The Next Thing Now Podcast

The Reality of AI in Critical National Infrastructure
Can AI be trusted where failure isn’t an option?

In this episode, we’re joined by Simon Ayley, Director of Strategic Growth Partnerships at WRC. Drawing on 30+ years of global industry experience, we explore what AI actually looks like inside critical national infrastructure.

From regulated industries to complex operational environments, AI is no longer theoretical. It is already being tested, challenged, and in some cases embedded into systems that millions of people rely on every day.

We discuss:

• Why innovation inside large, regulated organisations is fundamentally different
• The tension between speed, safety, and accountability
• What it really takes to move from experimentation to production
• How leaders should think about risk, regulation, and responsibility in an AI-driven world

If you are responsible for technology, operations, or strategy in a complex environment, this is a conversation you need to hear.

What happens to higher education when knowledge becomes instantly accessible, essays can be generated on demand, and AI starts to challenge the very basis of assessment?

In this episode of The Next Thing Now, Rob Borley, Kevin Smith and Simon Brookes explore the impact of AI on higher education and ask a deeper question: what is university actually for in an age of large language models?

The conversation looks at the future of degrees, the changing value of knowledge, the limits of traditional coursework, and why judgment, discernment and the application of knowledge may matter more than ever.

This is not a discussion about hype. It is a serious look at what happens when one of society’s most established institutions is forced to rethink its role.

In this episode:

• Will AI change university forever?
• Can essays still prove learning?
• What becomes valuable when knowledge is abundant?
• Why human judgment may matter more in an AI-shaped world
• What higher education may need to become next

Watch now and join the conversation.

#AI #HigherEducation #University #EdTech #FutureOfWork #TheNextThingNow #Dootrix #ArtificialIntelligence #Education

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agents Are Building Software Now

A year ago, AI was helping engineers write code.

Now, agents are building real enterprise software.

In this episode of The Next Thing Now, we unpack what has changed and why it matters. This is not another conversation about copilots or productivity boosts. This is about agentic platforms that can reason over requirements, generate architecture, write services, refactor systems, and ship meaningful functionality with minimal human intervention.

But there is a catch.

Agents can write code. They do not carry accountability.

We explore:

• The shift from AI coding assistant to agentic execution
• Why complex systems still require architectural judgement
• How senior engineers are moving from builders to orchestrators
• What this means for CIOs and technology leaders under pressure
• Why enterprise software delivery is about to be structurally redefined

If you are a CIO, CTO, Engineering Director, or product leader trying to understand what agentic development really means in production, this conversation is for you.

This is not theory. It is based on real experimentation inside live environments.

Agents are building software now.

The question is whether you are ready to orchestrate them.

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of emerging technology, disruptive business models, and the leaders shaping what comes next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The high performance expert who has coached leadership teams in some of the biggest organisations on the planet, now questioning whether performance still means what we think it does.

For more than 30 years, Matt Barker has worked with leaders, teams, and individuals at moments of pressure, transition, and change, helping humans perform better as their environment shifts around them.

That experience matters now more than ever. As non-human entities enter the workplace, Matt brings a rare lens. Deep expertise in human performance, combined with a clear-eyed view of how machines are reshaping effort, value, and work itself.

This conversation isn’t about productivity or tools. It’s about what high performance means after humans stop being the limiting factor.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI Has a Constitution Now. What Does That Mean for Us?

This week, Rob and Kev unpack one of the strangest and most revealing signals in AI right now.

Anthropic has published a “constitution” for Claude. Not internal policy. Not developer guidelines. A document written for the AI itself, explaining the values it is expected to understand and reason from.

That raises an uncomfortable question.

Why would an AI need a constitution at all?

In this episode, we explore:

• What it means when AI companies talk about “non-human entities”
• The tension between AI constitutions and emerging EU regulation
• Why agentic systems are changing how we work, not just what we build
• The shift from asking AI questions to assigning it work
• Whether this is a technical decision, a cultural signal, or both

This is not a debate about consciousness or sci-fi futures.

