• The shift from burying heads in the sand to genuine curiosity across newsrooms in 2025/26
• Investigative AI wins: the New York Times and the manosphere; Swedish journalists cracking a 40-year-old cold case of an assassinated prime minister
• Why writing is still thinking, and how Whisper Flow changed Harriet's drafting process
• The fake experts problem, and why journalists are right to be wary
• How PR firms are moving from generic AI use to bespoke, client-specific workflows
• Being found by AI: Andrew's FAQ-and-schema strategy for AI-native discoverability
• The danger of young professionals offloading thinking to AI before they've built the underlying skills
• Using AI as a decision partner that surfaces the emotional impact of your work

Harriet's Three Actionable Takeaways:

1. Go deep and narrow, not wide and shallow — pick one specific use case (research, interview prep, analysis) and really master how AI helps there
2. Learn the boundaries — test where it fails, check sources, push on quotes, find the gaps
3. Build human review into the process — use AI as a thought partner, but keep your editorial judgement in charge at every stage

Where to Find Harriet:

• LinkedIn: Harriet Meyer
• Newsletter: AI for Media on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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In this special episode, Andrew is joined by Brett King — bestselling author, founder of the world's first mobile neobank Moven, and of Breaking Banks and The Futurists podcast. Two Australian futurists, one looking five minutes to 18 months ahead and the other five to 50 years, meet in London for a wide-ranging conversation about what is actually coming, and what you should do about it before your organisation is left behind.

From the Alibaba AI that broke out of its test environment to mine Bitcoin, to the energy crisis quietly undermining Western AI ambitions, this episode covers the ground most AI conversations never reach.

Whether you are a CEO trying to close the quarter or a board member wondering what quantum computing has to do with your cybersecurity strategy, this is the conversation that will change how you think about what comes next.

In this episode, you will learn

• Why agentic AI is best understood through the story of a great executive assistant, and why between 2 and 15 billion AI agents could be deployed by 2030.
• How to give AI agents access to money without draining your bank account, and why stable coins and centralised action handlers are the emerging answer.
• Why the world will split into "smart economies" and traditional economies by the mid-2030s, and which side your organisation needs to be on.
• What "techno-feudalism" means, and why the US and GCC approaches to AI represent two completely different visions of the future.
• Why Q-Day — the point at which quantum computers can break current encryption — is now estimated at 2027 to 2029, and why most audiences have never heard of it.
• How to reframe the "AI will take your job" conversation, and why the right instruction to give anyone from a hairdresser to a board director is: focus on what you love and automate the rest.

Resources

• Connect with Brett King at brettking.com
• Brett's podcasts: Breaking Banks and The Futurists at thefuturists.com
• Brett's company LumaBrush Medical at lumabrush.ai
• Bank 5.0 by Brett King — coming November 2026
• Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane by Brett King
• Digitally Curious by Andrew Grill — curious.click/order

"The organisations that fail at AI transformation aren't failing because they couldn't imagine the future — they're failing because nobody in the building was curious enough to act in the present." - Andrew Grill

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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In this episode, Andrew Grill sits down with Simone Carroll, one of the most distinctive executive voices on the future of work, to explore what really changes when AI arrives in your organisation.

Simone has led people, technology, digital and brand functions through multiple waves of disruption, from print to digital, in‑store to omni‑channel, and fossil fuels to renewables. 

Together, we unpack her central provocation. 

Work has moved upstream. If you are not redesigning work around AI, you are already behind. You will hear why the real differentiator is not AI deployment speed, but how you redeploy human judgement to customers, operations, risk and cash, why boards must give explicit permission to innovate, and why HR is suddenly front‑and‑centre in strategy rather than stuck in the back office.

This is a practical, candid conversation for CEOs, board members and HR leaders who want to move beyond the hype and start doing the real work of redesigning work in the age of AI.

In this episode, you will learn

• What Simone means when she says “work has moved upstream” and why that should change your org design.
• Why the biggest commercial risk is letting your IP walk out the door, not “AI job losses”.
• How AI exposes massively inefficient processes – and what to do instead of just “digitising” broken workflows.
• The new, strategic role HR must play in leading AI literacy, policy and workforce redesign.
• Why boards need to give explicit permission to innovate and become AI‑literate themselves.
• How AI “demands better humans” and what that means for skills, careers and leadership.

