The Intelligence Age

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Jeff Mahony joins AI Unfiltered to explore why AI adoption has not yet hit its consolidation point, and how blockchain’s immutability can restore trust at scale. The conversation connects AI agents, bias, regulation, and distributed systems, arguing that transparency, not speed alone, is the real unlock. Jeff explains how larger, collaborative teams can mitigate bias, why current AI agents often reduce productivity, and where AI plus blockchain can create real-world value across finance, supply chains, and public systems.
 
👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/826   

🎙️ What you’ll learn 

• Why the AI market has not yet reached its S-curve consolidation phase 
• How bias enters AI systems and how team design can reduce its impact 
• Where AI agents help productivity, and where they quietly reduce it 
• Why blockchain creates authenticity through transparency 
• How AI and blockchain together can enable scalable audits and pattern detection 

✅ Highlights 

• “Each of us has built-in flaws, but our flaws don’t touch too many people.” 
• “If I’ve somehow biased that model, now my flaw could touch millions.” 
• “The fix is going to be those collaborative, larger teams.” 
• “Blockchain is authenticity born through transparency.” 
• “On a blockchain, it would be very clear what the anomaly was.” 
• “The intermediary is the source of virtually all corruption.” 
• “We’re seeing a reduction in productivity by those people using agents.” 
• “You wouldn’t let that person give you the synopsis and then act from it.” 
• “Layer that on top of a blockchain, and now you can do data analysis.” 

🧰 Mentioned 

• AI agents: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ai-agents 
• Blockchain: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/blockchain 
• Distributed data warehousing: https://www.educative.io/answers/what-is-a-distributed-data-warehouse-dwh 
• Sovereign entities: https://fiveable.me/ap-hug/key-terms/sovereign-entity 
• Voting systems: https://electionlab.mit.edu/research/voting-technology 
• FinTech: https://www.britannica.com/money/financial-technology-fintech 
• right.io (RYT.io): https://right.io/ 

✅Keywords 
ai agents, blockchain, s-curve adoption, ai bias, transparency, immutability, fintech, regulation, productivity, distributed systems, supply chain, sovereign solutions 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode explores how AI agents are reshaping modern marketing workflows, drawing on the hands-on experience of Ramón Rautenstrauch. Using Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Foundry, the discussion shows how marketers can automate campaigns, experiment faster, and reduce low-value work while keeping humans in the loop. The core insight is not replacing marketers with AI, but using agents to unlock creativity, speed, and continuous optimisation that were previously impractical.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/825  

🎙️ What you’ll learn   

• How Copilot and generative AI change creative and campaign planning 
• Where AI agents add the most value in marketing workflows 
• Practical differences between Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry 
• Why experimentation becomes easier with agent-driven automation 
• How to reduce repetitive work without losing human judgement 

✅ Highlights     

• “From one day to another, we had a whole new world of ideas.” 
• “I’ve been fully into agents to try to automate all the marketing work.” 
• “Not to replace me, but to assist me.” 
• “Before I spent more or less half of the day doing things that didn’t add value.” 
• “Now I can try to do things differently.” 
• “This helps us to do different things that we would never have tried.” 
• “With Copilot Studio, it took me half an hour.” 
• “With Foundry, it took me one week.” 
• “With Foundry, you have to sit down and think.” 

🧰 Mentioned     

• Microsoft Copilot: https://www.copilot.com  
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/  
• Microsoft Foundry: https://ai.azure.com/ 
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/  
• OpenAI: https://openai.com/  
• Google Ads: https://ads.google.com/ 
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7 

✅ Keywords      
ai agents, microsoft copilot, copilot studio, microsoft foundry, marketing automation, generative ai, campaign automation, ai workflows, experimentation, productivity, marketing strategy, human in the loop 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM 

This episode with Balazs Horvath explores how AI is shifting from hype to practical value in business applications. The core insight is that models are now good enough, but value comes from context, not tools. CRM is becoming a database, interfaces are disappearing, and skills like problem framing, signal detection, and prompting matter more than building apps. AI works best as a colleague when organisations invest in shared language, data foundations, and human judgement.
 
👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/824   

🎙️ What you’ll learn   

• Why context, not models, is the real limiter of AI value 
• How CRM is shifting from interfaces to signal-driven systems 
• Where ERP and data platforms still have defensible moats 
• How reverse prompting improves thinking and outcomes 
• Why consulting skills matter more than coding in the AI era 

✅ Highlights  

• "It’s been more hype than actual value." 
• "Models are good enough. It’s about the context that you give them." 
• "I haven’t logged into my CRM for the past two weeks." 
• "CRM will just become a database." 
• "Finance is audited, legislated, and hard to replicate." 
• "The way we interact with apps is changing." 
• "I flipped our academic program upside down." 
• "AI understands intent." 
• "Ask me 20 questions, one at a time." 

🧰 Mentioned 

• Dynamics 365: https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365  
• Microsoft Power Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform 
• Business Central: https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365/business-central  
• Finance and Operations (Dynamics 365 Finance): https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics-365/finance  
• Power BI: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/products/power-bi  
• Microsoft Fabric: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-fabric  
• Dataverse: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/dataverse  
• Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com  
• Claude: https://claude.ai 
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com  
• Microsoft Graph: https://learn.microsoft.com/graph  
• Vibe.powerapps.com: https://vibe.powerapps.com 

✅Keywords   
ai context, crm future, power platform, dynamics 365, copilot, anthropic, claude, reverse prompting, vibe coding, business central, microsoft fabric, applied ai 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM 

This episode breaks down why AI governance must evolve alongside agentic AI, drawing on the insights of Matthias Darblade. The conversation explores the EU AI Act, continuous compliance, and why the biggest business value often sits in high‑risk AI use cases. For organisations adopting agents, governance becomes a live system, not a one‑time checkbox, balancing innovation, responsibility, and trust at scale. 

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/823   

🎙️ What you’ll learn 

• Why agentic AI turns governance into a continuous process 
• How the EU AI Act affects organisations inside and outside Europe 
• Where the real business value lies in high‑risk AI systems 
• Why static compliance models fail for AI and agents 
• How organisations can govern AI without slowing innovation 

✅ Highlights 

• “With this black box that needs to be governed and controlled.” 
• “It gives you a certain sense of being safe regarding the regulators.” 
• “It starts to become a lot, even for a company as big as Airbus.” 
• “It’s definitely a live system.” 
• “For AI, it will be a bit more complex.” 
• “High risk is where most of the value lies for companies.” 
• “You’re leaving a lot of money on the table.” 
• “It needs to be running and monitoring in real time.” 
• “You need to be respecting the law and proceed in a certain way.” 

🧰 Mentioned 

• ISO 24001: https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html 
• AI governance: https://www.oecd.org/ai/governance/ 
• Agentic AI: https://www.ibm.com/topics/agentic-ai 
• Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot 
• OpenAI: https://openai.com/ 
• Gemini: https://ai.google/gemini/ 

✅Keywords 
ai governance, eu ai act, agentic ai, ai compliance, high risk ai, ai regulation, autonomous agents, responsible ai, continuous monitoring, enterprise ai, ai oversight, ai strategy 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

Cas de Morree and Mark Smith unpack why applied AI skills now matter more than prompts. They explore Copilot’s real strength inside work data, the rapid shift towards agents and outcome‑driven systems, and how low‑cost tooling is reshaping productivity. The conversation challenges привычные workflows, highlights why more output does not equal better work, and shows how professionals can rethink email, meetings, automation, and software building using AI that actually integrates into daily work.

👉 For full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/822  

 🎙️ What you’ll learn    

• How Copilot’s value changes when it is connected to your work data 
• Why outcome engineering is replacing prompt engineering 
• When AI automation increases noise instead of productivity 
• How agents can replace SaaS tools and reduce recurring costs 
• What applied AI skills look like for consultants and knowledge workers 

 ✅ Highlights   

• “They forgot about the entire plugged into your work data, and that’s what Copilot is good at.” 
• “It was a rough start using Copilot.” 
• “It will keep iterating on a task till it gets to the destination.” 
• “I think this is the start of outcomes engineering rather than prompt engineering.” 
• “We expect all this magic from these new tools.” 
• “Why would you send out meeting notes to everyone?” 
• “It’s insanity.” 
• “I’ve taken over $2,000 of annual cost out of my business SaaS expenses.” 
• “The only limitation is your own creativity at this point.” 