It’s about how language, mental models, and responsibility are already changing as AI moves from tool to actor.

If you’re working with AI, building products, or making decisions about how these systems are used in the real world, this conversation matters.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OFFICIAL: AGI by 2030!

Is this the moment everything quietly changed?

In this episode of The Next Thing Now, we unpack the restructure of OpenAI, the reworked AGI clause with Microsoft, and why the date 2030 suddenly matters far more than most people realise.

This is not about hype. It’s about incentives, contracts, infrastructure, and the uncomfortable signals buried in plain sight.

We explore:

• Why OpenAI and Microsoft have formally planned for an AGI endgame
• What the AGI clause really means and why independent verification changes everything
• Why AI is no longer just a product decision but an infrastructure race
• How agents, hardware, and energy reshape the future of work
• What leaders are missing while focusing on copilots and prompts

If you think AGI is a distant theoretical debate, this conversation may change your mind.

The shift is not coming loudly. It’s arriving through contracts, compute, and quiet decisions that lock in the next decade.

Pay attention.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most companies talk confidently about net zero — but few can prove it. In this episode of The Next Thing Now, Rob and Kev sit down with Owen from Fynlo AI to explore one of the biggest hidden challenges in sustainability: the accuracy of carbon reporting.

From freight fleets to finance teams, the data behind emissions reporting is often guesswork. Owen explains why this matters, how inaccurate data undermines trust, and what his team is doing to close the gap with AI-powered precision tools.

If you care about sustainability, data integrity, or how AI can be used for real-world impact, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• Why most carbon output reporting is wrong
• How inaccuracy erodes business credibility
• The role of AI in improving emissions measurement
• Why “good enough” data isn’t good enough anymore

Watch now to learn how accuracy can become your most valuable sustainability strategy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How AI Agents Are Transforming Financial Services | ProveIt x Dootrix

In this episode, we speak with Adrian Defta, founder and CEO of ProveIt, about how AI agents are revolutionising financial services—starting with underserved communities.

Adrian shares the journey behind ProveIt, a bootstrapped startup helping UK-based Romanians navigate financial complaints and reclaim lost money. What began as a TikTok experiment quickly turned into a hands-on support service, and now, with the help of Dootrix and the Agentic Incubator, it's evolving into an AI-powered system using intelligent agents to scale trust, compliance, and customer support.

🔍 Topics Covered:

• The origins of ProveIt and the problem it solves
• Why traditional automation hits a ceiling in financial services
• How agentic AI (like Personal Advisors and Sentinels) work in practice
• Using AI to empower users, not replace them
• What every financial services provider can learn from this model

🎧 Whether you're a fintech founder, product leader, or just AI-curious, this is a must-watch on the future of intelligent automation in regulated industries.

📌 Learn more:

ProveIt: https://proveitweb.co.uk

Adrian Defta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriandefta

Dootrix: https://dootrix.com

#AgenticAI #FinancialServices #Startups #ProveIt #AIForGood #DigitalTransformation #CustomerSupport #AIagents #Dootrix #AgenticIncubator #AIinFS

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎙️ Episode 011 – Hope, Hype, and Heating Engineers: Agentic AI Gets Real

In this episode of The Next Thing Now, Rob and Kev dive deep into the maturing world of agentic AI — and the quietly powerful new standard driving it: MCP.

We explore:

• Why Canva’s new Claude-powered integration might be the first real MCP breakthrough
• What MCP actually is (with a heating engineer analogy you won’t forget)
• Why the hype cycle has moved on, but the real impact is just beginning
• How OpenAI’s $3B Windsurf deal fell apart — and what Google’s surprise move means for the agentic ecosystem

Plus, a healthy dose of healthy cynicism on Apple’s AI intentions and why everyone’s talking “agentic” now.

Whether you're a product leader, a dev, or just trying to keep up, this is the episode to understand the infrastructure that might define the next decade of software.

🧠 No fluff. Just insight, laughs, and the odd Matrix reference.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.