IG Talk w/ Robert Smallwood

Robert Smallwood speaks with cybersecurity and data privacy expert Michael Esola about the growing need for practical AI governance. Michael shares insights from his new book, Governance at the Speed of Autonomy, and introduces the CORE framework—Context, Oversight, Responsibility, and Elasticity—for managing the risks of AI and agentic AI.

They discuss shadow AI, data-loss prevention, audit readiness, critical infrastructure risks, and how quantum computing may reshape cybersecurity. The episode also previews Michael’s upcoming sessions at the AI Governance World Conference in Las Vegas, where he will explore AI governance, cybersecurity, and data privacy in greater depth.

Robert Smallwood talks with Kaan Vulcan, founder and CEO of PurgeRot, about why unmanaged file shares have become a critical business, cybersecurity, and AI-governance issue. They explore the rising cost of cloud storage, the risks created by duplicate, outdated, and overexposed content, and why organizations can no longer afford to feed every file into AI tools such as Copilot.

Kaan explains how a curated, well-classified data environment can improve AI accuracy, reduce storage and security costs, and limit exposure to emerging risks such as model poisoning and agentic AI misalignment. The conversation also looks ahead at the changing role of information governance professionals, the return of more precise classification, and what it will take to keep data useful, secure, and ready for an AI-powered future.

In this episode, Robert Smallwood of CIGO Association speaks with Chris Surdak of ReLeaf about the accountability gap emerging as autonomous AI agents increasingly initiate transactions and make decisions. They examine why identity verification alone may not establish that a human intentionally authorized a specific action and why that distinction matters for fraud, disputes, auditability, and corporate governance.

Chris introduces ReLeaf’s Proof of Intent patent, designed to create a time-bound, independently witnessed record before a digital transaction proceeds. Together, Robert and Chris discuss the limits of existing guardrails, the need for human accountability in automated workflows, and practical ways organizations can strengthen control, recovery, and trust in the agentic web.

In this episode, Robert Smallwood of CIGO Association sits down with Joe Shepley, Senior Director at Triad Executive Advisors, to examine the fast-changing world of AI Governance. They discuss how organizations can move forward amid uncertain federal and state regulation, build on existing Information Governance foundations, and create practical controls for Agentic AI and citizen-developed tools.

Joe shares what AI Governance maturity looks like today, why visibility and risk-based intake processes matter, and how responsible governance can enable innovation rather than slow it down. The conversation also explores AI’s impact on work, data-center growth, and the human judgment that remains essential as AI capabilities accelerate.