 🧰 Mentioned     

• Microsoft Copilot: https://www.copilot.com/ 
• Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365  
• Microsoft Graph: https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/overview 
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ 
• Claude (by Anthropic): https://claude.com/ 
• Bitly: https://bitly.com/ 
• RAG systems (Retrieval‑Augmented Generation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrieval-augmented_generation 
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7 

 ✅ Keywords      
ai productivity, microsoft copilot, applied ai skills, outcome engineering, ai agents, automation, microsoft 365, anthropic, claude, openai, knowledge work, business ai 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode with Joris de Gruyter explores how advanced AI agents are reshaping individual productivity and technical work. The conversation covers coding agents, personal agent systems, automation beyond code, and the risks of burnout, privacy, and memory misuse. Real-world examples show how AI can turn notes into workflows, handle testing and reporting, and operate as a team of specialised agents. The key message is clear: applied AI skills now combine technical fluency with strong boundaries around focus, context, and trust.

👉️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/821

🎙️ What you’ll learn  

• How coding agents are expanding into everyday knowledge work 
• Practical ways to turn notes into repeatable automation 
• When to use multiple AI agents and when to limit them 
• How memory features can introduce risk and bias 
• Why APIs matter for an AI-driven future of work 

✅ Highlights 

• “I realised that I had incredible power to create anything my mind can conceive digitally.” 
• “Tokens have become my money.” 
• “The productivity gains is causing this tremendous burnout for some reason.” 
• “I’ve put the guardrails in place so they’re not allowed to talk to me after 9pm.” 
• “It started with notes, and it’s turning into automation.” 
• “The internet is a very hostile place to AI.” 
• “Memory is the first thing I turn off everywhere.” 
• “I don’t want anybody else’s code in my mix.” 
• “It allows you to become almost like superhuman in a weird way.” 

🧰 Mentioned 

• AI Brain Fry: https://hbr.org/2026/03/when-using-ai-leads-to-brain-fry 
• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot 
• Work IQ: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/copilot/extensibility/workiq-overview 
• Claude:https://claude.ai/ 

✅Keywords 
ai agents, github copilot, coding agents, automation, productivity, ai burnout, ai memory, privacy, workflows, devops, markdown, applied ai 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM 
 
This episode explores the shift from prompt driven AI tools to personal AI assistants that act like always on teammates, with Volodymyr Panchenko sharing real examples of non technical users building tools, publishing content, analysing data, and generating income simply by talking. The core idea is lowering friction so anyone can apply AI without learning complex systems. The conversation focuses on practical empowerment, skill shifts in the intelligence age, and why belief, curiosity, and iteration matter more than technical mastery. 

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/820

🎙️ What you’ll learn 

• How personal AI assistants differ from traditional chat based tools 
• Why one click and voice first interfaces unlock broader AI adoption 
• How users are building and sharing tools without technical knowledge 
• What skills matter most as AI accelerates workplace change 
• How AI can propagate innovation across teams automatically 

✅ Highlights 

• “We’re doing a very personal AI assistant, like you’re a multi tool employee, 24 7.” 
• “My thing is one click solutions.” 
• “The last person knows about how AI works, they’re more like gold.” 
• “It’s an OpenClaw for my mum.” 
• “The less people know, they don’t know it doesn’t work this way.” 
• “It’s small blocks like in Minecraft.” 
• “Overnight she made a few thousand dollars.” 
• “Everything else AI will do.” 
• “It’s never going to be perfect.” 

🧰 Mentioned 

• OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/  
• Portal: https://portal.ai/  
• Telegram: https://telegram.org/  
• Apple App Store: https://www.apple.com/app-store/ 
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/  
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ 
• Google: https://www.google.com/ 
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/  
• OpenAI: https://www.openai.com/  
• Minecraft: https://www.minecraft.net/ 
• Codemasters: https://www.codemasters.com/  

✅Keywords 
personal ai assistant, applied ai, openclaw, portal ai, telegram bots, voice first ai, ai productivity, ai skills, automation tools, innovation propagation, ai adoption, human ai collaboration 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

Pieter Kops shares practical lessons from the front lines of Copilot adoption. He explains why organisations must fix security and data quality before switching AI on, how oversharing and duplication damage AI outcomes, and where Copilot delivers real value beyond basic automation. The conversation focuses on SharePoint, metadata, governance, and helping people move from search and automation towards research and higher value AI use.

🎙 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/819 

👉 What you’ll learn     

• How to prepare your data estate before enabling Copilot 
• Why oversharing creates real security and quality risks for AI 
• Practical approaches to cleaning up SharePoint and file sprawl 
• How metadata improves findability and Copilot results 
• Where Copilot adoption stalls and how to push past basic automation 

✅ Highlights     

• “Don’t switch it on yet. Do stuff first.” 
• “If your security is not in place, then God knows what information you’re surfacing.” 
• “Rubbish in, rubbish out.” 
• “Human error is littered through the landscape of corporate data.” 
• “Stop sharing.” 
• “Deduplication is a tough process to do.” 
• “People tend to have the folder structure on top of mind.” 
• “That’s why we need Copilot.” 
• “Most people just use Copilot as the new search agent.” 
• “More than 90% of the ideas were just automation.” 