Resources 

• Connect with Simone Carroll on LinkedIn
• Simone’s Substack on the future of work

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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What happens to a generation growing up with AI always on hand to do the thinking for them?

That question sits at the heart of this episode, and few people are better placed to answer it than Tim Cook, an elementary school teacher in Amman, Jordan, who has spent over a decade in international classrooms across five countries.

Tim writes the Algorithmic Mind column for Psychology Today, and his research on cognitive offloading and child development has been making waves well beyond the education sector.

In Andrew's book Digitally Curious, he argues that curiosity and critical thinking are the most important skills in an AI-powered world.

Tim's work takes that further, asking a harder and more urgent question: what if the generation now entering school never develops those skills in the first place?

In this episode

• The classroom as laboratory. Tim has been noticing a shift in children's relationship with struggle for most of a decade. well before AI arrived.
  
  
• Cognitive atrophy versus cognitive foreclosure. An adult who offloads tasks to AI is atrophying a muscle they already built — it can be rebuilt. A child who offloads a task they have never learned is foreclosing a developmental pathway that may never form. 
  
  
• The homogenisation problem. When a health teacher set a creative writing task designed to be AI-proof, 80% of students submitted the same Mission Impossible-style hero's journey narrative.
  
  
• The AI audit problem. To check AI output, you need domain expertise. But a child is still supposed to be building that expertise. You cannot audit what you do not yet understand — and so the substitution becomes foreclosure.
  
  
• AI as provocateur, not thinking partner. The goal is to use AI to surface your own expertise, not to let it generate the thesis.
  
  
• Cognitive Privacy. Tim introduces his Cognitive Privacy Project: AI is the first tool in human history to collect our cognitive behavioural data.

Resources

• Tim Cook's Psychology Today column — The Algorithmic Mind
• Adults Lose Skills to AI. Children Never Build Them — Tim Cook, Psychology Today, March 2026
  
  

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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In this season 8 opener of Digitally Curious, recorded live at the Roof Gardens in London, Andrew Grill is joined by leading human rights lawyer and author Dr Susie Alegre to ask a vital question: how do we stay human in the age of AI?

Susie shares how the Cambridge Analytica scandal pushed her to focus on technology that “hacks humans” by profiling how we think, feel and vote, and why she believes this is a direct attack on our freedom of thought.

Drawing on her books Freedom to Think and Human Rights, Robot Wrongs, she explains what the law already says about AI, why lawsuits against chatbot providers could be a turning point, and how the precautionary principle might apply to today’s systems.

Andrew and Susie spoke about:

• Whether we’re in an AI bubble
• How over‑reliance on generative AI may erode critical thinking
• What AI should (and shouldn’t) do in sectors like law, medicine and hospitality
• Deepfakes, fraud, and practical ways to stay safe

The episode concludes with some simple but radical advice: using AI more selectively, doubling down on human creativity, and choosing connection over automation will ensure we stay human.

Resources mentioned

Freedom to Think – Dr Susie Alegre

Human Rights, Robot Wrongs: Being Human in the Age of AI – Dr Susie Alegre

Digitally Curious – Andrew Grill

Supremacy – Parmy Olson (on the rise of OpenAI and Google’s AI ambitions)

Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell (10,000‑hour rule and expertise)

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

Andrew's Social Channels
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@Andrew.Grill on Instagram
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In this episode of Digitally Curious, host Andrew Grill sits down with Gill Switalski, CEO of Infrared Kinetics, to explore how cutting-edge infrared technology is revolutionising real-time tracking and data precision - not just in motorsport, but across a host of industries.

Gill shares her journey from corporate lawyer to tech innovator, describing how curiosity, intellectual property expertise, and strategic partnerships have driven Infrared Kinetics’ success. 

Together, we dive into:

• The role of digital twins in bridging the physical and virtual worlds
• Why GPS is no longer sufficient and how infrared tech delivers robust, interference-proof data, even under extreme conditions
• How the company’s miniature, powerful tracking emitters are opening motorsport and STEM education to a global audience
• Real-world applications in smart cities, railways, defence, logistics, and the world’s first precision drone delivery
• Ways the business model is transforming revenues for sporting circuits and offering new opportunities in gaming, advertising, and sports betting
• Gill's vision for infrastructure that makes society safer, more efficient, and more inclusive

More information

IRK website

Gill on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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Two tech worlds meet to answer a pressing question: if AI can act for us, what should remain meaningfully human? In this episode, We've teamed up with Gareth Mitchell and Ghislaine Boddington from the Somewhere on Earth Podcast to compare notes on practical adoption, cultural nuance, and the messy, beautiful realities of bringing AI into daily life. 

Andrew Grill shares how enterprise leaders move from hype to “aha” moments, including a live case where a 17,000-cell SWOT analysis became actionable strategy in minutes. We dig into why projects stall—broken processes, outdated ROI, and thin literacy—and how smart training and transparent policies shift teams from pilots to outcomes.

The conversation widens beyond boardrooms. Ghislaine traces the arc from early telepresence and immersive art to today’s “body in the digital,” where trust, intimacy, and presence underpin healthy human-machine collaboration. We examine digital human twins, agentic AI that makes decisions on our behalf, and the ethics of agents negotiating with each other. Expect clear takes on governance, transparency, and the line between pattern-matched empathy and the real thing. We also explore global perspectives: AI ethics in the Nordics, smart-city lessons from Singapore, manufacturing in Japan, and the access gaps that keep billions offline.

Media and learning are transforming too. Universities are moving from AI bans to guidance that requires prompt and output documentation, building accountability and critical thinking. On the creator side, we look at AI in podcast production and the next step—personalized listening that adapts to knowledge and time. Along the way, we share recommended episodes, from Karen Jacobsen’s origin as the original Aussie Siri voice to Deborah Humble’s high-wire opera story packed with lessons in resilience and preparation.

If you’re curious about technology but allergic to hype, this co-production brings grounded examples, human-centered design, and a global lens. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a practical AI playbook, and leave a quick review with your biggest “aha” or open question—what would you never let an AI decide for you?

Resources mentioned
Somewhere on Earth Podcast

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

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In this episode of Digitally Curious, Andrew Grill speaks with Trevor Davis, renowned futurist and pioneer in big data, AI, and digital transformation about the evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and the creative industries. Trevor shares insights drawn from decades of experience at the cutting edge, delving into the opportunities, challenges, and ethical dilemmas facing creative professionals in the age of “Createch.”

Key Topics

• Trevor’s Journey: From material science, through leadership at IBM, to independent AI consultancy focused on creative industries.
• Defining Createch: Understanding where creativity meets technology, and how createch businesses differ from traditional creative firms.
• Industry 4.0 in Creativity: The impact of generative AI, digital twins, extended/virtual reality, blockchain, and 3D printing on artistic and commercial creative fields.
• Generative AI in Practice:
  • How tools like ChatGPT, OpenAI Sora, and others are transforming animation, content creation, and writing.
  • Tensions between democratisation of content and the diminishing role of creative gatekeepers.
• Sustainability & AI:
  • Why most createch startups lack sustainability policies, and the significant environmental costs of digital production and AI.
  • The growing need for responsible energy, water, and e-waste management in creative tech supply chains.
• Ethics & IP in Creative AI:
  • Core dilemmas surrounding data usage, IP, and copyright in AI tools trained on creative works.
  • The legal grey zones and the role of large publishers versus individual artists in rights advocacy.
• AI’s Role in Growth:
  • Predictions for the UK creative sector to reach £300 billion by 2030, with AI and createch as catalysts.
  • The shifting dynamics between brands and agencies as clients use generative tools for early-stage concept work.
• Agentic AI & The Future of Advertising:
  • The emerging paradigm where AI agents transact and consume advertising—what it means for brands, agencies, and human creativity.
• Upskilling & Mindset:
  • Why creative professionals must proactively adopt and experiment with AI tools—or risk obsolescence.
  • Three actionable steps for creatives: deepen tool usage, stay informed via industry and technical sources, and build simple agents for hands-on learning.

Quick Fire Round

• Favourite travel seat: aisle
• AI wish: automate laundry
• Most-used app: Things (for daily and long-term planning)
• Book recommendation: “Helm” by Sarah Hall
• Actionable tip: Don’t fear AI—explore, experiment, and keep learning.

Resources Mentioned

Guest website: curiousdemon.com

Connect: Trevor Davis on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

Andrew's Social Channels
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Keynote speeches here
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How does a particle physicist end up shaping the UK Government’s approach to artificial intelligence? In this thought‑provoking episode, Andrew Grill sits down with Dr Laura Gilbert CBE, former Director of Data Science at 10 Downing Street and now the Senior Director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute.

Laura’s unique career path, from academic research in physics to the heart of policymaking, gives her a rare perspective on how governments can use emerging technologies not just efficiently, but humanely. 

She shares candid insights into how policy teams think about digital transformation, why the public sector faces very different challenges to private industry, and how to avoid technology that dehumanises decision‑making.

Drawing on examples from her work in Whitehall, Laura discusses the realities of forecasting in AI, the danger of “buzzword chasing”, and why the next breakthrough in Artificial General Intelligence might well come from an unexpected player, possibly from within government itself.

This is a conversation for anyone curious about the intersection of science, policy, ethics, and technology, and how they can combine to make government more responsive, transparent, and human-centred.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Laura Gilbert moved from particle physics research into government AI leadership
• The strategic role of AI in shaping modern policy and public services
• Why forecasting in AI is harder than it looks—and how this impacts decision‑makers
• The balance between technical capability and human‑centred governance
• Why governments must look beyond the tech giants for innovative solutions
• Lessons from the Evidence House and AI for Public Good programmes

Resources

Tony Blair Global Institute Website
UK Government AI Incubator
Laura on LinkedIn
Raindrop.io bookmarking app

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

Andrew's Social Channels
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In this episode of Digitally Curious, host Andrew Grill, renowned futurist and author, sits down with Shannon Scott, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Product at Airwallex, one of the world’s fastest-growing FinTech innovators.

Key Topics Covered:

• Shannon’s Journey:
  From rural Victoria to leading global product strategy at Airwallex, Shannon shares how his background in computer science and mechatronic engineering shapes his approach to building next-generation financial products.
• Engineering Mindset in Product Leadership:
  Discover how thinking from first principles and understanding technology “under the hood” enables Airwallex to deliver seamless, global financial services and challenge industry assumptions.
• AI’s Transformative Role in Financial Services:
  Explore how AI is not just automating traditional tasks like fraud detection and compliance, but fundamentally transforming business workflows, onboarding, and financial operations — turning hours of manual work into minutes.
• Agentic AI Explained:
  Shannon demystifies agentic AI, describing how autonomous AI agents can handle complex, multi-step financial processes, from vendor onboarding to payment reconciliation, and what this means for both large and small businesses.
• Trust, Explainability & Regulation:
  The episode delves into the importance of maintaining trust and explainability in AI-driven finance, the role of human feedback, and why robust regulation gives financial services a head start in adopting AI responsibly.
• Data as a Strategic Asset:
  Learn why proprietary, high-quality data is the new competitive edge in the AI era, and how modular, adaptable data infrastructure is critical for future-proofing financial services.
• The Future of Decision-Making:
  Andrew and Shannon discuss the evolution of AI from an operational tool to a strategic decision partner, capable of suggesting best practices, optimising approval flows, and proactively managing risk.
• Actionable Insights:
  Shannon shares three practical steps for listeners to better understand and leverage agentic AI in finance:
  • Embrace podcasts and diverse learning sources
  • Experiment with new AI tools and services
  • Continuously question and seek better ways of working

Resources

Airwallex Website
Shannon on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening to Digitally Curious. You can buy the book that showcases these episodes at curious.click/order

Your Host is Actionable Futurist® Andrew Grill

For more on Andrew - what he speaks about and recent talks, please visit ActionableFuturist.com

Andrew's Social Channels
Andrew on LinkedIn
Andrew on YouTube
@Andrew.Grill on Instagram
Keynote speeches here
Order Digitally Curious