AI is reshaping public services, from Medicaid eligibility to behavioral health treatment planning, but the biggest shift isn’t automation. It’s the rising importance of human judgment, governance, and critical thinking in a world flooded with machine-generated information.

In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Connor Norwood, Founder & CEO of Delineate LLC, to explore how government, healthcare systems, and consulting firms are navigating AI adoption while protecting public trust and human responsibility.

Connor brings a rare lens: academic researcher → state CDO → COVID-19 multi-agency data leader → founder. His perspective on AI governance, health workforce shortages, legal liability, and expert-human augmentation is one every tech leader needs to hear.

🔑 Key Themes

- Why critical thinking becomes the most important workforce skill in an AI-first world

- Why AI will replace some jobs, but will create entirely new ones that require reskilling

- How expert-human augmentation can ease the mental health provider shortage

- The hidden risk for companies that “ban AI” but don’t create policies

- Why public sector AI adoption is slowed by outdated statutes and risk-averse incentives

- How AI changes discovery, research, and consulting workflows

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Opening highlight

01:02 — Introduction to Connor Norwood & Delineate

01:58 — From pre-med → academia → state government → data leadership

04:28 — The origins of Delineate & the art of data storytelling

06:39 — Why executives need narrative clarity, not more dashboards

09:44 — What “tuning your message to the audience” really means

10:52 — What Delineate does today (government + sports + healthcare + AI)

12:55 — AI governance: why orgs can’t put their head in the sand

13:03 — Expert human augmentation in healthcare

15:26 — How clinicians perceive AI (and why definitions matter)

18:48 — The fragmented regulatory landscape

21:12 — Government constraints: legacy rules, risk tolerance, budget cycles

23:34 — Why efficiency in public services matters

26:23 — How Delineate uses AI to accelerate research & discovery

28:21 — Are jobs being replaced? Connor’s view on job creation & reskilling

30:38 — Why critical thinking still matters more than ever

31:24 — Legal liability: AI outputs, copyright, and the black box

34:03 — Why proactive guardrails matter

36:17 — Creating realistic AI policies in organizations

36:45 — Connor’s vision for improving public service with AI

38:17 — Where to find Connor

38:33 — Closing

🔗 Resources

Delineate LLC: https://delineateconsulting.com

Connect with Connor: http://www.linkedin.com/in/connorwnorwood

Chris Fanchi / Big North: https://bignorthnetwork.com

📘 Order Chris’s Book — Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work

Available Now!

👉 https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai

“Most titles will remain. What will change is what people do within those titles.”

In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi talks with Chandan Maruti (CEO of Twig.so) about using agentic AI to scale customer support and success without sacrificing empathy. Twig acts like a coworker for support agents, handling instant answers and triage so humans can focus on pattern-finding, prevention, and relationships.

We cover:

- Why CS/S roles won’t disappear, but will become far more strategic as AI takes the repetitive load.

- The “thousand CSMs” idea: sensing problems earlier across every user interaction.

- Agentic support: AI handles, escalates, and routes while humans oversee and tackle the hard cases.

- Measuring value with a 7-dimension evaluation to avoid AI oversell/undersell traps.

- What a “perfect AI–human hybrid” support team looks like in the next 2–4 years.

Chapters

00:00 — Opening highlight (roles change, not titles)

00:48 — Intro: Twig as an AI coworker for support agents

03:04 — Chandan’s path: engineering → Lambda School → CS leadership

05:44 — The CS pain: high cost, limited bandwidth, slow signal flow

10:17 — “A thousand CSMs”: using AI to listen, sense, escalate early

12:21 — Retention by rigor: the 7-metric outcome framework

16:12 — Humans stay: AI does the repetitive, people do prevention & relationships

19:23 — Next step: from data deluge to actionable signals for CSMs

23:54 — Agentic tools and distributable expertise (runnable knowledge)

36:34 — The ideal AI–human hybrid support org (instant response, smart triage)

38:01 — Where to find Twig + outcomes-first mindset

Resources

Twig.so — outcomes-first AI for support & success: https://www.twig.so

Steward your people through the AI transition with Chris Fanchi's Big North Network — https://bignorthnetwork.com

Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work (out now!)

If this episode helped you reframe human + agent workflows, dive deeper in Chris Fanchi's new book, Managing AI - a pragmatic playbook for leaders on trust, metrics, and org design in the agentic era.

Order your copy today: https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai

If every real estate agent gets AI superpowers, what still sets the best apart? For Biju Ashokan (Founder & CEO, Radius), the answer is clear: proactive AI to remove the grunt work, and human judgment to win the moment that matters. In this episode of Human Work After AI, Biju breaks down MEL, Radius’s AI assistant that builds live client personas, schedules showings, drafts offers, and acts proactively, not just reactively like most chat tools. He argues the enduring edge is interpersonal skill, negotiation, and local context, even as AI levels the playing field.What we cover (highlights):- Why Radius calls itself a software company with a brokerage license and how the model works (subscriptions + per-transaction)- How MEL gets proactive and creates a living client profile from calls, texts, email, and search behavior- Why human skills become more important when AI gives everyone similar tools (negotiation, network, local knowledge)- The future: fewer agents, more professional teams, higher throughput per agent, and likely commission compression over time- Data privacy, team-scoped AI instances, and keeping human-in-the-loop for liability and quality controlBiju’s ultimate takeaway about AI: the same thing that excites him about AI also scares him - the unknowns of the next 10 years of work.Chapters00:00 – Highlight: “Interpersonal skills will stand out when AI levels the field.”02:49 – Software company with a brokerage license03:15 – Vision, then AI’s 360° rethink of real estate software04:29 – Research first: six months inside agent offices; hiring lessons08:17 – Agents want independence; Radius builds the infra to enable it10:27 – Where AI fits: repetitive workflows → MEL assistant12:03 – From reactive to proactive: MEL books showings, sends CMAs13:55 – What stays human: negotiation, network, local context15:44 – GTM update: 100+ brokerages, 1,000+ agents, new states opening16:30 – Teams growing despite a down market; time-back → growth19:20 – One platform vs. tool soup; MEL keeps data in sync21:45 – Fewer agents, more productivity; likely commission compression26:51 – Human-in-the-loop, feedback loops, liability guardrails29:49 – Final remarks: optimism and uncertainty about jobs aheadResourcesLearn more about Radius — https://radiusagent.comGrow your revenue with host Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing — https://bignorthmarketing.comConversations like this feed the new book "Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work" by Chris Fanchi — releasing November 18. Visit bignorthmarketing.com/managing-ai to learn more and pre-order today!

What happens when AI stops being a classroom distraction and starts becoming the assistant every educator needs?

In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Dr. Mohamed Farag, Founder of Analytics 4 Everyone and Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, to explore how AI can transform higher education by freeing faculty from repetitive tasks and restoring time for what matters most: teaching, mentoring, and inspiring critical thinking.

From his journey from Egypt to the U.S. to founding a company at the intersection of academia and AI, Mohamed shares lessons on innovation, resilience, and designing systems that preserve trust, privacy, and creativity in learning.

If you’re leading a team, teaching, or building AI-driven solutions, this episode is a must-listen on what it takes to bring humanity back into technology.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The Future of Teaching with AI

00:43 Introduction: Human Work After AI

01:30 Mohamed’s Journey from Egypt to Carnegie Mellon

05:00 Discovering AI’s True Potential

07:05 The Birth of Analytics 4r Everyone

08:40 Early Podcast Search Innovation

10:45 From B2C to B2B: Pivoting Toward Higher Education

12:50 Faculty Burnout and the AI Solution

14:45 Which Universities Are Adopting AI Fastest

16:45 Protecting Privacy and Intellectual Property

19:30 Building Secure, SOC 2 Certified AI Systems

21:00 Lessons from Startup to Academia

23:50 Go-to-Market Strategy and University Pilots

26:00 The Human Role in the AI-Powered University

30:10 Advice for Educators and Technologists

33:00 Closing Reflections

📚 Resources

Analytics 4 Everyone: https://a4e.tech

Connect with Mohamed: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-farag

Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

💡Looking to better manage your team through the AI transformation?

Coming November 18th, 2025, the new book "Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work" by Chris Fanchi is a deep dive into the challenges facing executives and leaders at the forefront of AI. Pre-order your copy and get a free bonus chapter today.

👉 Learn more at https://bignorthmarketing.com/managing-ai

AI is reshaping how things are made, from the shop floor to the supply chain.

In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi speaks with Zakary Smith, CEO of SensFlo, about how artificial intelligence and industrial IoT are transforming manufacturing — not by replacing workers, but by redefining how they collaborate with machines.

SensFlo’s AI-powered platform connects equipment, software, and people across global factories to improve efficiency, safety, and data transparency. Zakary shares how he’s helping manufacturers transition from fragmented operations to fully interoperable, semi-autonomous ecosystems, and what that means for the next generation of skilled labor.

They explore:

- How AI is accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing

- Why “interoperability”, not full automation, defines the smart factory

- The real opportunities (and limits) of robotics over the next decade

- How AI creates new skilled labor roles instead of erasing them

- Ethical design and data transparency in human-machine systems

Chapters

0:00 Intro – AI meets manufacturing

1:27 Zakary’s origin story: from STEM curiosity to entrepreneurship

4:37 Discovering inefficiencies on the factory floor

6:23 What SensFlo does (explained simply)

8:02 How manufacturers adopt AI today

10:25 Build vs. buy: choosing the right AI stack

13:13 Worker fear vs. executive excitement

15:45 What AI can’t yet do

17:51 Robotics and “the Optimus problem”

18:48 The rise of new skilled labor and upskilling culture

22:33 Ethical AI and data transparency

24:39 What the smart factory of the future looks like

27:28 The next phase for SensFlo

🔗 Resources

SensFlo: https://sensflo.ai

Connect with Zakary Smith: http://www.linkedin.com/in/zakarytsmith

Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

👉 If you’re a founder or tech leader navigating AI transformation, Big North Marketing helps you turn your expertise into a growth engine through podcasts, strategy, and storytelling that build real relationships.

Learn more at bignorthmarketing.com.

AI may be reshaping small business marketing, but the ones who thrive will be those who adapt.

In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi speaks with Vitaly Motuz, founder of Reviews on My Website and Text Ninja, about how he bootstrapped a SaaS company serving 3,000+ local businesses and what he’s learned about trust, automation, and human connection in a digital-first world.

They discuss how Vitaly turned a simple idea into a growing SaaS platform, why he’s cautious but optimistic about AI, and what skills will matter most as automation transforms local business operations.

🕒 Chapters

0:00 Intro – The future of jobs and adaptability

1:00 Vitaly’s origin story: From engineer to SaaS founder

5:00 Turning a simple widget into a global review platform

8:00 Doing things that don’t scale—and why it matters

10:30 Learning to let go of control as a founder

14:00 Using AI inside the product: automated review replies

17:00 How local businesses are reacting to AI

19:00 The widening gap between those who embrace and ignore AI

22:00 Why adaptability beats fear in an AI world

25:00 Human touch vs. automation: where to draw the line

27:00 The privacy question we’re not asking enough

30:00 What’s next for Reviews on My Website and Text Ninja

💡 Key Themes

- The tension between automation and authenticity

- Why adaptability is the ultimate future-of-work skill

- The coming trust gap between businesses that use AI wisely—and those that don’t

🔗 Resources

Reviews on My Website: https://reviewsonmywebsite.com

Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

If your SaaS or agency is navigating the same AI transformation, visit BigNorthMarketing.com to explore how to grow smarter, not just faster.

AI is reshaping how we build software - but can it finally fix the multi-trillion dollar inefficiencies holding the industry back?

In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Noel Wilson, Founder of Intelligenic, to explore how AI can automate the entire software development lifecycle, from discovery and design to coding, QA, and deployment.

Noel shares his journey from decades in consulting to launching Intelligenic, his mission to solve systemic inefficiencies in software, and why he believes AI won’t replace developers but will transform their roles forever.

In this episode:

- Why software development is still stuck in inefficiency

- How Intelligenic automates discovery, design, code, and QA

- Why AI is a force multiplier for startups, enterprises, and consultants

- The future of junior engineers in an AI-driven industry

- What skills will define the next generation of product builders

⏱ Chapters

0:00 Intro & Noel’s big idea

1:11 Growing up in Silicon Valley & early tech spark

6:27 Consulting career and inefficiencies in software

11:31 Founding Intelligenic & validating the idea

16:30 How AI powers the platform

21:44 Comparing Intelligenic to coding assistants

24:42 Adoption across startups, consultants, and enterprises

31:09 Go-to-market strategy and LinkedIn traction

35:44 How AI changes software engineering roles

39:11 Skills the next generation must master

41:57 The future: fixing the multi-trillion dollar problem

📌 Resources

Intelligenic: https://intelligenic.ai

Connect with Noel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noel-wilson-39b86/

Grow your revenue with Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on the future of work, AI, and technology.

#FutureOfWork #AIandHumans #SaaSStrategy

AI has lowered the barrier for hackers, turning novices into advanced attackers almost overnight. What does this mean for identity, cybersecurity, and the future of work?

In this episode of Human Work After AI, we speak with Eli Farhood, founder of KatshID, a company pioneering biometric authentication that eliminates passwords and protects digital identities. Eli shares his journey from finance to cybersecurity, and why he believes AI demands a paradigm shift in identity security.

🔑 What you’ll learn in this conversation:

- How AI automation and generative models change the threat landscape for businesses

- Why credentials are the weakest link in identity security — and why eliminating them matters

- The role of biometrics and device-agnostic solutions in securing the future of work

- Lessons from finance and risk management that apply to today’s digital economy

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – AI’s impact on hacking & identity theft

01:00 – From finance to cybersecurity: Eli’s founder story

07:00 – Stress, risk, and the decision to pivot into tech

12:00 – Fake news, bots, and early signals of identity fraud

17:00 – Personal story of identity theft and its fallout

23:00 – Why legacy systems can’t protect us in the AI era

26:00 – Biometrics, hand scans, and eliminating credentials

33:00 – What business leaders need to know about modern cyber threats

47:00 – The future of work, utilities, and national security in an AI age

🔗 Resources

KatshID: https://katshid.com

Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

💡 If you’re a SaaS founder or marketing leader navigating AI disruption, visit bignorthmarketing.com to explore how we help SaaS companies grow with clarity and confidence.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀 - 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Francisco Marin, CEO of Cognitive Talent Solutions, believes that’s a dangerous mismatch. His guiding idea: the future of work must be network-first, not hierarchy-first.

In this episode of Human Work After AI, Francisco joins us to talk about the future of work and what it means to run a business network-first.

Francisco has pioneered organizational network analysis (ONA) and AI-driven agents for leadership, onboarding, and change management. His company has partnered with giants like Google and ServiceNow to help enterprises navigate decentralization, hybrid work, and AI adoption.

We explore:

- Why organizational structures lag behind technological change

- How “collaborative freedom” empowers employees and improves performance

- The role of AI agents in onboarding, leadership pipelines, and cultural resilience

- The ethical balance between trust and surveillance in people analytics

- What networks - from neural nets to blockchain to social graphs - teach us about the future of work

If you’re a founder, leader, or strategist, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into how work itself may be rewired.

⏱️ Chapters

0:00 – Intro & Francisco’s origin story

3:05 – From IBM analytics to founding CTS

5:49 – What is organizational network analysis (ONA)?

8:11 – Scaling from Fortune 500s to 70,000-employee rollouts

9:42 – Partnerships, communities, and the Network-First Manifesto

13:23 – Hybrid work, AI shifts, and the limits of corporate structures

18:09 – AI agents for onboarding, leadership, and change management

24:47 – Decentralization, recognition, and the politics of work

27:21 – AI, entry-level jobs, and the broken talent pipeline

30:36 – Trust vs. surveillance in people analytics

34:20 – Advice for young professionals entering an unstable workforce

36:23 – Staying grounded as a founder in Silicon Valley

📌 Resources

Cognitive Talent Solutions: https://cognitivetalentsolutions.com

Network First Manifesto: https://networkfirstmanifesto.com

Grow your revenue with Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

#AI #futureofwork #Networkfirst

What happens when a construction worker frustrated with clipboards and paper timesheets teaches himself electronics and coding - and builds one of the fastest-growing workforce automation companies in North America?

In this episode of Human Work After AI, I sit down with Albert Bou Fadel, founder and CEO of SmartBarrel, to explore how his unusual path from the field to technology led to a breakthrough in labor tracking, payroll automation, and AI-driven workforce management.

Albert shares why the real opportunity isn’t in replacing people but in eliminating thousands of tiny inefficiencies that bog down projects and drain productivity. From skepticism in the construction industry to the rise of AI copilots, we discuss how automation is reshaping not only job sites but also the way humans think about work.

🔑 What you’ll learn in this episode:

- Why the biggest construction inefficiency isn’t lack of tech, it’s failed implementation

- How focusing on labor first, not the C-suite, drives adoption and ROI

- The cultural skepticism that makes selling tech into construction uniquely hard

- How AI boosts efficiency without mass job replacement

- Why zero-manual-input data is the foundation for AI’s future in construction

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Intro: Why Construction Tech Is Broken

02:00 – Albert’s Origin Story: From Concrete to Coding

05:20 – The Labor Management Problem on Every Jobsite

07:15 – Teaching Himself Electronics and Building the MVP

09:20 – First Signs It Could Be a Real Business

10:40 – What SmartBarrel Does Today

13:20 – Bottom-Up Tech: Designing for Workers, Not Just CFOs

16:15 – Why Skepticism Runs Deep in Construction

19:30 – Cost vs. ROI: The Hardest Sales Objection

21:00 – How COVID and ChatGPT Shifted Tech Adoption in Construction

23:20 – Data Quality, Privacy, and AI’s Next Phase

29:40 – Will AI Replace Construction Jobs?

32:20 – Internal Use of AI at SmartBarrel

36:00 – Why Albert Remains Bullish on AI’s Future

📚 Resources

Explore SmartBarrel: https://smartbarrel.io

Connect with Albert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertboufadel

Grow your SaaS business with host Chris Fanchi: https://bignorthmarketing.com