🧰 Mentioned     

• SharePoint: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration 
• Microsoft Copilot: https://www.copilot.com/ 
• Microsoft Graph API: https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/ 
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7 

✅ Keywords      
copilot adoption, sharepoint governance, data quality, oversharing, metadata, ai readiness, security, automation, microsoft copilot, document management, information architecture, enterprise ai 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM 

This episode explores how AI, agents, and prompting are reshaping how software and business solutions are built. Mark Smith and Keith Atherton discuss the shift beyond traditional low-code towards natural language, agent-driven development, where context, outcomes, and governance matter more than interfaces. They examine why developer fundamentals still matter, how generative AI accelerates delivery, and what new makers should focus on as Microsoft investment, tooling, and certifications pivot towards agentic and AI-first approaches. 

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/818   

🎙️ What you’ll learn   

• How agent-based development changes the way applications and systems are designed 
• Why context engineering and outcomes engineering matter more than short prompts 
• When low-code tools help and when direct code or CLI is faster 
• How experienced developers gain leverage in an agent-driven world 
• Where new makers should focus their learning as platforms and certifications evolve 

✅ Highlights 

• “Beyond that hype, now organizations and customers, I can see them getting more mature and ready to actually adopt.” 
• “We’re designing for API efficiency for AIs, not just human interfaces anymore.” 
• “You wouldn’t have to put anything in your system that isn’t explicitly needed.” 
• “If you can build something in a few minutes, why spend hours dragging and dropping?” 
• “Context engineering is the next step beyond prompt engineering.” 
• “My prompts are not one or two sentences, they’re hundreds of lines of data.” 
• “It’s almost cumbersome today to go through visual steps when CLI is just speed.” 
• “It could be seen as a bit of a superpower having that developer background.” 
• “You need to know what good looks like to hold agents to account.” 

🧰 Mentioned  

• Microsoft Power Platform: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform 
• Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio  
• ChatGPT:  https://chatgpt.com  
• Visual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com  
• Power Automate: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/products/power-automate  
• Dataverse: https://www.microsoft.com/power-platform/dataverse  

✅Keywords   
ai agents, power platform, low code, generative ai, prompt engineering, context engineering, outcomes engineering, dataverse, power automate, software development, cli, microsoft ai 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

This episode explores why emotional resilience is becoming a core leadership skill in the age of AI. Jennifer Selby Long explains how a leader’s emotional state shapes team performance, why calm and consistency now matter more than constant disruption, and how grounded leadership enables effective change. Drawing on real client examples, she shares practical frameworks leaders can use to build self awareness, manage stress, and lead transformation without burning themselves or their teams out.

👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/817   

🎙️ What you’ll learn 

• Why a leader’s emotional state is contagious and shapes team outcomes 
• The difference between change management and change leadership in practice 
• How calm, consistency, and grounding build trust during rapid change 
• Frameworks leaders use to recognise stress triggers and manage reactions 
• Why emotional intelligence is a competitive advantage in AI driven workplaces 

✅ Highlights 

• “The emotional state of the leader is highly contagious to the team.” 
• “You really need to understand those stakeholders and get those folks aligned.” 
• “Change management is about ensuring completion to a standard.” 
• “Change leadership is keeping people hopeful, inspired, and focused on the future.” 
• “The leadership element is what the human brings.” 
• “Calm, consistency, and stability in leaders has been really underemphasised.” 
• “Even when you think you’re hiding your emotions, you’re not.” 
• “Cultivating inner calm is a surprisingly vital foundational skill for leaders today.” 

🧰 Mentioned 

• Shirzad Chamine: https://positiveintelligence.com/about/  
• Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine: https://books.google.com/books/about/Positive_Intelligence.html?id=ziSoxw_ACSwC  
• The Problem with Change by Ashley Goodall: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203578496-the-problem-with-change  
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: https://www.themyersbriggs.com/en-US/Explore-Solutions/MBTI 

✅Keywords 
emotional intelligence, change leadership, change management, leadership resilience, grounded leadership, stakeholder alignment, organisational change, ai leadership, inner calm, self awareness, saboteur mindset, positive intelligence 

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith